Over Half Way Home…

Just past the half way mark of my 60 day success journey and it amazes me how many things I get myself into!

The goals that I set for the end of my 30 days are still on paper, yet in all reality the action steps I took have sent me in different directions then what I had planned.

Why is it that we have such great intentions when we build our business and end up totally somewhere else? Don’t get me wrong, I’m having fun getting to know the big city and learning more about what I want to do and what I don’t want to do. I think I’ve gotten out of my comfort zone enough. I’m not as young as I used to be and I just only realized that.

Even though I thought I was laser focused on recruiting, what I thought would happen, didn’t. Does this make sense?

BUT, what it did do was lead me to some amazing people that focus on helping organizations raise money and this to me is more then I could ask for. I’ve broadened my horizons and learned that it truly does take “digging in the trenches” and giving all you can and having it come back ten fold.

I’m going to be so busy this next month with a Women’s Expo, Relay for Life fundraiser, Cooks Association fundraiser, contacting the Realtors for gift baskets, appointments with a couple of Nursing Homes, appointments set to see prospects about this candle business opportunity, a couple of home parties and so much more. I have so much business happening that would have never happened if I wouldn’t have made the decision to go on this journey. What have I been missing?

You see, I have a problem focusing and it really bugs me. I get side tracked so easy and don’t finish what I first started, then I forget what I did do, so have to start all over again. This was a constant frustration for me when I was focused on the Internet. I was just spending too much time re-inventing the wheel. Take it from me, DON”T DO THIS!

Am I the only one this happens too?

When I stepped into the 60 days, my intention was to find leaders and teach them how to make money. Yeah, that is all great, but not necessarily true! I need to find ordinary people that just want to make extra money and teach them how to become a leader if they so choose. Whew, that was a mouthful! Do you believe that? I do!

All of my life even when I was little, I always wanted to be in charge of my little brothers. That just did no go! They were stubborn, so I thought. Today they are bigger then I of course and it just wouldn’t work for me to boss them around any more.

What does this have to do with my journey, you ask?

Well, in some ways that is exactly how I approached team members. And remember, I’m on this journey to learn more about who I actually am as a leader and business builder and what I really want from my business. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you probably will never know everything about yourself or at least may not admit it.

Ok, back to what I was talking about. In a sense I had always thought that I needed to tell members what to do and in all reality I could say it but may not have actually done it myself. The saying “people don’t hear what you say until they see what you do” really stands true in anything you do in life.

And besides, telling people how to do things does not empower their own greatness inside. I understand that all I can do for them is show them how I’m doing business and let them choose.

It’s no secret, I’ve come a long way baby!

In over 4 years time I’ve sponsored over 130 people personally and my team has brought on hundreds. I’m so proud of our team and excited about their future, they are truly amazing people that are selling candles from home to make extra money. And our leaders are sharing their business and coaching others to do the same thing.

I’m not stating this to boast, I’m saying it to remind myself that I have had great success and have a successful team. When I started on my 60 day journey I thought I needed to go out and get more leaders. Why, when I have such a terrific team already.

Well, I believe it’s because I want something more out of the normal everyday life. Let’s see if I’m like others or if I’m being greedy…instead of saying “I want” let’s pretend that “I have” already accomplished these in my life…power of the “law of attraction” to work.


I have enough money to take family and friends out to eat anytime I want
I have donated thousands and thousand of dollars each year to our Church and Parochial School for the support they have given our family through the years.

I purchased a one way ticket for Thomas and I to the Virgin Islands where we will come back when we want to. (We’d miss the kids and grandkids too much)

I have enough money in the bank account to never have to worry about bills again.
I paid my kids college loans off
I took my sons Australia
I took my girls to Dublin Ireland shopping for whatever they wanted!
I have paid our farm debt.
I have financially taken care of my siblings that needed help.
I have financially taken care of Tom’s siblings that need help.
I now own a Mercedes Benz SUV
I built each one of our 4 kids each a house on our farm so we can all be together again with no more driving hours to see them or them come home. (grandkids too!)
I have enough money to own a helicopter and driver of course and land on my dad’s yard.
I now own a HUGE motor home that Tom, our kids and grandkids will travel across the country in and not worry about gas prices.
I have enough money to buy as many jackets, shoes and purses as I want anytime
I a 12x12 walk in closet

Wow, quite the list. There is so much more to my list but I’m sure you get the gist. Did you notice that I started out small and as I kept typing my list got more extravagant? I’m really not a materialistic person, although this is what I see when I close my eyes and relax.

