Who is Sherry Watson?

"Courage is being scared to death, and saddling up anyway." John Wayne (1907-1979) American Actor.

March 2008 is marching on and we made our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend a training where Sherry Watson, a leading grant expert would show us how grants work and who would benefit.

We noticed New Mexico has much nicer March weather then Nebraska.

As soon as we arrived, Sherry started educating us:

Did you know this?

• There are $350 Billion or more available in Grants?
• 95% of Grant Money is distributed through 501 (c) (3) Corporations ?
• Grant Money is probably far easier to get than you might think?
• Grant Money never has to be paid back?

Those facts are just a small portion of what we learned during the 4-day training. We also learn how to write grants. We learned the process to understand where to look for grants.

The Power of Grant Money is building their business so they will have many areas covered to help people receive grants and have an organization up and running.

• They have grant writers
• A real estate company to help with knowing how to accept real estate donations for your 501 (c)3 organization.
• They have coaches as I have been talking about, who help to educate grant seekers to meet your needs, giving you amazing ideas and direction.
• They provide the "heavy lifting" of getting all the paper work done, helping with the budget, IRS filing, State documents, etc.
• They have trainings every 3 - 4 months for you to attend.

Sherry Watson is considered the The Leading Grant Expert , because she has been on both sides of the grants. She has been a recipient as well as the person deciding where the grant money should go.

She worked in Washington D.C. for 15+ years. "Sherry has designed and launched 6 successful business...and has generated over $20 million in grant money."

Sherry had a severe accident that moved her into the realm of grants and through that she was elected to go to Washington D.C. to speak for the disability community. She was one of visionaries that brought about the handicap facilities that we have today. She laid down on the street in front of buses to help make a statement that the bus lines needed to improve their buses to make them more handicap accessible.

Here is what Sherry told me she said to Retired Senator Chambers of Nebraska, who happens to be a black man: "Even though you once had to sit at the back of the bus, you could at least get onto the bus, but we disabled people can't even board the bus." That woke him up and he started helping the disabled community.

She has had Jim Brady, who was shot while protecting President Reagan, help to educate her in the workings of Washington D.C. She has worked with Bill and Melinda Gates and knows what you need to do to talk to these people to get them on board with your projects. She is one person you want in your corner if you are going to have a successful organization to implement grants and fundraising.

"Although I had a tragic accident, I found my purpose in life. I learned how to design programs using Grant Money that changed people's lives in a powerful way. The success stories and testimonials can not be measured in dollars alone. I will teach you how to get Grant Money so that you can experience this same success, whether it's financially, or finding your purpose in life and turning your dream into a reality."

--Sherry Watson

Did I mention that Sherry is a remarkable woman? She is remarkable not for what she has been through but for what she has done in spite of her disabilities. It makes me feel ashamed to think, "I could never do this."

Sherry Watson has been a real inspiration for me.

Thank you Sherry, from the bottom of my heart!

I am not finished recounting this remarkable weekend, folks, so I'm inviting you to come back tomorrow to hear more about the training with Sherry Watson.

Renita Farrall

Are you living your legacy?

Will You Be My Valentine

February 2008. What an exciting month!

Valentines Day is always a fun time. This year I had more fun then ever before. I was privileged to deliver some Valentine greeting cards to some very special people. You would have thought I was the one on the receiving end. Let me tell you a little bit about how it all happened.

I discovered that our local Christian Radio Station was not going to sponsor their usual Valentine Card drive for the year. I called the radio station about it and they agreed that "That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's!" could conduct drive for our area. In only 2 short weeks we collected 244 beautiful homemade Valentine cards for 6 area nursing homes and 2 assisted living facilities!

The exhilaration was running high. It was such a rewarding feeling to do something like that. I couldn't stop smiling and talking on Feb. 14th the day of delivery. You would have thought I was the one receiving the cards.

It was very rewarding to know that we were touching the lives of others who may not be getting any mail at all. At least not "feel-good" mail.

The rest of the month was spent getting the website up and running for "That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's!" This was also an exciting time for me. I had never had a website that I could say was my own and to see how it turned out I was very pleased.

I then had to create my business cards, because my husband and I were going to travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico for The Power of Grant Money training. Coach Dixie was a tremendous resource in getting those cards printed.

