Enjoy Your Journey To Wealth

We live in a wonderful time where many people are finding the opportunities to get rich "doing what they love" available and ready to be grabbed.  The ability to work part-time while earning a strong steady income is becoming more readily available.  Many are choosing to leave their jobs and be their own boss.  While this can be a path full of joy and abundance, if certain choices are made it can be a path of misery and despair.   Working for myself for over 15 years I have had some of both moments.  In this blog I want to share a few of the things I have learned in an effort to help you have more joy and abundance in your wealth journey.

1) GET THE SUPPORT YOU NEED

One of the most important lessons I have learned is who and where to find support.  My husband supports me as a wife and mother, but is not required to support me as a business owner.  My friends support me as a member of our community but are also not the best resource for support around my business.  There are plenty of couples who work together in their business, and their are many partnerships that form from friends coming together.  If your life is not that way, find joy!  What a blessing that sometimes you can connect with people completely unrelated to your business!  Search for support from coaches and business communities around being an entrepreneur.  It will save you much pain and misery as you detach your spouse and friends from that role.

2) ALIGN YOUR BUSINESS GOALS WITH THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART

In my opinion to many business coaches and entrepreneurs are all focused on the amount of money you can make these days.  While money is important, for me, when I focused on buying a huge home or spending most of my life traveling I found that I gave up on my goals.  When I came to truly realize that having a good home that I can maintain well, good cars and money invested for the future were truly the desires of my heart I had greater peace and more motivation to continue to work my goal path.

Another way I have occasionally gotten "off" with my goals was trying to make goals for others.  I said "I'm going to replace my husband's job" or "I want to provide everything for my kids".  I didn't think about the fact that my husband truly enjoys his job, he likes having tasks to do, and doesn't want to leave for years to come.  I forgot how important it was to teach my children to be industrious and find their own path to wealth, even at a young age.  When I align myself completely with the desires of my heart I find peace and joy.

3) BE YOUR OWN BOSS

So many entrepreneurs, especially work-at-home parents, say they are creating their business to have more time freedom.  The problem is they get into urgency mode and work just as much, or more, for themselves as they would for a boss.  Manage your business around your life to find true peace and joy.  I find this shows up different for different people. At times you may have to boss your way to getting work done, at other times you may have to boss yourself to walk away from the desk!  Keep yourself in check so as to never be making a decision of the use of your time from desperation and fear.  Make decisions for the use of your time from faith and persistence.  This too will bring you joy as you journey to wealth.

4) KEEP A PERSPECTIVE ON TIME

Yes, there are people who create wealth seemingly overnight.  Generally they are those who have worked for years laying the foundation for that wealth.  Your wealth creation is coming.  If you attempt to force it or push yourself beyond your limits you may find yourself burnt out and wasted.  Know that each step is getting you closer to your dreams and goals.  Creating wealth overtime is just as admirable (and maybe more) as those who create it overnight.

5) GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK

If you have been reading my blogs and newsletter you know I had planned to post this one July 22nd.  Personal and family issues came up that day and it was delayed.  The presentation is improved because I waited that day.  The ideas came out more clear and I hope you get greater results from applying them.  This goes hand in hand with #4.  Once in awhile things don't get done as planned.  Ask God to make up the difference and apply mercy.  Life and business will still bring great results!

All these points have much longer stories in my life as an entrepreneur.  I hope they each stir thoughts in your mind and planning process.  You, like I, broke away from the norm to create something you would love doing.  Love doing it in each moment and each day, not just when you reach some far off goal.  When you do you will find joy and peace in your journey to wealth.

What Are Your Reasons For Working From Home? Do They Show?

My reasons for working at home are simple.

They are ages 12, 13 and 14 this summer.

I want to be available for them first and foremost AND I want to create an income that will compliment my husband's full-time job.

I have to keep myself in check, however.

It is easy to get so focused on my business goals that the top three reasons for working at home get set aside.  Since they were small I have known that if I plan my day around spending time with them first and foremost, THEN attending to clients, customers or contractors, my day flows better.    As such I also have come to understand that my business grows at a rate that frustrates some entrepreneurs.  It is a rate, however, that makes my life feel healthy and my family strong.

