You Need to show up for your dreams

So you have a big dream or goal that you want to attain.  You have mapped out what you need to do to achieve it and are ready to begin your journey.  At first things are going well and you are doing all the things that you have mapped out to do in order to reach your goal.  Its exciting because you have embarked on a new journey and all will be well.

Let's fast forward a bit.  Things have been going okay, but the journey has become a bit mundane as you continue on the path toward your dream.  The things that need to be done in order to reach your goal have become routine and the next thing that you know, you look at your tasks for the day and say I don't feel like doing that today.  Every once in awhile its okay to take a break as long as you get right back on task the next day.

More often than not that one day break turns into more or you get back on task only to take another break days later.  How do you expect to make your goals I you stop doing what it takes to get there?

Dreams don't work unless you do and you can't expect to continue to have the level of success you are experiencing if you slack off on the work it takes to have that success.

So what do you do when you reach that point?  Its time to go back to your why.  Why did you start your journey to begin with.  Is that why still relevant?  If not what has changed and is there another reason for you to go after your dream?  Once you reconnect with your why it is much easier to get back on track.  As you reaffirm your commitment to your dream your enthusiasm for the project will return.

Now that you are back on track it might be a good idea to set benchmarks along the way to the big goal.  As you hit each of these mini goals find a way to reward yourself for reaching them.  It doesn't have to be anything big, it just needs to be something that will keep you excited about showing up everyday to do the tasks necessary to reach your dreams.

What ever it takes find a way to evaluate your effort so that you are able to maintain an effort level that will get you to your goal.  You may even want to push just a little harder as you get closer to each benchmark.  Keep yourself excited.  Show up or your dream everyday and pretty soon you will reach your desired result.

Eliminating Stinking Thinking

When it comes to achievement and success we are our own worst enemy.   Our thoughts are a powerful force in our lives.  If we want to succeed we need to believe wholeheartedly that we will.  There is no room for doubt or fear.

So how do we change our thought process to one of belief from one of doubt?  What we believe is revealed through our thoughts, words and deeds.  If you truly believe that you will succeed your thoughts will focus on what is past the obstacles.  Our word will reflect a can do attitude and our actions will align with what we think and say.

Likewise if we think that we believe but still have doubt we will still battle thoughts of I will never get this.  Our words will be full of I am not or I can't and our actions will be difficult because we fear the results.

It is simple and complicated at the same time.  First you must identify the negative thoughts.  Once that is done you have to stop the thought in its tracks.  You may even find that at first you will need to tell yourself to stop out loud.  The next step is to replace that negative thought immediately with a positive one.

If you do not stop the negative thought at once you may find that you speak the negative thought out loud.  If that happens you need to stop yourself and then replace the negative wording with positive wording.

More often than not that negative attitude will affect how you go about taking the actions you need to do in order to succeed.  You may need to do the whole fake it until you make it thing.  You know the activity that you need to do in order to reach your goals.  Just get out and do them.

As you work on this three prong attack on stinking thinking you will eventually find that the negative thoughts, words and action will decline.  The rate this will happen is affected by two factors.  The 1st one is how vigilant you are on monitoring those negative thoughts, words and deeds and the 2nd is how ingrained those negative thoughts, words and deeds are.

So as you can see the formula for how to eliminate stinking thinking is pretty simple.  Identify the negative thought processes, words and actions.  Stop them in their tracks and replace them with the positive.

The steps may be simple, but our thought processes are not.  Our brains are a complex computer that are filled with all sorts of data and the way that we see the world is directly related to that data that is stored in the archives that we do not access readily.  You have to make a great deal of effort to deal with those things stored in those archives, better known as your sub conscious mind, and it will take time to replace the processes created by those archives.

Don't expect overnight success with eliminating stinking thinking.  In the end if it is important enough for you than you will stick with the process until you have achieved the change in outlook.  For some it will only take a short time.  For others it may take years and for even others it may be a constant battle due to biological factors.  It takes a lot of work, but in the end it will be worth it as you find yourself not only being able to meet your goals, but may find life easier to live in the face of difficulty.

Sometimes a step back is needed to go forward

Earlier this week my computer got a virus.  Even with my anti virus protection this virus hit my computer.  Computer viruses can do anything from slow your computer down, to sending personal information such as credit card and bank account information to a 3rd party or even make it impossible for your computer to work..

It took me a full day to run virus scans and then ultimately reset my computer in order to get rid of the virus.  That meant that I was unable to use my computer effectively during that time.  In the past I have relied on someone else to fix computer problems for me, but I am working on a path toward self sufficiency and wanted to try to fix it myself.  I learned that I could learn how to do new things with technology and that I wasn't hopeless when it came to computers.

Sometimes in our businesses and our lives things happen and we have to take a step back.  We may need to take the time to access the situation, discover issues and work towards fixing them.  During this time you may feel like you are going backwards instead of going in the direction that you want to go.

If you want to shoot an arrow forward you first must pull it back.  If you want to chop a tree down effectively you must first make sure your ax is sharp.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your life is to take that step or two back.  You may even discover that you need to change direction.  This time is not a time of failure, but  time to reflect on where you have been and focus on making sure what you are doing is going to help you to reach your goals.  If what you are doing is not going to help you reach your goals then something needs to change.

You may find that you may need to reach out to someone for coaching or encouragement.  You may realize that you are doing okay and just need to recharge and rejuvenate.  You may realize that the actions that you thought you needed to take were not working and you need a new plan altogether.

Any way you look at it taking a time out to reevaluate, rest and look ahead to the future is a valuable part of working towards achieving your dreams.

Affirmations, Do they really work?

I was first introduced to affirmations when I was in my teens.  I pretty much thought that they were a load of hogwash.  It wasn't until about a year and a half ago that I started to take a look at them again.

I grew up in a pretty negative environment.  As a result my own thinking was pretty negative.  At the first sign of trouble the thoughts would spiral and I soon had the future looking as grim as possible.  Is it any wonder that I kept quitting the direct marketing industry?


So about a year and a half ago I decided to make a change.  I recognized my negative mindset for what it was.  I wanted it to change because I wanted to be happier.  I began to read books about positive mindset and one of the things that was recommended were positive affirmation.  Even though they didn't work for me before I decided to give the a try again.

I started with some pretty simple ones and I said them in front of the mirror twice a day.  The first step was saying them like I believed that they would work.  After awhile the way that I looked at things actually changed.  What I was doing was working.

Once my mindset began to change I created new affirmations that dealt with my business.  I found that the things that I wanted to happen in my business were not happening, but I was more confident that they actually would and began to take set-backs in stride instead of being devastated by them.

I continue to read books and fine tune the affirmations that I use.  In fact I just wrote some new ones yesterday.  One of the ones I wrote out was one I had started using the previous week.  It reads I am attracting financial abundance, money flows easily and quickly to me.  Would you believe that the very next day I was at Wal-Mart getting some workout gear and some things for dinner.  I was walking down the isle and some promotional people from Capital One walked by and handed me a $25 gift card.

Coincidence or the affirmation beginning to work?  I will let you decide.

Here is what I know.  When it comes to changing your attitude and internal dialog positive affirmations really do work.  By using positive affirmations you may not magically see an increase in your business, but you may find that the work required in order to grow your business becomes easier as you gain confidence and train your mind to change your attitude about the work tasks required.

As a result of this new attitude and confidence you will see an increase in your business.

Ignorance does not relieve us of responsibility.

I want to tell you something.  I made a big mistake.  I had added an AdSense account to this blog in hopes of making a little money without requiring people to pay for  subscription.  Through my own ignorance I did something that caused AdSense to cancel my account.  I didn't mean to violate their rules and I should have known that what I was doing violated the rules.

There is a process to appeal the decision, but I will not be going through it.  I did what caused them to cancel my account.  There are consequences to breaking rules.  Even though I didn't realize I was breaking the rules at the time, the information about those rules is readily available and I just didn't look at them.

Ignorance of laws and rules is no excuse for breaking them.  It is not a reason to escape consequences either.

When we are first starting off in business we make a lot of mistakes.  This is normal and part of the learning process.  As we make these mistakes we may find ourselves offending people unintentionally or even upsetting a customer.  Even though those mistakes may be made out of ignorance or lack of experience that does not relieve ourselves of the responsibility for those mistakes.

