Monday, April 6, 2009

One Year Later

One year on....we made our pact on April 6th, 2008 and it's now April 6th, 2009....where are we??

Well the truth is, we haven't made $100k. In fact, we have gone on a very interesting journey and have ended up in a completely different place than I expected when we got started. So why didn't we make it?

Well, there are a few reasons but here is an honest look at the reason we failed to reach this goal (and from here on out I'm going to focus on my own experience as I can't speak for the other members of my team).
-I forgot about the goal. The absolute most important thing about a goal is to be constantly focused on it. I let myself get distracted by the circumstances going on around me.

-My dream was logical and not emotional. I liked to logically think about how to achieve $100k, I could think of several different money making ideas. I even took some action on some of them, but as I said in an earlier post the goal did not thrill me. I didn't feel a rush of emotion when thinking of it. In fact, I couldn't imagine what it would mean to me to have reached the goal. I couldn't SEE IT. And without vision we have nothing.

-I lost clarity. Without inspiration in any particular goal I just knew what I didn't want in life and not what I did. And guess what, I ended up with what I didn't want.


It took a bit of courage to post this because it's always hard to put yourself out there with a big bold statement, and even harder (and more embarrassing) to admit that you didn't achieve what you said you would. But I realized that, that was the point of the blog. This was supposed to be an honest look at the emotions, decisions, and changes that happen to you on a journey like the one I am on. And I am still on the journey.

So...what's changed? Where am I going to be a year from now? Well, for one...(our biggest change in circumstance)...I'm going to be a mother! My little one is due in August and when I leave my job for maternity leave I won't be going back. The change to abundance will happen now because it has to happen now. My back is against the wall and NOW is the time for me to take control of my life. NOW is the time for me to live my life on purpose.

It's rather exciting to look at the future and see it coming together. Know that I will not quit, and if I don't quit I can't fail. I'm even stronger for having had this year of expanding possibilities...and ready to go forward on the thrilling journey that will be this new year of Absolute Abundance................

Friday, July 4, 2008

We Learn to Resonate with the Future

Well......I have not posted on this blog in a very long time. Not that I didn't try. Not that I was bored with it or ignoring it.....something just wasn't right. Judging by the amount of drafts in my posts section, I just couldn't get "in the flow".

If you're someone else who writes you probably understand this. I'm in the flow when I feel what I'm writing matters, what I'm writing might mean something to someone and might inspire someone to want to go out and improve their lives. It had to feel important enough to want to get it right, and frankly, some of the attempts to post were just not right. So I didn't post them, and I waited. I waited for the grand inspiration to write a post, the a-ha moment, the nugget of info in all that I'm learning about myself and the universe that might be helpful or even interesting for someone to read...but it never came. I had several big inspiring moments and changes in my thinking, but I could never quite find a way to write about them. I had stopped thinking in blog posts and my experiences were just not translating to the blog.

And slowly, but surely, the reason snuck up on me. I only had little hints at the start...I started to realize that I was thinking bigger and faster than $100k and 1 year. I started to feel that now that we were in the same place Susan and Mike and I were all becoming more expansive, more excited, and more open to what we all knew was coming to us. As we all dived in head first we realized that the business we are in is about goals that are unreasonable, it is about achieving the seemingly impossible, and our thoughts, goals, and feelings all set us on a path to a much larger goal than $100k in 1 year.

The ultimate answer came when I sat down with Susan and she asked me why I hadn't written in my blog as she used to really enjoy reading it. My answer, and it came to me in a flash was, "I would be embarrassed if anyone from our team in the business found my blog and saw that we were only trying to make $100K in 1 year."

This shocked me. I hadn't realized that I felt it until I said it. As a life coach I had been trained always to have specific goals, always to make them believable, and always to put a time frame on them. But I realized as we talked that $100k in 1 year was actually a limiting goal. My thinking had far outstretched that goal and I couldn't write in the blog because I no longer believed in what it stood for.

