Needing to get ducks in a row

As you can tell I have taken a little blogging break. Well I am trying to get back into the swing of things and it seems a little difficult. We were all sick there for quite a while then Spring Break and Easter came early and it just seems like I couldn't get all my ducks in a row to stay on top of things. Over the last 2 weeks my husband and I decided to homeschool our son so that sent me into another "have to figure things out mode". Wow, when things happen they all seem to happen at the same time, don't they. I am trying to prioritize things to help me stay on track with everything I am responsible for and I realized that I hadn't even been here to blog in a while. There are certain things that just kept going even though I was up to my eyeballs trying to get things smooth again. The jerky business, the yard sign business, the sun coming up and the laundry (most days). Most everything else just had to take a number to wait for me to get to it. Now this wasn't much of a blog of info or very insightfull, it was more of an "I'm Back" blog and thank you for all of the emails from people checking on us. Others in our Financial Freedom Family have been still spreading the word about the easiest way to get Free Jerky and monthly money, but now I am ready...really ready to pick up the pace on my end. I already had 2 email me this morning before I even woke up so let me get those to signed up under the people that still need their six and Let's Get This Party Started!!

Glad to be back,

Laura

http://www.financialfreedomfamily.com/

SICK but still moving forward

Have you been hit by the "flu train" yet in your family? Wow, is it going around. It seems as though once it hits one family member it will eventually take you all out. We have gone through so much hand soap and lotion this year, yet I still have one child burning up with a fever, but thankfully resting right now. Having the sick bug seems to affect everyone in the house, even if you don't have it yet, because things change (or at least around here they do). I mean, the person, especially if it is your child becomes the main source of your attention and everything else seems to go on the back burner...or at least on the side one. We don't watch a lot of T.V. normally, but the sick one gets to have control of it. I don't like leaving them home by themselves if they are sick so I have to make other arrangements for the ones that aren't sick to get places. Then I seem to be washing everything in site that might of been touched by the "sick one". All of that extra work doesn't leave much time for running my businesses. It's funny, because it is at these times that I really notice the difference between my two companies that I have. My local one, www.smilesforalloccasions.com is fun but it means that I am away from the house for a certain length of time and the only way I earn money is if I: answer the call, make the sale, get everything set up and ready to go, leave the house to set it up, then leave the house again to pick it up. Like I said, it is fun, but it takes time away from what is really important right this second and that is my sick child.
Now, when I am looking at my other business and how it brings in money when things are going on, it happens like this: someone visits the website www.financialfreedomfamily.com the information is all explained there, but if a question arises then they normally email me (which I can answer when I have a moment) and the visitor either chooses to sign up (right on their own computer) or they don't. Not much time away from the family, is it? I am not too worried about those that don't sign up (I want them to and wish they would, but I don't worry) because it is such a low cost to get such great stuff that it attracts so many and those few that didn't sign up I think will eventually sign up someday and wish they did it earlier.
So I guess what I am saying that I am learning is, even though I love the first business and am not stopping anytime soon because it is just funny, the main business www.financialfreedomfamily.com just makes more and more sense each and every time I look at it. It definitely grows faster when I am "tending" to it, but it still is growing when that "flu train" is steamrolling through your home and that is what my family needs!
Laura Lamberth
405-408-9421

Make it Simple

Have you ever tried something, but got only part way through it then "life happened" and you never finished it. Well, I will admit, I have done it more times than I care to admit. Some of the things just fall to the way-side and I just never pick back up again. Like one year I really wanted a compost pile. I really still like the idea of it, but that year I made my husband help me pick a spot that wasn't right in your face, but also that wasn't too out of the way that I wouldn't use it. Well, keep in mind, I am a very frugal woman so we made our own compost container (a large one too cause I was really going to get into it). After all the work was done and we were just adding dilligently to the compost pile and turning all of it, at some point it just didn't seem fun anymore. I mean, it wasn't supposed to be fun to begin with and maybe it was because we had to wait soooo long to see the accomplished outcome of our labor, but it was also a pain to keep it up. So I let it just fall to the way-side and I didn't seem to keep up with it and now it is just no longer. Since then I have seen composite containers on a smaller scale (which is what I should of started with, so I wasn't overwhelmed) that actually look like they take hardley anytime and they fit right in a garage so it is really convenient (not like ours that you would have to go across the yard and out a gate). Ok, ok I guess what I learned from that one of many experiences is that some things just need to remain simple and quick for me to want to keep up with it. I have 1 husband 2 dogs and 3 kids so I am a busy woman and things need to be quick and simple for me to be able to do it and love it. I want to be able to spend a lot of time with my family and friends and if something is just taking too much of that time up then I let it go.
I guess that is why I have choosen the businesses that I do (one that is local only and the other can anyone can do across the states) The local one http://www.smilesforalloccasions.com I started with my Mom and it did take a lot of time and money to start, but I hadn't found the 2nd one yet so it worked for us at that time (now it isn't as time consuming so it is great). The 2nd business we found http://www.financialfreedomfamily.com was perfect for me since I am soooo frugal (the cost was only $12 to start) and it was soooo simple to do and understand (we even have a plan called simple 6). Now I am able to spend more time with my family and do the things we love. Even while writing this I have made 2 smoothies (in my Magic Bullet, which I adore) walked our little neighbor's girl home which spent the night to go to church with us today, and helped my daughter put away her baby dolls. I love being able to do a business and do what life has instore for me on any particular day. I hope you love your business world too, if not work toward one that you do.
Laura
http://www.financialfreedomfamily.com

