Tag Archives: 2011

Happy New Year–Time For Goal Setting

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GoalsI love the start of a new year because it gives one time to reflect on the previous year and see how they measured up to goals that were previous set.  It also allows one to start fresh, set new goals and or readjust previous goals that were set in years previous. 

Later this afternoon Lindsay and I setup our goals for 2011 and I think it’s the first time we really sat down together and planned our goals as a couple instead of just sorta setting goals in passing or doing it separately.  We made it fun and instead of doing it at the house we headed out to our favourite Starbucks with the iPad and brainstormed all the goals we wanted to accomplish this year.  We had personal goals, marriage goals, financial goals, and business goals.  I actually really enjoyed it because it helped set our goals together and helped envision what the next 12 months will be for us.

Most success books you read will suggest that you create goals for yourself and not only just setting goals but setting SMART goals:SmartGoals

I highly suggest this year if you’ve not done this before to take out an hour of your weekend, head to your favourite coffee house and set some goals for the year.  I think you’ll be quite surprised at where you end up in obtaining those goals.  Lastly to help you stay on track and make it easier to obtain your goals keep them up on the fridge or in your office.  They need to be kept visible so that you know what your shooting for, otherwise life will get in the way and you’ll stand the chance of forgetting them.

May 2011 be a very successful year for you

2010 Year in Review

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UnisexBabyI figure after a full calendar year it’s time to do a year review of what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve knocked down personally.  I think the biggest news as most already know is that Lindsay is pregnant and as we move into our second trimester we are getting more and more excited about that.  Later in January we will start to get the baby room in order by painting and decorating in some unisex colours as we are not finding out what sex the baby is until it’s born.  That’s our decision because we feel it’s honestly the last natural surprise left in this world and we want to be surprised.  We’ve had a few names for over a year now if it’s either a boy or a girl so we are covered there.  If it looks like none of those names then we are screwed! lol.  I guess that’s a good problem to have.

The second biggest accomplishment this year has to be getting our personal finances in order.  Having the shackles of debt almost removed feels damn good.  The best thing about what we did with our debt is we took care of it 100% with our own changes and getting some additional perspective, it had nothing to do with any money earned from Amway.  That in it’s self is pretty darn awesome because if we can have 90K in consumer debt along with a mortgage we probably should have never had and pay that down to only $7K by the end of this year, then anyone can do it.  Additionally because we have been on budget and have been paying down debt we were able to have a cash Christmas this year.  So as January and February hit we don’t have to worry about the credit card bills that so many people worry about in these months.  We’ve decided to live WITHIN our means and instead of buying those fancy gifts for friends and family we cannot afford we set our self up a budget for Christmas and stuck with it.  Try it next year, you won’t be sorry.  So what did we pay off in 2010?

  • $30,000 Home Equity Line of Credit Debt
  • $15,000 Car Loan, our 2006 Mazda 3
  • $3,000 Line of Credit ($7,000 Left)
  • $265,000 Mortgage by selling our Condo before the housing market tanked. 1 month after we sold our condo it went down by $20,000.

So we still have a bit of debt left in the original $10,000 line of credit we had when we started paying it off.  It has the lowest interest rate which is why it’s the last to be paid off.  We have $7,000 left to pay off starting in 2011 and plan to have that taken care of right away.  Once we are 100% debt free early in 2011 we plan to start saving up to buy a CUV for the new baby as we need something a bit safer than our Mazda 3.  Lastly as we will be debt free once we start coming into larger bonus cheques or into extra money, we will be able to bless the people we love in many different ways.  The biggest reason why we cannot bless the people we love right now is because we have debt, any extra money we come into we will always look to ourselves and pay that down first.  Without debt we can take our eyes off ourselves and for that I’m VERY excited for.

The third thing which really could have come in second place was us being able to give Lindsay the freedom from her job.  I will go back and change my original statement that’s she’s retired because really she’s not, but what she has been given is the freedom to choose if she wants to work or not. She chooses not to obviously because now she can take care of herself, sleep in as much as she needs to, and do whatever she wants during the day.  Trust me, she’s busy during the day and is not just sitting at home watching Maury.  I fully believe that because she’s been home since the end of August it made it a lot easier for us to get pregnant in October when we started trying in September.  When you have no stress by work, and are relaxed and enjoying life then getting pregnant is much easier.  Sure some people could have other issues, but I’m pretty sure stress is one of the worst things for you.

FreedomFromJob

Lastly our business has really taken off this year with the dedication, hard work, and drive to have something more in our lives than just average.  As I’ve become more successful in my primary daytime job I’ve noticed something that most people who are successful in the traditional job are, and that’s working more.  Since I was promoted to a manager in the fall I’ve been working longer hours and if I look at other people in similar positions they work longer hours as well.  So where does that leave me in the traditional sense?  Sure I’ll get a promotion, maybe paid more money yet when the heck do I have the time to actually do anything with my family?  Spend more time with my family?  The opposite is true, I am actually spending LESS time with my family the more successful I become at my traditional job.  Don’t believe me? Check out your boss, or your boss’s boss and see how much they work, in more cases than none they work much longer hours then you do.  That was a bit of a tangent yet relevant.

We continue building our business with our amazing team and as we start working with the team of amazing people they are bringing on it honestly fulfills us in so many ways.  We’ve seen relationships come close together, we’ve seen engagements and we’ve seen people knock down their own debt all by our example.  I love how we get to impact people in ways a traditional business can never do and that is just one of the many serendipities we get from this business.  Our eyes are never ever on ourselves as we continually help people through this amazing business model that Amway has. We also continually get closer and closer to World Wide Dreambuilders and the traditional values they uphold year in and year out and understand it better and better.  It’s an organization unlike any others that honestly cares about the people it works with, that’s why it’s been around over 30 years.

We’ve maintained the utmost integrity while building our business and I believe that is one of the main reasons why we’ve become as successful as we have.  Yes we work with people and sometimes that is the hardest thing to work with but at the same time it’s also the most rewarding experience.  We will continue to build our business with honesty and integrity and that will set us apart from all the other type of opportunities that are out there. 

2010 has been a great year and is just the first of many amazing years for us and our family.  Once 2011 hits I’ll do another blog entry on what we are looking forward to in 2011.  I wish all you and your families much success and prosperity in 2011, make it the best year ever.

goodbye-2010-hello-2011