Back again

We are back home now. You know I feel honored to have spent a great weekend with a different scope of entrepreneurs than I have met before. Many of the people I was with this weekend, I have never spent much time with them before. I even found time to smoke a few cigars with Dave Humburg, who seems to be a very upstanding executive. I like Dave and feel honored to have been in his presence. The one thing that struck me as odd is how much I thought Dani Johnson's First Steps to Success seminar could have impacted these people and their business even though they are not in a homebased business. I chose not to discuss Dani Johnson with them as many of them have very long and established histories of being in business and do not seem receptive to an outsider's ideas (mine). So I chose to quietly listen, to pick up nuggets, and learn lessons from listening in.

As I got on the plane leaving Puerto Rico, I was reflecting back on some of the conversations I have overheard. Conversations about people who had real success with their finances like Kirk Foley the CEO and people who only put up a front of having success. Just because someone has been successful in business doesn't always mean they have managed their personal finances very well. I will be the first to admit I have had some great success with Decide Freedom International but I could definitely make some improvements and some better choices. Part of my goals for the remainder of the year is to be completely debt free, to have money put back for taxes so I will not owe that going into next year, and to save $10,000 for a vacation back to Bora Bora next year. Going into next year I am looking to buy our first rental property by the end of the first quarter of next year.

As I look at people who fail to have true financial freedom, even though they earn a fantastic income it comes down to one solid fundamental flaw; a failure to cap expenses and to live within their means. In fact, I am certain excessive spending is more common than true success in people who would consider themselves affluent. So many times it comes down to what facade can we appear to be living. The problem with that is we become a prisoner of the life that we choose to portray instead of having true stress free success. This stress free success is something that I will work to achieve, and to lead a life of example for everyone I can inside of Decide Freedom International.

Have a great week,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Puerto Rico this time

I am off traveling again. Currently, I am writing this from the Rio Mar Resort in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is nice but it simply does not compare to Bora Bora. The resort is mammoth. The reason I am here is because Carmen won a contest for her manufacturing company; this trip has been completely paid for. It's been a great trip, getting to hang out with a lot of different entrepeneurs, eating fine food, and smoking some great cigars. We will be home by Monday night. This has really been a working vacation, I have been taking calls on my cell and working with team members over the phone. However, I will be glad to get back in my office and back to work. In many ways I feel I am living the life I have always wanted. At 27 years old I am traveling the world and working a business making money reaching my goals and developing a lifestyle of complete financial freedom. Working from home with Decide Freedom Intl. has become a dream come true.

Back from Vacation

I am back and ready to continue rocking. We went to Tahiti and Bora Bora. I am certain the garden of Eden must be some where on those islands. I kid you not, I have traveled to a lot of places but, Bora Bora has to be the most beautiful place I have ever in my life seen. We stayed at the most beautiful posh resort I have ever been to. I highly recommend that if you go to Bora Bora you stay at the Nui. We stayed in overwater bungalows and we were able to literally jump off our balcony and swim over coral reefs with tropical fish. On one morning in particular 4 eagle rays swim right up to our balcony it was unbelievable. We snorkeled so much I felt like I was growing fins. It was like swimming in an aquarium, I couldn't get enough of it! We swam with sharks and stingrays that was just exhilarating!

We went on a luxury catamaran and did a sunset cruise. The pictures we took do not even look real, it was definitely the most spectacular sunset I have ever witnessed. So many colors running across the sky all at once reds, yellows, oranges, and even some blues and purples! We were relaxing in luxury and I thanked God over and over for allowing me to lead this life and to visit this amazing place. We were gone for 10 days and spent time relaxing and vacationing with other entrepreneurs. I felt honored to be hanging out with so many other successful people. People like Nate Ridgeway, Jefferson Santos, Ken and Dottie Anderson, Stacy O'Quinn, Renae Heikkila, Dani and Hans Johnson and several more.

I am blessed, and this industry is amazing. I am so glad 3 years ago when I was working full time as a Registered Nurse that I made a decision to improve my life. Many times I had thought about doing something that would be more lucrative and it was just a thought. However, the day that I got started with Coastal Vacations, I made a solid action and took that step forward. It has improved my life forever! So many told me starting a business was risky or I should just accept my life the way it was because I had a "good" job. Besides, I was simply looking at the world through "Rose Colored Glasses". Many of those same people are still punching the time clock that I left behind. I am making it a personal mission in life to pull as many people away from the chains of that time clock as possible. If you are reading this, I pray you are one of those who wants freedom or you are one of those who are currently on their quest for freedom.

To your Freedom,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Ready, Set, BLITZ!!

At Decide Freedom International we are in all out massive action right now during our Summer Power Blitz! It's great, people are rocking in their business right now. The summer is an amazing time to be working from home. This summer Blitz is just an added bonus. There are people's lives being impacted in a huge way. So many people are being contacted, so many people are hearing about Decide Freedom International, our goals, and our philosophy. Lives are being changed and touched. People in our company are making money and some will be making more than they ever have as a result of this Blitz.

We are on our second day of a 3 day Blitz. This is awesome, it feels like when I first started working from home. It's exciting, it reminds a little of the movie Boiler Room. If you have not seen it I suggest you do. There is just so much excitement on our live calls and we have 3 a day. So many people working from home are taking time off right now yet, we are in full momentum. I am certain we will see results from this for another month or so. Congratulations to everyone who is apart of this Summer Blitz!

Keep Blitzing!
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

A weekend with Transformers

Carmen and I just got back from the movies. We saw the movie Transformers. I have to tell you I watched this cartoon some as a kid but, mostly would just turn past it as I was on my way to watch my then favorite He-Man. I expected that this movie would at least be mediocre. I was alittle nervous when you are talking about a movie with Transforming alien robots, there is more than one area that could cause the whole movie to go south quickly. After watching the movie here is what I can tell you.

It was incredibly expensive to make. Never doubt Steven Speilberg's ability. This freaking movie has become one of my favorites, it was out of this world. There was tons of action, a cute love story, and several places that would just cause you to laugh. Carmen, who I didn't think would even like it, said she wants to rewatch it! My best friend and movie critic Gary Conway was absolutely dead on with his movie review on this film. You can read his review in it's entirety here.

Don't let this one get away,
Jackie O'Quinn
Phone: 1-800-620-3019

Where are we headed in life?

On your current path in life where are you headed? A good indication of where you are headed is by looking to see where you have come from. Look back on life, and see how much progress you have made to reaching your life's goals. Do you have a goal of being debt free? Do you have a goal of retiring early, or sending your kids to college? Maybe you want to give money away to charities? Have you been able to do any of that yet? Do you want to start your own business? Have you taken any proactive steps towards your goals? Or, are you just living each day one day at a time with no real aim to your daily life? Is life living you or are you living life?

You don't have to look at life as a whole for some of us that seems overwhelming, break your goals down to yearly, monthly or even weekly. Then focus on daily task to reach those goals. In other words if you have a goal of paying of $10,000 of debt in one year. Then first break that down to monthly goals of $800 a month to pay off. There are two ways to pay down debt, first either make more money that's what I did and here is how I did it. Or cut back your living expenses to pull extra money out of your current income to start paying down debt. Now if your goal is to pay down debt you have to ask yourself each day. Am I actively taking steps to help me reach my goal today? Too often it's easy to write our goals down but not keep ourselves accountable to them. Then we end up with goals that we never reach.

Are currently taking steps to reach your goals? Let me know?

Step by step,
Jackie O'Quinn
Phone: 1-800-620-3019

Have you seen Renae's Blog

My good friend Renae Heikkila, just wrote a great post on her blog. If you have not read it yet you should. No matter what business you are in that post will speak directly to you. Some great advice from an incredibly knowledgeable woman.