Carving Out Time

Do you ever think that if the day just had a few more hours in it then all of your "to-dos" will be done? Well, I am right there with you most of the time. I have really had to learn to budget my time accordingly based on my priorities, but you know what SOMETHING always happen and the list gets out of whack. Today for instance, I was using my daughters adding machine (8 years old and that is what she asks for her birthday LOL) anyways I was doing real well finishing a project I had to complete in Quickbooks when we got to the end of the paper tape. No big deal, right? Just grab another roll of tape and slap it in. Well I gave the roll to my darling husband and then 20 MINUTES later we finally had it ready to go. It wasn't that it was beyond our knowledge base of how to put the tape in, but one little thing after another and it took us 20 minutes...unbelievable! But that lead me to the notion of that is how the day gets away from me at times. It's those darn little unplanned things that take just a little longer than you thought and when you add all of those up you suddenly have lost very valuable time.
I guess that is why I purposely try not to schedule tightly. I try to plan time for the unplanable. I even do that with my business. If I set a goal for myself to sign up 10 people by the end of the week, I use to wait up to the wire then push myself until I couldn't even breath. Then when I didn't make my goal I set for myself I would say "Man, there just wasn't enough time". I now know that it was a lot due to my scheduling too much in one day that lead to my rush then burn out. I try to break it up evenly now throughout the week so that by the end of the week I am still just getting the same amount of people for my goal as I was getting on the first day. Sure, it always doesn't work out exactly the way that I have planned, but then I suppose, that would be too boring. At least I am headed in the right direction, and many more goals are being met because of it. Try it yourself, just carve out a little bit of time and soon you will wonder how you ended up with a little free time on your hands.

Laura Lamberth
http://www.financialfreedomfamily.com/

Starting Somewhere

We all have to start somewhere, right? I mean, sure some of us are really good at somethings, let's say baseball, but if you look back were you always the star hitter or could you always time running backwards to make the "catch of the day"? No, I don't think so, we all have to start somewhere. What about cooking...the very fist day in the kitchen did you make the most yummy 7 course meal that anyone had ever tasted...no I don't think so. What about typing, riding a bike, swimming, parenting all of these things we have learned over time and normally with some help or at least some direction. So I always wondered why it was that people think that they should be able to "make money" on their own with no direction. I have tried many different avenues over the years, whether it be from lemonade stands or grown up doing plasticware parties. Both of those things are great and a lot of people are good at doing them and making good money, but it just wasn't for me. It's really not that I didn't like doing the selling or the party thing it was actually more that I made friends by doing so and I no longer had the heart to ask them to pay the retail price so I gave them the wholesale price which then I no longer made any money and had to make new "clients" to make money from it. So even though it was good fun, it wasn't a money maker for me. I thought I just "blew it" again and stopped trying for awhile.
I then, with the help of my Mom created a local company that was not only fun to do but we were doing increasingly well with it and it built up my confidence again. Eventually I came across Jerky Direct Primium Products and with looking back on my past I realized that this was going to be the company that my family has been waiting for. We were going to work TOGETHER to make things work and reach our goals and I didn't have to do it on my own, I didn't have to worry that I was getting a great deal, but my friends had to pay full price, and I didn't have that yucky feeling that I am working against everyone else because with our group, Financial Freedom Family, we take each other by the hand and help them figure out what we need to do to help each other reach our goals. We even messed that up in the beginning, but learned by our mistakes, corrected them and not only begun again, but are doing it with speed.
So to look at the statement that everyone has to start somewhere...HERE WE ARE! We are starting something new...this blog...and starting today we are going to track how we are doing and what we are doing to get there. You can join us too, or just lurk around for a while, but the more you just lurk the more time goes by and remember, Everyone has to start somewhere!

Laura
http://www.financialfreedomfamily.com/