Burning Bridges

Would burning bridges make it easier to make success stories?

Why do I ask? I have been afraid to commit in the past, like when I got started in my home business 13 ½ years ago. I was afraid because I ran the risk of failing, not becoming a success story. Because of people and events in my past, I had not been able to succeed. That stopped me dead in my tracks, leaving me terrified of saying yes to much of anything that might change my future.

Being a working woman, wife, and mother of two teenagers, I worked full time at the bank. I had a nice income and a supervisor who thought she needed to hold my hand. Is that not enough to keep anyone committed…to the insane asylum? That is why looking at a new, part-time business as a way to earn extra money was safe; I certainly was not going to depend on it to support us. Although I was not satisfied with my job, my supervisor, or my pay, I was not prepared to make big changes either.

Change is hard, it takes work…

And I was already working from sunup to sundown. Where would I find time to do yet one more thing? Thank goodness that the home business I was looking at had a great natural supplement to help me with my low energy level.

Because of the results I saw within weeks, I immediately started sharing them with others. This changed the way I would look at working a home business forever.

How would I build a home business?

I had no education, no training in business, nutrition, or sales. Training that was the key, or so my sponsor told me. I attended a two-and-a-half-day training seminar called First Steps to Success, and I knew that I was going to come out of there and become rich. After all, the seminar cost $200 per person, which was more than my car payment at the time. What I did not realize was that the changes that were about to occur would not take place all in one weekend.

Sharing this with you reminds me of how I felt back then.

Drained, exhausted, skeptical, and stressed out! Running all day long, serving others, and letting myself go, never enough time in the day. No wonder I ended up so sick that even my doctors were beside themselves.

Do not do this to yourselves…

Take care of your body, you only get ONE YOU know! Get plenty of sleep; drink good, clean water. Do your best to eat the right kinds of foods, take good vitamin supplements, (tell 'em Carla sent you), you do know they are not all created equal, right? Do not wait until you are lying on the couch, so sick you wish you would just die and get it over with, take control!

Meanwhile, life took a series of turns I was not prepared for. We moved my failing grandma in to live with us. I could not do it all, so I put my business on hold.

However, the checks continued to come, every month. The business was always in the back of my mind, and if someone happened in my path who asked for what we had…I worked in the business.

After grandma passed away, I decided to just settle and instead of working my business, I would climb the corporate ladder, again. I knew that this would be the answer to all of my financial problems. I applied for and got the job of my dreams, an apprentice loan officer with a mortgage company. This is what I had always dreamt of.

Instead of this job being the answer to prayer, it became a living nightmare.

They expected me to look good, hobnob with all the right people, even if those people had no integrity or morals. I hated it. Shopping became a source of therapy for me; finding bargains made me feel better.

Consequently, our debt got deeper, I worked longer hours, and my health started suffering again. I cringe to this day thinking what would have happened to me had I not been taking those vitamins!

Well, the fame, glory, and stress of that job lasted all of four months, and I got fired! That was the best thing that could have ever happened to me, yes…the best thing. But that is just part of the story; the lesson I learned was that you must apply what you learn, can you say…duh!

Driving home that day from that horrible job that I had just gotten fired from, I realized one thing, and that is that I had NOT made a 100%, do or die trying, commitment to my business.

You see, one sure way to make a decision is to have a bridge burned behind you, and you have no other choice but to go forward.

If you want to eat tomorrow, you had better take action today, or you are going to get pretty hungry, very quickly. Did I go on to be wildly successful in my home business after this event? No…still had not made that decision! Can you believe that? I know, crazy, huh?

What makes people do this sort of thing? In my lap was a business where I could work from home, and yet I was not working it or building a solid business, why not? Fear…fear of failure.

These are just a few events that happened over 7 ½ years early in my home business and my life. No wonder it took months to finally rebuild and regain my 100% health.

What is more, I spent $18,000 on a credit card to start a new business, in a new field, that I knew nothing about…commitment? Uh…YES! The bridge was burned, there was no turning back, and yes, I still had my home-based business…what was I thinking?

I finally made a commitment, a huge financial commitment that has since tied me to my office chair, telephone, and I have no life.

But, at least I made a decision and have come full circle in my thinking ability, confidence, and know that I can succeed, given the right motive…FIRE!

Have you made your commitment? Click here…