My Children Exist Because of Michael Jackson

On the night of MJ death I donned my highschool Beat It jacket one last time and took this pic.

I know it's not theologically sound to say that my children exist because of Michael Jackson, but let me explain.

I was a Michael Jackson Freak. That's what people called me, that's how I behaved,and that's the name I enjoyed being called. I spent my allowance on every little MJ paraphernalia that I could get my hands on. I was smart enough to save some of the items even though I had NO CLUE that Ebay would be in existance 25 years later! Where's my digital camera?!

Anyho, when I was 11 I BEGGED my parents to let me go to a Jackson5 concert and they did. After the concert, a kid had the towel that Michael had thrown to the audience, and he teasingly yelled throughout the parking lot, "Michael Jackson towel $200!"

I ran up to him, "PLLLLEEEEASSSSSEEE, CAN I TOUCH IT!!!" Yes, I was one of those screaming, crying, snotting, hair pulling, hyperventilating fans, even when watching him on television in my own living room. This day my hysterics carried over from the concert right into the parking lot.

He let me "touch" it, and I rubbed the towel all over my arms and face, becoming intoxicated by the musky smelling, sweat-drenched towel. For years I would go out of my way to track that smell. Every guy who came within 7 feet of me with that smell would have me all over him, greedily inhaling him, dazed and starry-eye asking, "What are you wearing?" And finally at the age of 16 I was able to afford my own bottle of Pierre Cardin! I wore it everyday!

Anyho, as we drove back to Chicago, I sat in the backseat absolutely exhausted from the entire ordeal. I reviewed the day and determined that I was A FOOL!! How could I have Michael Jackson's sweaty towel in my hands and NOT run away with it!! I kept asking myself, "Why didn't I turn and run?! Why didn't I run away with the towel?! I should have ran!! Oh my goodness, how stupid of me!!"

So emotionally distraught was I that I vowed then and there in my 11 year old mind that, "I will never, ever walk away from a situation saying, 'why didn't I?'. I will always do what I want to do!" That childishly expressed thought is better interpreted as, "I will live a life of no regrets" and it has been my motto since I was 11.

So at the age of 21 I started regretting the fact that I did not go to college and enrolled at Loyola University (I chose Loyola because Mark Peterson, a good friend, told me I'll never get in.)

At 23 I started mourning the fact that I was working full-time and only going to school at night. I wanted to experience campus life. So I enrolled at Tuskegee University.

There I found a young man who proposed to me within months of my arrival. We married within months of his proposal. Our first kiss was shared when the Minister pronounced us man and wife and our first child was born nine months later.

All because of a Michael Jackson concert that I went to when I was 11 years old.

You've Been Summoned by The President

President Obama has called us all to help rebuild our community and our economy by volunteering our services. On this website, United We Serve, you can find opportunities to serve based on your interests and location. You can also register your projects so that others can find you.
As busy as I am, I love the idea that we all are responsible for the rebuilding of our nation and that we do that by something as simple as volunteering. Even the title is motivating, "United We Serve".

Take a look at the 3 min video of 1st Lady Michelle Obama! http://www.serve.gov/
What Are You Going To Do?

How Do You View Life's Disasters?

Thomas Edison work in the same laboratory from 1885 until it burned down in a fire in 1914. To be precise, 13 of Thomas Edison's laboratories burned down on the same day. Because the buildings were concrete it was assumed they were fireproof; therefore it was insured for only $238,000 even though there was more than $2 million worth of damage.

The next morning Edison stood outside surveying the wet ashes. He is quoted as having said, "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew."

Can you maintain that kind of attitude in the midst of chaos and disaster? This was not an opportunity to "say something wise". Years upon years of hard work, top-secret experiments, and documentations was GONE. He didn't respond this way because he knew he would be quoted years later. He lost MILLIONS. But he chose to look at it from a different angle! "All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew."

3 weeks later he delivered his first phonograph.

How do you view life's disaster?

Which One Of These Motivates You?

According to psycologists there are nine basic motives to which everyone responds. These nine influence practicially every human thought or action. They are:
Love
Financial Gain
Self-Preservation
Sex
Power & Fame
Creativity
Anger & Revenge
Fear
These circulate, consciously or unconsciously, in your mind and control what you choose to do and what you refrain from doing.

As a woman who has decided to go against the grain of society and stay home with your children AND try your hand at entrepreneurship at the same time, what is motivating you? Be honest with yourself; it doesn't matter how "spiritual" you are, these nine motivators are part of the human psyche and keep us going, for good or bad. When you are conscious, awake, self-examining you can make these work out for your good.