Of course the opposite is also true.  I have had to learn how to teach them to give me work time that is uninterrupted.  They have had to manage by themselves for a time each day.  When they were small it might have been 30 minute spirts.  Now it is 1-2 hours at a time.  By doing so I am able to grow my business continually.

What do you do to assure that the reasons you work from home are the priority in your day to day life?

LISTEN & LEARN!

Work At Home Truths With Marian #2

Why I Course Corrected

 

      Last week I had the privilege of virtually meeting a young man who two years ago walked out of his job without a plan.  Since then he has created a prosperous business that creates a full-time income for himself and his wife.  It is in a field he did not even know existed when he left his job. My favorite nugget of the story is he and his wife work part-time while they are raising their two young daughters.
     I couldn't help but admire his success.  The path to his success highlighted a lesson I have learned over the past year.  He has created this miracle, in part, because he was unafraid to hire support and very clear on what support he should hire.  He has in his support team a full-time business coach as well as 2 coaches he worked with full-time while he was learning his craft (now uses on a project basis) and another coach he works with in a group setting.
     Not long ago I saw people like him differently.  It boggled my mind how much they had to be spending on coaching and training.  Now I see the changes that have happened for them personally and professionally.  I see the speed with which their businesses have grown.  I admire the solid people they have become.  What helped me accept their path was a logical analogy from my past experience.   
     When I was doing real estate investing I would regularly buy a home that was not worthy of living in.  I would have to spend a good deal of time and money remodeling the home before I could rent or sell it.  When I compared the amount these entrepreneurs were spending on "remodeling" themselves and their business I finally could embrace that I needed to invest more time and money in creating my business the way I dream.  Afterall, it isn't hard to see that the value of their business is far greater than the value of one real estate sale after remodel!
     The past few months I have course corrected.  I have gotten extremely clear on the type of support I need (both for coaching, tech and administrative).  I have also started using their support at a deeper level.  The results are manifesting personally and professionally.
     What about you?
     Where have you resisted getting support?  Why?
     How might your business change if you allowed yourself to get support?

This Time I Did It My Way!

Last night I enjoyed a walk down the street and a night swim with my kids at the hotel we are staying at during Pamela Bruner's Transform Event 2014.  It was wonderful, it was me doing events my way!

I have been attending live events with motivational speakers and coaches since 2006.  I have had various experiences that have taught me much about how I as a participant can better attend events and how I run events now and in the future for my own participants.

My first event was sponsored by Real Estate Expert and Best Selling Author, Robert Allen.  I was a young mom with a few years experience as an entrepreneur.  I had just spent a year "away" from doing anything for income (a story for another blog) and had a couple of experiences that had prompted me to "get back on the horse".  I had committed to be there and I had a habit of keeping my commitments.  It took ALL that I had in time, money and resources to get my kids to my sister's house close to the out of state event and show up.  I had no housing plans and no money to spare.  It was an amazing lesson in the Law of Attraction!  I ended up sharing quarters with a carpenter from Virginia who had a van parked on the street.  I lived on the beef jerkey he had and the apples I brought.
       I was there 100% and fully engaged.  I was at the microphone and actively seeking answers to how I could be a better investor.  Needless to say I signed up for the $40,000 package.   I had no resources to do it but they promised me if I would write a post-dated check I could go home and find someone to help me make the investment.  So I signed up!   I got home physically and emotionally exhausted.  It took me a couple days to just get my body back on track from being spent but at the same time I was talking to people about how to make this investment.
      I called Robert Allen's company more than once that week asking them to withdraw me from the program.  Their response "take courage, it will come, go find someone".  They didn't understand that it wasn't just the money.  I was caught up in the energy of the moment and the firey words from the stage "all you need is the courage to step into this program".  I had courage, I KNEW how powerful I was.  I can do anything and I am destined for greatness so I trusted and stepped forward.... but how can anyone living on a diet of beef jerky and apples, sleeping only so so on a piece of foam on the side of a street in Washington, DC make a good grounded decision?

When attending live events, stay grounded in your purpose and evaluate the offers from a place of peace and intuitive guidance, not the energy of the moment.

