How I Work From Home featuring Erin from Healthy Branscoms

I am so excited about this guest post because it is from one of my best friends, Erin, from Healthy Branscoms!! I met Erin online about and when have been friends ever since!  She is an amazing person, Wife, Mother and friend.  I have learned so much from her and she is an inspiration to so many people!

Meet Erin!!

One of my favorite things about being a Mom is being with my kids and being able to work from home. 

Now this post isn't for everyone. 

I know that not every Mom wants to work from home and be at home. 

I didn't! 

Yes, you read that right. 

I had a really great job that I loved for over 6 years. 

I made great money and sometimes more than my husband did. 

I also had phenomenal health benefits, 401k, etc. But it wasn't enough for me. At the end of the day, I felt like I was missing out on half of my life. 

I felt like I was walking around with a half drank cup, a half eaten plate, a half full heart. 

I missed out on half of everything my family did and I hated it! 

I worked the night shift so I wouldn't have to put my kids in daycare as much. I was exhausted all of the time. When I WAS with my kids, I was cranky, tired and not fun to be around. My health was deteriorating. 

I knew if I stayed on that path it wasn't worth it. 

At what point is a job worth sacrificing your family for? 

What price do you put on your kids heads? 

For me I knew it wasn't what I wanted. 

I just didn't know that there was another option. Until....

One day I was sitting in my neurologists office talking to him. I had terrible migraines! 

Migraines that got so bad they developed into seizures. 

And there was no magic "pill" for this either. 

My Doctor said to me that basically my health was a mess. 

I asked him how he could fix me and he said something along the lines of that he couldn't do it himself, that I had a major part in this as well. 

Huh?! 

He said that I basically slept an average of 4 hours a night for the past 4 years. My body was severely deprived of rest and normal sleep that a body needed. 

My weight had gotten out of control because my metabolism didn't know how to adjust to me being a night owl for a few days and sleeping at night another few days and without the minimum required sleep for so long! 

I wasn't eating right, I didn't take any vitamins. 

I was a HOT MESS!!!!

So with this devastating news that I was 29 years old and on the path to an early death if I stayed on the track I was on brought me to a standstill. 

I asked him what to do. 

He said it might not work for me but his family had been on these supplements/vitamins called Shaklee for over 40 years. 

He said to go home and google Shaklee and order some and start taking it. 

I was also on SIX prescription medications that I needed to be on to avoid the seizures and migraines. 

SIX! 

It was costing us over $300 a month in co-pays. I felt awful about this. I knew that if I didn't fix myself, I couldn't work and contribute to my family or even TAKE CARE of my family. I felt so awful.

I went home and found a blog that was all about Shaklee. The blogger is now a dear friend of mine and I love her! Her name is Bonnie Donahue and she is a mother of four and a friend to many. She is such a great person. Truly my lifelong friend. I read her blog HERE from start to finish in one night. I couldn't stop reading! 

Reading about how healthy she and her family were was just a breath of fresh air! 

I wanted to be healthy SO bad! 

I emailed her. I remember she took two days to email me back and I was going nuts!! (She was on vacation or something I found out later! :) 

She emailed me back and I told her I wanted it ALL. 

I wanted the healthy cleaning products, the beauty products, the weight loss products and the VITAMINS!! 

I was probably her most excited customer to date. 

I researched and knew if I signed up to sell the products I would get the MOST products in a kit for FREE. 

So I picked that way because I love free! 

Hello! :) 

I really had no intention of selling it. I already had a great job and didn't really care about that. 

I just wanted to be healthy and get the discounts. 

Fast forward a few months where I was healthy and doing awesome! 

I am on ZERO prescription medications for migraines/seizures and now only take healthy vitamins. 

I had already been blogging here at Healthy Branscoms for over three years at the time. If you go back and read those early posts they are all a scrapbook of all things I love. 

Blogging is a great stress reducing outlet-journal for me. I didn't even care if people read it. I had less than 100 followers at the time and didn't really care. 

I just love blogging!

So what do you do when you are a blogger and you naturally love something? 

You blog about it! I didn't realize this was going to turn into something that would actually MAKE us money!

After a few months and a few Shaklee paychecks, I casually said to my husband, "Hey! We could pay off my student loans with this extra money!" His reply was like, Sure, okay. 

So we did! I started using a program called War on Debt by Dani Johnson. I was first told about this lady Dani Johnson by my friend Bonnie in May of 2011 and I distinctly remember thinking yeah, whatever.(Insert eye roll) The War on Debt sat on my shelf for two months in the box. BIG. MISTAKE. 

I remember one day coming home from work and just thinking that I did not want to go back to work again. It had nothing to do with the job, I loved the job. I just missed my family. 

I felt suffocated under $39,000 worth of debt. 

That debt was a car loan, medical bills, and student loans. 

I hated it. 

I knew there was never going to be a possibility for me to work from home unless that 39k of debt was gone.

