How many times have you found yourself so
bogged down in the tough stuff, that you completely overlook the Good Stuff,
the very miracles you’ve been hoping for, because they may not appear in the
form that you were expecting?
I’m all about expecting miracles and
wonderful things to happen for me in My Wonderful Life - and indeed, they do!
I give thanks for all the Good Fortune that
I have, and all the Good Stuff that’s coming my way and I affirm that I’m willing
to receive it all. But I’m not always as open to receiving as
I think I am…
It happened to me recently and I almost
missed out on something so amazing and wonderful that was happening for me,
because I did not recognise it at the time. But the
fabbydabulous thing is, the Universe was not going to let it pass me by!
I was in the middle of what felt like a
debilitating cash flow crisis – dumped by my biggest client who was moving their offices to the Middle East, workshops postponed and rescheduled months down the
line and nothing that I could see coming in to replace them. No money coming
in… I felt overwhelmed by the deluge of communications from creditors – emails
and texts, threatening letters from attorneys and phone calls all hounding
me for money…
This was followed by another email from
the Business Women’s Association – letting me know that Margaret Hirsch herself
had nominated me, and the criteria for accepting the nomination.
Talk about a low self-esteem moment (Yes,
we all have them!) – I took one look at these emails sitting among all the
other emails that were demanding payment and and thought
“Haha this is obviously spam…. me,
nominated?? Yeah right, as if…what a joke!” - and didn’t give it another thought.
About a week later I was having a coffee
meeting with one of the top financial planners of a big blue-chip financial
services company, about running my GloWoman workshops for their staff. She
mentioned in passing that I should join the Business Women’s Association and
then I remembered the nomination email... I told her about it, still thinking it
was spam.
She insisted I read it to her and that’s
when I looked at it properly for the first time and realised that it was in
fact not spam at all, but the real thing – this was no joke, it was an actual nomination!
I was completely
shocked! I had never ever thought of myself as someone who could even be in the
running for such a business award!
The financial planner Mariëtta Marx (happy
to name and publicly thank her, she’s an amazing woman!) insisted that I
reply immediately, thanking Margaret Hirsch and accepting the nomination. Which
I agreed to do, even though I still didn’t
think I actually qualified to enter… One of the main criteria was the business
had to show profit and growth over three years and I definitely didn’t believe that
I could show that with my accounts.
So I wrote to thank Margaret and told her
that I didn’t think I could submit my accounts, as there was nothing in them at this point! I also
told her that the reason we had not yet met in person was because although she
had kindly invited me to her monthly Women of Worth (WOW)dinners, I was not able to
attend due to lack of funds!
Margaret emailed me back immediately with kind
words of encouragement and support.
Hi Bettina
Thank you for your letter and you know you have
to start somewhere and this is such a good place to start. You would have had
the whole of businesswoman South Africa supporting you.
The fact that you have been nominated is in
itself an honour and the fact that you have been accepted to be a finalist is
also an honour. Its something that nobody can ever take away from you. It gives
you much more credibility.
Although you are just starting out this is a
good place to start.
When the time has come at least you will know
what to do and where to go and I am sure from now you will go from strength to
strength.
Kind Regards
Margaret
I still wasn’t convinced that I qualified
so my mum told me to call my trusted friend and bookkeeper Sara who has looked
after me for more than 20 years - to check out the management accounts. This
was embarrassing in itself as I still hadn’t paid her this year (eek!)….
But she was
thrilled for me and delighted to help. When she came back and told me that I
had actually made a profit three years in a row and that I qualified to accept
the nomination – no-one could have been more surprised than me!!
I mean there I was so bogged down in my own
perceived crises that I had not realised that the Universe was offering me
massive support, magic and miracles!!
Can you believe that? Me - the GlowCoach, the Chief Glow Officer, didn't even recognise the Good
Stuff when it appeared for me!
I have always spent my life encouraging
others. But I’m so grateful that the Universe always puts people in my life who
encourage and support me!
One of the best things about the nomination
was my own discovery of what I have
achieved with GloWoman up to now. I think we often overlook how well we’re already
doing because we’re so busy focusing on what still needs to be done.
To all the nominees of the BWASA Businesswomen of the Year Awards – Mazal Tov and Congratulations! I
am thrilled and delighted to be included among you!
Here’s to remembering to enJOY
the journey, to allowing ourselves to receive the Good Stuff and to Getting our Glow ON!
With Love,
