I should probably clarify right up front that I have not actually spoken to a grasshopper, or for that matter had one speak to me. But I did gain much inspiration from a moment with two such insects (I think they are insects….bugs for lack of a scientific name) just last night.
Lately I have been spending a good deal of time learning from webinars and teleconference calls all about how to really succeed in my direct marketing attempts. My ever adoring fiance would tell you that I need precious little assistance in this area as he knew me years back when I was marketing in another time and place and was rather darned successful if I do say so myself. His creativity and boldness is rather inspiring but I’ll get to that some other post. I’m hijacking my own blog again because as usual, my inner Diva (she is one seriously ADD little snit) is going in 18 directions at the moment. Anyway I’m sucking up knowledge and inspiration faster than my front lawn would do with water at the moment. It is so dry (everyone’s is around here) that I’m certain tossing a lit match in the grass could easily burn down the entire west side of the township.
The problem with knowledge and inspiration is that it is worthless if not put into action. I can sit here all day and dream of laundry that is clean and smells of fresh air and spring time, thanks to the fabric softener, but until I haul myself to the laundry room and actually engage the washer and dryer, my socks are still dirty and smell foul. Same goes for my success in Avon. I can make a dozen dream boards of photos of all the things I desire to have when I am successfully crowned Senior Executive Unit Leader but until I actually make use of what I have learned and put it in action, the title of SEUL shall remain ever elusive.
Last night I once again was given a lesson from my cat. Actually it came from all three of the felines that shed themselves all over our home grace the Diva Den with their purring presence. The two grasshoppers mentioned earlier managed to gain entrance into the house at dusk. We became aware of the first one when the house queen cat, Noel, our big, grey tabby, was stalking the poor thing. It didn’t take long before my cat, Pixel, was also stalking the wretched little hopper. They chased it about the house eyeing it and then as they sat there studying it on a curtain in the living room, Ditzy came dashing in, took a long, high jump and snagged the grasshopper and made off with it, legs wiggling from her mouth. Seems that they are quite the tasty little things because she refused to share her trophy. This did not sit too well with the other 4 legged furry ones but that’s what happens when they take too long to plan. Later, when the second pest got into the house, once again there are Noel and Pixel, with the big, juicy opportunity on the closet door, studying it intently, and in comes Ditzy. She jumps over them, halfway up the closet door (which is a big risk for her as she is the only cat we know that doesn’t always land on her feet) and once again she snags the prize through ACTION. The other two sat looking dumbly at each other then at her as she once again dinned on the prize.
My district manager, an absolute power house of ADD energy jacked up on steroids (at least we think she is), posted on her inspirational Facebook page the following picture. The cats provided the visual aid that drove home the lesson. Plan and plan but if you don’t act, you have nothing, and someone else will swoop in and claim the prize. On that note I’m off to work my business, putting into action some of that precious wisdom I’ve been soaking up!
I’ve noticed my beautiful baby has a tendency to sleep…a lot. If reincarnation was a reality, I’d want to come back as a pampered house cat. Mine is pretty darn pampered.
Lately my baby has been irritated with me and hasn’t slept in my room, let alone with me in weeks. My being in love and in a relationship seems to have threatened her comfort level. Not to mention being a cat she is highly OCD and if I am gone over night it totally screws up her neat little world. I completely understand that, I’m learning that I am not only rather ADD but I have some serious OCD issues, and I do NOT like my neat little world order messed with one bit.
If I sleep away from my home, anywhere other than my room, it messes with my brain for days. In my room I have created for myself a haven, a nest of sorts. It is MY space, and I researched color psychology when choosing the color in order to have an atmosphere of peace and tranquility here. When I am stressed, being in this room calms me down and helps me think. When sad, my room helps sooth my nerves and bring me a feeling of peace. It is the one place that is all mine, not shared with anyone but my cat. And in her world, for things to be balanced, she expects to find her mama sleeping there at night. She seems to sense that I am mentally and emotionally fragmented the past 24 hours, and headed for a slight melt down. She was on my dresser, one of her favorite hang outs, when I got into bed last night. As soon as I turned off the light she jumped down on the bed and curled up by my leg, where she remained the entire night. She left in the early hours of the morning just before the sun rose, then returned and stayed until I woke up. Then she came and curled up by my head for a love fest of ear and chin scratches and purring. Now today she has followed me all over the house like my shadow.
