Thankful Tuesday 4

This week I am thankful for...

1.  Insightful conversations with my mom.  She is far wiser than she will ever give herself credit for.

2.  Times when my son takes a nap on my lap, and not having anything I need to do while he sleeps so peacefully.

3.  Unexpected time to work on my businesses.

4.  Substitutes, for when I need to be out of school for the day for unexpected reasons (like my son needing an impromptu visit to the pediatrician and no one else available to take care of him for the day)...and for sweet and understanding classes of students who handle changes to the plan in stride.

5.  Sandwiches.  I love sandwiches...very possibly my favorite go-to meal.  Yummy!  No deep thoughts here...sandwiches are just awesome, that's all.

What are your 5 this week?

Thankful Tuesday 3!

1.  Spring Break! (My day-job is teaching Elementary Music)

2.  Social Media! Today I am able to connect with all sorts of people, all over the world, through 3 different social media platforms.

3.  Mobile Internet...everywhere, on pocket devices! I'm writing to you today while traveling to see friends for a few days...from the backseat of our car. How cool is that?

4.  Chicken Wings. Because few things make my husband happier than these.

5.  Great friends who invite us to come spend a few days at their house out in the country. (And yes, even there I will have internet access...)

Go forth and learn, learn, learn...so you can earn, earn, earn!

While it is true that nearly anyone can be successful in network marketing, regardless of any number of things (personality type, level of formal education, gender, race, age, starting socioeconomic status, etc)....

It is also true that those who wildly succeed are those who take their education into their own hands.  In this, marketing is just like every other profession.  You must learn before you can substantially earn, especially over the long term!

Fortunately, there are many great places to turn for excellent training and personal development in this industry!  While it is my hope that someday this very blog will be a source you can turn to for training and advice...today I turn you over to the places that I go to learn from.  After all, some things are best when taken directly from the source!

1.  Most network marketing/direct sales companies will have some online training included for you, at no additional cost, just because you joined them.  In my experience, these are usually some pretty great training modules!  This is the very first source that you should exhaust.  Go into your online workstation or back office (or whatever your company calls it), and look around relentlessly until you have soaked up every ounce of information and training available there.  The best part of this training is that it is guaranteed to be 100% relevant to being successful in your specific company network.

2.  Does your company offer live events?  Are any of them near you?  If they aren't, is there a way for you to get to an event that is far away?  In my case, I live in a large city with a very active associate base for one of my two companies...so live trainings are available multiple times a week if I have the time to attend them all, and larger events sometimes take place here as well.  My experiences with live events is the same as with the online trainings I have completed:  They are an excellent resource and often highly motivating!  If you can find your way to a live event for your company, do it!  Meeting others who are on the same path but in different stages is worthwhile all by itself.  It gives you the chance to see yourself in every step of the journey, from novice to millionaire leader.

3.  My next favorite source is one that I just recently discovered:  www.SmarterNetworker.com  For those of you familiar with Dani Johnson, this is her site.  If you aren't familiar with Dani Johnson, then go check out her site.  There are tons of recorded conference calls available for FREE, and in many of them she offers some extremely practical advice.  She will also try very hard to convince you to attend one of her live trainings on most of the calls - which I have heard really great things about from colleagues of mine, although I cannot speak to those firsthand.  I haven't gone yet, as I just started delving into her training calls last week.  I did buy her Script Book right away though, and I am thoroughly impressed with that!  So impressed that I am in the process of redoing my entire contact/resource list in order to start over and try everyone again...but with a much better approach this time!

4.  Books & Audiobooks.  Some you'll love, some you won't...these are all worth going through at least once in order to decide for yourself what works for you.  There are MANY books out there for self development and entrepreneurship, here's a (very) small reading list to get you on your way....

• The Success Principals by Jack Canfield.  (I love that he includes a suggested reading list at the back!)
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and The 8th Habit, by Steven Covey
• The Compassionate Samurai by Brian Klemmer
• How to Make Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

5.  Last but not least on my top five places to find training...your Sponsor/Upline/Team!  Take notes.  Take lots of notes.  Go with them on presentations or parties and observe.  Ask questions.


Finally, as with all learning, it is imperative that you attempt to apply as much of it as possible, as soon as possible.  Take action.  Do the homework.  In this case, it will literally pay off!

Where are your favorite places to go for personal development and training?  Comment below!

Thankful Tuesday 2!

Last week I was thankful for various aspects of my family and faith...this week:

1.  My friends.  In particular, a friend named Katie who introduced me to a very exciting product, company, and opportunity several months ago...and as of this week I am beginning my own journey with this company as well!

2.  My first network marketing mentors, who showed me a few years ago that this industry really does work - and continue to provide me with amazing training and support.  Because of them I dare to dream of a lifestyle that no other industry can offer to me and my family.

3.  I am thankful for the honesty of those same mentors mentioned in #2.  They have always been upfront about this industry being just as much work as anything else, and how long it truly takes to build a successful team and residual income.

4.  I am thankful for my many many teachers.  My entire life, I have been blessed with having the right teacher walk into my life and impart the wisdom I desperately needed at the time.  Often several at once are active in my life at any given time.  These amazing people have been (and continue to be) guiding angels in my path.

