Wealth-Building Wednesday: Invest In Yourself
The Early Decision to Build a Business of My Own
I was four the year that I decided I wanted to build a
successful business. The motivation for that decision was the fact that my
mother told me we couldn’t afford a Snoopy Sno Cone Maker like my friend, Erica,
had gotten for Christmas. My dream was denied.
I decided right then and there that I was going to one day
become a successful business owner so that nobody could tell me, ever again, no
to my dreams. All throughout my childhood I tried various means of getting a
business going but without any guidance from people around me, I didn’t know
how to do it. Everything I tried ultimately failed.
The Dream of Being a Game Artist Is Born
In 1999, I came across a little game by the name of
Creatures which promised that you could play with artificial life. Not
artificial intelligence, as these creatures certainly weren’t, but artificial
life. These creatures had their own digital DNA that they would pass on to each
generation and you could watch evolution take place on your screen. I loved the
game so much I decided I wanted to be part of the world that made games like
that.
However, coding seemed a whole lot more than I could handle.
I’d not been great at math in school and I feared I didn’t have what it took to
get there. So I settled on the path that was easier for me: I would become a
game artist.
Investing in Art Education
I took courses and my art work greatly improved. I spent
time learning and educating myself in graphic design and in game art and
design. However, eventually I had to quit school so that I could invest in a
far more important dream of mine: my son. But my dream of working in game
design didn’t go away.
My First Job in Marketing
A few years later, I walked away from a job I’d held for a few
years and took a job in a marketing department. I was hired to be their go-to
person for ordering and maintaining the marketing supplies at $13 an hour. They
were making their flyers and other creative materials using PowerPoint and, without
the training I had, their flyers and materials just weren’t that good. I
offered to put my skills to use.
A few months later, I was granted a raise of $5 an hour and
became the department’s go-to person for in-house graphic design. I was faster
than the agency and my results were just as good if not better than what they had
been paying to get.
I worked in that Marketing department for a little over two
years, handling their events, coordinating with sponsors and radio personnel,
and making their grand openings special while costing them significantly less. We
were handling more than 10 Grand Openings a month and it was my job to help
them plan and execute every detail of those openings from booking talent and
securing entertainment to scheduling security and arranging for materials to be
prepared for the events.
While I was working there, my creative skills were growing.
The year I left that position, I wrote three books.
My First Freelance Graphic Design Assignment
That experience with the Marketing Department led directly
to my first freelance graphic design gig just a year and a half later with a
company that was a franchise of the corporation I’d been employed by. I knew
their design guidelines and was able to work with them to create everything
they needed. It was my first taste of entrepreneurial success.
My First Business Success
Nine months later, my husband and I partnered together to build
Creative Technology Services – a company that was originally focused on web
design and development but went beyond that to offer other services as well. I
would put my design talents to use while my husband used his coding skills to
launch websites for those in need of them.
However, the marketing skills that I’d learned while working
for a Fortune 500 company did not apply when you had a $0 marketing budget to
work with and I was forced to invest in new training and new education to learn
what I needed to know to help our business thrive and grow. If I didn’t choose
to invest, my dream was going to die and fast.
Becoming a Paid Writer
That business led me down a path of becoming a paid writer.
I was paid just $20 a blog post by an SEO company, but it was my first paid
writing gig. Because of that gig, though, and because of my efforts to learn
how to market Creative Technology Services on a $0 marketing budget, I would
end up publishing my first book: How to Write an eBook in 40 Days (or Less!).
From Published Author To GhostWriter
Becoming a published author led me to start a writer’s group
in Elko, Nevada (where I lived at the time) and as I began working with other
authors on a regular basis and helping them achieve their dreams, I became
aware of their needs. I started to work on a universal writing system that
would help them write any kind of content they wanted no matter what it would
be and to make it easier for them to do.
That effort to create a universal system led me to create a
game called The Write Time that broke the task of writing down into just five big
pieces: Characters, Actions, Settings, Objects, and Events. Working on that
system also led to me offering to help a stranger get her story outlined after
an hour’s interview, which in turn led to my first paid assignment as a
ghostwriter.
I made $3200 from that contract – the most money I’d ever
made on my own – and launched me into a business helping other people write
their books.
From Ghostwriter to Copywriter
As I sought to market my business, still on a shoestring
budget, I made a decision to invest in my dreams and flew out to Los Angeles to
attend a conference on marketing where I met a man named Dima Ermakov. I helped
him with his marketing copy and that relationship ended up turning into a 3 year
role as his primary copywriter of Facebook ads, which also led to me being
trained in copywriting by North Node Solutions.
