Sheep No More

Let's start this new year off well. I have been answering a lot of questions lately with "Well its" or "because". My kids are in the Why stage. For those of you who don't have kids this is when kids start incessantly asking why on everything. Why do we have rules? Why do I have to clean my room? Why this, why that its endless.They want to know how things work and why we do what we do. When did we stop asking this and just start doing what others are doing because they are doing it? Let us be a sheep no more walk away from the herd and just start doing what is right to us. If you live your life to the fullest doing what is right in your heart then its a life well lived. Don't do and be what others want just to be part of the group. Its more than ok to dance to a different tune. Lets embrace our Uniqueness its what makes us who we are. If we all looked,acted,thought, and liked the same things life would be pretty boring.So let's all stand up and be who we are warts and all. Happy New Years to you all!

letting life get in the way

OK so things haven't been going so good on the business front. Personal problems have prevented me from finishing rewriting my class and therefore teaching it. Too cold to do the trade shows and I lost the power cord and USB for my camera so I can't even put items on eBay. I am ordering a new charger and USB for the camera this week. Trying to resolve the personal issues so I can get back to writing. Hopefully I will be able to check on pricing for selling my stuff at other stores locally as well. I am still reading and studying up on business. This month I have been reading "Rich dad, poor dad" by Robert t. Kiyosaki which has been amazing. One coauthored by Robert and Donald Trump and then one by strictly Donald Trump. I have been asked by several people why I would read and suggest books by Trump and its simple. The man had millions. Ended up broke and owing millions in debt and then managed to pay off his debt and become a billionaire again. So he is definitely someone I want to learn from. It's easy to make money but to have to pay off extreme debt and rebound the way he did shows its more than possible. Any idea's or questions are more than welcome on any of my postings. I may still be struggling at the poverty level but I am fighting my way out starting with learning all I can on how others have done it and experimenting in entrepreneurship myself. Watch and see how it all goes.

Jewel's Stronger woman video

Test dummy for others to learn from

I will continue to test various methods for earning more and be brutally honest about how much work and money I put into each along with their respective results so you can make informed decisions and have a test case to check them with. You might get better or worse results but I hope my success's and failures can help you to learn and find your path.Let me know if you see a method I missed and I will research those I can. I am still running my house and being a mother so If I can succeed then so can you.I believe if we want it bad enough and put in the time and effort we can achieve most anything.

ok web store advertising break down

Ok my web store on Weebly has been up and running for a week. I tried out Google ad words and face book ads. I had two different ad campaigns on google totaling 37,262 page impressions or number of times ad was shown it had 73 click thru's for a click rate of .20%. total spent $47.08 plus a $5 one time fee.Facebook had 45,655 impressions. It had 20 click thru's for a click thru rate of .044%.Total spent on it$9.76. With all that None of my product sold. so at this point do I consider this product a flop? Do I invest in more advertising and see if things improve? Let me know what you think. site is http://rebeccasart.weebly.com/

My Dream

I want to create a place similar in set up to a small college. I want it to be a place where people can come to learn life skills. Budgeting, cooking, Computers, interview skills and much more. I want to have living quarters for those that need a place to stay in case of job loss or kicked out. A place to gain skills and pull your self up to have the best chance in life you can with dignity. I want to have individual rooms so a family can stay together through the process and a daycare on site to help. I also want a cafeteria to provide food so all the people attending need to worry about is learning and the next step. So far my best guess on how to achieve this is to model it on the Salvation Army by having fundraisers and a store to help fund the venture. I am still working out the details on getting this out of my dreams and into reality but I Will figure this out.That will be legacy to be proud of.I think it is needed everywhere.

Moving Forward

I completed my website creation with my husbands help on Saturday. I picked Art for my first web store attempt. I created an adword campaign with Google to increase my websites chances of being seen. I plan to go Monday or Tuesday to talk to the local college about teaching my class "Life Lessons" in there off campus location. They expressed interest in it before. I am also having a garage sale to start clearing the clutter out of my house and make a little money. I am also going to see about setting up my trade show booth near my grocery store on Saturday. I am pushing myself to break out of just planning and start doing. My web store is Rebeccasart.weebly.com
I am reading still on entrepreneurship looking for idea's on how to do this better. I will push myself as far as possible to create the life my family deserves. I don't want to be poverty level. I don't want to panic every time I see that my kids need money for school pictures of fundraisers. I want to be able to relax with my kids instead of scrambling to figure out how to make ends meet. Wish me luck here I go.