What do you do when you find yourself in this situation?  It goes a long way to approach the person and acknowledge the mistake immediately and then take the necessary steps to remedy the situation.  If you make excuses and try to pawn off the responsibility by saying you didn't know something then the person involved will not only not be happy with the results, but will most likely lose all respect for you as well.

If you want to maintain your personal as well as your businesses integrity you must accept the responsibility for your actions regardless of the situation that caused them.

In the short run you may find yourself doing a lot of backtracking or fixing situations caused by mistakes, but in the long run you will find that you create a lot of trust and respect from those who have been involved in those actions.

Book Review: She means Business

I just finished She Means Business by Carrie Green.  She is the founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association.  This book is a part of her education and marketing branch for this group.

In her book Carrie talks about her entrepreneurial journey and the snags she hit along the way.  She gives encouragement and has stories about other female entrepreneurs as well.  There is plenty of great advice with free online resource to go along with it.

I thought that this book was great.  Carrie is from the UK and as I live in the US I was able to see that no matter where we live we all face the same challenges in building a business.

At the end of this book there is a 28 day She Means Business Challenge.  I think that it is a great way to get very clear about, your vision, your audience and what you need to do to lay a foundation for your own business.

I think it is such a great idea that I will be doing a Facebook group for the 28 day challenge.  If you want to join this group please find me on Facebook.  I go by Tricia Bushman Stubbs.  I will begin the challenge on September 25th.

If you know of others who might be interested in doing this challenge please share this and of course subscribe to my blog if you find this kind of information helpful.

Getting real and getting over myself

I have a confession to make.  With all my new schedules and activity, I am not really spending my time as effectively as I could.  Its time to be honest with myself and check my reality.

Here it goes,  I have effectively scheduled my day.  I have my morning routine, school time for my daughter, time to do chores, time to do my business and time for free time.  These are all clearly scheduled.  For the most part I am doing well, but when it comes to my business time, not so much.  I have scheduled 2 hours to do my businesses during the day 5 days a week.  I am only using maybe an hour of that.

What am I doing with my time and what am I not doing?  I am actively posting on Facebook and in all my groups.  I am trying to develop relationships with others by posting and commenting on others posts.  I am also working to support my Referral and Mastermind group by interacting with those posts.  Here is what I am not doing.  I am not actively reaching out to new people to grow my Facebook friends list and I am not reaching out to new people about my businesses.

How do I expect to grow my businesses if I am not talking to people about them?  Its time to have a daily list of those things that I need to be doing during that 2 hour time frame that includes actively calling and approaching people about my business.

I am allowing fear and paralysis to block my progress.

I need to find a way to get over those blocks that I am putting on myself.  I am my biggest enemy to my success.

All the reading and positive affirmations will get me nowhere fast if I am not doing the activity to back them up.

Do you see yourself in this situation?  Would you like an accountability partner that will put your feet to the fire?

Contact me and maybe we can help each other out.

On Life and Loss

Yesterday was a very difficult day to get through.  I woke up to the news that my niece had given birth to her first child 7 weeks premature.  She only lived 46 minutes.  This was something that we had expected.  A few months ago it was discovered that the child she carried had Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder where there are three of chromosome 18.  The majority of these babies do not survive birth and those that do will most likely not live to see their 1st birthday.

You would think that knowing that this was coming would make it easier.  I am sad to day that it did not.  I spent the day holding back the tears.  We chose not to tell our 6 year old what had happened.  She doesn't see her cousin enough to connect that she was pregnant.  Our middle daughter on the other hand is dealing with guilt because so far her child that is due in December is healthy.  She knows she shouldn't feel guilty, but she does.  She finds herself asking how can she take joy in her impending parenthood when her cousin, who is married to a close friend of her husband, just lost their baby?

I did take the day yesterday to deal with all of this so business did not happen for the most part.  I did attend my networking and mastermind group meeting but that is pretty much it.  I also took my daughter to her not back to school co-op picnic as we prepare to begin co-op classes next week.

Life does go on for those left behind and even if we believe that families will be united in the next life it does not make the loss any easier to bare.

Each day that passes may not lessen the pain but it does create a distance from it. The distance allows us to manage the effects of that loss, but that loss will always be felt.

The end of my day got no easier as while I was at my networking meeting one of the members received news that her 95 year old mother had passed away.  The news was received, but she still had children to pick up, work to deal with and life in general.  As much as it would be so much easier to shut down and just not deal, for the most part we just don't have the luxury of doing so.

So the moral of this lesson is that loss happens in our lives.  The pain that results from that loss is real, but life must go on.  We still have responsibilities, we still have relationships that must be tended and we still have a life to live.  Its ok to pause while we process our grief but it can't be all encompassing or you may never come back from it.  Focus on who and what is left behind.  Put one foot in front of the other.  Someday down the road you will find that you have survived and your life has continued.

I have a team! Now what?

August was an interesting month for me.  I had some really big goals but I was unable to meet them.  It was all beginning to seem like nothing that I was doin was working and I was getting nowhere fast in my business.

Two days after my birthday my education company announced an additional incentive to help us with recruiting.  I promptly let the 2 people who were interested in joining the company know.  That day I got my first team member.  She was in the middle of buying a house and moving so I gave her some space to get settled so I haven't met with her yet to get her started.  Yesterday was the last day of the month.  I emailed the other person who had been interested a final reminder email of our incentives and that they were ending and by the end of the day I had my 2nd team member.

The first 3 months are very important to a new direct sales business.  That is when you will have access to the fast track bonuses which will help to build inventory or income.  A successful 1st 3 months will often be the deciding factor in keeping a new team member.  That being said those first 3 months are crucial to you as a leader in building each team member.

So now that I have team members what should I be doing?  The very first thing is to have a meeting with them.  Either in person or by phone depending on how close they live.  That 1st interview is so important in determining how you can best create an action plat to help your new team member meet their goals.

Finding out why they joined and what their goals are in their business is vital to your successful leadership.  You can not help a new team member achieve their dreams if you do not know what that is.  Yes your goal may be to reach the top of the company pay scale, but your new team member may just have a goal to make $500 more a month.  Your job as a leader is to help them reach their goals not your goals.

As a leader you must realize that it is up to you to make sure that your team members have all the information, tools and encouragement that they need to reach their goals.  Once you have done that you can not do the work for them.  Don't waste your energy on a team member that doesn't follow through or keep commitments.  Put your energy into team members who are putting forth the effort.  As long as they are working a plan to grow their business, be available to help when its needed.  Otherwise check in with those team members who seem to lack commitment, but wait for them to decide that they are ready to commit to growing their business and meeting their goals.

Just like raising a child, raising a team member is a process of helping them learn and grow until they are independent enough to do things on their own without you holding their hand.  Yes that means putting a lot of time and energy into building that new team member and then slowly backing off as they gain more confidence and skill.  Encourage them to incorporate a program of personal and professional development.

One more thing while you are expending energy to develop new team members and growing their business, don't forget to expend energy on building your own business.  Most direct sales businesses require team leaders to be doing a minimum amount of sales in order to receive team building bonuses.  Direct sales is all about sales.  So the money might be in building your team, but the money isn't there if you are not all making sales.

I am excited to embark on this next stage of my personal and professional development.  Helping others reach their goals is a new challenge for me and I can't wait to help others be the best that they can be.

What is Uniqueworldmom?

I came up with the name uniqueworldmom a few years ago.  As a woman with old fashioned views and an ability to look at issues with an open mind, I felt that my worldview was truly unique.  As a Mom I also raised my children with this perspective and continue to teach my youngest daughter this way of looking at the world.

When I first started this blog it was about writing about whatever caught my fancy.  Then I abandoned it for years.  When I took it up again my purpose changed and as I wrote consistently it continued to evolve.

So here it goes.  What is Uniqueworldmom?  This is the brand that I have chosen.  This brand houses 2 direct sales companies that are very different and 1 blog.

My first direct sales business is what started me on my current journey.  I found Plexus a year and a half ago and these health products helped to change my life and my perspective.  I felt so much healthier and had so much energy that I chose to share the product with others.  This company has such a culture of self improvement that it also began a program of personal and professional development that has increased my self-confidence and led to me submitting my first guest blog post.  It was accepted and I once again decided to take up my blog.

