I started thinking about how much I have changed on the inside and the outside over the past several years. When I bring it up to people they quickly say you were already a good person, or you were already beautiful. It is not what they could see on the outside, though that has certainly changed too. It was what I could feel on the inside that needed some work. I knew I wanted to change but I did not know where to start and quite frankly it seemed overwhelming and very difficult at first. It wasn't like anyone told me I had to change, I just knew that I wanted to. It wasn't that I was a horrible person, at least I didn't think that I was, however something told me deep down inside I had so much more to give. I realized I did not have right venue to do to do what I needed to do.

It was 2004 after my daughter had been in a near fatal car accident and my mom was diagnosed with cancer all within a week. My daughter and I had just drove to Texas to visit my mom in the hospital where she had been diagnosed with brain cancer. We drove back to Colorado on Sunday night and Tuesday my daughter was in a near fatal accident and they did not know if she would live through the night. At an all time emotional high my business was the last thing I was thinking about. 

Remember I was living the dream and I owned my own business. I knew I needed to be with my mom and my daughter but my responsibilities to my business were demanding. I was fortunate because I was able to work from my home and I had amazing people around me helping me. However, I was not out building my business during this time. As you can imagine once the current projects dried up so did the income.

It wasn't like I wanted to be a different persona I just knew I could be a better person with death at my front door,  my mom and my daughter my priorities started to change. I began thinking about how I could reconfigure my business so I could make money even if I was at the hospital with my daughter or had to travel to see my mom. My daughter lived but my mom passed four months after her diagnoses.

This morning I was thinking about how much has gone on in the past several years and the transformation and journey I have taken during that time. The image of a butterfly came to me. The process they go through must be hard, and yet easy because they all do it. I must be scary, and yet rewarding because look at the beauty and the coolest thing of all is they can fly.

Find your purpose... discover the person who is within you... bring them out and then fly!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope this has helped you in some way.

Cheers!
Marianne Niehaus
303-667-1271

I was chatting with someone yesterday and I mentioned that I was having yet another record breaking month. I mentioned how I loved this industry for what it is and for what it offers. There was a short response back from this person, how they had wished they had known about what I was involved in sooner. This person is also a part of the direct sales industry, this got me thinking.

I had been in direct sales before, I had worked for the corporate world, and I had owned my own traditional business for over 15 years and I seriously thought I was living the dream, but it was really more like a nightmare... can you relate?

There were times when I was making very good money, however during those times I was unable to enjoy my success. I was crawling into bed at midnight or later, had to stay behind while my family went out with friends, or went on vacation. I attend late meetings, and made sacrifice after sacrifice... all in the name of "living the dream," sound familiar? Now I am sure most of you who own your own business have never experienced what I went through, but for those of you who have... can you relate?

I read a few books and came up with a little exercise for myself. I took a spiral notebook and for several days I wrote down all the things I did in a day and how I felt when I was doing them. You know, interacting with people; friends, clients, vendors, etc. What I discovered after several days, much of my "job" that I thought I loved was not that much of my day. Many of the things that I was responsible for made me feel sick to my stomach or I found my self completely avoiding necessary tasks that had to be done as a business owner. When certain clients called I could barely bring my self to answer the phone. This started me thinking that maybe I didn't "love" owning my own traditional business as much I thought I did. I would have to say this was a pinnacle discovery on my part. 

Once I analyzed everything I had documented in my note book, I decided to focus on the things I did in a day that I loved and enjoyed doing, what a difference in how I felt at the end of the day. The awareness was liberating in many ways and frustrating in others. My next goal was to figure out how I could either restructure my current business to incorporate more of what I actually enjoyed doing or figure out something completely different. No one could have predicted where I eventually would land.... not even me! Network marketing is not my gig, I had tried it several times and I was never successful. Because of that, I avoided netwrok marketing like the plague until a few years ago.

Believe me I know how you feel, I felt the same way, but let me tell you want I found out.... 

I wanted to swim with the dolphins! Not only literality but figuratively too. I wanted to hang with like minded people. Come back and follow my journey of self discovery and why today I call myself a "Professional Network Marketer."

Does anyone have a similar story on a road of self discovery?

Thanks for reading!

Blah, Blah, Blah... are you in Network Marketing?  The first comment is... I can't sell anything. Oh I get it, I hated the idea of selling because that was the last thing I wanted to do. However, we do tell people about a great restaurant we  ate at, a movie we just saw or a book we just read. If our friends trust us or respect our opinion they will choose to... eat at the restaurant, watch the move, or even read the book. The only difference is that we do not receive anything for our recommendations, unless we own the restaurant, was in the movie or wrote the book. Here is what I say, instead of doing all the work for other companies that reap the rewards of your effort, I have decided to reap the rewards of my own efforts.

Happy Father's Day Ken! This photo was taken a few years ago and you are looking at my best friend and my husband of 29 years. He can't sell a thing... at least that is what he thinks. He sold me on him and he loves to share recommendations about books, restaurant and great movies to watch. Why, do we think we can't sell!

In the past few years in network marketing I have been able to improve every relationship around me. I now understand the meaning of listening to someone explain to me what they want out of their life, it is not what I want for them but what they want for themselves. It is easy to see the greatness in someone, even when they can't see it in themselves. Imagine doing something where you help others find their greatness and there is a revenue stream attached to the other end of it.

Network marketing is like that. "We make money by making friends, and we enlarge our circle of friends by making money for them, by helping them, by being of service to them." —Charles Haanel  It is all about me helping my business partners reach their goals. I am on a mission to become a better "me" so I can help the people around me become a better "them."