You have Cancer. This is one of the most scariest times in ones life. This year almost 1.4 million Americans will hear the words "You've got cancer," and in that instant their lives will be forever transformed.

Carol and I could certainly say that our life has now forever been changed. I remember early last spring Carol was the one that was making me go to the Dr. for the colonoscopy. With my family history, we wanted to make sure that I was clean. So off to the show I go. I go in and sure enough 3 or 4 polyps were found and removed and sent to the lab. No worries the Doctor said. They came back negative. Whew. Calamity dodged.

So, we now go about our lives again. Carol with the many troubles that she has had remain our focus. For all intents and purpose, I was fine. Fast forward to October. Carol falls on the 21st. I had already gone to work. She calls me and says that she thinks she broke her leg. I rush home and go to the bedroom. Yep sure enough, Carols ankle is off to the side of her leg and out of the socket. Call for the ambulance and off to the hospital she goes. An evening surgery and a night stay and she comes home.

Meanwhile, she is telling the nurses that she doesn't feel safe going home. Sent home anyway. We are doing well , but with Carol, her determination to do things on her own is getting her in trouble. She doesn't like to be tied down.

It is now November, right around thanksgiving time. Carol falls again. When I go to check on her, she is unable to speak properly. After a quick non-professional assessment, I really thought she was having a stroke. I called the ambulance again. This time she was evaluated by several Dr's. One thing that they found was that she was really anemic. She was losing blood from somewhere. Now the search was on to find out where.

She was scheduled to go home, but caught an infection. This time 8 days in the hospital. If any of you have been in the hospital, you don't get much rest. The nurses are always checking on you which is their job. She was set up with appointment for an upper GI scope and a lower GI scope. It was the lower GI scope where they found the colorectal cancer.

At our hospital, the family member stays in the room, the bed is whisked away and the Dr. and or Nurse will call the room to give you updates as to what is happening in the Surgical room. I got calls all morning, she is now under doing fine, she is awake now and doing fine. It was the next phone call that I did not expect. Dr. Johnson called to the room. "I have bad news". Gulp. Carol has colorectal cancer. Oh boy I said. I just couldn't believe it and didn't really know what to say.

It didn't take but a minute to register. My wife has cancer! I got on the phone immediately and called her parents. They were out of town. Still One of the worst phone calls of my life. They literally just got home. I mean they walked in the door looked at the message machine and called me. I transferred the same sentiment the Dr. sent. Carol's mom picked up the phone, called me, and I said, I have bad news, Carol has colon cancer. I couldn't hold it in anymore and busted up like a big ole baby. I asked if they could come down. It was more of a support for me. Hmm, how selfish. My wife is just diagnosed with cancer and I need sympathy?

When Carol came into the room, she was still a little droggy from the procedure. She looked up at me and said, "Honey, I'm sorry but I think I have cancer." I will never forget those words that she told me.

They came down and it was a relief. I was actually scared. The fear of the unknown is a two edged sword. I did learn that Cancer can take over your life – it sucks up your energy and ravages your health. What doctors don’t tell you is how much cancer takes over your mind. The voice in your head asking “Will I make it?” The lingering doubts. The loneliness. This happens for both the one with cancer and the family member.

Finally Carol was allowed to come home.

In Dexter Yeagers book, Dynamic People Skills, He writes about an Air Force Pilot named Danny Cox. He quotes Danny in saying: "In my study of achievers I have found that the difference between the great and mediocre is one thing: The willingness to make a decision." If you think you've made a decision to build a great business and nothing is happening, then you did not make a decision.

It has been a year now since I have started my own business. This year has been a bit of a whirlwind of a year. I haven't exactly built the business like I was supposed to. I didn't take a daily action. I took action, but wasn't exactly the right action.

I put money into my business and thought I was doing the right thing. I learned that I might have been doing the thing, but I was doing the right thing. I did try to build customer volume but I realized that is only a part of the business.

What is the thing then? Part of the thing is patience. I haven't been exactly patient. I wanted the thing before the thing was ready for me. I think if I had been involved in the process before now, I might have made a mistake. I have built myself up now for success. Having travelled through a year of what I thought was a losing battle, I have come to realize that I have been working all along. I have been building up my knowledge, my personality, my character. I may not have gotten far in the actual building of the business, but I have built within me a person that can now accept a team of people that I can guide and mold into successful people as well. I am ready to move forward.

Don't stop at Fail!

"To succeed you must first improve, to improve you must first practice, to practice you must first learn, and to learn you must first fail."
-Wesley Woo

What is it that hits you when you have tried other things and still don't get it quite right but then like turning the switch, you realize what to do. A light-bulb moment. It is one of those moments when you finally internalize something you know on a theoretical level.