So as of today, July 4th, Independence Day, the goal has changed. The new goal....and this breaks all the rules in goals.....is to achieve total financial freedom by April 6th, 2009. This year is going to be the start of an absolute flow of abundance for us and we wont limit what's possible by putting a number on it. We will allow ourselves to think bigger and bigger as we grow and resonate with the opportunity that presented itself to us just three month ago, and the other opportunities that will appear along our path. Along the way we will each have smaller goals to help us stay focused and give us a chance to celebrate how much we are changing and creating the lives we've always dreamed of.

My first goal: To make $20,ooo in the month of July. :)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

I let the energy flow!

An interesting thing has been happening to me lately. I've been spending very little time this week working on my business...in fact, I find when I do sit down to work on my business I very often don't know what to do. It's not all laid out in a blueprint somewhere (even though I think many of us would like it to be and LOADS of internet marketers try to sell us a blueprint), we each have to decide what activities are going to bring in abundance. Now, more and more lately I've been feeling that the most important activity is feeling good. The better you feel about where you are, the easier it is to get where you want to be. It's very important to remember that when you are working with energy to magnetize whatever it is you want, you also have to allow it to come in to you. A big part of the allowing, is letting go of the need for whatever it is you want. When you need it, it's always going to be just out of reach. Funny enough this is also a phenomenon I used to talk about with other girls in back high school days, when you really wanted a boyfriend there was absolutely no one interesting (or interested) around....but as soon as you were really happy to just be independent they were all knocking down the door! I don't think we would have seen this as "Law of Attraction" back then, but it was very frustrating :)

So....sometimes I go online to work and can't think of a single useful thing to do. Instead I simply roam around looking at blogs or emails, etc. and I'm finding more and more that I'm really attracting everything I need to an easy place to find it....namely, my email inbox. I spoke last time about how solutions pop-up in unexpected places on the internet, but since writing that it's become astonishingly regular. I have been preparing for an upcoming teleseminar that I will be putting on, and I was trying to figure out what is the best service to use, how to record the call, whether to have it on the phone or as a webcast, etc. I wasn't having much luck searching on the internet for a service that suited me, so I just forgot about it for awhile...and then I got an email from someone whose teleseminars I've very much enjoyed, introducing me to a great service that does everything all in the one program. It basically solved all my questions and needs in one service, and it only appeared as soon as I forgot that I needed it!

Also earlier in the week I wanted to figure out how to get a feed subscription button onto my blog (look to your left!) and an email popped up in my inbox the next day with a video not only showing me how to do this, but also showing me how to set up a reader so I could keep up to date on other blogs on the internet. I thought, ok...I'll give this a go...and put in the reader as a test Steve Pavlina's blog. Now, I love Steve's blog and have been reading it for years, but I ALWAYS read the archives and follow links for whatever topic I might be interested in, I never read the most recent posts on the blog. But by viewing his blog in the reader I only saw the most recent post about how to be a man. It seemed interesting, and turned out to be a very thought provoking article mostly on being a man who lives consciously and from the heart, while still expressing his masculinity. However, I did find myself thinking by the end of the article that it would probably be very different if it had been written by a woman, or even about women, so it was most interesting to me that at the bottom of the article Steve set a challenge for someone else to write an article on how to be a woman, the prize being a permanent link to your article from his page. Now, I LOVE a good challenge, and it would be fabulous to have a link from such a well established personal development blog (hmmm...one of the questions I've been asking myself lately is where I can find more readers for my blog...told you the internet solves all your problems!) The funny thing is, if I hadn't have happened to check my emails and set up a reader I would have only found this article when it was well past the cut-off point to submit for the challenge. Again, I was in the right part of the internet at the right time. Stay tuned for my article on how to be a woman...coming soon....!

So my lesson on the internet and Law of Attraction....check your emails!!!!!!!! :)

I have been working with my energy more than on my business this week, and it's really paid off. Sometimes action, even though you feel it is getting you somewhere is taking you away from what you want. If you are searching for solutions you can become lost in a sea of answers and not know which path to take. My solution to this problem is simply to put forward your questions and wants (What do you need to get you where you want to be?) put your intentions out there, then wait until the right path presents itself to you. Sometimes pushing forward too quickly puts you on the wrong path and you get stuck amongst obstacles and confusion.

