This is my third post on Moving Forward and Accepting Change.
If you missed the first two that set the scene for this one you can find them at
When I wrote the first post I had no thought of writing a series but it sort of evolved.
The more I wrote the more I realized the changes and lessons in my life around my business that I thought others could benefit by me sharing. So here is my next adventure.
Moving Forward : Accepting Change – part 3
In my last “chapter” we had just walked away from our farm machinery dealership and I went back to working in an accounting practice with Ivan (my hubby) becoming a financial planner.
He was working and studying and we were getting back on our feet.
Our two year old daughter had half the week in daycare and half with my mother.
My mother wanted to take care of her full time but I would not hear of it as it seemed too much to ask. My Mum actually loved these years and says they were the happiest of her life. I guess she gave her back to us at the end of the day 🙂
Also my Dad was a tradesman and had a big workshop at the back of their house. Shannon, our daughter spent a lot of time out there with Dad too.
Becoming Business Owners Again – Moving Forward and Accepting Change
Over the next couple of years Ivan and I managed to buy our way into the Financial Planning business he was running. We bought out one partner and had half of the business with the remaining partner.
I made the switch from accounting to becoming a financial planner. More moving forward and accepting change.
My timing was not the best as it was early in 1988 and right on the back of the Stock Market crash of 1987. Many people thought I was mad giving up a “respectable” profession like Accounting to be a Financial Planner (sales person really).
For a while there I thought they were right. It was not an easy transition for me.
I had new skills to learn and some to unlearn. Accountants get paid to “tell” (called giving advice). Try that in a sales world when you are being remunerated the same as the people you employ – on commission.
This was a far cry for me from being an accountant and charging for every question I was asked.
Learning New Skills
So I learned the art of fact finding, asking questions and proposing solutions. In all honesty this was not difficult for me as I do love people .
I also learned to do joint ventures and build centers of influence.
I learned to present at seminars, write ads and do a radio spot.
I learned many many things during this time.
Building and Expanding
Over an eight year period we had ups and downs.
We had some great times , built an amazing team of people and had a lot of fun as well as hard work.
It was early in this business we first worked with Robert Kiyosaki. Most of our team also did his courses that were available then. These were good times and the culture we built in this business still makes my heart sing.
We also did team building activities like abseiling, rock climbing and caving. All way out of my comfort zone given I used to be terrified of heights. Conquering your fears is a big part of moving forward and accepting change.
We were building a residual income with trail commissions and our products were diversified . We felt we were on track again.
We also had many people around the state we lived in that were licensed to us and so our little company was growing.
Finding a Point of Difference
The early 90’s were tough economically and we were looking for a point of difference as a business. We found this sort of by default .
As myself and our other business partner were both accountants we had lot of joint ventures with accountants.
In Australia at that time there were several investment types around where people received tax reductions for investing in them. Some of the accountants we worked with were keen for us to pursue these.
We did this and it gave us our point of difference.
Over the next 5 years we moved more and more into this area. The commission were very good but there were no ongoing or residual income.
We were seduced by instant gratification. Forgetting our Farm Machinery story and our vow to be doing a business with a recurring income.
And the success continues
By the mid nineties we literally earned more than 80% of our annual income in the last month of the financial year, which is June in Australia. It did not mean our income for the rest of the year was too shabby it just meant it was amazing for one month. The lead up to June was also very busy and we worked 80 hour weeks.
The highs were addictive and we lived on adrenalin.
But we always celebrated at the end of June.
Towards the end of 1995 we were asked to partner with another company and take these products Australia wide. This meant Ivan and I with our daughter would move to Sydney. By this stage my step daughter was working for us as was the girlfriend of my step son. They were to remain in our Perth office.
We were about to have the greatest highs and lows of our life which I will share in my next post.
Lessons from Moving Forward and Accepting Change – part 3
The good
- You can learn new skills and move on to another profession
- Building a business that is a leader means looking for a point of difference – stand out from the crowd
- Doing personal development with your team builds great cultures
- Joint ventures work
- You can conquer your fears
The dumb things we did
- Forgetting our basic rule to build a recurring income
- Putting all our eggs in one basket yet again – in this case it was not just one investment but one investment type
- Believing tax laws stay the same (more about that next time)
- Working too much without enough balance in our lives
The next post on moving forward and accepting change will be my last in this series. It was by far the most painful for me.
I hope you have enjoyed knowing more about my journey. Please leave me your comments below.
Make it a great day.
Sue Price
Skype: sueprice
Click here to work with me personally
PS
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Harleena Singh says
Hi Sue,
It’s indeed a pleasure to go through your series on moving forward and accepting change – because they are based on your own personal life and experiences, which make them so special 🙂
I can well imagine how tough it must have been to go through such times. And there seems to be no other way out at times – the life balance is bound to take a back seat in such a case.
However, I liked the way you learnt to conquer your fears, and managed to learn new skills and moved to a new profession too, which were totally different to what you knew earlier. Perhaps the will-power and determination to do so drives us, isn’t it? Wonderful indeed 🙂
Thanks for sharing more of you and your journey with us. Looking forward to the next part now. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Sue Price says
Hi Harleena
Thanks for enjoying my sharing. I was a little unsure but felt it was time to share my journey and the lessons I have learned.