Have a great day,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

My Prosper.com loan was funded

Actually my Prosper.com loan was funded about two days after I listed it. However, my interest rate was bid down from around 14 percent to the current 10.90%. You can check out my loan here. You can also apply for your own loan. Prosper.com, is similar to Ebay for the personal lending industry. You apply for a loan and individuals bid on your loan starting with a minimum bid of at least $50. People continue to bid on your loan until the loan is fully funded. Then as people continue to bid they have to be willing to accept a lower interest rate. Unlike Ebay, the winners on Prosper.com are not the highest bidders they are the bidders that are willing to accept the lowest rate of return on their money. I enjoy investing on Prosper.com, I find it to be a great concept. So far I have enjoyed borrowing from Prosper.com as well. I will keep you posted on this.

This weekend, Melissa and I (our realtor) are going to go look at some apartment buildings. I want to start getting out and looking at some rental property so I can see what the market is doing and get a feel for the market.

Have an Awesome Day,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

I am going to Invest in Real Estate.

OK, I am constantly working to always live by design and not default however, something came up recently that totally showed me that I was living by default and allowing excuses to get in my way. I didn't even realize it. Recently my brother Stacy told me he was working with a friend of his to potentially buy a 3 million dollar apartment building. I was stunned by this and asked how in the world he could possibly afford to finance something like that. Don't get me wrong Stacy, is a successful businessman and earns a great income and has equity in two homes that he owns however, he doesn't have 300,000 dollars laying around to even put down 10% on that kind of property. In a state of shock I asked, "How in the world could you possibly afford something like that?"

"How could you not if it is a good deal?" He responded.

I was at a complete loss for words. Stacy, is smarter than I am when it comes to Real Estate but I was totally confused by this. I couldn't even comprehend what he was saying. So I told him, I just didn't get it. He went on to explain. Jackie, it works like this; I got to finish crunching the numbers but I already have a partner (Stephen his best friend) and if this deal is good enough he and I both can mortgage ourselves completely to come up with 10% of the money to get it financed. If that doesn't work I have a network of people I have created who are all higher level investors and would go in with us to complete financing as long as the deal is profitable enough. That deal didn't work out the positive cash flow would have only been about $2,000 a month. Which was far too much risk for very little reward. But he taught me two lessons in this conversation the first was when he said, "This could be a deal of a lifetime and you have to be ready and willing to pull the trigger when you find the right deal".

The next lesson came when I gave this excuse, "I need to start saving more money so that I can start investing in rental property. He responded in his very pointed manner, "That is an absolute excuse! Stephen bought his first rental when he didn't have any money to put down and he was only making $25,000 a year!"

That was like a slap in the face with complete reality. I immediately came home and started reading a book Stacy told me to buy two years ago but I had never gotten around to reading it. It's titled "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor". This has been a great read and it is truly eye opening. I am now looking at the market in my local area and will most like buy some rental property by the end of the year. Stacy, said this was the best book he has EVER read on real estate investing and I can see why. I have already learned a tremendous amount in the past week and a half, that I have been reading it. Here is the bottom line in order to achieve true wealth you have to develop passive income. With Coastal Vacations and Decide Freedom Intl. we can earn a tremendous income. However, it takes more than a tremendous income to achieve wealth that is only the first part. Then we have to invest in income producing assets (Real Estate). I am now on a mission and I will be a real estate investor soon enough. Another lesson learned.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

First Steps to Success in Seattle, WA

Seattle, here we come! Taking the city by storm... OK that just sounded fun in my head. No seriously in the morning we are headed out to Washington for First Steps to Success. I am excited to go because I have never been to Seattle, plus we have several new team members going who I have not been fortunate enough to meet in person yet. Also my friend Wayne Jones, will be there and I have not seen him in a while. I can't wait to see what I learn this time. I always seem to learn something new that I am able to bring home with me and apply right away. Why more people looking to excel in their business do not attend is beyond me, it makes no sense.

Carmen and I will be leaving in the morning from Michigan at 7 am and we will arrive in Seattle at 8 am PST. I am not sure exactly who all is going. I am definitely looking forward to seeing Stacy O'Quinn and Renae Heikkila! These are two of my very best friends in the world (OK, Stacy is my brother but he is also one of my best friends). Not to mention my Realtor friend Melissa Hecht, will be there as well. Her real estate career has more than tripled since she started attending First Steps to Success. I wish my best friend Gary would go one day. I know he would love hanging out for the weekend.

See you when we get back,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

My Garden!

My garden is looking sweet! OK, so it's just some pepper plants and tomato plants in flower pots but, it's still fun. A couple of weekends ago at the cigar shop someone gave me some tomato plants and that was it. I went to Walmart and got some pots and Miracle Grow potting soil, then went to the nursery and got some pepper plants and onions. Now in my backyard I got a row of about 15 pots, 4 tomato plants and some Ceyenne peppers, Habanero peppers, Chili peppers, Jalapeno peppers, Sweet Banana peppers, and onions. The onions are planted in a long window seal planter. It's been a couple of weeks and now I have some small peppers on some of the plants. I will never eat all of those peppers. I love peppers but, I have way to many... lol. The trick is going to be Tahiti, while I am in Tahiti there will be no one to look after my garden. We will just have to see what happens. It's been fun taking breaks in the afternoon to water my plants, it's just been another hobby that I would never take time to enjoy if I didn't have as much free time as I have now, thank goodness to Decide Freedom Intl.

Another exciting thing that is taking place in my life is tomorrow morning I am going with Melissa our Realtor to look at an apartment building. Carmen, and I are both looking to start investing in Real Estate. That is a 3 unit building that looks like it is at an attractive price, so we are going to go take a look at it early in the morning. I need to just get out and start looking at some Real Estate in the local area so I can get a handle on what the current fair market prices are. I will keep you posted on that!

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

I am getting financed on Prosper.com!

I just put a loan on Prosper, check it out. You can bid on it or even give me an endorsement. This was really a last minute decision. I was just going to pay my back taxes with a credit card but just decided hey why not give Prosper a try. So I did and I just created a listing. The interest on this loan will probably be cheaper than what it would be on a Credit Card. I expect to pay this off before the end of the year.

I am already a Lender on Prosper with a Group so this will be a great way for me to see how well Prosper works from a Borrowers perspective.

Update on my life, this past weekend Carmen and her Mom have been on a cruise. They will be getting back late tonight and I am looking forward to seeing them. So today and this weekend I have been working from her office during her office hours. I really don't know how to a lot here. I primarily just supervise and keep notes so that Carmen can get things caught up when she gets back. Yesterday, Melissa and I went to Sanford Lake. That was alot of fun we went out with her uncle on his Pontoon boat and just swam and played a little. I put on plenty of sunscreen and I am NOT sunburned! I hate being sunburned.

Well, time to get back to work on this beautiful amazing Monday! Don't forget to bid on my loan on Prosper, it is good way to make some extra money.

Have a Blast,

Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Middle of the week

OK, so we are past the middle of the week it's Thursday now. This week is going great so far. I have hit my minimum daily goals each day, I am feeling the wave of momentum under me as I am staying consistent each day. The end of the week and weekend might me a little tricky, but nothing I can't handle. Carmen and her Mom are going on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. I decided to opt out with Tahiti coming up and Puerto Rico. That is just too much traveling for me. I have to stay home some this summer... lol. Since Carmen, will be out of town I will be working from her office Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I will still be working with Decide Freedom Intl. but I will just be working from her office instead of my home office. That just takes me out of my element and makes me responsible to be there on time to open up for the rest of her employees. I guess, a little responsibility will be a good thing.

With Carmen out of town, I will probably spend more time than usual at the Cigar Lounge just relaxing with the fellas. That should make for a great weekend... I will keep you posted!

Have an amazing day,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Make 8% to 12% on your money

Do you want to earn a better rate of return on your money than what you can earn with money markets or bank CDs? Do you want to earn up to 10% on your money without the stock market? Do you want to start investing but don't have alot of money to get started with?

