A Healing Moment - Doing What Your Heart Desires - Every Day!” Home Business Success by Donna L. Watkins - The Herbs Place

Doing What Your Heart Desires – Every Day!
by Donna L. Watkins

Are you thinking about beginning a home business to get away from the rat race in the corporate world — or to provide for your own job security?

What’s the first question that comes to mind?

“What kind of business would I do at home?”

Our pastor preached a message over a year ago entitled, “What is Your Destiny?”

This message has had me thinking many times on its list of questions to ponder when wanting to find your ‘walk’ through life. I believe our pastor’s message would help people to find what kind of home-business they would like to do. What they would want to get out of bed for in the morning even when they weren’t punching a time clock.

So, here are the questions that have helped others determine what they want to do in their life:

1 – What is the deepest desire of my heart?

2 – What stirs my passions?

3 – What flows naturally out of me?

4 – Where do I bring forth fruit or produce good results?

5 – What do other mature people see in me?

6 – What thoughts, visions, and dreams are impossible to put out of my mind?

7 – To what can I give 100% of myself for my whole life?

8 – What do people want to gather around me and help me to do?

If you will sit down and honestly consider these questions with somebody that knows you well, you’ll come up with some surprising answers. You can find a purpose in life that will allow you to provide an income for yourself and your family while you are doing what your heart desires – every day!

Spend a few days with this “assignment” and then proceed to the following information:

If you have determined what touches the very soul of your being and have chosen to build an income around that driving desire, you’re already headed for absolute success. Within us is a need to share what we have been given from life. It may seem impossible to make a living doing it, but let your creative brain flow and fan that flame of desire, and you will see it come to pass.

When we began a web site, we already had a business. Our business evolved years ago because we were sharing what had been given to us … hope for seemingly hopeless health problems. When all our hopes and prayers for an answer to our own health problems seemed to end in despair with the doctors’ saying, “You’ll just have to learn to live with this,” my husband said, “There is an answer somewhere, for we serve a God of hope.”

We ‘stumbled upon’ an herb book and decided to try some things. When they began working, others began asking what we were doing, and if there was something for their health problem. We just kept sharing everything we learned and we ended up with an herb business in our home. When it became overwhelming, my husband left the corporate world in 1987 and joined me. Look around at what comes naturally to you. It’s okay to love what you’re doing. When your desire and focus is to help others, it’s a natural win-win situation. It’s the Law of Sowing & Reaping.

We moved to the woods in 1990. I seemed to begin losing my ‘checklist’ approach to life (although I’m still very task-oriented) when we moved to the woods, but still had a 40 minute drive to our shop. In 1998, I decided I was tired of making the drive on my days down there and began dreaming of being able to stay at home 7 days a week. I love working with the windows open, the birds singing in my ear, and the trees swaying in the breeze. What do you love around you?

I love the woods and wildlife around us and that desire to stay home led to an internet adventure. “If you build it, they will come.” Build that desire you have until it becomes a reality! Herbal tea and lunch breaks are now enjoyed on the porch alone or with my devoted husband. Those small visits with Creation and my Lord provide an ‘office environment’ where I can work harder and longer without stress, and play harder at any hour of the day or week that I choose to schedule.

My sweet husband, Randal, is always telling me he wants me to do what I want to do, and everything else will take care of itself. When you’re doing what you love to do, you are so fulfilled that all the routine stuff (like dishes, and cooking, and cleaning), just seem to get done more quickly and easily. They are no longer considered another chore. So much of life becomes all you want it to be.

We had no internet experience when we began. Although Randal had some computer knowledge, the internet was a new playing field. He used the free online information available to Webmasters and Web Designers and learned as he built the web site. There are some excellent sites out there. We were so absorbed in cyberspeed, we didn’t track the ones we used. Do a searches and search for the sites that fit your understanding.

We made a decision that we weren’t going to pay for anything when there was a free option. That desire allowed us to build the web site with no other costs but the $40 monthly fee to be there and the cost of an additional phone line. That avoids debt on a new venture, which can get you real discouraged fast! Payment is made simple at first with PayPal. You can get a shopping cart later as your budget allows.

Our business choice was Nature’s Sunshine Products and they processed the credit cards for us. Now they have replicator sites for those who don’t want to design a website, We became information seekers. Subscribe to newsletters relating to your area of interest and business. Cut and paste the parts of the newsletters you want to keep and delete the rest (it takes less time than scanning the whole email again and again). Keep your info organized or you’ll never find anything you need.

You’ll need to provide free information at your site on your topic of interest. People on the internet are looking for information. There may be a thousand other places already providing it, but there will be those who are led right to you instead of the others. We offer a free newsletters, online classes, Herbal Medicine Chest info, and plenty of health information with a search engine to find it.

We promoted the site through free banner exchanges, postings on bulletin boards, answering questions in news groups directly to the person so you don’t look like you’re spamming the newsgroups, exchanging articles with others, and working with the search engines . It seemed we were working around the clock in the beginning, but loving every minute of it. We began making friends and they began spreading word of our site for us.

We stand in awe of what evolved in nine months. We are reaping sales to cover the initial investment of the computer and the monthly expenses. When our lease came up for renewal at the retail shop, we decided to go for the dream. We discovered that our expenses had been cut drastically with no commute expense and the great tax deductions for an in-home business.

Maybe you’re still at the stage of unbelief. You can’t imagine leaving the ‘security’ of your current job. Maybe you don’t think you are disciplined enough to make a living at home. As many millions have found out in the last decade, there is no such thing as “job security.” Your best job security is your own desire and talents. The lack of discipline is something that my hubby thought would be a problem, until he realized that you don’t need to be disciplined to do something you love to do. You wake up wanting to get started.

Let me encourage you to pursue your dream. Share your dreams with your spouse and/or family and make them happen! We love to tell people that we have a “20 second commute, and we can wear pajamas to the office.”

Here’s several home-based businesses that we find exciting. We invite you to join us in these opportunities.

Nature’s Sunshine Products (herbs, supplements, beauty, essential oils, beverages, water purifiers)

Home Spa Party Plan (from Nature’s Sunshine – fun way to make non-toxic home, health and beauty products)

Life’s Abundance (natural dog and cat foods)

Healthy Pet Net (dog, cat and horse foods/treats, supplements and more)