most excellent

how does life move you so far away? so many great things happening, it has taken me away from posting and processing. is processing over-rated? i know its not, just things get in the way.

I have learned so much about business in the last three months. this is after thirteen years owning and running my own interior design firm.
TRULY, I KNEW NOTHING....

we all know that there is work to be done. not the mindless, emails or texts but person to person-face to face-belly to belly.

tonight, my husband i just got new life insurance. taren, our gal, i met through DPWN (www.dpwomen.com) and loved her. she sells "what if" and realized that we are in deep doo doo if god forbid something happens. she is kind and listens, is an incredible hard worker-single mom (beautiful and smart)-knows what people need. it brings you down to earth. these are the facts jack.

when i started this blog, it was to help give me focus and help me process all of the amazing and hard things i was learning. it comes from who you surround yourself with. what you are willing to give.


WHAT YOU ARE WILLING TO GIVE OF YOURSELF.

so back to when nothing changes...nothing changes.
keep moving forward.
before you go to bed write a list of 6 things you want to accomplish tomorrow.
then do it. mark them off. smile.

love you madly,
sarah

yes, it is simple

had a listen to envp shannon johnson's new webinar on "the road to success". that was tuesday afternoon and i could not sleep. i since have listened to two more times and it has really started to sink in.

why do we make things so difficult for ourselves? we would rather do something that we must suffer through and chase our tails than step for a few seconds out of our comfort zone and try a different path.

every person is full of greatness, full of extra-ordinary grace and ability-do we let ourselves show it?

i will persist, i will persist, i will persist -og mandino.

go for no.

love you,

sarah

do what you love

The Power of Attitude

by Mac Anderson

You have to be, before you do, to have lasting inner peace. In other words, making a living is not the same as making a life. Find what makes your heart sing and create your own music. Many people work all their lives and dislike what they do for a living.

In fact, I was astounded to see a recent USA Today survey that said fifty-three percent of people in the American workplace are unhappy with their jobs. Loving what you do is one of the most important keys to maintaining a positive attitude. You can’t fake passion. It is the fuel that drives any dream and makes you happy to be alive. However, to love what you do, the first step is to self-analyze, to simply know what you love. We all have unique talents and interests, and one of life’s greatest challenges is to match these talents with career opportunities that bring out the best in us. It’s not easy – and sometimes we can only find it through trial and error – but it’s worth the effort.

Ray Kroc, for example, found his passion when he founded McDonalds at the age of 52. He never “worked” another day in his life.

John James Audubon was unsuccessful for most of his life. He was a terrible businessman. No matter how many times he changed locations, changed partners, or changed businesses, he still failed miserably.

Not until he understood that he must change himself did he have any shot at success.And what changes did Audubon make?

He followed his passion. He always had loved the outdoors and was an excellent hunter. In addition, he was a good artist and as a hobby would draw local birds.Once he stopped trying to be a businessman and started doing what he loved to do, his life turned around. He traveled the country observing and drawing birds, and his art ultimately was collected in a book titled Audubon’s Birds of America. The book earned him a place in history as the greatest wildlife artist ever. But more importantly, the work made him happy and provided the peace of mind he’d been seeking all his life.

How do you find your purpose in life?

There are no easy answers, but here are two practical tips that can help:

1.Discover Your Gifts – We’re all unique and each of us has our own special gifts. Make a list of what you consider your strengths and your weaknesses. Next, don’t just assume your assumptions are correct. Get feedback from what Ken Blanchard calls “trusted truth-tellers” – friends and family members who won’t just tell you what you want to hear but who will share their true opinions. With their help you can get a realistic perspective of your gifts.

2.Discover What Moves You – Find your passion and strive to live your life around it. Make your list. Do your homework. There is this caution, however...have patience. Your purpose in life probably won’t surface overnight, but like love, it will find you when you least expect it.

