Throwback time!
This is my friend Linda and I in 2010. She was attending our Mentor Training program, and later shared an experience that proves “the solution to every problem is only an idea away”.
It’s time to share it again.
Linda shared the story behind her husband’s Plugfones business. I’m impressed with how raw, real and down to earth their story is, and I believe many people will relate.
Here’s what she wrote me back in 2014:
We love sharing our story. It has been a team effort for us. …I know so many wives wish their husbands were on board with them.It is something that requires a great deal of patience. However, once they catch the vision you have to hold on with both hands because they just rocket forward at lightning speeds… The team effort is what I like, though. I like that we work together, even when we go at different speeds.Our story of the past several years is quite long; maybe too long for most people to want to read. So here is the short of it.
Following some nefarious advice we had borrowed huge sums of money and invested it hoping to make a nice return which was supposed to cover the debt payments and our standard of living. It all went down the drain in the market crash of ’08. We lost our home, our rental properties, our vehicles, and a couple businesses and incurred mountains of debt.
Just before we lost our home to foreclosure I used a bit of credit we had left on a card and I purchased Leslie Householder’s Mindset Mastery course. I figured we were going down anyway – why not get a little education out of it. Little did my husband know at the time that I was sharing with him the things I was learning from Leslie’s course. Even as we concluded that we couldn’t keep our home we were employing the Principles I was learning. Our mindset made all the difference to us having PEACE through this journey, even when losing everything we had!
We had no money, no job, and a hernia surgery for which we had no way to pay. We had little of our food storage left. I would stay up all Friday night to bake bread and then sell it at the farmers market on Saturday using the wheat we did have in order to supplement what we ate. Shaun adopted a new diet plan:
Eat every other day.
Through divine providence Shaun was led to a job working at a glass factory. We acknowledged each and every blessing no matter how great or small and I learned through the Mindset Mastery course how to be grateful for ALL things including our struggles. We were blessed to greatly and in so many ways – a topic that could take its own volume to cover.
It was while Shaun was working at the glass factory – in fact, I think just barely a day or two into the job, that Shaun started looking for earplugs that worked as earphones and could not find any. So he devised a way to create his own.
(The solution to every problem is only an idea away!)
I remember how we struggled to come up with the $300 we needed for supplies. It was all we could do to muster up the money and I’m sure we over drafted the checking account.
Within a short time Shaun had created a very basic website and had started selling his creation. www.Plugfones.com was born. We had no idea where it would go – all we knew was that within a few months we were supplementing our income from it.
Shaun would work as much over the time as he could get, often working swing or graveyard, and when he got home he would sit in the corner of the bedroom jimmy rigging these things together.
The business continued to grow. Eventually we were able to move the the very cramped duplex we were renting to a home that fit our needs better and was closer to Shaun’s work.
This is where we were living when I received a scholarship to attend Mentor Training. I took all the money I had made from my blog/website (www.TracisTransformationalKitchen.com) and from selling bread on the corner and to neighbors to be able to pay for travel expenses. I took the things I learned at the training to help Shaun update his website and to help our family continue thinking properly.
Eventually Shaun was working so much he was exhausted – truly he couldn’t do any more himself… so our boys started working with him. Pretty soon he had brought his cousin on board to take over Amazon sales.
All this time I was teaching our family about the Principles. We were using them daily. When we got discouraged or overwhelmed I would rely on them to get us through. When I went through 2 difficult miscarriages back to back I was using these truths to get me through. These experiences were tough – and they made us stronger, bound us together, helped us to be more grateful, brought us closer to God.
The business started to pay more than the glass factory and soon Shaun had to quit in order to keep up. Then, when Shaun needed the full time help, we were able to rent a REALLY nice home closer to Shaun’s cousin.
After a year and the birth of our 7th child we moved again; this time renting an even NICER home. Shaun brought on even more help.
We are still working to pay back all of our debts a piece at a time. But ever since we lost our home we have been living on a cash basis – no more debt incurred since then. No house payment, no car payment. We rent our home and pay cash for everything.
Shaun’s business brings in more money in one month than we used to make in a year, working several jobs, by at least double! Of course, there are expenses and only a portion of that is ours but just the idea of it is totally wild! SERIOUSLY – this has been one very fun and very amazing journey.
So yes, it took me over 4 years to finish my Mindset Mastery course. [But…]
Because of the things I’ve learned and the person I am becoming because of the principles Leslie teaches I wouldn’t trade my knowledge and experience for anything! The knowledge is like night and day to us! I can testify that ignorance is not bliss!
I know that there were and are great sacrifices made on the part of Leslie and her family to create these materials to help others. It brings me to tears to think about what they have been through in order for me to have received the blessing that made this crazy journey possible.
The mindset tools you teach are the key to our success. What is success? Learning to be happy today, whether we are brown bagging it or catching rabbits. That means that we could lose it all and still be happy. Knowing HOW to think means we could start over. We don’t have to cower in fear of something “bad” happening. We know that even though we might have gone hungry sometimes it didn’t kill us. We learned that there is always a way and the joy is in the journey.
Thank you so very much for all that you do – the many hours, the creative energy, the sharing of your gifts and talents. I feel so grateful to know you and learn from you. May the Lord watch over you and your sweet family. God bless you!!!Your friend and forever grateful student,Linda =)
A note from her husband Shaun:
My business is flourishing and I don’t know how big we will get but I do know this, I have proven myself and the principles I learned from the Jackrabbit Factor. I have what it takes to succeed and even if things go south someday, I know I can build it again. This knowledge gives me a confidence and freedom unexplainable to anyone who hasn’t felt it. Thank you, Leslie!
To learn about the principles Linda and Shaun talked about, begin with the FREE Jackrabbit Factor ebook, or take your understanding to the next level through the Mindset Mastery home study program.
I want to hear YOUR story, too! If you have an inspirational story that illustrates how you have used the principles from my books or programs, let me know. I’d love to consider sharing your story in a future blog post!
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