May 7, 2010
Writing Your Own Ticket
Writing Your Own Ticket By Leanne Ely There are plenty of women all over the country who would love to say, "I ama stay-at-home mom." Reality on the other hand, and the unpaid stack ofbills that greet the family each and every month, may not always give allwomen this opportunity. But that doesn't mean that's that--there are otherways to walk around that obstacle. Working from home could be the answer you're looking for. Working from homecan mean just about anything--from selling vitamins from a catalogue, ordoing medical transcribing, or doing something a little more unusual like Idid. Let me first say that my story is quite different and not the "norm". Andwhile you may look at what I do as being unattainable, the point is in thestory--not what I do. There is a good lesson to be learned no matter whatyour goals are. All my adult life, I've been into food. I cooked in a restaurant, started myown catering company and taught cooking classes. In the fight to keep mylittle ones healthy, I became a nutritionist. Finally, I wrote a book twoyears ago called Healthy Foods that got picked up by a small publisher. Iworked like a dog to get that book to take off and it finally did. Dr. Lauraeven featured it as a Book of the Week. Still, I wasn't bringing home the bacon as much as I wanted or needed to. SoI started teaching classes at the local junior college and sold my books tomy students in my classes and got paid for teaching, too. I wrote articlesfor various publications and got paid for my efforts. I wormed my way into afood writing job for a newspaper and got my own column. I kept writing, keptgetting paid--a little here, a little there, it all added up and helped. Aday didn't go by where I wasn't looking for other avenues to publish mywork. One of my projects was (and still is) a free ezine called Healthy-Foods: join-healthy-foods@ds.xc.org . People write me regularly telling mehow much they love my recipes and tips. I also write for FlyLady giving FlyLady's ladies recipes and tips in my Foodfor Thought column. One day, Marla Cilley, the FlyLady asked me to give theladies on her list a menu for the week with a bunch of crockpot recipes. Ithought throwing a grocery list in there would make it even better and I wasright. It was a huge hit, but it was also a LOT of work. The ladies clamoredfor more. One day my husband said to me, "Why don't you just CHARGE for it?"That resonated in my brain, and Menu-Mailer wasborn. The lesson here is one of perseverance. When you hang tough doing what it isyou love to do, using your God-given talents and abilities, and believing inyourself, miracles happen. For me, it's been an adventure and I've beenblessed to be able to write my own ticket. But the only reason that is so isbecause I worked very hard and pulled out the paper and the pen and wrote itmyself. You can write your own ticket, too. Make an assessment--figure out what itis YOU want to do, what your natural abilities and gifts are and startbuilding goals from there. Then don't back down! Stay dedicated to yourcause and keep your eye on the prize. It's worth the fight! Leanne Ely is the host of the radio show, Heart of a Woman. She is also theeditor of Menu-Mailer , the answer to that perplexing question, "What's forDinner?" and the author of the upcoming book,Menu-Mailer by the Book (Ballantine, 2003) as well as Healthy Foods(Champion Press, 2001) and The Frantic Family Cookbook (Champion Press,2002). Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.

Posted by Staff at 1:44 AM