I started a maid service from home two months before the recession hit. At the time, I knew it was now or never due to the chance I had to borrow the money. We threw $25,000 (loan) into the business, mostly into advertising. This included $1200 a month in phone book advertisements and thousands a month for commercials on the radio station. But the phone rarely rang and that only went from bad to worse. (My suggestion to anyone, do not use these means of advertising.) Our one chance to be small business owners was going down the drain and I could see our personal finances following. We had all of the usual issues that come up with running a business: insurance claims, maids stealing our clients and equipment and maids not showing up for work. We never were able to find more than 2 decent employees at a time, so I often found myself cleaning houses myself to keep from losing clients. Unfortunately that meant I was not there to answer the phone to get more clients, and we needed every last random call.

It got worse every month, and every bill, both business and personal, fell behind. We soon had $100,000 of debt in loans and credit cards and all of our utilities were always paid a month behind. Every bill that could be paid late was late. My husband was working two jobs as we continued to pump money (our own money, now that the loan had run out) into the business. I was trying to get every cleaning job I could for myself or someone else who worked for us. We had to, because we were under contracts and we had to pay that $1200 phone book advertisement bill each month for a year. We also were under contract for a $250 phone bill each month (phone, fax and credit card lines) and that contract was not up for three years. On top of that there was the contract for the credit card terminal as well as business insurance, equipment and supplies (maintenance, repair and new), increased utilities for the business, and then we also had to eat! We cut everything we could from our personal budget while we watched the business gobble up every dollar that we brought in from our jobs. All we could do was hold on.

I was never one who paid her bills late. I had great credit! Realization of how bad things were hit when I had to get a loan against my paid off car! We had two yard sales and sold everything we could bear to part with. We went without as much as we could and we ate FRUGALLY every day for months (lots of rice). My husband and I did not talk about it because it was too difficult to talk about when there was nothing we could do. Needless to say, it put a strain on our marriage. We considered bankruptcy for both the business and personally, but hated to do it. I could not eat and I could not sleep. So I got up in the middle of the night one night and started playing on the internet. I found a random article written by a man who said he made extra money doing surveys. He suggested a couple of survey panels to check out. I signed up with the panels he suggested that night and I searched for more. Any time I was not answering the phone for the business or cleaning a house I was either participating in an online survey sponsored by a brand name company or participating in a focus group sponsored by a brand name company. Focus groups were amazing to me! I could make $25 - $300 for giving my opinion for 20 minutes to three hours. I was picky as I was continuously searching for more as I did not want to get scammed! Within a month I had signed up for around 60 legitimate survey panels and focus groups, and the checks, cash through Paypal, Visa Gift Cards and gift certificates started coming in. It was ok income. I said to myself, if I can do this with 60 panels, what can I do with 60 more? If I was not participating in a survey or focus group, I was signing up with more panels, up to 20 panels a day. I also signed up for mystery shopping panels (be careful! Only sign up with legit ones I post about on this blog. I have checked them all out with the BBB thoroughly!) and other ways to make money from home. I found such random, wonderful things! Who knew I could make money off letting companies advertise on my car?! I also found some legit work from home call center jobs through companies who sought to outsource employees or independent contractors to take customer service calls at home. On top of making money, I found out about new ways to save money at home. Within 2 months I had a full time income. I kept participating and I kept signing up for more. I started telling my friends and family about it. I had checks, gift certificates, Visa Gift Cards, free samples and products to test in my mailbox every day. I got free merchandise and products to test delivered by UPS and Fed Ex almost every day. I received cash and checks when I went to participate in focus groups in person. I also participated in focus groups over the phone and online.

Our situation was turning around and our bills were getting caught up more each month. The product testing and free samples helped our grocery bill, as did the mystery shopping. With all of the extra income, our menu was not rice any more. We were able to shop for gifts for Christmas using the gift cards I received from survey panels. I also used the Amazon Gift Cards to shop for our groceries in bulk through Amazon – free shipping when you subscribe for monthly deliveries! I realized that this could only get better and better. I had a list of hundreds more survey panels and focus groups to sign up with. But even in a situation that was getting better for us, I read the news each day when I turned on my computer. People were losing their jobs each day. People were desperate. Their houses and cars were being taken away from them and they had to explain to their children that there was nothing to eat. I thought, if I can just get the information out there and let others know what I am doing, people can better their situation. Maybe they won’t want to do this forever, but maybe it will get them through until they can find a job. Maybe it will pay that power bill before the power gets turned off. Maybe a box of cereal to product test will come just in time so their daughter or son has something to eat for breakfast.

I started a blog, www.realwomenrealmoneyworkfromhome.blogspot.com, and posted daily. I posted my tips for making and saving money. I also started spending some time trying to get the word out about the blog. I got the word out for free mostly but occasionally would spend $25 here or there to advertise. I felt $25 was not a lot for helping people help themselves. I started getting to know my readers through comments and emails and reading about their situations. Then a wonderful thing happened! I started getting emails and comments about the cash, checks, gift certificates, Visa Gift Cards and products they were receiving by using my tips. One day it occurred to me, had the maid service never started failing, I would have never been able to help anyone. I might have gone on my selfish way had the maid service been an instant success. I had to fail to succeed and I had to fail to help others succeed. My failure was a success! At that point I felt that this was meant to be. I was supposed to fail and find my true calling. Now I could pay my bills and help others pay theirs at the same time. It is not that it is not nice to make sure a client comes home to a clean house. But it cannot compare to the emails I get telling me I helped a family keep their heat on because the wife went to a focus group and got paid $125 just in time. I cannot explain the feeling I get from that. I have to say, I am happy the maid service started failing. I truly mean that!

We still have the maid service (update: closed the maid service in 2009)as we are still in the middle of contracts and right now we are unsure of the future of our first business. We judge the economy by how often the phone rings and it started ringing noticeably more often in March of 2009. We have folks working for us who depend on us for work, so maybe we will continue. We are also considering a different business after the economy recovers (I am not one to give up). But there is one thing I know for sure! The blog is here to stay as is my never ending quest to find even more ways to make money and save money from home. Because even if I am blessed to not need these tips, not need any more ways to make money from home and not need to sign up for a new survey panel, there is someone out there who does. It is the most rewarding work I have ever done and I never would have found the lining to my cloud had I not been on the internet after getting up during the night, worrying about bills. My advice to others is, learn everything you can from your failures. As you learn from them, do not be afraid to open up and let others learn from your failures. It can be embarrassing to lay it all out there for everyone to see, but it can be powerful information for someone else. No one wants to hear someone giving them advice about how to pull themselves up if that person has not been there themselves.

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And that is how it all began! I do not know that man's name who wrote that first article I saw, but I am thankful he did!