by The Happy WAHM
Early this year, I wrote about personal branding and why it is something that any entrepreneur should seriously consider having. It’s not about a business brand. Not yet, at least. But a personal one.
But what is personal branding, really?
According to Wikipedia, personal branding is essentially the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others about an individual, group, or organization.
If I am to put it simply, personal branding is that image created in a person’s mind when they connect with your name, specific skills and reputation. When people see or hear The Happy WAHM, what comes to mind?
In online fora, particularly the groups on Facebook, I would get tagged when someone asks about virtual assistance, WordPress, time management, independent homeschooling, and even WAHM-ing without a helper and working bra-less.
Yes, that happens.
When attending conferences and I get introduced as Marge Aberásturi, I’d be greeted with a polite smile and a handshake. But when The Happy WAHM gets tacked on to my name, it’s a different story. There’s an instant recognition, and even a feeling of connection. And then the questions begin… 🙂
This year, I can’t count the number of times I got tagged, or someone posted a link on my timeline, for things related to crochet.
So yes, I have established that recall in people’s minds about who I am, what I do, and what I’m good at.
But this did not happen overnight.
This is something that I worked hard for over time. I worked hard on establishing my core purpose. For years, I stayed consistent with my message. Until finally, I was ready to have a visual representation. Wasn’t it just last month that I finally had my visual branding done?
I’ve always been about walking the talk, leading by example, creating opportunities and all that jazz. I don’t talk about topics that do not resonate. That’s why I had, on several occasions, turned down sponsored posts. I don’t want to get paid publishing articles I did not write. I want to stay true to my personal brand, so I would only agree to a paid post if my conditions are met. Like, I have to personally write the whole article (no copy-pasting of media kit), it has to be written in my voice, and it has to be for a brand that I have actually used, or will use. Like who would believe me if I write an article about make up?
When I first created the module for the Hobbies to Business Workshop, I was only thinking about how I could help my fellow crafters gain confidence in starting a business by simply doing what they love. I never thought I’d go as far as including personal branding in the series. And yet, here I am, preparing workshop materials for the second run of Hobbies to Business, happening on January 21.
And the progression makes sense. An attendee of the first Hobbies to Business workshop asked me: “How do I convert the likes that I get on Facebook to real sales?” Good question!
An inexperienced soul would likely jump into marketing strategies and conversion. But… and that’s a big BUT… what will you market? Your product? What about your product? I can buy that same product you are selling from another seller.
And this is where your personal branding comes in. Again, this is different from business branding. Personal branding is all about you. And this is not limited to having products to sell. The product may be the service you provide, and so the personal aspect is even more important, because it is you, your skills, your values, your attitude.
Your skill and your passion make up your values. Your skill and your experience make up your strengths. Your passion and your experience make up your ideals. Your values, your strengths, and your ideals make up your brand.
I have this on Kindle, Over The Top by Zig Ziglar, and while he is not really talking about personal branding per se, to me it kind of resonates that way. Your personal brand will take you from merely surviving to a position of stability, and from stability to success, and from success to significance.
So will you join me on January 21?
I sure hope so!
Remember, you don’t have to be a crafter or a hobbyist to attend the Hobbies to Business workshop. All you need is an idea that you want to create a business on, and I can help you make it happen.
Oh, by the way…
Some attendees from the first run of the workshop in August will be joining me in this second run, not as attendees, but SPONSORS! They have taken up the courage to act on their ideas, and are now well on their way to establishing their businesses and their brands.
See, learning does not stop on the day of the workshop. All attendees of the Hobbies to Business workshop series continue to receive guidance and coaching from me through an online forum that I have created exclusively for them. Because really, I cannot expect people to absorb what I share and hit the ground running in just one day. Some may still dilly-dally. Some may still be afraid. Some need a longer time to let the ideas sink in. And that is totally okay. It has to be done intentionally and purposefully, so I continue the coaching after the workshop and get to know my attendees on a more personal level.
So if you’re ready to join the fun, register now!
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
Hobbies to business, is it even possible?
The answer is a resounding YES!
I know, because I’ve done it, and you can do it, too!
Just as I’ve been able to create a career from our humble home, I have yet again succeeded in creating an income stream from a hobby that I only started to de-stress – crocheting.
Gosh, I didn’t even know I had in it me. Like I never crocheted in my life! And then one day, I found myself trying to learn it, and once I learned the basics, I was hooked! Pun intended.
And I’m the last person on earth who would call me creative. When I was still trying to figure out how we would survive with just my husband’s income, with a pile of debt and three very young kids, I considered doing desktop publishing. This was at the time that I was already doing transcription, but of course what I was earning from transcription was just enough to cover utilities expense. And because I have a supportive family, and a circle of very supportive friends, I did receive a number of orders for business cards, invitations and letterheads.
