What I Learned At Work Today...

Who’s looking for a better way to do life?

I AM, and that’s what Market America means to me:

A better way to do life!

Market America is a product brokerage company that’s been around since 1992. We’re Internet based and we specialize in one-to-one marketing. What does that mean? It means that we find out what people need and we deliver it to them; be it one of our amazing products, a product from one of our online partner stores, or an opportunity to earn a living that offers more rewards than a 9-5 day-job!

Why did I choose Market America? For a lot of reasons!

1. I’m tired of being bossed around. The title “Market America UnFranchise Owner” speaks for itself. I have the privilege of owning my own business, and it’s called an “UnFranchise” for a reason! Unlike a traditional franchise company, Market America handles all the “dirty work” of owning a business. As an Unfranchise Owner, all I do is focus on getting people what they need.

1. I’m sick of being broke, and let’s face it. No day-job will ever pay me enough. With me owning my own business, I can make as little or as much as I want to - but the point is, I’m the one who determines that. This is not a get rich quick type of business. I get what I work for: I work hard, I earn hard. I worker harder, I earn harder. That’s the beauty of this remarkable business plan. It offers no limits.

1. This is a proven business system. I don’t have to worry about scams, schemes and high risk. I don’t have to ask myself “will this thing work or what?” I have family members who are UnFranchise Owners, and I personally know other UnFranchise Owners, and they’re all making money. This plans works if you work it, and that’s what I love about it. Besides that, the products are amazing. I’m a huge fan of the Isotonix Vitamins! If you don’t know about Market America’s amazing line of products, be sure visit my webportal: www.theonlyplace2shop.com!

1. I have dreams! I’m an aspiring novelist. I’m through with not being able to devote quality time to my passion. I’m working 2-3 jobs at a time! I mean, I’m not trying to be the next John Grisham or the next Eric Jerome Dickey! I just want time to write, edit, publish and sell at least one novel successfully! I have other dreams too. Dreams of getting back into school full time, dreams of being debt free, dreams of home ownership, etc. Market America allows me to earn income that I won’t have to trade 40 or more hours a week for. That means I’ll have time to do the things I want to do, need to do, and love to do.

1. I no longer want to live a life of insanity. I know you’ve heard this saying: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So basically, I’ve been working a 9-5 day-job since about 2002. It’s 2009 now and my financial outlook is still the same: bleak. I keep trying to use the same method for financial freedom – which is to work as many jobs as I can to be able to pay down my bills, save a little, and eat out every once in a while. What kind of life is that? Maybe that’s enough for some people…but I’m sorry. I need more, and I know that as a Market America UnFranchise Owner, the possibilities of having a better way to do life are endless.

Maybe you can relate to everything that I’ve said. Consider everything you want and need in life right now. Consider your future. What will your life look like five years from now? If you don’t see it looking much different than it does now, then unless it’s already great, you could stand to do something different. Let Market America be your “something different”! If you’re serious about needing a better way to do life, then email me at christina@theonlyplace2shop.com!

You know what I’ve been learning? That it’s actually okay to follow your dreams. I figure if ‘Sallie’ is launching a new business and ‘Bobby’ just landed an agent and a movie role, then why can’t I write a freaking book? Why can’t I write a freaking screenplay? Why can’t I write a freaking stage play? Why can’t I start my own magazine one day? Why can’t I create a compelling series to be aired weekly on television someday? I am so tired of seeing other people fulfilling their calling while I sit watching from the sidelines, with dust all up in my face. Will I ever get my life together? I’ve been crying ‘aspiring writer’ for almost a year now, and I have nothing more to say than that. Aspiring. I should be in the re-writing and pre-sales phase by now. I should be awaiting my first book tour or something! But nooooo! I’m sitting here like the world’s biggest dummy, blogging and getting envious and tired of other people being bold enough to walk in their destiny.

You know what I’m learning? That I will be thirty, forty and fifty years old and still writing these obnoxious, whiney blogs. If I don’t get my act together, step out on faith, and trust that God will use me to do some really great things, then nothing will EVER change. The next time someone asks me where I see myself in ten years, I’ll be frowning and telling them, “Exactly where I am now.”

You know what I’m learning? That I’ll be thirty, forty, and fifty years old; still customer servicing, and still working overnight at the local Target. I’ll still be dreaming, wishing, hoping, and regretting, and that is NOT what I want. I was born to do so much more than all that, and I am so tired of wasting precious time.

I’ll be twenty seven next April – and something has to be different by then. It’s non-negotiable. Heck, 2009 is right around the corner, and something needs to be different by then. Hell, OCTOBER is coming up REAL soon and I’d like to have made at least a slight change in my life by then. I’m getting older, but my age is the only thing that’s been changing, and I’m literally sick of it. My heart aches, my head aches and my nerves collapsed a long time ago.

Perhaps I think it’s wrong to enjoy myself and make money in the process. Have I been classically conditioned to associate a day’s work with boredom, annoyance, dissatisfaction and agony? Like a robot I wake up, go to work, get bored to pieces and go home. It’s all I’ve been exposed to thus far. Has the daily grind become so redundant that I think it’s the only way work should be? I feel so stuck. I feel like I’m too deep in the abyss of job hatred to be set free. I’d rather sulk, moan, groan, curse, roll my eyes and complain all day than dig myself out of this hole. Have I become so discouraged with my current situation that I’ve lost all hope for the future?