Finding your reason for being brings a positive attitude that can be unstoppable.

i love the movie 'field of dreams', not so much for the story as the message..... build it and they will come. stop and think about your life and what you love. do what you love. sometime it will be hard, and you will question yourself, others and you will fail sometimes.

begin again, begin again and then begin again.

i love you,

sarah

sometimes it is hard

we all know the feeling of making a difference in someones life. it's a rush, you walk away with a giant grin your face. you know in your heart that you have done a good thing.

then there are moments, sometimes hours, days, weeks where nothing goes right. work is up and down-mostly down, the spouse is being fussy about EVERYTHING and you cannot seem to get the boat right.

this is a really hard place to be in.

there are no words or deeds of magic to help you through this.

just know that every moment something changes. from this second to the next it is different.

be aware of those changes and if a good thought or action comes around the bend hitch your wagon to it. that might just be the thing that pulls you through.

i love you,

sarah

up and down

we all feel it.


we get the rush of going up-what is to come, all those juicy hormones rushing in and making us feel divine able to conquer the world. we fill our plates up and set high expectations then.....





maybe a goal doesn't get met, or we get derailed by family. it happens.


it happens.

try and remember we are mothers, daughters, fathers, grandfathers, wives, and we are loved.

take a piece at a time. love where you are today, this moment. start again.

start again.

i love you,

sarah

a new day

i love a monday. fresh, new, beautiful monday.

think about all those times in our day that seem hard, funky or out of place. these are pivotal moments.

when you have one, do you stop for a moment and breathe, charge ahead and act like you didn't even see or hear them, or listen and make the choice that works best for that moment.

being in charge of your emotions. saying to oneself, i am feeling this way though i am going to choose to or not.

i know this is a little off the subject though not really.

write that letter to god/the universe/mother earth and ask for what you want.

these are very valuable tools for anyone-in business, at home, or with children.

FOUR QUADRANTS OF COMMUNICATION:

1. FACT-you and i have know each other for a long time

2. FEELING-you are so sweet and make everyone around you feel good

3. BELIEF-this would be a great fit for you

4. WHAT YOU WANT-i want you to listen to this call.

then stop. be quiet. listen. don't talk until you know the person you are with understood what you were asking.

try this and let me know how it works.

love you madly,

sarah

trust yourself

think about it, innately we all know how to be ethical, how the world works, how to be kind to others and ourselves. we choose not to listen.

figuring out how one learns is important-is it writing, listening, or reading? do you have to write it and do it to get it into your brain?

"unlocking your brilliance"

unraveling the junk we have taught ourselves is important and we cannot live without.

focusing on the things we are brilliant at and tweaking those that need a little love. we know things-kind things on a cellular structure level. these are the things like dressing yourself, brushing your teeth. having these good habits (especially getting dressed before you leave the house) is crucial. og says, that good habits can replace bad habits.

love you madly,

sarah

can you see your brilliance?

today i begin a new life-scroll 1

i begin this day with love in my heart-scroll 2

i will persist until i succeed-scroll 3

-og mandino

we all need each other for love, understanding, validation, to get on our case once in a while, to hear no, forgiveness and company.

this has for so long been taken out of the workplace. listening to your client, your co-worker, your boss-this can be done with love in your heart. then you are truly listening.

i love you,

sarah

what a weekend!!

on saturday i went to a seminar hosted by judy feldhausen on "unlocking your brilliance" in chicago. on the drive home, my brain was so full of love and compassion it was if someone else had taken over.

you know when you meet someone and they have been here before (maybe a few times) and gathered so much information. judy is that person. she is grace embodied.

on weds, may 20th at 6:30pm at the menomonee falls library on pilgrim, i will be giving a 25 min talk on intrinsic value. strange and big word, though really means the part of you inside all of the other stuff. the part of you, that maybe you don't want anybody to see. this could be self-worth, self esteem, something that might be holding you back in your family life, work or both.

rita, our beautiful president of arbonne international, (by the way her birthday is tomorrow) has always said that our company is an empowerment and self-improvement company diguised as a health and wellness business.

i feel so blessed to be able to get in front of so many beautiful and smart people everyday. they teach me so much about myself. good or bad, others are our teachers and we can choose to embrace that or gloss over it.

