How my journey into online business started taught me one big lesson: building an online business rarely happens the way you think it will.
Quick answer
My online business journey did not start with one perfect plan. It grew through learning, trying things, making changes, and continuing even when I did not have every answer.
When people look at a business online, they usually see the finished pieces. The website. The products. The branding. The content. The social media posts. What they don't see are the years behind it. The failed ideas, the pivots, the late nights, and the moments when you thought you had everything figured out only to realize you were starting over again.
And honestly, that's been my story.
When people see Marie Gems today, they see the websites, the products, the Pinterest content, the branding projects, the sublimation work, the DTF printing, and everything else that comes with it. What they don't always see is how my journey into online business started long before Marie Gems ever existed, and it definitely didn't happen in a straight line.
How My Journey Into Online Business Started With Web Design
Back around 2010, I started pursuing degrees in web design and development because I genuinely loved creativity, websites, and building things online. Eventually, I earned my Associate's Degree in Web Design and later my Bachelor's Degree in Web Design & Development.
At the time, I honestly thought I had everything figured out. I knew how to build websites, understood coding, and had learned the technical side of design and development. What I didn't know was how to get people to actually visit those websites.
Looking back now, that's probably when my real business education started. Because knowing how to build something and knowing how to market something are two completely different skill sets. School gave me the foundation, but marketing was the piece I still needed to learn.
Looking back, how my journey into online business started with web design was only the beginning of a much bigger digital entrepreneurship journey.
The Unexpected Lessons From Starting an Online Business
About nine years ago, after becoming a mom of 3, I started exploring different online business opportunities. Like a lot of people looking for ways to earn money from home, I found myself trying different things and learning as I went.
If you're starting an online business, it helps to remember that progress often looks more like testing and adjusting than instant success. That season taught me to pay attention to what felt aligned instead of forcing what didn't.
Looking back, some of the most valuable business lessons came from places I never expected. That season introduced me to social media marketing, audience building, branding, customer relationships, content creation, live selling, and showing up consistently online.
At the time, I thought I was learning how to sell. What I eventually realized was that I was actually learning how to communicate. I was learning how to connect with people, how to tell stories, and how branding influences the way people perceive a business.
For a long time, I thought I was bad at sales. Looking back now, I don't think that was true at all. What I struggled with was pressure-based marketing. I didn't enjoy cold messaging people or constantly trying to recruit others. What I loved was creativity, branding, websites, content creation, and helping people bring their ideas to life. Over time, that difference became impossible to ignore.
How Live Selling Changed Everything
One of the biggest turning points in my journey came during my live selling years. Love it or hate it, live selling taught me skills I still use today.
Before that, I was the person who preferred staying behind the computer. Going live forced me out of my comfort zone. It taught me how to engage with an audience, keep people's attention, create content that connected with viewers, and show up consistently even when I didn't feel confident.
Back when Facebook Reels were newer, I grew my audience quickly and was earning over $4,000 a month through content monetization and live selling before platform changes eventually shifted everything.
That experience taught me something important. I actually understood marketing. Just not in the way I originally thought.
This was the season where how my journey into online business started to feel more real, because I could see how content, confidence, and consistency worked together.
The Moment Everything Changed
Eventually, I was removed from Paparazzi, and at the time it felt devastating. I had spent years building relationships, creating content, and growing something I cared about. Suddenly, that chapter was over, and I wasn't entirely sure what came next.
Looking back now, that moment ended up being one of the best things that could have happened to me. For the first time, I stopped building someone else's brand and started building my own.
That's really when Marie Gems began.
Not with some huge launch. Not with a perfect plan. Just one step at a time.
The last few years have honestly been a giant season of experimentation, learning, rebuilding, pivoting, and figuring out what truly aligns with me long term.
The Hardest Season
There was a season of my life where I was living in a motel for three months as a single mom with four kids.
I wasn't sitting in some beautiful office planning my dream business. I wasn't mapping out five-year goals or creating vision boards. I was trying to survive while figuring out how to keep moving forward. At the time, I was doing jewelry live sales from a motel room and taking life one day at a time.
Looking back now, those were some of the hardest years of my life. They were also some of the most important because they taught me lessons about persistence, resourcefulness, and continuing forward even when circumstances weren't ideal.
Eventually, I was able to move into a small two-bedroom apartment, and life slowly started changing again. Years later, after everything life threw at me, I somehow ended up here — a mom of seven building businesses from a seven-bedroom house while still learning, creating, rebuilding, and figuring things out every day.
That perspective changes you.
Because I didn't learn these skills from a perfect office or ideal circumstances. I learned them during nap times, between diaper changes, during school pickups, late at night after the kids were asleep, and through seasons where life felt messy and overwhelming.
I learned them while rebuilding my life one step at a time.
Learning Everything I Could
As the years went on, I became obsessed with learning. I started diving deeper into digital marketing, email marketing, Pinterest SEO, Shopify, branding, blogging, affiliate marketing, product photography, print-on-demand, sublimation, DTF printing, customer experience, and content creation.
And honestly, most of what I learned didn't come from a textbook.
It came from trying things.
Sometimes succeeding.
Sometimes failing.
And then trying again anyway.
Every new skill stacked on top of the last one. Over time, those skills started connecting in ways I never expected. What once felt like a random collection of experiences eventually started forming a business that actually made sense.
What I Believe About Starting an Online Business Now
After nearly a decade of building online, here's what I believe.
You do not need to have everything figured out before you start. Most businesses are built slowly behind the scenes through consistency, experimentation, adaptation, learning, and persistence. They aren't usually built overnight, even though social media sometimes makes it seem that way.
I also believe that cohesive branding matters, building a digital brand should feel intentional, Shopify design should actually convert, Pinterest is one of the most underrated long-term traffic tools available, authentic content performs better than fake perfection, storytelling matters, and businesses should evolve as people evolve.
Because that's exactly what happened to me.
The business I have today looks very different from the business I imagined years ago. And honestly, that's okay.
Where Marie Gems Is Today
Today, Marie Gems brings together everything I've learned over the years. Branding, Shopify design, Pinterest strategy, product-based business experience, content creation, SEO blogging, sublimation, DTF printing, email marketing, and the real-life experience of building a business while raising a family.
For the first time in a long time, everything feels connected.
Not perfect.
Not finished.
Not influencer-perfect.
Just real growth built one lesson at a time.
There are still days when I feel like I'm figuring things out as I go. There are still things I want to learn and goals I haven't reached yet. But when I look back at where I started, it's hard not to be grateful for every twist, detour, mistake, setback, and lesson along the way.
If you're starting an online business or mapping out your own digital entrepreneurship journey, I hope this honest look at how my journey into online business started gives you a little encouragement and a few practical online business tips to keep moving forward.
None of it happened the way I planned.
And somehow, that's what made it worth it. 💜
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Creative-business tools I recommend
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Frequently asked questions
Do you need everything figured out before starting an online business?
No. My experience has been that clarity often comes from doing the work, learning what fits, and being willing to adjust as the business grows.
What is one of the biggest lessons from starting online?
You can learn the tools, but you also have to learn your customers, your own strengths, and which direction truly fits the business you want to build.
Is changing direction a failure?
No. A thoughtful pivot can be part of building something more focused, sustainable, and aligned with what you actually want to offer.