I built a home business from lifetime skills, and over time that home business grew into something I never expected. I am the type of person who can learn from watching. I can remember watching my father change the oil in the cars and do small repairs around the house. Watching what my mother, grandparents, aunts, and uncles did. I would watch the details.
Because I did this, I sort of picked up on how to do things without really realizing I was in training for a home business. As the years went on, I picked up how to sew, knit, and crochet. And along the way, I had people who were able to teach me how to do these things, but watching got me interested. Those early experiences helped shape my future home business journey.
I was willing to help, and I also learned how to do many things that others may find are not something you need to know. But I have learned that you can never tell when it might come in handy. I have worked as a secretary, in an auto garage, owned a farm, raised animals, and helped build two houses. Little did I know that what I was learning along the way would come in handy for a home business.
When working as a secretary, I learned how to plan my day, put assignments in order of importance. This would allow me later in life to be able to plan my day and achieve the goals I have set. Learning how to take notes from phone calls, and being able to follow up on things at a later date, so nothing fell between the cracks.
Having built two of the three homes that I lived in, I learned the basics of electricity, which has allowed me to be able to fix a lamp when the plug or switch broke, by rewiring it. It has even allowed me to change light fixtures in the houses and not have to hire an electrician.
I have also learned the basics of plumbing, how to prepare copper pipes for soldering, and even PVC pipes for being glued together. This has allowed me to be able to change faucets in the kitchen and bathroom sinks. Although I have not figured out why they don’t make it so that you can shut off the bathtub faucets, as these also may need changing or at least washers replaced. If you could do this, you wouldn’t have to drain the whole system to do so. I have learned to run power tools, saws: radial, jigsaw, which have come in handy. Later bought a farm, where some of my lifetime skills were used, and I learned a few new ones.
Only this time decided that because our parents were getting on in years, and in-law apartments were becoming popular. I took the plans for a raised ranch and revamped it to fit in two small in-law apartments, where the two-car garage and the large recroom. I designed them to have a kitchen/dining area, living room, one full bath, and one bedroom.
That gave me the upstairs where I had three bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area and a large living room. I did manage to fit in a small laundry room. Later, part of the living room I made an area where I had a small office space, for my home business of running the farm.
Lifetime Skills Helping With Home Business
While working on the farm, I learned how to drive a tractor with a bucket on it, mow hay with a sickle bar mower, and later a haybine. How to rake the hay, which way to go, and not to go. Raising calves, as we raised female calves for a local farmer till they were of age to be bred. Then they would be shipped back to the farmer to have their calves. By doing this, you get to know the signs of when they aren’t feeling well, what their temperature should be. We also had some riding horses, so we got to know a little about them. All of these experiences continued preparing me for building a stronger home business.
These lifetime skills can be put to use in other situations in life. You learn how to act around animals, being calm, even-tempered, and patient. These can be related to people as well, but have found that sometimes prefer animals to humans.
My son was young at the time and sometimes I had to drive the skid steer with him strapped in with the seatbelt on my lap. This is the one lifetime skill that I am proud of, as my husband could not accomplish this. You had to use your feet to run the bucket, and your hands to steer it.
Also learned how to drive the truck that was used to collect the chopped corn that we grew and fed out as silage in the winter for the cows. This took skill, as you had to make sure that the chopped corn went into the back of the truck and not on the ground, or covered the windshield, and you could not see.
In this process of raising cattle, you learn how to help a cow deliver a calf if she is having a problem. And in some cases, you have to call a vet as the calf was going to be breech delivery. Learn now to keep things moving in the wintertime, thawing out waterers, to keep the animals in because too slipery out. How to use a skidsteer to put out the feed for the animals, and to clean out the barn.
Later, we went into the home business of raising beef cattle and doing custom beef. We would raise the cattle till they got to where they were ready to be butchered. We would get orders for either half of the cow, 1/4 of it, the customers would fill out a form on how much hamburger they wanted, how they wanted it packaged, cut of the steaks, size of the roasts, etc. This is where the keeping of records, following up were really put to use.
From the farm I went to working in an auto garage, I learned the basics of some motor problems, I was usually the one who took the car out when the owner said “it is making a funny noise” to see if I could tell the mechanic what it sounded like and possibly where it came from.
Also, while working there, I was able to learn how to drive trucks, which later allowed me to get a CDL driver’s license. The garage was a subcontractor for the state to plow snow when. I was given my own plow truck, and I went out when called to help the state. This was another thing I could add to my lifetime skills. Although this wasn’t a home business, it was an experience that gave me more tricks to put in my lifetime bag.
Signed up to take the classes to become a sales associate in the real estate field. I thought that this would allow me, as a single mom, to be around for my son. Took all the classes and the exam for the license. I passed the state portion of the exam, but on the second part of the test, I passed all but one section of the Principles and Practices exam. So I had to take it again, tried again, and passed.
The next step is to find a broker that is expanding its sales representatives. This is where my lifetime skills really start to add up, as when you become a real estate representative, you are now an independent contractor, and a home business owner. This is where my home business truly became a professional path.
