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| Dear Lisa, | I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, you are better off not doing it. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise creative instincts.
~Richard Branson
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SHOWING UP FOR YOUR BUSINESS
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 Years ago, I watched a tiny little network marketing company grow into a national organization. This was not a get-rich-quick venture and many of those who ultimately succeeded invested a great deal of time before seeing much money. Because the company was founded by a man who understood much about mind power, he invented many ways to help people grow from the inside out.
One of those tools (although it wasn't ever called that) was organizing regular company events and meetings. Since the sales force was scattered across the country, most people had to incur travel expenses to attend.
Repeatedly, I noticed, those who invested their time and money-even when the meetings weren't especially exciting-were the ones who enjoyed lasting success. By regularly gathering with others who shared their vision, they were sending a strong message to both their conscious and subconscious minds that this dream mattered.
Spending time in the company of others who are forward-thinking can have a powerful, albeit invisible, impact on our ultimate success.
I am reminded almost daily that entrepreneurs think differently than people who are stuck in a job. In the area of money, for instance, dreambuilders have a distinct take on things.
For instance, someone who has a fixed income mentality might dream of traveling and decide to scrimp and save for some faraway trip. Given the same dream, the entrepreneurs among us will start generating creative ideas that will fund such an adventure-and maybe even bring a profit.
It's the enormous difference that only comes from living your life as cause, rather than effect. As an entrepreneurial friend of mine just said, "There's always a way to do the things you really want to do."
"If you want to be successful," goes an old slogan, "do what successful people do." Few people seem to pay much attention to the attributes and actions of those who achieve their dreams. Yet when we take the time to show up where other dreambuilders are gathered, we have an opportunity to study first hand how they think and act.
Comedian Martin Short wrote a wonderful essay in Time magazine about the turning point in his life. He had moved to Los Angeles, but was adrift. On the day that his own doubts and fears were the strongest, someone invited him to go to an improv show. To be polite, Short accepted, although he didn't want to go.
He writes, "That show changed my life.The actors were improvising and my mind was going with them. For the first time, I realized that I could channel the way I could be funny at a party into my onstage role. But before that evening, I had never put the pieces together. I had never seen my potential."
Want to see more of your dreams come true? It might be easier than you think. If you can only take one action, here's the one: transplant yourself into a dreambuilding environment as often as possible. Gather with others who are motivated and proactive. Listen to inspiring speakers and read eloquent authors who have taken a higher path. Share ideas with forward-thinking people.
When you regularly show up for your dreams, they'll start showing up for you.
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WEEKENDS THAT MOVE YOU FORWARD
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 During the years I lived in Santa Barbara, I watched a weekly ritual. On Friday evening, the freeway would be clogged with northbound travelers fleeing Los Angeles for the weekend; on Sunday afternoon, the travel jam would be reversed as drivers headed south in slow motion. Loverboy's Working for the Weekend would start running through my head.
Why, I often wondered, would anyone who had just spent the week sitting in traffic continue to do so on the weekend? It was not a ritual I wished to share.
While many people assume that avoiding heavy traffic or crowds of any sort is not an option, self-bossers revel in their freedom to organize their time in such a way that they can operate when traffic is light or crowds nonexistent.
Although movie matinees on Tuesday or going to the bank when lines are short, may seem like small things, the Joyfully Jobless count them as stress-reducing bonuses of
leaving the 9-to-5 world behind.
If you're ready to have more time, more fun and more money, invest in a Joyfully Jobless Weekend and acquire ideas, information and inspiration for creating a
new way of working.
The next Joyfully Jobless Weekend is coming up on June 28 & 29 in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. Love to see you there.
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IN COLORADO? COME TO THE FAIR
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When I lived in Las Vegas, the local news featured at least one Job Fair every week. Hundreds of people would line up looking for employment, but most left empty-handed.
Why, I wondered, isn't anyone talking about options to getting a job?
And so the idea for the Un-Job Fair was born. Happily, Helen Hand at Colorado Free University liked the idea, too, and in 2010 we held the first daylong event. Gathering experts from the CFU teaching team, a wide range of workshops were offered to those who wanted to explore self-employment and those who were already self-employed.
Our suspicions were confirmed. The event was a huge success and we were excited about the possibility of doing it again. That's precisely what's happening on June 1 when we roll out the 2013 version of the Un-Job Fair.
There are new workshops on tap along with some familiar faces including mine and the wonderful Tama Kieves. And, of course, if you live nowhere near Denver, you are welcome to join us if you'd like to invest in a weekend excursion that could be the start of launching your next dream.
Click here for more information.
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NURTURE YOUR DREAMS WITH THIS GIFT
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I'm excited to share this gift with you. My friend Terri Belford of Inspired Livelihood put together an Inspiring Entrepreneurs Course featuring me and 14 other creative entrepreneurs who are making a living doing things you've probably heard all your life referred to as "hobbies".
These people are putting food on the table and money in the bank doing things like doodling, baking cupcakes, candle making, jewelry design, creating art, teaching creativity workshops, making organic chocolate and traveling to foreign lands shopping and reselling folk art.
These are all creative people just like you who took a leap and made things happen so that they could live their dreams of being self-sustaining, creative entrepreneurs.
Click here for the free audio course and you can learn how they took an idea and joined the Joyfully Jobless ranks.
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Buon Viaggio,
Barbara Winter
P.S. On occasion, I may receive a commission or compensation when you participate or purchase a product or service I recommend. That being said, I strive to always offer useful content and resources in each issue of Joyfully Jobless News.
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