If you are choosing between doing two things which one will you enjoy more? Which will give you more joy and contentment? Which one feels more 'you'? I've been spending more time this week up a hill amongst flowers looking over the sea, or on the beach watching men battle the waves with a big fishnet, or catching up on the tv shows I've missed the last couple weeks, then actually working on my business....and this week I've:

-Set up a fantastic JV partnership with someone I've been wanting to work with for a long time, who really wants to help me succeed
-Found a software that solves all the problems I've been worried about for one of my bigger internet projects
-Found a great writing challenge which will be loads of fun for me to work on, and might help me to get more readers to this blog!
-Found a friend who wants to take over my lease so I can leave some of the big furniture here and moving wont be such a big ordeal (ok, not business related...but a huge win for me!)
-Enjoyed myself!!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

We get excited...and overwhelmed!

Well, we are both at a stage where we don't really sleep at night from excitement about everything we are working on. Susan is really living and breathing this stuff. I get floods of emails everyday from her about new ideas and new leads and new resources. It's actually pretty great because I'm realizing that everything we need is out there. Some of the stumbling blocks that I've been really worried about have simply been falling away. I think this is really Law of Attraction at its best. We have our sites set firmly on what we want...and we both feel so great about things that anything that could become a problem just sort of drifts away.

I've been most nervous about ringing my landlord and telling him that we are moving out. I just wanted it to go well and the house is not perfectly clean yet, and I was really nervous that he'd want to come straight over to assess everything. So I kept putting it off, and then this morning just felt like it was the right time to let him know. And sure enough he was lovely about it. He's very sad we're leaving and said he didn't need to come over until nearer the time and then it would be whenever suited us. He also let me know that we had paid rent in advance at the start and so we don't actually have to pay any rent this month!! It felt so great. Not only did everything go better than expected with his reaction, but we also saved a big chunk of money we were not expecting to have.

One thing I've been discovering about the internet is that it really is the ultimate vehicle for attraction. We have cocreated the internet as a way to manifest what we want quickly and easily, and boy does it work. I've just been noticing that whenever I think I need something it just appears in front of me, not always through looking for it either. For example, since starting to write this blog I've been reminded how much I LOVE writing. It was always my thing and when I was growing up I was always trying to write books. I was convinced I was going to write a great children's book. Well, I still think that one day I will write a children's book, but for now I've been reminded that I just love writing. It's a natural and easy way to express myself. So, the other day I went on my team's site for the online business I've been working on. I do this several times a day, so I was really surprised that instead of my usual resource page I was faced with a page that had a big title saying "Opportunity for writers". They were looking for writing samples from team members as they are supposed to contribute a chapter to an upcoming book. By the next evening my writing sample was sent off and is now in review. The point is....I didn't have to look for an opportunity, it came right to me! I still may not be selected for the chapter as I am still fairly new to the team, but it really got me excited about writing again, and I'm planning on writing some articles to put out into the internet ether.

The other thing that is amazing me about the internet is how easy it is to find anything you need. You've probably heard the phrase "Any problem can be solved with either time or money". I don't really agree with that anymore, I think it's more like "Any problem can be solved with a well phrased Google search!" There are so many free resources and so much free information, it's really astounding. I'm actually frankly starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by all the information and opportunities I now have available to me. The only problem now is having too many solutions and not knowing which one to use. So know I'm working on using my inner guidance system.

I've been reading a book called Creating Money, which is completely changing the way I think about myself and the things I want to have. It really helped me because it looks at manifesting and attracting things from a slightly different perspective then all the Law of Attraction experts out there at the moment. I've put a link on the left hand side of the page in the recommended reading section if you want to read more about the book. Anyway, this book talks about using your inner guidance system to connect with the opportunities that your higher self is lining you up with, to get the things you want. So I'm trying to pay attention to my thoughts and notice when an unusual thought or a very strongly charged thought pops into my head, and then act upon that thought or feeling. Like this morning when I just felt it was the right time to call the landlord. So I'm trying to use these thoughts and feelings to navigate my way through all the information and opportunities in front of me.