This was a special time for me because organizers wanted me to sit on a panel in order to share with the audience what I have been doing. Sherry Watson was pleased with what had been accomplished because this project is so grassroots. None of the other people they have worked with had a grassroots organization and she was excited about it. I was terrified of speaking in public as a panelist. Remember, I was living in the "I am just a farm wife" zone. I didn't feel I had the know-how to do any of that.

I don't want to get ahead of myself and spoil the mystery. I'll sign off here so you have to come back tomorrow to see what happened in Albuquerque, NM... ...

Did I say it was an exciting month? Did I mention the excellence of The Power of Grant Money?

Renita Farrall

Are you living your legacy?

Moving Forward and Leaving Fear Behind

"One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again." -Abraham Maslow 1908-1970 Psychologist

This quote really spoke loudly to me as I was wanting to go back towards safety, but knowing that I would never grow, helped me to gradually move the fear aside. It has been a slow process, but I am much less fearful today then I was one year ago.

We started working on the mission statement. The following is what we came up with at this point in Nov. 2007: To provide programs and services that foster family and community interaction; while striving to preserve family life.

Accomplishments being made:

• The Articles of Incorporation was being worked on by Coach Brett and the concept page was starting to be build.
  
• Mailed in the application for Reservation of Corporate name.
  

• Got the Bios of the new directors to be sent to Coach Brett.

Most of the above was the "heavy lifting" that The Power of Grant Money did for me.

Nov. and Dec. was kind of quite for me with That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's! I still had not told anyone. Not even Jeff Wellman and Dixie Brown because I didn't know what their reaction would be. I was learning about affiliate marketing from them.

The end of Dec. around the 30th was when I got brave and shared with Dixie about That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's! She totally surprised me with saying "that is what I want to do!" I had shared with her my plans of what I wanted to do within That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's! and her response was so overwhelming I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Dixie shared with me that that follows right along with what she would like to do.

The following email tells you how I felt after talking to Dixie:

Hi Brett,

I just got off the phone from talking to my coach and she told me about a gentleman that she just talked to the other night after talking to me about the grant program and she found out that this man who is doing things on the Internet is totally blind and so she wanted to share with me how we need to do something to make it possible for the handicap to be able to function on the Internet. She is now working with him on how he can jazz up his website to make it more interesting for people.

this is so unbelievable what just telling one person can do. I am so pumped right now being able to believe that we can start to make a difference in peoples lives.
This is so huge.
I love it.
Renita Farrall

I think you can see on Dec. 31, 2007 was the point when my whole mood and feelings started changing. January is coming.!

The Fall of '07 and the Rise of Grandma?

Email entry for Oct. 15th: I sure feel better about all of this now. I at least feel like we are moving in the right direction and maybe I can do this.

Then I received an email response back from the Leading Grant Expert Sherry Watson saying "That's fantastic! And yes, you not only can do it, you ARE doing it!

Keep up the great work and thanks for keeping me in the loop!

Sherry Watson

“Granting Your Wishes Come True”

After pinning down the name of the organization the mission statement was next in line to work on to start filling out the 501(c)3.

I had sent Coach Brett an email:
Following is a quote that I received in one of my emails today that went along with what I was talking about today also.
"If you are never scared, embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances." -Julia Soul
That quote says it all for me since I have been scared through this and afraid that I would be embarrassed if it doesn't work out. And I feel I am definitely taking a chance with our finances.

I am sure you can see from the previous emails what a state of uncertainty I was in at this time.

I was desperately searching for something that would make me some income until I could get That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's! up and running. I came across a website that spoke to me. It was about Jeff Wellman who worked on a dairy farm and how he found a way on the Internet to make money. I decided to see if he could help me and with his guarantee I decided to buy his program. Then after a day or 2 I got buyers' remorse. I felt so guilty that I decided I shouldn't have done it. I called him and he said he would return my money to me but he would like for me to listen to the conference call he would be hosting the next night. I agreed.


I was very distraught by this time. I did get on the call and wasn't going to say anything. But Jeff wouldn't let me just sit and listen he made me talk. Jeff recommended that we join his Mastermind groups that he was putting together. I listened to that call and met a lady by the name of Dixie Brown.

Dixie called me the next day. She asked me some questions and we partnered from there. I have been working with Dixie and learning about the Internet from this phenomenal coach. ever since.

Dixie and Jeff have become some very special people in my life and I am very grateful for each of them, as you will learn with the ongoing posts. Their participation has been a big and positive influence in That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's!

Maybe it's a good thing I was so scared. It drove me to action.

Renita Farrall