The foundation of life has been yanked out from under me a bit the past 24 hours or so. Well okay, more like just rocked hard. Too much too fast and I’m overwhelmed to say the least. I noted that when Pixel gets ‘stressed’ she goes off to a dark, cool place and sleeps. Being one that hates the dark and fears it, I prefer at least soft light coming in the window. But I’m all over the cool temps and sleeping. So I did that. I turned on my fans in my room, providing a nice ‘white noise’ that kept me from hearing anything else. I shut my door and curled up on my bed and just slept. Pixel got up on the dresser and watched over me while I was sleeping. My thoughts are still in slivers, but I’m letting them just cascade down until all of the pieces fit into a picture that makes some sense to me. It was not a real restful nap, but long and it did help some. I considered crawling under the bed and hiding, another trick of Pixel’s when she needs her space, but I am pretty certain my big butt wouldn’t make it under there and I’m too claustrophobic to find it anything but unnerving.
A song came to mind (I love how healing and soothing music can be) when I first laid down to nap, it’s been stuck in my head since. So, I leave you with one of the few Beatles songs I really love.
I’ve learned many things from my cat over the 2 years I’ve had her, which is all but about 4 weeks of her life. At the moment she is working on spending one of her 9 lives and cutting her existence a bit short but cats are like that some days.
See, cats suffer from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). Well maybe it is more of just an obsession issue. Once they get something in their furry little heads it takes over their life in every manner. They eat, breath, sleep and function for one purpose – the object of their obsession. They don’t stop until they have what they seek.
Recently I started using a new pill holder. You know the kind, you can put all of your medication in it for a week, divided into cute little compartments, one for each week day. It isn’t so much that I take a lot of medications or vitamins, only 3 pills per day, it is the only sure proof way to ensure I actually take them each day….once. Otherwise I go through the day and cannot recall if I took them. No sense over dosing or under dosing, just use this little invention and problem solved. I take my Lexapro, allergy meds and a probiotic. I’ve just recently began the probiotic as a means of keeping my Ulcerative Colitis in remission (so far so good).
I don’t know if it is the new container or the probiotic that the cat is so fascinated with now. I’ve used containers before but the last one went off the back of the bike on a highway south of Louisville some months back with my backpack. Pixel never had any interest in it beyond checking it out then walked away. By the way, nothing new that enters my room is missed, she notices and checks out every little item before it is given a pass to stay put. EVERYTHING. Either this new container is the issue, or it is the probiotic inside. Whatever it is, the darn thing is like catnip to her. I’m leaning toward the probiotic as the container sat on the vanity for days without her caring one bit. Now that the other pill is inside she suddenly won’t leave it alone. She treats it like the catnip pillows we have, rubbing her chin on it, trying to pick it up and take it away. She just found it this morning, of course while I was asleep. I tossed her off my vanity twice before I put it in the drawer and went back to sleep. She has spent the past hour trying to get the drawer open.
After I tossed her from the room and shut the door, I got back in bed and thought to myself, “if I treat my business with that same level of obsession I will be a Senior Executive Unit Leader in a year!”. DING DING DING!!!! WE HAVE A WINNER! Okay no bells went off but you get the idea. I have been reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and Pixel just provided me with a visual aid for burning desire to have something. As soon as I opened the door of the bedroom she appeared from down stairs and was right back to trying to open that drawer! She simply will NOT give up, it is her burning desire, her obsession, to possess that container and/or it’s contents. She has a get-it-or-die-trying level of commitment.
I’m rather certain I can say that no one has died as a result of building their direct selling business to the level of success that they are financially free from debt and making $8,000 a month. Or more. Yes I know, seems insane but those that make it that far in Avon share their tax returns at events to show us that they are getting bonus checks of $8,000-$14,000….every 2 weeks. I want that SO bad. And I know how to get it, I know the ins and outs of working this business to that kind of success. I just have to keep DOING it. Eat, breath, sleep my business. Make it an obsession.
Thanks, Pixel, my beloved fur ball, for the incredible, though most incredibly annoying, visual aid this morning.
While yesterday was in fact my first official day as ‘just’ an Avon Lady, today was my first real full time day of working it. I love my job, no doubt about that. I’ve loved this since the day I signed up a year ago. However I REALLY love this job today.
Right out of the gate I called the customers that I had orders for and set up time to deliver their products and collect the money. I enjoy this time, I love meeting new people that phoned in orders and I really enjoy the smiles when I show up with their goodies.
Because my sister is full time as an Avon representative, we went out together. It is a lot more fun with a partner in crime so to speak. We book bombed (tossed) 1000 Avon brochures throughout various neighborhoods on our side of town while we delivered the orders. I even enjoy that part, it is like spreading seeds in a garden of customers. It doesn’t hurt that the two of us can find fun in just about anything we do together.