My second direct sales company was begun when I decided that I wanted something different than what I was already doing.  I went looking for a new company by starting with the well established companies.  When I didn't find something that appealed too me I went looking at start-ups.  Growing up in a household of educators the early education products of Fundanoodle Learning really resonated with me and I made the decision to join very quickly.  This journey is an amazing one as I work to help shape a company that has so much potential.

My blog is not meant to be a recruiting tool or a sales tool.  You will find that I don't write much about the companies that I sell products for.  That is not my purpose.  I have had a lot of struggles in my life. I have had and continue to have a difficult journey in the direct sales industry.  I write in the hopes that others can see themselves in what I write and might walk away with some kernel of inspiration that will allow them to keep trying.  I want to inspire others that even if they are struggling it is not the best option to give up.

Business is not the only part of my life, so from time to time I write about movies I have seen, books I have read and other things that I am doing.  I am a mother and a homeschooler on top of everything else. I do try to keep my political and personal belief system out of my writing, but sometimes there is just something that I have to write about and its not meant to offend or promote my views.  Sometimes I just feel so strongly I just need to vent.  That being said I hold very strongly to my views and opinions.  They were formed after much research and experience not at the whims of the media or political party.  I am neither Republican or Democrat.  I think that politicians are pretty much corrupt no matter how you look at it.

So if you can see yourself even a little bit in this, I hope that I can inspire you to be your best self.  Please subscribe and share this with those you feel it could help as well.

Who is Uniqueworldmom?

I wanted to take a couple of days to talk about who I am and what the purpose for my blog is.  I have done a little bit in previous posts, but I wanted to really talk about who I am and why I do what I do.

I am a 47 year old woman who claims 7 children.  I have one foster son who turns 29 next month.  I have 22 step-sons who are 26 and 25 and then I have 4 biological children ages 23, 20, 19 and 6.  Yes we had a surprise late in life baby.

When I was asked what I wanted to do when I grew up I always said that I wanted to be a Mom.  I was never taken seriously and then next question is no what career do you want to have and the answer would always be the same.

Yes my values and views can be considered old fashioned.  I have even been called sexist.  I was raised to believe that if you are married and have children your first priority is to be at home to raise your children because they are the future of society.  That didn't mean I felt that women were inferior or that what women did was less important than what men did.  In fact I felt like what women did was often more important than what men did.  Men supported and protected the family, but the women were the heart and soul of the family.

Family is the core of the meaning of life. Our children are our legacy and the whole purpose of marriage is to create a family unit.  Marriage to me is not the end result of a relationship it is the beginning.  It is not an expression of love.  The sole purpose of marriage is to create and raise children.  Based on that description you can deduct that my belief system is conservative.

That being said.  I was raised with Judeo-Christian values.  I believe firmly in those values, but I also believe that we were given free agency.  Everyone has the right to exercise that free agency and we don't have a right to judge others for doing so.  That doesn't mean that I won't stand up and say that I believe that certain laws are wrong.  I just won't judge a person for not living the same values that I do.

I believe that things like drugs and prostitution should be legalized, regulated and taxed in order to protect the innocent and provide revenue.  Prostitution has been around forever and is not going away.  If we legalize it, regulate it to ensure the health of the providers so that diseases are not spread and brought home to innocent victims we will free up the legal system to deal with more important crimes.  We can not legislate morality.  Likewise for drugs, our laws are confusing by having some drugs like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and marijuana legal but making others illegal.  Why not legalize it all.  Regulate it and then tax it.  By regulating it you insure that the drugs available will at least not kill someone on a first time use with a small dose.  Criminal organizations whose sole industry was in these two areas would have to find other ways to do business or go legal.

So my world view is a little different than most.  I still believe that keeping the Sabbath Day holy is an important commandment even though the 10 commandments were done away with by Jesus.  The commandments of Love God above all other things and Love thy neighbor as thyself replace them.  The key words in both of these commandments is Love and we should show that to all humankind.

Now that you know a little about my views, I plan to talk about the purpose behind this blog tomorrow.  Hope you come back and read it as well.

Dreaming Big Versus Dreaming Small

First of all I want to apologize.  I blew it.  I let my birthday and the fact that nothing seemed to be moving in my business get to me.  I shut down for the last week and did absolutely nothing.  I have no excuses.  I just did it.

I got back on the train today and got back into my routine by starting a new business book.  As I began reading I would like to say I had an AHA moment.

Every time that I have started up on an entrepreneurial journey.  I have started with the idea of it would be nice to succeed.  It would be nice to have extra money.  It would be nice to be able to afford some nice things.  Does this sound like a solid dream to you?

As I began this journey in March of 2016 I did my dream statement.  It was all about getting out of debt, having money to educate my youngest, having the home of my dreams and driving a brand new car straight from the factory off of a car lot.  In reality I had the attitude that I had enough to get by and while having nice things would be nice, my dreams were pretty small.

Those dreams have morphed a little bit as the circumstances of my life have changed.  Still my dreams remain small.  The largest dream is of being financially independent.

Here is what my dreams lack.  Anything of substance.  I have no dream trips, no dream car, no dream house in mind.  I don't seem to have a comprehension of the kind of life I could have because being closer to 50 than 40 I have had the same lifestyle my entire life.  In fact my lifestyle is a bit less than the one I had in childhood and that is saying a lot.

Is it any wonder that I am having a hard time holding on to the desire to continue in the face of obstacles?

Its time to stop thinking small.  I need to be thinking about how I would live my life if money were no object.   I may even have to do a little bit of research into what is out there.  I may have to get over some fears in order to create a picture of a dream existence.  Its hard to dream big if you have no exposure to a lifestyle outside your own.  Its time to stop being oblivious to anything outside of my own little world.

I have a tendency to see things in the world that I can't have right now and convince myself that I don't want them and don't need them so why bother going after them.  Do you think that might be hampering my success a little bit.

In order to succeed big you need to dream big.  You can not create a new reality if you can not visualize a new reality for yourself.  This is something that I am learning.  If I can finally grasp this concept, maybe I will finally have a chance.

Book Review: The Speed of Trust

I just finished reading the speed of trust by Stephen M. R. Covey and son of Stephen R. Covey author of The 7 Habits series.

At first I thought this book was by the 7 Habits series which is why I decided to read it.  Thankfully the author realized this would be an issue and quickly established his own credibility with the readers.

This book is an interesting read that if understood and read can have a direct impact not only on your business, but your personal life as well.

The impact of trust or lack of trust affects every aspect of your life, from your own self, to family and then ultimately work.

I highly recommend you read this book and develop the cores and behaviors that it talks about.

Free Speech and political correctness

I try not to get very political in my blogs. Taking a side has a tendency to alienate those who do not hold your same views.  If your view is unpopular then you run the risk as being seen as a fringe element or a crazy.

I was not overly fond of any of the candidates of the last presidential election.  I had a hard time deciding on who to vote for or even if I would vote.  Ultimately I chose a candidate that aligned the most with my views even though he only aligned with some of me views.  The candidates I didn't vote for didn't align with my values at all.

That being said a president was elected and sworn into office.  At every turn he has had the voice of opposition instead of the support of the American people.

I was greatly disturbed by the events that happened in my State last weekend.  Even more so I was disturbed by the aftermath.  There were two groups of people with extremely opposing views that were involved in violent altercations and in the end there was some deaths and some injuries.

There are some that wish to place blame on one side because of their views.  There are some who wish to place blame on the other group because they incited the violence of the other side and then there are those who place blame on all parties involved.

The unpopular view is the one that places equal responsibility on all of the parties.  In fact there is a movement to denounce our President for taking that view.

There are those that are trying to censor any view that is deemed politically incorrect.

Here is the thing.  We have a document call the U.S. Constitution.  It has a bunch of amendments, but the very 1st one talks about the right to free speech.  Our right to assemble and share our opinions is guaranteed by that document.

There seems to be some confusion about what free speech is.  I am going to use a fictitious group of people but you can insert any race, religion, lifestyle or political party in its place.

Voicing a viewpoint is free speech.  That means that if you gather together and have speeches that talk about how purple people don't belong in our country and shouldn't have rights, that is guaranteed by the constitution.  Even if you don't agree with it.

Now in that same assembly a speaker goes on to say that they need to go after the purple people through violence then that is not protected.  It is considered inciting violence or a riot.

If a group of people or an individual decide to use violence in any manner against those purple people then there is a law against each type of act.  Examples would be assault or murder.  With people who hold animosity against one particular group of people there can be additional penalties added by labeling the crime a hate crime.