Then why don't you join me by investing in Prosper.com? You can actually get started with only $50. You don't have to know anything about the stock market, and I will even help you out by letting you know what loans I am investing in. My current rate of return on my Prosper.com account is over 12%. There are many reasons to invest in Prosper; first, you can earn a good rate of return on your money. Second, it's a great way to help people out who are looking for a loan. Also, you can get started for less than $100 although, I started with $1,000.

If you get signed up as a Lender right now with Prosper.com they will give you $25 just for signing up and making your first loan. Once you sign up, go here and join our group. All of our group members will be notified each time I bid on a loan. You can actually follow me step by step until you feel comfortable doing your own thing.

Prosper Always,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

The weekend is coming up

OK, so tomorrow is Friday, this is when I start thinking about the weekend. I don't have any major plans, I will make 50 dials tomorrow and get that done with by early afternoon. Then I am planning on going to Timothy's Fine Tobaccos and enjoy an Edge Lite most likely. Edge Lite, is a mild smooth cigar, with light body and a creamy flavor profile; it has lots of smoke and would be a great start to the weekend. Saturday, I will work half a day as will Carmen and then we will go on a date. Not sure what we will do but I would love to go to the movies because we have not been in a while. Although, we have several movies rented from Blockbuster online so we may just cook something in and watch movies. Sunday, afternoon Carmen's assistant Jen is having a birthday party and we were invited so that is most likely how we will wrap up the weekend.

Weekends are great you really have to have a balance in life. Work hard and play hard and have a blast doing both!

Hope you have a great weekend as well,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

P.S. What are your plans this weekend?

Mark Twain said it best

There Are No Excuses

Mark Twain once wrote, that there are a thousand excuses for every failure but never a good reason. The tragedy of the average American is that whereas his or her main preoccupation seems to be money, or the lack thereof, the average person has the inherent potential to earn far more than he or she is doing currently.

I am currently running late for some dinner plans but as I was logging off of my computer I read an email and the above quote was in it. I agreed with it so strongly I felt compelled to write about it. Often when establishing individuals in business I want them to succeed so bad, unfortunately sometimes I want their success more than they do. One of the things that I have had to learn is that I have to let go of the outcome and I am getting better at that. However, what drives me insane is when someone gives you excuse after excuse about why they are not successful yet they never give you the reason. Mark Twain, said there is never a good reason for failure and he is correct however, most of the time the bad reason is our own lack of work ethic. With Decide Freedom International, I literally work 20 hours a week or less and truthfully I should be working more. However, if someone doesn't have the work ethic to succeed in a business that I literally built working 8 to 10 hours a week in the beginning then I am not so sure they deserve success.

I will give you another example I have a dear friend of mine who is like a brother to me. I would do anything for him, I love him a great deal. For various reasons he has been unemployed for a number of years, it has been said to me that he is unemployed by choice, according to others around me. I have never really believed that until a couple of days ago. I found out about a couple of companies that were looking for people to work from home and earn an hourly rate doing customer service work from home. They were paying up to $9 an hour for this job. I thought WOW, I got to call my friend to tell him about this.

I immediately called him up and told him about the positions that I had heard were available. I was so excited but he wasn't really responding. When I was done and my excitement had calmed down, he flatly told me he was not interested. I was totally dumbfounded, my thought process is you are almost 30 years old with no job, no income, and I just told you away to earn some extra income working from home but you would rather stay broke living with your mother. His excuses were, it wasn't enough pay and that wasn't something he wanted to do and he would keep applying. I realize that to most of you reading this his excuses sound so ridiculously far fetched; but, it just goes to show you what excuses we are able to make and live with. Honestly, I have a friend who doesn't want to work because clearly he doesn't have to. He would rather have his mom continue to support him. This also happens to be the person who has the most potential of anyone that I personally know. I believe he could be far more successful than even myself however, he would have to believe that first. He is by far much smarter than I am and if he had a little money and drive he could start whatever business he wanted and create a massive legacy for himself. I gave him the way to earn alittle bit of that money but he failed to take it.

This gentleman is a perfect example of someone who has the inherent potential to earn far more than he is currently doing. I will never learn to motivate those who choose to stay unmotivated. That is a lesson I have learned.

Thank You God,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

I just won a listing on Prosper

I just won a listing. It's promising, you can check it out here. As long as funding is completed after the applicants information is verified I will be earning 16.8% interest over the course of the loan. That is not too shabby if you ask me. Prosper, remains to be fun and I am earning a great Return on Investment unlike many lenders on the site however my oldest loans are not quite a year old. So time will tell how well I really do. The problem with Prosper is that the company is still really young and has had their share of growing pains. But I think they will all get it figured out eventually.

Happy Investing
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Summer is here in Michigan!

Thank you Lord for warm weather. In all honesty Michigan is almost bearable when it's warm out. They have amazing lakes and ponds and beautiful trees, when I think of how frigid it was just a few short weeks ago it's difficult for my brain to make the connection that I am in still in the same state that was so unbearable to me in December and January. Summer is here and I am looking forward to Vacation. Of course we are going to Bora Bora as I mentioned in another post. We will also be heading to Puerto Rico for a 4 day all-inclusive vacation as well. That should be a blast. I also hope to have a few relaxing weekends at my favorite Cigar Lounge, kicking back smoking a couple of Ashton VSGs with my good friend Timmy Nye. Maybe we will be smoking some Rocky Patel 1990s preferably the 60 ring gauge. That is a nice long smoke, really smooth and easy on the palate but full body and rich in taste.

Speaking of Timmy he is a great guy you should meet him sometime. Most people misunderstand him but he has a heart of gold. The reason he is misunderstood is because his middle name is sarcastic, in fact that is probably his middle, first, and last name... lol. He is some of the best company you can have when you are relaxing with a great cigar, light hearted and a lot of fun to talk to.

Thank God summer is finally here. Looking forward to making some lasting memories this year. I look forward to blogging about them as well!

Have a great summer,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Bora Bora Here We Come

Dude! We are on our way! Bora Bora here we come. Carmen and I as well as several of our friends are planning a vacation in Bora Bora. Until a year ago, I didn't even know Bora Bora was an island in Tahiti. I have since found that Bora Bora, is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. We are planning this vacation for late July early August and we will be staying at the Bora Bora Nui. We will be gone for about 9 or 10 days. So often I feel so blessed just to be allowed to live the life that I live. Who would have thought that a poor fatherless boy would grow up and by the age of 26 be self employed and earning an income in excess of six figures. Be in a serious committed relationship to an amazing woman who herself is incredibly successful. I am already so blessed and life continues to have high points and low points. I am certain it always will, but how amazing and how humbling to be in the position that I am.

To be honest even when I was struggling to get through college and didn't have a car and was walking back and forth to school, even then I felt blessed just to have the opportunity that I had. I am talking about the opportunity to sleep on someone else's couch, to be able to attend a community college, and just to be able to have the dream of actually becoming a nurse. Then I became a nurse, I remember then feeling blessed that I was well enough to walk the halls and was not one of the patients laying in the bed that I took care of. I wanted more out of life and decided to start a business working from home. In the beginning, I failed several times but I remember feeling honored to be in a free country like America where there is opportunity to try and try again in this capitalistic society. Once I discovered Coastal Vacations and Decide Freedom International and had success even then and now I feel blessed to be in the position that I am in. Not to mention I am totally humbled at what the future holds for us.

Stay Blessed,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Prosper.com

In the past I have often talked about managing money and investing on this blog. Finances, are something that I love and I am very excited about! One of the more unique ways of investing is through a website called Prosper.com. I discovered this site about a year ago and have rarely ever said anything about it on this blog. In fact the only reason I am writing about it now is because I just left the website Prosper.com. Prosper is like the Ebay of the personal loan industry.

Someone looking to get a personal unsecured loan would go to Prosper.com and apply for a loan between $1,000 to $25,000. Once someone applies for the loan it would go up for bid and anyone and everyone could bid on a small part, up to the entire amount of the loan. Typically a loan would be up for bid for 7 days. If the loan gets funded then the person requesting the loan will get the money they requested. The very next month they will start repaying the loan and you will get your portion of that loan repayment including interest.

