Archive for the ‘About Amy Howard’ Category
R.I.P BooBoo Kitty
Monday, August 17th, 2009
BooBoo Kitty at 17 years old
Today’s post has nothing to do with network marketing or MLMs or anything to do with sales and marketing. Today’s post is about my cat, BooBoo Kitty.
The reason I’m writing about her is because we had to put her to sleep on Thursday and I miss her and since I have this blog, I thought I would write a little post about the cat that I spent the last 20 years with.
I still remember when I first saw her. My first husband and I were in a pet store in Germany and saw this little black kitten with the greenest eyes and a funny little nose. I just had to have her. Actually when we asked the pet store clerk what the sex of the kitten was, they told us that it was a male. I looked but I didn’t see anything that said it was a male but the kitten was very small and very black and I just figured I missed something. Besides, I was young myself and not very well versed in cats like I am today.
My husband and I brought our little black kitten home and wondered for a few days what to name him (we still didn’t know that she was a she). After a few days of getting to know our new family member we decided to call her “Blitzen”. “Blitzen” means “lightning” in German and our new friend was certainly quick as lightning.
There is nothing like having a new kitten in the house to entertain you. Actually, that was partly why we wanted to get a cat in the first place. My husband and I were both active duty military and station in Germany. When my husband went to the field, I was alone and when I went to the field, he was home alone. So, we both wanted a cat to keep us company. Besides, having a cat is a lot cheaper and a lot less work than having a child. At least that was our reasoning at the time.
It wasn’t until we took our kitty in to get neutered that we found out our cat was in fact a female. You want to talk about a worried momma. When she came back from the vet after her surgery, I watched over her like she was my kid. I barely got any sleep that night because I was so worried that something was going to happen to her. It didn’t, she was fine. I was the wreck. It was about this time that I had started calling her BooBoo Kitty. It just didn’t seem right to call her Blitzen anymore.
Our first Christmas we got a real tree (it was the first real tree that I had ever had in my life) and I still remember how great it smelled and how many ornaments she decided to play with and inevitably break. She loved to steal the bows from the packages. In fact, she would bring you a bow from a package so that you would throw it. She would chase after it and bring it back to you so that you could throw it again. She was the first cat that I had ever heard of playing fetch.
The first fight that my husband and I had was over our cat. We had come home with a bunch of groceries and while we where going back and forth to the car, BooBoo had gotten out. I blamed my husband for leaving the door open and he blamed me. We thought that she was gone. It turned out that she had found her way upstairs to our neighbor’s apartment door. She was just sitting there like she was waiting for us to open the door to let her in.
Her favorite toy when she was young was a balled up piece of foil. My husband and I used to get DingDongs all the time and they were wrapped in foil. She would sit and wait for us to finish eating our pastry so that she could chase after the foil. They don’t wrap DingDongs in that foil anymore. I wonder why? When we moved, you should have seen how many foil balls were under the sofa.
BooBoo Kitty taught me a lot about being a grown up and being responsible for something other than myself as well as teaching me to clean under the sofa from time to time. I’m going to miss her.
If you notice, I only talked about my BooBoo Kitty when she was young. That’s how I saw her all the way until the end. I never thought she would live to be 20 years old. She outlasted my first marriage and many moves. In fact, I would have to say that BooBoo loved going to a new place. Whenever we moved, she would have a chance to investigate a new place and scope out the best resting spots. It would take me a week or two to figure out where “her spot” was going to be so that I could put a blanket there to catch her hair.
I hope wherever you are now BooBoo, you have a nice spot in the sun. If you see your pal Slick, will you tell him that I miss him too? Rest In Peace.
My First Network Marketing Company
Friday, November 7th, 2008The first network marketing company that I got started with back in 2004 didn’t like to consider themselves as part of the MLM community. They liked to think they were in direct sales. It didn’t really matter to me what they called themselves. I was hooked from the moment I started to use the product.
I have to tell you that the product came to me at exactly the right time for me. After going through a divorce, being fired, and a few other things that were being thrown at me, I was ready to end it all. Thanks to my very first network marketing company’s product I survived. It actually changed my life or should I say that I was able to change my life using the techniques taught in this product.
I Became A Full-Time Network Marketer
It was because of my experiences that I decided to be a full-time network marketer. I attended every training class held by my network marketing company and I did everything that they taught me to do. I followed (rather blindly) everything the leaders of my company said to do. I did it all: I pestered my friends and family, I did the 3-foot rule, I passed out flyers and business cards, I called so many opportunity seeking leads that I practically wore out the numbers on my phone and I also attending every company event that they had.
Mixed Results
My results after a year were mixed. I still loved the product and believed that everyone should have it and use it. I met some amazing people at my network marketing company’s events and I still am in contact with many of them. I was also in big debt. I knew that it would take money to make money and I knew that if I wanted to grow a good sized home based business so that I could enjoy residual income, I would have to spent some money and some time until it happened. Well after a year, I had spent more than twenty-five thousand dollars and a year doing what I was told and I hadn’t made ONE RED CENT!
I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my business wasn’t growing. My network marketing company said that if I just kept doing what they said to do, I would be able to make money from home.
I Took A Step Back
I finally took a step back and decided that I wasn’t going to call one more opportunity seeker or hand out one more flyer until I figured out if those techniques were working for anyone else. What I discovered was a little shocking. All of the people that I spoke with that used these same techniques were getting the same results that I was.
At this point I asked myself – why was my company teaching these marketing techniques, if they gave such poor results. Here is what I found out: Most if not all network marketing companies know that if you join the business, you will probably sign up two new people before you quit working your business. Your MLM company also knows that even if you quit working your business, there is a 16% chance that you will continue to use the product or service.
So from a network marketing company’s point of view their business will continue to grow using the same old tired strategies but more than likely your business will not get anywhere.
Finally I Got Some Real Answers
One of things that really ticked me off about my upline is that whenever I had a question, they would either not be available to answer or there answer would be for me to just dial more leads. It wasn’t until I found The Dream Team that I finally got some real answers.
The Dream Team was the answer to all of the questions that I had been asking from the very beginning. If you really want your home based business to grow, then you have to stop doing what your upline tells you to do and start treating your home based business like it’s a real business. Let’s face it, there were a lot of things that I did just because my upline told me to do them. If after I tried their method, and had a negative result, it would be really stupid to continue to do the same thing and expect a different result.
Anyway, I am glad that I finally have found The Dream Team. They saved me from having to give up my dream of working from home. I hope this article has helped you to realize that if your business isn’t growing at the speed that you would like, it may not be your fault. Of course if you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting. So stop doing the same thing, expecting a different result. Try something different.
