The year was 2007 and my wife and I were victims of a dreaded condition known as complacency. If you’ve never heard of this terrible condition before, it’s a disease that leads to spending 10 hours a day at a job that you don’t particularly like.
It’s an illness that stops you from pursuing your personal goals and aspirations because you can never find the time.
It’s a debilitating condition that causes you to trudge through each day doing the daily grind as life quickly passes you by.
Back then, my wife and I used to get up early in the morning, go to work, eat dinner, sleep and then wake up again the next day to repeat the cycle.
Days quickly faded into weeks, weeks dissolved into months and months soon became years of the same routine.
Even though we both made a pretty good salary from our day jobs, we were coasting our way through life like lifeless zombies. After all, we weren’t challenging ourselves. We weren’t trying new things and we stayed within our comfort zone when making important decisions. We had no sense of purpose and we were unmotivated and stagnant.
It sounds harsh, but my wife and I were lazy pieces of !@#$. Even though we had a lot of free time, we always ended up wasting it on empty activities. For example, our day consisted of working from 9-6:30pm, eating dinner and then watching television until it was time to go to bed.
Days and weeks went by quickly and we didn’t have anything to show for it. Even when I try really hard, I am unable to recall any specific memories during that period of my life. The only thing I remember is that I watched a hell of a lot of television and that my wife was terribly unhappy with her day job.
In fact, the only memory that stands out in my mind was how much she dreaded having to go to work each and every day. Every morning she would kiss me goodbye and then say
Okay, Honey. I’m off to the hell hole I call my job!
It was particularly painful for me because I had to watch her drag herself out of bed and witness her suffer every morning.
Even though she changed companies several times during her career, she never felt fulfilled working at any of her jobs. What’s ironic is that my wife and I had always wanted to start a business and be our own boss but we never got around to it. We talked about opening an online store many times but never took any action until it happened….
My wife became pregnant! I still don’t fully comprehend how peeing on a stick could stir up so many emotions, but my wife and I became excited and terrified at the same time. For one thing, I got a sudden injection of motivation and enthusiasm.
All of a sudden I felt like I needed to get off my ass and become a better person. I felt like I needed to be more responsible and to take charge of my life. I felt like I needed to get my act together and provide for my family.
As millions of thoughts swirled through my head, my primary concern became financial security. We needed a bigger house. We needed to live in a better school district. We needed to start a college education fund. We needed an emergency fund so large that we could survive even if I lost my job or got laid off.
As for my wife, she wanted to quit her job so she could take care of our child full time. She didn’t want to miss a single minute of our baby’s childhood. The only problem was that with the additional expense of having a child, she didn’t want to place a major crimp on our lifestyle or our finances. As a result, we needed to find another way to make money and replace her six figure salary. Hence our online store, Bumblebee Linens, was born.
Even though things started out slowly, our online store managed to replace my wife’s salary of $100K within one year.
Having our own business allowed her to stay at home and take care of our child while running our online store at the same time.
The best part was that my wife didn’t have to put in nearly as many hours as her day job to make significantly more money and she was much happier too.
Are You Interested In Starting An Online Business?
Creating our online wedding linens business was not rocket science by any means. You can replicate our success by taking our free 6 day mini course on how to start a niche online store of your own.
In this 6 day mini course, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn 100 thousand dollars in the span of just a year. Best of all, it’s free and you’ll receive weekly tips and strategies!
Who We Are
Steve carries both a bachelors and a masters degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Despite majoring in electrical engineering, he spent a good portion of his graduate education studying entrepreneurship and the mechanics of running small businesses. He currently works for a startup company in the Silicon Valley.
Jennifer carries a bachelors degree in Economics from UC Davis. She is exceptionally adept in all financial matters and has a strong background in accounting as well. While she has quit her day job, she occupies her time managing our online store and taking care of both of our kids.
On this page, I have compiled all of the more personal articles of MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. The posts you will find on this page discuss what was going on in our minds throughout the entire process of creating our online store and our other income sites as well. We will constantly update this page so please check back often.
In this post, you will learn how to start a tshirt business from complete scratch for less than $3 with a viable marketing strategy that requires no upfront costs. Because I teach a course on how to sell online, I’m often asked why I don’t launch more ecommerce stores and make infinite amounts of money:)...
