5 weeks into 4DX and the wear is showing. Leea (my wife) and I have committed to paying off the farm by the end of the year. This is a monumental task in of itself. At the same time, Leea is working on starting a small business, finishing her masters online, and working 40 hours a week during tax season. This is a huge strain on her and sometimes makes me wonder if we have bitten off more than we can accomplish this year.She reminds me though that to dream big means to work your @$$ off to accomplish those big dreams. We support each other through the tough times in this process and when this experiment pays off, then we will be closer because of it.
I missed my update last week. In short, I did not work enough hours on developing business ideas by about half an hour the previous week. Do i regret it, no. The time was well spent with Leea and ensuring we remain strong as a couple. It also gave me some time to think about what I have been working on and will it help us accomplish our end goal. Leea has been swamped with her work and will eventually need some good help if her business takes off like she hopes. I figure that I could spend some time learning bookkeeping to help her out on some basics. At this point that will not move the tractor up our debt hill, but it will help in the future. Based on that evaluation, I decided to take her book keeper education course to give me some basics and help finish our books for the year. I received some criticisms, but it was on minor items. As she keeps teaching me more of the bookkeeping, I hope to help out more in the future. My goal this past week was to finish the basic course, which I did. Now I am in need of more practice.
At the same time, I keep thinking about if there is another way to make money on the side. After much thought and research, I think I will try Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA). Some people probably think this is crazy, but let me finish. The ideal goal is to have a steady stream of income with a minimal work. The FBA business model is nice since it is portable. If I can make it work here in Virginia, then I can also make it work from the farm. Then I can do FBA and help Leea on her business as she requires. Long term it all makes sense, but right now it is a lot of learning. Leea at first was skeptical, but I think I have her convinced to give this a try. My goal for this week is to have ship a box of inventory for FBA. This will be an interesting experiment.
Leea had an amazing week last week. Her work on her website and certifications led her to 2 new leads and contacts. What was even better was she converted one lead into a customer! With what she is learning about advertising, I have a feeling that she will be highly sought after once she is no longer going through school. She adds tremendous value to any organization she supports. Her commitment for the week is to finish up setting up the new client.
Overall this past week was a good one. The farm loan is a little bit smaller after the monthly payment, but it still has a long way to go. Leea acquired a new client. I was able to learn the basics of a new skill and find a potential business to start building. I think we are starting to find what we need and will accomplish a lot in the coming weeks.