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Home › Blog › Columnists › Elaine Love

Elaine Love

Elaine Love’s entrepreneurial career spans over 27 years in several successful businesses. She is the top female producer, a member of the Executive Committee and a member of the prestigious Ethics Committee. She received a full page featured article in EMPOWER magazine and Consultant of the Month in Network Marketing magazine. She is a true leader who not only has come from zero experience to success but is still achieving success. Work with a leader who walks the talk.

Acres of Diamonds

By: Elaine Love

Russell Conwell was first an attorney, then a newspaper man, then a clergyman. It was while he was a clergyman that a group of poor young people came to him and asked him to instruct them in college classes. He said he would have to think about it. That sparked the idea for a college for poor and yet deserving students. He was so inspired that he traveled the country giving lectures. With his efforts, he almost single handed raised enough money to start Temple University.

What story could be compelling enough to raise millions? He told the true story of an African farmer. The farmer had heard about diamonds being found in Africa so he sold his farm for virtually nothing and wandered the African continent for years in search of the gleaming gems. Finally discouraged, broke and sick, he threw himself into the ocean and drown.

Meanwhile back on the farm, the new owner was watering his mule in a stream on the property and saw a rock which gave off a pretty blue and pink light when illuminated by a ray of sunlight. He took the unusual rock back and put it on his mantle as a curiosity. One day a friend stopped by and picked up the rock. After examining it, he almost fainted. When he asked the farmer if he knew what he had found, the farmer replied, “a piece of crystal.”

They went back out to the stream and found another and another and another. What the farmer had found was the largest diamond in Africa. The farm was literally covered with diamonds, not as large perhaps, but covered nonetheless. It turned out to be the largest diamond mine in the entire African continent.

The first farmer had owned acres of diamonds free and clear. Diamonds do not look like polished gems in their natural state.

We have acres of diamonds all around us every day but they require polish to reveal their total beauty. Most people do not recognize them because they come disguised in work clothes.

Look around your life. If you will just do a bit of research, put the word out, look at the opportunities around you, you will find your own acres of diamonds. Owning your own successful home based business is the treasure most of America and Canada are actively searching to find. If you already have it, congratulations. If not, why are you waiting? The home based business industry is not only the fastest growing industry in decades, but it is creating more millionaires than any other industry in history. Home Based Business is a 427 Billion Dollar Industry.

Look at your life, your blessings, your family, this wonderful country we live in, be grateful for the acres of diamonds you already possess. Don’t forget your children; they are a precious diamond waiting for your tender polishing. Why not work from home and spend more time with them.

Look at yourself. You have talents and abilities that are your own personal acres of diamonds. Every person has some special talent which is superior if we will but develop it. We each have within us our own acres of diamonds.

It breaks my heart to see someone give up on themselves or give up on owning their own business. Why? Some of scared they won’t be successful so they never start. Some are too settled in the status quo of having a job and letting someone else make the decisions and take the risk. No risk may feel safe but it certainly will not provide for your future. Would you rather be safe and broke or step out of your comfort zone and dare to reach for your dreams? Some would rather spend the money on happy hour rather than invest in themselves and their future. How about you? Where are your priorities? Are you ready to discover your own acres of diamonds?

I challenge you to look for your own acres of diamonds. Remember that diamonds do not look like diamonds in their rough state. It takes some shaping, polish and buffing to bring out the true luster. Your own marketing, speaking and leadership skills take that same shaping, polish, and constant buffing. You do that by being on training calls, reading books that make you stretch and grow, listening to constructive materials and attending live events. This is your future. We know the only way to create true wealth and security is to own your own business. If you think that a job will do it for you, how has that worked out for you so far?

There are acres of diamonds all around you waiting for you to recognize and develop their potential.

Elaine Love
M3 Certified Master Consultant
Millionaire Mastermind Group
Yes2Money.com

Posted on: Sep 09, 2008 11:46 PM

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Elaine Love

Target in the Dark

By: Elaine Love

Life without goals is like aiming at a target in the dark and expecting to have good results. If you don’t care where you are going, it doesn’t make any difference where you land. When Alice in Wonderland asked the white rabbit if she should go right or left, the rabbit gave a puzzled look and asked where she wanted to go. When she replied, “I don’t know,” the rabbit grinned and shrugged “then it doesn’t make any difference which direction you turn.”

Goals determine your direction. Goal setting is the absolute common denominator of all successful people. They are persistent relentless goal setters. Therefore they are top goal achievers.

There was a study done with the graduating class of 1953 of Yale University. They asked the graduates how many of them had specific written goals and only 3% did. When they interviewed the surviving members of that class 20 years later, it was discovered that the 3% who had specific written goals were worth more in financial terms than all the other 97% combined.

Note an interesting correlation here. Only 3% to 5% of all businesses succeed. Only 3% to 5% of people set specific written goals.

Goals relate to all aspects of your life: personal, financial and professional. Goals are both tangible and intangible in all 3 areas. All goals must be SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. The more specific the goal, the greater the likelihood you have of attaining it.

There are several ways to determine your goals.