I am a self motivated person and an independent thinker. But I’ve discovered over the years that my actions are directly shaped by the people I see the most. For example… When I hang out with someone who goes out all of the time, I go out all of the time. When I hang out...
Growing up in a traditional Asian household, I was taught to follow this exact formula. Study hard Attend a top college Get a high paying job Work until age 65 Retire and enjoy life To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with this path. My parents worked full time for 40+ years and lived happy and...
I’ve interviewed over 350 wealthy entrepreneurs on my podcast and here’s an interesting fact. Rarely do my guests make money from a single source. They all have multiple streams of income. In fact, successful entrepreneurs often diversify their income sources to prevent a single point of failure. If any one income source dries up, there...
Should I quit my job? Should I shut down my business? Should I end a partnership? In this post, you’ll learn the exact questions that I ask myself when deciding whether to move on and pursue something else. First off, the principles outlined in this post apply to all areas of life. For example, I...
Can the average person start a profitable online store? What is the most important aspect of starting any successful business? This article will point out the high performance habits of successful entrepreneurs. I’ve been running my Create A Profitable Online Store Course for almost a decade. And through the years, I’ve had the opportunity to...
With the Corona virus pandemic causing mass layoffs and record unemployment, it’s clear that recession 2020 has already begun. This post will outline everything that I’m personally doing to prepare for this downturn. First off, this is my 3rd recession. In my adult life, I’ve had the misfortune of living through 2 other downturns in...
This post is a collection of principles I live by on how to get rich without sacrificing your family life. When it comes to business and life, my primary goal is to be the best Dad that I can be. Making money and getting rich are secondary objectives and most people don’t believe that you...
Elon Musk is one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet but he works 100 hours per week. Sheryl Sandberg states that women routinely settle for non-leadership roles because they put their families first. But can you have it both ways? Can a high achiever live a balanced life without making huge sacrifices? A...
This article will teach you how to stop overthinking and overanalyzing your actions so you can break out of your shell. If you’ve ever met me in real life, you probably know that I have a tendency to blurt out whatever is on my mind. Sometimes what comes out of my mouth is inappropriate. Sometimes...
If you are living paycheck to paycheck or saddled with debt, you probably think it’s impossible to become a millionaire unless you win the lottery or inherit a large sum of money. And it’s true. If you continue down your current path of spending all the money you earn or working at a dead end...
I’m probably the last person you’d ever expect to be good at sales and marketing. Growing up, I was shy and I studied a lot. I was a straight A student, captain of the math team and I took the SATs in the 4th grade so I could attend “nerd” camp. Prior to quitting and...
When Toni and I first launched the Sellers Summit back in 2016, we quickly learned that launching a brand new conference from the ground up is an uphill battle. When you’re the new kid on the block, it’s hard to get speakers. It’s hard to attract sponsors. And most importantly, it’s hard to convince attendees...
Looking back, one of the biggest challenges of starting our ecommerce store was the lack of support. For example in 2007… We had no one to talk to. We had no one to share our experiences with. We had no one to compare strategies with. And to make things worse, most people doubted that we...
Are you looking to become wealthy? Do you aspire to be filthy rich? Well chances are you are going about it all wrong. Before you can give yourself a shot at making life changing money, you must first develop the proper mindset. Recently, I had a Facebook Messenger conversation with a reader seeking business advice....
Contrary to popular belief, it does NOT require a large upfront investment to start a successful online business. What you lack in funds can be made up for with a little ingenuity and this post will show you how to start a business with no money whatsoever. But first things first. You have to be...
A while back, my partner Toni and I launched a free group giveaway service called Go Brand Win. And this service was designed to help ecommerce and Amazon entrepreneurs quickly grow their email lists for free by collaborating with similar brands. How quickly can you expect to grow your list with a group giveaway? Here...
It was 11:00PM on a Saturday night in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. My ecommerce conference, the Sellers Summit, had just officially ended and I was hanging out at the closing party with all the attendees. It was open bar with drinks all around! Normally I’m not a drinker and I usually don’t touch any alcohol during...
Out of all the traffic sources that bring in revenue to MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, most of the money that I make is derived directly from my email list. Without my email list, I would not be selling very many copies of my ecommerce course. Without my email newsletter, I wouldn’t be converting nearly as many affiliate offers....