I’ve heard the nasty comments about doctors and teachers who make crap compared to people in the entertainment industry. It turns out that the career of my choice lies within that industry. I too have complained about real doctors getting paid far less than the actors who play doctors on television. Not that I, the lowly screenwriter, will walk away as rich as an A-list (or B-list) actor. But who am I to claim that? Who knows where God will take me – but I’m sure it will be far, whether I walk away a millionaire or not. But am I afraid of being scrutinized for following my dream of becoming a successful, full-time writer? Am I ashamed that I might achieve more than I ever thought possible? Because that means that the actors who play teachers, doctors and lawyers in my screenplays will get paid much more than the people who hold those positions in real life…

Am I crazy? I’m surely feeling like I’m crazy. Why is it so easy for other people to dive right into their passions, while I remain stuck in the abyss of ordinary, mediocre life? How fed up does one have to be with their current situation before they feel there’s a need for change?

And the answer is.....

Work is what you make of it. Either you work hard to earn your money and gain the skills you need to move to the next level, or you sit around, slack off and vent about the job you're thankful for, but wish you never had. You either learn, grow and advance; or you don’t. I’m tired of complaining. It’s not even that I wish I didn't have my job. But you know how I feel about day jobs in general. They’re pointless. They only take away from my bottom line.

Needless to say, I am walking the path towards freedom; I've taken a step closer to becoming a published author. The last time I talked about becoming a professional writer, I'd cracked open a ton of writing books...but had no production. I was all talk, no action! Now I'm proud to say that finally, I've made progress. Now...the wedding planning business has been preoccupying me, and will until Saturday - the day of the big event. But after that, I will be back on the writing bandwagon. What I'm learning about writing and becoming a professional writer is that if I want it – I have to take it. It’s not going to be given to me, and it’s not going to mystically and magically appear out of nowhere. If I want the professional writer status then I have to earn the right to be one. That only comes from realizing that hopes and dreams alone will only make for a more depressed me. Hopes and dreams are a great start. We all should have them; I pity the person who doesn’t. But I pity more the person who hopes, dreams, and then shrugs their shoulders and returns to life as usual. I pity the person who returns to the same ‘ole, boring, dull, lifeless and pointless routine of the daily grind – which even the people who seem as if they love their jobs can barely tolerate!

So I’m learning that all the studying up I thought I was doing on different writing topics were actually postponing me. I am writing first, reading and correcting later. And it’s better to do it that way. What if I read all those books, and then start writing. Am I going to actually remember anything that I was taught in those writing books? Some yes, most no. When I write from my heart and leave my brain out of it, I’ll have a finished product in no time. Then, when I start to read and re-read through my writing books, I can go back through certain areas of my work and change things during the re-writes. So lately, I’ve been learning how to write now, read later!

            Event Planning…sounds fun doesn’t it? Being in charge of creating countless memories for countless people! Sounds like something I can handle. Sounds a lot more fun than…some of the things I’m doing now.

            I, along with my mother, my aunt and my cousin have decided to launch a business called Lancaster House Fine Catering and Event Planning. My mother and aunt have been catering for years, and my cousin is an event planning extraordinaire. We’re actually working on an event now, and my mother and aunt have a catering event tomorrow. Me? I’ll probably be a force in the administrative aspect of it all; since administrative work is my second calling, so to speak.

            I’m not replacing writing as my dream. I want writing so much that it makes me crazy just thinking about it! This catering and event planning business is an opportunity to do something FUN(!) while I’m waiting to become a full fledged, wake-up-in-the-morning-and-all-I-have-to-do-is write writer! Once I make it as a writer, who knows. I may still be an event planner just for the heck of it; because it is fun! Why give up on something fun? I mean, we’re in the early stages, LOL, so I could be floating on cloud nine right now, LOL. But still, I’m tired of waking up every morning and driving to a stuffy office when I could be doing something fun, creative, and something that will keep me on my feet and make me smile every once in a while. And it pays good money once you really make a name for yourself, LOL, as does writing.

            Anyway...since this is my “What I leaned at work today” blog – I feel obligated to touch on that subject. Allow me to say that though I’ve been learning here and there…my new focus will be any and all things I’m learning either about wedding planning, or about writing. Anything I discuss about my current job needs to be breathtakingly interesting, LOL, because from this point forward; I’m focusing on the future.

We know we want to write…but we don’t…….and why is that?

Because we know how much work it takes. We're not just writing in our diaries, people. We write in hopes of being able to make a career out of this thing. It’s not that we’re not interested in writing that we don’t do it.

We love writing with a vengeance. We wouldn’t be waking up every morning thinking about it, going to bed every night ready to dream about it, and sitting at work every afternoon wishing we were doing it. It’s not that we’re not interested in writing.

The problem, as I see it, is that there is a lot of pressure on us as aspiring writers. We have so much to think about – because like I said. This ain’t no diary writing. We’re seeking to make writing our career. Not that there’s millionaire money in writing fiction novels…unless your initials are S.K., of course. But there are some authors who are making an honest and comfortable enough living – and they put their all into what they’re writing. There’s a lot we have to focus on – beyond not making grammatical errors.

It’s hard work – harder work than our day jobs – to write words that we hope captivates a readers emotions, feelings, thoughts, and attention for about 200-300 pages. It’s a lot of pressure; and the constant fear of never being able to measure up debilitates our confidence in what we love, and what we want to accomplish.

There comes a point and a time when you must say bye-bye to the fear, the low self-confidence, the doubt and the hopelessness. One day, you have to say yes to it – because all those feelings might still be there, and you have to fight and pray your way through them. If we sit around waiting to stop being afraid, we can kiss our dreams good bye, and keep saying hello to our cubicles and minimum wages. I mean, if you’re going to make minimum wage, at least make it doing what you love – verses something you can barely tolerate. If you’re like me, writing is your dream, and you’re very afraid to approach it, and even more afraid to believe in it. But at some point, the pen has to hit the paper, the fingers have to hit the keyboard, and we’re going to have to do it afraid. Whether your dream is writing or something else, you’re going to have to do it afraid.