Howdy! I’m Bobbi Raffin

I have many stories of struggles and triumphs, but this I will leave for my blog posts. Thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate it. :) I live in the Willamette Valley area of Oregon. We are in the ‘Grass Seed Capital of the World.’ I reside here with my husband, kiddos, and our critters, which consist of three quirky pups (they’ll always be pups to me): Bouncer, Bender, and Mika, a grand-puppy Pope, a crazy black cat we found in a blackberry bush when she was about 3 months old. Her name is… wait for it… Blackberry.

Plus, another cat that we found in our backyard after a horrible fire in our area named Grizzly Bear, at about three months old. AND 24 Koi fish, along with a backyard farm of a dozen free-range ducks, and free-range chickens.

Party Like It’s 1999!

I didn’t party like it was 1999, even though I love pulling that from Prince’s song, ‘1999.’ I have worked online since 1999 and began as a complete newbie.

I had never even been on the internet before!

Can you believe that? lol It’s true. I began by teaching myself HTML, creating a website with FrontPage, adding a shopping cart, and obtaining a few contracts with wholesalers and some drop-shippers. I sold leather bags, boots, jackets, and Disney, and Coca-Cola novelty items. While working in my online shop, I also ran a daycare (Red Balloon) from my home during the day hours for another four years. I’ve worked in various multi-level marketing and direct sales companies in the last 20 years.

When I was with Melaleuca, I was introduced to Tea Tree Oil. It could not be ingested, though. That was about the only product I liked with them. I was with Avon and Mary Kay. I didn’t fancy Mary Kay whatsoever. Avon was a no-money-maker. I love the Odyssey perfume, but I had to give it up due to constant throat irritation.

Then I shortly later joined Jerky Direct. I loved this little business at first. It’s important to me to have products. Companies that provide a good income source with residual income are of great value in more ways than one.

I had a lot of people in my downline, and I was generating a very nice recurring income from it. THEN the jerky started coming to our door, moldy. I gave it a few months. Receiving constant moldy jerky was enough for me. I think they fixed the issue. Don’t hold it against them. Things happen, and can change, but I need something I can believe in. I left the company because I can’t sell or support a company that isn’t providing quality for their customers or recruits.

In 2012, I began a very purposeful search for peppermint oil. Something I could ingest for my stomach. I tried many different products and oils from various companies. I tried things from Amazon, our local health food store, and our local grocery store. Nothing was any good, and it never worked for my stomach. I tried everything out there. I was feeling pretty defeated.

Then I found two companies that produced ingestible essential oils. An acquaintance was with DoTerra. I had a bad feeling about it, but I joined under her. I stayed with them for a year. Six months in, I started praying about leaving. I felt so bad. I didn’t want to leave the company because I didn’t want to leave her downline, but the business practices and the products were not working for me. So, after six months of praying, I left. I left my commissions and my downline.

I started completely over with Young Living. It has been so worth it! The essential oils are potent, and they offer a line of digestible oils. My body started showing me they were working in my system almost immediately. I feel better now than I have in about seven years. After all of these years, I’m still a customer and will be for life.

Founded The Hopepreneurs in 2012

I am an online fanatic and love all things internet. Having both an online business and an online ministry, for the most part, that’s where I’m at, online.

I had a full-time ‘day’ job as a technical support, writer, SEO specialist, onboarding trainer, and for a time the client success manager for WishList Products. I was hired by and worked with Stu McLaren for four years. He’s quite a character and a great person. For four years, I wrote training articles for the WL Insider membership site. WishList Products is the online software company that created the membership site plugin for WordPress.org, called WishList Member.

I loved working for them a lot! Great people and great products. Unfortunately, WishList Products was sold a couple of times. I was let go due to the financial issues they were having at the time.

It’s a huge blessing that I’ve been able to work from home. I’ve heard God tell me to write for Him more than a few times over the years.

There was a time when I never had an issue getting a job. I would get a tone of interviews and calls for work. I was one of the folks hired at WLM over hundreds of candidates.

Nowadays, getting a job is so much harder for not only myself but hundreds upon hundreds of other people who are going through the same thing.

I started receiving rejections consisting of replies such as, “Upon reviewing your profile, we decided to go a different direction” and “Although your background is impressive, we regret to inform you that we have decided to pursue other candidates for the position at this time.”

It doesn’t matter how many years of experience you have these days. Entry-level positions that require no experience are now requiring a bachelor’s or a master’s degree.

It doesn’t help if you are in the older generation like myself. You may find yourself trying to just get by in this struggling economy. Things are more expensive than ever before, taxes are soaring, and the job market has gone nuts!

Whether you are a small business, an entrepreneur growing or launching a business, or a laid-off worker trying to figure out how to earn a living again, I may have a solution for you.