Selling An Idea. Selling Belief.

lots of people go to school and major in something. Finance. Marketing. Cardiology. Veterinary Sciences. Whatever.

I’m currently in school. Bet you didn’t know that. I’m in Financial Freedom school. it isn’t much different than people going to ‘normal’ colleges or universities, except our endpoint is likely much, much different. See, my school teaches me how to earn what I’m worth, and how to help others realize they are worth so much more. It teaches me how to recognize greatness in others. It teaches me how to believe in myself. At the end of my 3 years of school, I will be far better off financially, and living my life as I wish, not as my ‘free time’ dictates.

The hardest subject in my schooling is how to sell an idea. A belief, if you will. Sure, I have tangible products to sell, and customers are great; we need them to keep moving, as any business does. But I have to learn to sell an idea that there are different ways to live. That there are alternative means to earn money, means that grow and grow and grow. But you have to get a person to believe it is possible first.

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Special Delivery! Two Weeks of Food, Reviewed

So I am what you might call a ‘serial dieter’.  Over the years, I’ve tried many different diets and meal plans, hoping to find something that works. I’ve never needed to lose a ton of weight, there is just always that bit of excess that most of us have, especially after having kids.

I’ve done:

• Jenny Craig
• Weight Watchers (twice)
• Nutrisystem
• Counting calories
• Slim fast
• Heart patient prior to surgery diet
• Hollywood juice diet
• …and been tempted to try many others

Most of those worked to a point, and Weight Watchers was probably the most successful (lost 20 pounds each time), but when you stop counting points, the weight creeps back on.

Cody Belew, You Made My Day

If you aren’t on Twitter, you can’t understand the excitement one feels when a celeb you follow tweets you directly. I hope this will not go over anyone’s heads.

I watch The Voice. Not just for delicious eye-candy named Adam Levine, but for the sheer talent that is broadcast. Last season, I got bored toward the end because it was mainly country, and I am just not a country music fan. But the season before was spectacular, in terms of talent I enjoyed, My favorite? Cody Belew.

Cody reminded me of a young George Michael (post-WHAM! era, into the Freedom 90 time). He was so adorable, with his southern self, wearing his pinstriped button-down tucked into his jeans. A-dor-a-ble. Watch his audition, especially at the 2:45 mark.

This One’s a Doozy. Read with Caution!

Sometimes I write posts, and when I get to the end, I realize I shouldn’t actually POST what I wrote. This happened yesterday. I never want to sound preachy, which was the result of what I had written. Will I be direct? Yes. Will I be blunt? Yes. But not preachy, and I’d prefer to stay away from putting down other businesses out there (when discussing business). There was no real way to get my point across yesterday without doing this, so I opted to not make it public.

Today, I’m irritated. Not quite RPO, but irritated as hell. And today, I’m about to get direct with you, dear reader.

I wish I could make one of those magic flowcharts that tells you what to do at the end, based on your answers from one step to the next. It would be SO MUCH EASIER to make people understand what they just don’t know. Mine would look something like this:

I Suck at Teaching, this I Know.

Last night, I discovered that I would make a terrible teacher. Well, as far as younger kids go. I can instruct a coworker how to navigate a computer program without visual references, but teaching a kindergartner how to read? Nope. No way.

Yes, I have two kids, and the younger one is in kindergarten. This means the older one got through it fine, and I didn’t nearly have a mental meltdown while reading with him. Why the difference, you ask? Because the older one could already read. Has since he was 4. He picked it up easily, loves to do it, and didn’t require very much letter-by-letter teaching. He is also more like me, where you tell him once, MAYBE twice, and he’s got it. He recalls a word he has read, and knows how to say it the second time without prompting.

This time, though, his brother is not like me. Not like him. (Note: AND THAT’S OK, IT JUST ISN’T AS EASY)

Though my younger one is quite smart (scored easily above average on initial testing for most categories), he takes longer to learn. If he doesn’t get it right the first time, he guesses at the second, worse guesses at the third, and then just proclaims, in an exasperated manner, ‘I JUST DON’T KNOW!’ And I’m all, ‘but you JUST READ IT!’ And he’s all ‘OMG WHY DO I HAVE TO REEEEAAAAAAAAAAAD????’

You see the pattern here. The good news is that he does eventually figure it out, after I point out the exact same word that he read, a few lines prior.

I know, I know, I know, you are screaming at the monitor HE’S ONLY 5, GIVE HIM TIME!

I KNOW! It is something that I have to remind myself, and I have to actively force myself to be more patient, praise him when he gets it without help (and with), and just accept that a ten line poem may take fifteen minutes to read, and possibly some tears along the way.

It also helps if his dad helps him with his homework more often than I do. He has far more patience.

#motheroftheyear

I should really end this by thanking teachers everywhere, especially ones of younger grades, where they are introducing entirely new things on a daily basis. I’m glad you can do it, because I sure can’t. So, thank you, endlessly.

Non-Profit Organization Help–Do You Need It? Read Me!

You know what I love about my business? The diversity.

Diverse people.

Diverse products.

Diverse opportunities.

Today’s focus? Non-Profit Organizations.

Yep, we do that, too.

I’ve never brought it up before, mainly because it wasn’t easy to support or promote. Now? Now it’s a breeze.

One of the leaders in our company took it upon himself (thanks, Yardley) to make many avenues so easy to promote, all utilizing the information that is already available, but put together in a streamlined way. Love it!

If you have, support, or know an NPO that utilizes fundraising for its operational expenses, look no further. Especially schools, where there are always fundraisers involving magazines, cookies, and stuff people don’t buy (except during fundraisers. We are doing one now). Don’t get me wrong, some of that stuff is great, and by no means should it be ‘retired’, as the kids enjoy winning prizes and such for orders taken, etc. But, wouldn’t it be great to have an underlying, 24/7/365 ‘fundraising’ stream of income for that NPO? One that a person could shop online (the NPO gets a FREE website) with over 3000 domestic partner stores, over 6000 worldwide, earn cashback, and the NPO gets royalties from every order??

I think that sounds pretty freaking awesome. If you want to learn more about how you can help YOUR NPO, you need to check out this site: Help NPO, and you can see what your supporters can do on this site: Help My Charity Now. I can even estimate what your earning potential might be, with any given number of supporters.

Free Shop site, free application, 24/7/365 earning timeframe, and supporters can shop for pretty much whatever they want. It’s all gravy, baby.