That Day in May...

I got an email this morning from a young woman that not only broke my heart, but also brought back vivid memories of my beginning days in Internet Marketing. She was writing to ask me if I thought she could make enough money on the internet to live on. Her husband recently left, leaving her with two small children to support. My answer to her is a resounding YES. I know this from personal experience, which takes me back several years, to that horrible day in May...

It started out as a lovely Mother's Day. At that time I had 5 children - 2 biological, 2 in guardianship and 1 in foster care who we were in the process of adopting. We went out for a beautiful breakfast, rented a couple of movies, then sat down to play some games with the kids. In the middle of a game my husband got up from the table and asked to speak with me privately in the other room. He announced to me that he was tired of doing "the family thing" and was going upstairs to pack. He also informed me that (although he had just gotten paid) he wouldn't be leaving me any money since he would be needing to buy himself a new bed, night stand, t.v., etc. A half hour later I watched my husband walk out the front door, suitcases in hand. I was completely stunned. Having been a stay at home mom for 15 years I had no idea how I was going to support my children. Thoughts started racing through my head.... since he had just gotten paid I hadn't been able to go grocery shopping yet and the cupboards were bare, the car payment was due, the mortgage was due, and so were all the utilities. I was in the process of adopting my beautiful baby Hope, who had been with us as a foster child since her birth 3 years earlier. Were they going to take her away from me now that I was apparently going to be a single parent? Her termination hearing (to terminate parental rights and release her for adoption) was only 3 weeks away! How was I going to find a job? I hadn't worked in 15 years! I had no experience. How would I pay a sitter to watch all of my children? Especially Joseph! My wonderful little Joseph, Hope's biological brother. Joseph and I have always had a special connection, but not many other people were able to control him. At that point Joseph was almost 6 and had a lot of issues as a result of being born drug exposed and FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome). Later Joseph would also be diagnosed as having aspburger's syndrome (in the autistic spectrum). Panic set in.

I wish I could say that I looked to the internet as a way to save the day, started earning money right away and supporting my family every since has been a cakewalk. The truth is that my electricity was shut off several times, I almost lost my house, I did lose the car. It took me about 6 months to get my act together online and learn how to make it work for me. Back in the day it was a little harder to earn money on the internet than it is now. There are so many wonderful ways to work online now that weren't available then.

The good news is that there are ways to get started earning money right away now. The bad news is that if you want to earn enough money to bring in a good second income or even support your family, it's going to take time to build up. There's a learning curve for everybody, my goal is to help shorten that curve. I love it when I'm able to help someone get started making a living online. I don't have all of the anwers, and I'm always searching for new and better ways to make money online, but my prayer is that you'll be able to learn enough, quickly enough, through knowing my mistakes, not to have to go through what I did starting out.

The question I am asked more than any other is how I earn enough to support my family. The truth is that I was fortunate enough years ago to get involed in a company that has paid me residual income all of these years. I actually took several years off of internet marketing. In the meantime, I did adopt Hope, I never did go outside of my home to work so I never needed to find a sitter for Joseph. Although I did lose my car I was able to buy another one, and a few years later I was able to buy a nicer one. I finished raising the oldest of my 3 children, Joseph and Hope I continue to raise. After taking a few years off from foster care to learn how to support my children and get my head on emotionally I was able to start taking in foster children again. For years I had specialized in hard to place children, especially those with FAS, or drug exposed infants. It was one of the things durring that period of my life that I missed the most. I eventually was able to go on to adopt (finalized on September 4th, YEA!!!) a sibling group of 5 children, giving me a total now of 10 children and (very soon to be) 2 grandchildren.

Although I continue to receive residual income monthly it is dwindling down to a very small monthly income, so here I am... back in the saddle again! Now my income comes primarily from 3 sources. Referral income from GPT (get paid to) sites, niche marketing, and writing articles. Over the next few weeks I'll be writing more aobut how I am able get enough referrals to bring in a nice monthly income from GPT sites.