The very act of inciting violence against people who are considered part of hate groups could be labeled as a hate crime.

You see the laws either apply to everyone or they apply to no one.  You can't say that violence against one group is okay because what they believe is unacceptable and then think that violence against you is not ok simply because your views are widely held.  Violence is not ok, no matter who is doing the violence or who the violence is against.

This may be an unpopular view.  It may bring me in alignment with the president.  It may even cause people to not use my business, but I hold fast to the Declaration of Independence that states "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equally"

I may not agree with someone's viewpoint or opinions, but I will defend their right to hold them until the day that I die.  I have generations of family members that have fought to protect those very rights.  I will not turn my back on them.

All work and no play is not advised

Wow its already Wednesday.  Time flies when your schedule is full.  I am pushing very hard this month to get my business running.  As a result I have been posing, talking to people, doing vendor events, play dates and learning fairs.  I am also beginning our homeschool year and caring for my family.

Here is the thing, I don't see this letting up anytime soon.  As we head into back to school season we quickly move into holiday season.  For direct sales this is the highest volume season of the year.  I am hoping to capitalize this to build a firm foundation for my business so that the low volume season that is Jan and Feb doesn't hit so hard.

Of course the health and wellness season is Sept -Oct and then Jan- Feb and then again April -June  as people turn their minds to new beginnings or even summer bodies.

I am doing 2 types of businesses with differing busy seasons.  So When do I take a break?  For now long breaks are not a possibility if I want to have a strong, smoothly running business.  That doesn't mean that I can't schedule a series of small breaks.

My birthday is on Sunday, but I am not really taking down time this month.  Labor Day will be here in a couple of weeks so I can take a couple of days there.  My husbands birthday is in October and its on a Saturday so some down time there would be good.  Then there is the Thanksgiving holiday and two weeks of Christmas break.

I really don't want to burnout so these breaks will be vital to my mental health and well being.  Getting a business up takes work and effort, but we need to remember to take time out to rest and rejuvenate.  This will help keep our energy up during those super busy times.

Each mini break will allow me to de-stress and be ready to come back strong.  Time with family, pampering sessions, quiet time or anything that is fun or exciting gives energy that can be used to ultimately fuel the machine that is needed to build a business.  To much downtime and you get nothing done.  Too little downtime and the machine breaks down.

Remember to take time out for self care and fun.  You won't regret doing that, but you may regret not doing it.

Changing things up can be a good thing

This week is all about change for me.  My Schedule is undergoing a transition as I begin our homeschooling year.  Plus due to an electrical issue I am having to change my cardio workout.

So it has been summertime and the last few weeks I have been tweaking my morning routine so that I could be more productive.  It has been going well a far as I am concerned.  I have had to make adjustment for unexpected developments such as a new long term house guest.


I was planning on beginning our new homeschool schedule yesterday, but realize that before we could do that we really needed to clean my daughters room.  We had gotten out of the habit of her cleaning it regularly and she had created a fort in it for summer play.  In order to get back into our routine we needed to clean it to a point that it would not be overwhelming to incorporate that chore back into our routine.

So today is the day we go back to school and as a result my routine and schedule is once again making some major changes.  It will take a few weeks to work out the kinks only to have to readjust once we add in co-op days.  This is all good.  Yes the transition is a little tricky but by adding in changes over a period of time instead of all at once, I think that the chaos is a little less.

As part of my morning routine I do 30 minutes of exercise 6 days a week.  I was doing a particular strength training routine 3 days a week and the treadmill for 3 days a week.  I was increasing my pace and resistance on all my routines.  Sunday we had an electrical issue in the house where all the plugs in the room where the treadmill is in stopped getting power.  We had hoped it was just a bad breaker and could be easily fixed by replacing it.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Since I couldn't use the treadmill I needed to look for an alternative cardio workout, because I wasn't about to run outside in the dark.  I pulled up a 30 minute cardio workout on YouTube.  At the completion of the workout I realized something.  My boy had gotten to used to my workout and I had no longer been receiving the full benefits of the exercise.  Even with increasing my pace an incline.  So tomorrow I will be finding a new strength training routine as well.  Yes I may be feeling the burn a bit more, but that means its working more.

So yes change can be frustrating and hard, but in the end we don't grow if we get comfortable.  As long as the change is moving you in a positive direction it is a good thing.  It the change is not moving you in a positive direction then a different change needs to happen.  Don't let change scare you.

Deaing with disappointment

So Saturday I was all geared up for a great event.  The event I was participating in was market to my target.  We had constant rain all day and so the event had less than 10 people for the entire 3 hours.  I was so disappointed.  I had such high hopes for this event to help jump start my business.

So things didn't go as planned.  What now?  Luckily for me I didn't put all my eggs in one basket and I am not now scrambling for another way to gain customers.  I already had things in the works and I can put my energy into the next event.  I do have a few leads to follow up with, but two of them teach at the same school so its really only one lead.

This week I have planned an open house, a new networking group and another vendor event.  I am hopeful that each event that I do brings me one step closer to that one person who will help me get my calendar filled.  It just takes one person to book a play date that books three more who then book three more etc.  Even when I find that one person, it is best to continue to look for different avenues for customers and team members.  Even the best string dries out eventually and will need to be replaced.

It is so easy to focus on what didn't happen the way that you wanted.  Disappointment can lead to discouragement which often leads to the desire to quit.  We have all been there.  We have all seen the picture of two men mining for diamonds.  The first one quits just before he would have hit the mother lode and the next one comes in enthusiastically behind showing no signs of letting up.  He will hit what the other missed.  We never know when our ultimate success is just around the next corner.

In order to overcome the disappointment then we must focus on new activity.  Yes we can take a moment and acknowledge our chagrin that things didn't go the way we wanted, but then instead of dwelling on it, we need to move on and get back to work.

Disappointments are inevitable, but they don't need to lead to failure.  Yes we may need to take a step back and regroup, but that doesn't have to mean we are finished.  Retreat allows us to reevaluate, change what we need to, and fight another day.

Organization, time management and morning routines

Things have been rapidly changing for me the past couple of weeks.  I decided to make some changes.  Things were going okay and I was getting the bulk of my tasks done, but I was finding it too easy to procrastinate on the things I knew needed to get done, but just didn't want to do.

I have used planners and to do lists for over 20 years.  Time management and organization are not new concepts for me and yet, I still found room for improvement.

I read a couple of books on morning routines a few weeks ago.  I was already getting up early and incorporating many good things into my morning.  Through reading these books I found that just adding a few things to my morning routine has allowed me to be more efficient and productive throughout the rest of the day.  I am up at 5:30 and have all my exercise, breakfast, personal grooming, spiritual study, meditation, visualization, affirmations, success reading and blog all done by 8:30 in the morning.

My day used to be ruled by my to do list.  Well sort of.  I wrote down every routine, mundane item that I needed to get done daily, just so that I could cross them off of my list.  If there was something I could put off for fun things, I would.

I changed the way I used my planner.  Instead of a to list, I implemented blocks of time.  Yes there is some flexibility where I can change around those blocks of time, such as switching out my time for business hours and household chores, but the amount of time allotted does not change.  I know what household tasks need to be done daily, so I really didn't need to list that.  I know what tasks need to be done during my business time, so I don't need to list those either.  By specifying what tasks need to be done during what time, I no longer put off the tasks that I know need to be done, for a later time.  Sometimes I get free time earlier because my schedule has allowed me to get things done more efficiently.

So things are getting better, but I must admit that there is still room for improvement.  Right now my business time is doing okay, but I could create and implement a system for keeping track of my contacts and follow ups.  As I gain more contacts and more people to follow up with I know that what I am doing now will not work well.  So that will be the next step in my evolution.

So why do I do all of this?  You may think that abiding by morning routines and schedules are a bit anal an confining.  I have found that through strict time management, morning routines and organization, I am able to do more things than if I just get things done whenever.  I am also able to have more free time and more time to spend with my family.  We all have the same 24 hours in a day.  Its what you do with those hours that will make the difference between success and failure.

I have leads now what?

Things are getting very exciting for me.  I have been reaching out and getting my business out there.  yesterday I came home from a baby shower to a couple of messages about one of my businesses.  I of course responded immediately.  It was after 9 at night so I haven't heard back from either one of them.

