It was damn near impossible they say…
People often ask me… what kept you going Tiffany. I wish I could tell that it’s something magical or long-winded, but it’s not.
I’ll keep it simple.
My dreams kept me going. There are wants like… “I want money” I want a lot of money or I want $10,000.00 but money does not give me a feeling… it’s what I get to do with that money that moves me.
At first is was what I could do for my kids… 10 years ago, life was so different. Most days I would look up and wonder how was I going to make it all happen. I had two small children that I was absolutely crazy about. Things were just hard. I couldn’t feed them every day. There wasn’t enough money to do that. As a single mother, I had to put them in pre-school. Each kid at that age was almost $900.00 a month! With my education level and experience at that point, the most someone was trying to pay me was $10.22 an hour. Sounds good huh? After all, it was 40 hours a week.
DO the math with me.
$10.22 x 40 hours a week = $1635.20 ( Before they take out taxes)
Preschool alone would have been $1800.00 a month
I am already behind by $200 +.
At this point, I hadn’t paid for rent, lights… I hadn’t paid for food or anything else for that matter.
We were broke. I had no options. I felt trapped.
I refused to let this continue and I started to dream. Dream wildly. Even though those around me… couldn’t see my dreams or they didn’t believe in them.
My dreams began to carry me, my focus was never on the money itself. But what the money would do for my little family.
For me, it meant two things: Options & Freedom.
I know that some say money doesn’t equal happiness. I totally disagree. Money for me meant freedom and freedom was pure happiness.
I never enjoyed a minute of being broke.
It was the emotion of what it would be like to buy gifts at Christmas or take my babies to put them in their own decorated rooms that moved me. The anticipated excitement of seeing the look on my babies faces drove me to create that kind of income that would allow me to live the life I wanted. A life with choices.
Here is where I started in my thinking… that allowed me to create the life I know have.
1. I didn’t allow my-self to think small.
You can’t think small. Regardless of what you don’t know yet, don’t have yet, or your skill level. Those three factors are not as important as you think. They are secondary… for me, my will was strong enough. I needed to believe in me.
2. I didn’t care about other people's opinions.
I couldn’t. Every person I knew at that time, told me that where I wanted to go was impossible. Many at the time thought I would never amount to much. I was young, single, mom with two kids and no degree. They either told me that it wouldn’t or couldn’t happen for me. None of their opinions were valid. You want to know why.
Because none of them were living the life that I wanted to live, none of them made the kind of money that I wanted and none of them were living a life they loved.
3. I got very clear about exactly what I wanted & WHY.
It’s the why that drove me. Not what I wanted. I was emotionally attached to the what… I was attached to the WHY. My why involved emotions and feelings. Getting my emotions involved forced me to take action and start moving in the direction of my what…. I became fixated on what it would feel like to see those little faces on Christmas morning… that thought for me what everything.