Prosper.com is great because you can literally start investing in loans with as little as $50. Also it's almost like owning your own lending business. Plus, you can earn much more than you can with a Money Market or Traditional CD. For example, I just bidded on a loan that will earn me over 15% interest if I win that loan. Not to mention it's alot of fun bidding on loans! The key to success with Prosper.com is by successfully screening and picking great loans. It takes a little bit of practice but it really isn't that difficult. Just thought I would share that with you. Have a blessed day!

Freedom is a Decision,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Decide Freedom Intl

I have not been updating regularly and I sincerely apologize for that. The biggest reason for not updating is simply because this blog has not been my highest priority. I have been paying much more attention to my home based business right now and have been focusing heavily on a new marketing system that has been created for our business. We have already had some amazing success with this system so far.

"All I can say is WOW, WOW. WOW! This new group is kicking some booty :) My show up ratio has never been this good. Out of 10 people that I scripted, I followed up with 9! This is INSANE!" - Catherine , MO

"Hi, I am sooo excited about this new website. I love the way it is easier to understand what we are really all about and the ease of training people on my team. Thank you so much for taking the steps necessary to help us grow as a team!" - Amy in MO

"I think that systems is awesome and your support staff ROCK!! Everything I have asked has been dealt with immediately." - Kayleen , BC

"I want to tell you that I have been working with the DFI system and the only thing I have to say is "Thank You...Thank You....Thank You" I know that DFI will allow me to make a 6-figure income within the next 12 months. "To Your Success" - Monique , NB

"Less than 1 week in the system and I have 2 people who are coming in at Level 3 putting their funds together and 1 at level 1! This system ROCKS!" - Mike and Amanda , MO

You can check out the new system for Decide Freedom International here. I look forward to updating much more regularly again.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Understanding Wealth IV

As I mentioned in my last post I will be talking about generating an income from Stock Dividends. Stock Dividends have some clear advantages and disadvantages that separate them from Money Market accounts. The biggest disadvantage that comes to mind is the greater potential to loose initial capital. Although companies that give the type of dividends that you would want to rely on for income are usually larger companies with very stable track records of doing business. Although that isn't necessarily a guarantee of any kind. Many of the wealthiest people in this world rely on dividends from stock investments as a source of income.

What is a dividend? Dividends are money given back to shareholders by the company. This money usually comes from profits the company has earned. Since shareholders own a small stake in the company, it's the companies way of passing profits on to the shareholders. Not all companies pay dividends, it's totally up to the management of the company. Some corporations simply keep the dividends to reinvest in their companies to help fund an increase in company growth.

When looking for a company to invest in for dividend income there are some things that you should look for. You want to look for a company with a history of paying consistent dividends. Dividends are usually paid quarterly so you want to make sure that they have been paying a consistent dividend for at least 5 years or more. You also want to make sure that the amount of the dividend is also consistent. Dividends naturally will vary some depending on company profits it's always a good sign if you see a slow steady growth in the amount of the dividend. Often times that shows the companies are having growing profits, and is a stable company. That's the type of company you want to invest in for income.

One of the very best things about investing in stocks that provide dividend income is the potential for capital growth. Stock prices go up and down so it's possible to lose your capital investment however, most companies that provide stable dividend are usually stable companies and more than likely their stock price will actually increase over time. Stock dividends usually are 4% to 6% of the stock price. That means if you buy a stock today at $10 per share and it has a dividend of $.50 per share. Over the next 5 years that stock price goes up to $20 per share and the dividend remains at 5% that means the stock that you originally paid $10 for is now paying you 10% on your money. So basically when investing in stocks with dividends your income stream can actually grow without the dividend itself increasing.

Understanding Wealth III

As I stated in my last post, I will be discussing one of the income streams that I have learned about. I will start by discussing one of the easiest to learn and understand, Money Market Accounts. Money Market Accounts, are very similar to any other savings account except they usually earn slightly higher interest. Some things to be away of about money market accounts is that most require a minimal deposit and you have limited access to your money sometimes you can only withdraw money 3 to 4 times a year. The interest rate on Money Market Accounts right now ranges between 3% to 6% annually. Currently the interest rate on mine is 5.04%.

Money Markets, are a great place to put money that you expect you may need but prefer not to touch it. I love to keep my emergency fund in a Money Market account. The Money Market account that I use is Paypal. There interest is very very competitive. Plus I do not have limited access to my account. I can withdraw money at anytime. It takes 3-5 business days to send money to my bank from Paypal but, I also have a debit card and I can use that to withdraw money instantly if I need to. Also Paypal, does not require a minimum deposit to open their Money Market account. I do not think Money Markets are FDIC insured but historically your principle in a Money Market account is very safe.

I encourage you to open a Money Market account if you don't already have one. Deposit money in there and "Walla!" you have your first additional passive income stream. I don't care if you deposit only $10 in there you have just started an additional passive income stream. Congratulations! Now just use your additional cashflow to add to it. You will be getting small interest payments monthly into your account, now your money is working for you, instead of you working for it!

In the next post titled "Understanding Wealth" I will talking about stock dividends!

Till Then,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Understanding Wealth II

In my last post I was talking about understanding wealth or at least my understanding of it. I mentioned creating additional cashflow and maintaining your standard of living despite the increase in cashflow. That last sentence will be the reason most people will never achieve financial success even though it is my belief I serve a God that has given us the tools to be prosperous most; of us will not lean on faith to find away to generate additional income or we will allow fear to keep up from stepping out and utilizing an additional income stream that may come our way, such as a homebased business.

Even if we create that additional cashflow, 98% of us will never be able to maintain our standard of living so that will can use that cashflow to generate more wealth, passive wealth. I challenge you to step up and be different. I challenge you to be a 2 precenter, create some free cashflow and save it until you learn how to utilize it to generate more wealth via other income streams. As you read my blog you will be able to learn as I am learning. Many things I have already learned, some I am still learning.

Other income streams in which I am currently learning and pursuing are as follows, Forex market, REITS, Real Estate, Stock dividends, and money market accounts. These income streams are not completely passive but they take minimal effort on my part. In the next couple of posts titled "Understanding Wealth" I will break them down individually and tell you what I have learned and why I like each one.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Understanding wealth

I have been paying attention to this for a long time. Understanding wealth, how it's built, how it is grown, and of course how to enjoy it without losing it. I am still learning a great deal about this however, there are certain lessons I have already learned.

First we are created to be wealthy. Our God designed us to prosper there are something like 1500 scriptures related to money and wealth in the bible. Most all of these are related to attaining and managing money.

Second, we have to tithe this is the one that that God tells us that we can test him on. I can tell you a story about this, alittle over one year ago business was slow I had been slacking off and lost some of my momentum. I realized I still had not tithed for December and it was January, I paid my tithe. This left me with $97 in my bank account with no foreseeable income coming in. All of a sudden I had two Platinum members buy a package and one Premiere member upgrade to Platinum. That ended up being my very best month in business, I earn $27,000 in 30 days.

Residual income is a myth, that's right I said it. The truth is there really is no such thing a true residual income. What I mean by this, is there are always variables that can affect any passive income stream. Heck, the most common one in this country is in danger and that is Social Security! However, it is important to develop as many passive income streams as possible. This will increase your chances of financial security.

Before, you can focus on developing residual income streams you have to develop the cash flow. This may come from a high income job, another job, or in my case it comes from my homebased business. The name of the game is to build as much additional income as possible to invest in passive income streams. The number one problem that most people have is they increase their income via a job, a new business, etc. Then all of a sudden, they end up increasing their standard of living thus becoming further indebted to their STUFF! At this point people are unable to develop wealth because they continue to increase debt instead of increasing their income producing assets. It's only by increasing your income producing assets that you will leverage your income streams and achieve true wealth.

