January 2 - The Tools

January 2. Day #2 in the books. So far, I’m always going to lag a day for posting about previous day. Maybe if I get my system refined enough I could post at the end of my days, but we’ll see.

Right now, I’m trying to hone my system. I’m using only a couple simple tools.

1. Kitchen Scale. Seems obvious if I’m doing a challenge centered around weight that I’d need to have something to weigh things, but you can do this 800 gram challenge by eyeballing and googling items. And sometimes it’s flat out necessary to do a reasonable guess if you are not at home or don’t have a scale readily available. For me, right now, I’m weighing everything unless absolutely can’t. And I haven’t run into I can’t yet. Cost: these can be purchased in expensively at Walmart, most grocery stores or Amazon.

2. Small spiral bound notebook. I have a food tracker app as well on my phone that I will talk about next, but just having the spiral notebook does make it easier especially if I need to do math. For example, yesterday I had cut up oranges. Generally, I’d peel the orange then weigh it. Today they were precut. So I weighed them as served and then weighed the peels after and subtracted it back out. Also, I can write the weight of the specific food item on the left and a running tally on the right side. I can’t see a running total for grams on my app, just calories. Cost: less than $5 and can be purchased at any grocery or dollar store.

3. Lose It Phone App. I’m using this for tracking all my food right now. Seems a little redundant to write it down on a spiral notebook and in my app, but right now I just need the extra help. For me, this app, is more about tracking my calories. Right now, I’m customizing my tracking in it in a way. For example, I’m putting all of my fruits and veggies under snack, so I can look in one section and get a snapshot of what I’ve ate so far. It’s much easier than tracking what fruits/veggies I ate in the breakfast section then add that to lunch then add that to dinner and snacks, etc. It’s not a perfect system. A little clunky for what I’m trying to do, but I’m making it work at the moment. Cost: I currently use the annual subscription for $19.99. When I started years ago, I used the free version. It worked great for a long time, but with the extra features you get included with a subscription I figured it was worth it. The free version didn’t allow you to pre-plan your days’ calories which is nice if you want to meal plan in advance. Right now, they are selling a lifetime subscription for $59.99.

4. Phone camera. Sometimes it’s just easier to snap a picture of what you weighed than to stop and write it down. Cost: free with phone.

January 1 - New Year, New Beginnings

I started this website back in 2016. It was out of desperation. I didn’t know what I was going to do or how I could develop this, but I had to have the escape from the job I was working at. That job eventually got imploded, and I got a better job. Years went by, and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I’ve never let the website go. I’ve neglected it, but not completely abandoned it. This year with some renewed vigor and little more clarity in my direction, I’m going to go for it again.

When I named this site, I knew I had a love for systems. I’m a trained accountant, and I have financial systems that I’m going to share, but it’s more than that. I have a system for everything. Systems make goals achievable. Want to lose weight? You start a system of eating right and exercising. Systems are the building blocks of success. As such, you all (or few, as my reach is not very large) will be my accountability partner for my new year health system - the 800 gram challenge. Not taking anything out of the diet, but adding in 800 grams of fruits and vegetables. I did this last year for 30 days and eventually faded out after the group I was in completed the 30 days. I felt so much better while on this plan. It’s not a diet, but you are so full just eating the good stuff, it’s easier to say no the junk. I also love that this plan and system is focused on the good - what you can have. Looking forward to reporting all the good things! Day #1 in the books!

Where am I?

This morning I accompanied my husband on a business trip to Milwaukee. I know...so romantic... Milwaukee in January, but with 5 kids and full time jobs, I jumped at the idea of a few days alone with my husband. Think conversations without interruptions.

On our flights this morning, there was tremendous cloud cover and fog above Milwaukee. When we made our descent, we went into the clouds and could only see white. We didn't see anything until we landed. The pilot handled it beautifully. But it reminded me of when my dad got his pilot license. I remember it well. He was learning about the clouds and atmosphere for flying while I was learning it for fifth grade science. I particularly remember part of his training involved flying with a hood covering the front windshield of the plane. This is meant to train a pilot to fly by instruments versus the visual senses that can disappear in bad weather. I expressed my concern on how dangerous it would be to fly without being able to see. He explained that in dense clouds you can't trust your senses. You can't tell whether you are up, down, going east or west. Instrument training was vital to keeping yourself on course and getting you to your destination.

