3 Year Vision

Good morning!

Me again ;) (it was only a few short hours ago that I blogged to you while working away in my office on my BOGO Arbonne sale, singing I like to move it!). Baby Beazley decided that it was time to get up…LUCKY! Being pregnant is a fascinating experience, I’m embracing the opportunity to bond with my unborn son at random hours of the day.

I am subscribe to lots of wonderful ezines from experts in many different specialties. This morning, I spent my early wake up call investing in myself by reading a few ezines. An article by Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, really resonated with me and I wanted to share it (see below). As John and I iron out our Motto for 2011 over the next couple days, I also plan on implementing Fabienne’s awesome 3 Year Vision concept to our life!

Funny (& embarrassing) story:

When I attended the SHINE 2010 Conference in Las Vegas in November, I ran into Fabienne (who wrote the article I shared below)! She doesn’t know me from anyone else on the street, but I really wanted to meet her. While leaving a bathroom during one of the breaks, I spotted this Swedish business diva in the line waiting to use the restroom.

Feeling way too brave, amongst a lot of fabulous women entrepreneurs, I boldly walked up to Fabienne with a smile on my face, stretched my arm out for a handshake and said, “Hi Fabienne – I enjoy following you on Twitter and Facebook. I received your complimentary CD in the mail (for signing up for her ezine) just before I left (to attend SHINE).”

She quickly replied, “Thanks Robyn. I would love to hear what you think of it!”

I was blown away – SHEFabienne – knew who I was?

In shock, I instantly blurted out something like “Oh wow, you know who I am!” (must have either been the blonde highlights in my hair or my pregnancy brain speaking)

Fabienne smiled sweetly.

After saying, “Have an amazing afternoon,” I left the ladies room.

As I walked out the door, I looked down AND spotted my name tag! Yes, you heard me – I was wearing my NAME TAG – of course Fabienne knew my name. She didn’t know WHO I was, but was simply using the technique I love to use and call people by their name (when they wear identification).

I wanted to slide under the beautiful carpet in the Wynn hotel in embarrassment!

I looked like a complete goof not only in front of one of my new mentors, but many other wise classy business women in ear shot of our conversation. There was a big line & our conversation took place in the middle of Grand Central Station (the hand washing/mirror area of the bathroom). In hindsight, I now laugh & brush off this encounter as a true character building experience. Thanks Fabienne (if you ever read this!) for being an unbelievably amazing woman (& not pointing out the obvious – my name tag – when I made my humiliating reply).

Has anything like this ever happened to you??

Enjoy rounding out 2010 and kicking off 2011!

Live Inspired,

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P.S. Enjoy Fabienne’s article below – I LOVE the assignment at the bottom, that puts the article into action!!

Plan Out Your 3-Year Vision for Attracting Clients (and The Life You Really Want)

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System , the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your in.come, visit www.clientattraction.com.

In practice building (and getting clients) it seems to be that most self-employed people just hope for the best. They simply keep doing what they’ve been doing and don’t have a strategy for creating the practice they’d be truly and deeply happy with. This is a big mistake in my opinion.

I used to write down my goals each year, but it never really worked for me. I just didn’t feel really excited about my new goals. They didn’t seem to propel me in motion and so I kind of viewed them as being useless. I never really looked at them, probably because they seemed like “shoulds” rather than “really-meaningful-wants.”

Keep reading this fantastic article!!

[Read more...]

Day 4 to 14: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

I want to finish what I started! A month ago, I came across the 12 Days of Christmas challenge on a website. Check out Ally’s website for all the details.

Life got in the way after Day 3 was published! We sadly lost two amazing grandparents within 3 days of each other at the end of November – 3000 miles apart. One of which I included a picture of in the Day 1 post! My motivation to continue dwindled quick.

Baby Beazley woke me up early this morning and as I tossed and turned a few times, this unfinished challenge crossed my mind. This is going to be brief, but at least I will know that I completed what I started.

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Day 4: Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season

Regift or make unique gifts. The past 2 years, my siblings and our spouses drew names and used this theme!! It’s been so much fun.

