Increasing Your "Net Wealth"

Okay… that may only be partly true but how many of us really think that what we do is what defines us as a person? Is what you earn a living at the same as what you think your calling in life is? Recently I was listening to MLM Great, Paul Orberson and he said [paraphrase] “you cannot make your living with your calling because it’s a conflict of interest – built in” …. HMMMM, I thought, how interesting.

I have always thought that most of us are trying to find our calling and that when we did find it, that is what we would DO for a living if at all possible. So I started thinking about Paul’s words. Maybe it was semantic flip… maybe we confuse our calling with our talents. Just because we are talented at something, we may not ever make a living at it AND we may also not really ever consider it our “calling” … By the same token, if we are lucky enough to earn a good living (however we personally measure that goodness) by doing something we enjoy and have talent at… maybe that allows us to actually pursue our “Calling”.

For example, I happen to LOVE animals. I have always thought that, if time and money were not an issue, I would have a rescue farm for all kinds of animals. But there’s, as my Dad would say, “no money in it”… which means something has to pay the bills – hopefully the something that pays the bills is something that I excel at and enjoy as well! I really enjoy creating companies. I am on my third company in under three years. All have been real estate related. All have experienced levels of success and levels of failure. I have learned from each one and suspect I will continue to do so. I have a talent for creating infrastructure and for branding and marketing. At least, I have experienced success in those realms and I enjoy it – so I can be pretty sure that these talents will continue to grow and improve and expand and will create an income that will allow me to pursue my calling of helping animals.

The great thing about that scenario I just described is that it’s set up to allow me to focus on the animals without worrying about or trying to find away to finance their needs – those things will be taken care of by the businesses that run and create income and residuals for me and my family and, ultimately my calling and my husband’s and my daughter’s.

When I went to college, I started as a business major and HATED it. I nearly flunked out my first semester. My father told me to study what I loved instead – and when I did my grades shot straight up and my college experience went from one of misery to one of mastery (my degree, by the way, is in Anthropology). Now the downside to this course of action was that it was very difficult to find a job after graduation. Three years later I realized I needed to go back to school and, again, started considering Business (an MBA).. but I would get so discouraged looking at the curriculum. One day, I found something called “Public Health and Epidemiology” PERFECT! It was just like my concentration in Biomedical Anthropology and it made sense to me! This time I was able to parlay my degree in to a series of career successes but, as I mentioned in my first post, I found out fast that I hated BUSINESS in the traditional sense. It’s so restrictive. There’s no real sense of joy in that kind of work – no creativity – no real opportunity to create a lifestyle that makes sense either.

So… today I don’t define myself by what I do or what I have learned specifically. I think of myself as just a curious person. I’m an idea tinkerer, animal lover, a wife, a mother, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a woman, a dreamer, an artist, a comedienne, a writer, a thinker…. What I do is create and run businesses in areas that interest me – real estate, internet marketing, network marketing. My business models are not revolutionary to anyone other than me but they are mine. They allow me freedoms and they WILL allow me to reach goals, create a future, ensure a legacy and to pursue my “calling” …

I guess one other thing I might consider doing is pre-blogging so you don’t get my stream of consciousness every time… but that sounds too much like work to me !

Peace~
Leanne