Naomi Helquist

Hi!

Naomi here!  I embarked on the journey of entreprenuership in January of 2008 with Platinum One Destinations.  I am writing this profile at the end of August, 2008.

Let me tell you a bit more about myself.  I finished high school and very shortly thereafter, married and had my first amazing son.  When he was just 10 weeks old, I began my college education with the goal of becoming a Registered Nurse.  I finished, and I drove myself very hard for those years, and came out on top of my graduating class.  Well, I started my first job as an RN, and realized how little I really learned in school.  That's okay because I still love learning, and I continue to learn every day in nursing because no human, and no situation is exactely the same!

So, if I love what I am doing, WHY did I start my own business?  Great question!

Three years ago, my husband injured his back.  At only 29 years old, he had been in business for himself as a general contractor and custom cabinet maker for only 3 years.  His business was still in debt (talk about some serious equipment purchases and overhead in his biz!), he had no retirement, no savings, no back up plan.  A little over a year ago, he found out he needed a second back surgery, and he was forced to stop working.  We had just purchased a major fixer-upper in a VERY expensive area--just the mortgage payment alone was 1 1/2 one of my paychecks!  Now, how was I to pay for his business debt, our credit card balances, utilities, cars, gas, FOOD?!  Oh yeah, kids are not cheap!

I began taking extra 12 hour shifts caring for elderly people within their homes.  I would sometimes work 12 hours with a home health client, and then work the next 12 hours in the Labor and Delivery dept. at the hospital.  I took every extra shift night or day that I could get!  Can you hear Dr. Phil now?  "How's that workin' out for ya?"  Well, it wasn't.  I never saw my family, both my husband and I were severly depressed, and our poor children!

So, what did I do?  I began looking for SOMETHING that would earn extra income and still make me more available to my family.  After searching, finding, researching and comparing, I chose P1D.  I am not sorry that I did!  I'm not saying it was easy to balance all of the circumstances I was presented with.  I'm not saying that I wasn't afraid to make a financial investment when our financial situation was dismal at best.  But, I realized that if I did nothing, I was going nowhere, and seeing my children...never.  I had to take the step to change my circumstances because it was pretty darn unlikely that I was going to win a lottery (Utah doesn't have a lottery!).  What I am saying is, I was glad to have a system that assisted me in leveraging my time, and assisted me in becoming productive.  I am still glad for what I have found, and what I have been able to do today.

Yes, I still work as a nurse, and I still love it.  My husband is starting to work a little here and there again--he planted an enormous garden this summer!   My house is nearing completion of a complete overhaul.  Life looks a whole lot brighter!