My wife just closed the books on MyWifeQuitHerJob.com for 2017 and I’m happy to report that I had another record year of growth! To be completely honest, 2017 was supposed to be a coasting year for me so I could figure out what to pursue next. After all, I quit my job towards the end...
My wife just closed the books on 2017 and I’m happy to report that our online store had another record year. That being said, it’s also been a hectic year filled with lots of traveling, injuries and family activities. If you’ve been following my recent posts and podcasts, you are probably aware that I’ve been...
I’ve been hung up on. I’ve been cursed out. I’ve been been treated like a minimum wage worker. But I’ve always sucked it up because that’s what it takes to run a successful wedding linens business. Even though we now have a small staff to answer phone calls and run our help line, back in...
Since my wife became pregnant with our first child in 2007, I’ve created 2 different lifestyle businesses, an ecommerce store selling handkerchiefs and a blog about entrepreneurship. And these businesses were created so my wife and I could spend more time with these two. For all of you who are unfamiliar with the terminology, a...
Most entrepreneurs will tell you that starting a business is incredibly rewarding and worth the risk. But what they may not reveal is that running a successful business often comes at the cost of finding happiness. Many successful entrepreneurs work all the time and rarely see their family. Many successful entrepreneurs are single or can’t...
In a previous article, I compiled a comprehensive list of must have tools that I use to run my ecommerce store. So this week, I put together a list of tools and plugins that I use for my other businesses which include my blog, my podcast and my online course. Similar to the way I...
After blogging about ecommerce and helping others with their online businesses for the past several years, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among new entrepreneurs in the small business community. These days, everyone wants someone else to do the hard work for them. “Steve, I don’t know anything about websites. Can you recommend someone to design...
I have a love hate relationship with Facebook. On one hand, Facebook allows me to keep in touch with and keep track of what my friends are up to. But on the other hand, I often leave Facebook with a healthy dose of jealousy and feelings of inadequacy. For example… One of my Stanford classmates...
Not too long ago, I was working 40 hrs/week as an electrical engineer, running an online store with my wife, writing posts for my blog, putting out a weekly podcast, teaching an ecommerce course and holding an annual conference all at the same time. In fact, it was only recently that I quit my full...
When I first launched the Sellers Summit last year with my partner Toni Anderson, I was terrified. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to sell tickets. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to find high quality speakers to talk at the event. And I was scared that I wouldn’t be able...
Growing up as an Asian American with strict parents, I was expected to get good grades in whatever subject I took. There were no exceptions. And even though I haven’t taken a class in decades, the thought of getting a B still sends chills up my spine. In fact, I occasionally have nightmares where I’m...
Every business requires a little bit of luck in order to succeed. And often times, success depends on timing and being at the right place at the right time. But do you ever wonder how some people keep getting lucky over and over again? Is it just a coincidence that some entrepreneurs always seem to...
As someone who writes about entrepreneurship and teaches others how to sell physical products online, I make a habit of following as many successful people as I can. It doesn’t matter if you’re famous or just starting out, I’ll at least check out your website to see what you have to say. But even though...
As part of running my blog and my podcast, I often get questions from readers who want to know more about the early years of our business and how it has evolved over time. How did we get started? How much inventory did we carry early on? Did we run it from our house in...
When you put yourself out there by writing blog posts about your successful online business, interviewing popular guests on your podcast and throwing ecommerce conferences, there’s a tendency for people to put you on a pedestal. “Steve, you must work your ass off. Do you ever sleep?” “Steve, you are the most motivated person I...
My wife just closed the books on our online store and I’m happy to say that we achieved double digit growth yet again. And the fact that we’ve maintained double or triple digit growth for the past 9 years continues to amaze me! As I mentioned in my mid year report, 2016 was all about...
My wife just closed the books on MyWifeQuitHerJob.com for 2016 and I’m happy to say that I hit 2 major milestones this year. First off, I reached the magical 7 figure revenue mark for my blog. And second of all, I finally quit my day job as a hardware engineering director last June. Of the...
One of the reasons I love documenting my online business ventures is that I have the ability to go back in time and re-live some of my experiences running a business. And this came in handy the other day when a reader asked me the following question. Steve, it seems like you always know what...
It’s been a solid 4 months since I resigned from my day job so I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my experiences with unemployment and how to find what makes you happy. Here’s the thing. Most people have this rosy vision of quitting their job and being their own boss but personally,...