The one that gets me teary eyed is being surrounded by our kids and grandkids in their new homes on the farm.

Now, it could be the hormones or that is my “WHY” for hanging in this candle business. I could have just walked away and hoped that it would build on its own, but I didn’t.

Now I know! Is it an epiphany? An ahha moment?

I’ve always felt some what lost not knowing why I even keep going. Yes, I love the Network Marketing Industry and the education I’ve received. It has been the cheapest counseling that I’ve had. Anyone that needs direction in life and loves to dream, this is the place to be for sure.

Ok, am I getting side tracked again?

Really, in my opinion this past 30 days has been a real eye opener for me. The money from selling these candles is great and something I never really did a lot of. This is one aspect of the business that I plan on doing a lot of in the future.


Tip: Once you feel it in your heart and soul and you “get it”, there’s no stopping you. All your dreams will come true.


The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. - Og Mandino


Cheers,

Susan

Crazy Busy is Good For The Soul!

Things have been crazy busy for me the past 2 weeks and I'm loving it. I'm in action and a lot of the contacts and work that I did in my first 2 weeks is starting to pay off.

The fundraising proposal that I'm working on for the Minnesota Knights of Columbus has been a long process. They need to cross all the T's and dot all the I's before we can actually set everything in motion. I will be at a pancake breakfast that they will be doing for one of their churches to introduce the candles to their congregation.

The cool thing is that we had a special label made to put on the jars with a phone number that we know the community will appreciate and will spark them into supporting the fundraisers that they will hold for the Holiday season.

I've set up a Cook's Association fundraiser for a school district in the city and look forward to their success in reaching their goal of $1400. That's not that many candles for them to sell.
Their really excited about the packs that I put together for them and how much profit they will make.

Fundraisers are popping up all over for me as referrals for me from family and friends in the city. And I found out that someone wants to talk to me from 2 other cities about fundraising also. I'm so glad that I decided to step out of my comfort zone and start asking for referrals.

Thomas J and I joined the Redwood Falls Chamber of Commerce also. This is something I wished we would of done a long time ago. We know a lot of the business people anyways so this will be a way for them to learn more about what we are doing. It will be fun networking with others and getting business, fundraising and retail leads from our group. And be able to help with referrals for them also.

This is some news we had lately from our gourmet candle company. Imagine the excitement when I opened this email today from the company -

Since we all know October and November are the two biggest months of the year we are going to make the "Holiday" Monthly Bonus Pool a little more exciting

"Special" Monthly Bonus Pool For OCTOBER and NOVEMBER

1st Place $4,000
2nd Place $1,500
3rd Place $1,000

New!
4th Place $ 500

Happy Holidays!!!!

This will be a fun competition because any candle distributor in out company can win this.

Tip: It takes action and patience to build an empire.

Cheers,

Susan

Still Going Forward

Things are moving slower than I hoped but I think that could be because I had a list a mile long of things to do for retailing, people to talk to and places to go. So I’m cutting that list down to 3 things that I will focus on to move forward.

In the past 7 days I’ve started many conversations with strangers. Some had an open mind about home businesses and some I disqualified right away because they were not looking for anything. They seemed to be happy right where they are. And that’s ok; we want people to be in our business because they want something more out of life.

I also found out that I truly do enjoy helping people! For the past 3 years I’ve been trying to get connected with a group of people that do candle fundraising for 9 churches. It’s like I could never get that appointment with the Grand Pupa.

Now it will happen and I believe that is because I gave of my time this past weekend to help with the fundraising that they were doing at my brother-in-laws church. As I was working and meeting all of the wonderful people giving their time I felt as though I was a part of something huge.

