To Own My Own Business and Follow My Dream as a Writer

by Kathi MacNaughton
(Boise, ID)

I think almost my entire adult life was spent pining away for my own business. Actually, perhaps it started as a youngster, since I sold cards, etc. in my youth. But certainly as an adult, I explored a number of possible home businesses, selling Avon cosmetics and jewelry (a complete bust), selling Specialty Merchandise Corp (SMC) stuff, and more. None of that worked because I am not a salesperson. I'm a quiet, shy woman who is also a bit of a loner.

I've always enjoyed writing, being one of those rare kids who actually loved writing term papers in high school and then in college. So, as an adult, I dreamed of becoming a fiction writer, taking a home study course and buying many books on the writing biz. But I found the idea of writing a novel-length book daunting, as well as the challenge of finding an agent. It never happened...

I had a wonderful career as a program development specialist in home health care (I'm a nurse) that I loved for many years, but eventually company growth and the resulting political games ruined it, so I left. Eventually, I landed in a job that required me to write health education materials for consumers for the Web, which was a perfect fit for me.

Unfortunately, the project was poorly conceived (by management) and it didn't fly ultimately, so I was shuttled into another, less fulfilling arm of the business. The whole company eventually almost folded, and I ran like a rat from a sinking ship into my own freelance health writing business.

My freelance career was quite successful, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do. I was still subject to the whims of corporate America and not totally in control of my own destiny. Around that time, I'd also gotten interested in starting an online business of some sort.

When I discovered a book called Make Your Site Sell by a former emergency room doctor named Ken Evoy, my life started to change and my dream of my own business started to take shape.

10 years later, I have a thriving home business that sustained my dear husband during a year-long career hiatus, allowing him to refocus and rediscover what he wanted to do with his life. It has also given me the freedom to care for my ailing mother, as her life winds down thanks to emphysema.

But most importantly, I am totally my own boss... I decide what to do and when... and I absolutely LOVE what I do! Which is write content websites... I have about 10 of them, 7 of which were built using Dr. Evoy's Site Build It product. So I have fulfilled my dream of being a self-employed writer. I'm not writing novels, but the how-to kind of writing I do is probably a much better fit for my talents and skills.

I'm not rich (yet), but I live a fairly comfortable life with my soulmate and 3 dogs and I'm happy. And that is the best fulfillment of a dream I could possibly imagine!