December 2015 Spotlight Friday: The Year in Review

Well what better day to have spotlight Friday than on Christmas Day itself!

A good time to have a Year in Review I’d say.

Now although I’m not sharing with you anyone big in the industry this month, I am sharing with you someone very special this month!!!

ME! Hilary De Freitas –

However if you ever have to write me a check I’m Hilary Knights (not to my husband’s liking)

“These modern women who don’t like to change their name.” he says

Anyway!

This is my year in review.

And like most entrepreneurs there would always be the good the bad and the ugly.

But again like most entrepreneurs you have to get up dust yourself off and try again.

This year started off great! That’s pretty much because I was going off the momentum I created in the year before.

I was working even on Christmas Day…….

I was working on New Year’s Eve…..

And none of it felt like work that’s the amazing thing!

One of my coaches said that it’s because I was in “play” mode.

She has a quote that goes something like this

[Tweet “”When work becomes play, it’s no longer work, it’s your passion!””]

So when everyone was now catching up on or near January 15th – I already had completed what felt like a month’s worth of work!

But like all things if you don’t keep it up it fades into oblivion.

The “Boring” Months

What I thought was a lull period actually turned out to be just my systems oriented self kicking in a little.

Sometimes when you’re doing something over and over and over again it may seem a little boring.

Routine can do that for you.

But routine is what creates a system.

And a system is what is needed for a well oiled business!

So in my boring months I started getting into a routine.

A daily routine of blogging, video creation, writing an email and then creating social media posts.
There were five things I did everyday regardless of what happened that day

1. Write a Blog
2. Syndicate content
3. Create a video
4. Write an email
5. Create and share social media

It pretty much filled my work day.

Until it became second nature.

Then the system starting falling into place. I started doubling up on activities. I was able to do three and four blog posts at a time.

I was able to create social media posts for weeks at a time.

So the boring stuff started to take up less and less of my time.

I was starting to create a system call my Daily Mode of Operation.

Adding New Stuff

So with a little time on my hands I thought to myself …..

What MORE can I do for my business….

This is where the ideas started flowing.

This is when I started our Marketing Moms Trinidad Monday series.

Every week my partner and I would jump on for about 30 minutes and broadcast.
You can catch some of the archives here!

And this led us straight into the main event of the year !

The No Excuses Summit!

Have I ever told you why Live Events are so Important?
Watch the video below and you’ll find out why!

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Live events make a HUGE difference in your life, in your business, in the relationships you form.

This was a big deal for me because I wasn’t able to go LIVE the year before.

No Excuses Summit was a game changing event for me!

I got to meet and rub shoulders with everyone who I spend so much time with masterminding online.

Then as life would roll the dice ……..

Life Happened!

I’m a woman, wife and mother and I was going to become a mother to another!

Yes after coming back from No Excuses Summit news broke that I was pregnant.

Took me quite a while to recognize it too!

It took a complete lull in my work to make me realize something was up.

So I called this time the SLOW MONTHS

I was on go slow…… it felt like I was getting nothing done!

I felt like doing nothing……

And yet the creative juices kept flowing.

This was a time when I had to make hard decisions.

Financially and business wise.

I had to make the decision on what I was going to do with the two hours a day that my body would allow me to work.

Can you imagine going from a 5 to 6 hour non stop work day to a 2 hour work day if you’re lucky.

Yes life can happen, and it happened to me “good and proper” as we say here in Trinidad.

And The blows just kept coming!

Have you ever realized that it’s when you’re down that you’re beaten the most?

Maybe it’s just coincidence, but this is when things started getting very “gloomy”.

With a baby now on the way, money going out faster than it was coming in; I had to have my head examined!

It was really getting down to crunch time.

We were basically using points to buy groceries and hot dogs became the main course of every meal!

Things didn’t seem like they were looking too good.

In the mean time I kept up with my DMO and started focusing on activities that will get clients.

And that’s when we started to see the light at the end of tunnel.

When I started focusing my very little energy at this time on ACTIVE MARKETING.

I didn’t stop the passive marketing, but I had no choice but to ramp up the ACTIVE marketing unless my family just wouldn’t be able to eat.

You could imagine the excitement when I landed my FIRST personal Client!
I’m not talking an affiliate client I’m talking my personal coaching client!

Finally some Results!

I was elated!

Then another and another and another!

Talk about a confidence boost!

But it took us being really down in a hole to figure out what we needed to do to get out of that hole.

And well as the story goes ……. we lived “happily” ever after…..

Well not quite.

We’re still living and working everyday.

You know what they say……

Don’t ever stop at the first sign of success. You’ll loose it just as fast as it came.

[Tweet “Don’t ever stop at the first sign of success. You’ll loose it just as fast as it came.”]

And we continue to work hard, but now knowing what it feels like to really EARN a dollar!

I remember my parents telling me while I was growing up you have to earn a living.

When I had a job I never in my life felt like I EARNED my salary.

But my clients who paid me for a service! I knew exactly what EARNING a living felt like.

And that’s the journey I want to take you on.

Yes it’s going to be rough.

You will face DARK and I mean DARK days. (But the Force will be with us!)

You will cry everyday wondering if you’re doing the right thing.

But if you stick with it, you will see success.

I’m inviting you on this journey because I did it and I’m happy I did.

I joined a group of marketers.

I joined paid mentorship programs.

I signed up for a business coach!

And it was all WORTH it.

Because these people have been down that path that you haven’t started to journey yet!

I’ve been down that path that you haven’t started to journey down yet.

And I’m willing to help you, if you’re willing to help yourself.

Here’s my offer to you today – put in an application for my personal Marketing Moms Inner Circle mastermind.

If you’re accepted then we can start to work with you and help you get the same results I’m getting.

If you’re not accepted well I wish you all the best for the New Year!

Final Thoughts

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I want to share with you that I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for a few people.

I’ve mentioned them along the way this year.

They all belong to an Elite group of online marketers.

They have helped me build an online marketing business.

They have helped me realize my full potential in my offline business.

And they continue to root for me as I grow and mature.

I want to introduce you to these and so many others.

Through this Marketing Moms Inner Circle Mastermind you will be able to just that.