My company, Grit To Glory, was born in 2018. It sure would be great to say that I just put on a coaching hat and that money started raining down. 

That is not what happened. In my first year in business, my company revenue was $2,700.00. 

Even during my humbling season, I still had some arrogance that God was working out of me. So I  made this number mean something that it didn’t. 

I equated this number with my worthiness and my value.

God positioned me for a time that would require me to slow down and heal. I can remember feeling so disgruntled with myself. I didn’t want to slow down, and I didn’t want to recover. So I tried to keep shoving things down, self-medicating my pain behind the scenes with alcohol, my vice of choice, and executing as I had often done in the past.

However, healing is precisely what God would require me to do to unlock the next levels. 

I didn’t want to lye idle. I would mourn and...

I was a one-hit-wonder.

That’s what some said. I loved the profession that is Network Marketing. I was freaking good at what I did, too—all heart. The truth was, though, I was NOT a washed-up has been. I was a hurt, traumatized, broken-hearted human being.

My passion and love for the profession and all it had done for me was still a conviction that burned true. I had a couple of entirely false starts, but a wounded warrior is what I had become.

In the words of Ted Lasso, I had developed a case of the YIPS. I loved the game, but I had lost my mojo. So some pony up and ride onto the set of another show, and hats off to them.

I couldn’t seem to do that.

Options. Freedom. Security. Independence. These values were still very much a part of who I was. But, my ego was bruised, my pride was pierced, and my family needed income. So desperate, I applied to so many jobs.

Finally, I got one lead for a sales job in educational publishing from such a dear friend. After three...

Everything must go. We were broke.

Our journey as Network Marketing Professionals, what a ride that was. Yes, full of ebbs and flows. It was packed full of joy, mistakes, money, and so many lessons. I’m going to share more with you on that soon. But as I alluded to in the previous post, it did come to a close.

Heartache and uncertainty played the lead in this scene.

There were red flags—a whole truckload of them. Today, I won’t go into all of it. That is a story for another time. But I have to ask, have you ever experienced an inkling that something is coming, but even so, it would be impossible to feel prepared?

I advocate for Financial literacy education in schools. It should also be taught more within the network marketing profession. When we had no choice but to pivot, we had a 911 financial emergency. We had done very little to diversify our money. So all the financial backing we had to come to depend on was in one swift swoop gone.

We sold and liquidated...

When I had prayed that prayer in bed that night, God, Please help me. Could you send me a lifeboat? I did not expect it to manifest as a reconnection with someone I had not seen since my Kentucky grade school days. But that’s what happened.

This individual invited me to look at some health supplements and a business model they were scaling to earn additional money.

I said yes, but if I’m honest, I was playing nice. I intended to look and then hard pass, ya know? I didn’t have any desire to become a product peddler. I mean, hello, I had left my Avon’s calling days back in high school.

Well, God had a different plan. So, after a few phone calls, I began actively brainstorming creative ways to find the capital to start and open up my own profit center to consume and share these company’s products.

In the beginning, I was trying to make some extra money for ice cream, trips to the zoo, new outfits, or fun minor upgrades to the girl’s rooms.

But, I...

11 years later, I still have a hard time even looking at a Burger King Junior Whooper. But here I present you a replica of my very own mansion. Bought and leased with my very own tears, grit & determination.

When I first reported to my duty station, I was still pretty much mac & cheese broke. Unfortunately, Military housing didn’t have a house ready for me yet, but they did offer some discounted army on-base hotel lodging. So Dan and I took them up on that.

Honestly, we weren’t expecting that additional expense, so we had to get creative with what we could eat.

In those days, You could buy a junior whopper burger for $1.00. So we splurged bought 25 that was one whopper a piece for breakfast and one for dinner. That would get us through the week.

Needless to say, I don’t really visit Burger King much these days.

Finally, I got a call that our house was ready) I remember walking through the entryway of our section of the fourplex with absolutely nothing...

One night I lay in a homeless shelter- lost, hurt, alone, angry, afraid, bitter, and very uncertain about my future.

All things aside, deep within me still burned a fire of determination to rise and become something bigger and better than the current circumstances I found myself in.

I was determined that this reality would be temporary. It would not and could not be my ultimate truth.

Thoughts were loud and rampant in my mind- refusing to be another young woman statistic on food stamps and in government housing.

Late at night, I laid there wide awake, usually with tears rolling down my cheeks- searching for answers- feeling helpless, not knowing what the correct answer would or could be.

During the day, I would have conversations with some of the other women that shared the shelter with me. The saddest part was that many of them were there for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time. They were in a cycle.

During my alone time, I would question- How? How does the cycle get broken?

I was so determined...