Dear Dolphins,
I was looking through some of my older PR articles and interviews, and found this one that I did for Home Office Weekly. I thought you’d enjoy it – especially if you are thinking you might like to become a Financial Stress Reduction® Coach yourself. (Let me know if you do and I’ll email you some info!)
What’s It’s Like to Work From Home as a Workshop Leader
HOW Profile: Chellie Campbell / Workshop Leader
Year started working from home: 1995
Hours per week you work: 30
Happy at home index: 1 - miserable, 10 – nirvana. 12!!!
Success at home index: 1-can’t make ends meet 10-fabulously wealthy I'm not Bill Gates but I still consider myself a 10. Most Americans are richer than 95% of the people on the planet and I think we all need to be thinking of ourselves in that context, which puts us in the "fabulously wealthy" category. I describe myself as a "Zillionaire", which in my book "Zero to Zillionaire" is "...someone who has a zillion dreams of infinite possibility, is taking a zillion actions to make them come true, making as many zillions of dollars as possible, making a zillion friends, doing a zillion good deeds, taking a zillion naps and a zillion vacations, and having a zillion adventures in a long, fun-filled life!"
What kind of business do you have at home?
I teach Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops, which is an 8-week course designed to help people make more money and have more time off for fun at the same time. In addition, I have an active outside speaking schedule, run an on-line membership club called the "Dolphin Club", and have written two books published by Sourcebooks: Zero to Zillionaire (2006) and The Wealthy Spirit (2002). *Update: The online membership is now a Facebook Group, and my third book From Worry to Wealthy was published in 2015.
What did you do before you started a home business?
I started teaching workshops as a side-line to my 13-employee bookkeeping service business. But I quickly grew to love teaching the workshops much more than managing employees and running a larger business.
Why did you start a home business, and why this particular business?
I bought my partners out of the bookkeeping service, and shortly thereafter the biggest client we had left with 2 weeks notice. It was 75% of my income! I went into debt, lost my home to foreclosure, and filed bankruptcy. Well, okay, I could live without all that, but I loved my workshops and didn't want to give them up (even though at the time I was the most financially stressed person in the class). I saw that I could move that business home, that it was low overhead and all I needed was a telephone in order to enroll participants. So that's what I did, and the business has grown and thrived ever since. Me, too!
What was your biggest challenge in starting your home business?
At first, I believed that I was "less-than" as a home-based business on my own than I had been as the owner of a business with an office and staff. But once I experienced the freedom of planning my days for myself without interruptions, saying yes or no to things just because it was what I wanted, I bloomed here and I reveled in it! And living on the West Side of Los Angeles with all its traffic problems - you just can't beat my commute: 12 steps.
What has been your biggest challenge staying in business?
Running a workshop business is 60% sales and marketing, and 40% delivering the workshop. Once I made peace with the fact that the majority of my time was going to be spent in enrollment conversations and doing PR in order to get the word out, I was fine!
What do you love about working from home?
I'm in my pajamas right now typing this. That's one thing. On workshop days, my day looks like this:
I put the coffee on.
People show up.
I teach them.
People go home.
I turn the coffee off.
Total work time including set-up and clean-up: 3 hours
For non-workshop days, I make phone calls (it's gold calling--not cold calling) from 9:00 am to noon. Then I eat lunch, then I take a nap. Evenings I go to a networking group or speak someplace. Or I take the night off and go play poker. *Update: Now that I do the workshop as a teleclass, there is no set-up or clean-up so the total is 2 hours!
What do you hate about it?
Not a thing. It's sometimes rather solitary, but I like that. When I want to be around people, I go to a networking group meeting.
How do you inspire or motivate yourself everyday?
I say positive affirmations every day (they're in my book "The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction") and look at my "Treasure Map" or "Dream Board". That gets my energy up and running and looking forward to creating my day.
How do you separate home life from your work life?
I only work when I am in my home office, or teaching the workshops in the den. When I am not in the office, I am not working. *Note: Only clients have my cell phone number. I don’t put it on my business card. When I go on vacation, I don’t check messages or email.
Where is your office in your home?
In a separate room upstairs next to my bedroom. I teach the classes in the large family room downstairs.
What is your daily routine?
Mondays: Buffer days, paperwork days, e-mails. Teach workshop in the evening.
Tuesdays: E-mails, morning phone calls, afternoon teach class. Some evenings go to a networking meeting. *Update: my Tuesday evening classes are for my Mastermind Groups – the Dolphin Prosperity Pod – and my Financial Stress Reduction® Coaches.
Wednesdays: E-mails, morning phone calls, afternoon off, teach workshop in the evening.
Thursdays: E-mails, morning phone calls, afternoon off, sometimes an evening networking meeting.
Fridays: E-mails, pay bills, done by noon. Then off to play poker!
Note: I often take 4-day mini-vacations and so don’t work Thursday & Friday. That’s why I scheduled my classes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday!
What is your biggest (or proudest) achievement so far?
I created a life I love while creating a living. And I've helped thousands of people, through my books, workshops, and speeches to do the same. The best achievement of my life is the life I've helped others achieve. Every time one of my "Dolphins"* win big, it's just like it happened to me. And that expands the joy of my life far beyond myself.
*Note: Dolphins are friendly, smiling, successful people - as opposed to Sharks who want to eat you and Tuna who want to complain to you.
What are you working on right now to grow your business?
I've been doing a lot of PR lately -- like being on Home Office Weekly!
What advice can you give about starting a home business?
List all the rewards that don't have anything to do with money and see if you love it enough to dedicate yourself to it. Then price your product or services so that you make a lot of money and can take time off to enjoy life with vacations and travel. Learn how to SELL well - selling is serving: find people that want what you have and help them to have it.
If you had to do it all over again, what would you do (or not do)?
I would have dumped the bookkeeping service and moved the workshop business home sooner!
