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The “QUEEN’S” story:
It’s funny sometimes how our life changes, moves, grows, ebbs and flows. When my husband died back in 1989 I was left in shock and disbelief! Having always been someone’s daughter or someone’s wife left me totally unprepared for my new role in life - alone and with no clue WHO Louise was. Being in my mid-forties and being lost is very uncomfortable. That’s not supposed to happen to ‘adults.’ So, what did I do? I sat alone in my house for one whole year – twelve full months! Fear, grief, or it may have been a ‘girl thing.’ Who knows…?
Being a real “PEOPLE PERSON” and very much the Extrovert this year turned into a lonely, living HELL! My life had been in sales for nearly 25 years. I loved being out there in the world dealing with people. Finally it became very clear – there were only two choices for me –
1.
I could die
I could die2.I could get my life back
I could get my life backHummmmm… This is where serendipity, synchronicity, or whatever you call it, stepped in.
One day while reading the Houston newspaper an item about a ladies networking meeting jumped off the page! I had never before heard the word “NETWORKING.” An author named Carol Hyatt was their guest speaker. Her talk that night was about “WOMEN GETTING OUT OF THEIR NIGHTGOWNS!” She was speaking just to me! There had been many days in the previous 12 months where getting dressed was just not an option. I didn’t intend to go anywhere, and no one was coming to visit me, so there was no reason to get out of my nightgown and robe. DUH!
That night was the “beginning of the rest of my life!” Networking meetings started to appear like magic, and I attend a whole lot of them over the next few years! All types of meetings - breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, etc. There were so many wonderful new people to meet, and soon there were hundreds of new friends and acquaintances in my life. Networking literally SAVED MY LIFE!
This new journey of discovering me also included taking all kinds of classes, seminars, workshops, etc., mostly self-improvement. It was truly an adventure. (Scroll to the bottom of this page for a list of all the different things I studied.) I went to so many meetings and events that my friends started calling me the “Queen of Networking.”
So when the day came that it was time to start a new business the decision was already made to REALLY call myself the Queen of Networking and teach others the joys to be found in networking. One day a dear friend suggested I should dress the part; so that’s when the little gold plastic crown appeared on my head. It came from Toys R Us for all of $5.98! It was a blast wearing the crown, and sometimes embarrassing, especially when people started to notice me and remember me. (Who could forget the crazy lady wearing a gold crown??? I even wore it while shopping at - Wal-Mart, the grocery store, and heck; I even pumped gas into my pick-up truck wearing that crown!) [Yes, the Queen drove a pick-up truck! I live in Texas and we Texans love our pick ‘em up trucks!]
Strangers in the stores would ask me if I were the ‘birthday girl,’ or was I the ‘queen for a day?’ My standard answer became, “I’m the queen everyday!” Ha!
Besides teaching classes on networking my business also included weekly networking luncheons called Lunch with the Ladies & Gentlemen, and a networking oriented e-mail newsletter, Louise’s E-News, that was soon going out to over 1800 of my closest Houston area friends. I had to quit doing all of this in 2004 when my mother became seriously ill. I took her into my home to care for her and there just wasn’t enough time to keep my business going. (She passed away in 2007 at the age of 90.)
Now it is 2009 and I am re-gearing my Queen of Networking business. Last year I sold my house in Houston, where I lived for 25 years, and moved into the house my dad built for him and my mother. It is over 50 miles north of Houston, buried in the woods on 5 ½ acres. I love it here in the forest – the clean air, the peace and quiet, and being close to nature! I was raised on a farm in Missouri and now at this stage of my life I am again a ‘country girl!’
My networking will have a different twist from what it was when I lived in the big city of Houston. I will be doing teleseminars, and blogs, and other Social Media things to stay in touch with my friends and clients. You see, once I got used to being out of the city it has become very difficult to go back into the harried, hurried life that I left behind.
Networking is truly a way of life for me, and I sincerely hope that after you read this you will begin to network to help build your business, and/or just to bring new people into your life. It is a joyous adventure that will enhance you in so many ways. There are some resources listed on the Resource page that may help you step into a new way of life that includes networking.
So get on out there and start “the rest of your life” by filling it with networking adventures! If you are shy, take a friend… or two. Make it fun – go to workshops and seminars in your hometown and in other cities. You never know who you will meet. That really is Robert Kiyosaki. And Joe Vitale on my Home page. I met Robert last year in California at a free Entrepreneur (Magazine) Conference. I’ve known Joe for about 18 years – back before he was rich and famous. Click on my Photo Gallery and meet some of my other friends. There are all kinds of people who are just waiting to meet you. But, YOU have to get out there and make the space for them to come to you, or for you to go to them.
Get to work and have fun, my friends, because I don’t know about you, but “If it ain’t FUN, I’m not going to do it!”
[If you have a story about how your life has been turned around or enhanced by networking, or anything else, I would appreciate knowing about it. Please send me an e-mail and fill me in on all the details. I may want to use your story in a new book I am writing about networking.
Thanks
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