Goal Achievement Month - Chapter 4

STEP 4: Follow your plan and adjust or pivot when necessary

I realized that the path to achieving my goal was through building a business. I always believed this to be true: you can either be a star in your own movie or an extra in someone else’s. I always knew I was a superstar. The first action I took was to study about money and business from the greats in the field. I learned about the American financial system, most importantly how to keep more of the money I made, because I realized that making a lot of money was not sufficient when it fell through my fingers. I learned how to make the right financial decisions, how to send out a dollar that would bring back friends, not one that would follow its friends away from my pocketbook.

I also had to learn a whole new business language and to understand what business ownership actually meant. I started like many others with a home-based business in direct sales with a well-known network marketing company. It didn't get me too far on my way to financial independence, but it gave me the first basic knowledge about business, and I'm grateful to this day to my mentor who showed me the first steps. Especially because I had a huge disadvantage over Richmond natives - I didn't have any friends or relatives in the city who had known me my whole life. So I had to learn very quick to become good at talking to strangers.

When I was offered a position as an independent contractor with a life insurance company, I jumped at the chance of making my own hours and writing my own paycheck, based on the effort I was willing to put in. I doubled my income and within less than a year, achieved my first major goal I had set since arriving to the US: home ownership. 

I understood that knowing what to do from reading books was not enough, unless I acted on that acquired knowledge. Therefore, I built a few solopreneurship businesses, some more successful than others. I learned from each experience and I adapted. I felt stronger with each lesson and new doors opened with each pivoting moment. The field that attracted me was always the financial one because I learned that by sharing my knowledge in this field with others looking to build businesses in other fields, can lead to their success and set them on a path to their own financial serenity.

The hardest lesson to digest, when talking to other women about their finances, was the fact that most women are uncomfortable even thinking about their money, let alone talking about it. I made it my mission to help women (and a few good men) build better relationships with their money.  

STEP 5: Teach others how to achieve their goals, and partner up for accountability