For the first time ever I have multiple prospects for customers and Ambassadors in both of my businesses.  I currently have 5 prospects I am working with for Plexus and 3 for Fundanoodle Learning.

Okay so I have prospects and now is the time to follow up with them.  Not following up with them unless they are already decided would gain me nothing.  The wrong follow up could chase them away and the right follow up can result in customers and team members.

Right now is the time to really listen to the prospects and find out exactly what they are looking for and how I can fulfill their need.  Listening will be my most important skill to utilize.  The right follow up is about finding out how to meet the needs of the prospect and not my own agenda.

For example last month I began a conversation with a prospective customer and possibly a team member.  I gave her all the info she requested and was told that she would order, I would just need to remind her because she took her time with these things and did her research.  I eventually asked her if she planned to purchase last month or this month and how often she wished to be contacted.  I was told she would order this month and that she preferred a follow up once a month.  If I were to follow up with her every week I would lose the prospect.

Last night one of my prospects was asking about the product to help balance blood sugar.  I gave her just the information on that one product.  Later today I will give her information on our gut health additions that would not only balance her blood sugar but help her to process her digestion better.  That better digestion would help with the balance of blood sugar through more efficient absorption of nutrients.

Each prospect has a different need to meet and my interaction will be different with each one.

Its exciting to have prospects to work on, but if I only focus on those prospects what happens when I have gotten my yes or no from them?  Even though I have prospects now, if I don't continue to look for new prospects now I will stop any forward momentum I am beginning.  So sitting back and resting on my laurels while mining my current prospects is not the way to go.  If I want to push my momentum into high gear I need to push even harder at finding prospective customers and team members.  The work I do today will be the results I get tomorrow, so if I do not want a gap in my growth I need to not have a gap in my push to work my business.

Sales and the importance of trust

Yesterday I decided to watch a webcast for some information on building a network marketing business.  I am always looking to learn and refine my skills.  I knew that at the end of the webcast there would be a sales pitch.  So it was no surprise to me that at the end of thee program I was hit with an offer to buy the program that the webcaster was selling.

The offer and the products sounded really good.  The information that was given during the webcast was very valuable and I was very tempted to spend money that I did not have to purchase the offered program.

I was taught that it was always a good thing to walk away and think about it for awhile.  I wasn't worried because the special offer was going to be good for a few days and there was a money back guarantee.

So  I walked away to think about if it would be really beneficial to me to purchase this program.   So I then was sent a couple of emails from the guy doing the webcast.  As I read the emails and eventually went to the website to get  the promised free gift, I realized something.  When I signed up for the webcast there was a spot that said only 200 and something slots available.  There were also multiple times and days offered. When I watched the webcast there were over 350 participants.

The next thing that I realized was that this webcast was a regular thing and that this limited time special was constantly being offered.  I was told that the free gift site would be taken down within 3 days, but since the webcast was a regular thing that would not be the case.

One of the emails I received talked about 8 bonus features that would be given free to only the next 10 people who purchased, yet when I went to the free gift site it appeared that those 8 bonuses were being offered to everyone who hadn't purchased yet as extra enticement to purchase the program.

That is where thy lost me.  With the realization that the individual or company was not being 100 % honest in what they were doing, I no longer had any desire to purchase the program.  If they were being dishonest in their sales practices, why would I trust that their program would provide what it said thy would.  Even with the money back guarantee, I had not trust in the product or that the money would be returned if I was dissatisfied.

Had the sales pitch just been forthright and said here is all that you will receive for that price There would be no issue.  Even the free gift had strings attached.  The gift was there, but if you wanted to understand how to use it you needed to purchase the program.

As a salesperson honesty is paramount.  Customers are more apt to purchase from a salesperson that will give the whole picture and not just the parts that make the product look good.  Withholding information is the same as lying.

So when it comes to sales honesty is the best policy.  If you can't be honest about your product and till stand behind it, maybe you shouldn't be selling the product.

Switching gears from activity oriented to results oriented

I have been making a grave error in the running of my business.  I have been making my goals activity based instead of results based.  The reason that I was doing that was because I felt that if I focused on the activity the results would come.  I felt that I would get less discouraged if I was meeting my activity goals even if the results weren't there.

Can you see what is wrong with that way of thinking?

What good is business activity if there are no results from that activity?

I find myself needing to rethink my strategies.  That's great if I am meeting all of my reach out goals each day, but if that activity doesn't produce sales or recruits what good is that activity?

Clearly the way that I am doing things is not working so I need to find a new way of doing things., I think that the next step needs to be making result goals instead of activity goals.  My goals need to be based on sales and recruits.  If I am not reaching those goals then I need to do more to reach those goal or maybe change the way that I plan to reach those goals.

The longer I go without getting the kind of results that I want, the less credibility and trust others will have in me.  If I have no credibility or trust who is going to want to join my team and follow me?

So here is some advice for you today.  If you find yourself nowhere near where you want to be after some time of working towards that goal, maybe its time to reassess what you are doing and make a change.

How do you expect different results if you keep doing the same thing?

Attitude is Everything

Saturday I had my first home party for my early education business, Fundanoodle Learning.  I took much time to prepare and was looking forward to this event.  I was so hopeful that there would be great attendance, lots of sales and 3 bookings for new events.

Here is what really happened.  The hostess had 2 people show up.  We had a great time talking about the products I have and other things pertaining to special needs children.  The 2 people who did come did not order anything.  The one because the one thing she wanted was on a stop sell while awaiting restock and the other because it was too young for her child.

I could have looked at that and decided that this play date was a huge failure and that Like all my other businesses I was doomed to flop.  This is something that I have done in the past.

So here is the other information on what happened.  We decided to hold the event open until the 16th so those who were unable to attend would be able to wait until the next military payday.  The one person who's children were to old for my products decided to take an order form and a product sheet to show to some of her friends, I was asked to email the other attendee when the product was restocked,  and one of the people who wanted to come but had an issue at the last minute wants to join the company.

I still have 2 more vendor events and a learning fair scheduled this month.  I didn't put all of my eggs in one basket by hoping this one event would jumpstart my business.

I have had this same type of experience before and it left me depressed and discouraged.  This time its different.  This time I am looking at what I can learn from this and do better next time.  I had already made some changes to my game plan  and can't wait to implement them.  Each opportunity that I have in my business is an opportunity to learn what will work and what won't. Each business exercise gives me the ability to refine my process and approaches.

The big difference between now and before is my attitude.  In previous attempts each obstacle became a stopping block.  Each challenge became a reason to quit.  Now I see the groundwork for a great business.  I am looking forward to what I can do better instead of looking at what went wrong.

When it comes to overcoming obstacles in life, attitude is everything.  Your attitude will decide how you will face your obstacles.  Change your attitude, change your life.

Inspiration, A Pathway to Success

I do a lot of reading.  In fact it is one of my favorite past times.  Yesterday I read a really great book.  It was the story of a woman who overcame personal disability and became an inspiration to the gymnastic world.  That woman was Aimee Walker-Pond and she became an International Elite Gymnast in spite of being deaf, blind in one eye, and being born with hip displasia.

The reason that this story is so inspirational is because what she did was just not possible.  According to experts, Aimee lacked the sense of inner ear balance and depth perception it takes to be able to land the jumps and flips required for gymnastic competition.  I guess someone forgot to tell Aimee that.

Why am I talking about this today.  As I finished this book I had the sense that, the things that are holding me back are nothing compared to the challenges that Aimee overcame.  Yes she is an extraordinary woman, but if someone could overcome those kind of odds to compete on an international level, then its very possible to overcome the obstacles that I have to my success.

Reading books to increase knowledge and ability in order to advance our goals is necessary, but I think that reading stories about people who overcome great odds is vital as well.  Its those stories that show the impossible can be done.  Its those stories that make us ask ourselves why not me.

One of my companies has some Youtube videos that they call Diamond Documentaries.  They are less than 10 minutes long and each person featured has reached the top of the company.  These individuals talk about where they started from, why they do what they do and how they have been able to affect others lives for the better.  It has been recommended that anytime I get discouraged that I sit down and watch a few of those.  Why is that?  Once again it is for the inspirational value that they contain.  Now each individual's story is different and each had their own obstacles to overcome, but just because I don't share the same challenges does not make their inspirational value any less.  Each documentary shows that it can be done and has been done.

