my last chance

[sunshinesgift]

my goals for this year might seem complicated and a bit overwhelming, but, i have achieved one already just by writing something here. my goal for this month is to get my site www.jaggwire.com to start making me some money. if i can do this i will beable to renew the site and then start using it for what i really want to do. that is help provide FREE advocacy and support services for developmentally disabled adults and their family caregivers.

[shelleyk]

Good luck to you - you must take action and do it consistantly each day to drive traffic to your site. You will be rewarded if you do a little everyday!
Shelley kimberly:)

[tam2005]

Welcome both of you to the Goal Buddy Network! Great to have you with us. :)

What Shelley has said is true. Consistency pays off!

Networking in forums, article writing, and submitting to web directories have all prooven to be successful for me.

What are some of your goals Shelley?

As always, nice to see new members in here. :hello:

[WorkAtHomeSpace]

Welcome to Goal Buddies Sunshinegifts!

You're on the right track to meet your goal. :) What are you going to do to promote your website?

[judilynn]

Welcome! You are on the right track. A bit of promotion every day, networking and article submission. It is a slow and steady process but you will get there!

[sunshinesgift]

really quick this is were i get stuck. i have great ideas in my head but hesitate when it comes to following through with them. i am worried about failing.

[tam2005]

Hi there,

We all have had those kinds of fears. It's human nature to be a little apprehensive when one is starting out with promotion. You won't succeed if you don't try. ;)

What kind of ideas do you have?

[WorkAtHomeSpace]

really quick this is were i get stuck. i have great ideas in my head but hesitate when it comes to following through with them. i am worried about failing.

Don't be afraid to use your great ideas. You never know unless you try and everything is about trial and error and seeing what works and what doesn't. It doesn't necessarily mean you fail if your idea doesn't work. It means you need to re-think it and try it differently or do it differently. You only fail if you do nothing about it.

[sunshinesgift]

Well, I have a few things I am very passionate about. First being my family of course. But beyond that I have always dreamed of starting a nonprofit organization to advocate for developmentally disabled individuals and their families. I have always seen the internet as my tool to do this, except I don't know how to use it. I am a very visual person, and unless I can visualize something it is hard for me to do it. My websites i have always hoped would beable to be sponsors for the foundation.
Actually, Sunshines Gift is the name of the foundation. My mother died when I was 12, and 1 month to the day after her death my younger sister, whom I have always been very close to, was hit by a truck. She lay in a coma for 5 mths, and when she finally awoke, she had suffered major head trama.
I do not have many memories of my mother, but the one thing I do remember is her calling me her Sunshine. I have always dreamt of being able to give my mother and my sister a gift, Sunshines Gift is that.

I was able to sit down this weekend and really map out an entire outline about how I see it working. I have the mission statement as: To advocate for developmentally disabled citizens and their families.

What we do: work with families on an individual basis to help them find the right organizations, agencies, and programs for their individual needs.

one of the biggest parts of the foundation I want to do is called Sunshines Buddies. I want to go into middle and high schools and speak to children about volunteering to become a developmentally disabled individuals buddy. much like Big Brothers Big Sisters.

I do know there are organizations and foundations that provide services such as this, but the need is much greater. This I know first hand.

I want the foundation to be the for front of what I do, with my site, JAGGWire.com as the financial support.

Just to give you a quick insite to the name for that. JAGG stands for the four most important days in my life. Jake,Austin,Garrett,and Grace, my children from youngest to oldest.

Well my time is almost up on this computer so I better send this before it times out. I will continue with my ideas probebly tomarrow.

[tam2005]

I'm very sorry to hear about your Mother and Sister. But it's good that you have that one memory of your Mother. I found your story very touching.

You have an awesome idea there and I think you should go for it. :)
I think it's wonderful that you want to help developmentally disabled citizens and their families.

Do you have a website for this foundation? You say you have website(s). I did a search and found a couple of sites...but I don't think they are yours.

[Lori]

With motivation like that, how can you go wrong?!

By the way, I've had websites that are basically total flops. Don't worry about that!

And especially don't worry about it, because the main reason for my failures was not putting enough effort into the sites. It doesn't sound like you'll have that problem because they your motivation is so strong.

[sunshinesgift]

This is were I get stuck. I can see exactly how I want it to look in my mind, I just do not know how to put it on the screen. Right now the only site I have is the JAGGwire.com. I want to incorporate this into my foundation site. The JAGGwire site is really supposed to be for our family racing team. I have 3 boys (for if you count the one who just turned 41, ooops thats my husband, I get them confused sometimes) My husband raced cars when he was younger and the racing bug has bitten my boys, atleast one of them really hard. My idea is to have JAGG Racing race for advocacy. My 10 yr. old races go-karts now. We use the kart to advertise the JAGGwire site.