status update

I obviously have procrastinated in writing on here.I have been experiencing highs and lows in my life, somtimes drastic ones. I put off actually starting to teach my class locally. I plan to rectify that this week and get it scheduled. I will be posting more often. I will do my best to make sure I actually have something of value to write about as I do not want to waste your time reading useless information.I am looking into a way to link a webstore to this site. I am also looking for a way to record my class and link it onto here at least a summary version. I have been listening to Jewel's song "Stronger Woman" and Eminem's song "Not Afraid" and they are inspiring me to reach inside and believe in myself. I do not have all the answers and yes I doubt myself at times but I am walking down a path of self discovery and rediscovering my self worth and love.I hope my story and writings can help you as well.Feel free to email me with your comments and questions or leave me a comment on here.

learning who you are

I have always maintained that I am complicated. I don't think anyone including me can fully understand me. I am still learning why I feel and believe what I do. I am constantly growing and changing. I don't want to stay the same. I think that would be miserable to be the same with the same goals, beliefs and feelings I had 10 years ago. I believe a lot of the core of who we are never changes. We simply gain the wisdom to understand the why behind it and what it means. If I did not search inside me to make peace with who I am, will be and want to be it would be spiritual suicide. When faced with hardship and pain only strength of spirit and a belief in yourself will help see you through. Every so called roadblock in life has the ability to teach us something about ourselves. When faced with tragedy do you break? If others try to tell you that you are worthless and hold you back do you accept it? Do you rise above it and trust in your self? Never let anyone hold you back. Overcome the obstacles and make the impossible possible.The mind is strong and so is faith. You might be fortunate to have others that will be there for you and support you but unless you believe in yourself there isn't much they can do for you. Be true to who you are not who others would have you be. I found an author that understands this and helped me when I lost my belief in my worth.

resolving mindset

I have made myself and all that is important to me a priority. I don't ask if its possible to go visiting or take a day off. I now make it possible. I get help around the house from my husband and kids.(In order to free up hours that would have been spent cleaning or chasing my 3 kids.) In less than 30 days I have found suppliers for my trade show booth, ordered my merchandise, received 95% of it, & found where to sell at. I am going to work selling at trade shows to save up to get my storefront so I do not go into business with debt driving me. I am taking evenings off from my life as a housewife to go enjoy an evening with friends or taking a long walk during the day to free my mind of the day's stress. I am looking forward to the school year starting so all my kids can be in school for a while. Fewer hours that they can make messes at the house. :) I love school being in session it means mom gets to take an uninterrupted nap every now and then.In the next month or so I plan on hiring a housekeeper to free up more of my time to do what is important. Work on my business, goals and family time. I love my family and am determined to create a brighter future for them and for myself. My kids will grow up and move out. I hope to instill in them that we can achieve goals if we put the effort in it. No point in settling for the status quo. I want them to go after their dreams and know that its possible after all mom did it.I also want to know that I will have a life, purpose and identity when they leave the nest. My biggest goal in life and personal mission is before I die I want to know that someones life was positively impacted because of me. I have achieved this and plan to keep achieving this with as many people as I can. The world does not have to know who I was as long as someone remembers me.I will write more soon to let you know how all of this is working out.

good news

I have found a place to teach my life lessons class locally. I am planning on recording one of the classes to offer it in dvd format. Next Saturday I start doing trade show sales. I am setting up my booth in the town I live in to test the local market. I am selling jewelry and swords. I am getting my business started to work toward my goals. I am trying an experiment going against the traditional way of working. I want to see if I can work on weekends and relax with my family during the week and still make good money.I recently read an amazing book if you want to break out of the 9 to 5 grind. Its called the 4 hour work week by Timothy Ferriss . http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/

