Being wife and mama, being "The Preacher's Wife", Internet Marketing, homeschooling, raw and living foods, naptural hair care, teaching and I dabble in a little web and logo design...
Music
Old School Gospel and Old School R & B
Heroes
The Only One who died for us all!
YES, He died for YOU TOO...whether you choose to believe that or not!
Hey, I'm Cherie and I want to take a moment to warmly welcome you to "MY space"! Please look around...make yourself at home.
I'm a stay-at-home, homeschooling wife of a preacha-man and mother of 4 beautiful children ages 17, 16, 9 and 5 (you'll see their pictures both on my Slide show and in my photos). I am the author of several ebooks dealing with natural hair for people of African descent. I am also a raw and living foods teacher, that is when I'm teaching and I am also an Internet Marketer and have been since 1999.
I am looking to connect and network with others who may have at one point or another gotten all tangled up in the weeds of online businesses and programs and not really quite knowing how to get the exposure needed for success.
So, who is Cherie...really, and why should you even care?
Well, ummm...'cause I'm a nice person to know...actually, I'm THE one to know! LOL! But seriously, I'm thinking that perhaps somewhere in my story, a connection may be made...perhaps you may see some similarities of things you went through and perhaps my story may be of encouragement to you in one way or another.
So, here goes...I was born and raised in Detroit, MI by my mother, a single parent. I had a good, but somewhat rough childhood because my mom had some "personal challenges". But by the grace of God, my life turned out well. My great-grandmother (rest her soul) had a MAJOR hand in raising me.
My goal was to go to college after high school, get my degree in teaching (majoring in English) and then eventually, get married and have a family.
But things don't always turn out as we wanted them to
or thought they would!
I ended up getting married at age 18 (Hey...don't prejudge that fact...here we are almost 19 years later... still happily married with 4 youngins!) and then I went back to school after my first child was born a year later. My husband was a minister and then became ordained as an Elder. After that, ministry led us to pull out of Detroit and head to what is now our home, Washington State.
Once we got settled into our new place of residence, I decided I didn't want to be a teacher but did not know what I wanted to do with my life. After a year of being a stay-at-home mom, I went to Technical Training to learn computers and then got a job doing secretarial/receptionist work until I was terminated (ughh) for "not being able to keep up with the work load". After that little slice was taken out of my ego, I didn't really know what I would do with my life career-wise.
Then I remembered somethingI had a fondness for doing...
I recalled back in the day that I enjoyed doing hair for friends and family and I had a little bit of skill at it, so I went to beauty college and became a Cosmetologist. I did hair and enjoyed it for about 7 years. I started out in a small barber shop that wanted a hair stylist. Then I moved on to work in JC Penny Salon. When we moved from an apartment to our own home, I decided to turn our little breakfast nook area into my own little mini-salon. I did okay with it, had a nice little "following" plus some new clients I later obtained but even then, I totally SUCKED in the marketing department. The only way I knew to advertise was in the Yellow Pages and I just could not afford that or at least, I never learned to set aside an advertising budget. So, I relied on word-of-mouth advertisement and the little sign my husband made for me and put on the front of the house. But I wasn't your typical "kitchentician"...I did get everything all licensed, insured and legit. So, I was proud of that fact.
Sudden tragedy turned our lives upside down
Things were going really well...brand new home, my own business, my husband was doing well with his job and had just started school so he could get a better job doing what he really loved which was, working with computers. Shortly after that, he got severely ill with Hyperthyroidism and to make long short, he lost his job, we ended up losing our home to foreclosure and we ended up moving back home to Detroit to be near family in that tragic time of our lives.
I tried getting back into hair but it was kinda tough trying to build up a clientele and because I had an infant, I couldn't go work in a salon and really didn't want to either. That is when I got on the Internet and started searching for work at home. I found a lot of scams while looking for home-based clerical jobs but then stumbled upon some affiliate programs and began marketing those. I made a little bit of money but not enough to be called even a part-time income. But I hung out around Internet Marketing forums and learned from some of the best. I got ebooks when I could, but a lot of them I could not afford. Back then, I relied on FFA (Free For All) sites and those were way more effective back in the late nineties, early 2000's. I also had to learn search engine optimization techniques. Back then, Yahoo was the main search engine people were trying to get high rankings on...now it's Google.
From ebook affiliate to ebook author -
It's only natural!
After a while of growing in affiliate marketing, I then started reading up on how one should create their own, niche product. I didn't have any clue as to what I could write about that someone would actually pay me for. Then, something was brought back to my remembrance...when I worked in JC Pennys, I saw a lot of non-African American moms bringing in little girls that were either Biracial or Black altogether. These parents did not know what to do with their hair because it was more "nappy" than it was curly or wavy. Back then, I thought to myself, "Someone needs to write a book for these parents so they can know about 'our' hair!" And so I did...I wrote "Her Special Hair " - an ebook for non-African American parents who had daughters of African descent with the kinkier textures of hair. It's been selling online since 2002 and still sells to this day along with my other ebooks related to loc(k)s.
So why in the world did I get back into the whole "make money from home" thing if I have my own products?