There is another company that I used to be a part of that like to wear bumblebee pins.  There is a purpose for these pins.  After much study it was determined that a bumblebee did not have the proper wingspan needed to fly.  Its wings are much too small to create the lift needed for its body size.  Yet a bumblebee flies. The bumblebee achieves the impossible everyday it takes to the sky.  Wearing that pin reminds those consultants that the impossible is absolutely possible.

So if you find yourself discouraged.  If you find yourself doubting that you can do anything.  Find yourself some inspiration.  What inspires me may not inspire you, but find something that does.  Then focus on that inspiration until you find yourself doing the actions it takes to succeed in spite of your obstacles.

Integrity and goal commitment

This week I was paired up with a couple of people in one of my businesses to work on goals that we each individually set for the month of August.  Originally I wasn't going to participate in the program, but I had to ask myself if I wanted to succeed in business can I afford to not participate in the group.

Originally I was put with one other person and we were to be each others accountability partner, but then another person was added because her partner dropped out of the challenge.  I don't know what happened, but we were told that she had decided to go another way.

When we agree to do something and then back out, it damages our credibility in ourselves and with others.

I recently took a quiz about my credibility level.  I found that when it came to my values and doing things aligned with my values I was doing pretty well.  When it came to my competence and results my credibility needed a lot of work.  While its true I have gained a lot of knowledge on how to do things in the industry of direct sales and I continue to seek after more knowledge, my application in the past has been weak.  I do all the things that are asked of me, participate in all of the challenges and yet have lacked the results that I have desired and failed to reach goals that I have set for myself.

Because of this I have backed off on goals and set lower ones only to do it again when those are not met either.  Part of the reason for this is that my confidence takes a hit with each goal that I do not achieve in the desired time period.

Every time I do not achieve a goal I harm my personal integrity and confidence in my ability.

I have found that achieving goals that ultimately rely on the actions of others to be very difficult.  I can do all the activity the challenges ask for and set goals for what I do, but because of my lack of confidence in others making the decision that will help me reach my goals, I have difficulty getting the results that I want.

I like to believe that I am a person of great integrity and that others can trust me, but do I ultimately give off a vibe that I lack confidence and shouldn't be trusted?  Is that why I can't seem to gain business or team mates.

I find myself in a never ending cycle of each failed goal making a dent in my integrity and then my commitments to my goals.

I plan on changing that.  Its time to set a different type of goal.  Its time to stop hesitating to reach out to those who can benefit from what I have to offer.  Its the beginning of the month and so I am going to put it out there.  I have 2 Play dates scheduled for the month of August.  I want to hold 4.  That means I need to find 2 more people to hold play dates in August for me.  I also want to have at least $600 in sales for the month of August.  That means that each play date needs to have at least $200 in sales.

I will let you know how I do in September.

Developing self trust by taking personal responsibility

The first step in any success is trusting yourself to do it.  We all have that little voice in the back of our heads.  For those who trust in themselves that voice is always saying go ahead you've got this.  For those who don't trust themselves the voice is full of doubt and negativity.

This is something that I struggle with.  So this is how I am tackling this issue.  I have recognized that this negative voice is a result of a lack of trust in myself.  It doesn't matter how this lack of trust happened.  It just is.

In order to change this dialog I must do something about it.  No one else can do this for me.  I choose to do just that.  The next step is to recognize that negative voice and stop it in its tracks.  Until I develop that trust in myself I will have to do this many times daily.

Now that I am working on stopping that negative voice, I can take the next step.  That is to set goals that will allow me to prove that voice wrong.  Those goals don't have to be large to begin to develop that trust.  That goal may be to simply make 3 phone calls related to my business that day.  Each time that I do that activity I build  trust in myself.

As I accomplish each task I build trust and can begin to reach for higher goals.  This is not an overnight thing.  This rebuilding of trust in myself will take some time.

As I consistently begin to do the things that I say I will do not only do I rebuild trust in myself, but I begin to build the trust of others in me.

Once the trust or confidence in myself gets to a certain point than others will take notice. As I begin to gain their trust then it becomes easier to accomplish the goals that I set for myself.  When I am consistently hitting my goals in business than others begin to ask what I am doing to be successful.  As my success grows so does my team and as they follow the things that I have been doing so does their success.

Each layer of trust begins to spread outward and builds more trust.  That is how people build successful businesses whether it be brick and mortar, internet or direct sales.

Success begins with trust in ones self and taking personal responsibility to develop that trust.

How important is Trust?

This morning I started reading the Speed of Trust by Stephen M. K. Covey.  This is not the writer or founder of the Highly effective series, this is his son.

I personally love Stephen R. Covey books and I was thinking that this was another book by him, until I started reading.  When I realized the mistake I wasn't as excited to read the book but continued to read anyway.  As I read my trust in the author increased.

In my personal life I have also been dealing with some trust issues.  As trust in these individuals has declined so has my relationship with them.

Stephen M. K. Covey actually comes up with an equation about trust As trust goes down so does speed, but cost goes down.  As trust increases speed goes up and costs go down.

So I ask the question how important in trust?

At the beginning of the Survivor series I was a dedicated watcher of the show.  Early on in the series there was a final where a young woman and an older man were the two finalists.  Each of the two finalists played a great game.  Neither of the contestants had made any enemies.  What it boiled down to in the end was that the young woman was always honest in her dealings, but the majority of the jurors couldn't believe that anyone could be so honest.  They didn't trust what they had seen and experienced because it was not what they were used to.

Trust is a very large factor in our decision making.  When we lack trust we are unwilling to put our backing behind things.  If we don't trust ourselves we won't act upon things that will make our lives better.  If we don't trust a company we will not become customers.  If we do not trust an individual we will not put much energy into building a relationship with them.

A lack of trust in people, business, government, healthcare etc.  is costing our society everything.  This lack of trust has increased regulations and costs while slowing down the process of getting anything done.  Marriages are on the decline, our government can't seem to get anything done and people are more interested in doing everything online rather than going out and dealing with people.

So once again I ask how important is trust.  Trust is everything.  Once you lose it, it is hard to get back.  Developing it will make the difference between success and failure.  That being said, ask yourself are you acting in a matter that will inspire trust?  If not what do you need to do to change that?

I know that I still need to learn more.  How about you?

Book Review: The Miracle Morning for Network Marketers

As I have been working on integrating a better morning routine in my day, I have been looking at books that describe great morning routines.  My latest one is The Miracle Morning for Network Marketers Grow Yourself First to Grow Your Business Fast.

I was very impressed with this book.  This is one of a series created by co-author Hal Elrod. This book has a 90 day action plan, a a community with a Facebook page, as well as Hal's twitter feed and personal Facebook fan page.

Not only do you have this book, but access to a lot of like minded individuals who are working towards the same type of goals we all are.  Success in business and life.

If you are looking for a way to make changes in you  life this book and community offers some really beneficial ones.

I was really excited about the miracle equation that boils all that I have learned about success into a simple easy to remember equation.  That equation is Unwavering Faith +Extraordinary Effort = Miracles.

If network marketing isn't your thing then there are other books that may fit your needs.  Just look up The Miracle Morning to find a book for your industry or life.

Raising my Poppy

I have a rather large family that includes a foster son, two step-sons and 4 biological children.  As the end of my 30's began looming my husband and I began to talk about life after children.  What were we going to do once all of the children were out of the house because we were looking at a 5 year time frame.  Then out of the blue, surprise I found myself pregnant.

The arrival of our youngest became life changing, not just because we were starting over raising a child again but because of who she was.  Immediately we started receiving comments about her beautiful eyes.  Our daughter has these fathomless blue eyes with such a presence behind them that most people take notice.  It wasn't just the color that people were remarking on it was the presence behind them.

By the time our daughter was 18 months it was quite clear that we had an exceptional child on our hands.  Her intellect and creativity were so much more advanced than any of our other children and all of our other children were intelligent and creative.

I had been introduced to homeschooling when my other children were in elementary school, but I refused to join the movement.  I loved my children but I needed that 7 hour break 5 days a week thank you very much.  With Auria it was clear to us that public school would not be a good fit for her and private school was beyond our budget.  Homeschooling it would be.

In order to keep our daughter occupied and out of mischief I started preschool at 2. Just little things that she had fun doing and plenty of educational programming on TV.  As we progressed we started using ABC Mouse and other specific learning applications.

