Are you ready for The Power of Grant Money?

As I said earlier Sherry has built a wonderful business of training people on the workings of grants.

Another thing she has done is to build up the people who take her training.

She has taken "just a farm wife" and made her feel like a "rock star"!

She did that by putting 'the farm wife' on a panel. Now I knew I would be on a panel, but I never ask any questions. I just worried. "What do I wear?" "What do I say?" " Am I going to speak so people can understand what "That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's!" is about?" All kinds of things were going through my mind.

The big day came when I was told I was going to be on the panel. Thank goodness for Coach Dixie Brown! She had prepared a slide show for me that featured my business card and the story of the Valentine Cards. It was a short 4 picture slide.

Sherry's son Aaron, was the MC for the panel. They had 4 nice looking young men that was all dressed as if they were millionaires and then there was the "farmers wife" dressed in all demin!

Aaron interviewed the young men first and as I listened I was thinking "okay, how do I answer that question?" Everyone had such nice professional answers. Aaron finally got to me.

"Take a deep breath," I thought to myself. "Okay. Whew! I got the first question answered. " Then it was time for the slide show. I was taking them through it and noticed the audience was actually listening. The question period ended.

One of the young men on the panelists spoke up: "Did anyone hear the passion coming from Renita's heart? That is what the secert for our projects is all about. To get them accomplished is to have that same passion. We need passion that you can feel and translate and Renita just did that."

That just floored me because I was just telling the story. Passion was beyond me, I had no idea about passion. I didn't know what my passion was and here he was hearing it coming from me.

I get tears writing this because to me I was just sharing with them about what I wanted to happen, what had happened to me taking those Valentine Cards to the nursing home residents.

Another thing that Sherry does at her trainings is bring a student in that has gotten their nonprofit organization up and running big time. In March she did that in a very big way. One of her students is Orrin Hudson. You may have seen and heard about him. He has been on all the TV networks talking about his Chess program "Be Someone." He is phenomenal! He was a State Trooper before he started doing this and his dream was to help turn troubled kids lives around and teach them the game of life.

Here is the headline: "Youth advocate Orrin Hudson teaches life skills to troubled kids through the game of chess." His website is Besomeone.org. Go take a look. Seeing what he has done may inspire you.

Please feel free to leave your comments. When you click on Orrin's links please let him know how you learned about him. Be sure and check out The Leading Grant Expert Sherry Watson

Renita Farrall

Start living your legacy now!

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.!

Is It Passion or Encouragement that Helps?

Here we are, reporting about Oct. 2007.

On Oct. 1 I sent this email to Coach Brett from the Power of Grant Money: I received a call from the state and "That's It, I'm Going to Grandma's!" is open to use for a name and I have already purchased the .com and .org for that name.

On Oct. 2 Email was sent to me about what to do next: We will need to determine your board of directors so that we can file your Articles of Incorporation with the state.

You are required to have 3 individuals on you board at minimum.

Now my journey is REALLY started! I began searching for my Board of Directors. I was rejected by 2 and 2 more surprised me with "Yes, I think that is needed." I was in total shock and surprise. I thought WOW! This is better then any Multi Level Marketing enterprise. I never got anyone there to say 'yes.' I guess when you have that passion behind you it really does make a difference. My husband said he would be the 3rd member.

Oct 12 a great email from Coach Brett from the Power of Grant Money: From your message I sense that you are still apprehensive about what you are doing. You continue to feel the way that all individuals who are starting a new organization feel.....uncertainty. It is your passion that moves you forward! Hold on to your passion. You are creating a program that will support children and families as they strive to better themselves.

... Keep moving forward with passion, allow individuals to consider what you have asked...
You can have a list of individuals that may be resources for your project. Board possibilities, volunteers, group leaders, bakers (for cookies at Grandma's).....and develop your initial program to begin to establish structures.

Each time you share you project with others, you are "practicing". You are stiving to be more comfortable talking about you passion, you are sharing your passion with others in the community. You are practicing and you are making connections.
You are moving Forward!!

I have one last email I want to share with you to show you just how supportive my coaches were to me. This will be the last one for this post and then tomorrow's post will be to finish October's events.

Thanks for your emails. I have stayed quiet this week because I have felt the need for you to stay committed to your mission. It's never easy, and certainly there are periods of discomfort in pursuing your goal, but if you are truly committed the "universe" will provide the means for you to get there.

As the beautifully framed picture that I've had on my office wall for many years of a famous, extremely challenging golf hole tells me daily "If you think you can.....or you think you can't....you're right"

My advice is really pretty simple. Recognize that you are on the right path and commit to it. Once you commit the universe rallies to help you. And once you truly commit you don't have the demons confronting you of "I can't", "I'm not sure", "This isn't working today", and the like.....

I'm v-glad that you have had some success lately but...

Recognize Renita, that there will be severe, emotional ups and downs........it's part of everybody's life when they decide to move beyond their comfort zone. The trick is to not really pay any attention to the highs or the lows.......just stay focused on the objective.

Understand that the process is hard........for all of us......but the end result makes it all worthwhile.

You are on the correct path, make your vision a reality, and we are here to help you but realize there is only so much that we can do.....whether you accomplish this (or not)....it's really up to you.

All the best, Gary Nichols

Gary also said something very profound to me and that was that "he has worked with farmers in his area of expertise and the 2 toughest things that anyone can do, in his opinion, is farm and raise kids." I said, "Well I have done both, so if that is true why am I so worked up about doing a not-for-profit business?" That has helped me to keep pushing and moving forward in this.

I hope this post helps you to keep moving forward and know that we all have our ups and downs but there is light on the other side, I think! I am getting closer to it though.

My passion drives me. The encouragement is the fuel that keeps me going.

Renita Farrall