The following is an extract from my new book, coming soon on Amazon.
Written as a story, or memoir, with the biggest lessons learned after each every chapter. Read it all the way through as a story, or take in the lessons with the chapters.
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“You must take 100% responsibility for your results. When you do, magical things will happen, mentors will appear & invisible doors will open.” Nicola Cairncoss
What On Earth Is Wrong With Me?
Once upon a time, there was a very ordinary woman aged 35 who was 5’7″ in height, with mid-brown hair. She wasn’t fat and she wasn’t thin, although her tummy was getting bigger by the week!
This woman was not long married, just a couple of weeks ago, in fact. The ceremony had been held on the 21st of June, 1997 at Brent Registry office and the happy couple hosted the reception at their small rented house in Kensal Rise, London.
It had been an amazing day and even though they had to scrimp and scrape, they spent a little bit more on the things that they felt mattered and scrimped hard on the things that didn’t. The food and cake were amazing, and their rings were real gold, the groom had a nice suit and the bride a nice dress and a costume jewellery tiara. Everything else was homemade including the brick patio and marquee in the garden to extend the dining and dancing area.
Her husband was in the music industry and there were five DJs playing in the corner of the living room throughout the day, starting with jazz, then funky hip-hop, through to House and Garage. All of their friends and family were there, including their tiny daughter, born just two years before. The party had carried on until the wee small hours and this woman knew she would never forget it as long as she lived.
The happy couple had a week off after the wedding and, in lieu of a honeymoon, because they couldn’t afford to actually go anywhere, they had a nice week at home with their daughter. Her husband painted the living room and hall in their rented house which freshened things up a bit.
Money worries aside, this woman felt happy and content. She now had a wonderful husband, a beautiful baby girl asleep upstairs and another baby on the way. Her life was complete, surely?
Then the phone call came.
Her husband had gone back to work after his week off, at the exciting new digital radio dance station he’d been working at for just a few months. He was calling from there now.
The next round of investment they had been hoping for hadn’t come in time. Everyone had been made redundant. He was coming home.
The woman stood in the sunlit living room and looked in the mirror over the fireplace. She felt utter despair.
This was the third redundancy in a year and they were all out of money. How were they going to pay the rent at the end of the month, let alone put food on the table? How could she get a job to help when she was six months pregnant? Who would employ her?
Why did this keep happening to them?
Why did they only seem to be able to make as much as they needed and no more?
No, this was more personal than that.
It was not even “we”, it was “me” she thought.
“That’s it, you’re married now and even your husband is not going to be able to save you. He’s lovely but he’s not a prince on horseback with a shiny sword, ready to fight your money demons for you!
Her next thought was …
What is actually WRONG with me?
I’m bright, hardworking, willing to go the extra mile, and always working harder and smarter than everyone around me, but I seem totally unable to earn more, keep more, save anything or invest for the future.
Why do promising jobs get so boring so fast? Why do I end up leaving or being let go, why can I not stick at anything that is not owned by me?
Why do each of my little businesses that start so well, fail?
Why do I struggle with money ALL THE TIME while ‘S’, for example, sails through life just getting richer and richer? Sure, she works hard but so do I!
(‘S’ was one of this woman’s best friends at the time).
Then she asked herself a very important question. What does S – and all those other rich people out there- know about money and how it works, that’s different to what I know?”
And then, just like that…..everything changed!
Because while all the first questions were “personal, pervasive and permanent”, that last question was the right question.
The first three were pessimistic questions while the last one was an empowering, optimistic question.
What DID all those other seemingly ordinary people know about how money works, that was different to what this ordinary woman knew?
“There must be some other brown-haired, 5’7” tall woman with two babies and a new husband out there who was born in a small seaside town just like I did, who is rich now, but didn’t start out that way!
What does she know that I don’t?”
And that was where her journey started.
That question was the key that unlocked the door to the rest of her life. That question made the stars stop spinning, just for a second, and the heavens realigned.
Everything changed. Everything changed for me, yes, this is my story. I hope you enjoy it and more particularly, that the lessons I’ve learned will help you along your Entrepreneur’s Journey too.