More Travels with Hawgwash

Well, today was an absolutely beautiful day. There were almost no clouds in the sky, the weather was warm, the air was clear...well, you get the picture. Since our Internet access has been very slow and I was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of speed and / or access, we decided to go out for a bit and explore Colorado Springs.

We are camping very close to the Garden of the Gods. I had visited the Garden when I was a young girl, so I really was looking forward to seeing it as an adult. (It has to have been over 40 years since I was there...) We drove the 4 or so miles up to the Garden, and as we were getting near, I kept looking over at some cool rock formations which kept reminding me of something. Then the signs said to turn left for the Garden of the Gods. Lo and behold, the rock formations I had been watching as we were riding along were the entryway to the Garden of the Gods. I knew there was something familiar about it.

For me there were significant changes, but what would you expect in 40 or so years? Anyway, even though I had high expectations, I was not disappointed with what I saw. There were a few monoliths I didn't find that I thought I remembered as a child, but I am now not sure that those monoliths were here. They could have been somewhere else in our travels. The main changes I noted was that the road is no longer dirt and there are very well marked paths all along and through the Garden.

The City of Colorado Springs and the Parks Services have done a wonderful job keeping this Garden a place to visit. This year marks the 100th year anniversary. I found the plaque that dedicated the Garden of the Gods to the City of Colorado Springs and have included that picture here. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do justice to this magnificent park. It is a registered National Landmark (as it should be) and should always be free to visitors. That was part of the agreement in 1909 when it was dedicated to the City of Colorado Springs.

If you are a technical climber, this is a great place to go play. They allow climbers (with the appropriate permits and equipment) to climb many of the rock formations. We had the opportunity to watch several climbers attempt various rock faces. One lady looked like a new climber, but did a fantastic job getting to the top of one of the formations. It made me want to go locate my old climbing gear and start climbing again. Luckily, I didn't have a chance to climb, I probably would have broken my neck.

If you ever have an opportunity to come to Colorado Springs, I would highly recommend taking a trip to visit the Garden of the Gods, it is an awe inspiring place to go. I just wish we had more time to spend wandering around. The park is fairly large and there is a wonderful network of hiking trails all around. Hopefully in the next few years we will be able to have time to spend wandering around this Garden.

That is all for tonight. Thanks to being in business for myself, I do have the opportunity to visit locations like this at the spur of the moment. People chained to a regular job would be hard pressed to be able to wander around as much. Tomorrow I will continue on my thread of how to let people know you are in business. Take care....

How to tell people you are in business for yourself

I am working on keeping these daily blogs shorter so that you do not spend too long reading each day. In order to do that, I will have to spread the discussion over several days. So here it goes...

I have struggled with the question about how to tell people I am in business for the whole time I have been in business for myself. Short of wearing a billboard all the time, you want to let people know you are in business, but you don't want to be a pest about it either. The big question is how to tell them without being a pain.

The best way I have figured out so far is to open a general conversation with the person, do not start with a specific agenda. You can be standing in line at the grocery store and you both see something worth commenting on. I always have trouble starting conversations (yes, really I do) and have to psych myself into opening a conversation with a complete stranger. With practice it does get marginally easier, but you always have to work at it (at least I do).

Once you start the conversation, let it move naturally and watch for an opportunity. The best way to have a constructive conversation is to listen to the other person more than you talk. When you start listening to them, they begin to trust you and are willing to open up to you more. When you have gained some of their trust, you can start asking questions. Just be sensitive to the time you spend talking, the other person may really have something else that must be done. In today's society, we all have a lot to do in a very short period of time.

(If you start up a conversation with a stranger, only answer your cell phone if it is an EXTREMELY urgent call. If you pick up that phone while talking to the stranger and you do not excuse yourself, you just let the other person know that their time was not very important to you. You need to make sure the other person knows that you value their time and opinion, so be careful when and if you answer the ringing cell phone.)

Once you have started an open dialog, you can then ask the other person what they do for a living. They will usually talk a bit about what they are doing, or not doing and whether they are happy doing their job. The next natural question from them is to reciprocate and ask you what you do for a living. Now, if you had been listening to the person up until now, you are in an excellent position to talk about what you do and to tailor it to the current person's needs (if applicable). Do not push your business, treat it casually, but do not talk it down and you may be very surprised how receptive the other person may be to finding out more about what you do.

