I LOVE My Jeep....And What It Symbolizes

I'm a car girl. I like big, powerful vehicles. I like driving them. I loved selling them back in the day. It was fun to see the looks on some customers' faces (guys, you know who you are) when the sales girl could talk "car". 

And I'm not just any car girl. I'm a JEEP girl! That's a category all by itself. We have the "wave". And tire covers that say "Don't follow me. You won't make it." Bumper stickers that say "You can go fast, but I can go ANYWHERE." T-shirts that say "Jeep hair. Don't care." We have clubs and rendezvous and jamborees and rallies. We get new bumpers for Christmas and light bars for birthdays and are THRILLED!

I currently drive a 2020 Jeep Gladiator Mojave. The first desert-rated midsize truck. And I love it. Yes, it gets about 17 MPG in town where I actually do most of my driving. It's my daily driver. And it's probably not the most comfortable vehicle on long road trips. But it says all there is to say about me. Which is why I drive it. That's why most people choose the cars they drive, if they have the option.

The truth is a car is THE ultimate status symbol for many people. There is this popular notion that bigger, more expensive cars indicate that you are more financially successful than the average person. And that is actually probably true. It does take a fair amount of success to be able to drive a $60K - $70K vehicle.

Now before you misunderstand, let me explain. I don't drive my Jeep so I can show off my pricey vehicle. The truth is there are a lot of cars in this area that cost way more than mine! This is Walmart country. The Walton's can buy a fleet of my Jeeps if they want. This is Tyson country. J.B Hunt. Dillards. George's. This little corner of Arkansas is home to some very well-off folks!

No, when I say I drive my Jeep because of what it symbolizes, I'm talking about what it means to me. I grew up poor. I didn't even own a car of my own until I was 24 years old! And then it was a Mercury Lynx station wagon so I would have something reliable to haul the kids around in. It was a practical decision. Decent gas mileage. Room for kids and pets and groceries. And most of all...affordable. 

The Lynx was followed by a string of equally reliable, practical, AFFORDABLE vehicles. None of them were exciting. All of them served their purpose. But the car girl who also loved being outdoors always wished...just a little...for her dream car. You guessed it. A fully-loaded Jeep Rubicon.

If you have followed me for a while then you know that dream came true finally, a few years ago. I did own a 4-door Rubicon for a couple of years. But when I heard the Jeep truck was finally going to be a reality, I knew this was the vehicle I had been waiting for. And so on Black Friday 2020, I got the ultimate Black Friday deal. A brand new Jeep Gladiator. It's not the Rubicon. Because it's not the status symbol that's important to me. Driving the 4-door Rubicon helped me see I didn't actually need all that came with it. My life at the moment does not include a great deal of rock-climbing, extreme trail-driving travel. The desert-rated Mojave is much more suited to my actual needs.

No, it's not the status of driving a $60K vehicle. It's the fact that I worked hard enough and learned enough and persisted long enough to be able to buy the vehicle I wanted. It's a daily reminder to ME of what is possible if you just keep pushing. If you don't give up. 

I love my Jeep. I love going off-roading with my family. (Check out video from most recent trip to Palo Duro Canyon). I LOVE when someone tells my husband they like his vehicle and he tells them it's not his, it's mine. I love being able to throw it into 4-wheel drive on the rare occasions we get that much snow in Arkansas. I love knowing it will carry me and my family just about anywhere we need to go. I love knowing that whatever life on the dirt road brings, we can get through it. 

Most of all, I love knowing that my own hard work and determination got me where I am today...riding around in "Mo" (named after my granddaughter Morgan), with the top off and the music playing, feeling the sun on my face. Jeep hair! Don't care! Oh, and don't try to follow me. You might not make it!

Drumroll Please! Announcing My Most Popular Posts of 2019!

I love sharing my most popular posts of the past year.  I am always excited to see what resonates with my audience.  What interests them the most.  It gives me a real peek into your needs and helps me create content that is actually USEFUL to you!

I look at what posts got the most traffic over the year.  And it always amazes me.  First, because it doesn't always correspond with the list published on my blog.  And second, because sometimes the post wasn't published that same year!  Those are the ones I love the most.  It lets me know that I shared something valuable and timeless.  And that is a dream come true for me!

I blog on all sorts of topics.  Mostly business.  Some would say others aren't strictly business related but I think there's an element of entrepreneurship in there somewhere.  I try to share interesting people I've met, valuable resources I've found, and everything I have learned over time.  And that diversity is almost always represented in the top 10 list.


