This Family Went From Desperate to Delighted After Their Home Based Business Success
Stephen and Danielle Lee know tough times. It started with the 2008 recession. Like many people, their family home and dreams of a bright future turned into a mountain of debt overnight.
“We had one of those balloon payments and before we knew it, we were in over our heads” said Danielle, a flight attendant at the time. Stephen, a hairstylist, saw his business take a hit too. He said “My hairstyling career wasn’t enough. I didn’t know how I was going to support my family.”
They prayed for an answer and felt a drastic change was necessary. So with a foreclosure looming, they packed up and moved to Texas with their growing family. There, a promising network marketing opportunity awaited them.
However, they had no idea that the hard times were just starting.
Not What We Expected
Life in Texas didn’t turn out the way they had expected. “It was way harder than I could’ve ever imagined! It was a totally different world from what I was used to,” says Stephen. “We went through some really, really hard humbling times.”
Since they knew very few people there, both their hair business and network marketing opportunity stalled. Their savings were all gone before they knew it and then their car got repossessed. They were facing desperate times with three hungry kids to feed and another on the way.
Danielle and Stephen turned to their family, church and charities to get by. “I think literally almost every charity in Texas knows us now!” Stephen laughs now.
Danielle remembers “We were so discouraged. We blamed each other for a lot of things” The pressure had finally taken its toll on us. “We can’t take this anymore. Things are so hard.”
“WE WERE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT WE WANTED TO ACHIEVE. WE REALLY FOCUSED ON OUR ‘WHY’ – WHICH WAS TO BE WITH THE KIDS.” DANIELLE LEE
Humbled and defeated, they called their families and told them they were returning home. But something happened that night that changed their mind.
“We woke up feeling different. We just knew that God wanted us to stay. That he had a purpose for us here.” said Stephen.
Danielle adds “We realized that we had made a lot of bad decisions. We never had a plan from the beginning. We thought planning, getting focused and building a lot of faith could change the pattern.”
Refocusing
Change began with themselves. “We forgave each other and other people we had blamed for our situation. That was really important” says Stephen.
Danielle was more pumped up than ever about the potential for home based business success after attending the company’s bi-annual conference. “I came back home and told Stephen, “No more excuses!”
WITH A SOLID PLAN IN PLACE “IT WAS LIKE A BLESSING JUST FELL ON OUR BUSINESS!” STEPHEN LEE
Part of the plan was to get specific with our goals as well as have plans and dream boards to keep on track. “We were specific about what we wanted to achieve.” We really focused on our ‘why’ – which was to be with the kids.” says Danielle.
For her “We not only wanted to be present in their lives and not miss important events but also make precious memories with them. We wanted to leave a family business for them and a legacy.”
Their goal-driven focus began to turn things around. Danielle: “We ended up working more every day. We ran our weekly goals and tackled everything.”
With a solid plan in place and a new attitude between them, home based business success started to come. “It was like a blessing just fell on our business!” says Stephen.
Home Based Business Success Helps Out
With the business finally on track, life threw another big roadblock their way. But this time the power of a great home based business and the residual income that comes with it played a part in helping them through it.
“We got a call at the end of February that my mom had stage four brain cancer and lung cancer. It was just the most painful thing I had ever heard. All this came when we were just starting to have some success.” says Stephen
“And literally two and a half months after we got that call, we got another call informing us that Danielle’s mom was moved to hospice due to Stage 4 liver disease.”
Fortunately, they were able to make two trips to Seattle together with their kids thanks to the residual income that was coming in from their business. This meant that they were able to spend quality time with their parents at the end of their lives.
“All of our bills were paid because we were still able to work our network marketing business while in Seattle. We weren’t stressed out during the most difficult times of our lives.”
New Beginning
By now, Danielle and Stephen have moved away from poverty and desperation all the way to becoming among the top 50 income earners of their company. And the home based business success has included a five star trip all-expense paid company trip to Hawaii.
But most importantly, they are realizing their goal of being with the kids. Danielle says: “We treasure the special moments with our kids. We don’t miss the special times when they really need us.”
“We have such a passion and appreciation for life, for enjoying every day, just being there with your family after going through tough times,” adds Stephen.
And that passion is now directed at helping others find and achieve both financial and time freedom with their families. “We understand the difficulties that people go through and love to present them with an opportunity that will change their lives.” says Danielle
“We could’ve given up so many times. It’s so easy to give up.” Stephen says. “It’s so easy to go back to being comfortable. However, blessings and breakthroughs come from getting uncomfortable! And, we had to get uncomfortable!”
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Or at their website here
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