Do you know what a "blog" is? It's actually what I do on this website for you, so that you know lots about your history. I really love to write. Sometimes I write blogs for other companies that I work for. One day I was asked by a magazine company to write a blog on why I felt I was successful in life. Below is what I wrote. I though it was a good one to put here as well because it talks about our family. AND, if you inherit one thing from your Nana, I hope it's having that passion for being the best you can be every single day.
WHY AM I SUCCESSFUL
(written for Success Magazine in 2016)
I have to admit that in all of my years of getting Success
Magazine, I have never read the Editor’s Note.
I always go straight to the articles and then rip out the CD so that I
can enjoy it in my car. However, today,
I read the Editor’s Note entitled “Out of the Ordinary” …maybe because I knew
that the Editor in Chief was new to this position and I wanted to see what he
might be like. Interestingly he asked a
question that I’ve continued to reflect on over the last few days. Why do I think I’m successful; and what got
me there. I’ve never really reflected on
that before; and yet, I’ve always felt that no matter what I’ve endeavored to
do, I’ve succeeded.
Am I famous? Well, not really. People do know me in my hometown of
Rochester, NY because of my small local accomplishments. However, I’m not a world-renowned
anything. Am I a millionaire? Just barely.
I can live a comfortable life, the rest of my life, and am in a position
to leave my children with something when I’m gone. However, it’s only because of due diligence
and hard work on my part and my husbands.
We agree on the value of saving and investing, so that we can enjoy the
later years of life. I don’t go without,
but I’m also very frugal. I believe this
is the only life I have and I want to enjoy it to its fullest. We don’t get one minute of it back, ever, so
making every minute of it count is important to me. However, after reflecting on my life, I've realized that it’s never been the money that has been at the top of
the list when it comes to my perception of being successful.
Have I failed at things? ….ABSOLUTELY! Many, many things. I failed at two marriages; but now I have the
most beautiful, loving, perfect marriage I could possibly have. In my younger years, I set a goal to win a
beauty pageant. I initially entered a
local pageant because I thought it would help me overcome my lack of self-confidence.
That was me – always wanting to become
somebody better. Then I became addicted
to getting up on that stage. Nine times
in a row, I was first runner up in various state and national pageants. Finally, in 1988, I was crowned Mrs. New York
America. It was the nine times I didn’t
win that taught me something about myself; and being in these pageants
attributed to many of my future careers.
Although my kids think Mom is
perfect, I’ve often wished I could have their childhood years back. There are many times where I feel I failed as
a mother. They’ve turned out to be
beautiful, wonderful adults, successful in their own right; but there were many
stumbling blocks along the way that kept me from winning the “Mother of the
Year” award. AND, although my parents
always put me on the highest pedestal, I always felt that I failed to be the
“big sister” that my two siblings wanted me to be. This was the toughest of all to figure out;
and it wasn’t until last year after spending several intimate weeks with my
baby sister as we tried to make up for lost time before her death from
pancreatic cancer; that I realized I never really failed as a big sister. We were both at the exact place we needed to
be at every stage of our lives as siblings.
What I was for my sister at any point in her life, was what she needed
from me in order to learn and grow, and she was exactly what I needed at every
stage of my life. Although we weren’t
the closest of sisters, we learned some very special lessons from one another
during our lives together. It was in her
last six weeks of life that we both realized it and admitted it to one another. I learned more about myself in those last
days with her than any amount of college would ever teach me.
So, why do I think I’m
successful; and what has attributed to my success? It’s called “grit”. I don’t like to fail at anything. It angers me.
However, I always did something about it. With every failure, I sought out help,
reflected on what I did wrong, and put into place those things I could do
better. From the time I was a little
girl, I always wanted to be better than I was the day before. I’m a very competitive person; but my biggest
competitor has always been ME. I don’t get
too excited about competing against others, but if I can top my own game at
anything, I’m over the top excited.
I am now 61 years old; and when I
add them up, I’ve had at least a half dozen different career paths. I’ve made some blunders along the way, but I
consider every single path I’ve taken to be a success; and a necessity to get
me where I am today.
My very first job was working at
Eastman Kodak Company in the 1970’s. I
had several different positions there, from selling missile domes to the
military, to running a scanning electron microscope. One thing I discovered here is that I did not
enjoy having to report to someone else.
I knew then that someday I would be my own boss, own a business, or
invent something. I wasn’t sure what it
would be, but I knew during those years at Kodak that at some point, I would be
an entrepreneur.
When I had my second child, I
left Kodak to stay home with my two children.