Are you curious to see what caught everyone's attention this year?  Me too!  So without further ado, here are my Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2019!


1.  The number one post of 2019 was actually published in 2018 but continued to strike a chord with lots of people.  And I'm not surprised.  I introduced you to the woman who can help your children or grandchildren go to college for FREE!  If you haven't met her yet, you will definitely want to check out Free College? Yes, Says Elizabeth Wallace.  If you have a college-bound teen in your family, this is a must read.


2.  I Know What I Bring To The Table.  I really do!  And I laid it all out in this post from 2018 that still resonates with people today.  Your experiences in life can make you or break you.  I chose to use mine to help me grow.  What will you choose?


3.  If you want to know where I learned how to make money, look no further.  The third most popular post this year was What My Parents Taught Me About Money.  You might be surprised.  It's may not be what you think!


4.  You know how I feel about multiple streams of income.  Everybody needs them.  So I loved the interview I did with Terri Dennis.  She is the master of multiple streams of income.  Apparently many others liked it too because it was the fourth most popular post of 2019.  Check it out.  Terri Dennis Talks about Multiple Streams of Income. 


5.   One of the reasons you chose to work from home was to spend more time with your family, am I right?  But you also have to actually work from time to time!  My fifth most popular post helps with that dilemma by sharing how to Make Your Home Office Family Friendly.


6.  Just so you know...my book collection now rivals Kerry's!  Build a Better Business with This One Simple Habit.


7.  If you have a side hustle that you want to turn into a full-time gig, I have a suggestion for you.  Set up a referral or affiliate program.  If you're stuck on how to begin, #7 gives you some steps to help you Start an Affiliate Program.


8.  My tribute to my dad touched a lot of hearts, making it the eighth most popular post of for 2019.  Lessons from My Dad I still carry with me today.


9.  I love introducing everyone to the amazing people I meet and work with.  Apparently you like it too.  Three of my top most popular posts were profiles of really cool people.  You've met Elizabeth Wallace and Terri Dennis.  Now meet Al Glover.  You can read all about him here.  Sometimes It Pays to Step Outside the Norm! Meet Al Glover!


10.  Last but not least.  This post has made the list every year.  That tells me a lot about what is happening in the industry.  I wrote this back in 2013 and six years later it still hits people where they hurt...objections to our business model.  If you are struggling, check out Network Marketing Tip of the Week - Overcoming Objections. 


Which post on this list is your favorite?  I know which ones I had the most fun writing!  Or is there one you love that didn't make the list?  Share your faves in the comments. 

Lessons from My Dad

Just back from a much needed vacation at the beach.  It was perfect.  Off-season so no people to share my beach with!  And our condo was just yards away from the ocean.

Hubby and I spent a lot of time walking the beach and talking.  And on one of those walks during  one of those conversations, we started talking about my dad.  My dad suffered from Alzheimer's in the last years of his life and so lived with us for 8 years.  I will always be eternally grateful that he was able to spend his days at home with his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids instead of in a home.  I am thankful that Dearl and I were by his side at the end.  Not everyone has that.

My dad taught me a lot about life and business.  Of course, I didn't realize it at the time.  I guess we don't always appreciate our parents until we are older and wiser.  But it wasn't easy to appreciate him. 


You see, he had "issues."  Or at least that's what I called them back then.  He was what was termed back then as "slow".  So growing up in a town where most of the dads I knew were business owners or doctors or teachers made it difficult for me to admit that my dad was a janitor.  How embarrassing!


He also couldn't drive.  His vision was so poor he couldn't pass the eye exam for his license.  So he walked back and forth to work every day no matter the weather or time of day.  Again....embarrassing.  Seeing your dad walking in the rain or snow when everyone else's dads drove nice cars.  And it was made even worse by the fact that he always wore some ratty old coat.


Often at night he would stop at the local tavern on the way home for a beer or two.  (Not much entertainment in the town I grew up in so the local taverns were the hangout places!).  Bullying is not a new phenomenon.  And it doesn't only happen to kids.  Often he was the butt of many jokes and pranks by others there.  How humiliating!  And what made it even worse was he didn't seem to mind.  He thought these people were his friends!


Yes, I grew up totally embarrassed and ashamed to be his daughter.  Because I only bothered to see him through the eyes of those around us.


Fortunately I had the opportunity to see him with clearer vision later...and that's when I realized all that he had taught me.


