By the age of thirty-five I’d worked many “traditional” jobs including: a high school English Teacher, national writing consultant, national speaker and writer.
I was happy. I had a wonderful husband, three amazing kids and a job that I loved.
But, one July morning, out of the blue, everything in our lives came to a screeching halt.
Our 5-year old daughter, Claire, was diagnosed with leukemia. It was the absolute worst day of my life.
Without a second thought, I quit my job so that I could take Claire to her daily chemo treatments.
But, we needed my paycheck to make ends meet, and it didn’t take long for the money to run out. I needed to find a “flexible” career fast. So, my husband, Brad, and I got involved in real estate.
We purchased an apartment in the city with the hopes of “fixing” it up and reselling it for a profit.
One bitterly cold winter day, we hired a plumber to “winterize” the apartment and turn off all of the water. Unfortunately, the plumber didn’t quite complete his work.
The pipes burst and the entire apartment was destroyed. All $200,000 of it!
So, here I was with a sick daughter, no job and over $200,000 in debt.
I actually think this day was the worst day of my life.
I had two choices. Give up or find a way out of this mess.
I chose to find a way out.
So, out of sheer desperation I started my own business. The crazy part is that I knew absolutely nothing about running my own business. Absolutely nothing.
Actually, that’s not true. I did know one thing.
I knew that marketing was going to be the key to my success. Nothing else really mattered. If I couldn’t find prospects, I couldn’t make sales.
Obviously, if I couldn’t make sales, I would fail.
So, I set off on an intense learning expedition and spent thousands of hours studying everything that I could get my hands on about marketing.
But, since I had absolutely NO money, my options were extremely limited.
I didn’t have hundreds and thousands of dollars to launch full-fledged magazine advertising campaign, weekly newspaper ads or 30-second radio spots.
So, I dug a little deeper and began researching anything and everything about low-cost marketing.
To my surprise, there was very little out there. There were some disconnected bits and pieces, but not solid advice to follow for a small business owner on a shoestring budget.
Over the course of the next three years, I like to joke that I earned a “Virtual PhD” in Shoestring Marketing Strategies.
But, most importantly, I applied what I learned and grew my income substantially in a very short period of time using 100% free marketing platforms.
Six-months to six-figures (to be exact).
And then it dawned on me.
There were millions of small business owners who could benefit from what I knew.
So, armed with my teaching background and marketing knowledge, I launched Shoestring Marketing to help small business owners navigate this crazy, zany world of marketing.
And, I’m thrilled to say that I have helped thousands of small business owners discover that it doesn’t take money to make money. All it takes is a bit of knowledge, mixed with consistency and sprinkled with a bit of creativity. It’s a recipe anyone can follow.
Will it take time? Sure.
Will you have to learn new strategies? Of course.
Will you have to work hard? Obviously.
But, if we’re talking about building a 6 or 7-figure business on a shoestring budget, then you’re going to need to pull out all of the stops.
By the way, my story has a happy ending.
Claire is a healthy, happy teenager who is completely in remission.
My other two children, Alexandra and Drew are flourishing.
My marriage has never been better.
Business is booming and life is good.
Let’s talk about how YOU can build YOUR small business on a shoestring marketing budget.