But alas! It was not something that I could really do long term. I would spend hours designing (if you could even call it that) and spend more hours revising, editing, and most of the time, completely changing my work. I went through a lot of unproductive hours before I admitted to myself, and to the world, that no, I can’t make a living out of desktop publishing or anything that has to do with graphics or design.
So I went on to assess my skills, my God-given talent, my passion.
And discovered I have a knack for organization, process flow, building up on ideas, creating opportunities, and meddling coaching. 🙂
Yup! I meddle a lot. Poking my nose on other people’s business. Trying to be helpful. Although my clients see that as a welcome initiative. 🙂
That’s how I built my career as a virtual professional. By finding my core and working on my purpose.
I’m very comfortable where I am now as a virtual assistant. You wouldn’t believe the nights I spent worrying about losing a client because a lot of people have joined the bandwagon. It seemed like everybody wanted to leave corporate to escape the daily horrors of traffic, be able to be hands-on moms, keep flexible hours, and do what they want with their time. And because a lot of them don’t have experience, they were charging in disrespectful rates.
But guess what? A lot of them left the race just as quickly as they came.
Reasons?
- They are not earning enough to make a difference.
- Time management is a challenge.
- They lack most of the skills their clients need.
- The hours are not what they thought would be flexible.
- No job security.
- No benefits.
And I have to agree with all those.
Virtual assistance is stressful.
It’s worse than being in corporate, actually. When you are left to operate on your own, how much you earn is based solely on how hard and and how smart you work. No assurance of a salary bi-monthly. Heck, there’s not even an assurance that you’d still have a client next month.
That’s why I had to take on a hobby. I.HAD.TO. To keep my sanity in check.
But even in choosing a hobby, I had to be practical. I didn’t want something that I would have to spend on. So I decided to try to learn crochet, because we already have an impressive inventory of yarns.
After I posted a photo of my first completed project on Facebook, inquiries came in. Inquiries turned to orders, and the rest is history.
I have since created a website, a Facebook page, and ta-da! I have gone ahead and registered the business!
Hobbies to business? Yes, it is possible!
But… but… but… HOW?
Well, it did not happen overnight. I did not merely wish for it to happen. I went through a process.
And you know what’s the hardest part?
To get started. That’s what.
And this is where I want to meddle again. To help you answer these questions:
- Where do you want to go with your hobby?
- Would you still enjoy your hobby once you have turned it to a business?
- What are the different ways you can turn your hobby into a business?
- Everybody says you need to make a plan. What are the steps in making one?
- Can you sell what you can create?
- You don’t have a target market, how do you create one?
And it will not stop there.
Relationships matter.
My vision is to be able to create a support community for like-minded souls who are ready to act on their dreams of turning their hobbies to business.
I want to connect people so we can build a support network along the way. Collaboration instead of competition. Suppliers, merchants, affiliates… the whole nine yards. Maybe even partnerships.
And this will begin on August 27, at The Parenting Emporium in New Manila.
Check out the page now and register early. This one is going to be awesome!
[photo credit: pixabay]
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
It’s been a week!
I debuted with my first batch of yarn mixes last Saturday, and after a week, I’m still reeling and giddy with excitement. I don’t think the excitement will ever die. I think it will forever stay with me, because just as I have been, and continue to be, passionate with the virtual career I started in 2006, my passion for crochet will live in my heart forever.
Every day is a new day. Every day brings a new level of enthusiasm and eagerness to create something, anything, with my yarns. They’re a delight to see, a pleasure to hold and a joy to work with.
Now that we’ve plunged into the business side of my hobby, the passion doubled. Maybe tripled even. And the hubby is with me on this all the way. Even the kids actively participate. They do their own mixes, help me with building up my catalog and cheer me up when I get frustrated.
My VA life can get so stressful at times, and now that we got into mixing specialty yarns for crocheters and string artists, winding up cakes also mean unwinding from being a VA. Creating the mixes takes me to another plane, where I don’t have to think about time zone differences, or phone consultations, or dead links, or planning a trip.
For me, it has become a lot more than just a hobby. It’s even something greater than making money.
Passion. Integrity. Commitment. Heart. The whole nine yards. Those are what Crafted Crafts is about.
So here I am. Unwinding while I write this post. And later, I’ll be up and winding again. Can’t wait to try the new combination that my firstborn gave me yesterday. Watch out for our Aladdin mix on March 30!
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
And indulge, I will!
I’m just so happy to have met Sheila and Jherae, the ladies who introduced me to Sugar-Free yarns.
And I will forever be grateful to my dear friend, Regina, for introducing me to these lovely artistic women.
