[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyyeXu7FSv4&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

This is my latest video, shot on the Grand Western Canal near my home, as I enjoy being free to do as I please!

Have you been conditioned to think that in order to make a living to support your family, you need to have a regular job working for a boss? That this is your lot in life and to be reliant on someone else to provide your paycheck. Has it ever occurred to you that you could be the master of your own future? Wouldn’t you like to be a mum working from home and be your own boss?

You are probably so used to thinking that the traditional 9 – 5 job (or similar) is your only route. Additionally, it might never occur to you that thousands of people all over the world are starting to change the way they think and are looking for ways to support themselves.

This would sound scary to some, and it is. Few of us find change easy and for so many people this will never happen. Most will want to keep the status quo and stay with what they consider is the safe option. In the uncertain world in which we live, where economies fluctuate and falter and job losses and redundancies become the ever increasing norm, people are venturing into new territories, stretching their comfort zones and starting their own businesses, often from the convenience of their own home.

This is exactly what happened to me.

All my life I’d been a loyal employee, building a successful career, with the mindset that this is how life was.

Then out of the blue, I was made redundant and I had to figure out what to do next and that was scary.

In the beginning, I went though a range of emotions, to questioning why this had happened to me. It seemed so unfair, particularly as I’d always been told that I’d done a great job.

My position had been as a School’s Liaison and Marketing Officer for a Further Education college and I’d spent many hours doing presentations to students giving advice on career options, including the importance of transferable skills. How ironic, I never thought for one moment the advice I’d given them would apply to me.

I’d impressed upon the stu

dents that in order to maximise their career potential, they’d have to make sure they got a good education, and with it, plenty of transferrable skills. These skills would stand them in good stead when changing careers I’d told them, unlike many of our forebears who’d had just one job throughout their lifetime and that in the 21st century many were likely to have to change jobs and careers several times.

So now I was needing to take my own advice and make plans for the future.

I knew I’d never work for a boss again. Not under any circumstances. Working in a 9 – 5 situation had completely compromised my family life.  My job, for the most part, came first and my family second. I’d never been comfortable with that.

Not being able to take my daughter to school, attend school functions, even take her to the doctor or dentist. The kind of normal things most parents want and need to do but rarely can. This was me and I wasn’t going back to that way of life.

So this was a turning point in my life and I knew this was meant to be. I no longer felt like a victim and I made a conscious decision to be positive about the situation I’d had forced on me. This was a brilliant time to utilise my many life skills and put my efforts and energies into a business of my own.

My family was my number one priority and nothing was going to dampen my determination to find an alternative route. This was of huge comfort to me and gave me the strength to remain positive.

This was when I decided to turn to the Internet where I found the perfect solution.  A new chapter was about to start for me and I felt liberated. I was going to be a mum working from home, running my own business on the Internet.

So my advice to anyone in a similar situation is to take stock, be clear on what skills you have, what your priorities are, have a positive mindset and look for options that might not initially be the obvious choice.  Like me, you will get through this.