First, list the 5 things you value most in life.

Second, In 30 seconds or less list your 3 most important goals. Dr Joyce Brothers refers to this as the quick list. Whatever you write in 30 seconds or less is likely to be top priorities for you.

Third, what would you do if you won a million dollars tomorrow? What would you buy? Where would you go? What would you do first, second, third?

Fourth, if you knew you would live in perfect health for exactly 6 months and then immediately die, what would you do? This tells you your true priorities in life..

Think about these answers very carefully and then compare the answers. If the answer to what would you do if you only had 6 months to live is not consistent with what you would do if you won a million dollars then you have a conflict in your goals. You are attempting to go in different directions at the same time. That never works. These answers should also align with your 3 most important goals. If they are consistent, great, if not do some serious soul searching about what is truly important to you in your life.

You will always be more successful doing something you love. One of the best ways to determine that is getting in touch with your feelings. When do you feel the best about yourself? What puts a warm glow in your heart? Where do you feel most fulfilled and appreciated and happy? When you can clearly identify that one factor, I can tell you your entire philosophy of life. That one aspect defines the key to your soul.

Now combine that with the goals you have defined above and you know your one true calling and mission in life. Everyone has one special talent or ability or area of excellence. Using these simple steps will refine your focus and direct you to your special area of excellence. When you align your goals with your special talent, you can accomplish anything you desire.

The mere fact that you can clearly define your goals and area of excellence is an absolute guarantee that you can have it. How quickly it materializes depends on your actions and your continued focus on that objective. If you can clearly define it, write it and see it as accomplished in your mind, you can absolutely have it in your reality.

Be specific, laser focused, consistent and persistent and you will never again be aiming at a target in the dark.

Committed to your success . . .

Elaine Love
M3 Certified Master Consultant
Millionaire Mastermind Group
Yes2Money.com
303-284-0514

Posted on: Aug 17, 2008 11:30 PM

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Elaine Love

Time Trap

By: Elaine Love

Examine carefully the things you want most in life and prioritize your day accordingly. The biggest waste of time in the world is working very hard at something which should not be done at all. The second biggest waste of time is picking up and putting down a task many times and never actually finishing it. How many of you have projects in the garage or around the house which you started and left partially done? Maybe you spend an hour or so on it one day and then do not touch it again for a week or even longer? Do you realize you spend at least half of your time setting up and cleaning up the project which leaves almost no time for actually completing the task? McKenzie in the “Time Trap” talks about single handling everything. Start a project and see it through to completion before you start anything else. Your efficiency goes up, your productivity goes up and your wasted time and frustration go down.

The single handling of tasks is absolutely crucial in your home based business. It is far too tempting to get up from your desk and go to the kitchen, toss in a load of laundry, or make personal phone calls. All of the temptations are surrounding you at all times. Any excuse to avoid picking up that thirty pound phone and making your business calls. There are so many conveniences by having a home based business but there are also the distractions and excuses. Guard your time and your productivity very closely. This is your business, not your hobby. You can easily discover that you have wasted the entire day and accomplished nothing. Taking one day off once in awhile is not a bad thing but forming a habit of it will be a disaster. Waste too many days and you will have a “non-profit business from the discomfort of your home.”

There are several things you can do to effectively manage your time. These techniques are important whether you have a job, a home based business or simply want an organized life. The first technique is to make a list of the projects, tasks, calls, or activities you need to accomplish the next day. Arrange them by priority or by time. For instance if you have a tight time schedule and you need to attend training calls at specific times, call prospects back at specific times, and go to the bank during business hours, you may choose to plan your day in time blocks. The super important factor here is absolute focus during those blocks of time. If you schedule calling back your leads from 9 am to 11 am then spend those 2 hours laser focused on calling your leads and not answering silly personal emails or cleaning your desk or making coffee. Call your leads. Absolute focus on that one task only and accomplish as many productive calls as possible in that time frame. If you schedule a time block to work on your marketing or a time block to work on your personal development, then do only that during that time slot. Be very protective and focused during that “golden time.”

Make your list the night before or plan your week on Saturday or Sunday and stick to the plan. An organized life is always more productive.

You may also arrange your list by priority of task. Decide the most important thing to be accomplished and rank it as number one. Select the second most important and so on. Finish number one before you even look at number two. Remember single handling. One way to do that is to say “If I was to be called out of town for a month tomorrow and I could only do one thing before I left, what would that one thing be?” Circle it on the list to show it as top priority. “If I could do one more task, and one more task. . .” Perhaps set up 3 or 4 or 5 tasks and rank them in order of importance. I can not stress enough that you MUST make a list, plan and stick to your plan.

If you have a job, your boss will dictate some of your time and priorities. As the owner of a home based business, YOU must set your priorities and manage your time. You are the CEO of your own company. You would not want an employee to waste time. As the CEO of your own business, you need to hold yourself accountable for the use of your time.

Committed to your success . . .

Elaine Love
M3 Certified Master Consultant
Millionaire Mastermind Group
Yes2Money.com

Posted on: Aug 17, 2008 11:13 PM

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