When I learned how to crochet, the only yarn I knew was Red Heart. We have a large bin full of Red Heart SuperSaver yarns that my brother brought home from the US. And then there’s the milk cotton variety that I buy from an online seller. But they’re kind of expensive for a WAHM hobbyist from a single income household.
When I met Sheila and Jherae, they introduced me to a whole new world of yarns. From them I learned how to choose the right type of yarn for certain projects, and how to substitute the imported yarns with what’s locally available. From them I learned how to discern what hook size to use for certain yarn weight, or what hook type works best with a particular yarn type.
Sheila and Jherae are fiber artists. Their passion is on creating yarn mixes that any avid crocheter would love to work with. They turn boring to exciting, bland to colorful and blah to wow! They work their magic on every strand. I’ve seen them make a plain white yarn turn into a rainbow. And their finished projects… just wow!
My only complaint is that they do have the temperament of artists, too. 🙂
My first experience with the Sugar-Free mix was not that good. As a beginner in crochet, I just couldn’t get all the threads together most of the time. I was getting frustrated and wanted to forget about using the mixes. Why punish myself when I can always use thicker yarns, right? All I had to do was go to another supplier. I’ve been buying online from a reputable yarn seller, and really happy doing business with her.
But I was drawn to the story behind Sugar-Free. Sheila has a very young diabetic son, and she named her yarn mixes Sugar-Free for him. She said every single cent that she earns from her yarns goes to her son’s medications. So I started buying her mixes as my way of supporting her business.
Actually, I buy from Jherae most of the time, and Jherae gets her raw materials from Sheila, so in a way, I get to support two fellow working moms.
Truth be told, I have yet to finish one project using multi-strand yarns. But there is hope. I’m not giving up. I have to walk my talk and be a good example to my children.
Here, look!
That’s a Sugar-Free yarn, and I’m learning to do the broomstick lace with it.
By the way, the knitting needle that you see is a DIY project of my husband. I’m still waiting for the knitting needle I bought from Amazon, so I’m learning with a homemade needle for now.
And here’s another unfinished project…
There are more of those works-in-progress that I’m hoping to find time to finish. But yeah, finish them, I will.
But I don’t want to stop there.
I also want to mix my own yarns.
Below is my very first mix.
And below is my middlechild’s color mix, which she calls the Powerpuff.
Creating fiber mixes is not easy, I’m finding out. From choosing the right combination of colors to making sure they weigh just right, it’s all hard work. We wind multiple strands together on a manual winder to create a mix. It’s a lot of fun, yes, but can be pretty tiring, too. And if you have allergies, forget about winding. And no, I am not complaining.
I am beyond thrilled about this new venture. Never dreamed I’d be in the creative business!
Who am I kidding? Of course I dreamed of being in a creative business! I even started a desktop publishing business, remember? I’m just more of a realist, so I’ve accepted long ago that my creativity is in raising creative children.
But yeah…I am way beyond thrilled! My hobby is taking me to new heights. And my husband remains to be my staunchest supporter, setting up my workstation beside the laundry area, making me a photobox (which I have yet to try using) and committing to be my driver when we have to go pick up inventory.
Again, here is proof that you can always create income opportunities around your passion and your skills. It’s just a matter of knowing what you are good at, what you are happy doing and what people are willing to pay for.
Do come and visit my Facebook book for this crafty venture, Crafted Crafts, and of course the website.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
Branding, logo, About page, re-design… these are the items on my to-do list that I have yet to find time to attend to. But soon, I will.
Truth be told, I’m quite happy with my brand. There is no plan, whatsoever, to change it in the foreseeable future. What has been nagging me for months now is my logo, and my About page, and my desire to re-design this blog so that it will keep up with how I have evolved from The Happy WAHM who found happiness in virtual assistance, to The Happy WAHM who took control of her already full daily schedule to make time for a hobby.
I always tell people who attend my virtual assistance workshops, or people I communicate with thru my Facebook page, that in order for them to succeed in WAHMing, it is important to build a strong cyber presence. And not just thru social media, but thru a fully functional website where they can showcase who they are and what they do. In short, build a digital brand.
I built my first website on my first year of WAHMing. At that time, I was working with an affiliate marketer in London who sent me articles to read so I could understand his requirements. And read, I did. In the process, I understood more than just my client’s requirements. I learned early that for me to be found by clients, for me to build credibility, I had to have my own address on the web. And so my quest for a domain name started.
My first domain name was called myhomeworkspace.com. I wanted my domain name to encompass that little space I have at home, to tell people that I work from home, but alas, it was more descriptive of the space, not my services, not what I do, not me.