There’s a saying that entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40. And if you’re spending 80 hours per week on your business, then power to you. But what if you’re putting in the time but not seeing the results? Here’s an email that I received from a reader the...
People often ask me what keeps me motivated to sell handkerchiefs online. And it’s a fair question to ask because… I’m not particularly into handkerchiefs, linen napkins or linen towels. I don’t use any of my own products on a regular basis and I’m definitely not the target demographic for my store. But here’s the...
Most of you probably don’t know this, but I’ve always dreamed of giving a keynote speech at a conference. In fact, it’s been on my bucket list for quite some time. But here’s the thing. While I’ve been asked to give speeches at conferences before, no one has ever approached me to give a keynote...
For the past 5 years, I’ve been asked the following question over and over again… Steve, why do you still have a day job? Why do you work when your businesses generate so much money? Well several weeks ago, I finally gave notice at my job. Soon, I will no longer be an engineering director...
Doing a complete website redesign of my online store has been on my “to do” list for a very long time, but I could not get myself to pull the trigger because it was never a priority. Here’s the thing. My conversion rate has always been pretty good (>3%). And my online store has been...
Everyone knows that starting and running a small business is glamorous. In the past few weeks alone, I’ve read at least a half a dozen stories ranging from “How I made $1027.53 in a single day!” to “How you can work 4 hours a day and be rich as a small business owner!”. Clearly, these...
The beauty of running an online business is that you don’t have to be physically present to make money. As a result, a lot of online entrepreneurs are able to create highly scalable businesses from anywhere they want. In fact, leveraging the Internet is how I’m able to run a blog, an ecommerce store, a...
This post was written by Toni Anderson, a student in my Create A Profitable Online Store Course. Now if her name sounds familiar, it’s because Toni was a guest on my podcast 1 year ago in episode 39 where we talked about how she runs a 6 figure blog, consults on the side, runs a...
It’s really tough to go against your own nature and I full on admit it. When it comes to running a small business, I’m pretty frugal and picky about the way things are run and where money is spent. For example, you will often see me agonizing for days over a business purchase before pulling...
When I was a kid, I always tried new things just for the heck of it. I never thought about it too hard. I simply went with the flow and followed my interests wherever they took me. For example… I spent one summer reading the encyclopedia all day because I was curious about all of...
“How long would it take me to become great under you?” he asks. “10 years,” the master swordsman replies. “I don’t have that long,” says the student. “I want to be good soon. What if I worked very hard and dedicated myself completely to the task?” “Ok, 30 years,” he says back. “But that’s even...
I recently came across a statistic from Fast Company magazine that really surprised me. According to the American Sociological review, over 70% of employees in the United States struggle with finding a balance of work and play. 70%!?!! Does this number sound a bit high to you? When I look at my life, I find...
For the longest time, I avoided giving live webinars like the plague. And it’s not because I dislike speaking to large audiences because I do enjoy it. But I never thought giving webinars was a good use of my time because it’s not a scalable practice. In addition, webinar software is expensive and they charge...
Recently in a podcast interview, I was asked a question that took me off guard. Steve, do you recommend working together on a business with your spouse or significant other? Here’s the thing. Starting and running a successful business is enough of a challenge as is. But when you add working with your spouse into...
Beginning in 2007, all of the businesses that I’ve been involved with have consistently grown in the double or triple digits every year. And overall, I’ve started 3 six figure businesses online. First, there was my ecommerce store that I launched with my wife in 2007. The following year I began blogging at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. 2...
Are you considering adding a payment plan for your digital product or service? Then you must consider these pros and cons before you pull the trigger. When I first launched my Create A Profitable Online Store Course in 2011, the price was only $299. But as I continued to add content to the class and...
On MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, I often write about the need for motivation and determination when it comes to starting a business. After all if you don’t have the drive, then you will never take any action. Well today I have a confession to make. I had major problems motivating myself to sell on Amazon. Our online store...
I’ve been running my Create A Profitable Online Store Course for several years now and up until the middle of last year, it’s been selling reasonably well. For example during 2012 and 2013, I averaged about 150K per year in revenue through affiliate marketing and selling my class using the principles I outlined in my...
This post will teach you how to get a podcast on iTunes and how to rank #1 for your category without an audience or a huge following based on personal experience. Enjoy! There I stood, hovering behind my computer monitor and nervous as hell as I prepared to hit the “publish” button on my brand...
