Everything worthwhile in your life only comes into form through your creation. You cannot wait for the right time, the right job, the right husband, the right house, or even the right body to come to you. You have to create it. To achieve the life of your dreams, you need to spend time “visioning” what you think will make you happy. Then you get busy “acting,” moving forward, and figuring out how to create what you want. I created the right job by becoming the CEO of my own company and constantly refocusing back to my “passions” during difficult growth phases. And the BIG AHA I had that I want to share with you is that sometimes we go on autopilot. When that happens, we create messes in our lives. Always be willing to scrap some of your creations and start over, whether it\’s a bad business, bad marriage, or bad eating habits. Remember, you have all the power you need within you to create the life you want.

Why Create A Virtual Group?
When I first started the National Association of Women Writers (NAWW) in 2001, I didn\’t openly share that I was running and building my new company from my home office. A stigma was attached to having a home office back then; it communicated that you were a small company. Times have definitely changed. Fast forward to today. Everything I believed was a weakness in my first business in 2001 is actually a strength that I leverage today to grow my companies. These are a few reasons why I love virtual businesses.
With a virtual business:

• You can leverage your low overhead and instead put more money into staff and product and service development.
• You can plug into the latest online technologies to systemize and automate your business.
• You can hire many virtual assistants (VAs) and other online professionals to build and run your business. (Most of us didn\’t even know VA\’s existed in 2001!)
• You can easily create a company culture that welcomes creativity, change, and growth.
• You can build equity faster because your upfront investment is incredibly low in comparison to storefront businesses.
• Finally and most importantly, you have no limits to what you can do with a virtual business; you are only limited by your mindsets.

Why would you want to build your own membership-based company?
Let\’s discuss a few of the reasons.
Business Equity
I spent a few years working in the corporate world and I can tell you that I certainly didn\’t have the flexibility I do now. In fact, I even had to sign agreements that the company could use my brilliant ideas whenever they wanted for their profit and that I was not allowed to profit from them. All wealthy people build equity. They understand that it is smart to work as long as you own what you are working for. When I worked in the corporate world, it was clear that the corporation owned me (mind, body, and soul). From my research and experience, I can tell you that most wealthy entrepreneurs build their wealth through real estate and by owning their own businesses. What is truly exciting is that in the last five years, more and more people are building their wealth by creating virtual online companies for niche target markets they are passionate about.

Life Equity
The bigger reason you should consider building a virtual company now is because you are spending your life equity and you can\’t get it back. If you are providing a service of any kind, you are trading hours for dollars. You are essentially giving your life away. If you are a parent like me, the lack of your presence on a daily basis while you trade your life for dollars is having a lasting impact on your children\’s lives. At my company CreateYourGroup.com I share how you can use the membership-based business model to build a business more quickly than you could build a service-based business, and live a life full of freedom while you do it. Let\’s face it, if you can achieve financial independence more quickly than you can in other ways, and leverage your time, expertise, and money exponentially, why wouldn\’t you?

Still not convinced this is a powerful business model? Check out these comparisons:

• Service-based businesses suck up the owner\’s time
• Membership-based businesses let you serve many at once

• Service-based businesses only produce income for you when you work
• Membership-based businesses provide recurring income for years to come even when you aren\’t working (month after month and year after year)

• Service-based businesses can disappear against the competition
• Membership-based businesses stand out in their chosen niche and even industry almost immediately

• Service-based businesses don\’t focus on products
• Membership-based businesses can focus on products that members request and have a built-in database of targeted customers to sell them to

• Service-based businesses don\’t provide built-in equity
• Membership-based businesses naturally let you build equity as you continuously grow the membership

• Service-based businesses don\’t provide instant expert status
• Membership-based businesses naturally position the owner as the go-to person in their chosen field

Simply put-Membership-based businesses allow you to serve customers you are passionate about, build a business with a strong foundation of recurring customers, and finally build a business with equity.

Sheri Keys Founder of the National Association of Women Writers

Sheri McConnell (www.SheriMcConnell.net) is the President and Founder of the National Association of Women Writers (www.NAWW.org). She helps women writers and entrepreneurs discover, create, and profit from their intellectual knowledge! Sheri' lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband Seth and their four children-ages 11, 10, 6, and 3 months. Contact her at naww@onebox.com or her toll free number at 866-821-5829.