So I thought, I’d build a name around my skills as a virtual assistant. I played around combinations of keywords that could still compete on searches, and settled with VASupportPro, which actually means Virtual Administrative Support Professional. Still, I was not happy. It did not sound like a brand I could put to life. It was good as a business name, maybe. So I kept it, but not as a brand. I didn’t know it then, but subconsciously, I was leaning on building a personal brand, rather than a business brand. I was more keen on reaching out to people, especially moms, who would just love to leave the corporate life, but so afraid to take the leap.
Then I stumbled on the Pajama Mama, and she has this other site called WorkAtHomeSuccess.com. Ah, now there’s an idea! I searched some more and found WAHM.com, and I decided, I want to be known as a WAHM. Not a VA. I was thinking, I may not forever be a VA, but I will forever be working from home, so a WAHM I will be.
But yeah, WAHM.com was already taken, so I thought about it some more. Asked myself, what’s my message, really? What do I want to tell people? I am a WAHM, so what? What does WAHMing mean to me? Do I develop a voice for the service or the voice of a person behind the service? Again, I thought of how ambitious I am, that I may not forever be a VA. I knew I could do more, and I wanted the branding to be able to adapt to how I would evolve as a person working from home, or more to the point, a mom working from home. And then I decided, I want to be the voice who would inspire working moms to give it a try. Most moms I know, especially those I left behind when I left my corporate life, would just love to stay at home and take care of their kids, but they were afraid to let go of the income, they were afraid that working from home cannot support a family. So I wanted to be that person who could show them that it can be done, and how. My brand will not be about clients finding me, but about creating a career from home with the family at the center, and being successful at it. I will leave that aspect of clients finding me to marketing. But my branding will show the characteristic, the values, the nuances of the person offering the service.
And then one night, in one of those moments that my husband would fret about me being deprived of the opportunity to pursue my corporate career dreams just because I happen to be a mother, who, by default, should be the one to take care of the children, I voiced out my assurance to my husband. “Dad, I’m happy where I am. I’m happy working at home and staying home with the kids.” And that’s how my brand came to life.
A brand that I am living every single day. A brand that I am so proud of, I don’t even care that people address me as The Happy WAHM, not Marge.
So what’s my point, really?
Is this just to brag about hitting the jackpot on choosing a domain name that became my brand?
Well, you can say that. But I’m hoping that this post will be taken more as a how-to post on how you, too, can work on your branding. More and more people are choosing to stay home to earn. More and more people are going online and putting their services out there. The competition is getting stiffer, and you don’t want to be left behind. You may be skilled and qualified to be a WAHM, but are you being seen? You may have a website now, but do you have a brand? You have may have a brand, but is it really who you are? Is it really your voice? Your message? And, will your brand keep up with the potential change on how you want to be heard?
Ask yourself these questions, and think about the answers.
If branding is something that you have not seriously considered yet, now is the time to do so.
When you finally decide to work on your branding, just make sure that you are delivering your message clearly, that people can emotionally connect with you and encourage them to work with you.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
24/365Challenge: Buying house slippers for our kids have become a problem lately. So the idea of making crocheted slippers came to mind.
We had two scheduled power interruptions in our area, so I was able to plan what I would do during my downtime from work. I was working on our daughter’s hooded cowl, but I’ve been stressing over her house slippers that are again due for replacement. Sometimes I think metal slippers should be invented just for her, to make them last longer. But then I thought maybe something that really hugs the skin would be better.
So I thought of crocheted slippers.
Problem is, I’m still not good at making rounds. So the hours that I could not do any office work due to the power interruption were spent experimenting on crocheting in rounds. The one beanie I tried to make before was a disaster. And so were my glass covers. They are okay to look at, but I know that I’ve been doing something wrong in making the rounds.
After hours of experimenting, and yards of wasted yarn, I finally figured it out. Good thing I have lots of yarns from Sugar Free. 🙂
So here’s how I did it…
I made a magic ring, then made 8 SCs on the ring. Slip stitch to the first SC then Ch 1 to go to the second round.
For the second round, I made the first increase. That’s SC on the first stitch, then 2SC on the next stitch and repeat until the end of the round. Slip stitch to the first SC on the round, then Ch 1 to go up the third round.
For the third round, I made the second increase. That’s SC in the first stitch, SC on the second stitch, then 2SC on the third stitch. Repeat until end of round, then slip stitch, Ch 1 to go up the next round.
I kept on increasing until the sixth round. By the end of the sixth round, I had 32 stitches on the round. After that, I made 16 rounds with 32 stitches. Then I fastened off.
Then I marked the center of the project with stitch markers, and estimated where I should attach the yarn to work on the sides. I left the middle 8 stitches free. Then went on to work on 18 rows, before I connected the ends.
And here’s my finished DIY crocheted slippers!
You are welcome to make your own out of the process I shared, or you can just order from me. 🙂
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