I'll confess, my entrepreneurial pursuit is fueled by:

LOVE-Love for my children and their children, love for my God-I gotta do what I've been gifted to do, and love for women (not that way!)-to be such powerful beings,too many of us struggle alone, I've got to help!
FINANCIAL GAIN-Our one income household only allowed for the basics.
POWER & FAME -Not from this world, but I do want my great-grandchildren to talk about how, "Great-Grandma, Lady T, prayed and pursued her dream to put a stop to the generational curse of poverty and addiction in our family! Now we have business owners, doctors, senators and a U.S. President in our family! She's an awesome, amazingly wise spiritual woman who's still driving around and helping people at the age of 102!"
FREEDOM-Because of my business I have to travel. It's now more than a "I want to" and therefore (somewhat) relieves my guilt about leaving.
ANGER & REVENGE-It's been implied by society and even uttered by some that I can't be a millionaire; oh yeah, I'll show you!
FEAR-If I don't live out my calling, if I don't do my part to lift my children and theirs from a conformist mindset, if I don't help the women that have been divinely assigned to me... then God help me. God help them! Have mercy on us all!

Do you feel that strongly about your business? Do you see that you are tied to others and they need you to be in position when it's time to meet? Do you understand the affect that your entreprenuerial journey has on you, your children and your children's children? Are you in tuned to the things that are motivating you?
Or is it just me?
Please share what motivates you, it'll help other women better understand themselves. If you're on Facebook just click the link so that your comment shows on the blog.

Do You Tweet?

I do, but I have to admit I haven't lately.
Why not you ask?

Because it's so great! Twitter is wonderful for making connections with people but I love it more for all the wonderful information that's available! Someone is always posting some type of report, some interesting news, a free downloadable thingy, an article; SOMETHING that sends me running around on the internet looking, laughing, reading, researching!
I'll login to tweet some encouraging quotes or my words of encouragement-that's all I tweet, because life is good-and the next thing i know it's 1 hour later!

As entrepreneur moms we have to be selective with our time. If the activity doesn't help you get closer to your goals cut back on the time you spend on it or cut it out altogether.

I had to cut Twitter out all together. But I think I'm strong enough to go back in without getting distracted by all of the information...I think...I am. You can find me at http://twitter.com/thebizcoach4mom

How do you handle additive, time consuming, social networking activities like Twitter?

Top 5 LinkedIn Groups for Entrepreneurs

LinkedIn is the professional version of Facebook. It is an excellent professional networking resource. Many people use it as a job search tool; and entreprenuers use it as a powerful resource in the development, launch and success of their ventures.
On LinkedIn you can join up to 50 user-created groups from a list of thousands, absolutely free of charge. Not only do these groups allow you to connect with group members who could become future partners, customers, investors and employees of your business; but you also have access to the group discussion boards and news sections which provide more networking opportunities, answers to your questions and great advice!

Here are the Top 5 LinkedIn Groups that I believe will be beneficial for entrepreneurs.

1.Start-Up Phase Forum Community for entrepreneurs and small business owners in the startup or startup phase of their own businesses.

2. Bright Ideas and Entrepreneurs A forum for entrepreneurs from all over the world to share bright ideas and insights.

3. eMarketing Association Network - Largest marketing community on LinkedIn for all professionals interested in new internet marketing ideas, strategies and tactics.

4. LInked Business Strategists - Network for professionals exchanging knowledge and helping entrepreneurs and startups find and evaluate the right strategies for their businesses worldwide.

5. Entrepreneur’s Network - Community for current and aspiring entrepreneurs offering a place to find answers, ask questions and connect with people in this space.

If you haven't already, join LinkedIn today and connect with me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/thebusinesscoachformoms.

How Should I Handle This?

There are times when I'm not feeling the love; times when I give so much I'm not trying to give anymore.

My children all have their agendas and needs. My husband, God bless him, works 10-12 hours a day in restraurant management. His first love, calling and passion is Pastoring. But since the congregation is still growing he has had to go back to the restraurant to supplement his income.

This means that I'm primarily the one who chauffers, delegates, disciplines, cooks, cleans, oversees, yells, and takes care of the house, children, garden, landscape and homeschool. (He does handle the groceries and finances.) All of this in addition to my coaching business. So on Saturdays I want to leave the home to go sit at my other office-WholeFoods-and plan my week, veg out, catch up on some work....reathe. He usually has that same plan for himself.

Most of the time our oldest son has something going on, so he's not home to babysit and because we live away from our family we don't have a family member to drop them off. I don't like asking friends to babysit our 5 kids all day on a Saturday. (Yes, I'm gone ALL DAY, from noon until 8pm, when I can get away with it

So the question is how should we handle this? I don't want to alternate weekends and to be honest I don't want to compromise-which is a very RARE stance for me. So every Saturday I leave and don't care. Am I being selfish? Leave your honest comments.