I soon discovered that residential real estate was not my cup of tea. I needed something that allowed me to spend more time with my son. Found out that I was a chauffeur for people looking for houses on the weekends.
One day, while in the office, I was introduced to a gentleman who was representing a major franchise company. He was looking for someone whom he could train to help him. I was asked if I would like to learn this side of real estate, and I said yes. And as they say, the rest is history, and a commercial real estate representative was added to my lifetime skills.
Was given the task of finding a piece of property in a few towns over that this company was planning on expanding to. I did my research and came across a property. I worked with this person for several months, and in the process, he decided he was going to open his own office. Doing this added the skill of being like a hound dog, finding the right property, getting the data on it, if it was for sale, if not would the owner consider selling it to my list of Jane-of-All-Trades
Past Lifetime Skills Come in Handy Again
My lifetime skills came in handy when he opened up his office. Being a partner, my home business kept growing. My secretary and receptionist skills came in handy. I would work with him out in the field, looking for sites. As time went on, we switched our focus to the niche of tenant representation. At this time, this was not heard of, and many didn’t even know that you could make money doing this. Because we had a background of how the corporate world worked, and were in the real estate field. Knew many of the site locators of major companies looking to come into our area, and we were able to get clients. This stage helped expand my home business into new opportunities.
As time went on, we were able to work for Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Burger King, Jiffy Lube, and many more. In some cases, we were able to do some of the so-called “packages” that were required for each site. These would include zoning, pictures of the location, a copy of the lease, and filling out forms.
We were able to negotiate being paid by the company to do this work, and also collect a commission as real estate sales people. This also allowed the site to move through the paper mill faster. We worked for Pizza Hut, mostly looking for sites similar to Domino’s. Since we knew what we were doing, the site locator we were working with was honored as being the one that produced 125 new sites for the company.
I was sometimes asked to read the leases and see if I could see anything that stood out as being odd or would be a deal breaker. This is sometimes hard to do, as “lessor” and leasee” sometimes got mixed up; you had to pay attention. Now I could add a lease reader to my Jane-of-All-Trades. And you will always hear the tenant say this is a “landlord’s lease”. But that is when negotiating kicks in. You can usually find some mutual ground that both can agree on.
Home Business Takes A Turn
The broker that I was working for lost his wife to cancer. This sort of put things on hold till he decided what direction he was going in. In the meantime the tenant rep took hold, and many other real estate salespeople were getting into the business.
Fate strikes again, we got introduced to a group that was developing “Car Courts.” This was a type of one-stop shopping for automobiles; you could have your car worked on in one place. Mufflers, brakes, tires, and car washes are just a few of the services. But this was short-lived.
From there, we were introduced to a company that converted vehicles to run on natural gas and gas. This was ahead of its time. While with this company, I went back to being a secretary, receptionist, bookkeeper, and stock clerk. My little knowledge of automobiles came in handy when talking to potential clients, again, lifetime skills.
Home Business – final step
My training really took a turn here. I ended up marrying the broker that I had been with from the beginning. We worked together for years, in our home business and now I was going back to being a wife, companion, and support, but the skills that I have learned over the years have always come into play no matter what phase of my life I am in.
We bought a piece of property in Vermont that was a downsizing of the farm that I owned in Connecticut. The property had 20 acres instead of 85. We bought a tractor that I used to plow the driveway and keep the fields mowed. People have wondered how we managed to work together, live together, be together 24/7, and remain married for 28 years.
It was because of my past lifetime skills that we were able to be work partners in our home businesses, marriage partners, you learn many things about people, and how to adapt to the situation at hand. My husband and I have owned many small home businesss over the past years, Amway, Market America just to name a few.
While in Vermont have started two more home businesses, selling Avon and my own cleaning home business, I clean town-owned buildings. Both of these home businesses are doing fine, but being retired, I wanted a home business that would bring in a little more money and allow me to give up one of the other home businesses that I have. Finding the right home business has always been my goal.
Still living in Vermont, but my life has changed; my husband passed, and now I’m back to being single again. However, many of the lifetime skills that I have learned along the way have made it possible to take care of the property. Managed to keep the property looking nice and the driveway plowed during the winter. Have accomplished changing faucets and minor fixing of toilets, and other minor fixes around the house.
Basically, I have been in a home business since I got my real estate license in 1984, and later, when I moved to Vermont got my Broker’s license, which I later stopped. I was searching the internet and was able to find an ad that led me to rrr247.
I came across an opportunity online that introduced me to new ways of building a home business using skills I already had. I am still learning and exploring what works best, but it has opened the door to new possibilities.
Now, you would have thought that with all that I have learned along the way that I wouldn’t have much left to learn. Wrong! There are still more things being added to my lifetime skills, writing ads, posting ads, talking to people on the phone, updating pages, and writing pages.
It looks like as long as you are alive, you are always adding to your knowledge. When you run your own home business, you begin to understand how powerful a home business can be for your future. Even more rewarding when you can take what you have learned and teach others to succeed in their own home business.
A home business can truly change your life when built on real skills.
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