2017

2017 year in review

This year has been a year of living in gratitude. Gratitude for the people in my life. Gratitude for my family. Gratitude for the community we’re a part of. Gratitude for the life of freedom I have created and am living. Gratitude for the work I am able to do each day. Gratitude for all the leaders who put their trust in me to mentor them. 2017 was a year full of gratitude.

What I earned in 2017

In 2017 all our income was derived from our primary Network Marketing Business. Our total profits from 2017 were $857,295. This was a 3.33% increase from 2016. Things have been steady on the income side. We’ve seen small % increases over the last couple of years and plan to see the same next year. The promise of Network Marketing is playing out in full effect for our financial lives. We put a lot of upfront effort into building this business and getting it off the ground and we’re now reaping the rewards. It’s amazing to see it all play out. In the beginning when you’re building you hold the vision and the dream and you know its possible. Even though I knew we were going to have great success in this industry, when the vision and dream turns into a reality its pretty cool.

Number of Hours I Worked & my Activities 

I feel like the hours worked and the flow of the year is pretty much the same for 2017 as it was for 2016. Just like last year, I was consistent with 40 hrs a week. During the summer I cut way back on my hours though. Just like last year we spent a good portion of the summer on cape cod and the rest of the time we were at home and spending a lot of time at the lake right in our town. One change from last year to this year during the summer was I didn’t take it completely off from work. Last year I realized that when I do that I start to feel unfulfilled and sort of lost. For me I have to have routine and be working towards something. Also work can be an escape for me of sorts. I love the flow of being 100% focused in on work when I’m working and then 100% focus in on family, friends, hobbies, etc. when I’m not working. I feel like I struck a really good balance with this over the summer.

Writing a book 

So, this part I wasn’t going to share right away. I started writing a book! I wasn’t’ going to share about it because I’m still pretty nervous and feel overwhelmed with the whole project but yes, I’m in the process of writing a book!! The flow of the book has been hashed out and it going to be about building a long term successful business in network marketing. So far the process has been both fun and overwhelming at the same time.

A few things I’ve learned through the process.

1. Getting mentorship streamlines the process. When I decided I was going to write this book I started YouTubing and googling how to write a book. We live in a pretty cool time in history where practically anything you want to learn about is available on the internet. I ended up purchasing Brian Tracy’s course, How to Write. The information that I picked up from that book was so valuable and the course was worth every penny.
2. You want to hire the right people to help you. After I go the first draft of the book written and got some structure to the book I hired Jane Bernstein for both developmental and copy editing. Developmental editing is helping with the flow of the book and copy editing is for the actual grammar. As I said I’m still in the middle of the book writing process but having a great editor has been so vital to the process thus far.
3. Self Publishing vs. Publishing company. For me this was a no brainer to self publish. The two main reasons are I’m going to be selling the books myself so I don’t want to split the profits with a publisher and I also want the freedom to be able to write want I want without being directed by the publishing company. It’s funny though, I know the self publishing benefits far outweigh the downside I had to keep my ego in check. My ego wanted to have a “publishing company” publish the book strictly because of the clout that goes along with it.

We’re having a 5^th baby

Seriously-5 kids? Who has 5 kids now? OK, so even though I’m recapping 2017 it’s the beginning of 2018 while I’m doing this and we have welcomed our 5^th child into the world. Emmett Daniel Callahan. The love for a child and the magical feeling never gets old either. As I sit here writing that we welcomed Emmett in, I have tears streaming down my cheeks and gratitude in my heart.

We’re officially CALLAHAN – PARTY OF 7