To make MORE money...Duhhh!
No...I'm just kidding! Well, errr...ummm...sorta.
But seriously to be honest, I wasn't really looking for it. A little recap...after having decided to where my hair natural and get into promoting natural haircare, I then started becoming interested in living more naturally, including my diet. So, I ended up eating vegetarian and then eventually vegan and from there, RAW vegan. I have a website on the topic of raw and living foods as well. I later decided I wanted to start using all natural products in my home (cleaners, laundry soap, dish soap, etc.) and the marketer side of me also wanted to have an income-generating potential attached to it as well. I did some research and settled on Shaklee. Although I did desire to have the ability to make money for referring these products to others, I was NOT looking to do this as a full-time biz. Out of curiosity, I decided to see what was what with Shaklee by doing a little bit of Googling on the company.
What I found in my searching opened the door,
as well as my mind, to a place I had NOT intended on going
I saw a headline that intrigued me and led me to Ann Sieg's "7 Lies of Network Marketing" report (EXCELLENT info especially for MLM'ers!) So...I then decided to do a little digging up on Ann and THAT search led me to the YouTube video that would be the beginnings of a life change for me. It was by a woman who was not only a "sistah" but her words were powerful and captivating! I watched her videos and the "itch" came back to do the "make-money-from-home thing".
I met another individual who has helped many (myself included) with his many video tutorials on various aspects of online marketing. So, after having fought against it for a while, I finally decided to wise-up and partner with this guy and be mentored and trained by him and his style of teaching, which I love. He is training me to be a trainer...a leader... and that is a huge PLUS because I love being able to help people to change their lives and their situations. And that is pretty much what brings me here...learning through my coach to just tell my story and see if anyone is feelin' me. Are you so far? Are you even still with me to this point or am I sitting here talking to myself? LOL!
But the bottom line is, everything I'm learning about Internet Marketing through online business, I can also apply to marketing my ebooks and pretty much anything else and I am in a position to be able to help others do the same thing.
"Winners NEVER quit and quitters NEVER win"...
...has become my mantra. Don't get me wrong, I've had my days of saying, "This is NOT worth it and it's not working out as planned!" but thanks to my mentors, books I've read and just overall encouragement from many different sources; I realize that I am growing.
I feel totally confident that I am walking in my purpose and while there may be bumps and even pot holes in the road, I cannot...I shall not give up and neither should you. So what if you haven't gotten a sign up yet...so what if you "think" you're putting a lot of time in with little results...there is always a solution to every problem and giving up...QUITTING...is NOT one of them! Perhaps it's how you're marketing, perhaps it's that you're trying to write your own ad copy and haven't a clue as to what you're doing, perhaps you, as I did, need someone to train and mentor you and guide you through much overlooked things such as getting organized or branding yourself or getting ranked on Google or whatever.
I am in Pre-Alpha mode here making my way to Alpha and if you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, I highly suggest picking up a copy of Magnetic Sponsoring - it's been a great tool for ME in my growth process of becoming an Internet Marketer! If not, at the very least, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for this free, 7-day video boot camp series.
But being in that Pre-Alpha mode means that I am positioning myself to be able to mentor others...maybe even YOU! So if you're interested in being mentored and trained in how to become a SUCCESSFUL online marketer by someone such as myself, then feel free to contact me! But even if not, let's at least be MySpace friends - so add me to your friends list and subscribe to my blog so you can keep up with what's going on with me, my growth, my frustrations, my triumphs and more!
Thank you SO much for stopping by and reading about me. I truly hope that somewhere in all my ramblings you found some encouragement and hope!
Hey girl! Hope you're having a BEAUTIFUL day! Don't know if you've kept up with my blog, but things have gone from nuts to MAJORLY nuts here! So, I'm busier than ever now. Didn't think that was possible, but apparently it is! ;)
Thanks for the ADD!! Welcome to my networking community! I enjoyed viewing your page. Feel free to drop by my site whenever you like. Be sure to subscribe to my blog to view upcomming events, Videos and new information in regards to our business, the latest episodes can always be found on the home page of my site but the blog can catch you up...lol. Take care and God Bless you in all your endevours! dont be a stranger -Warren
Thank you so much for adding me to your circle of friends. You have a great space it’s very warm and inviting with a lot of amazing information. I look forward to our friendship.
I would like to introduce myself and tell you about my new book… I am author, speaker, therapist, coach and humanitarian, has lived a life that is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit, which is brilliantly captured in my Best-selling memoir, Pursuit of Light, An Extraordinary Journey. For over thirty years I have helped and inspired thousands of people to move beyond their personal challenges in order to explore and embrace the possibilities in their own lives. I have spoken at venues from Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, to Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. I have a regular contributor to Global Woman Magazine and have been featured on numerous television shows including a special segment on her life and work on NBC's Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and a nationally televised documentary.
Every moment is a choice and every choice reverberates. It's a frequency that echoes not only within the walls of our own personhood, but it pulses like and ever-expanding eddy into our environment, touching and potentially influencing everyone who comes in contact with it. Every moment presents an opportunity to "pay it forward."