My family and I just got back from a 2 week vacation to Disney World in Florida and a 7 day Caribbean cruise that went to Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and we had a great time! This vacation was particularly special for us because it was the first time that we left complete control...
While our online store has been the main cash cow in our family, over the years MyWifeQuitHerJob.com has also become a significant portion of our household revenue. 2 years ago, I reached my first major blogging milestone by finally breaking the six figure income barrier after 4 long years of slogging away. That’s right. It...
12 seconds….That’s all it took… 12 minuscule seconds of being on television and the traffic and order volume for our online store completely blew up! Plus, our website didn’t crash:) This past week, our online store Bumblebee Linens was featured on NBC’s Today Show and it was quite possibly the most exhilarating 12 seconds that...
6 pack abs. It’s something that most guys want but will rarely achieve in their lifetime. For me, I’ve wanted a 6 pack since I was in high school but was never able to quite get over the hump. Even when I was playing junior olympic volleyball and in the best shape of my life,...
A little while ago, I published a post on how to start a blog and why blogging can be better than ecommerce. Now normally, I tend to focus most of my subject matter on ecommerce because ecommerce is where I’ve had my biggest success thus far. But recently in the past few years, both my...
I’ve been writing for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com for several years now and I just realized that during this entire time I’ve never ever introduced my wife. First off, her name is Jennifer and for all of you who are new to my blog, my wife and I are business partners as well as husband and wife. Every...
Twice a year, I publish an income report to track the progress of my various online businesses. And in case you are new here, my primary sources of income are my online store at BumblebeeLinens.com and my blog at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. In addition, I run a small business podcast and an ecommerce conference called the Sellers...
I often get asked by my friends whether I truly enjoy running my online store and whether selling wedding linens really floats my boat. In fact, most of my friends still find it hard to believe that I’m in the linens business in the first place. Most of my friends don’t understand how I can...
It’s still early on in the year, but our online store is poised for yet another 30%-40% increase in year over year profit. And believe it or not, our little online wedding linens store has now shown 4 consecutive years of double digit growth. At this point, the shop easily makes more than double my...
A few people have emailed me lately asking questions about how much time we spend running our store on a day to day basis and I completely understand why. Running a business can be difficult and time consuming so it’s important to understand what one is getting into before taking the plunge. I even received...
One of the pieces of entrepreneurial advice that I hear the most often is to start a business based on something you are passionate about. Pick a niche based on something you enjoy doing and turn it into a business. Whenever I hear this advice, I start to roll my eyes because it’s not that...
Several of my friends and acquaintances that follow MyWifeQuitHerJob.com find it hard to believe that our online wedding linens business can possibly make 100 thousand dollars a year in profits for selling to such a tiny niche. And they are correct. We don’t make 100K a year. We make much more than that now that...
If you are on Facebook, you’ve probably seen a viral message being passed around in regards to posting 25 random facts about yourself. Instead of pretending that I find this practice stupid and childish, I think it’s a great way to get to know some of your friends and acquaintances. Even though I always write...
Ever wonder whether the people who brag about their small business wealth are really living the high life? Most of what you read on the web about starting your own business tends to be over glorified because everyone is always trying to sell you something. When all you see are get rich quick tag lines...
Do you believe that money is the ultimate panacea? Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I just had more money, my life would be so much easier and less worrisome?” Most people tend to think this way until they amass some wealth and the opposite happens. Their life gets harder and more stressful. During...
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It’s an illness that stops you from pursuing your personal goals and aspirations because you can never find the time.
My wife became pregnant! I still don’t fully comprehend how peeing on a stick could stir up so many emotions, but my wife and I became excited and terrified at the same time. For one thing, I got a sudden injection of motivation and enthusiasm.
Even though things started out slowly, our online store managed to replace my wife’s salary of $100K within one year.
Steve carries both a bachelors and a masters degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Despite majoring in electrical engineering, he spent a good portion of his graduate education studying entrepreneurship and the mechanics of running small businesses. He currently works for a startup company in the Silicon Valley.
Jennifer carries a bachelors degree in Economics from UC Davis. She is exceptionally adept in all financial matters and has a strong background in accounting as well. While she has quit her day job, she occupies her time managing our online store and taking care of both of our kids.