From Copywriter to Game Developer
Being a copywriter allowed me to work just 10 hours a week
and keep the bills paid. I was free to invest my time in other things, and I
turned back to my vision of creating a game for writers. I love games, but I
was frustrated by how much of an obstacle they often present to people’s
productivity. I wanted the same level of fun in my games, but while actually
helping people invest in the time to pursue their dreams.
The concept of Word Quest Online was born in September of
2019. With my husband partnering with me and using his coding skills to support
me, I expected it to take 6 months to get it up and running. Things didn’t go
according to plan.
The Acquisition of Sparkles the Unicorn
Just a few months before I conceived of Word Quest Online, I
took a huge risk and flew out to London for my first ever book tour. I spent
more than $3500 total on that trip, $3500 we didn’t really have, but I believed
in my dream of becoming an internationally recognized author enough that I was
willing to gamble on myself and invest in my future.
Because of that trip, I not only got to appear on a television
talk show but I reconnected with a friend, got interviewed on two different radio
shows, and was invited to speak at an event being held in London that following
February.
The month before February’s trip we barely managed to scrape
together the money needed to send me to London. To say money was tight was an
understatement.
It was two days before I was to leave and we were in WalMart
shopping for various necessities when my husband spots – and pulls out of the
bin – this giant pink unicorn. I fall in love. She’s just $15. He tells me, “Put
her in the cart.”
But I’m worried. I’m worried about money. I can’t see the
point of saying yes to this when we’ve got so much money we still need to come
up with. He insists. “Just put her in the cart.”
I do, but I almost put her back before we get to the
checkout line. He tells me, “Just go ahead and get her!”
That’s how I brought home a giant pink unicorn named
Sparkles.
The Inspiration of Sparkles
The speaking engagement goes well and I have the pleasure of
meeting many people from Nigeria who are authors and speakers and actresses and
celebrities I would never have met otherwise. I am captivated by the spirit of
joy that infuses them. I return home an international speaker and an
award-winning Creative Strategist.
That next month, in March, after stewing for months with
anger, resentment, and bitterness over my husband’s refusal to help me work on
my game, I realize that he isn’t holding my dreams hostage. I am. It is my
refusal to invest in learning what I need to know in order to create the game I
want to build that is stopping me, not him.
I look at Sparkles. Sparkles looks at me. And I make a
decision. My dreams will not be stopped by my fear of coding and math. I will
conquer both if need be and my dreams will be a reality. I will invest however
much time and money it takes for me to get where I want to be.
Becoming a Coder
My journey to learning to write code has not been easy. It
took me 8 months to finish a course that had just 12 hours of content. I have
struggled. I have wondered if I had what it took. But I stuck with it because
my dream was worth it.
Today, I have almost finished the work done to turn that
simple card game I built into a playable online card game. My goal is to create
a backend for that online card game that will allow authors and publishers to
create decks based on their own creative works that they can then offer for
sale on a site that I’m putting together.
That will be the beginning of turning Word Quest Online into
a reality. I am going to help people share their stories and tell new stories
with every game they play. I want to make gaming something that helps people build
their dreams so they don’t have to waste time escaping from their lives but can
fully live them.
The Dreams of Project FED
You might be wondering what role Project FED plays in all of
this. It’s simple: It is my dream to ensure that every little girl out there
who has a dream but no money to buy it has the tools she needs to start a business
that will allow her to fulfill those dreams.
It is my dream to ensure that every child in Nigeria whose
dreams consist of having food to eat, a place to live, and an education to help
them build a future has what they need to fulfill such simple dreams.
By investing my time and energy in Project FED, I’m investing
in building a world where people will see that the best way to build their
dreams is to use their gifts to help other people build theirs, too.
You Are Worth the Investment
No matter what your dream is, I want you to believe this: You are worth investing your time, your money, your energy, and your efforts into achieving that dream. No matter how long it takes, no matter what you must do to get there, commit to that dream. Believe that you can have it. Believe that there is a way.
As Sparkles would tell you: Put your dream in the shopping cart of life & CHECK OUT!
We’re here to help you and support you in that goal. If
you need someone to encourage you, we’re here for you. Project FED can be a way for you to finance that dream.
5 Reasons YOU Are the Smartest Investment You Can Make
What Are Your Dreams? Where Are You Hesitating To Invest In Yourself?
Share your dreams so we can support you in them. Let us know
where you struggle to invest so we can help you find a way.
Join Project FED
Let Project FED help
you to make your dreams come true. Sign up for
our email list and get help making the money you need to make your dreams a
reality. Shop our store
and help us help the dreams of orphans come true.
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