Today, as I keep trekking along with my business, I was challenged to find my instruments. To determine what my tools were to keep me on the right track. Do I need a coach? Do I need an accountability partner? Do I need written down goals? What are going to be the instruments I need to get me out of the clouds and to my destination?

Money Monday - Email

Legitimizing my business

So this week, I want to talk about a small expense with a big impact. It's what I call a business legitimizing expense. 

Shortly after I registered for college, the college assigned me my first official .edu email address. This address gave me legitimacy as a college student. It allowed me to register for classes, view my transcript, and pay my bill. Plus, it gave me perks because I could authenticate myself as a college student. I was in awe of the power this simple college.edu address had given me.

When I first started this side hustle, I didn't consider an email address as a top priority. But shortly after, I had the thought of how seriously would I take someone who supposedly had their own business but when they sent me their email, it was from a personal account? There's a certain degree of formalness and seriousness that comes from getting an email from a "company" address. 

Plus this might be a stretch here, but stick with me. ........

It creates trust. If you have an email with your domain address, it means you have a website. And a website builds trust. First thing I do when I'm checking out someone or something- scour their web page. And if your business doesn't have a webpage, a) you're super old school or b) you haven't even invested enough into your gig to get a webpage up and letting everyone know what your about. I will make allowances to those in the first group, but the second group, they will have to work harder for me to trust them because I don't know them. 

So just to wrap this up, why not have an email? It was slightly painful for this tech newbie, but I managed! And it's so worth the minimal cost. I set up an email account with Google. I received a "free period" then went to the $5 a month plan. Next step, build that email list!

Let me know what your email experiences have been rachel@redheadsystem.com

Consistency is H.A.R.D.

Consistency is H.A.R.D. When I started this business back in May, I just took a leap.

I knew I wanted to do it.

I knew I didn't have everything laid out.

I knew I didn't have my niche detailed.

BUT I just KNEW I had to start.

I had to get going. I have analysis paralysis, and it has nabbed me too many times. I had creative impulses bubbling up in me, and I had to get them out.

So I began. I began hoping to consistently just get one post out a week, just one. How simple is that? Who doesn't have time for that right?

Uh, bad idea.

It was if I was begging the universe to line up against me. I kept up the first few weeks.

Then life happened.

My 9 to 5 got insane. My family got busy. And the weakest link gave. It's the New Year's resolution in February. I had all the bluster and commitment of January 1. Then it just got hard.

So here I am again. Willing to commit once again. Change my strategy a tad. Bend it to fix my schedule better. Work it again. It won't guarantee I will succeed. It won't guarantee I won't mess up again. But I won't quit. And maybe right now, that's all the consistency I have that I will not quit. I will consistently keep trying again.

Money Monday - Training

So far, I've went over the cost of setting up my website. It was two parts: domain costs and hosting/building website. 

The next cost I incurred was for some training on creating an online class. Currently, I teach as an adjunct instructor at our local community college. One of the classes I regularly teach is an online class, so I'm familiar with the format, but wanted just a little more training on how to create a course outside of the college's Blackboard Learning system. Plus I knew that teaching for college credit versus personal development/learning would be different, and I wanted some training from someone with experience. 

I found my training with Amy Porterfield's class "Courses that Convert". I first heard of Amy Porterfield on a Entrepreneur on Fire podcast. I found great value in the interview, so I started listening to her podcast. Excellent, excellent podcast. Stuffed to the brim with practical, actionable content. I enjoyed Amy's teaching style, so it was pretty obvious when her course became available that I should take it. So that's what I did. 

This is my largest expense so far coming in at $99 each month for 12 months. I could've saved a little by paying it all up front for $997, but I was still nervous about taking the course and just wasn't ready to commit to that large of a chunk right now. I could swallow the smaller amount for a longer time period as illogical as that may sound. 

Income Statement

Revenues: $0

Expenses: $20.15

-Website Domain Purchase: $20.15

-Website Building/Hosting: $194.40

-Training: $1,188

P.S.

If you'd like to check out Amy Porterfield --> www.amyporterfield.com

If you'd like to check out John Lee Dumas of EoFire --> www.eofire.com

Both Podcasts are fantastic!