     Fast forward 8 years.  I've attended over 20 other events.  I have learned much about events.  I have signed up for 4 programs in those 20 events.  I have also learned that for me, I have to get CLEAR about what I am looking for in the event before I walk in the door.  When I'm not I am more easily swayed into a program that may or may not be the right one for me.  It does not serve me, or the person on the stage, to jump into a program that is not right for me.  So I have learned first and foremost to take care of me.  If the stuff in the room starts to trigger me, I process it.  If I didn't sleep well I skip part of the afternoon session and take a nap.
     I am also clear also clear that many of my most trusted coaches and best clients have come from people in the crowd at the event of mentors I have followed for a long time.  Yet, coming with the focus on judging who is who takes away from the experience for me, the other attendees and the person hosting the event. I keep encounters brief and focus on building up the speaker.
   I am so grateful for the wonderful lessons I have enjoyed at Pamela's Transform event.  She prepared well and presented well.   I am so grateful for the wonderful people I met in the crowd.  I look forward to our continued interactions as we grow in relationships together.

Feeling LOST Can Be The Secret Window To Your Business Growth Path

        In June of 1992 I got lost in Old Jerusalem, Israel.  I was with a group of about 5 students and it was our first day of a two month stay.  We had gone to the shopping area with a group of 20 led by an experienced traveler.  We had checked with them before leaving the group early.  We headed back the direction of our campus home.  It took us almost 3 hours to get back (instead of the 30 minutes it should have).  We wondered through dark streets made of rock, mostly empty and lit by only a few random single lit light bulbs. We asked for help, but most of the folks in this area of the city didn't know English well. It was an amazing and haunting journey in a third world environment for a young lady far from home.

     There were lessons learned that night.  Yet many of the lessons came in the days and weeks ahead.  We became the leaders of any group we were in as we navigated the streets of our new home.  We recognized the signs of going the "wrong" direction quickly.  We understood the "lay of the land" easily.  For me the lessons have run even farther as I have been lost in many other cities around the world.  Whether in Cairo, Egypt  San Juan, Puerto Rico or Charlotte, NC, USA  I know to stay calm and keep trying.  The signs will pop out and I will soon recognize where I am going, even if the support I got to "find" my way didn't seem to help.

     It's been the same for me in business.  There have been many times I have felt I was "lost" and that it was taking me much longer than others to get it "right".  When I allow that to stress me out I only get stressed.  When I find support I get through it.  Getting the right support is vital.  Just as in Old Jerusalem, it needs to be someone who "speaks your language"  who understands you and the way you work.  I have hired coaches that didn't understand me and they caused me a great deal of stress as they coached me beyond what was appropriate for me.

    Also, don't be afraid to be lost.  Your being lost can assist others to move through their issues faster.  Your students and clients will be grateful for your wisdom.  

Asking AND Receiving IS Required

I am grateful to be alive, up and active today!

I say that because for about 60 seconds on Saturday I seriously wondered if that would be the case.  I was on about mile 4 of a 6 mile hike with Tommy carry 10 pounds of weight in my backpack.  I had not prepared well this week and it was showing in the exhaustion I was feeling.  I saw the root, lifted my foot and got caught.  I saw my body being propelled towards the edge of the mountain we were climbing and felt it being pushed in towards the trail.

Angels protected me and by some miracle I came away with barely a scratch, and just small bruises.  I was in pain, though, and grateful Tommy soon took my 10 lb. pack.

I was reminded of a couple of things.  First and foremost, I need to prepare better for my adventures so I'm not so tired.  Second, that to create miracles I need to ask for and receive help from others (even angels).

I was pondering that this morning as I did my personal devotion.  My intention in reading was to devise a better plan for creating a miracle.  This miracle has to do with my hike, but is different.  You see I'm hiking each Saturday this spring in preparation for a 24 mile hike on May 31st to raise awareness for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Tommy and I are $4000 from our fundraising goal.
While we are ever so grateful for the MANY people who have contributed $10, $50 and $100 to our stash we will need many more to complete this task!  http://bit.ly/1o11BRE

We started this project to raise enough money to pay for one wish to be granted.  The stories of how these wish granting projects create miraculous changes for the kids they bless who are fighting long-term illnesses are amazing.  (They aren't all to Disney World either, I've learned of some creative wishes being granted like baby-grand pianos purchased, shopping sprees for little ones, tickets to music concerts and more).