Day 5: Favorite Holiday Movie/TV Show Special

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Day 6: Gift ideas (what do YOU want? We all have family/friends reading our blogs…so let them know!)

Nothing! What is the world coming to – we buy what we want, when we want. Our families are really trying to remember the reason for the season and spending time together instead of unnecessary amounts of money on material gifts. However, just so you know that I’m normal – I can think of one thing that I haven’t bought myself:

A camera!

Just about a year ago, I lost/left my camera on vacation. It would be lovely to have a new one before Baby Beazley arrives to capture all the fun moments. My iPhone is wonderful, but doesn’t take real high quality pictures.

Day 7: Holiday Craft/DIY (If you don’t make anything, what do you WISH you could make?)

I made this berry ristra decor piece last year and love hanging on our front door.

Day 8: Least favorite thing about the Holidays

Too many amazing options and opportunities to eat! I love sweets and turkey and mashed potatoes and… Despite being pregnant, I am only eating for 1.1 – not 2!! I want to shed this lovely baby weight after it arrives ;)

Day 9: Favorite Holiday recipe

Turkey with my Mom’s homemade gravy!

Day 10: Favorite Christmas Songs/Caroles

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (don’t ask me to sing the lyrics though, recall I’m fabulous at tapping my foot but not at knowing the words!)

Side note – John’s favorite is Oh Holy Night sung by John Berry!

Day 11: New Year Resolutions

Oh…I haven’t thought about actually. I’m more about making a “motto” for the New Year. I talk about this concept in my December 15 ezine HERE!

Day 12: Show us your decorations (indoor/outdoor)

You’d think this would finish at Day 12 – but Aly & Molly made this challenge with 14 days!?

Day 13: Favorite Cookie Recipe

Hmmm…I love sweets. John’s Ginger Cookies are AMAZING! He made lots this festive season, so as a helper (not really) I took it upon myself to eat lots. The best part is his cookies are soft and rolled in sugar, not the hard gingersnap type.

Day 14: Oprah’s Favorite Things: What item(s) would you want if you were in the audience?

Oh…so many amazingly fabulous things to choose from!! One day, I will have stardom power and giveaway things like Oprah! Just wait…he he…

My top picks are the:

Le Creuset Cookware (I’m sure Chef Beazley would use more than  me – but I fell in love with these from The Pioneer Woman‘s kitchen)

and…

Nikon D3100 Digital SLR Camera (refer to Day 6 above!)

I look forward to hearing your answers from these questions!

Merry Christmas,

Monday Morning Vlog

Here’s a vlog to kick off the new week!

A few emotionally challenging things have been going on (explained in the video) and kept me from consistently posting the 12 Days of Christmas series – they will continue this week.

Have an amazing day!

Hugs,

Day 3: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

Day 3: Most meaningful gift/best gift you’ve received

Hmmm… I love experiences WAY more than material items. SO…quite honestly and sadly, I tend to forget from year to year what I’ve received in the form of “stuff”.

The most meaningful gift that I’ve ever received is TIME with family over the holidays! Pictures like this one from Christmas morning with my husband, an amazing gift from God and other pics with family are treasured prizes to me. The images allow me to visualize and relive the experiences and reflect on the place we were at in our life.

I remember the experiences of sitting around the living room, watching my family members expression as they open their gifts, giggling, sharing stories, playing games, spending quality time together is by far the BEST gift ever.

I’d LOVE to hear about the most meaningful gift/best gift you’ve received!

Live Inspired,

Day 2: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

Day 2: Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks

I’ve been in the US a couple times for Black Friday and here are my 2 tips:

Wear body protection!!

Two years ago, John and I ventured out to hit the early bird sales well before 6am. I nearly got taken out by a lady with a shopping cart at Wal-Mart!! Some people get really aggressive about racing to get their hands on the deals.

Grab and HOLD!

If you find an item that you want – grab it and don’t let it out of your hands! People WILL steal things from your cart!!

My nice brother-in-love, his wife, and their friend took John and I out Thanksgiving night two years ago to a local Outlet Mall. I was amazed at the 2 hour lineup outside the Coach store that night!!

