Watch for the signs!

I have learned many lessons thus far on my journey to finding my bliss. I know that in order for things to happen you have to be an active part of the process. You can't just sit and wait for something to come to you - it doesn't work that way.

I think visualizing and really thinking hard and true about what your dreams and goals are is a huge effective tool in getting where you want to be. You also have to stick to the goal, stay on track, do what you can do to keep feeding the dream or goal. Infact I think eliminating the word "dream" and concentrating on the word "GOAL" is a much more effective way of thinking. In my way of thinking a "dream" is just a thought, a fantasy, not a tangible or reachable reality. But a "GOAL" is something you work towards. You can break it down into small and achievable steps - it is obtainable, it can be a reality!

Too many times 'helpful' friends and family will give you guidance that isn't always in your best interest - it's in theirs. I have found that some people just don't want others to be successful or happy - at least not more than they are. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish that this is really happening. Because most of the time it's done in very subtle ways, little comments that make you self doubt and undermine your courage and abilities. These "little" comments make you ask yourself - can I do this? Am I worth it? Do I deserve it? The answer is YES YES YES, you do and you can. You deserve every wonderful thing in life you can achieve and enjoy. I guess the one thing I would say you have to realize is that it's not that these people really don't want you to be happy or successful. It's that they are not comfortable stepping out of their comfort zone to better themselves or their lives. Even though they may come across as they feel superior, they infact have low self esteem and can't bare to see a friend or family member being happier or more successful than they are. So with these people, we need to just look past and maybe be a little deaf to their comments and know that it's their problem - not ours.

There are so many tools around us that can be used to assist us in our goals. On Sunday, in church, Pastor Kevin talked about how God lays down the steps for us to take on our journey - how the signs for your direction are there - you just have to recognize and follow them. I started thinking about decisions I was trying to make in my life about which direction I should be following. I feel like I am to decide which business direction to go to. On 1 hand I have the home daycare I have been trying to start with my daughter. It's been a long and stressful process, we butt heads, don't agree on things, argue and because of this I believe I have been dragging my feet in continuing it. I'm afraid that it will ruin our relationship - certainly not what I want. On the 2nd hand I have my ACN biz - which I have been slow in my efforts - because of the daycare issue. I believe I have also sabotaged myself in not getting out and meeting new people to help grow my biz. I learned that you can't count on friends and family to support you the way you know you would support them. Again that's part of the "helpful" people syndrom -- always there to point out flaws, not supportive, etc. As I was thinking about this decision and Kevin's message I thought back to things that had happened prior to Sunday. 1) After sending many many job resume's out I finally got a response back from a company. 2) The licensor called and cancelled her inspection. 3) A friend at church out of the blue says he wants to sign up with ACN. and now 4) I recieved another email from a company I sent a resume to, requesting I call for an interview. So I first thought, ok the licensor cancelling was a good thing - it buys me more time to get ready. But then I started thinking maybe that it's a sign that I shouldn't do the daycare (I have been asking for some guidance or a sign as to the direction I should take), that I should get a job, which would give me more opportunities to meet new people/friends -- which would give me the opportunity to build my ACN biz, as a lack of people was my issue in not building it sooner or maybe it was just my excuse, "I just don't know anybody anymore". In reality I didn't want to get out of my "comfort zone", I was waiting for something to just "come to me".

Many times over the years I have heard successful people state that things "just fell together". I kind of feel like that is what's happening for me right now. I feel like another "step" was given to me through a magazine I purchased. I picked up a copy of a mag because the cover feature was something I was interested in. While reading through the magazine I came across a feature story about women who had created their own destiny through direct sales! I was so excited, I felt as though this was truly a sign to me.

I know it takes a lot of hard work, things don't really "just fall together". But I do believe that after you've put in the hard work and walked the steps needed, that things do indeed "just fall together". You are now reaping what you had already sown. All your efforts and hard work are beginning to pay off - fullfilling your dreams and goals.

RESEARCH!

If you want to find out something - you have to do research! It's just that simple, you don't gain anything by sitting and waiting for something to happen. Since I decided to take control over my life and find the answer and solutions to creating my ideal business things have started happening! I subscribe to a women's magazine and just recieved the Oct issue. low and behold it has an article about creating your dream. This was one of the best articles I have ever read from a "how to" type of story. It gave actual steps that the women had taken to achieve their success. Needless to say I was impressed. *** I am working on an outline of my steps thus far and will be posting them soon.

Then, this morning I was checking my emails and read a post from a fb friend that I had just overlooked for the last few days. Kick myself now and hard! The message was about buying the best dog treats ever - it clicked in my head- hey silly you make dog treat jars!!!! Lightbulb moment! So I followed the link to a fb mall and read quickly on how to sell on fb. I'm so excited! I will need to download new pics of my items and get everything set back up - since my desktop hard drive crashed a few weeks ago. But this is exactly what I've been looking for. The days of paying to rent a space or table at an event and praying you get enough sales may soon be gone!!! Other than to do some advertising??? I will still hold my (at least this year) annual Santa's Helper Holiday Boutique the first weekend in December, but not having to haul, set up, take down and sit for a day or days to make a few bucks is an extremely awesome thought!

