Freedom

What an awesome holiday we have here in America on July 4th!  We celebrate our freedom with family and friends with barbecues and fireworks.  There truly is no place in this world like America.  Here we are free to live our lives how we choose.  We can choose where we live, work and worship.  Do you know there are countries on this planet where people do not have those choices?  Celebrating our freedom as Americans also leads me to express gratitude for the freedom I have with Beauticontrol.  While I was enjoying time with my friends and family this weekend, I know there were many people who were not.  They were stuck working when they really would have rather been playing.  My husband is a paramedic and working holidays just happens to be part of his job.  But he's helping people and he loves what he does so we don't mind too much. :)  It's those people out there who think they don't have a choice in what they do that I want to reach out to.  You do have a choice!  We live in America where everyone has a choice!  I love working for myself with Beauticontrol.  I had the choice to not schedule any spas this weekend.  I still worked.  I made some phone calls, scheduled some spas and collected some re-orders.  But I did it on my time, around my party schedule.  How awesome is that?!  I also have the freedom to choose what I do tomorrow.  While many of you will be trudging off to work tomorrow morning, I'll be waking up, pouring my coffee and packing a bag for my workout and pool time with the kids.  I've got a full afternoon and evening of work planned tomorrow, but my morning is for me.  That's my choice.  I also get to choose how I run my business.  I've had to change and adapt a little over the summer to find business, but that's how it usually works.  Is anyone else out there in a job that changes with the seasons?  Do you just hope that the boss doesn't cut back on your hours?  How would it feel to know you are in control of your paycheck instead of your boss?  Just like when the flood hit Nashville last May.  Many people were suddenly out of a job.  I had many, many cancellations.  Did I just throw my hands up and say "this business doesn't work!"?  No!  I started working in a different area.  If that isn't freedom I don't know what is!  Sometimes when I think of what my life looked like before Beauticontrol, it amazes me.  Those hours wasted in traffic are hours I'll never get back.  And the stress of trying to hit certain numbers every month to keep my boss happy were killing me.  I was paid well, but the boss was always paid better!  So I patiently waited for that promotion, waiting for someone else to decide my future.  And sometimes I got the promotion only to find out there was another boss and then one above him and one above him!  It's a never ending cycle!  Thank the Lord, Beauticontrol found me through a spa.  Not only did I need the stress relief in the worst way, but I needed the freedom of the business opportunity.  Everything I need is just one spa away.  When I need to get out of the house for some girlfriend time, I go to a spa or a meeting.  When I need to make some extra cash, I do a spa.  When I need to relax, I do a spa.  Next week I have a few extra spas booked to make my vacation cash. We leave for Gulf Shores on July 16th!!!!  When you want to take a vacation do you go to your boss and say "Hey boss, I'd like to go to the beach for 5 days next month, and I really don't want to worry about who else is out of the office. Also, I'd like to work another hour every day to make some extra spending money."  Go ahead, try it.  Let me know how that works for you!  There is no freedom like working for yourself.  Find something you love and figure out how you can get paid doing it.  I love being a Beauticontrol spa girl!

New Year, New Beginnings

In Beauticontrol land, July 1st marks the beginning of a new year.  It's the one day when we all start back at 0 for Annual Awards.  Truthfully though, that's never really meant much to me until this year.  June was an incredible learning and growing experience for me.  I can't promise that the rest of this post won't be a little corny and possibly include a few quotes and cliches.  So if that stuff annoys you, then you may not want to keep reading! :)  I have been a Beauticontrol consultant for 7 years.  It's been a 7 year roller coaster ride of highs and lows.  I was never really sure what was holding me back from reaching my full potential and was growing increasingly frustrated.  Then came the Billings Team retreat a few weeks ago.  I am and forever will be grateful to Blair Billings for planning these retreats for us every year, and for believing in me long before I believed in myself.  I'll spare you the sappy, tear-filled details; but basically it was a weekend full of comraderie, support, self-discovery and growth.  I feel so blessed that God placed me in the Billings family.  I've never known a group of ladies more supportive and who genuinely care about each other and our success.  It's a polar opposite from corporate America where I spent (or wasted!) so many years.  So now that I've been able to identify the little voice of negativity that has resided in my head since childhood, the difference in my attitude is immeasurable.  It really is an incredible feeling when you realize that you do deserve to have all your dreams come true.  God created us in His image which is perfect and wonderful.  He loves us unconditionally so we should love ourselves if only for that reason.  I mean, if God thinks you are worthy, are you really going to argue with Him?  I finally have the confidence and discipline to forge ahead in my business even when things get tough.  Here is an excerpt from a book that I've been reading called Attitude is Everything by Vicki Hitzges:
People who won't work hard, who don't practice self-discipline, head into a downhill spiral.  They neglect to do what they could and should.  Not doing what's necessary causes them to feel guilty.  Guilt erodes self-confidence.  As we lose confidence, we don't work as much.  When we work less, we get fewer results.  As our results diminish, we grow negative.  As our attitude sours, our self-confidence shrivels even more. And the cycles goes on and on.  The good news is that the negative cycle can be broken!
Hallelujah!  My negative cycle has been broken!  I have had more fun with my business in the last few weeks than ever before.  Does that mean I've reached all my goals with the greatest of ease?  Noooo!!!! Not by a long shot.  I actually missed every goal that I set for myself in June.  But that's okay, because I can still count several victories.  I enjoyed many learning experiences, and I'm choosing to dwell on that rather than the negative.  Our national conference, appropriately named Celebration, is in just a few weeks.  I am soooo excited!!!!  I can't wait to see all my friends from all over the country.  And for the very first time I intend to stay through the ENTIRE awards ceremony.  Yes, I admit that I usually skip out about halfway through.  But not this time, because I can actually picture myself walking across that stage next year!