A New Chapter

Well, I finally made the decision to quit and move on from my job, for several reasons. One major reason is my desire to go in a new direction, that direction being in sales & marketing and network marketing. Is it because I know I could be a great salesman? Not at all. I want to go in that direction because I know I'm NOT a good salesman, and I want to acquire that skill for the future if I ever want to own my own business. This will be good for me, even if only for the experience. I'm thinking long-term here, because I have goals I want to achieve in the not-so-distant future. At the same time I do feel a little guilty leaving so suddenly, I think because of my nature of being considerate of others, and I went against that nature and just left. I probably could have waited and gave notice, and if I did it again I would have. But...now that all is said and done, the only thing I can do is move on now. And I wish them the best.

What's interesting is that I just happened to have something ready for me to enter at this time, an opportunity that I've been looking into for the past few months. I actually started my training this week and plan to go forward with this, Lord willing of course. This company is based on a network marketing program. I didn't really take notice until those words took on importance in my reading as a skill that is vital in selling and networking with others. When I found out this company is founded on network marketing, I thought to myself this would be perfect to get into, for both the skills and the money, too, if that's my desire. But yes, I thought it was interesting that the timing was practically in sync with leaving my job, and that's not something I set up either! It just happened like that and in fact, I just realized this tonite. lol Because for months I was actually more involved with my business than this company and had little interest at the time. But now...it's become a priority, and may even become a vehicle through which I can finance my business. That would truly be a blessing.

In the meantime, I'm still looking for regular work, most likely in the sales & marketing field, to supplement the network marketing. I know this is a drastic change from doing graphic design for the past 5 or so years, but then again my goals and priorities have changed. They've changed as a result of the books I've been reading from a man named Robert Kiyosaki, a man who's written an entire series based on business and finances and so much more. I'm only on his second book, but I can tell you that his first book alone has opened my eyes to the world of financial wisdom than ever. I have a better understanding of how money works and how to put it to work for me, instead of working hard all my life trying to earn it with hardly anything to show in the end. One bit of simple advice is this: Pay yourself first! No matter what the circumstances are, give yourself a certain percentage BEFORE you pay any bills, no matter what. Cause if you don’t, you’ll try to save only what you have left. And what we have left is either too small to save or we end up using it for something else. Creditors and such are usually good with working with our circumstances. And in fact, paying ourselves first will be for our benefit, because we will always have bills to pay, but we can’t let those bills leave us with nothing in the end. If we’re ever going to have a nice nestegg, we have to put that money aside and not let anything deter that. Doing that will even encourage us to find ways to get the money to pay for this or that.

And that’s the next thing that I’ve learned as a result of reading his book. It’s changing the way I think about money and using the excuse that ‘I can’t afford it’ or ‘I don’t have the money to do that.’ Instead of saying ‘I can’t afford it’ I ask myself instead ‘How can I afford it?’ You see, when we say we can’t, we automatically shut down our thinking processes and put them to sleep, cause there’s nothing more to think about, right? It’s all said and done. But…when you ask yourself ‘how can I afford it’ or ‘how can I make this possible,’ we put our minds to work in figuring out a way to make it possible. We make our minds work instead of putting it to sleep. And I think this is true of many things in life, where we let our fears or misconceptions rule our thinking. If we would give ourselves a chance and even challenge ourselves and meet that challenge, I believe we could surprise ourselves in many ways. In fact at my last job, I took a small yet valuable step in getting my confidence level up. I read a small article about confidence that said, if you know you fear doing something, take the challenge by taking a small step and overcoming that fear. Well, I hated answering phones and giving quotes to customers. Every time that phone rang I wish someone else would pick it up. When I read that and challenged myself, things changed! I wasn’t afraid to talk with customers and meet their needs any longer, cause I invited the challenge. And all cause I took that small step. I would say that was a small victory. And even though it was small, to me, it was a big step. My point is, when we give our minds the opportunity to work for us, whether thinking of ways to do what seems impossible or overcoming fear, we can make great strides in life, even with the smallest of steps. =)