If you find you are both short on time, you may want to exchange e-mail addresses and/or phone numbers if the other person is remotely interested in what you do for a business. Do not take a lot of their time talking about your business if you are both pressed for time. The most effective route is to exchange information and set at time to contact them when it is convenient to both of you. The other person will appreciate your sensitivity to their time constraints, and you will find you get more qualified people to talk to.

I will continue this thread in the next day or so... until tomorrow...

If you are interested in finding a business opportunity that may meet your needs, please visit www.hawgwash.net or feel free to contact me through e-mail or in comments to this blog posting.

My Accelerated Weight Loss

As promised, I am going to let you in on my little secret about what I have done to increase my weight loss this week.

I have been trying to lose weight for years, in the last 4 years I have put on more weight than I ever did. I believe that most of my weight problems were due to my metabolism slowing down radically. Once I put on the weight, it was a massive job to get any of it off.

I have been using the Core4 products pretty religiously for the last month and have seen reasonable weight loss and happily inches lost around my waist and hips. The overall concept of the CNI Core4 plan is that you don't significantly modify your diet.

Some of the powers that be in CNI have put out a preliminary plan for accelerated weight loss. This was designed for some people (like me) whose bodies appear "sticky" (serious fat storing mode) where it was very hard for them to take any significant weight off. Since I have been pleased with my current weight loss and have suffered no side effects (that I noticed...other than getting thinner...) with the Core4 system, I thought it would be interesting to try this new accelerated program.

The program itself is only 9 days long. The recommendation is always that you consult a doctor before beginning any weight loss plan. After the 9 day plan, they recommend that you do not repeat it for a week so that you don't lose too much weight and put too much of a strain on your body.

This plan was designed to counteract the effects of the nutrient deficient foods and help us purge the toxins that we may have consumed from our food and water. This program uses the Core4 products to really stimulate your metabolism and maximize your results. It is hoped that this program will really charge up your metabolism and turn it into a fat burning machine instead of a fat storing machine.

So far this program has worked really well for me. I have just finished Day 6 of the 9 day program and am pleased with the results (as noted in yesterday's blog).

For the specifics on the plan, please send me a message and I will send the specific plan to you.

During this phase, I started using the maximum dosages of Accelerate and Flush (taking 2 capsules each instead of 1 each)

Basically, the first two days I spent focused on the Lean shakes only, then the next 5 days I had the Lean shake in the morning and really worked on eating healthy meals for Lunch and Dinner. The last two days I am supposed to focus on taking the Lean shakes.

Since I am only in Day 6, I can't tell you yet the final results, but I can say that I am losing weight faster, my waist is definitely getting smaller, as are my hips. I am not lethargic, nor grumpy. I am happy to report that my stomach actually rumbles when it is hungry (that didn't happen for a long time), but I don't get the headaches when my stomach rumbles. I am happy to feel the hunger pangs, it means my metabolism is working again.

I think that I will follow this 9-day plan once a month to be sure my body stays on the high metabolism track. I don't want to lose my weight too fast so I won't do the 9 days, then a week off and then the 9 day plan again. I really am not in a position to keep that much of a modified diet. I can modify my diet for 9 days much easier than if I did it every other week.

I will post again about my weight loss at the end of this experiment, in 3 days time. With luck, by the next time you see me, you won't recognize the thinner me... My goal is to get back to my optimum weight by the end of this year.

Until tomorrow...

Weight Loss Update as of August 22, 2009

In case you were interested in the Core4 opportunity and why I got involved, click here for the short 6-minute video: http://www.hawgwash.irepcni.com/home/videos/video2/core4.html
I know I wasn't going to update you on my weight loss / weight management until tomorrow, but I learned something really cool today and didn't want to wait until Sunday to tell everyone.

As most of you know, I have been using the CNI Core4 products to lose weight since the middle of July. Up until last week, I was down about 10 pounds without any significant change to my diet. I say significant because when I felt like skipping a meal, instead I drank a Lean shake. The only other thing I noticed was my appetite was reduced, so I got full faster.

Since my metabolism has been so slow, I wanted to ramp up my weight loss and wanted to see what would happen if I took the full recommended amounts of the Accelerate and Flush (I had been taking one Accelerate and one Flush daily). I started a modified program for the Core4 on Monday (taking 2 Accelerate and 2 Flush daily). I will go into more details about this modified program on Sunday, but wanted to tell you what I discovered today.