Another example is that this week I suddenly felt very strongly that I had to email my friend in England (who I haven't talked to in months) and let him know all that was going on for me. So I sent him a long heartfelt email about what I've been doing with myself. He emailed me back to tell me that he was going to be in Dublin next week and he wanted to meet to discuss some things that he thought I would find very helpful. As he is an amazing internet marketer it's a great opportunity for me to learn and I wouldn't have had this if I hadn't followed my instincts and emailed him when I did. I'm fairly sure he wont be back in Dublin again before I move. And who knows...he would make a great Joint Venture partner in the future!

For those of you who want some more specifics about what we are doing with our time to work on our businesses here's what I've been focusing on this week...

I made a Google Adwords campaign, which I've been trying to tweek, but I realized that most of my leads are actually coming through ads from the content network instead of the searches.
I got a copy of Frontpage and am working on creating an opt-in page so I can start a newsletter within our niche. (Another great opportunity for me to write, and reach more people!)
We are working on learning more about the systems we have available to help with our business.
Mike and I are spending a lot of time at a spot on Killiney Hill where you can see out over the bay and are surrounded in beautiful yellow flowers. It's a great way to start the day...if we spend about an hour up there we come back ready to attack the day!

I've been taking some time to relax and catch up on the tv shows that are just now coming back after the writers strike! It's good to remember the things I enjoy and why I'm doing all this in the first place.

Friday, April 25, 2008

We get our first team member!

When things start going...they really start going.

Today we signed up our first new member to our team. This is not a sale for our business, but rather bringing someone in to the team to work with and help train while we are both learning ourselves. It's really exciting because Susan and I really were able to collaborate and attract the type of person that we love to work with. The internet marketing that I set up in the middle of the night the other day was what brought us the lead, and Susan following up with her helped get her signed up. It's so cool when things just click into place like that. I guess though this is really a great manifestation of our dreams at the moment. We've got to just start with a simple step.

I spent all day yesterday just working on our business and cleaning the house in preparation for packing it...although it seems a bit pointless as we're going to have a party on Saturday so I'll just be re-cleaning on Sunday! But the great thing was I've gone through all my wardrobes and have four big crates of things to give away to a charity shop. This is really cleansing, and when I was going through things I simply said to myself....after I return from California with a fantastic internet business that is giving me the abundance I deserve, will I really want this extra long sleeve that I hate and only keep in case I someday need it??

It's really exciting when you can start to look at your life from a different perspective and start making decisions based on what you would do if you had already achieved your dreams. There's a wonderful sense of letting go...and the possibilities are endless....

I have been watching Matt Bacak's promoting tips seminar videos and one thing he said really stood out for me. He was saying that sometimes when you have a big goal it's so big that you almost find it too hard to believe in and it just seems a bit daunting. So he said it's good to go for a smaller amount and work up. Like start with making $10 online, then you've done that and you know it's easy, you can say, Right now I just have to do that 10 more times and I've hit $100. And work your way up from there. That makes a lot of sense for me. I think I'd be a lot like Matt and run around the house screaming with joy just if I made $0.01 from Adsense ads. My goals and my dreams and my energy and my subconscious are going for the big amount...but the little part of my brain that likes to worry and set up stumbling blocks in my path is simply going to go for making my first ten bucks online!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

We make a big decision!

So, you all might have thought from the first post that I am a slow starter. Well, I think this next bit will surprise you.

We've made a big decision.

I'll tell you what it is in a minute. But here's a little more insight into what has happened so far. I've been studying internet marketing, google, articles, lead generation, etc...I've only been really studying this since the start of the month, but again due to having no time available I really haven't been able to apply any of it.

