Not all home businesses are equal!

At a Labor Day BBQ, I ran into an acquaintance, a photographer friend of a friend. I asked him how business was going and he said GREAT and glowed with contentment. I said "really", interested in how successful his business had become (I am after all in the business of making money but more importantly having lifestyle and I wanted to compare my business to his).

He told me that business was booming and what catapulted his growth was his commitment to marketing. He said he now spends $20,000 in advertisements a year. I asked him what his average wedding cost is and he said $3500 of which about $2500 would be profit. From some basic arithmetic, I know he doesn't make more than six figures. and was in shock to find out that the return was not anywhere near the same as what I do.

In my industry, businesses that bring in between $800,000 to a million still don't spend $20,000/year in marketing and there's very little overhead. He also seemed to be working more that 12-30 hours a week. This was just another confirmation that I LOVE what I do and the freedom it brings me.

So, I follow my passion, and he follows him. I know he is happy and I am for him, perhaps I am fortunate to not have a skill to fall to, as it appears just following a simple system as worked out really well for me.