I read a lot - I usually have several books going at once. I just finished Dani Johnson's "Spirit Driven Success," and it is awesome. I met her in December as we were giving encouraging words to her conference attendees. My life changed tremendously that weekend - I found my business. Also, my mind is being blown by "The 4 Hour Workweek." It will be my new "how-to" manual for my financially free lifestyle.
Hi!
My name is Suzanne Thomas, and I'm the author and creator of the
article series "People Skills for Entrepreneurs," and I own the
business CCP Net Success, LLC. If you are anything like me,
you followed the traditional career path (go to school, get good
grades, graduate, get a job, and work until you retire with a cushy
retirement), and discovered that what worked for our parents no longer
works for us in the information age. They changed the rules, and didn't ask our permission! I became a healthcare professional because I
wanted to help people,
and worked very diligently to care for my patients. But I got
a wake-up call after reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," and knew that radical
change was in order if I was going to be able to take care of myself.
I knew I would have to become an entrepreneur, AND I love the
Internet. So I will tell you about how I combined the two to
make money!
I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and followed the traditional career path
formula to the letter. Not only did I get an undergraduate
degree in nursing, I got a graduate degree as well, and I got good
grades while doing so (most of the time!). I worked part-time
in the summers in undergraduate school, and FULL-time while I went to
graduate school. That was incredibly stressful. In
my clinical year, I was working 7 days a week – 4 days for my job in
the hospital, and 3 days for my clinical rotations in school.
That almost drove me crazy, literally. I needed a long
vacation when my clinical year was over.
Then I experienced the culture shock that goes
with launching full-time into your chosen profession. It was
crazy! Not only did I have to deal with actually managing the
care of very sick people, I discovered that frequently my co-workers
were very sick people (NOT medically), as well. Add to that
the fiscal pressures of working for an employer whose allegiance was to
the bottom line rather than to providing excellent care for sick
patients, and that was a recipe for disaster. I was not
handling the stress of this very well, and to this day I
have more than one stress-related disease (i.e. high blood pressure)
that I will have to cope with for the rest of my life.
If you work in healthcare, or any profession where you advise and/or
counsel people, you may have experienced some of the following
humiliations. I have been yelled at, threatened, put down,
spit upon, sexually harassed, smacked, and manipulated by
patients. The amount of frustration and hostility expressed
by the patient's family members is often worse than the
patient's. In school, we were taught to expect such behavior
from patients and families and how to deal with it. That
still didn't make it easy to deal with.
What was worse was the
soul-sapping indignity of verbal abuse and office politics
from doctors and co-workers. This hurt the most. We were supposed to be
united in focusing on the best care for the patient, and without clear
and civil communication between caregivers this was difficult if not
impossible. I remember being yelled at by the physician in
front of the patient, while on the phone with him, and in front of my
co-workers. I remember not being able to count on my
immediate supervisor for assistance or trouble-shooting because she was
jealous of my Master's degree and she put me down in front of my
co-workers as "not a REAL nurse." I remember having my
clinical judgments criticized by people who were not there in the heat
of the crisis to take all the factors of the emergency into
consideration when making a decision. I was frightened by the
sexually inappropriate behavior of co-workers and was intimidated when
I tried to report it. (This has changed for the better,
thankfully).
The list goes on & on: shift work, regulatory
hassles, mounds of paperwork, poor pay, weekend work, lack of resources for patient care,
required overtime, etc. I was burned out very soon.
I didn't know how I was going to be able to continue to work in such
conditions until I was 65. I also noticed that not only did I
not have enough saved in my 401(k), I was watching the declining value
of the dollar erode the value of what I HAD saved. I was
feeling very desperate. I was living
paycheck to paycheck, didn't have the money to travel or
to have a horse, and knew that one accident or temporary disability
would drive me into bankruptcy.
In the year 2000 I picked up "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" to read and I had a
radical paradigm shift. My brain went TILT! My life
changed. I was taught that a house was an asset, and that
home ownership was the pinnacle of the American Dream. Well,
after moving to California, I knew that home ownership was a dream I
would not be able to attain on an RN's salary. Kiyosaki's
definition of an asset is clear: "something that puts money
in your pocket." A primary residence doesn't do
that; it takes money OUT of your pocket instead.
I read "The Cashflow Quadrant" and learned that I would need to own a business
(one that would work when I was not there) or become an
investor to have financial success. So I began
to learn, to plan, and to make the inner changes necessary (such as
purge myself of the negativity common to workplaces) to become an
entrepreneur. I tried Amway/Quixtar first. I was in
it for 4 years, and signed up only two people in my downline.
