Annie's Story
case study
Annie Pasma, Interactive Entertainer
Her Story
Before I started my business, I was working as an associate at a library. My job included working with all ages of patrons by helping them with technological difficulties on their devices, finding the right book, looking up reference questions and so forth. But my favorite part of the job had to be doing storytimes with toddlers and preschoolers. Every Tuesday, I would do a couple of story times, reading, dancing and singing with the kids. It was wonderful. I loved the children and the children and their parents knew it. One day, I had a parent ask me if I did birthday parties for children. It wasn’t something that had ever crossed my mind before but it did get the wheels turning on how it might be possible for me to do so. After I left that job to move to a different library, the opportunities to grow the idea presented themselves. At this new position, I worked exclusively with children, doing not only story times but dance parties and other programming. It all led to more experience in what I would need for my recently acquired business; Miss Annie Bananie LLC!
Starting her business
Starting my business in June of 2016 was almost anticlimactic because I felt it was the right thing to do. But after filing the paperwork and getting it started, the doubts and fear set in. What was my next step? Who did I think I was starting a business? I wasn’t able to explain it well to my family and friends so their doubts became my doubts. There was also the fear of spending money. Where was I going to get the money to pay everything I needed to get this off the ground? Sure I’m a single girl, but I had taken a substantial pay cut leaving my other job. I knew I needed a website so I started with a Wix account. Although it seemed to work fine, it didn’t really look too professional and it took me several months to get it up and running.
investing in her dreams
When I felt my site was finally ready, I launched! It was my full expectation that if I built the website they would come! I would have no problems booking parties and starting music classes. Everybody needs my services, right? Nothing. A month came and went. That was when I found Naomi, or rather she found me. Without putting any pressure on me, she reached out to tell me more about her services and I immediately felt a connection, mainly because here was a sister in Christ who sincerely wanted to help me with my business.
I set up a clarity call and knew Naomi would be able to take me where I needed to go.
results and breakthroughs
The first thing that struck me about that was Naomi prayed. She prayed. There are a lot of things I pray for, but my business really wasn’t one of them. It never occurred to me that I should pray for my business! It was then that I knew; God had put Naomi in my life to help me. I sold my keyboard and God provided other means for me to book her as my coach and I was so thankful he did.
As we began working together, it was clear to me that she had a heart for the Lord and she had a heart for me. Every call was started with Scripture and prayer which gave us the right mindset to stay focused on what we needed to get through. She was able to guide me through Squarespace to give me a much more professional site. She taught me about sales, advertising, how to market and how to best relate to my clients.
After we started working together, I booked TWO parties!
Naomi would set goals for me every week and it was so good to have that accountability. It was also very, very encouraging to have a Facebook group who felt like your own personal cheerleaders.
Final thoughts
Running your own business is hard work. It takes sacrifice and time. In starting a business, I would highly recommend a few things:
1.) Find a Facebook group that will help you and encourage you.
2.) Do your research! Is there a market for what you want to do and if there is, make sure you know how to explain it to people in three or four words.
3.) Set goals and have people who will keep you accountable.
4.) Make sure you do not sacrifice your true priorities which should be relationships first, especially your walk with the Lord which is what I struggled with.
5.) Hire Naomi! She will get you where you need to go! :)
Ready to mobilise your business dreams, lovely?
P.S. The answer is YES! You've got this.