Wednesday, April 17, 2013

What You Focus On Expands

I will guarantee you that every single champion in all arena of life will say that "focus" is paramount to their success. Unfortunately for me, it was one thing I severely lacked in my life. Fortunately,  I am a work-in-progress. One of the quote that has impacted me so much in the past year is what I always hear T. Harv Eker say, "what you focus on expands". Whatever the dominant thoughts in your mind are, will dominate your physical reality. Very simply, the more you focus on anything, the truer it becomes.

It is very typical to hear "Emergency Funds" in most envelope budgeting system. For years, we focused our budgeting in the realm of emergency funds. Among the first step in Dave Ramsey's envelope system is to complete the first $1000 on the emergency funds right away. There's no arguing that preparing for the rainy days is a smart and responsible thing to do. However, because we focused on saving for emergencies, that's exactly what we keep getting. Either a car breaks down or an unexpected bill arrives just in time for our newly-funded emergency funds to get depleted again. Have you ever had that situation when you thought you could get ahead of your savings account only to find something very important to spend it on? That was us!

After realizing that what we focus on truly expands, we started shifting our focus. We graduated from Dave Ramsey's envelope system to T. Harv Eker's Money Jar. The money jars represents the envelopes, only more visual. The only difference is that the most important of the jars is the "FFA" or "Financial Freedom Account". Part of the jar is the "contingency jar" as I try to avoid the word emergency. The tiny shift of focus has worked magic for us allowing us to become financially independent. Its amazing how an exact amount of money managed with a slightly different focus can have a better result. Guess what, we definitely had fewer emergencies.

Truly understanding that whatever your focusing on expands is empowering. Sad to say my focus towards my life vision isn't exactly laser light today. I am distracted even more now with more wonderful opportunities coming my way. With my innate enthusiasm, its easy to loose focus. The good news is that both focus  and success are learn-able skills. So I am going back to the very basic by forming the right habits.

Since I want to inculcate success in my habit, I've decided to start a success journal. This allows me to focus on being successful on a daily basis. At the end of each day, I will right down successes I've had that day and at the end of each week, I will write down 2 major successes. Journaling about my small daily successes not only helps me focus on being successful, it also motivates me to do something worth celebrating. Today is day 5 of my success journal. I taught an SAT class, something I've been doing for years now but because of my success journal, I prepared myself better and taught the class with a higher energy just so I can celebrate this success today. Notice how a shift of focus can make a huge impact. Same activity, different focus, different result.

I encourage you to observe yourself and your dominant thoughts in the next few days. Pinpoint your key focuses and examine if it is supporting your vision and goals in life. How do you know if your focus is not supportive to your goals? Its simple--look at your results. Are you anywhere close to your goals? If not, maybe its time to shift to a better perspective. Shift your focus from focusing on the  problem to the solution itself. Use helpful tools like journaling and the jar system.

Truly understanding the power of focus is liberating. Within one year of shifting our focus to a more solution-oriented perspective, Marlon and I have accomplished things we only dreamed of years ago. We now know to channel our energy and focus only on things that supports our vision. Its amazing how a small shift of focus from "emergency funds" to "financial freedom funds" changed our lives exponentially.


Bacon Cups Breakfast

Bacon Cups Breakfast: Recipe



This is a perfect concoction to serve for brunch or holiday breakfast. Its scrumptious and super easy to make. The idea of this recipe is that you can fill the bacon cups with just about anything you want. Some fill it with pancake mix in the bottom and sunnyside up. For this recipe, I used sourdough bread for my base and eggwhites and turkey bacon.

Turkey Bacon Breakfast Cups Recip

Cooking Time: 25 minutes


Ingredients:
5 Turkey Bacon (cut in half)
2 sourdough bread
jack/cheddar cheese
5eggwhites
chopped chive
pepper

silicone cupcake cups (preferred) but other cupcake cups or pans are fine
baking sheet
round cookie cutter

Pre-heat oven at 375 degrees.

1. Cook halved bacon slices but not thoroughly for about 2 minutes.
2. With a round cookie cutter, cut 5 pieces of bread.


3. Once bacon is half-cooked, place it on the side of the silicone cup. 
4. Add the bread to use as a base. Sprinkle some cheese into the bread.


 5. Add chive into the eggwhites and pour the eggwhites into the bacon cups.


6. Sprinkle the top of the egg with freshly ground pepper.
7. Place the bacon cups on a flat baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until the eggwhites are cooked.
8. Take bacon cups out of the silicone cups and serve immediately. You can drizzle ketchup on the cups. 



Friday, March 29, 2013

A Personal Invitation

Marlon and I would like to extend an invitation to you and a guest to join us in this life-changing seminar.

Millionaire Mind Intensive
Convention Center
J St Sacramento
April 5 thru 7
7:00 AM 


In 2008, Marlon and I became part of a multi-level marketing in Financial Services. Though we did not pursue that business opportunity for long, it became clear to us that more than anything in life, we wanted to have the freedom of time. For the first time, we actually believe that there is more to life than our 8-5 jobs and the crazy part is that we believed we can do it. Our long journey and still an on-going journey  to entrepreneurship began that year. We've had few failed businesses since we started but our heart to achieve financial freedom never faded.

