"I'm sponsored by my wife"

Those words just never get old.

This is what my husband replies to the surfer he's just met out on the waves.😂

He's often asked this question... "so how come you're out here surfing in the middle of the day, don't you have a job?"

His fave response is firstly... "sure I have a job, I'm actually at a board meeting right now (surfers joke lol)...."

And then he'll say, "nah, I'm a sponsored surfer, by my wife".

To which there's usually a reply like... "wow that's so cool, how do I find me one like that?"

I'm sharing this today as a huge gratitude post.

His life hasn't always been like this, in fact hubby slaved his guts out running a plumbing business for over 25 years, with 7 trucks and 10 staff...
it was 24/7 with rarely a break.

It nearly killed him. Literally. (Stress, breakdowns, depression)

I ran the business with him, and it was all consuming.

Sure I got to use all my skills, marketing and people organizing and computer programs... I wrote the software program that ran our business and turned it into a money making machine.
(We even ended up being featured in a Microsoft Windows article based on how I used all the software)....

But the amount of blood, sweat and tears... and precious time that we can never get back, was insane.😱

You know that a business is a major part of your family life when one of your kids suddenly starts talking to her imaginary friend who's called... 'the boys'.

It took me a bit to work out where that name/saying had come from... and then like a slap in the face...
I found myself replying to the kids one day when they said... "who's that in our driveway?"

I said "oh it's just one of the boys". (ie one of the many plumbers that had worked for us over the years).

So there it was.🤯

Clearly I must have said this many, many times for it to have stuck in a 4yr olds mind. Her friend was 'the boys'.

Thankfully those days are now well and truly in the past, like 10 yrs in the past.💪

We sold the business and around that time discovered online courses and the e-knowledge world.

We'd had business coaches in the past, and a couple had always suggested we go on to teach what we knew about running a successful plumbing biz... because it wasn't like any other. It was systemized, it made good money, it had an extremely good reputation, we had plumbers knocking on our door to come work for us, and we had the least amount of office staff of any other plumbing biz we knew of (for the amount of trucks we had on the road).

Cue Amy Porterfield.

Somehow she landed in my feed one day (well let's be honest, it's not by accident haha... I swear the phone is constantly listening!!!). Next thing, I'm purchasing Courses That Convert.

And from there... the next biz was born.

We created a huge program that taught plumbing biz owners, and their staff, how to create and run a successful plumbing business. It eventually morphed into teaching 'trades' in general what we knew.

I built a new website, we ran FB ads, put the word out to all the plumbers we knew, purchased lists with plumbing biz email addresses on, went on podcasts, and many other forms of marketing. Note -- I had no clue about funnels back then... that came later.

It was priced around $4k.

Yes we sold a few, and Steve went on to continue working with these plumbers on a monthly basis for a monthly fee.

But.... it was still taking a toll...

I could see no matter how hard he tried to 'want' to be doing it, the passion just wasn't there anymore. It's a hard slog selling something to folks that:

a) don't know they need it,

b) aren't looking for it and

c) don't have the right mindset to take any of it on even when it falls in their lap.

If this sounds familiar to you, it's likely because this story is told over and over again in the 'Course Creation' circles.

Many fall into the trap of creating a program that you know someone needs, but they don't want.
As the plumbers say 'it's like pushing poo up a hill'.... sorry, when you've lived with Tradies, you get used to the crass jokes.😂

Anyhooo...

I think you know where this is headed....

That biz was really a way to keep hubby busy, he'd been a plumber all his life (and a bloody good one) and didn't know what else to do.

We'd both hoped it would work.... but hope's not enough.

As it turned out, after using one course creation program after another (and not liking them),
I found Kajabi.

Bought the Grand Opening special... and BANG... it was almost love at first site.

We used it for the Plumbing Profits biz and it was awesome.

I found friends asking me about it, and then asking if I could help them setup a course....🤔

LIGHT BULB MOMENT RIGHT THERE.

I knew what we could do.

Gradually we wound down the Plumbing Coaching biz, and I started putting plans in place for my biz.

Penny In Your Pocket became the newest baby.👩🏻‍💻

I already had all the skills, and this was my passion.

Creating, designing, building, playing with software... and helping others create sites and courses and automating their world. Maybe, just maybe this was the new path we were supposed to take.

Long story short....

Over 5 years I've managed to build a business thats not only let my hubby be a sponsored surfer, but it also allowed us to sell our house and move to our dream location, plus purchase new cars for the kids (clearly they're well and truly past the stage of imaginary friends - we're at the cars and moving out stage now 🤣). 
He's happy (and proud of me for finally doing something for myself) and I'm happy. WIN WIN.

Think about this...

• Online businesses can be run anywhere in the world, established trade businesses can not.
• Online businesses can be run solo, they can be run on your terms and in your hours.. 
• and most importantly... they can be global.

But the biggie....

Once you find a niche that people actually WANT (yes we know they need it, but they need to want it, or you're back to pushing that poo 💩)... and you're super passionate about it, and know it like the back of your hand... well then, then you have something real.

Something you can turn into gold... and something that lets you serve others.

And so in gratitude I say thank you.

Thank you to Kajabi for allowing me to create our dream life (and save my hubby).🙏

Thank you to all the incredibly lovely people I've met from all over the world.🙏

Thank you to my beautiful customers and clients, who to this day... literally make my day with their kind emails.
(I actually now have a pin up board called 'Made my day'... and its for those who write to me and tell me how one of my products helped them).🙏💖

I love what I get to do... every day.

(Clearly hubby does too)

What about you?

• Is the passion there?
• Have you found your niche?
• Is it serving others?

If you're at a cross roads, be kind to yourself...
→ give yourself some time to just sit and ponder all the what-ifs.
You never know when FB is listening and will pop Amy Porterfield (or similar) into your feed.🤣