Money Monday - 7/25/16 - Website Edition

Another Monday and some more financial investments into the business. So let's jump right in!

After I purchased my domain name, I needed to build a website. Now I could've paid someone to build a website, and I didn't. I didn't because I knew it was cheaper to do myself, but mostly I really wanted to understand the process. I wanted to know how it was done. I hope to be able to pass this off on someone else as my site grows, but right now, I want to know how it all works.

I had to read and learn what building a website even meant. I was utterly clueless. When people say they have a website,  I never actually considered what that meant or what it entailed or how much it cost. So this is what I figured out and a mental analogy that I used to wrap my brain around how it all ties together. Maybe it will help you. 

Home address. Think of a domain name as purchasing a piece of land. Just because you have the land doesn't mean you have a house. You've just purchased a place that you can put a house.

House. Think of a website as the house you build on the property. It can be elaborate or very simple. It can be just one room (webpage) or have several rooms (webpages).

Utilities. Not only is there the cost of building the house and any renovations that you make after the initial set up, you have to supply the house (website) month to month with water, sewer services, etc. these are your website hosting fees. Hosting fees are the storage fees for maintaining what you've built on your house. They host/store your "web files".

There are many variations of websites that have everything as an all-in-one buying domain, website, and hosting. For me, I bought my domains from different companies and my hosting and website from one company.

My two website design/building companies that I narrowed down my choices to were Wordpress and SquareSpace. I ended up going with SquareSpace because of their ease of use.  Wordpress had a steeper learning curve than I was prepared for. And I have been very pleased with my choice. SquareSpace is very friendly, clear, easy to manipulate and change. SquareSpace offers a month-to-month payment option or for a discount a full year can be purchased. I got a double discount by purchasing a full year upfront and by using a discount code I heard on John Lee Dumas' podcast Entrepreneur on Fire.

Income Statement

Revenues: $0

Expenses: $214.55

-Website Domain Purchase: $20.15

-Website Building/Hosting: $194.40

Money Monday except it's Tuesday

Money Monday

This will be a new weekly blog post covering topics of business finances. I had the idea when I was trying to figure out how much other people had put into their business to get it going and how quickly and how much of a profit they began seeing.

To start, I want to go over what I've done so far for my business. For me, just starting out, I've been very cost conscious. I don't have a business loan or a chunk of savings that can be thrown into a business start up.

For some business start ups, you just can't get around some major start up investments, but for most, I believe there are ways to start your business without losing your life savings. For me, this was very important. I wanted to start my own business, but I didn't want to financially drain my family's finances to build my dream.

So after assessing what I have and where I wanted to go, I settled on a must have cost ... a website.

I don't have a brick and mortar building, and I didn't think a Facebook business page or any other social media platform fit what I wanted. Plus, I was leery of using anyone else's sandbox. What happens if the sandbox owner completely changes the rules, and I can't operate my business the same way? Or what if they delete my information or don't show it in the way I want it shown? So bottom line, I wanted my own sandbox.

To have a website, you must have a name,

So I looked into a name.

This took longer than I hoped. I had a good case of analysis paralysis. I couldn't settle on what I wanted. Until I finally kicked myself and just picked.

I want to rabbit trail here for a minute and mention an awesome podcast I've gleaned a lot of information from lately. The podcast is by John Lee Dumas and called Entrepreneur on Fire or EOFire. It's a great source of information, inspiration, and motivation for anyone considering entrepreneurship. Anyway, one of themes I picked up while listening to several episodes was to just do it.

Don't wait until it's perfect. Do it wrong, but just get out there and just do it. So I did I picked a name and just went with it! It was such a relief to just decide...do...move on.

After the name, the rest was pretty easy. A trick I did learn while doing this was that not all domain dealers sell domains for the same price, and you also don't have to purchase them all from one site. For example, I purchased a .com and a .net from iPage and a .org from GoDaddy. So check a few different domain sites out. Some may offer your .com cheaper than others. It's worth the small amount of time investment. My total domain name investment was $20.15.

And with that I was officially off to the races!

Income Statement

Revenues: $0

Expenses: $20.15

-Website Domain Purchase: $20.15

Odd Moments of Clarity

Generally speaking, peeling potatoes is not a task you would equate with moments of complete clarity. However, who is to say when those utterly crisp clear moments are going to come and smack you right upside the head?

