I’ve been very, very blessed
this year. My focus has been on mothering my seven amazing children including a
new daughter-in-law, keeping my house more organized, preparing nutritious
meals and exercising every day. I recognize most people my age (I’m 47) have
children who are older, in school and busy with activities, but I still have a
one and four-year old at and homeschooled 4th grader at home.
I’m
thankful to know this is my path, because when the days become long and the
kids start to bicker, the dinner burns and the dishes are piled in the sink, I
have a deep understanding that I am meant to be their mother. I have been given
the gifts, love and purpose to raise them in love, intelligence, creativity,
spirituality, confidence and health. How many times do I fail a day? Too many
to count. Do I lose my temper? Yes. Do I eat cookies for dinner more often then
I should? Yes. Do I forget one of my kid’s appointments or lose my car keys? Yes, but I’m good at getting back up.
Falling, failing and getting
back up.
That was a big lesson for me
this year.
This has been the year to
embark on many different endeavors. I illustrated and published my second
coloring book, The Girls Guide toFriendship.
I listened to daily
motivational podcasts from Abraham Hicks on the law of attraction and at times,
literally felt like I was floating because of the things I was feeling and
learning. I know these lessons have changed me in big, marvelous ways.
I'm blessed to be a sales rep
for Monat Premium Hair and Pura Vida bracelets.
I’ve considered going back to
school for a masters degree, but my love as an entrepreneur encouraged me to
consider investing in a course on running my own business and marketing.
I made a big leap and
invested in Alison Prince’s course BecauseI Can. I immediately started learning about everything from getting my
wholesale license to running a website to marketing to influencers to
purchasing inventory. It was a lot to take in and like most things I feel
passionate about, I gave it my all.
I decided to call my business
My 100 Daughters and donate a certain
percentage of proceeds to help sponsor 100 girls from India
What would I sell?
What would I market?
After many prayers and taking
personally inventory of what I felt I should dive into, after looking at
current trends, google searches and purchase/resell ratios, I decided to sell
dresses and overalls. I absolutely love dresses and overalls and when I sold name-brand, used clothing on eBay, they were always
my best sellers.
I also met an amazing young
woman named Alicia who absolutely, positively felt like my business idea was brilliant,
that surely through my sales we would help all these darling girls in India
Ruby with Alicia's baby Hollyn.
So, I started.
You know what happens when
you decided to sell dresses and overalls? You spend hours and days
shopping/browsing wholesalers and purchase huge shipments of inventory. It
starts coming to your home in big, heavy boxes and it piles up in your den and
closet. You see the purchases on your credit card bill and think “You know, you
better get this right. You’ve got a lot riding on this. You don’t want to let
your family down.”
Derek’s cousin Joe,
the computer genius that he is spent weeks helping me build my shopify account
and away we went. Sales, sales, sales galore, right!!!
At least, that was what was
supposed to happen.
But, it didn’t.
I only marketed my store
twice on facebook, maybe once on instagram. I just didn’t feel passionate about
it, no matter how hard I tried. I mean, there were the carefully selected inventory in my house. There was the beautiful website, accepting credit card. What happened? Why?
I’ve taken several months to
think about what happened? Don’t I love dresses and overalls? Yes, absolutely. I
sold used clothing on eBay for six years and loved it.
I understand inventory, shipping,
customer service, I mean, I was born for this!
But, I didn’t like it with new inventory. Isn’t that weird. I
mean, who knew, right??? But at least for me, there was no creativity in it, at
least not enough, and where was the adventure? Because of my love for
thrifting, my concern for the environment, the working condition of people in
third-world countries and here my shipments from China ,
the Philippines
Click here to read one of my old post on eBay sales.
Even thought it all sat there
in huge boxes in my closet, I let it all go. I stopped listening to the course.
I stopped listening to crazy youtube fast-talking entrepreneurs who record
their videos on some remote tropical island over that super annoying
uncopyrighted music playing in the background (you know who I’m talking about, right??)! It all stopped!
I just focused on my health,
my kids, good food, a semi-clean house and it was still crazy land over here, but
nothing I can’t handle.
I didn’t carry any guilt or regret over paying off
those credit card bills and eventually, I put the boxes of inventory high up on
a shelf so I didn’t even see them anymore. I started gifting dresses and
overalls for birthdays and bridal showers. I focused on gratitude, clarity,
abundance, joy and listening to my own inner voice that knows I will follow my
ideas, even if I fail because when I
listen to Abraham Hicks or Rachel Hollis or Dean Graziosi, Tom Bilyeu,
President Nelson, my own mother for heavens sake, my husband, my friend Amy or
any Christian song in the entire world, they tell you “You are worthy. You were
born for a purpose. Your dreams are worth it. You can do it. Work hard.
Believe. Journal. Vision. Love,” and on and on and on. I really believe this
stuff.
I have faith. I understand ideas and momentum, clarity and gratitude,
and I know failure is just a stepping stone moving me in the right direction. I know when
I follow my impulses and trust in myself that mistakes show me I’m willing to
take risks, that persistence is the key to success, that if I get up and try
again, I’ll be better because I’ve learned, trusted and grown.
Christmas 2019
Chandler's 20th birthday
So there you have it, that’s
how I failed this year and moved on instead of feeling sorry or beating myself
up. I've had so many blessings, with Canyon doing so well and Chandler happy and married, Payson graduating in the spring 2020, Mayer excelling as an athlete, Derek's so blessed with work, Ruby is healthy and active, Eden is loving home school, Reef is on the honor roll and I'm running again.
I don't have to look far to see and feel all my blessings. And, wouldn’t you know it, in September as I prepared for Ruby’s first
birthday I had an idea, a dream, a vision (literally, it was amazing!!) and I wanted to give Ruby a homemade dream catcher. I shared this dream with my incredible darling friend Kristin who made Ruby the most beautiful dream catcher ever.
I started making dream catchers on my own, I'm going to make 100 of them for each of my 100 daughters and now, very soon, I
will launch my100daughters.com dream catchers and dream catcher kits because
I’m not sure if there is any better feeling then making one of those beautiful,
inspiring, magical dream catchers with bamboo hoops, cotton doilies and
second-hand, vintage, upcycled fabrics that, thank heavens, have not ended up
in a landfill!!!
To read more about Kristen, her friendship and talent, click here.
Ruby on Christmas Sunday
It’s a niche (perfect!), I know it, but
man, am I excited to talk about dreams, support dreams, put dreams into
people’s homes, motivate, soften, encourage and just beautify the world in
anyway I can. I'm most excited about the kits because there is such an amazing feeling to make one. Eden talks about how good it "feels" to make a dream catcher. Hopefully the website will launch by the end of January. I love Alison's course and have the knowledge I need to move forward. She has an amazing podcast called Because I Can. Give it a listen.
My dream is to sponsor 100 daughters of India
