At 8pm on a Wednesday night, Stefanie Robertson sits comfortably on her sofa, puts her feet up, and opens her laptop. Elliana, her eight year-old daughter, sleeps quietly in the next room and Drew, her husband, sits beside her. The house is silent. Stefanie and Drew sip glasses of their boutique wine club’s monthly premium wine as they begin to plan the next moves in their growing business. Everyone’s work day has just ended, but theirs has just begun.
Stefanie Robertson is a work-at-home mom, businesswoman, and entrepreneur in Los Angeles, California. And since December, she has been her own boss. “I wanted to find a way to focus on being a mom, a wife, and being fulfilled in my work,” says Stefanie. “But it can be hard to avoid feeling guilty about splitting time between the three.” Before starting her own business, Stefanie had been in various administrative roles with several different companies, but was never completely satisfied with the long hours or the pay. Once she became a mom, Stefanie realized she needed a solution: start her own business.
Stefanie saw a business opportunity that would make her dream a reality––she would create a wine distribution network right from her home in California. Harnessing her people skills, experience in administration, and her taste for good wine, Stefanie began her own monthly boutique wine subscription club called The On Cloud Wine Elite. Stefanie started singlehandedly running the business in December of 2016, but it was only a matter of time before Stefanie’s hard work and determination began to draw in business partners from across the country.
“This is the magic of part time––it’s about building a lifestyle that you are happy and excited about,” says Stefanie, who manages her marketing and sales from her own home. “In this day and age, we are 100 percent connected, and this empowers us to be loyal to our careers and our families. It becomes a mindset rather than a hard distinction between ‘this is work time’ and ‘this isn’t’. That is how I made the transition.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETs-dgRr8wo
Foreseeing her need to scale her growing business, and possessing a keen desire to help other parents find business opportunities, Stefanie began to use the Moonlighting app to connect with new business partners. Moonlighting equips freelancers and small business owners with the tools to hire, get hired, get discovered, and connect with other freelancers. “The idea of Moonlighting is important to my story. It’s how I started––it’s what allowed me to begin building my dream life.” Stefanie easily created a job post on Moonlighting and began to receive contacts from hundreds of Moonlighters. “The engagement is amazing. I’ve added four new business partners just since July,” says Stefanie, who continues to receive attention on her expanding Moonlighting profile.
As Stefanie continues to care for and enjoy her family on a daily basis, she also maintains a thriving business and a Moonlighter’s mentality. “My goal is to help people make more in their part time role, based on something they are passionate about, so they can live a fulfilled life,” she often says while sharing her story with other aspiring freelancers. Though her life is busier than ever, Stefanie takes a special pride in her work and the story it tells.
How about you? Are you ready to start your own business or try out a few side gigs to get the feel of freelancing? No matter what path you want to take, you can join the amazing community of freelancers, entrepreneurs, and gig workers changing how America works by signing up for Moonlighting today!