First I Was Held Hostage; Then I Found Success on a Shoestring

• We were allergic to the house.
• I was held hostage.
• We were broadsided by a driver who ran a red light.
• Doctors discovered an electrical problem with my heart.

But I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I? This is about you and what you can do with nothing but desire and inventiveness.

So let's talk about you. We'll get back to my tale of woe later in this little drama.

So you're writing a blog. You're designing knitting patterns. You're producing a podcast. You're selling books. You're building houses in Second Life.

Whatever it is - honestly - your stuff is great. You're not selling much though.

You're disheartened

Someone tells you to do pay per click advertising. Someone else tells you to participate in every Google group on your topic. Your brother thinks myspace is the answer.

You think starting another blog might get you more attention. Someone else says to hang out in a blogging community of people that do the same thing as you do. Your spouse suggests Squidoo lenses.

Someone else thinks you should do pay per posts to supplement your income.

So you do it all.

More blogs, more profiles, more effort. Maybe one of those freebie CafePress sites would be a good idea right?

Wrong. Your marketing is all over the place. Do all that and your sales will still be nothing special. And you'll be worn out too.

But someplace inside you know that right? What you're doing is like randomly shooting shotgun pellets. Most just go out there and hit nothing. It's only when you take careful aim after analyzing what it is that you need that you start to hit the mark.

The good news is that there's probably a lot - and I mean a LOT - of potential in what you are doing and that you can do it profitably.

And before you tell me you don't have $20,000 or even $2,000 for a marketing campaign let me assure you that I know what it is like to market on zero budget.

And here's where we talk about me. Some years back I had just had my third child. We'd had to move to VA to a more expensive area - of course - because my husband's job required we be closer to DC.

I had been working full time but here we were in a new neighborhood with a new baby and two daughters in grade school, but less money coming in.

To make a few extra dollars I decided I was going to do art classes one day a week right after school.

I sent press releases to the local papers and told the kids in my daughter's brownie troop.

That was it. I spent no money and had probably 4 or 5 students to start with at maybe $20 for an hour class that ran for 6 weeks or something ridiculous. It was literally peanuts.

Then things got worse

All three kids developed serious allergies. Three of us had pneumonia. We found out we were allergic to the house.

• We changed houses again.
• Doctors discovered an electrical problem with my heart.
• Driving home from shopping before Christmas we were broadsided by a driver who ran a red light.

• One daughter had complications from the accident.
• A fall I had during high school was compounded now so the new injuries caused chronic back pain.

• About the time I finished physical therapy we had a home invasion
• That's when I was held hostage. (yes - knife at throat, cops, dogs, the whole bit)   

Overall, for about  three years it was hell

But I learned something from it apparently. Within another three years my five students had turned into over a hundred without spending one cent on advertising.

Stay tuned to learn more.

You CAN do this. I know you can. And more importantly, you know you can.

Comments

[Paulette Insall]

Oh my goodness Susan! You are truly an inspiration!!! I will be sure to check back to hear more. I am so that person that is spreading herself too thin on the net....working myself to death and not seeing much benefit. Just not sure where I should be targeting my efforts.

[Marti]

What an amazing, inspirational story! I too, can't wait to hear more!

[Jim Turner]

Seems we have a lot more in common than I thought.

[Glenda Watson Hyatt]

Wow Susan, what a story. I'm curious to hear the next chapter. Please continue. What kept you going?