Will Continue...
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Quest for Happiness

How many people do you know who are truly 100% happy? This questions disturbs me because quite honestly I feel that 90% of people truly are unhappy.

I believe that I am one of those people who is truly Happy most of the time in my life. Happiness, is a choice happiness is a state of mind. However, I don't mean it is necessarily a switch that we can flip on and off as easy as the light in our living rooms. Sadly, enough most of us are convinced that we are suppose to be unhappy. Life is suppose to suck. Right? Most everyone complains about it so that is normal, correct?

Well let me tell you if unhappiness is normal then I gladly choose to be abnormal. I think too many people live by default instead of by design. Many people simply live to party, drink, and live a vicarious lifestyle; it's in these moments they can forget how unhappy they are. It's as if they drain their sorrows away. I am not saying that everyone who drinks and parties is drowning our their sorrows. I am saying that most people find some method to neutralize there unhappiness so they can cope with it.

I challenge you to improve your life, to Live by Design and not Default.

Ask yourself this questions... What would make me truly utterly happy to the very soul of my being?

Take steps forward and live by Design

What can I do to begin to realize those things that will make me truly happy? What choices can I make that will make me happy?

I promise you this can start you on a journey that will change your life forever. My God did not design me to be unhappy and neither did he design you that way. Make choices with intention. I will post a follow up blog to this later.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Let's get ready for another week

Let's get ready for another great week working from home. It is amazing at how much I feel like I learn about myself through the home based business industry. I have learned so much from Dani Johnson and Call To Freedom Intl. it blows my mind how people in this industry refused to plug into that resource. I have never seen a better resource for skill development than that company. The most important thing I have learned is that my life and my business serves a much greater purpose than my own personal goals and income.

When I fail, I fail more than myself. I fail the individuals and families that I have been appointed to serve, by bringing them the "Call To Freedom". What is the "Call To Freedom"? This is the belief that we are all called to be free by our God. God wants us to be successful as evidenced by the fact that he has designed us with the tools necessary to reach success. True success IS freedom, freedom to live, to love, to worship, and to serve.

This week I make the declaration to answer my call to freedom and to assist others in answering their call as well!

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn
1-800-620-3019

Time to refocus

This past week was not very productive as far as work is concerned. Last Sunday I was relaxing at Timothy's Fine Tobaccos, a cigar shop I often frequent, when I got a phone call from my mom. Mom, told me that Nannie (my grandmother) was sick and the doctor said her organs were shutting down. Long story short, she was dying. Although my Nannie has been very sick and I knew how sick she was when I saw her at Christmas, it really hit me hard. My Nannie, was a second mom to me when I was growing up and has impacted my life immensely.

So last week when I got that phone call I sat there and processed what just happened and then I made an immediate decision to go home to North Carolina. I called Carmen and told her what was going on. By the time I got home, she had all of my clothes completely packed. (What would I do without her?) I drove through the night and mom called at about 2:30 am EST to let me know that Nannie had just passed away. So I spent the week with my mother and attending my grandmother's funeral.

This has definitely set me back on my goals for the month but I just thank God that I am in a position to be able to be there for my family at a moments notice. This week we will getting back on track and next weekend we will be headed to Dallas for First Steps to Success.

1st week of the year

What a week and it was a good week. I have some improving to do to hit my daily goals consistently. I will work on improving that this upcoming week. I absolutely love working off of a calendar, that is something that I have never consistently done. But, I can see how I will be more effective keeping my goals and daily task in front of me. I spend less time procrastinating and more time focused on the objectives at hand.

This week I also had my first meeting with my friend Melissa. Melissa is a real estate agent who has been Dani trained a little bit. She hit over 1.7 million dollars last year in real estate sold however, her goals are much higher this year. Now she wants to hit 4 million dollars sold. Not a bad goal since this will only be her 2nd full year in real estate. Melissa is also very young at 23 years old. Her and I, decided to have weekly meeting on Friday where we discuss our goals and our progress the past week. I expect it to be so exciting week by week watching her hit her goals as I am also hitting my weekly goals. It's like having someone cheer you on, It's going to be a blast.

Also this week, last night actually, Carmen and I had our first date night. It went pretty good. It was my turn to plan it so I cooked grilled chicken, string beans, and baked potato. We ate and talked and then we sat up watching season 3 of "24". Her and I have become addicted to the show. We had never seen it until several weeks ago, now we have started from the beginning and are watching each season. It's a lot of fun watching it that way. 24 has a lot of cliff hangers every episode ends with one, but we are able to just go to the next episode instead of waiting till next week! I love it. We really just had a simple evening but it was fun and it was time spent together.

Till next time,
Jackie O'Quinn

Are you are working your plan?

The New Year is well under way. I hope you have your goals and are working your plan. I know I am and I do have room for improvement but am very excited about the clear direction I currently have. I will elaborate more on my goals for this year and my plan to reach them.

Goal
Money = $500,000 by the end of the year

I will accomplish this by comparing my work from last year and making calculated adjustments to reach $500,000. I ended 2006 with some where between $110,000 to $150,000. My average work week was a pathetic 12 hours a week. I will do a little more than double my work schedule by working 28 hours a week consistently. I will perfect and incorporate two techniques taught by Dani Johnson "3 meeting plan" and "building a fire". Without accounting for an increase in prospecting skill and, Dani told me that building a fire and doing the 3 meeting plan will net me a 7 figure income when I get it right. Also not taking into account the increased expansion from our organization especially those who are plugging into First Steps to Success. I believe this will still give me a solid margin of error. Now the key is to stick to the plan.

Goal
Time Freedom = Stop Procrastinating and only work 28 hours a week.

I will reach this goal by setting up a daily planner just like Dani taught on this last Teleseminar she did. I have done this in the past and fail however, Dani taught a really simple technique in which you focus on your priorities such as time with God, time with spouse, time with children, and work. During my work hours I will keep myself on track by focusing on an hourly task of making 15 dials per hour. When I am not working I will focus on playing and having fun. When I am working I will focus on that strongly and not procrastinate so that I will remain efficient.

Goal
Relationship = Continue to grow closer to Carmen

This is a hugely important goal in my life. I will continue to focus on growing closer to "The World's Greatest Girlfriend" who happens to be my girlfriend, by setting aside time each week with her. We are setting aside that we call date night. On date night we go on a date. We are scheduling it each week. During our date we only talk about us. We do not talk about work or business, the focus is to simply spend time together and to have conversation pertaining to us and our relationship.

Goal
Faith = Increase my faith

I will do this by spending at least 30 minutes a day learning and praying. I also have this scheduled in for myself and I will do it each day before starting work.

Other things which I would like to accomplish but have not made them clear goals because I can't do it all at once. I want to focus on continuing to help individuals succeed with their own home businesses. I want to develop a course or newsletter or free service to teach people about personal finances. I want learn what I need to do to manage people's money in an investing account, I would prefer for people to learn on their own how to manage their money. But I realize some will simply choose not to. In that case I want to be able to do it for them. Last but not least, I want to buy two rental properties with Carmen.

What are your goals and what is your plan?

Jackie O'Quinn

Happy New Year!!

In a few hours it will be out with the old and in with the new. Out with your old habits, success, lifestyle, debt, income and in with the new and improved work habits, growing success, lifestyle of freedom, decreasing debt, and increasing income. This is our chance to start fresh and have a blast doing it.

I am not sure what your New Year's plans are but I pray that you spend a few moments really and truly thinking about how you will improve your life in the New Year. It's great that we get a fresh start now let's go make the most of it. This is a year where we will be able to impact more lives than ever before. We will be able to see families brought together. Single mothers will be paying off debt. Parent and children relationships improve. Young ambitious adults will get started on the journey of a lifetime. Retired couples will discover a brand new life a brand new career which will bring them a sense of continued accomplishment.