Well it's time to get some things done around the house. I should be able to finish up the clean up from the yard sale purging today and then move on to the next step of my journey.

So till the next time - remember, it's all in a day!

It's a new day - and a new mission!

I learned in church Sunday that your talents are your gifts from God and that how you use them is YOUR gift to Him. So I am on a quest to learn how to use my "God" given talents to create the world I want to be in. I feel my talents are in my artistic abilities, my cooking abilities and maybe even in my comfort of speaking in front of people and instructing??? I've always had supportive people around me, especially my husband Mark, my Aunt Mary and my good friend Tanya. Their input and encouragement have always been invaluable to me. I also have received many accolades at events I've attended with my crafts and food items.

But even with all these wonderful compliments, I'm not running to the bank on Monday mornings with cash deposits to pay my bills with. Something has to change! So my mission is to be able to find/create a way to use my talents to have an income from these "talents".

So over the next few months or longer if needed, I will be blogging about what I am doing to get my name out there, what I'm doing to create this "dream" business that I've always wanted to have. After all, everyone says find your "passion" and go with it! So I'm ready to go for it - use my passion to make my dreams come true.

I hope readers of my blog will interact with me, give me suggestions and tell me about their successes and failures. I don't believe one can reach success with going through some failures - I think I've had enough of those, I'm ready for some success! Who knows maybe like my sweet friend Nancy (another very supportive friend)says I may be the next "Self Help" Guru.

Wow where has the time gone!

My gosh it March 1st, I haven't updated my blog in over a month. I haven't been that busy, just not paying attention to my blog - me bad =(! New goal for tomorrow March 2, 2011 - Wednesday, I will download pictures from my camera and update my blog. I've been to Charlotte, NC since I last blogged and I have some pictures that I would like to share along with some ever so enciteful commentary. So until tomorrow my sweet little blog, when I will fill you with new life, I say goodnight. Besides I need some water I have the hickups!

It's a New Year!

Once upon a time had someone said where will you be in the year 2011, I would have thought I'd be a lot better off than I am.  2010 was not the best of year for me and Mark, financially, family wise or health wise. I became unemployed, he had an accident and was "let go" from his job, his Mom passed away and I constantly fight a crappy knee.

However, these are all things that we can overcome, understand or at least deal with and improve upon. That's my goal for 2011 - make a better life.

On the bright side, we are taking steps to regain a foothold on our finances. As we continue to look for work, I continue to attempt to make money from my crafts - not going so hot, but a little here and there. The biggest step is that I have become an Independent Rep for ACN, a technology based company that is the largest direct seller of home services in the world. We broker all the major cell phone companies, ADT Home Security, Clear internet, local and long distance and more! It's an exciting company in an exciting time. The financial opportunites are tremendous - we just need to find family and friends to support us through the use of our services and a few good people to build our team with. At a recent business meeting I was amazed to hear all the celebs, sports stars and already wealthy people who are in ACN as a rep, just like me. So I figure if people of that caliber see the potential in what ACN has to offer, then I had better go for it. I don't need to be rich, but I would certainly like to be more comfortable that we currently are. Plus with residual income, we put in a few (3 to 5) years of hard work, then we can slow down, retire if we want, as long as those bills are being paid for the services - we keep getting paid. Won't get that from any employer.

I've also been listening to alot of Goal setting information from ACN and Success magazine. It is helping me to break down large goals into reasonable mini-goals and helping me to realize what it is that I really want out of life. I've started setting goals for 2-3 months, 6, 9 and 12, with the big picture in 5 years. 

I've also started setting personal goals for my own well being, mainly my weight. Mark and I returned to the South Beach diet program. I hate to even call it a "diet" program, it really is a way of life. I feel better when I eat the way the program teaches, I loose weight on it, have more energy, etc. I really don't know why I ever went off it in the first place, stupid reasons I guess. I loss almost 30 lbs the last time I did the program, Mark lost even more, I gained back 15 when I went off it. After being on it just 8 days I have taken 7.5 of those 15 back off and almost 3inches off my tummy! It feels so good and I already feel so much better, the gas and bloat is almost gone and I have a little more energy.  My biggest enemy is myself, I get lazy I don't want to make the effort to fix a meal, my knee hurts so I don't want to move around. I promised myself today that I would get my excersize ball out tomorrow and have Kristin show me how to use it correctly, I think I have a video somewhere??? LOL. Maybe a trip to the thrift store to search for a video is a good idea tomorrow as well. Plus it would get me off my butt and at least some excersize.

I'm posting a picture of myself, which I hate to do, but I want to be able to go back and compare in 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, etc. I've given myself 1 year to get 100 lbs off. I plan to ring in 2012 that much lighter. At that time or a lttle before it I will evaluate how much more I want to loose. I originally planned on taking 135 lbs off, we'll see. 

Tonight I feel like this blog has changed it's purpose, I feel like it's now my outlet to keep myself true and honest to me. I really don't care if anyone else ever reads it, that's not really important to me. It's important to me to have an outlet to say what I'm feeling and what I'm going through. I think sometimes writing things, thoughts down helps to clear and organize our minds -- I know I certainly can benefit from a little mindful organization.

So here's to 2011, lets make it the best year it can be!