Welcome Aboard!

Hello!

Welcome to the inaugural post for 'Journey of a Mumpreneur'. My name is Lisa and I'll be your captain for this fun, exciting and sometimes scary expedition into an unknown land for me - the land of entrepeneurs.

Before we set sail, let me tell you a little bit about myself and what I do - because if you're anything like me, you'll want to be sure the person steering the ship is sound of mind, body and spirit. I'll do my best to convince you, though even I occasionally doubt the soundness of all three of those things on any given day.

My family and I live in the 'burbs of Canberra: the capital city of the best country in the world - Australia. I am a time poor, creative, 36 year old married mother of one inquisitive, chatty and wise beyond his years 4 year old son, Max. I am also a teacher currently working 4 days a week, and although I love my job and am passionate about creating a love of learning and meaningful relationships with children, I yearn for something more.  I yearn to be my own boss, to cow-tow to no man, woman or entity- to call my own shots, right or wrong, and be my own boss.

I want to build my moderately successful hobby business into a thriving, highly successful and fulfilling online business in the space of one year!

So, I hear you ask, just what have your yearnings got to do with me?

Well, as a paying passenger aboard this vessel (and yes, you are paying with your hottest commodity - your precious time. It's worth so much more than any money you could throw at me!) I owe you something in return. If you choose to stick with me over the next 365 days and not hoist yourself overboard I will:

• Pass on to you all the knowledge I gain during my research into demystifying the online retail business world;
• Share with you a growing list of links/businesses/websites for quick reference on where to go for help in starting your own online business if you should choose to do so; and
• Share my journey into the unknown with you and hopefully provide you with a few laughs along the way.

What are the aims of my challenge?

• To Facebook, blog, Twitter and publicise my travels, discoveries, successes and failures regularly with the aim of taking all the hard work out of you starting your own online business (should it be something you want to do) by sharing all the short cuts, cost-effective secrets and tips I discover;
• To turn my very small, very 'dining-room' table kind of hobby business into a successful online business by which I can support myself and my family, with change to spare after earnings; and
• To research the heck out of all aspects of online business and find the best ways of growing my business on a DIY budget.

Before you go, you might like to take a look at www.littlegrasshopper.com.au to see my starting point. As you can see, some time, money and effort has already gone in to getting my little passion online. In my next post I'll be covering some of the aspects of getting to the stage I am now at and the shoe-string budget short cuts I discovered along the way.

It's time to get serious and turn this ship around. I'm hoping to trade my dinghy in for a cruise ship in the next 12 months!

Looking forward to seeing you on deck!

Lisa