If you will unite with us in this work we know it can be accomplished.
As we receive your help we know you will be blessed 100 times what you give.

In doing this challenge we have heard of great people banding together to collect funds from their friends or work-place.  We have been grateful to hear of some who contributed $400-$500 from one person.   Whether you can give $5 or help collect $500 we will willingly receive your help.

We can do the hiking, we can spread the word but to make this miracle work we must receive your donations and assistance!  Click here to donate   http://bit.ly/1o11BRE

THANKS AND LOVE,






Marian Hobson


http://bit.ly/1o11BRE

Fathers Of Our Modern Age

I have enjoyed ready Parents magazine for over a decade.  While I did so much more religiously ten years ago (Four toddlers in the house meant I wanted HELP!)  the June 2014 edition's section just for Dad's captured my attention.

I sat down to read the first article by Darchak Sanghavi, M.D.   He describes how he is more of an "engaged" father than his Dad.  He also quotes statistics that overall fathers are more engaged than a generation ago. 

I'm personally grateful that my husband follows those statistics.  Our kids are better people because of the way Tommy and I have worked together to teach that all members of the family are responsible for the care and upkeep of the home, the preparation of meals, and the clean up.  (we could all improve too).  My husband cooks 1-2 times per week as do I.  Each of my kids also cooks (on a good week) the family meal once per week.  It's a team effort to make this family run.

I also have problems with Dr. Sanghavi's article, not because I don't believe he states the truth (he's spot on for most folks).  My issues are that it sounds like he's dug up the "issues" without properly tackling the probable solutions.

First he states that the families of today are "best captured by the frenzied and earnest Phil Dunphy, of Modern Family who chronically struggles with competing family demands and is often professionally adrift".  Why do Dad's getting more involved in the home mean that they have to be in struggle?  

I always say that if there is stress and struggle we are not in alignment with our goals.  If your goal is to be an "Involved Dad" (or Mom) and getting to soccer games is a headache, maybe soccer games should be opted out of for a wrestle in the yard.   If you are sacrificing professional growth to pick your kids up from school, or change diapers,  maybe you should begin to create a new career path.

The fact is that everyone finds things in their life that may not be going "just right".  I support anyone who does in taking it as a lesson to figure out a new way of doing things.  Seeing stress or "competing demands"  is an invitation to create something new.

Dr. Sanghavi compliments his own father on his example of selflessness while pines for a "closer" relationship.  He then expresses desire that his own kids "won't feel the same".  I sympathize with the feeling.  I have wished my kids won't "blame" me for things I fell short at but I have also come to realize that if they do it's a good thing.  When they can see where I "screwed-up" they are open to being better than me.  I  am all about being the best parent I can be and seeing my kids be better than me.  My grandkids deserve it.  Whether it is now, or in their adult years, I hope we can all see where we can improve, forgive and move on to create a better reality.

It's what I tell my kids, my clients, myself and my husband.  SEE what can be better then work with God, yourself, your family and your community to make it better.


(ps... one thing I haven't addressed here but was briefly mentioned in the article was the number of fatherless and two-home families.  A subject for another day)

Sometimes It's Just Got To Be Done

"It's not what happened to you, it's how it affected you that matters"

I heard that phrase from a mentor about twenty years ago.  We were discussing an experience that had happened in my childhood but was affecting me in my day to day life. What I have learned since that day is, it's not just what happened to us or how it affected us that matters but what we DO with the affect.  As I have embraced personal development more and more in my life I have learned that processing events is a critical step of our self-growth.  (and sometimes processing means self-indulgence)

Today I gave my first speech in my Toastmaster's Club.  I had rehearsed the speech a couple of times and was impressed with how relaxed I was about it.  Yet when the Toastmaster (leader of the meeting) started my introduction the nerves kicked in.  I delivered my first line and went on to a simple introduction.  I started my first story which flowed into my second quite easily.  I was impressed with myself for making eye contact and feeling good about the delivery when "it" happened.  My mind went completely blank.  As I tried to understand the only thought I could think was "He knows I messed up".  Unable to process that I attempted to think what my next line was.  As I began to stumble through the next words I realized I needed to go back and explain the purpose of the second story before going on to the third.

