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Of the great comments we receive, one of the ones we receive the most is how did I decide on my small business that allows me to live my minimalist lifestyle on my terms. That’s right – my terms. There are many minimalists out there and if you ask them, you will find that minimalism is not about lacking for anything and that includes money. If you did not know I lived a minimalist lifestyle, you probably would not realize it – my lifestyle is not that different from yours. I have a house, I have a car, I have possessions but I practice what I preach. I do not have anything that I do not use. I do not attach emotion to any product. I own it and use it. It does not own me. That is the key. If I bring a new item into the house for whatever reason, I get rid of an item. I recently purchased ONE new workout tank for running. The reason? My others were too big. But I only purchased one and got rid of one by giving to a friend that just started to get fit.
The key is balance and this key is what allows me to own successful small businesses and you can to while being a minimalist. So what should you do? That question is a difficult one because not everyone enjoys every aspect of owning a business. I certainly do not. I enjoy the writing and marketing and will spend hours tweaking website content and emails while to others this would be just a bad as having their toenails pulled out one by one.
This is a picture of my home office where I run all my businesses. Very simple and free of clutter. Nothing on my desk and only pictures of my kids, my white board/cork board for things I’m working on and my hat that I put on my head when I go work with my horses. The desk is recycled wood and my chairs are from a thrift store as I prefer to recycle and upcycle. That’s it – nothing fancy. Very simple but very functional. You do not need a HUGE office that you pay for every month.
Denise’s Small Office
My journey will be detailed out quite a bit in our book that is due out very soon – Minimalism Is Simple Books – but so many of you have asked how I started that I wanted to give you a few ideas to get you moving:
- What do you like to do? At the end of the day, not all of us can make money that we can live on doing what we like but many of us actually can. I love fitness and one of my businesses is as a BeachBody Coach. I love to help people get to be fit and healthy. My business is very niche focused – meaning that although I work with any age, I am in my 50’s and have found that I really help those in their 40’s, 50’s and “Younger”. By younger I mean older than 50’s LOL. In addition, this business has allowed me to launch my non profit business Family Fitness Outreach Center. Yes, it is a Network Marketing company but it is one of the best companies that I have ever been affiliated with and the key here is that network marketing companies provide you with residual income but you can get started with a low investment. Residual income means you work with a client and that client stays with you forever and you are paid for every order they place – whenever. Doesn’t matter if it’s next week or next year. This is one of the ways recommended by many successful business owners to create an additional income stream. I did.
- In addition to doing what you LIKE to do, think about where your experience lies. I have been in the toy industry since my 20’s so what was more natural for me to do than to launch a swimming pool toy and beach stuff company. You can see our products here – USAPoolToy.com. What industry do you have experience in and can you launch a business from it? I did and it’s very successful and has resulted in 2 additional businesses selling to retail consumers – all online.
- Another option to consider is to create a business around your talents. What are you really good at? Want help in figuring it out? What do your friends ask you for advice about? Are you a great writer? There a so many freelance jobs available for writers from writing content, to product descriptions to advertisements. Are you an amazing graphic designer? There are small business owners just like me searching for a reliable source to create banner ads or update website headers. Do people ask you to make their birthday cakes? You must be a phenomenal baker then. Consider launching a business maybe focusing on cakes for 1 year olds – the famous smash cakes. Or maybe you have created the BEST healthy snack bar (email me please!), there are many that are health conscious like myself looking for a truly good tasting healthy snack bar.
Hopefully these few tips will get your creative juices flowing. Remember, if you want it – go for it. I did.
Blessings,
Denise
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