The site would show JAGG Racing as a sponsor for the Sunshines Gift Foundation.

The site for the foundation would simply be all about the foundation. I would like both sites to have a link to the Ads that are currently on the JAGGwire.com site.

I am planning on doing some fundraising for the foundation this weekend. I thought, for starters, I could sell raffle tickets for $1 a piece, have a drawing Sunday evening, and the winner would recieve a $100 gas card.

Tonight I thought that once I get the site going I would love to have the raffle run on a weekly basis, and have the drawing appear, live, on the site. The more tickets sold, the more the gas card would be worth.

I would like to be able to design a few t-shirts and maybe sell the raffle tickets for $2 a piece, with everyone recieving a free t-shirt.

I need to first raise some $ so I can purchase a lap top & a printer.
I would also like to have some printed material made up, to be handed out.

So right now I really need some help on how to design my site(s).

Please help I am getting more and more excited about this. My dream is about to come true. The whole reason for incorporating the sites is so the whole family is involved. My daughter will love helping me while the boys simply do what they do best,race and play. As long as they spread the word, which they will.

[judilynn]

Hiya! great ideas!

Raffles and contest are great ways to bring in traffic and awareness. Ask around for people and business to donate the prizes. There are lots out there that would donate for your cause!

Great to see such excitement! Can't wait to watch you grow and your dreams become bigger!

[sunshinesgift]

Well things did not go so well. I do not know what I am doing wrong. I do have a very difficult time approaching people. Those that I know that I told about what I was doing, not one person bought a ticket. I start to get really depressed because what my husband and kids see is me trying something and nothing happening. My husband told me it wouldn't work and it didn't. I really want to do this but I am really fizzling out.

I have tried everything. I am a Pampered Chef consultant, and even that I have not been able to get going, those that I know 2 did a catalog show for me. The rest I gave catalogs to but nothing.

What I had really wanted to do is design and sell t-shirts for the foundation, I tried that a few years ago, and that went nowhere.

I am at a loss. I really want to do this, but I can't keep failing.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

[judilynn]

I am so sorry you are discouraged. I can really sympathize. It has taken me so many starts and stops to find my niche.

I was involved in a few direct sales. They were bad. I can not sell to people. I was like you would give out catalogs and nothing. I am just not a person to push parties and sales on people.

I know the other is what you really want. You have a passion for it. Sometimes it takes passion and going above and beyond. From what I am reading yours is really something that involves other people getting active and involved. Sometimes that is hard. It is kind of like convincing someone to host that Pampered Chef party.

People can and do learn to sell. But it isn't something that is going to happen over night. Especially with a cause. I know that has to be discouraging. Growth, no matter how slowly is growth. It may take months for your business to grow and establish a reputation. If it is something you have a passion for stick with it, maybe just find a different approach to it. Brainstorm some ideas, find a new inspiration. Make a plan of action on exactly how to sell the tickets.

I hope what I am saying is making sense. I have been where you are, and know what it is like being discouraged with your business. It has taken me so long to get where I am that some days it depresses me. But I look back and see how far I have come and how much I have learned and that is a great feeling.

[tam2005]

My husband told me it wouldn't work and it didn't.

I can really sympathize with that one! I even wrote an article on that subject. I almost gave up many, many, many times and my hubby and I had sooo many fights. I even ended up driving off somewhere one night I was so mad. I am naturally very stubborn, and somtimes that is a bad thing. But relating to this subject, it worked out perfect for me. I stuck with it and made him see that I could do it.

And you can too! If this is something you really, really want...(and I know you do), then come up with an active plan and stick with it.

Judi is so right, success does not come over night. Hang in there! :thumb:

[judilynn]

ok I am not trying to generate traffic to my blog, but this whole matter did inspire my blog post today. But the blog being moot point, look at the comments!

So many women feel the same way. You aren't alone! We all struggle to find our place.

Don't give up. Even if your original plan didn't work, modify it, change it, let it morph to "be all that it can be".

You can do it!!!!

http://judithldavis.com/blog/?p=175 Life Online is Hard

[tam2005]

Great post Judi! I commented. :D

[WorkAtHomeSpace]

Do you have someone to support you in this? I know it can be so disheartening to hear from someone you love tell you an almost "I told you so". Perhaps you can sit down with your hubby and kids and brainstorm on how to do it differently or map out some of your other ideas.

You have too much determination to let this obstacle stop you from doing what you truly want to do. It is really all trial and error and we all go through it..it's how we learn in the process. Don't think of this as a failure...think of it in a different perspective...a hiccup that needs tweaking. Don't harp on it either. Think of ways you can do to improve it.

It's a work in progress. Keep at it, let the negatives go and continue to forge ahead.