The best part is that we can have front row seats to all of this if we so choose. I ask that in 2007 you decided to make a change in your life not just for you but, for the lives of others who will be impacted by you.

Let's have a magical 2007!

Jackie

Goals for the New Year

My goal for this past year was $250,000, if you have been following my blog then you are aware that I am not on target to hit that goal. Two demons that have constantly reared their ugly head have been procrastination and poor time management. Hence, this lead to my post yesterday! However, I will hit somewhere around $110,000 to $150,000 for the year once the dust clears and my accountant does his work. When looking back at the year two things strike me, the first is that I really just have not worked that hard. Several weeks I only put in about 5 to 10 hours of solid work and simply managed my time poorly, I have never worked more than 25 hours in a week. The upside to all of this is that I still ended the year well over $100,000.

Of course with the New Year comes new goals and new commitments. My income goal for 2007 is $500,000. I will take several steps that will put me on track to reach this goal. The first step is that I will work consistently 28 hours a week not 5 or 10 hours. That alone should double my income. I will also perfect two techniques that I have learned from Dani Johnson. One of these techniques is known as "Building a Fire" and the other is called "3 Meeting Plan".

There is also one other technique I will continue to use which I officially put in place the last quarter of this year. I will continue to leverage the efforts of a training company called "Called to Freedom International". This training company has been the best resource I have seen for someone to launch a business and get into profit the quickest. This leads to an organization that is far more successful as a whole and ultimately great profits for the entire team. It also leverages my time so that I can focus on other profit producing activity within my business. To be very blunt and honest I believe "Called to Freedom" can actually train far better than I can.

Much Success,
Jackie O'Quinn

Get a JOB!

Dear readers,


I know a lot of you are business owners. A friend and business owner I love and respect sent this to me- and I have edited it to fit my own life. If I were to give you any advise for 2007- this would be it. Period, end of story, nothing more. If you do what this email says- nothing else will affect you as much. If you don’t follow what it says- nothing else will affect you as much!

You Need A JOB!

I don't mean you need to run out and get an actual J-O-B (unless you already have one) but what I mean by this is that you need to be working on...

A SET SCHEDULE.
When you work for yourself it's so easy to get LONELY as well as to get BURNED OUT from working too many hours.



After not being employed in over a year, the one thing that I find helps the most is to create a set schedule of time when I will work only on my business.

No distractions.
No TV breaks.
No running errands.
No playing video games.
No downloading music.
No email.
No phone calls to Mom.
No taking kids to soccer.
No surfing the Net.
JUST 100% PRODUCTIVE WORK.

You need to approach growing your business like a JOB.

With any job you have a DEFINED RESPONSIBILITY.

You need to have the same thing if you're running your own business. You need to hold yourself accountable.

You can do this, and make more money in your business, by committing to only WORK during at least a certain set of hours.

This could be from 10am until 2pm five days a week, or it could be only on Saturdays, or it could be 10 hours a day. But whatever it is,

you need to get serious and schedule a SET amount of time you will only work. You can always work additional hours if you choose to do so.

If you create a "Work Schedule" for yourself you will find that you are much more productive and get more done -- which ultimately leads to you making more money.

So create that work schedule and make a commitment to follow it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you see the changes that start to happen and how FAST your business starts to grow as a result.

Make your schedule now, for 2007.

Get your family ready for this schedule and plan to stick to it, come hell, come high water, come fevers, come floods, come anything!

THIS WILL BE the best year of your home based business ever, with this one tip!

Have an awesome day and God bless!

Looking toward the New Year

I am definitely looking forward to the New Year. I am working consistently to finish out December. I am encouraging others in our organization to do the same. The clients that we are talking to now will help to set the tone for the New Year. As new clients start building their business they will be building it directly into the first quarter. This will ultimately set the tone for our incomes in the New Year.

The great thing about this business is that in the New Year so many people have to New Year's resolution to "get out of debt". For many of these people the answer is a second income. If someone wants to earn an income from home then obviously Coastal Vacations offers the best chance for that. Not to mention the first quarter of the year is tax time. A lot of these people will not have more disposable income to invest in order to eventually get out of debt. You really have two choices with a tax return. Pay down a small portion of your current debt or invest in a business that will help you pay off all of your debt and eventually become completely debt free. Of course the second choice simply makes the most sense.

Till next time,
Jackie

Article: Signs of Success

This is an article that was recently published on the internet. This article maybe be used freely and reproduced only if the resource box below is kept intact to preserve the copyright.

In this article, I will discuss signs of success in business as an entrepreneur. Every successful entrepreneur has habits and ethics that I refer to as their signs of success. It is said that success leaves clues, in this article we examine those clues.

Signs of success number 1, is an eager desire. All successful entrepreneurs carry with them an insatiable appetite for success. Their thoughts and minds are consumed with their goals and the end game as they see it. Studies have been done which have shown that successful people have a different thought pattern then everybody else. They are constantly thinking about their future life and how it will be as they reach their goals and increase their income. Entrepreneurs who are successful share an almost primal desire that burns in their soul to become successful long before they actually are.

Signs of success number 2, is a willingness to learn. A very successful business coach taught me "When you are green you are growing, when you are ripe you are rotting". With those who are successful, you will find that they went through a vast season of learning. The most successful entrepreneurs can measure their success almost proportionately to the length of their growing season. What I mean by that is many people will reach a certain level of success and then become confident or cocky. At that point their success will usually plateau or peak. While those who continue to be coachable and teachable will continue grow and continue to reach new heights of success.

Signs of success number 3, is the principle of application. Successful entrepreneurs not only learn but they apply at a far great rate than the general public. This is due to their desire for success. These entrepreneurs are not going to seminars, listening to audios, and reading books for entertainment. They are seriously looking to learn so they can apply what they learned immediately to get results.

Signs of success number 4, is time and money management. It is impossible to became successful in business until an entrepreneur can master his/her management of time and money. Both of these can been seen as tools for success that can be leverage to maximize success or they can be squandered simply as another consumable commodity. Success is never measured by the money YOU earn it is measured in the time that you have and the money that YOUR MONEY is earning you.

Signs of success number 5, is consistency in work ethic. All successful entrepreneurs work from a schedule and a routine. This goes hand and hand with time management. Successful entrepreneurs always have business hours and they work from a schedule. They treat their business as a growing enterprise regardless if it's size. They start work each day at the same time and end at the same time. During their business hours they are always working diligently and never procrastinate during that time.

These signs of success are simple to follow in theory. However, many people struggle to reach their goals and to be come successful. I would encourage you to print this article out and to read it daily until you are able to apply them to your business on a daily basis. By applying this signs of success to your business you will become much more productive. Your personal life will become much more stress free. You will begin to see yourself being modeled in to a much more successful entrepreneur.

Resource Box:

Jackie O'Quinn, is an entrepreneur who is passionate about success and helping others succeed. He also has a passion to help people earn more money, save more money, and to get out of debt. You can sign up to get his Easy Money Tips newsletter by visiting his blog http://www.jackieoquinn.blogspot.com.

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=336895

I am up late... too excited

OK, it's 1:40 am and I am still up. I have tried to sleep but, I am too restless. I am suppose to awake up at 4:00 am anyway ,to get ready to catch an early flight to Orlando for Dani Johnson's Creating a Dynasty. This will only be my second Creating a Dynasty event and I am very excited. Dani says she has completely changed this event so I am expecting to see something all together different than I have seen before. I know I have learned a lot from Dani Johnson but I know that I have so much more to learn.

We will be spending a lot of time with the Coastal Wealthbuilders, every time we get together it feels like one big family. I have a lot going on in my business, I set up another marketing system today that is the 3rd one this month. I am looking forward to Christmas and the holiday season. It is a great time of the year. We get to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Also, we get to start planning for the New Year. I am looking forward to another great year. I expect next year to be even better than this year and I am very excited about that.

