The following is an excerpt from the book Get Paid For Who You Are.
For 18 years Vicki Hoefle had taught six-week parenting classes that changed lives. As she approached retirement, it occurred to her that by filming the class, she could create a product to sell online which would fulfill two goals: create a passive income stream and enable her to travel to see her kids once they left home. She had no start- up money and no internet or marketing experience. She was also raising five teenagers at the time.
In her words, “I began by writing a basic business plan and my product began to take shape. I took every training program I could afford and i hired people to help me. together with my partner and team, we developed a multi-media product (video, audio and workbook) with a one-year membership to an online forum. In less than a year, we increased our database from 500 to 1200 people. Our income rose from $26,000 a year to $75,000 a year in less than two years. In the last six months, we have expanded our customer base from vermont to all of the U.S. and into Canada, and i just started my personal blog (www.parentingontrack.com). I have wonderful new relationships with people I never would have met had I not expanded my work in this direction. I love knowing that i am changing lives today, which will impact the next generation of leaders.”
Vicki’s advice? “Ask a million questions and then ask some more. Know that you will make countless mistakes and that’s oK. and surround yourself with people who are smarter, funnier, cuter and richer than you are.”
The following is an excerpt from the book Get Paid For Who You Are.
Consider this. When tina Maria’s husband was diagnosed with a wheat allergy she spent months learning about how to cook for him. after cleaning out her pantry, pulling together a load of new recipes (including learning how to recreate some of his favorite dishes) she had developed a set of tips and insights on how to help her husband and her family adjust to the new lifestyle. She was neither a doctor nor a nutritionist, but she was on the front line fighting her husband’s allergy and began to acquire quite a bit of expert advice to share with other families in a similar situation.
She was hesitant at first to start an interactive blog and to write her ebook because she didn’t feel like an expert — but then she reminded herself that she knew more than most people and what she knew could save another family a lot of trial and error. She found friends to help her set up her website and to edit her book. She shied away from public speaking engagements, but found she did very well running small counseling groups. Soon she was gathering enough varied input that she could start her own newsletter.
Despite her initial self-doubt, she successfully shared her insights, helped others and made money doing so.
The following is an excerpt from the book Get Paid For Who You Are.
When Jillian Wells became wheelchair bound, she felt the despair of anyone whose freedom and independence is limited. Yet she was the sort of person to do whatever she could, no matter what, and she began to devour all she could read or hear about new ventures to enrich her life.
She wanted to run online forums on self-development for women, but she had no business experience or knowledge of computers. What she did have was lots of determination and a willingness to make it happen. She began by borrowing her business partner’s website, and started advertising on facebook and e-academy. The online forums she created were deeply satisfying and transforming — for the women who attended, and for her.
Her other passion is running a lighthouse in australia with guest accommodations. the lighthouse website was very old, so she contacted the web designer and reworked the entire site to make it more interactive (www.pointhicks.com.au). as a result, she is getting at least four enquiries a day, which translates into more bookings. She’s the first to admit, “My lifestyle has greatly improved and i feel i’m making a difference for others and myself.”
I got an email last week from a woman in London and this was – I get about a hundred emails a day – the most amazing email I’ve ever received in my life. It started off by saying “Dear David, in April of 2000 you sat next to my husband on a plane”. She went on “You may not remember so here’s some details and here’s a photo.” So I brought up the photo, and I called my partner Bronwyn in and I said “Read this – you know, this is amazing, I think I remember this guy, I met him on a plane. It was a lot of fun.”
The email went on to say that this woman had had a really big life experience and now she wanted to contribute to the world, and she wondered if my training school could help her to make that contribution. The next line said “My husband Simon was hosting a conference at the World Trade Center in the Windows of the World Restaurant on September 11th 2001 and his body was never recovered.” She then went on to say she was seven months pregnant at the time and two months later she gave birth to their son. So firstly we were happily reading the email and then we got to this, and what amazed me – after I’d grieved for this guy whom I’d only met for five hours – was, this woman is extraordinary. What she wants to do with her experience is help people around the world move through grief using coaching.
Now we all know that grief is a therapy issue, normally, but she found that coaching helped her to take control of her life and to work out what she wanted, and that’s what moved her. So she’s got a charity set up, she’s got trustees and that’s what she wants to do for the planet. So what I got present to, although I don’t even want to give it a name, (and there are so many words we can give it, – you’ve heard of ‘the spirit of coaching’ and so on) is that the good stuff in coaching is really about people wanting to make an impact on the planet. Yes, no? – are you a bit stunned? I was.
