Can you change your life and give yourself a better quality of life?  Today we have the lovely Liz Melville, telling us about how she made a major change to her life, which has allowed her to have more freedom and choice.  This post is part of a series of posts about finding the path to financial security,which will inspire you to change your life for the better. 

Tell us a bit about you and your family

I’m Liz, full-time business owner, wife to my ever-patient husband, and mum to my gorgeous wee 6-year-old son.

What do you do to make money?

I’m a Facebook marketing specialist and earn my crust by teaching women entrepreneurs how to grow their online businesses profitably using Facebook.

How long have you been doing this?

I’ve been self-employed for over 8 years, but my current business has been running for 7 years now.

What inspired you to do it?

I spent 15 years in a senior management role within corporate but was stressed out, burned out and wanting to start a family. So when the option of redundancy came up in 2009, I grabbed it with both hands. But I still had to make ends meet, and loved the idea of being my own boss and in control of my work.

While I’d been in corporate, I’d been running a hobby business and using Facebook to tell friends what I was doing. When they started to refer business to me, I realized that there was a way of using Facebook to generate sales, and wanted to teach other people what I’d learned so they could reap the benefits too.

What do you love most about it?

I love having the freedom to arrange my work and day around my son’s schooling, and being able to work from wherever I can find a power point and wifi for my laptop! I get to work with amazing women who are also building their own businesses, and seeing them create their own financial freedom is so fulfilling.

Don't get stuck - change your life for the better!

What do you find most challenging about it and how do you overcome this?

I’d be lying if I said it was plain sailing, to change your life is not always easy.  The biggest challenge is creating a consistent flow of regular income that will sustain me and my family. There’s no regular salary when you’re self-employed, and that can be challenging!

The best way I’ve found to overcome that is to always plan ahead and to have a strategy in place for how I’ll create income and sales. It takes a lot of focus and resilience, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Money can make or break a person. Has your relationship with money changed over the years?

It’s changed the most in recent years, but I have to admit that it can be a volatile relationship!

I was brought up to believe you have to work hard to earn money, and I’ve always felt I had to prove myself through work. That can breed an “I don’t deserve this” attitude to money and to how I price my services. So that’s something I’m continually working on. I’m more relaxed in my approach to money…..but still can’t quite let go of a cautious, frugal approach to it!

How do you feel that money has now made you happier, healthier, or wealthier?

It’s interesting to reflect on this. I still don’t have as much money as I did in my old corporate world, so I’m not wealthier. But I’d have to say that I’m happier now. HOW I now earn my money has created that. In being master of my own destiny and business, I have much more freedom to choose to be with my son. So my means of earning money has definitely lead to more happiness and fulfilment.

What important choices have you been able to make because of money?

For me, it’s being able to make simple choices around when and where we go on holiday, or what we do as a family that is important. We can give our son wider opportunities and experience of life than we ever had. There’s no price I can place on being able to do that.

For many, the retirement age is now 67 or 68. Do you still see yourself still working at this age?

Gosh yes! I doubt I’ll still be doing what I am right now, but I’d love to think I could still actively be creating my own income as a part-time entrepreneur.  When you do something you love, you don't feel the need to change your life much.

What does your ideal retirement look like? At what age? What do you see yourself doing?

In my twenties, I always thought I’d love to retire by 45! But now I feel I have so many more productive years left, so don’t see myself fully retiring until 70 – if I’m healthy and active. I’d love to still be running my own business in some shape or form. But I’d want to be easing off during my 60’s, and spending more time pursuing my love of being on the water and having the time to travel and spend time absorbing the culture and life in different countries.

What plans do you have in place to allow you to live this ideal retirement?

After 15 years in financial services, I’m so aware of the importance of retirement planning. So I do have a pension that will support me in retirement.

You can find Liz at lizmelville.com or on Facebook or Twitter

If you would like to change your life to give you more freedom and choice, then check out my fabulous free Financial Security download.  

Eileen x

Hi, I’m Eileen Adamson, Your Money Sorted coach, helping female teachers to become happier, healthier and wealthier. By showing you how to make small, sustainable changes, I can help you create the time, freedom and financial security you deserve.

For more information on how I can help you, please see my coaching courses, my favourite products and services, my Etsy shop or my Amazon shop.