What I’ve noticed is that for people that live in bigger cities they have such a HUGE potential to meet and build relationships with others everyday. There are people everywhere!

I’m also visiting Nursing Homes that were referred to me by family. The Activities Directors love the boxes I put together with stackers and candle melts in them for the residents to talk of memories that the smells remind them of. This idea was a great creation, thanks to Karen Singer.

My intentions of my 60 day journey was to get me out of my comfort zone, do the things that I teach my team, look for more leaders and to experience something I had never done before. I don’t think you can put a time limit on something like this.

Tip: The more you think you need to go somewhere else to find business then in your own back yard, think again. Let everyone know about your candle business and let them decide if a home business with your company is for them.

Cheers,

Susan

Living in Another Zone

Sorry about not getting this posted last week. I’m still in the game, just spinning.

Have you ever just decided to pick up and move in with relatives? This can be a whole book of ideas of “what not to do.” They want to make sure you are comfortable, have what you need and spend all the time they can with you to catch up on everything you’ve missed. I love my family and understand were they’re at.

This is another zone for me because I’m trying to stay focused on getting our candle home business out in the area yet I feel like I’m standing still on a tread mill, if that makes any sense.

I’ve been putting flyers up where ever I could find bulletin boards. Most coffee shops around here have them tucked away by the bathrooms. I’ve not had access to Internet unless I go to a coffee shop like Dunn Brothers, Caribou Coffee and even Starbucks.

One thing I realized is that I’m not as comfortable as I thought cold contacting people. It was a huge stretch for me to talk to the 2 gentlemen that were sitting behind me in Dunn Brothers. When I really think about it, I’m more comfortable when I’m with someone else. Why is that?

I ran across a little quote that Mike Dillard stated –

“Change your environment; you'll change your habits. Change your habits, and you'll change your life.”

Ok, this does make sense to me. I’ve been way too comfortable with my lifestyle. My husband has always “brought home most of the bacon” and definitely reminds me of this, in the kindest way possible of course.

So now I’ve changed my environment for a short period and for sure changing my habits because I would be too embarrassed if I came out of these 60 days with no results.


The biggest habit I’ve changed is that I’m not checking my email all the time. I didn’t realize how consumed I was with that until lately. I’ve shifted my thinking from “build it and they will come” to “go get them and it will build.”

I’ve been utilizing the many ways that we can contact people about our candle business by putting business cards on car windows in mall parking lots, starting conversations with strangers and asking for referrals from my relatives.

I’m not crazy about doing the whole business card thing, because I’m not a total believer that handing out thousands of them does the trick. I do know that for me, business cards just sit in my desk for years or until I decide to clean the drawer out and run across one that reminds me that I should have contacted that person. Yet, I know of people that have had great success with this. So it’s just a preference on what you want to do.

I’m finding that I really like the warm list, “who they know” concept for sure. It gives me an idea of where I’m going. Since I like to know what’s happening this fits me just fine.

My husband, Tom will arrive today for us to go to the Republican National Convention in St Paul Minnesota. I’m excited about this because Tom and I together will meet some great open minded people that we can contact later about our candle business opportunity.

Tom is a walking, talking contacting machine. He has the guts to do things that would be out of my comfort zone. This is why we make such a great team because we are so different. He makes the mess and I clean it up so to speak.

Sometimes I feel stupid about my journey thinking that I probably could do a lot of things over the phone or in just a couple of days here and there. The concept of the whole idea is to get me “out of my comfort zone or routine” and to “accomplish what I’m capable of doing” which is to create a lifestyle that most people only dream about.

Will I get this done? You bet! I have lots of irons in the fire just from being here for 10 days. I truly believe that my actions from these 60 days will show up even a year from now. Like they say, “the wheel was a little rusty but as it starts to turn, it will turn freely the more it goes around.”

“Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.”
- John Wooden

Tip: Don’t make the mistake of telling your family or friends that they need to be in your business! Let them know what or who you’re looking for and ask them if they know anyone like that. It’s amazing how much they want to help you when you take it away from them.

Till next time…thanks for following me and I hope that even just one thing helps you in your journey to success.

Cheers,

Susan