Entrepeneur- The seed

If you had asked me, this time last year, if I had heard of a man called Brendon Burchard I would have said "Who?" But last year September my friend Patricia had some tickets to Success Seminar 2013 at the Excel Centre in London and she invited me along. At the time it was just a free ticket to an event that I took advantage of. Who knew the impact it would have. 

Now I didn't know what I was letting myself in for but I was still open.  It has been a year since my redundancy and through that lens you look at things a little differently. Month by month my confidence and purpose seemed to ebb away.  This invitation came just after I had failed to get a note taking job and I had hit a low. Not rock bottom but a confidence low. I thought "how the hell! You can’t even get a note taking job yet you want to go hear about success?" It was while I was reeling from that incident and subsequent depressed feeling that the invitation came.  I remember saying to myself "you never know what can happen". 

I remember there were many speakers but the two who impacted most were Les Brown and Brendon Burchard.  When I stepped into the Excel centre I was sceptical. You know the atmosphere was like those American sales pitch adverts you see on late night TV. Don't act like you don’t know! I mean that pitch that is suggestive leading you to reach for the phone and make that impulsive purchase! However something about both men connected with me but at the time Brendon resonated something deeper. He spoke about online marketing and branding. Now that was strange to me and not for the reasons you might think. I was used to promoting and using other people's brands but not my own. 

During the last fifteen years or so people have said "you need to promote what you do",  " if you don’t promote yourself no one will" and "why haven’t you told more people about what you do?" My ‘brand’ had often been lost amongst the branding of others.  Or I had just been 'happy' to accept being part of someone else's brand. But things change.  I knew that I was good at promoting others but not myself.  I knew if I wanted to change. The difficulty was how to change.  I needed help.  Brendon offered that help.  He spoke about things I knew little of but in my heart I had a dream so I got up and decided to move into where I wanted to be.  

Actually I jumped up to reach the table, they had indicated, so that I could take up the offer. I joined his Expert Academy. I wanted the business mentoring opportunity, tickets to other events, CD's , access to web seminars, membership forum and lots mores. I was going to be part of the Expert Academy, part of a club and I even got the chance to meet the man. ;-)




Beverley Wong & Brendon Burchard 2013

Part of the package was the opportunity to attend another event in London January 2014. I went alone.  I didn't know just how brave that was.   What got into me?  Either it was 1) the fact that I had originally spent money on products that I hadn't fully taken advantage of or 2) I had got to the point where I was fed up of waiting to do things with other people. I had got into a little habit of putting off what I wanted to do. I needed to stop that. It's scary enough doing something new but doing it on your own. Whew! 

When I got to Earls Court I realised just how big a step I had taken.  At first I thought I had ended up in a 'cult room' with overly zealous believers! Then he did an exercise and asked people to stand up if they had heard of him only in the last 6 months. A small number rose up me included. Then he asked those who had heard of him before to stand up and the room exploded! Then he took a straw poll of where people had travelled from to come and see him. The UK was underrepresented. There were people from all over the world who had travelled in to the UK to see this man!  I sat down and listened. I got up and participated. I got up and talked. I got up and did the exercises. I rinsed out everything I could get. I remember him saying that that today some things we would listen to and take action whilst others we would hear and do nothing but that the choice was ours.

I left with loads of contact numbers, business cards and email addresses  with the intention to get things going. To date I have kept in touch with one person more consistently than all the others. One woman who I thought was 'strange' shared with me a vision /picture which she said she felt drawn to give me. It was that of a Lotus. At the time I politely said thank you and stepped aside and made a mental note that I wouldn't keep in touch with her! When I got home her words were still ringing in my ears. So I got on Google to research what this flower was about and found myself stunned. In this small encounter she had rocked my world. I now apologise to her for thinking she was a little ‘strange’.  Strange is what is needed sometimes. Check out the following for a meaning of the Lotus


II was in a murky muddy place (if only she knew). Her image/vision had spoken directly to my situation. I felt hope that no matter how dark things felt it would become beautiful.

Since that event not a day has passed where I have not thought about what I have wanted to do. I have talked about it. Linked up with a few people that have either listened, given advice, given their time or their talents to help me in my development.  I have thought about how I am going to do it and what I needed to do. My thoughts have changed along the way. Ideas were researched and researched. Then I changed to a new concept of the same idea. That then changed and then I stopped. I got caught in the world of work and money. This was needed at the time and I am thankful for that period. 

Change has taken place in my personal world: some happy some sad. I have been busy volunteering for a number of years and then suddenly found myself as Chair of Governors for a school and found myself leading at a pivotal time in the school’s history. I found temporary part time work supporting an organisation in its quest to open several new schools by September 2014 and I interacted daily with parents seeking better educational opportunities for their children. However as much as I was committed to completing these works I always felt that yet again I was putting my dreams on hold (I know you know what I am talking about).  The truth is during these times quite a few things were taking place. These experiences confirmed for me that it is time to embrace my potential wherever it leads. I have spent time clearing or de-cluttering my life which is preparing me for the future. Les Brown said “feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death……”.  I may not know what the total outcome will be but I am taking steps in faith so that the doubts will starve to death. Witness my step in faith. The dream that has been in my heart is materialising.
beating heart bride images from galleryhip.com


It is now October 2014 and a part of my dream is alive! My website is now a reality   http://www.beverleywong.com/ 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First Day Sequel

First Day at School

Killing me softly: Maun Valley Citizens UK