Our team is growing and I am looking forward to some of our newest directors having blockbuster starts with the New Year. I look forward to seeing Lucia Callaway's business take off as well as Ed, Jamie, Stacy, Peggy, Jerry, Karen, Larry, Jessica, Roland, and Ted. I am looking forward to explosive growth from released Level III Directors such as Bob Becker, and Andrea Rooke. As a Level III Director earning a six figure and multiple six figure income in your very first year is more than possible. In fact some will likely earn a multiple six figure income and that will most likely be those who have invested in themselves and their training.

This business has been more than life changing for me and for so many more. I often feel like I have found the goose that laid the golden egg. I mean that literally, sometimes this business just seems like a cash machine. This really feels like a dream come true. The only thing that would make this business better would be if other people who I deeply care about, meaning some of my friends and family realized the oppurtunity that was here. I know a lot of people who struggle with money. Most of these people know that I own a business but, they give themselves excuses not to get started or to look deeper at this business. It upsets me sometimes because I realize what Coastal and the Coastal Wealthbuilders are. I know what it has done for me and I am the most ordinary person from some of the most humble beginnings. If I can succeed in this business then anyone can. But, I can't change people so I have to focus on what I can change, myself!

Till next time,

Jackie O'Quinn

It's a great time to be working!

Here are the many reasons that make this time of year a great time
to be working your Coastal Vacations business:

1) People are in the buying mood. It's the biggest shopping season
of the year. They want to buy and some will want to buy your travel package.

2) People want to have more money for Christmas so they are looking
for ways to make more money. Many will decide that working from
home will be better than trying to pick up a part time job.

3) People will start to get cabin fever over the winter and they
will start daydreaming about their next vacation. Giving them a way
to travel affordably will appeal to them.

4) Businesses are looking for gifts to give away to their clients and
employees for Christmas. Our travel packages offers some of the
best gifts (transferable vacations).

5) Many other home based business owners are working part time and
using the holidays as an excuse not to work their business. This
means when we make our calls we will have less competition even if
the client has requested information from multiple sources.

6) People who are looking for a business during the holidays often
have a certain level of seriousness about them. After all when most
people are distracted with the holidays they are still focused on
finding a way to work from home.

7)People will start looking for tax write offs this time of year.
Your travel package will be a tax write off for them when they
start their business.

8)This is a sewing season. People who do not join your business
right away are in your pipeline. The first quarter of next year is
tax season and a lot of those seeds that you sew now will sprout
as they get their tax returns back.

9) The people that you bring into business now will directly effect
the type of year that you have next year since they will all owe
you training sales.

God Bless,

Jackie O'Quinn

P.S. Two of the sharpest people I know of in this business, Renae Heikkila and Andrea Rooke were both prospected or got started right in the middle of the Christmas season.

When do we grow up??

Lately, I have been browsing around the infamous myspace, and yes I have a myspace page. I just wonder when do people decide to grow up? I was looking up some people I went to school with. I am confident they are good people but I just wonder at what point do you decide to grow up and start truly achieving your goals and dreams. Don't misunderstand me, nothing wrong with finding yourself and having fun. But at what age do you decide to get over it and get on with it. I am finding friends well in their 20s who have pics of themselves partying and getting drunk. I assume most will simply party their 20s away and some may continue into their 30s. I don't mean to be rude, or to question someone else's life.

We live in a free country it is our own right to live our life how we choose. I just can't help but feel almost a sadness for the time these people are wasting. Most are probably doing the bare minimum to get through life, already starting a life of paycheck to paycheck. I just wish more people would take advantage of the time that we have on this earth. By the time some of my old school mates realize this life is short and they must make the most of it, many will be in their 30s. I have every intention of earning my first million before then, and earning many more millions throughout my 30s.

I too am having fun! Just in a different sort of way. I have been on several cruises, been to Australia and travel all over the US regularly. I have friends all over the country. I have ate in some of the best restaurant around. Been to many professional athletic events.

Before long I will be jet setting in a private charter jet. Taking week long vacations every quarter. Traveling all over the world. I will have time to volunteer with private charities such as City Ministries, make donations the size of many people annual salaries. The world will be our oyster and we will be making the most of it. We are creating a legacy, impacting as many people as possible. Helping other people achieve similar life goals, creating friendships like no other.

For some reason it pains me, and maybe it shouldn't to think that there are people who spend there weekends in a drunken bliss, and call it fun. I assume that it could simply be a way to escape every day life. In all honesty I could be completely wrong and I may be way off base with these feelings.

However, I simply ask that you as a reader make the most of your life! Reach for your goals and your success. Don't put your dreams off, start achieving them today. One of these days at the end of your life you may wish that you would have done things differently. Or you may be content with the memories that you are making in this life and the friends and people you are helping.

We live once,
Jackie O'Quinn

Thanksgiving is coming up

What a great holiday Thanksgiving is. We get to reflect on everything that we are thankful for. I am very thankful for my Coastal Vacations business. I am able to determine my own schedule and decide when I want to work. I have decided to work Monday (today), Tuesday, and Wednesday this week as well as Saturday. I am sure some home based business owners are taking the week off. However, I learn a while a go if you want to be unusually successful just find out what 98% of people are doing and do the exact opposite.

Someone asked me why did I decide to work on Wednesday. Well for me that is a no brainer. I am most productive calling clients when I can reach them. Lots of people will be home on Wednesday because they will be off from their regular jobs. Many people will dread work on Monday and they will remember our conversation earlier. It is an absolute privledge to be able to work from home without a boss or some time line to get your work done. I hope and pray many more people will be able to experience this in the very near future.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn

Up Early this Morning

I am up early this morning. Eight AM probably doesn't seem that early to most of you but to me it is very early. I have not been consistently waking up at eight in the morning but it's time to start. I am going into the new year and I need to start developing better business habits.

If you want to be a millionaire it's probably best to act like a millionaire. In my opinion this means developing habits of a millionaire. Habits like waking up at a decent time, consistently each morning. Putting in a honest days work and managing money in such a way to ultimately increase your networth. My goal for next year is $500,000. My success with that goal will be directly related to my habits as a businessman.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn

Back from Chicago...

Today, was my first day back from First Steps to Success in Chicago. We had a blast. I can't wait to go back. The next First Steps seminar will be in Dallas Texas Jan. 21st and 22nd. This one will surely sell out fast. The last First Steps in Dallas sold out in 18 days!!

Prosper Always,
Jackie

Off to Chicago once again..

OK, I had never been to Chicago before until last week and now I am about to go again this week. That's twice in about a week. I guess you can say I am just on a roll. Actually Carmen, had already planned last week prior to us finding out that the up coming First Steps to Success Seminar was going to be in Chicago as well.

I have been to a lot of these seminars of Dani's in the past year. It is said that if you want to be successful then find someone who has what you want and follow their lead. That is exactly what I am doing. Dani went from homeless to a millionaire in the homebased business industry within 2 years. Currently she earns a multimillion dollar annual income working only about 3 days a week. Who wouldn't want to have that lifestyle. However, there is a certain skill set that has to be learned and developed and that is what I am doing. Each time I attend one of Dani's seminars I intentionally go looking to learn something new and apply it to my business. Sometimes it is something simple but it always has a positive impact on my business.

There is actually a whole group of us from Coastal Vacations going to be at this event. As always I am very excited!

God Bless,
Jackie O'Quinn

P. S. Prosper always!

The details about Chicago

As I promised in my last blog post. I will tell you more of the details about our anniversary trip to Chicago. We left our home Saturday morning at 7:30 am, we got in to Chicago at 11:30 am and checked into our hotel. We stayed at a hotel called Sofitel. We stayed in a beautiful deluxe room.

When we first arrived at the hotel Carmen and I took a nap. She woke me up at 3:00 pm and at 3:15 there was a knock at the door. I went to the door and was surprised to see two massage therapists. They literally in a matter of minutes had rearranged our room into our on private massage room. Carmen was on one table and I on the other. This was my very first experience having a professional massage. Although, Carmen enjoys a good massage about once a month but I had not had one yet. However, for the next hour I enjoy a piece of heaven. Let me tell you if you have never had a professional massage I encourage you to put that at the top of your list, you will thank me for it. I can definitely see a time when that could become a monthly if not a weekly habit for me.

