Grateful I didn’t break my daughter’s heart

I hope it’s okay if I take a moment to share something personal with you (I promise when you read through you’ll understand how it applies to your business).

Years before I started my business I helped companies purchase and manage their health insurance.

Most of my clients renewed their benefits in January, which meant that from early November to mid January, I worked 80+ hours a week.

I worked through Thanksgiving, took hours off for Christmas Eve and Christmas and returned to a 40 hour workweek by mid January.

It was a pressure cooker.

The demands were as high as the stress and no matter how organized I was, I never got ahead.

One November morning around 1:00 am, while still at the office, alone and struggling to stay awake  –my cell phone rang.

I was startled by the sound of the ring.

On the other side of the phone was my 9-year old daughter crying because I hadn’t called to say goodnight.

Although I worked 5 minutes from home I hadn’t seen my family in nearly two days at that point.

I apologized profusely, told her how much I loved her and as I looked at the files on my desk told her I’d be home before she went to school, even though I knew it was a promise I couldn’t keep.

Upon hanging up I crumbled to the floor and began to sob.

I was in a no win situation, I couldn’t afford to quit but I couldn’t continue to hurt and disappoint my family.

It was in that very moment that I knew things needed to change.

But it didn’t…

It took me another 3 years to do anything about it.

Then one day after stumbling upon an Ad for an online training program to become a coach, I made a split decision, pulled out my credit card, paid the deposit and enrolled.

I decided I couldn’t work so hard for the money anymore and that no career, even if it paid well was worth sacrificing my health and family.

It’s now over 5 years since that time and if you know my story then you know I grew my business while working my full-time job.

I didn’t have the luxury of quitting; I strategically planned and grew my business in tiny pockets of time.

Every year I steadily grew my business by mapping out my income streams and marketing. It’s what I still do today and teach my private clients to do to help them grow their business as well and it’s what I’m teaching in my Money and Marketing Virtual Planning Workshop starting December 10th.

And now…over 5 years later I get to live life on my terms and I’m ever so grateful for my family for letting me take them on this bumpy ride while “figuring myself out”.

So today, on this eve of “Thanks” I’d like to say thank you to you.

Thank you for inspiring me to be a better coach and for believing in me.

I am tremendously grateful that my family believed in me, that my daughter provided a “wake up call” and that I get to do what I love.

There were plenty of times they didn’t “get” what I was doing and there were many fights along the way but I do know that what made a difference in the long run was getting the support I needed to create the business I wanted.

The reason friends and families don’t always believe in our dreams is because they don’t understand what they are.

It’s up to you to show them that you’re making smart and sensible business decisions to make your dream a reality.

It’s why I’m excited to be offering my Money and Marketing Virtual Planning Workshop because it’s the very thing I did that allowed my family to believe in my dream.

And it’s the very thing that’s allowed me to have a part-time 6 figure home based business today.

So if you’re not sure how to get where you want to go in 2015 then I’d love to invite you to join me for this special annual virtual training. To learn more about it just click the link here.

Today I’d like you to write down who and what you’re most grateful for in a journal or notebook.

And if you’d care to share in the comments below, tell me more about your support system “good or bad” as you’re building your dream. I’d love to hear!

Happy Thanksgiving!!