My dad worked every day.  It didn't matter if it was snowing, raining, 100 degrees in the shade, 2 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon.  He walked to work EVERY DAY.  Because he had to provide for his family as best he could no matter what.  Which is also why he wore that ratty old coat.  He made sure my sisters and I had good coats.  And then what was left went to my mom.  He taught me that family comes first and that nothing is more important than taking care of the ones you love.  Which is why he came to live with us and how I first started my quest to work from home.  Without that lesson I might have just put him in a home when my mom died and never embarked on my current path.


My dad wrote poetry.  Beautiful poetry.  He wrote poems commemorating every important event of his time.  One of my prize possessions is a collection of letters written to him  by the people he sent these poems to.  Presidents.  Kings.  Astronauts.  Political figures.  Showbiz people (as he called them).  He taught me that everyone has a gift to give.  Which has helped me grow an amazing team of people I might otherwise have dismissed. 


Although he wrote many poems, he was never recognized locally for his work which always bothered him a little.  But he kept writing and one day it happened.  He was so proud when he asked me to come home for a visit and to wear my uniform because they were dedicating a monument to veteran's in our local park and on the monument was a poem he had written.  At last, he was being acknowledged in his own town.  He taught me to keep reaching for your dreams no matter what and to never ever give up.  A valuable lesson to remember during all those times when nothing was working and I was not sure where my next dollar would come from and I just wanted to quit.


I already mentioned how he never got angry with the guys who would tease him or play jokes on him at the tavern.  He always said they were just fooling around and didn't mean any harm.  He taught me to always look for the best in people.  Which has helped me build wonderful friendships with people I might have otherwise avoided.


My dad taught me that there were always those less fortunate than we were and to give what we could freely and without expectation of reward or acknowledgement.  If you don't know why that is an important lesson, Google Ray Higdon and Wealth Wednesday.  Sorry Ray, but my dad beat you to it!


My sister and I look quite a bit alike despite the 10 year difference in our ages.  And sometimes, the Alzheimer's would cause him to confuse us.  This was always entertaining because for some reason he could always remember my husband, Dearl but didn't always recognize her husband, Mark.  So there were many times when he was visiting her that he would do everything from shutting the door in Mark's face to trying to take his seat in the car or at the table.  Because you see, Mark didn't belong there.  When he had me mixed up with my sister, then he expected to see Dearl and when he didn't he knew that something wasn't right.  And like a good dad, he was going to protect "me" from this strange man who was trying to get in our house or our car.  This is more a lesson for my kids than for me.  No matter how old you are, you will always be my kids and I will always try to protect you.  So deal with it!  But he also taught me to laugh at my own foibles.  Because he would eventually remember Mark and then we would all have a good laugh at the lengths he would go to keep Mark away.  And my dad laughed hardest of all.  Today, I think my ability to laugh at myself is one of my greatest gifts.


It wasn't all laughs though.  Alzheimer's is an ugly disease that robs a person of everything that makes them who they are.  And on some level, no matter how far the disease has progressed, I think they know it.  And it scares them.  I remember one time in particular when I had to go out of town and there was no one to stay with him.  I had to place him in care for a weekend.  (I lied and told the facility we were checking them out to see if he liked it there).  His parting words to me were, "You won't forget me, will you?"  He taught me that sometimes we are all afraid and it's okay.  And I know that sometimes it pained him to have to ask for help with things like remembering if he took his pills, or preparing something to eat or helping him find his glasses.  But he knew he needed the help and so he asked.  He taught me that we don't have to do this alone and that it's okay to ask for help.


My dad taught me to dance a polka and a czardas, to make halupki and pierogi, and to speak Slovak (a little).  He gave me my love of music and dance and theater and food and languages.  All good things for a girl who would spend 20 years in the Navy as a Russian linguist.  But even more important was the reminder of where we came from and the realization that I come from a long line of strong, determined men and women and some of their blood flows in my veins. 


And he taught me my faith.  Which has sometimes been the only thing that kept me going when life was dark.


My dad lived with me for the last 8 years of his life.  He gave me the gift of building the relationship with him I didn't have growing up.  He gave me the opportunity to see him with his grandchildren who always adored him.  And to watch him pass on his gifts to his great-grandkids.  He died loved and respected by everyone who met him here, with his family by his side.   


So this is for you dad.  As I said to Dearl that day on the beach, I might not be where I am right now if weren't for the lessons you taught me.  I know this is long overdue.  But you also taught me something else.  It is never too late to say "Thank you."  I love you.