pregnant with a second child and after having him, I found taking both of my babies to daycare to be even harder.
Starting in 2004, I spent the next 2 years looking for something that would allow me to quit my job as a senior collector and business analyst with this large corporate, world wide, insurance company so that I could be home with my kids and stop paying out money for childcare. It really hurt me to know that someone else was raising my kids.
This is what I tried as I desperately searched for work at home and the money I spent doing it....
I have always loved children so I thought the perfect opportunity would be to get paid to take care of them in my own home. I paid $1500.00 for an at home study program to become certified in Early Childhood Development so that I could open up my own daycare from home. Half-way through the course I decided I didn't want to take care of other people's kids after all. I just wanted to give my attention all to my own children.
I was hearing all kinds of things about all kinds of people who were processing medical claims from home. Perfect!! I once was a pre-med major in college and the field seemed to fit so I paid $1800 for a course in Medical Billing. I actually finished this course. I then purchased the software to start doing this at home ($350). Along with that I had to get an office set up and start advertising because after graduating I found out that you don't just jump in and work for someone at home. You have to start your own business from scratch and that all takes more money. So, I dumped in another $200 - $300 on advertising and got nowhere before I ran out of money. I could not compete with the big billing companies in my town. I could go work for them, but that totally defeated my intentions of working at HOME!!
I remember one day getting this home based business magazine in the mail. I was sitting at the table reading this article and I quickly found myself dreaming. I was reading about this stay at home mom of two boys that was making over $250,000 a year from home. Her name was Janie Jones. For about five minutes I sat in my dream world before getting up and showing my husband and saying, "Would you look at this! Can you believe they put this stuff in these magazines to make you fall for these scams?" I remember pitching the magazine in the trash.
SO, if you are keeping track, I am now out over $3800.00 and I am still not making any money from home and I was starting to become convinced that REAL PEOPLE didn't really become successful at home afterall. At that point I was BROKE!! I resorted to the online stuff I was finding that was free. I tried the surveys, I tried reading emails, I tried writing articles, doing research, I tried this company called Cha Cha, I even tried this mock jury thing. NONE of which paid me a DIME!!!
Finally, I found a collection agency out of Texas that hired telecommuters. I was hired by them to be a credit card bill collector. Yes, I was one of THOSE people! But who cared, right? I was going to be working at home!! I put in my 2 week notice at my corporate job so that I could finally work at home. I was told after I started that I needed to purchase special phone equipment, special programs for my computer, even a door for my office because there had to be complete silence while I was working. So, I spent $500 to get the things I needed for this company and none of it was reimbursed to me. I was not allowed to leave my office during my shift unless it was for my scheduled 1 hour lunch. I was not allowed to leave to take my kids to the doctor and if I had to it needed to be pre-approved and I had to make my time up on a Saturday night. I still needed to have childcare, because I obviously couldn't take care of my kids while I was locked in my office. This was absolutely NOT what I had in mind when I envisioned myself working at home.
I put in my two week notice with that company because I was completely miserable. I had nothing else to fall back on. I cut my ties with my old company, I couldn't get my billing business off the ground, the internet stuff was not working and the bills were piling up!!
I started investigating the home based businesses that I had been hearing so much about. Initially, I thought they were scams because they required start up fees. I spent a lot of time and effort looking and researching, though. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't passing up something that may be real just because I wasn't educated on them. I looked at all kinds of lotions and potions, all kinds of candles and makeup and "green" products too. One of my friends was at my house twice trying to get me to join her in her Arbonne business. I just couldn't find my passion in any of these products. They weren't me at all.
One night I was online doing something other than looking for work at home. It was a rare occurance, but I needed to find our family a dental plan. We had lost ours when I quit my job and my daughter needed to go to the dentist. I found this family dental plan and was printing everything off to show my husband the next day. I had then stumbled across a website recruiting people to work with this very same company. I spent the next 5 hours researching every single thing I could about this company. I filled out the form on this website to get more information emailed to me and I researched and printed all that out too.
I really could hardly believe what I had found. The company I found was called AmeriPlan®. It was the same company I was prepared to tell my husband about the next day regarding the dental plan for our family. I finally found a business that appealed to me. One that I saw a NEED for. Heck, we NEEDED it! I found a business that I didn't have to hold parties with or sell from a catalog with. I found one that would give my family benefits and a future.
Now, let me tell you this.... I am not a salesperson. I couldn't sell a sandwich to a starving man. I am, however a people person. I do love to talk and I love to meet new people. I found that this business was made up of tons of people just like me with no experience at all. I did a ton of research on the company. I spent a long time trying to decide if it was right for me. Finally, my husband told me to just give it a shot. He said, "what do you have to lose at this point?". Now, I am sure you can guess that I was still very skeptical. After trying everything under the sun and spending over $4,000 I really couldn't afford to fall on my face again. So, I cautiously invested just a little bit of our savings in my hopes of finally finding a future for my family.
Well, here I am two and a half years later and I am still with AmeriPlan®. I have made 5 promotions and I have a business that is paying me for life. I am currently making nearly $50,000 a year and I'm on track to making $100,000 by summer of 2010 (after only being in my business for 2 1/2 years!!) Oh, and remember that magazine I told you I threw in the trash with that article about that stay at home mom? Well, I ended up working with her! I had no idea until about 6 weeks into my business, but indeed, I am working very closely with Janie Jones. To the right you'll see the magazine and a picture of myself with Janie at an elite leadership conference that I was invited to last year.
I finally have something that will give my children the future that I always wanted to provide. Yes, this business is awesome! Yes, I will be here in the years to come! Yes, I finally found the right thing to keep me at home!!
If you would like to talk to me about following in my footsteps with AmeriPlan®, please feel free to call me direct: 260-918-3614. Or request an interview: CLICK HERE and I can give you a call and we can talk about this business and see if it would be a good fit for you and your family.
You can also listen to me talk about this company and our opportunity by calling: (616) 712-1735. It's a 10 minute recorded call that will give you all the details. Jot down your questions and then give me a call and I can get them all answered for you! (260-918-3614 - home office or 866-214-1650 - toll free).
I would love to help you work at home, just like I have been doing for the last two years.
"Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity"--
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
To Request an Interview to Work with Christina, CLICK HERE.