Good luck ;)

What are your shopping tips & tricks?

Cheers,

Day 1: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

I’m always up for a challenge, so when I saw this 12 Days of Christmas themed one – I jumped in! My understanding is that a blogger named Ally and her friend Molly created this idea. Check out Ally’s website for all the details.

Day 1: Christmas/Holiday traditions

As I was growing up, we would alternate our Christmas and Boxing Day (Canadian holiday on Dec 26) with my grandparents. Then in junior high, we started spending every Christmas Day at my parents. We’d continue to wake up early in the morning to see what Santa brought!

Once I started dating my husband, we alternated between spending the holidays in Alberta or Texas. We’ve also been trying to gift “experiences” instead of material items to our loved ones.For example, last Christmas while in Texas – we took John’s parents and grandparents out for supper, to the symphony, and up Reunion Tour for dessert after!

With a new chapter of our life nearing, I know that we’ll start creating our own traditions!

One of my fondest memories of the Holidays – was playing spoons with my Grandma and cousins. You would always come away with new war wounds from scratches to bruises. I definitely used to leap across the table if it was necessary to fight over a spoon. The rules were that you always had to remove all jewelry – watches, rings, earrings, necklaces – anything that could be broke or ripped off you! I may have to initiate a game of spoons this festive season.

What Christmas/Holiday traditions do you have?

Hugs,

How I Started My Blog and My Book

During a conversation with my bestie, Laura, a year and a half ago, I told her that I was thinking about writing a book. For about 10 years, I had been making notes, jotting down ideas and stuffing everything into file folders for a rainy day. My wise bestie suggested I start a blog to get my creative writing juices flowing.

I questioned what a blog was and she referred me (for at least the third time) to The Pioneer Woman. I visited the site for the first time and finally got it. Ree’s website is now one of my favorites, and she is one of my idols.

Blogging has become one of my new passions. I absolutely love it. I’m always taking pictures of everything, and scribbling blog entry ideas down. Having a place to unleash my daily random thoughts has been one of my best therapies for staying positive.

What my blog first looked like:


Social media has been one of the most amazing tools for me to help fuel my desire to finish this book. I have connected with some unbelievably driven individuals, in particular women solepreneurs on Twitter and Facebook.

In April 2009, I learned about a free tele-seminar called Write a Book in a Weekend being put on by Donna Kozik. This concept intrigued me and I was completely inspired during the call.

I happened to have the next weekend wide open, so I took advantage of my new knowledge and started writing. My traveling husband was away, so I started writing that Friday night and continued all day Saturday. A lot of the content of this book was written in those two days. However, it took focusing again to finish. Thanks to Donna for encouraging aspiring authors to pursue their dreams.

I recall mentioning what I was doing that weekend to my mom. She laughed out loud over the phone, and then quickly bit her tongue. I suspect she had déjà vu and was not giggling out of disrespect or lack of support. You see, my mom was a teacher, and she majored in English while getting her education degree. My sweet mother proofread countless papers for me from elementary school right through to University. Spelling and my use of the English language have always been subject areas that I struggle with. That day, my mom probably saw a manuscript sitting in front of her and her favorite red, ballpoint pen in hand proofing!

After writing lots that weekend, I put the content to the side in a filing folder and kept building my blog. I added a mock up of my future book to our dream board.

Mock up image on our dream board:

It’s cool how the actual cover of my book, has the same color scheme and imagery of this mock up!

For the next 10 months, I looked at this image almost daily. Finally this past spring, I dug out my previous writings and the process of self publishing my first book unfolded. Since announcing the launch of Live an Amazing Life, I have had many people ask me how I did it, was it hard, etc. I plan to put my journey into a series of blog and vlog entries in the future – for those interested in learning from my experience.

If you’re aspiring to do something in your life, attract the people to help you achieve it.

Over the past 18 months I have had some of the most moving experiences of my entire life. I’m so blessed that I could work with my network and create new relationships along the way,that have helped my dream become a reality.

Thanks for your support – as a follower, friend, and cheerleader, you’ve helped me become the woman that I am.

Live an Amazing Life,

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