Welcome! + My Biz Journey So Far!

Welcome to my first blog post here at The Resource Cafe, which I’m so excited to write!

It’s a reminder {and something of a celebration really} that I’m continually moving forward – sometimes slowly, sometimes a little faster – creating my dream biz and life.

Maybe you’re already on a similar journey, working on creating your dream biz and life …

Or maybe you’re in this online space looking for inspiration and ideas, thinking that you’d love to have your own online business or entrepreneurial venture but you’re not sure where to start.

I hope that we can share this journey together, discovering and sharing the very best resources to continue moving us forward and helping us to grow to our full biz & life potential!

I’ve shared some of the details of my own life and biz journey over on my About page …

But for today I’d love to tell you just a little about how this online business adventure started for me.

The beginnings of possibility …

Over a decade ago now, in 2007, I discovered two online blogs that both had a huge impact on my life.

Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog was the very first blog that I started to read on a daily basis. Over at Zen Habits Leo shared (and continues to) awesome personal development wisdom – blog posts about productivity, positive habits, decluttering, minimalism and personal growth.

It was the Zen Habit’s blog, and Leo’s writing, that first introduced me to the idea of blogging and to the possibility (just a fraction back then in 2007 of what it is now!) that this online space offers for creating work we love.

Around that same time I discovered Flylady. (I’m pretty sure it was actually one of Leo’s blog posts that introduced me to Flylady – which is a great reminder of the value and importance of sharing awesome resources with others!)

Following Flylady’s ‘Babysteps’ – and ideas such as creating a Morning Routine, Shining Your Sink, and 5 Minute Room Rescues – helped me to get my chaotic home life somewhat under control.

I say “somewhat” because back then, with three primary school aged children, a home-based publishing business, and a difficult marriage, chaos was pretty much guaranteed!

But Flylady’s suggestions at least helped me to feel a little more calm and in control of at least our home environment.

And feeling a little more calm and in control (and having a home that felt more spacious and uncluttered) gave me space to start dreaming of what I might like to create.

Online business ventures and dreams …

My first venture into online business was with an online bookstore, The Not So Shabby Bookshelf, where I sold a range of craft, baking and business books.

I had bookshelves filled with beautiful books to sell, but to be honest I sold more books at markets and Girls-Nights-In than I ever sold online.

What I loved during that time was the connection with other women and their enthusiasm and enjoyment of the books I was selling. (My own particular excitement was in discovering new books to share – and in opening the box when a new ‘stock’ order arrived at the door!!)

As a business model my online bookshop was not sustainable though.

I soon realised though that I didn’t want to be competing with the prices that Amazon and Book Depository were able to offer. And so my business dreams continued to evolve.

During that time, from beginning of 2011, at the same time, I also started a blog, The Inspired Notebook. There I shared gorgeous books, including biz books, did some fun book giveaways, and wrote about business and life.

I also wrote about my love for green smoothies! And the popularity of my green smoothie post (along with a great article from Ali Brown about packaging your knowledge as an info-product) is what inspired me to write my first ebook.

So in 2013 I connected with some amazing women online who also had a love for green smoothies, gathered their stories and favourite recipes and created the ebook Gorgeous Green Smoothies, which was launched at the end of 2014.

While finishing off my ebook, in 2014, I also took part in the NEIS program. This was an incentive offered by the Australian Government, for job seekers with a business idea that they want to explore and develop.

As the focus of my NEIS participation, I created a plan for The Resource Cafe, a biz dream that had been slowly growing over the past couple of years.

The Resource Cafe would be an online ‘digital bookshop’ of sorts, a resource hub offering books and digital resources for women online across a range of areas: business and blogging, home organisation, creativity, health & wellness.

But at the end of 2014, following the launch of Gorgeous Green Smoothies, exhaustion and the financial struggles of single parenting hit.

My 16 year marriage had reached it’s conclusion in mid-2013 and I now had the sole responsibility of keeping food on the table for my three growing kids. So despite my big biz dreams and plans, the financial reality at that time took me back to working for a few years building other people’s dreams and not my own.

Until the end of last year … when work misery and crappy health caught up with me, and I decided it’s time again to take back my dream and to make it work!

And so here I am!!! Creating The Resource Cafe, sharing awesome resources – which is the thing I love most in the world to do.

There’s so much more to my story!

So much that hasn’t happened yet. And the little {big!} details – like the fact that yesterday I got to sit at the beach!!!

But there’s plenty of time for you to learn more about me, and about the many awesome resources that I know can help you to move forward creating your dream biz and life!

And if you’re reading this and you have big biz dreams, or if you’re feeling the frustration of not being where you want to be with your business and life, here’s one of my favourite quotes to keep you moving forward: