Hey y, you all! Welcome to my blog post on the best way to invest for a 40-year-old woman. This is a question that I was thinking of while driving to work. As soon as the thought came to me, I started looking for YouTube videos on investing. I scrolled and scrolled, but nothing was popping out to me. Then I thought, why am I looking for an answer I already have?
For years, I have researched different ways to create wealth. Some of the ways I found interesting were the stock market and building businesses. If you know anything about these two investment strategies, you know investing in the stock market and companies are very vague. Both of these investment strategies require a more in-depth perspective.
When I started investing in the stock market, I didn’t know where to start. So, I downloaded Robinhood and started investing a little bit of money. I learned about ETFs and index funds while investing in the Robinhood app. I also learned that stock market investing is a long-term play, and I needed a short-term strategy.
Even though Robinhood made it easy for me to invest, I wasn’t making enough money to invest consistently. My money management skills were lacking. I could invest for short periods, but then I would need to sell my shares to pay my bills.
Even though I couldn’t invest as often as I would have liked, I learned how to invest; what I learned was that investing was a skill. A skill that I had not been taught but that I learned on my own.
Building My Business
Like learning to invest in the stock market, I would have to learn to build a business on my own. The only person I knew who owned their own business was my grandma. I didn’t have an LLC or a corporation, but she did have a booth at a local Flea Market. I remember being a little girl so small that I hid in the clothes racks and under the tables.
My grandma’s business model was simple but effective. She would go to Goodwill thrift store and buy gently used items. Then, she would clean the items she got from Goodwill. It would take her all day to wash the clothes and iron them. She would spend days preparing her inventory to be sold. Saturday and Sunday were her workdays at the flea market.
I remember waking up Saturday morning to my grandma packing her car to the rim with clothes, shoes, kitchenware, and toys. She would have a packed lunch, mainly consisting of bread and bananas. Before she left, she asked us grandkids if we wanted to go with her. We usually wouldn’t want to go because we knew she would be there all day long. But sometimes we would go with her.
Going to the flea market required a lot of work. We would have to unpack everything my grandma packed in the car. She would tell us how to put the clothes on the table for the customers to see. After everything was where she wanted, we would wait for the customers. Sometimes, the customers would be buying before we finished sitting up. Other times, we would be there for hours before a customer would buy. Either way, my grandma will pay us at the end of the day.
As an adult, I remember my grandma would continue to go to the flea market every weekend. She would continue packing and unpacking her inventory well into her 80s.
Watching my grandma sell her inventory planted an entrepreneurial seed in me. As I grew up, I tried my hand at reselling clothes. This is when I learned I didn’t want to be in a business with inventory.
Early, I mentioned how my grandma would spend all day preparing her items to be sold. My version of reselling still required me to prepare items to be sold, but I wasn’t selling at a flea market; I was sold on eBay.
I started with items I had received when my grandma passed. She left behind so many clothes that I was able to practice selling.
I would take pictures of the items, post a description, and wait for a customer to purchase. I felt it wasn’t worth it at the time because I was only getting $20 here and there throughout the month. I would earn about $300 per month. Looking back on it, the business model worked. I just wanted more, so I quit selling on eBay.
Now, $300 per month was good because it was all profit. There was a slight learning curve, but it was a flexible way to earn income on my terms. Even though I quit my eBay business after six months, I learned another set of skills.
I learned that I don’t like the inventory business model, but I learned that I could make money online. I had a thought… What if I sold digital products?
This thought sent me down a rabbit hole like no other. I would spend 15 years figuring out how to earn money online. I know you might be thinking ten years is a long time… I don’t know if I would have continued on this path if I had known it would take that long.
I learned I could make money online, and there wasn’t a money limit like in my surgical tech career. I’d convinced myself I could be a writer or a content creator. As a writer, I would maintain a blog documenting my life. I would make money by sharing links to items that I found valuable. I would also write ebooks on topics I liked and topics that help people like me.
Starting My YouTube Channel
At the time, YouTube was an up-and-coming platform that allowed anyone to post a video. Being on YouTube was cool because I could make money by posting videos.
Even though I thought being a creator was the life I wanted, the money was coming fast enough for me. I needed money and needed it now. I could focus on making videos and writing a blog because I had to feed my son.
Luckily, I had other skills that could pay my bills. As a surgical tech, I was able to make the money I needed to survive. Not only was I a surgical tech during those 15 years, but I also went to cosmetology school. The thing is, both of my careers were physically and mentally exhausting. I had overextended myself.
I knew my surgical tech career was temporary. I thought being a hairstylist would be able to replace my surgical tech salary. And it probably would have. But I started chasing the money.
I decided that I would become a travel surgical tech. That simple decision doubled my income. As a travel surgical, I have to leave my cosmetology business. So, as a certified surgical tech, I would travel the county for the next couple of years.
What I figured out again was my surgical tech career was temporary. I like going to new places and meeting new people, but I don’t like having someone tell me what to do. Having someone in charge of me is so uncomfortable. I made a promise to myself that I would use YouTube as a way to get out of the rat race. I told myself I didn’t care how long it would take; this is how I would replace my income.
Some would view my journey to becoming an entrepreneur as a failure because I still work as a surgical tech. I might have been one of those people until I realized I’ve been putting in reps.
For 15 years, I’ve been putting in entrepreneurial work. I have a better understanding of who I am and what I want. The most significant learning curve wasn’t learning the tech and software of building a business; it was how I thought.
My Mindset Changed
Over the years, how I think about building my business has changed. I used to try to figure out what my niche was. Now I know I am the niche. Keioffa is the product and brand. There is only one me, and it’s my job to share myself with the world.
I now know that sharing my experience with others is how I help people who align with me. I no longer make decisions in fear. Fear of not having enough money is no longer an option. While in the building season of my business I continue to work as a surgical tech. But I will only work at places that don’t consume too much energy. For example, instead of working at a hospital where I will have to be on call and in a stressful environment, I will work at a surgery center that doesn’t burn me out.
Today, I have enough time to work on my YouTube channel and website before or after work. I like writing before I go to work because I know I will be mentally tired at the end of the day. I am no longer chasing a bag that someone else has for me. I am on a freedom journey.
Freedom to do what’s best for Keiogrowth’s growth as a person, product, and brand.