why moms get cranky

Why is it that our family's and men stop remembering us as someone to do for once we say I do and have a child? So many mothers forget they are first and forever women. I discovered this at 18 when I had my first child. Suddenly the holidays were now for the kids. Even though I bought my family and husband a gift no one thought to get one for me. Now I know to some that may sound selfish but its true. Even on my birthday no one does anything other than say happy birthday. When did I stop being an unique individual person and become only Mom? I still have my own interest and opinions. Someday my kids will move out. If I only embraced my Role as a mom then what will my role or purpose be when they grow up and leave the nest.I am stepping out of my mommy shell now and learning to have a life and identity separate. I am me. I have many roles in life but they all change and evolve as I gain knowledge and wisdom. My kids will move out just as I did and have lives of their own. My hope is to inspire and teach them that they are individuals who will play many roles but the one constant will be that they are unique unto themselves.I will start reminding my family that I am Me not just a mom or wife. Just because we marry and have kids does not mean you can forget to appreciate me. I still go out of my way to do things for you(favorite meals, getting you something you like just because).Please remember you are still a woman with idea's, interest and feelings outside your current roles. Then don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise. If others don't think to do for you then do it for yourself. Seeing you take care of yourself and maintaining your individual identity my inspire others to remember yours or their own or both.Do not let yourself be lost. You are all you have in the end.

Make someday Today

We all get so caught up in the rat race of bigger better and more that we lose sight of what really matters to us. How many people can say they are living their dream. How many people are happy with where they are? Exit the rat race and live for you. Yes we need to make money to survive but lets try to do so without killing our souls in the process. Growing up we all dreamed of what we wanted to be when we grew up. Now we are grown up and who is living the life we dreamed? A lot of us were kinda tossed into life without much knowledge as to how to make a living, handle what money we made, or how to set our priorities. We don't need to try to keep up with anyone's life style but our own chosen life style. Don't put your happiness on hold for someday. Most people give up on being happy and living the life that reflects their true desires and goals early on. Saving for that far off day of retirement when we can live out our dreams. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed for anyone. Wake up from the death of your soul and happiness and start living your life today. Its not how long we are here that matters its what we do while we are here. We all have to die physically someday but how many of us can say we have LIVED ? I challenge anyone who reads this to try living your life and speaking your truth for 1 month and see how you feel. My bet is that you will wonder why you waited so long to start living.

My Goals

TO afford a better House for my family
Get my teeth replaced ( Need dentures)
TO get a good family car
TO someday own a BMW Z4
TO finish and publish my book
TO have a savings account with a balance
To start investing for retirement
To double our family's income or triple
TO pay off our debt

where I am at today

Ok let me start this blog on where I am now. I am 25 years old, I have a GED,& I am self taught mostly. I am married with 3 children. We have been granted the use of a relatives house. My husband is a Disabled Vet and my youngest child is developmentally delayed. We make around 25k a year. The house we live in is Old and has no insulation. All of my windows and doors leak. We do not have Central Heat and Air. The 3 floor heaters we do use have ran my electric bill up to $405.00. We don't have a running vehicle. I walk to do our errands or pay someone to give me a ride.NO one actually took the time to teach me to drive so I only have a permit. There is no drivers Ed in our town. We still have an original walmart here. Yes we are on government programs to help us survive. Now You and I can read that and say poor thing life sucks. I prefer to look on the bright side. What is that? Yes my husband is disabled but since he can no longer go out to work he stays home with the kids so I don't have to pay child care. My education while traditionally lacking is advanced in other area's due to my love of learning and reading. My youngest son is behind developmentally but he is a miracle. He was born 12 weeks premature only 2.6 lbs. The doctors gave him a 50% chance of survival.Then they said he might be blind do to prolonged use of the ventilator as a baby. He only has a lazy eye. He is the same size as his older sister. both of whom are considered small by society standards but we are proud of them. they are 8 months apart and as of Jan 23,2010 they will both be 3 years old wearing 24 month clothing. Their small size doesn't bother them or hold them back. They climb and get into more than I like. My kids are amazing and fighters. My oldest is 7 and is now home schooled. He learns fast and got bored in school during reviews. They wanted to kick him back a grade for Being Emotionally Immature. I asked what they meant by that and was told he wouldn't sit still and shut up. He was on the AB honor roll. We brought him home and he is doing work that is a grade above him.My husbands disability has left it hard for me to hold a traditional job and still do everything needed to take care of my family. I am currently writing a book and just finished writing the lesson plans to 2 classes I plan on teaching. Life lessons( how to budget, clean, shop smart, cook good food cheap) and Remembering You (reclaiming your dreams and the right to love and care for yourself). I am hoping to make enough doing the classes to save up for a better home. As of this moment we have almost $300 after paying our immediate bills to last us the rest of the month.