As our journey became more geared to formal learning I realized I was having to fight to get through what needed to be accomplished each day.  Its not that our child couldn't do things its that she didn't want to.  I started reading up on exceptional children and found that often these children required IEP's just as often as those on the other end of the spectrum.  It's not necessarily ADD but their brains are just going so fast that its hard to keep them focused on the task at hand because they are simply focused on something else.

I found a co-op that helped because she had regular contact with the same children weekly other than at church, but even at the co-op if the class bored her she refused to participate.

Recently I found a Facebook group called Raising Poppies and then because I homeschool it was recommended that I join Homeschooling Poppies as well.  As I began to read the entries I recognized my daughter in many of them.  Many of these parents were facing the same struggles as I.  There were many posts about children who would do science and math all day but didn't see the point of reading and writing.  There were others that were constantly taking things apart to see how they worked and there were others that had children who's creativity just operated on a whole different level than anyone else.  This was my daughter.

I am sure there are many who think I talk about my daughter's advanced intellect to brag or place myself higher than their children.  That is not the case.  I talk about it because the challenges that I face can be frustrating and bring awe of what I see every day.  I often have to remind myself that my child is only 6 because what comes out of her mouth is not a concept most 6 year olds grasp.

There is a point to this blog today.  Although my daughter is a joy to have, raising her has me facing challenges I would have never imagined.  We all have challenges in our lives that we face on a regular basis.  The key to overcoming them is to find others facing those same challenges and find a support and sounding board to find solutions to those challenges.  Don't feel like you have to go it alone.  Seeking out support and asking for help does not make you weak.  It makes you strong because you locate and utilize any resource that you can.  In the end reaching out can make a huge difference in how you overcome your challenges.  In the end the only thing that matters is that you one day find yourself successfully on the other side of those challenges, having overcome everything thrown at you.

Creating and maintaining new habits

If you want something different in your life you have to do something different in your life.  It is the very definition of insanity to keep doing the same things and expect different results.

We all have bad habits we need to eliminate from our lives and we all have things that we wish to incorporate into our lives.  Easier said than done right?

So what do we do when we want to eliminate bad habits?  Is that even possible.  Sometimes you can do what many people call cold turkey and just stop the bad habit, but most people are not wired that way.  For example you have decided to stop smoking.  There are a few people out there that can put down the cigarettes and never pick them up again.  Most people who want to quit smoking need something more.  Some use patches or medications to combat the cravings.  Some use gum to combat the need to put something in their mouth, but most need to replace the bad habit with something else.

So to eliminate the bad habit it is better to replace it with at least a better habit if not a good habit.  For example if your habit is to hit the snooze button 6 times before you get out of bed you can replace that habit by putting the alarm across the room so you have to get up in order to turn it off or you can do that and start going to bed earlier so you are more rested when its time to get up.

The first step to creating good habits is to decide what good habits you wish to develop and then create an action plan.  The 2nd is to implement that action plan and the 3rd is to maintain that action plan.

For some developing the new habit will come effortlessly.  For others gaining the new habit will take trial and error plus much struggling.  I have hear a couple of theories on habit formation.
I have heard it takes 21 days and I have heard it takes 30 days to create a habit.  I have also heard it takes 60 days to cement a habit.  I don't know which of these is true.  What it does show as that habit formation takes time.  It takes doing the new habit over and over again before it becomes effortless.

Your success or failure at building or maintaining a new habit will depend entirely on your motivation and commitment to doing it. You will face obstacles to creating new habits.  Things like unexpected events, lack of motivation to do the habit that day, lack of support from others or even others trying to prevent you from change.  It will be your commitment that will pull you through those obstacles until the new habit becomes ingrained and part of your life.

So ask yourself what do I want to change in my life?  What do I need to do to change it, and what do I need to do in order to stay committed to that change?  Then decide on a plan to get it done and implement it as soon as possible.  Putting it off won't make it any easier in fact it will make it more difficult to get started.

Creating your own system

Today I was doing my morning success reading and came upon a passage about having a system and sticking to it.  What does having a system mean?  It is simply a way to organize your tasks and be accountable for getting them done.

At 21 years of age I was introduced to the Franklin Quest Planning System.  It was eventually bought out by the Covey franchise and became Franklin Covey.  I used that system into my 30's when the local store shut down.   I didn't like ordering things so I decided to change to something I could just go to Wal Mart and buy.  Over the years I have actually gone away from complicated planners.  the ones I use now simply have each month and then each week.  I didn't need to break my tasks into time frames so there was no need for me to have a planner with time slots in it.  For me the simpler planners worked better in creating my own organizational system.

Once again I find myself needing to revamp what I am doing.  Sure there are all sorts of planners that you can spend a lot of money to help you with your personal and business needs.  Why spend money when you don't have to.  More often than not when you finally receive that expensive planner that you ordered, you will find that their system is just not right for you.

I have found that sitting down and honestly looking at my needs to design my own system is better for me.  Right now I just sit down monthly, weekly and daily to write down appointments, tasks and events.  As I am gearing up to become more serious about my businesses I need to reevaluate what I am currently doing and adjust it to fit my new lifestyle.

I have four aspects of my life that I need to organize and be accountable for.  The first one is my household responsibilities, the 2nd one is homeschool for my 6 year old, the 3rd one is my business activity and the fourth one is my personal and social life.  I don't like to have separate planners for each aspect.  I want it all in one place so that I don't have to waste time getting to one of several planners to find out what I need to do that day.

It has come back to needing to block out time to do household chores, morning routines, homeschool, business activities and personal time.  As I create my new system I need to build in accountability and flexibility.  Things happen and sometime our plans need to adjust.

If you want to accomplish anything in life you need to have a plan or system to do it.  Other people's systems may not work for you.  So creating your own system to accomplish what needs to be done is in your best interest.

Here is what to include in your system:  What needs to be done
                                                                  The steps you need to take to do it
                                                                 The time frame it needs to be done
                                                                 A way to motivate you to do it
                                                                 Accountability for getting it done

Creating your own system is not difficult, but it does take time and effort.  That system can mean all the difference between success and failure.

Getting over the personal blocks to my success

I am not new to network marketing.  I have years of experience under my belt.  What I do not have is years of success under my belt.  Why is that?

I have had training from some of the most successful network marketers out there.  I know the need to do certain activities and I have even participated in those activities.  In fact with all that I have done, I should have been well on my way to living the life I want to.  I am not.

I have recognized that there are things within me that are holding me back.  Some of it is fear. Its not fear of rejection or fear of failure that is the problem.  Yes they exist, but that is something that I have learned to overcome.  The fear I am talking about is fear of success.  You may ask why would anyone fear success?  If you have lived a life where no matter how hard you worked, you were always looked over and each and every success that you have had only comes after conditions of others changed to allow you the success you desired, success would be a major change.

My ancestors were illiterate dirt movers.  Struggle and failure has become ingrained in the very fabric of my DNA.  My mother has worked very hard to overcome that with a small margin of success.  Keeping after dreams was not encouraged growing up.  Even though success is what I desire, it is not familiar or comfortable.

It is quite possible that as a result of this fear, I sabotage myself anytime I get close to the success that I want.

Until I took steps to change it, my outlook on life and my achievements was overwhelmingly negative.  I still have to battle with the I can'ts in my head.

I have a tendency to think differently than other people.  As a result of this I often have a difficult time relating well to others.  Its not that I don't like people or that I don't try to reach out, its that I have a difficult time finding people who think on my wave link.  We attract what we know.

So what am I doing to overcome all this?  Awareness is the first step.  I know the fear is there.  I need to recognize each time I pull back due to the fear and push harder instead.

I need to eliminate the word can't from my thought process and instead replace it with how can I accomplish it instead.

I need to try to find better ways to understand and relate to people.  Instead of using the fact that I just don't understand why someone feels a certain way as a wall, I need to find ways to set that aside and find other ways to connect.

Yes I have some pretty large obstacles to overcome, but with work I can and will overcome them.

Maintaining your motivation through life challenges

I was going to have a great weekend.  My vendor event was going to be amazing and I was going to find myself really busy with follow-ups this week.  That was my idealized weekend.  Here is what really happened.