come weds night-call me if you need directions

i love you,

sarah

happy mothers day!!!!

to all the care-givers, grandmums, mothers, foster moms, and truly anyone who cares for another (which is so many)

happy mothers day!

i am always in trouble for not sending out a card, or sending out flowers and i have a hard time remembering peoples special days. this irks my family and friends. when i travel i don't buy gifts for the adults-kids yes and again i get grief. my thought is that something material cannot replace the grandeur of where i have been. many times it is looked at and put away or ends up in a garage sale. i understand this seems to many selfish or self-centered of me though i would rather be in their lives day to day. this is also how i feel about death. funerals are for the living. you would have thought i created an international incident when we could not afford to go to my grandfathers funeral. i had just seen him and spent good time in tennessee visiting. we spoke on the phone often and i even had the nurse hold the phone to him when he was in hospice.

wow, what a rant, i really wanted to let all the people that give of themselves selflessly and love unconditionally a high five

today i begin a new life -og mandino

i love you!

sarah

there will be waves

as with anything you start, it is bumpy. you are up and down emotionally, your kids miss you, your spouse wants a moment of silence.

it is hard. i hear you. am living it everyday.

you have "the talk" , that you are going to make life better, easier, in the moment, though there is a hurdle. the hurdle is, time away from your family.

make sure you schedule time for your family, though i will tell you, it will never be enough, and for now, that has to be okay.

just keep lovin on them and know in the back of your head that you will have one more day, two more days, three more days-soon enough.

let's support each other, make sure that our spouses are heard.

love you,

sarah

making the choice

how many times have you heard from yourself, someone who lives with you, a team member, or maybe you overheard a conversation on the bus, i just cannot seem to move up.

we all get frustrated. we put incredible pressure on ourselves. there might be some from a manager or broker or spouse saying to make more, be more and do more.

so we need some direction. (this is preferably before there is a meltdown).we don't have to continue doing the same thing. you just have to be willing to change.

they say, if nothing changes, nothing changes. if you are not willing to do something different, this is as good as it's ever going to get.

IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU?

i had a history of ideas teacher, sherman merrill, in college. hardest teacher i had ever had, smart man, amazing lecturer. he bred american bulldogs too.
he told us upfront. one of you will get an A, two will get a B, three will get a C and the rest will fail. (there were 50 of us in his class) (it was required)
(i took the class three times) enough said.
i remember taking a test up to him that i knew i did badly on and i was trying not to cry and he turned to me and "without pain there is no growth"

to this day i hear him when a journey is starting.
at different points in your life different things will get cast aside to be picked up later-acquaintances, laundry, making dinner, spending as much time with your spouse or kids. this is short lived, i promise. I PROMISE.
i sense that at that moment when all hell is going to break loose you get it, a light bulb goes off, a new client says yes, or you get the paycheck you wrote God for. (http://www.deargodletter.com)(do/ IT)

in websters the definition of consistency is: agreement or harmony of parts or features to one another or a whole.

okay.

my definition of consistency is pick a thing-ie method, plan, etc-and do it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. then again and again and again.

it will run the gamut of fabulous, fun, boring, tedious, exhausting, etc (you get the picture).
this is really important. you are cruising along and doing your consistent work and sixteen days in you say, "wow this is going well, i think i will take a break"
think again ......

it's a 90 day cycle. six weeks to make or break a habit, and 90 to see the results actually working for you. do it for 90 days, then start over. think about warren buffet, he did not get to be "warren buffet" without consistency.
i love you

sarah

ok, i am listening!!!

well, i feel i am on to something!
this marketing is working.


i realize it has been out there, so simple, though the same things were being said over and over so one thinks they are on their own path and maybe we can all update or add to it.
this is so much more fun!
put the information out there and let people absorb it, then they will come to you when they are ready,
not on your time frame.

this is something i want for everyone to know, it can work for any business you want to skyrocket. so simple and i feel like it isn't being talked about. getting on the phone and talking to people i don't and then asking then for things they may or may not need is not my gig.