So I begrudgingly went and pulled that program off of the shelf and started the program with my husband. 

WHOA. 

Instantly that first month we saved $700 on our grocery bill. 

$700!!! 

I found money I had no idea we even HAD! 

It was crazy! 

We first paid off the medical bills, then went the car loan, and then we chipped away at the student loans until they were GONE! 

11 years early gone! 

We now only have a mortgage and guess what? 

We are working to pay off our house in 5 years!!!!

So, I don't know if you are serious about whatever your goals are or whatever you want to do. 

I don't know if you are happy at your job or happy with where your bills are. 

But if you are serious and you want to make a serious income from home, then we need to talk. 

Because you only get ONE life. 

Your kids only get 18 summers at home. 

You only get ONE chance at raising them up the way that YOU want them to be raised. 

So let me show you how the magic happens... :)

First, you join our team HERE. 

Now this is not just a "Hi, thanks for joining, now go figure it out on your OWN." 

No. 

We have motivational coaching calls, meetings (online), a huge facebook group team that you can share information and ideas back and forth. 

And they are FUN!! 

When you join Project Dream team, you are not on your own. 

You get lifelong friends. 

Do you have lifelong friends at your current job? 

You might but most people don't. 

Do your co-workers constantly motivate you and treat you like the professional that you are? 

Notice how we don't have bosses. 

YOU are your own boss. 

You want to make money-you work. 

We show you how!

Then we are going to talk about your dreams and goals. 

I made a dream board back in January of 2012. I printed off these pictures one night of goals I wanted to achieve. And I remember thinking at the time that while I would LOVE for them to happen, I really couldn't see at the time how they COULD happen. But I made them anyway because I think it is SO important to have something to work towards and to be excited about. On days I didn't want to work or didn't want to talk to anyone, these are what drove me.

Here they are from clockwise from the top left: 

Move to Kansas-Done! We accomplished this on April 1st, 2012. My husband was asked if he would like to re-located for his job and we accepted!

Attend Creating a Dynasty Conference with Dani Johnson-Done! I went to Los Angeles, California over Memorial day weekend, May 2012. It was amazing! The next one is in St. Louis and you can get that information HERE. 

Become debt free-Done! We officially became debt free at the end of May 2012! We paid off over 39k worth of debt in just 13 months!

Work from home-Done! I officially became a Work at Home Mom on March 1st, 2012. God has a pretty amazing plan for us. Me to work from home and us to move! He is good!

Attend the Global Shaklee conference in Las Vegas in August of 2012-DONE! We WON tickets to this when I made Director with Shaklee! I am so excited for a little getaway with my husband in August! It is our five year anniversary then too! :)

Get a FREE Shaklee car-In Progress. This is the only goal I haven't made yet. I think 6 months worth of goals and only one not obtained is pretty good though! :)

What do you think of my goals? 

I wake up everyday and it still feels like a dream to me that we are living all of these goals. I thank God everyday for providing these for us!

And here is HOW I am doing it! 

Here is my daily schedule for most week days. My friend Katie from Building a House of Love made this for me and this is what we try to follow daily. I usually work no more than 15-20 hours per week. 

Getting paid to work from home and to blog has been AMAZING!

Not only are we healthy but we are happy! 

We are no longer weighed down with debt, we are free to make choices to give more, save more and to live more. I do not have to work now but I love it so I do! 

I love working from home. 

Someone asked me once if I missed having co-workers? I have co-workers! They may be all over the country but they are MY co-workers and friends! 

We stay in touch daily with phone, texting, facebook, blogging, and we meet up at conferences. Did you think I went to Creating a Dynasty in Los Angeles by myself?! No way. I met the most amazing group of friends/team mates there and at every business conference that I attend. 

Source

Here is Connie from Selah Rain, Me, and Claire from Claires Healthy Home.

Source

Here is Alison and Kent from Making a McHome, me, Jen from Blissfully Ever After, and Katie from Building a house of love.

Now are those not the most amazing team mates ever? And that is not even a quarter of them!! There are so many people that I am blessed to know! 

So here is your call to action. 

I don't know if you are happy where you are at. 

Maybe you are and this is not for you. 

Maybe you love your job, are satisfied with your bank account balance and your family is content with you working and everyone is just awesome, I don't know. 

But if you feel like there is something further you want to do, more money you want to make, no more bosses to answer to, or just want to be happy, then you need to contact me immediately. 

I don't know if you have the qualifications of the kind of person we are looking for and if you don't, I wish you the best of luck. 

But if you do...welcome aboard. You are going to be on an amazing journey with us!

Email me HERE for more information or add me on facebook HERE. 


WOW!! Thanks Erin for such an amazing post! You shared so much personal information with us and it was really helpful.  You are so talented and help so many people!  I have enjoyed working with you but best of all, I love our friendship!! :)  Thanks again!


Have a great day!


Bonnie :)