It was a moment today when browsing through emails that I realized an important factor could be missing. Perhaps I was missing a step in my personal learning. I have always been taught to Try, Fail, and Adjust. In the military, in business for someone else, and now in business for myself. That is the actions needed to succeed. After looking at the quote above, there may be a forth step. The quote says you must first practice whatever it is you want to be good at. Through practice you learn something, whatever it is. Before you learn to do whatever it is you want to do, you first have to Fail. Once you have gone through the process of Improve, Practice, Learn (Try); you get to the fail part. One has to realize that it is ok to fail. It is ok because it is part of the process. You notice that in the quote, it is listed last, but is actually the first thing that has to be done in order to succeed. Look carefully as it says, "you must 'first' fail. Think of it as a continous circle that never stops. Look down at your wedding ring. It is a symbol of unending love, something that really has no beginning or end. So in that respect, if you want to continually grow, if you want to start to grow, you have to put yourself in the eternal circle. "To succeed you must first improve, to improve you must first practice, to practice you must first learn, and to learn you must first fail", and then you must improve again. Don't stop at Fail!!

Communication

What is wrong with people in this world today? I really can't believe that we have gotten so disconnected that we don't speak to one another. Then when we do, it is not really communicating, it is nagging or complaining.

I remember as a youngster, my mother meeting with other lady friends either at her house or the friends house. They would talk for some time. We just don't do that anymore. I remember talking and playing with my cousins when we would meet as a family and we all would have a blast. Now, I have those same cousins that I haven't heard from in years. I have tried to reach out, no response. Are we really that busy in our lives that we just don't want to communicate to each other?

I would like to be more in touch with my cousins and their lives. I just don't know. Is it me? Do I not reach out enough? Am I thinking into this too much? Let me know how you feel with today's communication factor.

March Team Meeting (Don't Jugde A Book By It's Cover)

Wow, what a success our team is achieving. More tickets sold to conference than last conference sold at this same point in time. More 50/150 producers. Just great things. One thing that I received was that there are many naysayers in the world that tell you different negative things about Amway. Many people will think differently about you if you are associated with Amway. What you have to know about Amway is that your work and desire to make your business stronger comes from the heart. If you show people your heart, they still may not listen but you know that you are speaking the truth. Don't let other peoples judgement of you stop you in your tracks as a business owner. You may not be the best looking fruit on the tree, but you will soon make the best jam!! Look at the video as proof! If you have a dream, , , Go Ahead and dream it but dream it big!

Hot and Cold Days

The title suggests that I might be talking about the weather. Well, perhaps partly. I started a new action step to creating buisness for my business.

I have a new quote on my email signature and it reads: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

I got in this business in August. Things haven't exactly been poppin. I set goals for myself to reach certain plataeus. I wasn't able to achieve them. I wasn't being able to create very big gains. I knew I had to make a change. I am a talkitive person but when I get to know someone. It is then that I can talk my head off. I really had to put into action "me". In order for MY business to grow, I had to grow it.

If you plant something in the ground and never water it, will it grow? Not likely. You may never see fruits of your labor if you do not take care of the seedling until it bears fruit.

As a Christian, we too are charged to plant seeds and only in this case, it is God who will take care of the ground and assist the seedling in growing. We plant the seed and if done right, we can later reap the benefits of the fruit.

I had to create my own destiny. I started scouring the internet looking for opportunities. I found a few running events, 5k and the lot, a couple half marathons and a Mountain Bike Series. I chose to contact a few of these through the racing site and was contacted by the mountain bike series. On opening day, not really knowing what we were getting in to, my upline and another IBO head out to the event. We find that not only were there record numbers for their opening day, that on every Sunday they hold the race, they also have church service for the riders through a ministry called "Faith Riders". This was God's calling for me and us.

We left with 1 very strong possible IBO, 3 very good possibilities. We are working the plan now. I was hungry when we left at 1 pm and asked both Britton and Wendy Armstrong, my upline if they wanted to stop somewhere. We did and stopped at Taco Bell. Another fantastic experience. We met a family who we then talked with for almost an hour. A very good possibility for a family of IBO's here.

In this business, I have learned to continually plant seeds. I leave a lot to God and his ability to pick the right seed to germinate and grow. I remember one statement that my upline Britton told me, he said: "The only decision you have to make now is the decision not to quit". I have taken that to heart and will continue to press forward planting seeds as I go.

I have had mostly cold days in my business, but on the coldest day, 32 degrees, we went out to show our product and show our plan to those that needed it on the blustery day. Wow, what a Hot day!!

Job Update

I haven't received any new word about my job but I have changed offices 3 times. I am actually back to my original office with an "I don't know what is happening" attitude.

I am doing some work with my supervisor that keeps me busy but I refuse to do much work for the job that I am being released from.

I am not willing to shake up the workings of the current office in order for me to have some kind of ego. I don't do that. I would rather the business prosper, as that is why I was there, to work the business. Now, I don't know what I will do. Keep me in mind for the future!!