I fell down the stairs carrying boxes out to the car.  That meant I wan not able to catch myself and landed on the edge of the steps causing deep bruising in the top portion of my backside.  I got to the event and began setting up.  It was outdoors and not only was it hot, but it was windy.  My easy up tent wouldn't stay up and things kept blowing around.

The attendance at the event was minimal and few of my target market attended even though it was a fundraiser for a private school with pre-K and Kindergarten.  I did talk to the head mistress of the school and she said she would give my card to the preschool teachers.  I went home early as I found sitting highly uncomfortable and the wind was not my friend.

I spent Sunday laying down doing my best to deal with my discomfort.

Its Monday and I have no new leads to follow up on.  Now what?

In life and business these things happen.  If I want to make a living with my businesses I need to get over it and just work through the challenges.  Easier said than done, right?

So I made some goals for this week.  I will write new affirmations.  The ones I have are old and losing their effectiveness.  I will post on my business page once each day for 5 days and I will talk to 1 new person for each of my businesses for 5 days.  Until I can do this on a regular basis, how do I expect to get anywhere?

Challenges will happen, but the best way to overcome them is to plan for them and create a contingency plan to overcome them.  Sometimes you will have to come up with a plan on the fly because you were unable to anticipate the challenge.  Other times you can see a challenge possibility ahead of time and plan accordingly.

If you come across an obstacle, you have to find a way over, under or around it.

Motivation to succeed

I am going through some difficult life changes right now.  During this time I am getting more motivated to build a successful business.

Yesterday it was made quite clear to me that a person I am very close to has no faith that I will succeed in my business endeavors. It was a huge slap in the face.  I could decide to agree with this person and quit right now, or I can use it to help drive my motivation and determination.

When I first started getting back into direct sales my motivation or my why was pretty vague. As time went on over the last year and a half it has morphed and changed.  This has been a good thing.  My original why was something that would be nice to have but not something that I had to have.  No matter how I tried to find something that would motivate me beyond the casual conducting of my business, my life was okay.  I had enough, more would be nice, but it wasn't necessary.  Yes the personal development part of working on my business was necessary, but the money wasn't.  It is really hard to stay motivated to build a business when nothing seems to be going your way, if you don't have a concrete reason you need to be successful.

I predict a huge spurt of growth in the very near future.  Here is why.  The money portion of the business is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.  If I wish to continue to homeschool my 6 year old and not have to go out and get a job,  I need to make a significant amount of money from my businesses.
There is really one more motivating factor that will make a huge difference to my success.  I got my stubborn on when I was told I will eventually have to go out and get a job.  I now have to prove to this person that they are wrong and that I can make a success out of what I am doing.

This is what is going to motivate me.  Now you may be struggling with your own goals or business.  Maybe you also lack a why strong enough to motivate you to actually reach your goal or have success in your business.  Maybe you have built in a safety net and knowing you have this safety net, it has prevented you from going all in.  If that is the case it is time to take off the training wheels.  Find that one or two things that will hit you right in the gut.  A reason so big that you just have to get it done.  If you need to eliminate that safety net in order to make yourself go all in, do it.

Its not enough to want success.  For most, that success will not come easily.  You have to need that success like the very air you breathe.  When you find a why or motivation that will do that for you, you will find that elusive success.

Morning Routines Can Make You More Productive

I have learned a lot of different things in my lifetime.  One of the more important things is the necessity of early morning routines.

Does what time you get up in the morning make a difference?  Believe it or not it does.  Earlier this year I began to get up at 5:30 in the morning in order to have a couple of hours to myself before my 6 year old got up.  I created a morning routine and stuck to it until I realized that it was easier to let her sleep longer in the morning so she would be more cooperative.  She is really not a morning person.
I started getting up at 7:00 in the morning instead while still maintaining my morning routine.  I found half the time she got up before 9 and the other half I just had a hard time sticking to my daily tasks.   I am now getting up at 6:00AM and finding that my earlier productivity is back.

So what kind of things do I do in my morning routine?  I do spiritual study, journaling, exercise, affirmations, meditation, visualizing and success study.

With my journaling I do two forms.  I use a guided journal and I use a free form journal.  My free form journal gives me the freedom to write whatever I feel that morning, while my guided journal helps me focus on what I did well, what I need work on, what I am grateful for and what I feel.

Meditation, affirmations and visualization kind of work together.  I do my affirmations separately, but during my meditation time I focus on them and then visualize the actions I need to do to make success a reality.

I exercise 6 days a week.  I spend 3 days focusing on my cardio vascular health and I spend 3 days focusing on muscle resistance exercises. I really miss this if I have to miss it due to injury so I try hard to do things in a manner that won't cause injury.  Most of my exercise stopping injuries have happened outside my exercise routine as a result.

Success study is a big part of my routine.  I take at least 30 minutes and either read or watch some kind of podcast to help further my knowledge and understanding of the career that I have chosen to pursue.

What happens if I interrupt my routine to check out my facebook or email?  I find that my routine takes much longer because I get lost in trying to respond or like certain posts.  There is time in the rest of the day to get to my computer interactions so it is best for me if I do not touch the computer during my morning routine.

What has having a morning routine done for me?  There have been so many benefits of my morning routine.  I feel less stressed, I am healthier and I find myself more productive during the day.

If you want to make some serious changes in your life and do not have an early morning routine, doing so will be the first step in making those positive changes.  Start slow and don't try to do too much at once.  Just learn to do better each day and eventually that morning routine will help to effect change in the rest of your day as well.

Visualization, its not just a new age technique anymore

Today I was doing my own personal development reading and came across a section on visualization.  This is not a new concept and I have ignored the concept until now.

When I first heard of visualization I thought the concept was ridiculous.  Just visualize what you want to have happen and it will.  It really sounded like new age hogwash to me.  The thing is, I keep hearing about the concept over and over again.

The realization that visualization is not a ridiculous concept came from reading a book written by a member of my church, featuring several stories about visualization from prominent church figures.

Here is the trick .  Visualization starts by picturing in your mind the end result you want, but for it to work properly you can't stop there.  Visualizing the end result may help you to see what it is that you want to accomplish, but it doesn't help you see how to accomplish it.  In order for you to actually achieve that end vision, you need to also visualize exactly the steps you need to accomplish it.  You need to visualize yourself actually doing the things you need to do as well as the actual outcome hoped for.

It doesn't do any good to visualize yourself at the end of the journey and then sit and wait for the end result to happen.  Even if you visualize yourself as a  millionaire everyday it won't happen unless you take action to get yourself there.

Visualization helps you to practice overcoming obstacles in your path and solving problems that may come up along your journey.  Visualization can help you be more confident as you do each task that needs to be done to accomplish your goal.  Visualization can help you enforce your belief that you can reach your goal.

What visualization is not, is a magic wand that will make things happen just because you see it happening in your head.  Yes, visualization can help attract the positive outcomes you want, but they will not happen unless you do the work necessary to get there.  For example you can visualize yourself winning the lottery, but it will never happen if you don't buy a lottery ticket.  Of course visualization can never guarantee anything based on luck instead of skill.

Visualization is not meant to be used by itself.  When combined with goal setting, affirmations, study, and action it can help you to accomplish great things.  Used by itself its just daydreaming.

The Power of Gratitude

It has been said that you can't expect more in your life if you are not grateful for what you already have.  When we focus on our blessings instead our lack we change our perspective and attitude.

How many of us have sat and gone through the woe is me phase?  You know the one.  The one where we sit and contemplate all that is going wrong in our lives.  What did this accomplish?  Did it make it better?  Did it make you happy?  Did it change anything?

On the flip side, think of a time where you thought about all that was going right in your life and all that you had.  Did you have peace?  Did you want to share that peace?  Was life good?

I have done both.  What I have learned that focusing on being grateful for all that I had changed the way I thought about things.  Instead of my life being limiting, I found motivation to become more.

I may have run into some difficult stages but dealing with those stages with a negative attitude was very different than dealing with it having a positive attitude.  Having a negative attitude only made things get worse, but having a positive attitude helped me to change the direction my life was going.

When we are truly grateful for our lives and all of the blessings that we do have we feel joy.  That joy often prompts us to spread the joy that we feel.  When we try to spread that joy we find the not so good things much easier to deal with.

As our gratitude increases we find ourselves taking action to create more to be grateful for.  The miracles we see can be attributed to a change in attitude and activity in ourselves.  Those miracles were probably already there just waiting for you to notice them or take action to make them happen.