Then we began the process of prospecting. We took many ideas from our recent leadership training workshop we had attended a few weekends ago, putting into practice approaching strangers, leaving prospecting flyers under windshield wipers, and sticking notes with our contact stickers on them and hand written, “Need $$? Call me, I’m hiring!” on ATMs, pop machines and newspaper stands. The goal is always to talk to as many folks as possible, and get contact information. Once we have contact info they are considered a lead. We each got 5 leads today and countless unknown ones from the fliers, stickie notes and book bombing. It was a GREAT day.
The best part was we slept in, getting out of bed when we darn well felt like it! Then we were able to socialize and window shop all day, all the while talking to a lot of very wonderful women about Avon. Every single woman we spoke with said the same thing, they did not have an Avon representative! I’m told only 13% of the women in my area are serviced by an Avon Lady or Man, which means a huge potential customer base. I have so much work to do!
I LOVE MY JOB!!!
If you’d like to give Avon a try for some part time/supplemental or full time income, please contact me and let’s get you started. It is the best $10 investment you will ever make. Yes, JUST $10 and you are on the way to limitless earning potential while enjoying one of the most FUN jobs you will ever have!
I love that song, “I Can See Clearly Now”. Great, upbeat song and the words are only TOO true to me. In fact as I’m writing this post that song is playing in the background.
I CAN see clearly now. It has been a long time coming to this point in my life. The past nearly 3 years were difficult to say the least. Healing from the marriage to a man I truly believed would never leave me, the one I placed center in my world and forgave no matter what he did that hurt me sometimes to the center of my soul. The breakup nearly destroyed me and left me empty as my kids were still there with him, though adults, and I was forced to leave it all behind. My home that I loved, my children, even the goofy little Yorkie that had been my shadow for 2 years of unemployment (my daughter’s dog but I adore her). I hit a pit of depression like nothing I had ever experienced. But I refused to let it claim me, I kept my head out of the dark, focused everything in me on the positives in my life and found happiness in small triumphs.
My heart, still with unhealed wounds, was broken 3 more times after the marriage. In each man that I let my guard down and placed my trust, I knew incredible pain as the tender scars were torn open again. I also found myself unemployed 2 more times, one due to seasonal layoffs and one the company went belly up.
It was during that time of heart break and job struggles that I started to form a plan for my life.
I opted to do in home childcare to make money. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and never was given that opportunity so this was close enough that it gave me some joy and income.
I began working as an independent Avon representative, with a dream of really being successful. It was not the best time in my life to be doing this as I really was not ready so while I made President’s Recognition Club, I didn’t achieve what I had ‘hoped’. That is the key word and I’ll come back to that.
I started to inventory my life, looking at what kept me awake staring at the ceiling at night, what ate at my heart and soul, what brought pain and sorrow to my life rather than positive things. The things that needed to go, I began a virtual process of boxing up and shelving to leave behind in the previous year, 2011.
I started to figure out just what it was I wanted in life, really think through where I want to be in a year, 5 years, 10 years. Before I could start the plan to get there, I needed to determine where “there” actually was, decide what I wanted.
It wasn’t an easy process to work through. Much of the time I couldn’t get a real direction, and my self confidence being at an all time low was not doing much to fuel process. 2.5 years of rejection in both employment and relationships, inability to get bills paid and dodging creditors, well it wears a person down to where they start to feel pretty damn worthless.
The final straws that broke this camel’s back revolved around 1/2 of my pride and joy, by baby boy (my daughter is the other half). My son had been through his own trauma in life with a brief marriage that destroyed his heart, soul and finances. But now he was in love with a beautiful woman, one he had known since he was 8 years old, grew up with in church and youth group. He wanted to marry her and become dad to her little girl. It was one of those rays of hope in the dark clouds that helped me believe there IS happiness out there.
