What, and you can live on that?!

How often have I heard this question.

Of course, in ten years of self-employment you not only experience sunshine - but also times when you don't know whether your own business strategy is working. For example, you invest a huge amount of money and take the risk that it could go wrong. In most cases it doesn't - but you don't know that beforehand.

Don't we all know the picture of the lonely market trader sitting in her Christmas market stall, looking out and feeling kind of sorry for her because she looks so pathetic? How can she survive?? Thought it a thousand times, right?

What is this assumption based on? We see a person sitting in a stall full of goods and no one buys from him. We may feel pity or incomprehension as to why one chose such a career. What we don't know is that this person can make as much sales in a day as some people make monthly. Cool. How can that be?  

Of course it takes courage to take the special path. The path that most people can't even imagine because they don't KNOW it. Because they don't know what's possible when you take the first step. I'm not just talking about market trading here, but about any unconventional professions online and offline that may not yet have reached the radar of the general public.

Of course, you always need the right strategy, a certain amount of experience and the decision FOR something in order to be able to make a really good living from it. But you learn all these things as you go. You will never do everything “right” from day 1 or get the biggest sales. But you will LEARN how to do it. You can learn so much in just a few years that you can build a solid 6-figure business - online, offline or a combination thereof.

Let's get back to the question I've been asked over and over again. YES – I have always been able to make a living from it. When I started selling at markets ten years ago, I sold for a month and then traveled for 10 months (alone, with a backpack and without having to work). When I started to scale the idea, I was able to grow the sales even further. I was able to reinvest and increase profits. I'm now at the point where I no longer want to grow, but rather maintain a solid, sustainable sales level. Why? Because bigger doesn't mean better, because bigger means paying a lot more taxes and because bigger also costs a lot of time that I'd rather spend with my children.

With this article I want to encourage you not to be unsettled when other people doubt your career path. I want to encourage you to do what your heart tells you. I want to show you that it is usually easier than you think. I want to assure you that you can generate a stable income if you stand behind your idea and make a few strategic decisions. If you need encouragement on this matter – write to me. I like to share my experiences.

Your Steffi