put the information out there in a way that is comfortable for you. then check in with people. find out what is in the front of their brains, they'll tell you exactly who and where they are.
the key, i feel is being the 1st card in their mental rolodex. you become the "go-to" person for anything.
remember, what you put out there is what you will receive.


the part i love the most is that i am getting loved on. it is what i thought i would be doing and just the opposite is happening.


love people for exactly where they are.

i love you,
sarah

going to bed

it is 11:58pm and i wanted to tell you how grateful i am.

i feel loved and on the right path.

love you,

sarah

i met the most amazing woman

i get it, i am easily amazed by people, places and sometimes things.

judy feldhausen is really special. totally normal, easy-going, not hippy-drippy or new agey, just down to earth.

i would say she is a leader coach. she uses a little known short lister nobel peace prize guy's assessment that is based on quantum physics (yes math). he was up for the npp in 1972 and he died in 1974. she and her friends found it and brought it back from the depths.

this assessment helps her understand where you are and what you need to tweak.
you can do it online www.mastermind4leaders.com .

i have put out the word to have a group conference call of 5 or more. the cost comes down for the 14 week coaching and 2 assessments. for myself, i am ready to stop running my life, work and family like an adventure race-bull in a china shop. I WANT EASE AND GRACE.


would love to start in 2 weeks, let me know if you are interested in starting with our group.

love you,
sarah

go public global leadership forum for cancer control

this is exciting!!!!

i was just asked to lead a "conversation" on cancer control. it will be compiled with other "conversations" from all over the world and presented in ottowa, canada sept 23-26, 2009.

thinking about how i should go about this, i have decided to host one in milwaukee and one in chicago.

i am going to limit it to 50 people in each city. bringing people together to talk about cancer is going to be emotional, heartbreaking, joyful, and loving. my hope is that i will be able to host people living with cancer, families living with cancer, people in remission, and how this has affected them and how we can change it all over the world.

please keep your eyes open for more information, i should have places nailed down in the next 3-4 days. both cities will be towards the end of april.

please visit their website www.controlcancer.ca/gopublic


love you,

sarah

work in groups

great minds think alike!!!
i am here with gwen, cheryl, maria and tasha.
we are getting on the same page with how to add names to our list. we are adding to the traditional ways of working our warm markets. networking online, twitter, plaxo, facebook, etc.

in two days i added 240 names. arbonne is in australia, canada, the uk and the us.

so now i start emailing and calling. it is not so personal to have people that you don't know say no, you just move on to the next person on your list. sometimes you take it to heart when you know someone who needs the paycheck or their time back and they say no, or i don't have time.

none of us have time and it is scary to jump in and put yourself out there.

i have to tell you honestly that i have not ever been this happy. i can truly say i love my job.

love you!

i should back up

it is so like me to jump right in.
i want to let you know a little bit about me. some of you have known me for 30 years and some have never met me.
dallas was my first stop on this earth. i lived there for 17 years and went to maryland institute college of art for photography then later switched my major to painting. continued to paint and went to slade school of fine art in london for painting as well. had a blast, did some of my best thinking there. my dad died while i was there and that fueled a lot of good stuff.
moved back and decided that i couldn't go back to working retail-60-80 hours a week for what seemed like a rental. you buy or you rent and i wanted to own.
so i went to dallas and came up with the grand idea that i would teach myself to make slipcovers. interesting is what i would say about the 1st 10 slipcovers i did. soon i did become good at it and would drag my machine to clients houses and sit for 10-12 hours and make slipcovers on site.
soon people started asking for pillows, duvets, drapery, etc. then paint colors and rug ideas. then i thought you know i should just do it. so i became an interior designer and learned a lot on the job. i had great mentors. amazing mentors. if you ask people for help-9x's out of 10 they love to teach you what they know.

