Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

RD: I always had a knack for running my own business, something I attribute to my mother and grandmother, who were always launching new ventures when I was a child. At age 9 I started Rebecca’s Gift Box, a delivery service for boxes of fruit and other goodies, primarily targeting the parents of students at the university where I lived.

Then at age 14 I began Bec N Call, an errand service for busy professionals. After stints in college and jobs afterwards, I felt stuck, as if I were confined to the structure that others created. It took a while to realize that I could do something on my own. Initially, I thought the businesses I had with my family when I was young were just fun, but not something that could sustain me in “real life.”

When I finally saw a business I knew I could run better (a nanny agency), I shed my fear, took the leap and bought the business. Nowadays, I’m a bit obsessive about evaluating other businesses and dreaming about how I could make them thrive, or popping up with new ideas for them. My kids often tell me to stop coming up with ideas. (more…)

By Kimberly Rae

I have lived in several different countries, traveled the world, attempted with varying degrees of success to learn a few languages, and loved my big life plans for doing significant things.

But I was sick, and over the years, the sickness got worse until finally I had to admit that I could not keep up with my own goals. I got diagnosed with Addison’s disease, along with a few other health conditions including asthma and hypoglycemia. We came back to the US where I could get the medicine that keeps me alive and keeps me going, though at a much slower rate than I ever expected to live. (more…)

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

I’ve been a world traveler my whole life. I remember as a kid thinking that no matter what kind of job I was to have, that it would allow me to explore the world. I met a really cool teacher in high school and she ended up moving to Spain to live and teach there. That really influenced me to go to college to become a teacher.

Right after I graduated college I went overseas. I haven’t looked back since. Within 6 years I’ve lived in Australia, South Korea, and China. After that, I thought the natural progression was to move back to the states to ‘settle down’ with my husband.

I wasn’t happy. It isn’t that the US had nothing to offer me, but I knew that being in one place wasn’t the lifestyle for me. I had been doing some freelance photography work but never took it seriously, and it definitely didn’t pay the bills. It took me a long time to reflect on what I wanted as a career. I discovered freelance writing blogs quite by accident, and realized that this type of career would allow me the flexibility and location independence I so longed for. I never thought in a million years I would start my own business. But here I am. (more…)

By Holly Reisem Hanna

Today I’m going to share with you, two moms who are rocking it in the monetized blogging arena. Unlike other interviews, we’re going to dive deep into how these mom bloggers are really achieving success with their blogs. We’ll discuss traffic strategies, best monetization methods, and the question that’s on everyone’s mind, how much are these moms REALLY earning from their blogs?!

Let me introduce you to our mom bloggers, Mandy Rose from House of Rose Blog, and Meagan Paullin from Sunshine and Sippy Cups. We’ll start off by gathering a little bit of background information, and then we’ll get into the real nitty gritty of how these moms are earning big bucks from their blogs. (more…)

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

I’ve always been an artistic person, ever since I was a little girl. When college came around I did the only thing that really made sense to me, I went to art school. In January of 2010, my husband Alex and I started having photo shoots here and there with our friends and family. Turned out we were pretty good at it and we’ve had LewChan Photography as a side business ever since (we both also had full time jobs).

Then in September of 2012 I gave birth to the most perfect baby girl there ever was. I struggled with the idea of leaving her in the care of someone else once my maternity leave was over. In January 2013 I made the heartbreaking transition of going back to work after baby and did so for 6 weeks until I was laid off. It was a blessing. I’m now home full time with my daughter and am working on getting our photography business off the ground. I also do freelance graphic design and write about 3-4 times a week in a blog I’ve had since February 2007. It’s called cappuccinochitchat.com… you should pay me a visit sometime (more…)