Straw number one came when my son was struggling financially to get the funds together to buy his bride-to-be her engagement ring. He was designing it and money was an object. I had 2 rings, a 1 carat ruby with diamonds surrounding it, and a 1 carat emerald also with diamonds surrounding it, that the ex-husband had given me on 2 wedding anniversaries. I also still had my wedding and engagement rings. I had saved them so that I could sell them if I really got desperate for money (and I was on the verge of selling), but this seemed so much more precious to me. To be able to help my son do this for his fiance meant everything to me. He had a good chunk of the money he needed but was still pretty short. So I gave him the rings to trade in toward the engagement ring. Keep in mind he lived with the ex-husband at the time. My son had a beautiful heart shaped silver ornament made and engraved with “will you marry me”, and attached the engagement ring to the ribbon that would be used to hang it on a Christmas tree. With the ex, and the ex’s girlfriend, and my daughter present while opening gifts, he decided to give it to his bride and officially ask her to marry him. Happiness and joy all around….but mom was not included in this. It never so much as crossed his mind to have the person that helped him when I really could have used the money myself, be there to share in the joy. To say it felt like my heart was cut from my chest and stomped in dirt would be a gross understatement. I was crushed.
Straw number two came a bit later. When my son told me they were planning the wedding for St. Patrick’s day, I told him I would financially assist with the rehearsal dinner. Despite the pain over the ring, I adore my son and wanted to be able to help make it special. I got left out of so much of his life and his sister’s because they were living with the ex and his girlfriend, and it was such a lonely, isolating feeling, that I at least hoped to be a part of the wedding festivities. There was a time after my first divorce when it was me and my little boy against the world. I was a single mom struggling to get by and I had often went without things I needed to see to it his needs were met. This in my mind would be no different. I let some bills go unpaid and found ways to get the money together to put toward the dinner. The ex called to let me know what I needed to put toward it, and told me the bride had picked a location etc. Okay, no problem, she was the bride and it was her right to decide on these things. I kept waiting to hear more information, be consulted, something at least, but when I never heard anything more I assumed it was being handled by my son and his fiance. I received an invitation in the mail to the event with the details. Once at the dinner, as I was near a table, one of the staff at the location came looking for….the mom of the groom? No, the ex-husband’s girlfriend. Seems she was the one who had coordinated the whole event with my ex. Beyond my financial donation my services were apparently not needed. Hey, I’m only the mother of the groom, and the ex isn’t even his biological father, but why should that be an issue. I only let things in my own finances fall apart to see to it I put up money toward this event. I spent the rest of the evening emotionally shattered yet again. This time the knife was so deep in my heart that when I pulled the handle to remove it, the blade broke off and it’s still buried in there. The rest of that weekend I plastered a beautiful smile on my face to hide the pain and went to have myself a good time.
After the past 3 years and now those two straws, I realized that I was done. I sat down after the wedding and made some decisions. My kids are both adults, 22 and soon to be 28 years old. They have the ex-husband and now his girlfriend, who they spend a good deal of time with if the happy times and party photos on Facebook are any indications. They don’t seem to need mom anymore. I decided that this is now MY LIFE. I’m finished worrying about how what I do or say might impact my kids. I am done with giving a damn what ANYONE thinks of me. I am going to start building a life for myself that is all about me and only me. This being the year of no dating, I’d be free to do my thing, my way.
Step one was employment. I knew the only way I can build my Avon business to be like that of the top sellers and leadership representatives, my ‘hope’ I mentioned, is to do it full time and treat it like it’s my job. I am great at marketing and I love the product and business model. I decided as soon as school was out I’d roll this full time through the summer when my days were free. A year from now I WILL be completely, financially independent and have the money to do what I want, when I want to do it. Next week I bust out full time in this, and I will succeed, just watch me!
Step two…marrying the biker. I know I know, it was the year of no dating! Who knew that when I stopped looking, he’d find me. A man that adores me, doesn’t want to change me, encourages me to be myself, create my own flair, explore new hair colors if I want, get more ink, pursue my dream in Avon and not just cheer me on but find ways to help and support me in that pursuit. My Biker is dead honest, has a personal code of integrity he follows not matter the cost, and his heart is gold. Because he is a member of a 1%er motorcycle club, that law enforcement classifies as a gang (which by definition of a gang, every police, fire department and scout troop is also a gang), my son has severed all ties with me. I was shocked when I received a text letting me know his wife is pregnant. He didn’t want me to learn it on Facebook. Not a phone call, just a text. I could break this relationship with the biker off, repair my heart one more time and go forward, but I’m not doing that. I have a man that is my match, loves me and I love him, and come hell or high water, or whatever else life can throw at us, we’re going to be together. It’s my happiness I am pursuing, it’s really all about me now and me wants my Wolfman!
It is my life, I am choosing to live it to the fullest, on MY terms, MY way. I’ve cleared the clouds, I know the obstacles in the road to my success. I KNOW I can make it now, leaving the pain behind and pushing ahead. And from now on I take care of those that take care of me, have my back, support me even when they don’t agree with me, and love me.