so for 11 years i worked 80-100 hours a week. then i decided after many dollars and hours at the therapist's couch i was ready to get married and have kids. mind you i was 36 and had really thought i would be alone (in a katherine hepburn kind of way) and have my nieces to spoil. i went on match.com and thought it was great, like shoe shopping. i would find someone interesting and put them in my cart. i only allowed myself an hour a night. i emailed erik an told him he had a nice smile.
well it turns out we lived 2 blocks away and we went out for sushi and he says he knew.
we got married 4 months later in telluride ( i was finishing up a house there for a client) off season by a lady judge and her dog. i had tulips from walmart and we both wore pink and brown. i was pregnant 2 weeks later and we had gladys in december of 2006. this whole time i had sold my condo and we had bought a three flat to convert back into a single family. erik was the corporate chef for the archdiocese and i was still working crazy hours. mind you making a 6 figure income.

after many moves during the rehab and figuring out how to work and have a baby (very interesting) we finally moved into our house in sept of 2007. i didn't know that i was pregnant again with gracie. we had it made, a beautiful girl and one on the way making good money and living in a house i made every decision on from doors to how wide the flooring was to be.

i had slowed a bit on the clients and i did feel like some where not working with me because i was pregnant. i just moved on like my normal bull in a china shop way. then in april, when i was in the hospital having gracie it all came crashing down.

i had a client (mind you i had been taking charge cards for years-too many clients wanted the miles or the points) charge back 130,000.00 they claimed it took too long and they had not received anything. only two weeks earlier i was there at their house having custom rugs, drapery and 60% of the furniture installed. i was, well i will not swear on this, i thought this is a mistake.

i sent my bank 90 pages of documentation proving otherwise and 8 months later they told the client that they had ruled in my favour. they had the balance of the furniture in storage for that whole time waiting to be delivered. i went through depression like i had not felt before. all i wanted to do was crawl in a hole.
the charge back affected all my other clients as the 130,000 was covered in my account by my personal money and my clients money. so i could not purchase their goods. it was a nightmare.
i called them all and let them know what was going on and they fought for me. called their attorney's and got what they needed.

i told you this would be short though i am rambling.

so we are at 12 weeks ago. i decided to close my corporations and do very small jobs and build this little business i had been playing with called Arbonne.

i joined arbonne to get the fabulous products for my daughters. their baby stuff is what got my attention. then i started in on the anti-aging for myself. years of climbing and adventure racing had taken their toll. it was actually reversing the damage i had done.

so.... i was getting nice little checks for 200,300-500.00 a month and after all the chargeback stuff i really looked at how much i loved arbonne. i loved teaching and training. i missed it from under grad-teaching freshman how to mix colors and how to paint outdoors.

people ask me all the time what i do. i listen and guide people to make the paycheck they need and want. the products are amazing and they work. i wouldn't even entertain doing it if they didn't.

i just became an area manager last month and i can will the business to my daughters, god forbid something happen, they will always get my paychecks. this became real when our executive area manager, dr stacey bean's husband was on the life flight chopper that crashed in march, 2008. she holed up with her kids and did not work in the er or her arbonne business for 4 months. her paychecks got bigger and she became a regional vice president 2 months after she came back to us. the company, the people, the spirit, the will is so much bigger than us.

i went to erik and we talked about me scaling way, way back. doing arbonne full time and if a small job comes up and i want to do it... then okay.

this came at a price. the 8 months that we waited for mc/visa to rule in our favour we couldn't pay our mortgage. we since have declared bankrupsty and have lost our home. honestly, i was a relief. with the economy, my work was an extra. you cannot get a mortgage. let alone have the cash to redo anything. though my arbonne business has been growing every month by a minimum of 100%.

erik and moved to milwaukee-we got a house from a couple of angels that were willing to owner finance. we get to start over. the girls can go to public montessori school 4 blocks away. we eat outside and don't have to rush to do anything.

i am grateful and blessed, i know. i know this much is true.

i love you and hope that you to find your way. if i can help please let me know.

forever grateful,
sarah

just getting started

sitting in the new kitchen (you cannot swing a cat in) with gladys as she is eating her third bowl of cheerios

looking around at all the "stuff" that needs to be put away and...well.... maybe i will start or maybe not.
thinking about arbonne meeting with DM's on friday in chicago.