Re-Inventing Yourself

Humm…. Had a birthday the other day, well lets be more precise, August 31^st and yes that’s right I am a Virgo but of course if you have listened to any of my trainings you probably could already guess that … task oriented, highly organized, thinker, problem solver, yada, yada, yada. Not sure I believe any of that stuff anyway, I believe we are who we choose to be. Having a birthday always forces me into a period of reflection as I think back on what I tried to accomplish in the past year and what I actually did. For many people I guess the big event that triggers the reflection is Jan 1^st . That of course is when the proverbial time door slams shut on the old year and we realize in a panic that we are supposed to set goals and plans for the new one. My year closes out usually right around my birthday since I set a business plan in motion over 20 years ago that pretty much forced me into a period of planning every September. It actually coincides with my journey into the world of MLM about 22 years ago. If you have read My Story on my blog then you probably know that I had been a real estate entrepreneur for years and then crashed and burned in the early 80’s. However I have been very fortunate in life for I have found that whenever one door closes another one opens for me. Now sometimes it takes a while to recognize it as a door, because in the beginning it generally looks more like a hole in the floor with a 3000 foot drop into a chasm. However that financial disaster lead me to the world of MLM, and I had the opportunity to re-invent myself in a totally different way. Once I get on a track I am pretty much an obsessive worker and not that I neglected my family, but I always wished there could be a way to spend more time with them and be more involved in their lives as my kids were growing up. Well I guess you have to be careful what you ask for, or at least maybe be more specific. Sometimes our gifts come in ways we never would have conceived (at the time I really would have preferred not have my business destroyed just to implement a better master plan, but the universe never asked my opinion). Well I’m rambling, but anyway when I had to re invent myself and setup a business plan for this new world of MLM I decided that I would create my perfect reality and then live in it. So I decided rather than trying to make myself less obsessive about work, it was much easier to simply set a schedule that would force me into compliance with my goals. So I decided to take every summer off and spend it with my family and kids and then work obsessively the rest of the time. Not a bad plan really, and that’s what I did for over 20 years. The network marketing business gives you the ability to generate huge leverage, and because of that you are free to structure it any way you want. We had great times during those summers, taking months off and traveling in a motor home to Alaska or to other parts unknown, or sometimes traveling to the South Pacific and Australia, Japan, and others. My reflection over the last several days caused me to think about and be grateful for how far I’ve come and how much I have learned: The trials and frustrations of building a successful Network Marketing business and the incredible rewards that came later. The challenging journey into the world of online marketing, and the frustration of being flooded with huge amounts of information and then the rewards of finally watching that business model gel into 25 and then over 50 leads a day like a finely tuned machine. Was it hard, of course it was. Was it frustrating, you betcha! Did I ever want to quit? Every day! Was it worth it…. Oh Baby was it! However even as I bask in those feelings of accomplishment there is a gnawing uncertainty as I realize this coming year will probably be filled with even more challenges as I take this new craft of internet marketing to the next level, maybe even re-inventing myself again, Marc Version 4a? Wow, when does it stop? The challenge is that nothing is ever static and the more we try to keep it so, the more frustrated we get. Learn instead to embrace change and just love the ride. It’s just like the famous quote by Mark Victor Hansen “Sooner or later, we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip.” Now probably the biggest barrier to re-inventing yourself that we all face is letting go of the business self image we have created for ourselves, but that has to die before we can move on. I know how hard this can be because I struggled with it, I mean I was the “Real Estate Entrepreneur” the “Deal Maker”, who could package and spin a project better than anyone. Who would I be if I let go of that, and what about all the years of skills that went into creating it. I mean I was invested in that self image big time. I mean it’s hard to do some people just can’t let it go, they just keep slamming their head against the same wall over and over. You know we all face challenges in life that at times force us to re-invent ourselves and we have a choice to either go into the closet and hide, or to stretch and in the process become more than we are. Stretch with me… There’s nothing interesting in the closet

Need help Re-Inventing Yourself? Click Here