5.  My Husband's family.  They embody the values of generosity and loyalty to a fault, and I am so very lucky to have them in my life (and always cheering me towards success, just like my own family always does!).  I can't really describe how awesome it is to walk through life knowing that we have the full support of both our families in all our endeavors.  It's something I never take for granted, knowing that not all unions are so blessed in this way.

What are your 5 this week?

The Simplest Form of Marketing

Whatever your business, advertising and marketing are major aspects of your success (or failure! Eek!). Not every industry uses the those exact terms for the same concept. For example, if you work in many nonprofit sectors, including education, you may hear the term “advocacy” thrown around frequently. In truth, advocacy and marketing are the same idea:  making people aware of your product or service, how it can benefit them, and convincing people to invest their time and money on what you offer.

 

So what is the simplest, most effective way to accomplish this important task?

 

Be a “product of the product”, a “walking billboard”. Be a living example of the benefits of your industry, service, and products.

 

If you market health and wellness products, then use those products to achieve and maintain excellent health. If you market jewelry, clothing, or other wearable items, then wear those items with grace and style anywhere you find appropriate.  If you advocate fine arts education, then maintain your practice habits and skills, and be an avatar for the character traits you feel your fine arts education developed in you. This is not a complicated idea. It could also be filed under “practice what you preach”. If you want others to value what you have to offer, you must first demonstrate the value that your offerings have for you.  Your actions will speak louder than any words you could say.

 

And here’s the most important part… When someone notices what you are doing, and asks “How did you do that?”, “Where did you get that?”, “How did you develop that skill?”

 

 

You tell them.

 

And then you offer to help them get started too!

Thankful Tuesday

I first ran across this idea from my 9^thgrade Speech teacher, Mrs. Beasley, who insisted that we write 5 things we were grateful for every day that semester.  That was the first thing we did every single day after getting to our seats. She didn’t take credit for the idea either. She heard the idea one day on the Oprah Winfrey Show. I do not know where Oprah found the idea, but somehow I doubt that it originated with her either.

 

So I’m dubbing today “Thankful Tuesday”! Sometimes I’ll be thankful for the big, timeless things in my life, like this week. Sometimes I’m certain to be thankful for the seemingly insignificant and fleeting things too!

 

1.     I am thankful for my Christian faith. I probably don’t express that nearly often enough, but I truly am. My faith is the core of my strengths, and the base of every positive character trait I can claim.

2.     In the same vein, I am thankful for my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They are amazing examples of how to be a great person who makes a positive difference in the world, of how to live my life as a beacon of hope and love for others. They are avatars of gentle persistent strength in the face of challenge and hardship, and amazing problem solvers. They are a continuing inspiration to me, forever and always.

3.     I am thankful for my husband. Sometimes we are blessed far beyond what we deserve. I won’t deny that he also sometimes drives me crazy – but I have no stronger supporter in my corner, no greater ally and teammate, no closer friend…than my husband!

4.     I am thankful for my sister. When I need to springboard creative ideas with someone, I look no further than my sister. She is a source of innovation and inspiration, a wellspring of creative solutions to all sorts of life’s problems…both in the personal and professional realms!

5.     I am thankful for my son. He is six months old, and being his mother has already taught me so much. But more than anything, he has taught me the value of time…and how every moment of our lives is precious beyond all measure!

 

What are your five this week?

Welcome to Abundant Pathways!

We are all on journeys seeking abundance in our lives, wandering along our own paths (or our own stairways to heaven on earth, if you prefer that imagery).

© Radu Razvan Gheorghe | Dreamstime Stock Photos

This blog is all about finding and creating abundance in your life - creating financial abundance, and taking special notice of all the forms of abundance already in our lives waiting to be appreciated.  This is a place to celebrate and show appreciation for the awesome things in life, both tangible and intangible...and a place to develop new ideas and skills to attract even more awesomeness all around us.

In terms of articles about creating financial abundance, expect to read a great deal about network marketing and direct sales, but also about managing what you already have in your budget.  I mention this simply because those are two of the main avenues that I use to enhance the prosperity of my family. There are many other pathways out there, and at some point I'd love to know enough of other people's stories to be able to write about them, or recruit successful individuals for guest posts on how they have achieved their high levels of success and abundance.  (Without a doubt, I know that the word "persistence" is going to be involved.)

As for the myriad other ways that we experience abundance - spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, etc - it has been my experience that the more I take notice of the great abundance of these gifts in my life, the greater they become simply by my acknowledgement and appreciation.  Which is pretty awesome all by itself.  So expect to read quite a bit of me pointing out cool things I see going on in the world around me too.  I know there's plenty going on in the world that is, in fact, completely terrible and horrific...but this place is set aside for empowering great things, not lamenting the problems and challenges we all still face.  Any mention here of problems and challenges will be in the context of solving and overcoming them, on the way to finding greater happiness and fulfillment.

An interesting note here, is that while many forms of abundance seem to increase automatically just by paying closer attention to what already exists around you...is that increasing financial abundance seems to require more than simple awareness and appreciation.  While those actions certainly help, they are not enough alone. Which is one of the main reasons why increasing financial abundance will be a major subject of exploration and study!

Thank you for choosing to share this exciting journey with me!