We found an internet business opportunity that we loved and the team we get to work with are all like minded, and lovely people...and I've been absolutely dying to get going and market it. But as you may have already read, it's been about three weeks and we've only generated one lead (well, two as of today!) I know we're going to need a whole lot more leads and a whole lot more focus to really get this going. I want to do this the right way and attract people that I want to work with, so I'm constantly thinking about where I can find those people and what I can produce to help them find me. I want to find people who are interested in the same things I am, achieving abundance, Law of Attraction, and helping others. I'm already so grateful to have found a business that fits all those interests for me, but I really want to be able to throw myself wholeheartedly into it...And I realized that, that will not happen while I am working for *Big name coffee company*, or as my boyfriend (Mike) so politely puts it I'm at a crossroads and I wont be able to move forward with attracting the things I want in my life while *big name coffee company* "owns one of my bum-cheeks"!

Mike has also been studying Law of Attraction and metaphysics since I told him about our big goal....let's just say he really gets this stuff. He loves to point out when I'm thinking in a negative way or worrying (one of my favorite Abraham Hicks quotes goes something like: Worrying is just inventing things to feel bad about). Annoying as it is he really is right. Somehow work and being in Ireland has been really making me feel like I can't be myself lately. Mike was telling me about the power of people all sharing one thought and focus and how great it would be if he, Susan, and I could all be in the same place manifesting abundance together.

So....now for the big decision. I've handed in my notice, we're packing up the house, and on June 10th Mike and I are moving to California for three months to live at Susan's house and create our abundance from the same place.

It's very exciting and a little bit scary, but I really believe that we can't move forward until we make a big change in our lives. It's not just the physical change, but the mental commitment to what we are working to achieve that will make a huge difference in our success....and I can't wait to get over there!!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

We get started.....Finally!!!

Well, if you read the header on this page you probably know what we are all about. On April 6th, 2008 my Mother (Susan) and I set ourselves a challenge to create $100,000 in one year. We agreed that we would both keep journals to track our progress so that we could see how far we've come, and remember the thoughts and feelings we went through along the way. Sooo.....

Not a very good start! It's now April 24th, nearly three weeks later, and I'm just getting started on the blog. But here's the good news, I've been doing some work on the business side of things, so at least I'm not putting that off!!

Here's the story so far:

I've always been a student of personal development. As a small child my parents taught me all about meditation, eastern religions, appreciation for others, my higher self, etc. And as I grew older I began to look for things on my own. I've been collecting books (oh, I'm terribly addicted to books), articles, stories, cds, all about personal growth and reaching your potential. My mother introduced me to the Teachings of Abraham Hicks and the Laws of Attraction and in the past few years it has become more and more clear to me that I have to be the source of my own abundance.

Now, what is all this malarky and what does it have to do with money??? Well, everything! I am a strong believer that we all have the power to manifest what we want in this world and that is what I intend to do. That's not to say I'm not going to take any action to reach my goals, but I will take action with an abundant mindset and the knowledge that these actions will help serve my well being and bring me nearer to where I plan to be at the end of this year.

Unfortunately this is not what I've felt since April 6th, what I've felt is frustration. Let me tell you, working full time as a coffee shop manager is exhausting. Hours can include finishing at 9.30 pm one night and starting again at 6am the next morning. So even though I still work a 40 hour week, I'm tired all the time. What spare time I have had has been spent doing different bridesmaid tasks (dress fittings and hen nights and dinner parties) with a friend who is getting married in a month. This is all very fun, but I just couldn't help but think...I want to spend time on my business....I want some time of my own. So I went back to square one, made time to go to a bookstore (see, I told you, it's an addiction), and bought a fantastic book on manifesting abundance and it's completely refocused my mind. I stopped focusing on frustration and lack of time and focused on the things I wanted to happen this year.

And now, suddenly I'm making time. I'm sitting up at 2 in the morning just absolutely unable to sleep I have so much energy. And that energy is coming from my positive feelings and emotions. I sat up last night until 2am and created my first google ad campaign for one of the internet businesses that we are going to try and guess what......

......when I woke up this morning I had my first real opted-in lead.