Welcome to another addition is of LEAD your life: Being in Arizona in September impacted me in a very full circle kind of way. I probably spent the hardest, yet most powerful and life changing year there three years ago. Its so funny how things align and opportunities open in what seems like the most in opportune moments, but if you run with them and you take some risks.... sometimes it pays off in big ways. Being back there in a completely different scenario than I was before, left me humbled and PRESENT in that moment. You See, we came to Arizona as a result of a layoff from Mikes job. The Layoff happened to coincide a month after purchasing our first home AND the market then crashing one month later. Needless to say, it didnt just rain on us. It poured. We knew our situation was urgent and that we had a long road ahead of us but Mike started to study for the GMAT in hopes of being accepted into Grad school and worked a dead end job to make ends meet while I worked two jobs to make up the difference. Mike studied NIGHTLY for over a year to get himself accepted into his first choice school. The #1 international business school in the world at the time. During this two years of hell as I call it, we also got pregnant with our little Knox Danger, and when he was just shy of 2 years old, we packed up and moved to Arizona. Moving to Arizona with a new baby, zero support system, leaving all jobs and source of income behind, our first house, our PUPPY and basically starting life over was difficult to say the least at this stage in life. As we dug ourselves into a six figure debt, lived off food stamps, state assistance and sacrificing the comfort of a home for a cockroach infested apartment, it didnt really seem like my cup of tea. But we did it. And even though its wasnt pleasant, and the road that weve taken to get where we are was anything but smooth and paved, we still got through that rough period in our life because we chose to LEAD It, and not just accept it. I started coaching for Beachbody shortly after we moved to AZ in hopes to dig myself out of the rut I was in mentally and phsyically. I had this big dream of paying off all this debt we were going into and being able to provide for our family. At the time it seemed so far fetched. I was traveling every six weeks back to Utah, 10 hours there AND 10 hours back with my two year old in the car to try and take on my hair clients to make our situation a bit more comfortable. 8 months into coaching, I was able to stop that and stay home full time and coach. The tremendous amount of blessings we received were so humbling during that year. We had the LEAST, but we gained the most. We tried to buy a house right after Grad School and I remember them doing our pre-qualifying for the loan and at the time, Mike technically hadnt started working yet and as an independent contractor my income as a coach actually didnt count because I hadnt worked there long enough. So on paper, with our house in Utah, and our student loans, our debt to income ratio was laughable. Asking for this loan would bring us to half a million in debt from assets and loans with seemingly zero income coming in. WOWZA Was that a HUGE load and burden staring at us in the face. Though on paper the situation looked bleak, Because of Beachbody, even though my income didnt technically count towards what we were bringing in, we were able to pay off a substantial amount of that debt to bring our ratio into LESS laughable, ( more like head shaking debt) ... We paid off undergrad loans, one of our cars and had money for a downpayment on this new home we were trying to purchase. VICTORY ONE- BEACHBODY! By some miracle, we were able to get into a house and once again change States and start a new chapter in our lives. For any of you that follow my posts on the topic of student debt or have been crippled themselves by that extra House payment youre giving to the bank each month for your education, you can understand how difficult it is to finally accomplish your goals, land a job and have to start your new chapter with this immense pressure and stress to pay off the debt of getting there. Ive voiced often how debilitating and unfair it seems to be to families that dont necessarily land that dream job post school, or have the extra to pay that debt down faster than the term of the loan. In fact, the debt is so debilitating, its more like a punishment you went to school rather than an admirable accomplishment. Whats worse... you are stuck with it for 15-30 years. This debt that we faced, even with being in a very blessed situation of landing a job out of Grad school and both of us working, was overwhelming. It would take away from Knox and his ability to be involved in activities and sports, it would limit our travel and ability to give back. It would DEBILITATE our lifestyle and by the time we paid it off, we would have spent over TRIPLE the amount we took out. #disgusting. It took us a year to sort of adjust to our new schedule, surroundings and financial situation, but in January of this year I took a hard look at our student loans and realized that the interest we were paying a lone was enough to stifle our life for a long time. Though wed paid thousands in 2013, the balance remained the same. We HAD to find a way to eliminate this burden and free our family from dragging this six figure debt around for the next 15 years. As aggressive as wed been to eliminate this debt, Right then and there my focus changed and it became my EVEREST. In July of this year, we OFFICIALLY paid off our six figure student loans. in Seven months, Beachbody allowed us to pay off 100K+ in debt and rid our family of this burden forever. Not only has coaching changed my life personally, inside and out, its now put my family 15 years a head of schedule financially, opened up income that would have been vacuumed by some bank. Through sacrifice and hard work, Beachbody has once again elevated our lives to so many new possibilities. Instead of that interest going to someone else, that money will go to our kids, retirement, investments, starting new businesss, giving back and empowering us to LEAD our life and provide more opportunity to those we love. The reason for my sharing this is to simply celebrate possibility. Every person has their own story and their own journey, the victories and success are defined in so many different ways. For us, this was LIFE CHANGING. Never in my life would I have imagined becoming a Coach of any kind, but if I hadnt... how different would my life be today? Im so thankful for the opportunity to help others for a living. This opportunity is REAL and if you build it with sincere intent and with others on the forefront, not only can you create a new life for THEM, but for yourself. As Dewitt Johnson said at leadership during the Key note Speech.. Everything in life can be found in one breath. You take it all in... and then you give it all back. Beachbody has now given me the freedom to give it all back and though these victories were huge for us, they arent unique, they arent reserved for the gifted, the extraordinary or the privileged... they are here for the taking to anyone that believes in PEOPLE. Believes in their ability to become better, become stronger, and be MORE. Its for those that simply never give up. Its for those who choose to LEAD their life and LIFT Others.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 17:27:02 +0000
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