After the massage, we took showers and got ready for dinner. Carmen had yet another surprise for me, we went on a dinner cruise. This was spectacular! We spent 3 hours aboard a luxury cruise ship cruising along the sparkling skyline of Chicago. Viewing the Chicago skyline was amazing, it was as if I was looking through the pages of a magazine. We had our very own poster ready view over dinner. Dinner was elegant, we were served a 4 course meal and were waited on by one of the best wait staffs I have ever seen. A relaxed atmosphere, with amazing views, and a wait staff that catered to all of our needs throughout dinner. Between dinner and desert we took a walk on the observation deck to enjoy the view of the skyline it a refreshing way to relax and reflect with each other. When we returned to dinner we enjoyed our own private anniversary cake that Carmen had ordered for desert. It was great way to wrap up a greater evening.

We went to bed that night and slept in Sunday morning. Before leaving on Sunday we stopped by a Cigar shop that is semi-famous called "Up Down Cigar Shop". I do enjoy a good cigar so I was excited to see this place. This shop was magnificent. It had a ton of inventory packed into a small place. It was without a doubt a highend store. We spent about an hour there and I was talking to one of the sales associates named Sean. If you go to Up Down be sure to ask for Sean he is a great guy and is very helpful. While I was there I scored several cigars including two Diamond Crown Maduros and two Padron Anniversary 1926s.

Without question I have to have the best girlfriend ever. We had a great weekend. I look forward to many many more years with Carmen.

Hope you enjoyed it,
Jackie O'Quinn

My Surprise!

Carmen, and I have been dating now for 4 years. November 1st was our anniversary. She surprised me with a weekend trip to the "Windy City" otherwise known as Chicago. We are in the hotel room now and will be leaving shortly. This is the first chance I have had to blog but this has been on great experience that I can't wait to share with you. In the next blog post I will tell you all about our Chicago trip.

All the best,
Jackie O'Quinn

Updates on Prosper

In the past on my blog I have written about Prosper.com. I am writing a manuscript to be released as a book or at least as an ebook. I am looking to teach others about the benefits of this website and it's service for borrowers as well as lenders. Borrowers have a simple and easy way to borrow money, it's just another option versus going to the local bank or finance company.

Other individuals can choose to be investors/lenders and realistically earn much better returns than can be obtained from CDs or Money Market accounts. As being a lender not only can we earn better returns than other conservative investments but these investments allow a unique liquid aspect to them. No you can't just sell your investment as you could with a stock but you will receive a percentage of your investment back each month in the form of a payment plus interest from your lenders. Of course once you receive that payment you can choose to compound it by reinvesting in another loan or you can simply withdraw it. I am considering starting a free suggestive loan service in which I would spend my time looking for loans that I would invest in on Prosper.com so that would save you time as an investor when doing your own research. Currently, I am earning just over 12% on my Prosper account. I have not had any late payments yet either.

Until next time,
Jackie

Stories of Success

Stories of success always inspire me a great deal. I love watching movies about successful people, I love learning about people who have been successful. Ordinary people having extraordinary success. What is better than hearing someone change their life. Recently there was a live training call in which several home business owners shared their success. I was truly inspired by them, people literally coming from nothing to become something. That training call was recorded and you can hear it here. (Be sure to listen to the second story, it is very inspirational)

Are you creating your success?

Back from LA

Back this evening from First Steps to Success with Dani Johnson. We had a blast, had over 60 Coastal Wealthbuilders at that event. It is always a lot of fun hanging out with people from our team. I am back home now and ready to get back to work. I have been attending these seminars for over a year and have been learning business skills that have made a direct impact on my business. It is true as I have stated in a previous post that I have not always applied the strategies that I have learned. That is changing, I have had one of my best weeks in my business this past week. I say it was one of my best weeks because of the consistency of my work. I worked 25 hours and made 240 dials to clients. I have not spent enough time focusing on the key areas that are profitable in my business; such as dialing. My goal is for the next 3 weeks to be as consistent as the past week.

Carmen, gave me a great idea. She told me to creat a goal for myself and to reward myself if I reach that goal however, if I don't reach my goal then give myself consequences for not reaching my goals. So this is what I decided, if I reach my goal of 240 dials a week over the next 3 weeks then I will reward myself. My reward will be buying myself a nice Premium Cigar, cigar smoking is something that I enjoy from time to time. If I do not reach my goal then I will not be able to go to my favorite cigar lounge for two weeks. This is a great goal because I usually stop by my local cigar lounge at least once a week on the weekends when I am home.
This often a great time for me to socialize and unwind in a completely stress free environment. It seems like my dear friend Renae expected to have a great time as well.

Prosper Always,
Jackie

What Happens To Our Net Biz When We Die?

What Happens To Our Net Biz When We Die?

This was recently the topic that I saw posted on a discussion forum. I thought this was a great question. My brother and I have discussed this several times before. Having dealt with our father's death at a young age, we have often considered what would happen to over love ones if our life were to be ended abruptly.

Many people on that discussion forum seemed to have some serious concern about this. With Coastal, we can rest assured that we have a business that can easily be passed on to our loved ones. If we were to pass on then our family would simply changed the name on our Coastal Membership application. They would be entitled to all training sales and profits that would be coming. Also it is pretty easy to teach a family member the basics of this business. It's not like a lot of other internet businesses in which someone would have to learn all the details and skills required to be a successful internet marketer, to be able to carry on the business. With Coastal a loved one would simply plug into our training, advertising companies, and scripts. It would be pretty simple for someone to take over our business in the event that we passed away. One of things that has always attracted me to Coastal, is knowing that I am building a business that can be passed on to my loved ones.

However, if you have a net biz I would highly encourage you to simply go to work immediately. Even if you can't pass on your business to your loved ones. Wouldn't it be a shame knowing that you procrastinated with your business and never earned the income that you could have? Knowing that you passed away before getting serious about your business and building a bank account to protect you family financially after you pass on. Many of us spend a lot of time procrastinating. We are not guaranteed a tomorrow so let's work our businesses like tomorrow is our last day. At least if we pass on we will know that we gave it our best shot and did our very best to leave our loved ones in the best financial position that we could.

God, blessed us with a business let's make the most of it!

Prosper Always,
Jackie

What in the hell is going on here?

This world is truly going to hell in a hand basket. In case you haven't heard North Korea has conducted it's first live nuclear test. Who knows what is going to happen now. Some say we the US should conduct an airstrike and destory all of their missle sites. However, herein lies the rub, currently China, South Korea, and Japan are at a far greater threat than the US is. If one of those countries aren't willing to take a proactive stance then we look like the lone ranger and this approach shouldn't be taken except as a last resort. Lone ranger tactics severly damages our foreign policy strategies overseas.

However, China could immediately cause a regime collapse in they would stop importing food and energy into North Korea. That would cause a huge influxe of North Koreans flooding into China. China doesn't want that to occur nor do they want a communist regime on their border collapsing. We will see if China takes a lead on this but I doubt it. Most likely it will be Japan or South Korea both of these countries we will back up 100%. The United Nations is suppose to be trying to decide how to deal with North Korea. If history tells us anything it is that the UN is absolutely ineffective.

Here is the biggest threat for the US. North Korea is more than willing to sale this technology to the highest bidder. If they sale it to Iran or a rogue terrorist group then it's possible that bomb could end up getting smuggled into the US. Currently North Korea have not built a missle that could reach the states and we aren't sure they even have the technology to attach it as a warhead on a long range missle even if they could build the missle. If we or another country does not take the lead in stopping the further progression of North Korea's nuclear technology then they will continue to prefect this technology and eventually create a missle that can hit us.

God bless us...