I wrapped up the speech in four and a half minutes.  Overall I was pleased with the result but a part of me was unable to function.  It wasn't until my mentor (who had heard my speech before) came up to me after the speech that I realized the thought I had had was about him....  there is much I'm still learning about this experience.  Many things that will help be to give better speeches in the future.

The point of my blog today is self-care.

My little freezing up on the small stage of my Club was really not that big of deal but it has affected me deeply. I went home, I pulled out my computer and I opened up one of my favorite shows "The Good Wife" on CBS.  The show tackles tons of issues around what is right and wrong.  The episode I watched today fit my mood.  The main character, Alicia Florick (played by Julianna Marquiles) is tackling the question of how she has often been the "good" person who cleaned up everyone else's mess.  She's asking herself if she is going to cross the line.

I'm crossing my own line today.
I'm watching "The Good Wife".  I'm watching TV shows during business hours.
Sunday I crossed my own line and ate candy for the first time in months.

These are disciplines I have self-imposed because of habits I wanted to overcome.
I felt controlled by my desire to watch that show and would miss sleep on Sunday night, the night I knew was critical to my starting the week off well.   I was over-eating candy and sweets in a big way too, just as I was spending to much time doing unprofessional things during business hours.

Sometimes it's just got to be done.

This little "stray" is helping me process.

These indulgences give me tactile sensations that the human-side of us needs.
We can't be "on" all the time.  We can't give all the time.  We can't drive ourselves all the time.

If we do we will cause ourselves to collapse.

Collapsing takes so much more out of us!
If we allow ourselves to collapse we risk loosing everything.
If we allow ourselves to indulge we increase our chances of success.

So today I'm watching The Good Wife and relaxing.

It means I have had to restructure my schedule for the day slightly but in the future I now know I will need to plan a little down time after any speech.  It will save me from exhaustion.  It will allow me to process and in the end it will make me a better speech presenter, a better wife and a better person.

How can you allow yourself to process today?
Where might you "indulge" yourself and be human, even just a little?

Feeling Committed Yet Out Of Control

Relationships may not always feel in your control.  In reality, however, the results you get are always up to you.  You may have to get extremely uncomfortable, or change the way you show up, but the results are always in your control. It depends on your level of commitment.

The two commitments I made at the end of January have had me pondering about this.  They are to hike 24 miles for a Make-A-Wish Foundation fundraiser and raise $2400 for the foundation.   When I started I thought I could control both commitments. As it has progressed I changed to thinking I could easily control the hiking commitment,  I show up to a certain number of training hikes, I prepare myself for the hikes, bring snacks and leave time on my schedule to rest.  As I continue to get little response from the requests I have made the fundraising, however, feels very much out of my control.  

It is still in my control.  I just have to work harder than expected.

I have been working this for about 3 months now, with limited success.  Even with the $100 I donated to get me started I am only one tenth of the way to the goal.  Just as with the hikes we take through the mountainous regions, this is getting uncomfortable and I am wondering “why was I so crazy to commit to this?”  Yet I carry on.   Sending a few more emails, Facebook messages and contacting a couple more potential sponsors.  I am committed to doing all it takes, even if it means I’m extremely uncomfortable in the process.  I know that for me to hit my goal my commitment level must be raised because my results have not shown up.

Relationships are the same way.  There will inevitably be moments where everyone is uncomfortable.  Whether it is boss to employee, service provider to customer, or spouse to spouse it may take more than you expected to make the relationship successful.  The key is that when you see that the relationship is not working you recommit to do whatever it takes to make the relationship work.  If building the relationship is taking more time than expected, make a plan for how to support each other in the process.  Just as a hiker finds the summit after the moment of dispare that almost grounded him.  The greatest satisfaction comes when make relationships work. 

The most important part is to allow everyone to be open about the dysfunction of the relationships.  Though this maybe uncomfortable attempting to mask or hide the problems is a path to failure.

A critical step in working through uncomfortable relationship moments is to check in with what your vision of the relationship is long-term. We must also allow each person in the relationship to walk away or break the relationship if they choose.  Both subjects need more space than I have here so watch for future blogs!