In just a few months I became bored and tried to figure out what I could
do. As I tried to enroll my daughter
into a preschool, I realized that there was definitely a need for a preschool
in the area. So in 1982, I researched the
idea and started a school called Animal Crackers Nursery School. The first year I had 10 little ones; the
second year I had 30; and the third year I had 80. It became the most popular little school in
town. My little students were in the
paper and on TV on a regular basis. I
conducted a graduation ceremony that was over the top and drew hundreds of
parents, grandparents, and others who just wanted to be entertained by those
adorable little graduates. I was always
competing against my previous year; and striving to take each year to the next
level. AND, finally, I was my own
boss. I was a business owner and I loved
it.
It was at this time that I
discovered the second thing that has attributed to my success …..passion. I have a tremendous amount of passion
whenever I attempt to do anything.
Nothing is ever done halfheartedly.
However, although I am always passionate about being the best I can be;
I had discovered during this time that my passion for helping others be the
best that they could be, was even more rewarding. To watch those children grow, learn, and
overcome obstacles, was immensely satisfying to me. Every night I went to bed smiling because I
knew that these children would have a better future because of me.
After 10 years of running this
little nursery school, my husband decided to take a job transfer to another
part of the country. This meant that I
would lose my business that I worked so hard to build. Within just a couple weeks of transferring to
Kingsport, TN, I discovered a need for a preschool piano school. Music is big in Tennessee; but nobody was
brave enough to tackle a child under 10 years old ….except for me. I knew how to play the piano, and had
experience with the little ones. So, I
signed up for lessons myself so that I could keep up with my music; and founded
Klassic Keys Piano Studio for children from ages 3 to 6. It was a huge success! However, once again, being at the mercy of my
husband’s job, he took another transfer and I had to say good-bye to my little
Mozarts. Did I impact their lives? Absolutely!
BUT, life for me was changing once again.
Some people never change careers
throughout their whole entire life. I
was beginning to think that having to switch careers so many times was another
form of failure for me. I now realize
that I had to change careers many times because of things outside of my own
control. That brings me to the third
thing that I feel has made me successful…..adaptability.
Once again, I was without a
career. Now what? After moving twice with my husband’s job transfers,
I became interested in real estate. My
passion for helping families make the right choices when moving, lead me to
getting my real estate license. In just
two years I became one of the top 25 agents within my company; and was one of
the top agents in the Rochester area for many years. After 25 years, I’m still in this business ….BUT,
once again, that competitive side of me always led me to doing more. I continued to learn, grow, and figure out
how my passion for helping others could go even deeper than just touching the
lives of these families. I became a
licensed real estate instructor so that I could teach the agents in the area to
be better at their profession. I then started
my own real estate company with a culture focused on having the best educated
agents in the industry. During this time
(once again always trying to top myself), I acquired several teaching and
coaching certifications, so that I could be a better teacher and coach for my
agents. Then around 2004 I went through a
divorce, and also some health issues, which forced me to sell my company; and
for several years I was again at the mercy of working for someone else. However, although I had a “job” managing and
training agents for two of the largest companies in Rochester, I was content
knowing that I was still fulfilling part of my passion….helping others to
succeed. I knew I had an impact on the
real estate industry in the area by teaching the agents to be the best they
could be.
I believe I have always had the
right career for any particular time of my life. I always adapted and developed the career
that I had to have at that time. There
was always some outside source that contributed to my decisions about what
direction to head …..until now.
My kids are grown; and I know I have
touched their lives in many ways. I have
a granddaughter who I want to learn and grow from things she and I do together. I have the most wonderful man in the world
who wants nothing more than for me to be who I want to be….and he actually
loves me for that ….AMAZING! I have no
outside influences causing me to have to “adapt”. Although we all know life could change at any
given moment; BUT I know how to adapt.
I know I will never be idle. I’ll always be doing something until the day
I die. I’ll always be competing with ME
and trying to beat my game every day.
That’s the fun part of any career for me. And, I want to go to bed every night knowing
that I have made a positive impact in someone’s life. I have taken my 25 years of real estate
experience in sales, training, and coaching, and am now an international real
estate coach. I am an independent
contractor for two coaching companies, one in Canada and one in the US. I want to inspire agents to be the best they
can be in not just real estate; but all areas of their life. I want to take
them to deep levels of thinking. When
life is balanced, life is beautiful. I
continue to be coached and trained myself because I know that’s how I can be
the best I can be for others who are relying on me to help them.
I almost feel guilty about making
money at this because it doesn’t feel like work. I wake up every day anxious to get to my
office so I can help my clients with their challenges, celebrate their
successes, and inspire them to do even more.
Once again, I’m at the place I
need to be at this stage of my life.
That’s why I feel successful.
Through true grit, passion, and
adaptability; I feel I’ve made it! For
me, my life is perfect. I have the
things I want; I have a family I love and am proud of; I have the perfect
marriage; live where I want to live; do what I love doing; and, at the same
time, I’m leaving my mark in the world, inspiring others, who will then inspire
others, who will then inspire others. You
can’t put a price on that kind of success.
Love....Nana
