This past April I marked 30 years in direct sales. The day came and passed with no fanfare, or hoopla, just me looking back thinking that it wasn't possible that 30 years had gone by! I remember my first day with Tupperware like it was yesterday! How could it possibly be 30 years ago?
Now, through the years I have trained, coached and hopefully motivated thousands of women and men and honestly enjoyed just about every minute of it! But, as with all good things, this too shall come to an end. In fact, I ended it today! Close your mouths!!
Yep! After a great deal of soul searching I decided it's time for me to follow my heart and do something I have always wanted to do - start my own business! So, I'm doing it! As of today I AM A BUSINESS OWNER! Wow! That's kind of scary when I see it in writing!
The business is called Next Steps Motivation and Marketing and I will be offering my services in Motivational Speaking, Executive Speech Coaching, Life Coaching, Business Coaching, and Team Building. I will work with companies as well as individuals and will draw upon my own life experiences as the foundation for my work. No organization is too small or too large - my passion is working with people and I'm going to do it on my terms! It's so exciting I can hardly stand it!
I have to tell you where the name came from ... I was talking with my son Chris about starting a business and debated on what it should be called. We toyed with all kinds of things, but nothing was hitting home. Then Chris said, "You know mom, I can't help but think about when we lost Michael. The hardest thing for us to do was to take the next step without him. We couldn't do it alone, so we turned to each other and to those who love us. It seems like the next step is always the hardest one to take alone." And with that it clicked! Next Steps Motivation and Marketing was born! We worked on a logo, and when you finally see it you will notice 3 nautical stars included. I chose to include these because both Chris and Andy have a tattoo of 3 nautical stars representing three brothers, one with a halo around it in memory of Michael. So including the stars is my way of acknowledging my boys who have been with me for every next step in my life. And I'll bet you can't guess what color the logo and letterhead is! HA!
Now that my resignation has been accepted, my Next Steps are to get a final business plan together, get my website designed, get the word out and get started! It is all so incredibly exciting!! I know I have a ton of work to do and there are certainly no guarantees that the business will be successful. But regardless of what happens, I'm taking my Next Steps with pride and enthusiasm! And as my dear friend Amy put it, doing something that I love will allow my soul to sing!