I have been working hard on sticking with the Core4 plan and kind of fell off my modified diet today. I had been craving McDonald's for some time now and finally gave in to temptation. I ate a Quarter Pounder with cheese, french fries and a soda with a refill. It tasted great. I was full long before the meal was finished, I couldn't finish the Quarter Pounder meal but sure made a good effort. The downside is that my body has become so used to a more healthy fare (lower in fat, higher in protein) that now my belly and guts have been gurgling like there is no tomorrow. I am so sorry I ate the meal even though it tasted good. I guess I am becoming fast food intolerant (like lactose intolerance?). That is good and bad.

I know that the next time I crave fast food that I will eat it in moderation, not the full meal (good news). I also know that it may be an uncomfortable experience (bad news). I don't know if the folks at CNI knew this could be a side effect, but quite honestly, I like this side effect. It will help to inspire me to keep to a healthier lifestyle. Other than the bad gurgles in my gut and belly, I feel pretty good and have been all week long. I will discuss tomorrow what I did to modify my eating and what the results are so far. See you tomorrow...

Financial Freedom

For those of you were wondering if we are on permanent vacation, and we are, kind of.

What we have done is to create a niche for ourselves and are working on being financially free. We are our own boss, we don't report in to anyone except ourselves. I used to work in the corporate world, I was a divisional controller. I was responsible for all kinds of financial transactions of the division, was also involved in building lease negotiations, build-outs of new buildings, and anything else my bosses thought I would be good at. I had a hard time saying "no" to a task, and ended up getting a lot of additional projects added on top. As you can imagine, my hours kept increasing, yet my pay did not match my increase in hours or job responsibility.

After 12 years with one particular company, Steve introduced me to the concept of being financially free. I had always wanted to be my own boss, have my own business, but at the rate I was going, that dream, through my current employment, would not be realized. I was trading my time for dollars, and my time was getting cheaper as the job got longer.

Steve was able to show me that there was another way to do more than earn an income. We are now living the life I had always wanted. I get to travel around the country, I get to go to all different types of motorcycle rallies, I get to talk to people and really spend time with them. I call the shots as to how my time is used. Along the way, we make money doing this. We are financially from from someone telling me when and where to go to work. I am not at someone else's beck and call, I am free to make mistakes, but I am also free to make as much money as I want. There is no "glass ceiling" as is in the corporate world.

This new freedom has added years to my life. Friends that haven't seen me in several years comment that I look younger and more relaxed. I don't have as much anxiety, I am also a lot healthier than when I was working in the corporate world. The really neat thing about how we have become financially independent is that we started it while I was still working and once the business took on a life of it's own, I was able to leave corporate America behind and finally become my own boss. While we were growing our business, it did not interfere with my current job, and it did not create any conflict of interest with my current job. It was really neat to watch a fledgling business grow into something that now supports us and our traveling.

We have since expanded our product offering. We are now "Second Income Consultants" helping others to obtain their dream of financial freedom. Our second income opportunities include waterless technology, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Mona Vie nutritional drinks and our newest opportunity, CNI Core4 Weight Management.

In upcoming blogs I will introduce you to these various business opportunities. Perhaps one of them will interest you. The great thing is that you can choose to dabble in any of these, or go whole hog into them. You can go as far as you choose to go. We are here to help and to coach.

Check out our product offering at www.hawgwash.net We not only offer business opportunities, but do sell products directly from the website too.

Until tomorrow....

More fun while traveling - all about flys

And here I thought that I was going to make a relatively serious post today...HA! Today is the day I should have written about yesterday... (do you remember the phrase, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday"?)

As you all probably figured out, we are on the road in Colorado. We are currently at a Colorado State Park, north of Denver. For the last few days we have been swatting flys in the motor home. Until today, they were not bad, but each day the quantity of flys have been increasing. Today we were swatting flys at an alarming rate. Now that begs the question, where are those little buggers coming from.

These are not your regular house flys, more like big fruit flies (REALLY BIG fruit flies) but smaller than the run-of-the mill house fly. We noticed that when we were outside, there was not a preponderance of flys, only inside the motor home. Well, as you can imagine, the hunt began. What could have died in the motor home that we can't smell, yet are drawing flys?