On a recent Sunday, I was peeling 10 pounds of potatoes for a family get together. A pretty mundane, dull task. You know the ones….where our brain goes into the equivalent of your computer's sleep mode. Everything is operating, but nothing is calculating.

So here I am peeling away, relaxed enough not to be thinking anything, but awake enough not to peel my finger, and I look down under my peelings to my peelings catcher (blanket of old newspapers) and see the title of an obituary.

"Jane Doe at the age of 64 lost her battle to pancreatic cancer after a long and heroic fight"

Jane Doe died at 64.

Wow, how sad, how tragic……but 64, that's a decent life right?

My brain immediately kicked out of sleep mode and began calculating and evaluating. It’s like a light came on. Everything was clear.

If I were to die at 64, would I be happy with my life? Would I have achieved everything I wanted? Would I be satisfied that I did my best?

Some things in my life I wasn’t perfect at, but I felt I did my best. And I could die knowing I gave it my all. Those areas were easy to see with utter clarity.

The panic and unease however sat in as I thought of my career. Was I happy? I can’t retire until I’m 60, and I would die at 64. Four years of owning my own life, determining what I would do and when I would do it without having to ask for permission if it fell during office hours. Would that be enough?

It’s almost like I couldn’t get a full breath. Would I be happy working Monday-Friday in an office chair for the next 25 years? I get 3 weeks of vacation a year which is good, but is that enough? Am I happy with seeking approval before I plan a trip anywhere? Will I be happy for 25 years asking permission to have the day off every time a child is sick? Do I love my job enough to do this 25 years?

That’s when….

It got REAL….because I knew the answers.

We all have those moments of clarity. What we do with them can be pivotal. For me, I am choosing to take the risk. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t. But after acknowledging my truth, I couldn’t just blame anyone for how my life turns out. I have a choice. And I choose action. I choose entrepreneurship.

What do you do after your moments of clarity?

My Journey to Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship isn't new to me. In fact, being so familiar with it held me back from it. I had firm beliefs about it. I had seen its benefits, and I had seen the drawbacks. I had seen what it took to be successful, and I knew success was attainable with enough grit and persistence. I wasn't afraid of the hard work. I just didn't hunger for it.  For years I thought I wanted basic. I just wanted a simple clock punching/flat salary J - O - B. I didn't want complicated. I didn't want stress. I didn't even care about being rich. I just wanted a check every two weeks. Simple. Black. White.

So to come full circle and become an entrepreneur, to actually desire it, to live it, to think about it when you get up, when you go to sleep.....let's just say has been a journey.

Most people that know me know I'm stubborn as a mule. And I was stubbornly dead set against entrepreneurship. So to finally come to that realization that entrepreneurship was only way I was going to achieve my goals was a little shocking. It's been a journey. A process. I didn't just wake up one morning and BAM know that entrepreneurship was the right move. The realization came slowly....in phases.

And so here I am now, plodding my way, building a business, MY business. And as I plod along, figuring it out, failing, and succeeding, I thought this blog would be great way to record my journey. Talk about what it took to get here.....to this decision of entrepreneurship. To talk about my plunge into the deep, my flailing, trying to figure it all out as I go, lack of expertise on the online business world. And by talking maybe I can help a few others discover their path as I describe how I got here and as I get to where I'm going. Or maybe I'm just trying to keep my sanity, and this is therapy! Whatever the reason, I'm glad that you have found me here. Welcome! Let's do this thing!

It's aaaaalive!

It's aaaaalive!

Website up and running. So excited, I want to give a girly squeal, and I am not given to girly squeals.

So pumped to finally be up and running. Thought I would never get out of the quagmire of pointing, CNAME, DNS, blah, blah, tech helpline, but I made it out.

Only a basic site, but I'm afraid I won't sleep tonight with everything swirling in my brain. I want to do it all NOW, but for now pause.....deep breath, .....I at least got it up and going. Anyone else ever get that big accomplishment high? So riding that right now...

And I didn't plan to post today, but I just had to. As impromptu and unpolished as it may be, I just had to post my first blog post on my first day live. My first official move into business. Like flipping the open sign on your business the very first day. Palms sweating, heart racing, stomach queasy. So ready for this and scared of it all at the same time.

Many, many changes and additions to come, and so far to go, but the journey has begun!