I enjoyed the tax benefits of business ownership, and I learned a great
deal about entrepreneurship from my upline. But I had
difficulty with selling. The next business I started was one
in which I helped people who won in court collect their judicial
judgments. I enjoyed that, but did not do well with that,
either. Then I took a course that incorporated all the skills
of my career in a business and became a legal nurse
consultant. I enjoyed that, too. It was a
S-Quadrant business, though, and would not provide me with an income if
I didn't work.
All of this changed early this year. I was researching an
entrepreneurial trainer online, and I saw a Google ad for a business
that said, "Kiyosaki endorses this business model."
Intrigued, I clicked on the ad, and it took me through a series of
webpages that told about a business
system that solved all of the problems that I had when I was in the
other businesses. Each webpage was an opt-in -
at any point, if I didn't like or agree with what I was learning, I
could just not take the necessary step to move on to the next
page. But I kept moving on. I was so excited! Each page
revealed that this was what I had been looking for!
Now when I get into business with people, I want to be certain that the products, the
systems, and the people have integrity. No doubt
you have been burned by something that went bad because of greed and/or
dishonesty, just like I have. Doing my due diligence, I was
very pleased to discover that the founders of this business, and the
founders of the business that provides the products to sell, are people
of integrity, and a
high caliber of people are attracted to the business because of this.
I have attended 3 conferences/trainings so far, and have been delighted
to observe this. I have met many, many great people, and have
developed mutually supportive relationships with some of
them. The "big-wigs" are human and approachable.
The product line is awesome as well. It provides the financial
education that has been lacking from just about everyone's
schooling, formal or informal. I am learning how to get out
of debt, how to incorporate, how to get my credit cleaned up, how to
save, how to invest, and how to provide a legacy for the
future. We are taught not only about money, but also about
health, and about how to develop wisdom, too. That way we
won't blow all the money we make with this business like the lottery
winners do within the first three years after they win, AND
we will have the good health to be able to enjoy our prosperity.
Knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel about my J.O.B.
has really changed a lot for me. I have a plan to go
part-time at work in the near future. I have started taking
riding lessons so that I can pursue my dream of horse
ownership. Since I will not be tied to a certain geographic
location, thanks to this great home-based business, I have been
researching and looking for the place I want to relocate to when I am
finally free from the J.O.B. I am making travel
plans. I am seeking out more life-changing education in
entrepreneurship via seminars and coaching. Now I can seek
out alternatives to improve my health. I don't have to
squeeze so much out of a little-bitty paycheck anymore. I have
breathing room. I am sleeping better. I am more
relaxed.
I'm not saying that this journey is easy. It's hard for
an employee to become an entrepreneur. We learn
how to work for someone else and do what we are told when we are an
employee; now we have to be responsible to ourselves and work for
ourselves. The mindset is
radically different. It's not something that's
unattainable – it CAN be acquired. It's a great
adventure! Sure, I get discouraged, but I am NOT giving
up! The alternative is too awful to contemplate. I want a
future where I don't have to worry about money, or about
how I am going to afford healthcare, or children, or food and shelter
(to get extreme). It has given me hope again.
That's important for everyone, to have hope for their future.
So that's why I revised this MySpace page. This has really changed my life and my future, and I would love to network and to work with like-minded people and to really
get the word out about a great way to secure your financial
future. So check out Carbon Copy Pro by clicking on the
banner, then email me here on MySpace. I would love to email you back
and to hear your story.
This layout was handmade with love by the folks at My space or yours? Go get one!
I am honored that you have accepted my friend request, thanks again. I hope you will get real value out of the my profile. Please don't forget to leave comments as it will mean lots to me. and also i love meeting and connecting with people from around the world especially yourself :)... yes yes feel the love hehe :) .
Thank you for adding us as friends Suzanne, please drop by and say hi often. Keep worshiping Jesus and watch the transformation take place in your life. If you hit the CD cover it will take you to our iTUNES page hey for a buck you can down-load a song and help this ministry as well as support Heidi & Rolland Baker at www. Irismin. org Hebrew 11:1-2,6 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Blessings Garry
Thanks for the friend add, reading your profile was a real pleasure as I could relate to so much...Robert Kiyosaki did exactly the same for me too!
And I see we have some friends in common - Julia Garufi is one of my awesome Supanova Superstars studetns and Mari Ann Lisenbe frist introduced me to my mentor Dennis Karganilla.
After joining Dennis's Ohana Secret prgram I've never looked back and I know he's working with a whole bunch of CCPro guys rigt now.
Make sure you get in touch soon Suzanne as I'm sure there's lot's we can talk about.
Hi Suzanne. Nice to meet you! Things are certainly keeping busy here in M Falls. It's good though. Kind of cold today, so some warm LA weather sounds amazing!