After much searching, we really found nothing. That is, until we lifted the seat of the toilet. Who would have thought to look there (no jokes...). Apparently those guys somehow got into our holding tank and are breeding their little hearts out. At this point (please remember it is now late in the evening when we discover this) I don't want to use the toilet because every time you open the lid, 4-5 flys come zooming out. At first we thought, OK, it's got to be residual smell that is drawing the flys to the toilet.

Well, it wasn't residual smell as I noted earlier. We determined that when we held the little flapper door open and waited. Lo and behold, flys kept flying out of our black tank into the bathroom. Now if it was just me, I would have closed the flapper, killed the flys that came out and then put all kinds of chemicals in the tank to kill the remainder. But Steve wanted to be SURE the flys were coming from there and nowhere else, so he continues to hold the flapper open and let MORE flys into the motor home. Then he comes back to do it again to see if perhaps all the flys had gotten out??? Now can you imagine how many more flys are buzzing around the motor home, getting in my ears, hanging around lights, the dogs are going crazy trying to catch the flys and then Steve is running around with a fly swatter squishing flys willy nilly throughout the motor home.

The worst part about Steve and his fly swatter is the squish that is left after he has caught the fly. Those little guys make more mess dead than alive. It is truly gross. In Steve's defense, he does try to clean up the squish, but really, when he smacks a fly over my head when I am trying to type on the computer, where do you really think those guts go?

The good news is that we have figured a way to out-smart the flys. (I know, we are attributing more brains to flys). We put chemicals in the black tank in hopes of making it more inhospitable, but we are also keeping water in the bowl so the flys can't work their way up through the seals and start flying around here again. The bad news is what happens when you flush? I am not really interested in seeing a swarm of flys rise from the toilet once we basically open the top. Tonight I am walking to the outhouses, I refuse to be the one responsible for flushing and letting more flys into the motor home.

For those of you who thought motor home traveling was traveling for light-weights, you haven't dealt seen anything until you deal with this type of mess. But I still wouldn't trade this lifestyle for the world.

Hopefully I have been able to make you smile for a second day running. I know I promised a more serious article today, but this fly problem was way too funny to not pass along. Take care and I really promise to be more serious tomorrow.

On the lighter side

As promised, this is going to be a "fluffy" night. I couldn't think of anything particularly funny to write. (actually, that is not true, what I wanted to write about would embarrass too many people) It seems most of the funny stories that came to mind were funny from my point of view, not from the person on the receiving end. I have since been struggling about what to write that would be enjoyable to read, but not tax the brain too much.

What I did learn today was that there are pelicans located in inland lakes in Colorado. Until now, I had only believed that pelicans resided in coastal regions. We are currently staying at a park that has several large lakes and I saw pelicans flying overhead today. Of course, Steve did not believe me and for those of you who know me, know I have a tendency to pull legs...so Steve's distrust was well founded. Luckily, as I walked around the lake (actually the park calls them ponds..biggest darn pond I ever saw...1.3 miles in circumference) I found an information board talking about the pelicans at the pond. Hence the name Pelican Pond (duh, Holly!).

[Whenever I see pelicans, I am reminded of the limerick, "The most wonderful bird is the Pelican, whose bill can hold more than it's bellican, he can store in his beak food enough for a week, but I'm darned to see how in helican."]

Anyway, there really are pelicans here in Colorado, specifically the American White Pelican. This bird is found in and around freshwater lakes in the inland United States. These birds are really large, at least as large as the brown pelican you see on the Pacific Ocean and they are white birds. Their beaks are yellow, and they have sort of a flattened "horn" on the top of their bill during breeding season. The one I saw today did not have the "horn" but the picture on the information board along the lake did show the pelicans with the "horn". Those horns only appear during mating season and somehow fall off after the season is over.

By asking some of the campers here, I also found out that the pelican population is year-round at this park. Based on the reading I have done though, these guys are supposed to winter in the Pacific and Gulf Coasts. I guess someone forgot to tell these pelicans that they are not supposed to stay in Colorado all year. Or, perhaps the campers are wrong, nah, campers are always right...aren't they? I am including a picture of an American White Pelican in case anyone is interested (compliments of wikipedia.com).

Take care and I will chat with you all tomorrow.