In 2012, we've officially launched our business " Mobility Express Homecare & Transportation". Marlon and I quit our jobs and fully committed ourselves to this new cause. Often, we heard that the first year is the toughest. Some say that actually starting the business is the hardest part, it become easy as time goes. Maybe, maybe not. In my experience, the hardest part is GROWING you as a person. The growth or success of our business is directly related to how much we've grown in character and in strength.

For the first half of our first year, we were struggling financially. We weren't getting enough business and it felt like there's a huge wall of resistance. What are we doing wrong? Is starting this business even a good idea? Are we in the right business? Somehow, I miss the sense of security and structure in being an employee. I miss going home and tuning work-related things out.

To get a different result, you have to do things differently. It is foolish to wonder why you keep getting stuck when you've been doing the same things month after month. We realized we had to muster  up all the courage we could and push on. 

Out of our desperation, our prayers were answered. NO, God did not throw clients right in front of our noses. Instead, we came across T. Harv Eker's "Millionaire Mind Intesive". Marlon couldn't go the first time I attended the event. I had no idea what was in store for me. I've learned most importantly that my character and strength defines my success. The result in my business is merely a reflection of who I am.

Marlon and I learned about our money personalities and how our relationship with money has affected our marriage and our results. We've learned new approach to budgeting and other strategies. Immediately, we've implemented our new-found MMI knowledge into our lives and almost immediately, we are seeing better results.

Its not even a year yet since our first MMI but Marlon and I have already achieved in our business what we could not achieve for 10 years in our jobs. We became financially free! To some, this may be a new concept. Financial independence means having an income (passive income) even without putting in the work. This also translates to having the freedom of time that we can spend it with each other whenever we want to. People assume that you  need so many millions to do that but that's not the case. Thank God for MMI, we now understand differently.

Other than marrying the best husband, the single most impact-full event in my life is attending Millionaire Mind Intesive. Last year, we brought so many of our friends whose lives are changed just as much as ours. We simply keep coming back and its happening in our neighborhood this time (Sacramento)!

All it took was the courage to dream! In 2008, we dreamed of a life beyond our 8-5 jobs; a life of freedom of time and money. Its been a long shot but its worth every wait. I dare you to dream! That's all you need to get started, just dare! With MMI, you will learn about the reason to your current money habits and how its affecting you and your family. Then, you will learn practical strategies to help you propel your current financial situation to where you want to be.

In 2008, Marlon and I were heavily in debt, no savings, tired of our jobs and desperate. This could be you or anyone you know. If we can do it, so can you!  Our mission is now to help educate couples and individual about being in their best financial position. This seminar did not only help us climb the wall we were facing in our business but also in our marriage.

From our hearts, we are inviting you to join us on this life-changing event! April 5th thru 7th, Friday thru Sunday at the Sacramento Convention Center. I know its hard to take off for 3 days but make an exception. If you want more out of life, then you have to stop making excuses and start doing things differently. If Day 1 doesn't already change you, by all means skip the rest of the seminar. You owe it to yourself and your family to be the best that you can be and this could be the start!

If you're interested, send me a Facebook message or email me at grace.capon@yahoo.com. Here's the link to sign up for the event:

http://www.millionairemindevents.com/united-states/sacramento/

By the way, this cost $795.00 but you can get it free using this link. Consider it a special gift from us! 

Lotsa Love -Grace & Marlon

Friday, March 22, 2013

Super Easy Rosemary Roasted Shrimp with French's Onion Topping

You cannot possibly screw up on this recipe, its just that easy! So, ditch the measuring cups and allow your senses to take over. The combination of the smell of rosemary and onions swirling in your kitchen will make this recipe a definite go-to for busy weeknights.
Ingredient:
Peeled and devined shrimps
Olive oil
Freshly ground salt abduction pepper
Rosemary sprigs
Garlic powder
French's onions (optional)
Begin by infusing the rosemary flavor into your Olive oil. On a shallow oven-proof pan, drizzle enough Olive oil to be able to coat your shrimp later on. In the pan, add the sprigs of rosemary, salt and pepper. Toss lightly and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 4-6 minutes. Rosemary's aroma will take over your kitchen.
Take the pan out of the oven and place the thawed-out shrimp. Make sure its dry and at room temperature. The water from the frozen shrimp will lessen the flavors. Then add garlic and more salt and pepper if desired.
Lightly toss the shrines to fully coat with the rosemary-infused Olive oil. Bake for 3-5 minutes until slightly orange out not cooked  through.
Add french's onions on top of the half-cooked shrimp. Turn your oven to the broil settings and broil the shrimp and onions for another 3-6 minutes until browned.
Viola! Here's your 15-minute dish. You wouldn't think something so good can very that easy to make.
The use if French's onions is optional. Rosemary in itself can flavor the shrimp quite delectably. I paired mine with a green salad and instead of croutons, the crunchy texture of the broiled onions substituted it. Also, its much flavorful compared to the croutons.
It was a perfect match to top on my Greek salad with red vinegar dressing. Salads can be bland at times but the shrimp made it just more exciting.