Almost ten years ago, I decided to ditch my day job and decided to work from home. My job back then was stressful, and on top of that, the long working hours meant not being to spend a lot of time with my family. At the same time, I wanted to be a more hands-on dad to my son whose first steps and words I didn't get to see or hear.
I was confident in leaving my day job because I knew there are several means to make money online and work from home. My first online job was as a virtual assistant for an Internet marketing firm. This job involved writing articles and providing administrative support. The income I received from doing this job was about the same amount that my previous employer gave me, but what surprised me was that I had more money by month's end as a virtual assistant. This is because I no longer pay for fuel or transport, or buying new clothes to replace old ones.
During my stint as a virtual assistant I became familiar with various online marketing strategies. Eventually, this familiarity developed into interest, and I signed up for seminars and took supplemental courses to learn the industry's best practices with the intent of starting an online marketing firm and be my own boss.
It was a good thing that my better half took up web design in college so we were able to build a one-stop shop providing services from the creating the website, optimizing it, and strengthening its presence on the World Wide Web. Being a one-stop shop worked to our advantage and our customer base began to expand through referrals. To attract customers, we made sure that our website showed our level of expertise and that we rank highly on the Web. Our first clients were non-profit organizations and blog owners.
Eventually our customer base expanded and we now cater to businesses from various sectors. Our first office was a rarely used shed in our garden. By repurposing this shed, we were able to start our business for a relatively small cash outlay. Fate has been kind to us and now we now have a physical storefront in the city center. To accommodate the growing number of orders, my wife and I made the decision to hire additional staff. We wanted to give other people the ability to make money online from their own homes, so majority of our staff do telework.
Running an online marketing agency is not the easiest thing to do, but it is very worthwhile. You also have to make systems that are in line with industry's best standards to make sure that project are done right and on time. It also requires a good eye to notice errors and quickly troubleshooting them. In this industry where change is ever-present, readiness to entertain new ideas is also an important attribute.
Starting an Internet marketing company has its own share of risks. For one, there is that possibility of you not meeting your customer's needs or preferences. Security risks, like virus and hacker attacks, can also disrupt business operations which can lead to loss in client confidence and consequently revenues. However, these risks are not entirely unmanageable.
My company is now in its tenth year and so far there have been no interruptions in the inward cash flow, in fact, you could say its growing each year. I could say from experience that being a stay-at-home parent is really not bad at all.
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