The life balance does go out the door at times in our life. I was listening to a young man on a webinar last week who came to Australia as a refugee from Vietnam. He shared how he was one of 8 children and his parents made a new life for them. Listening to him I thought my life is easy. It is all relevant of course.
Yes will power and determination are powerful drivers. I learned so many skills that were way out of my comfort zone. It seems I have done that many times in my life. But then I am sure we all have. In today’s world with technology there are new things to learn every day. Yes it is wonderful that we can adapt and grow.
Thanks so much for your comment Harleena. You also have a wonderful week. 🙂
Sue
Viola Tam says
Hi Sue,
I totally agree with Harleena that it is a pleasure knowing so much more about your moving forward story. What you called the ‘dumb’ things that you have done are great lessons for others to avoid!
In Network Marketing, I have had my fair share of mistakes too. Like you, I now shared with others what not to do in order to be able to move forward (faster).
Relating to what you said about being a leader, I cannot agree more! There need to be a point of difference. Standing out from the crowd in crucial in a world that is over-crowded with information and hypes.
The road to success is often a lot simpler than most people think. Some people tend to over-complicate the success journey. Your point about learning and un-learning is awesome! For leaders, they are learners for life!
I appreciate your insights, Sue!
Viola Tam – The Business Mum
Sue Price says
Hi Viola
I am glad people are enjoying my sharing in these posts. I have never had such very long comments and people sharing their journeys back.
I did sort of hesitate on naming the “dumb” things. But they were really. It was not like we did not know better we were seduced by instant gratification. Something many people in Network Marketing are doing when they do not make time to build their business and are possessed by their high paying job. I always am amused when I get an objection that people do not have time to build a residual income business because they work 70 hours a week. This is right on the back of them saying how much they hate that.
We do learn more from our failures. I actually do not like that word as I believe we only fail when we quit. It was just a way we tried something that did not work out and we learn from it. I am sure you have had your share in Network Marketing Viola because even the 7 figure earners all made mistake and they talk about it.
Yes we do need a point of difference so we are noticed.
Such words of wisdom Viola that the road to success is much simpler than people think. Most people make it complicated. In Network Marketing too many people want to reinvent the wheel. So crazy as clearly that is not how you get duplication. Follow the system seems such a difficult thing for people to do. In my observation those who do thrive in time.
Oh yes leaders need to learn very day too. It never stops.
Thanks for your awesome comment Viola. I so appreciate you.
Sue
Viola Tam says
Hi Sue,
You are so right about those people who are working such long hours and complained that they have not got the time to do business. I will soon be launching a crazily easy strategy to help this group of people.
They simply have to hand out my specially designed business card which bears a link to my landing page. From there, those who are genuinely wishing to change the quality of their life for the better will choose to click on another link – Tim Sales’ “Explore Freedom” educational link. Prospects can also learn why the rich are rich through a short video. Tim even prepared 11 Q and A short video clips to further educate those who do not yet fully understand the power and beauty of Network Marketing.
I trust that it will be immensely helpful to many who wish to generate an extra stream of income but can only MAKE a little bit of time out of their busy schedule. The landing page and Tim’s site do a big chunk of work. TOOLS are the proven winners in this industry.
Note: I use the word ‘MAKE’ in my last paragraph. You are so wise, Sue! We do have to ‘make’ time to MAKE the business work. Tim Sales used to work full time, he MADE time for his business. He also MADE lots of new friends in order to move forward 🙂
Viola Tam – The Business Mum
Sue Price says
Hi Viola
I am looking forward to seeing your new strategy. What a cool idea!I love Tim Sales videos so I am sure this will be a success for you.
Tools are as you say the proven winner in the industry. It is also the only way to duplication.
Yes we do have to “make” time. We all get the same amount of hours in each day and how we spend them is so important. As I said before I cannot understand when someone is working crazy hours in a job they hate that they do not prioritize differently.
Thanks for your comment Viola. Have a great week.
Sue
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Sue,
I love your series and this post so far is my favorite of the three, because I love success stories.
It’s was such a great idea to take your readers to the step by step of your family business and life changing facts of life.
It must have felt so good to be on top of things business and financially wise.
Looking forward to the next post.
Sue Price says
Hi Sylviane
Thanks this was my favorite chapter too. I could write a book just on this 10 years of my life. We had many struggles in there but when I look back at what we accomplished it was enormous. The business we built was also very awesome.
The next one is not such a good part but there are many lessons.
Nice to see you today.
Thanks for your comment and have a nice week ahead Sylviane.
Sue
Adrienne says
Hey Sue,
I’m loving this series too and getting to know more about your backend story. I love hearing what you guys did, what direction you went and the lessons you learned.
I think you’re very brave making the choice to go into financial planning because you could see how beneficial it can be. In the past I’ve been thrown into doing accounting only because our office had downsized and I got stuck doing that job as well as my own. All I can say is boring! I can see where you’d want to branch out and do something that could actually help people.
I think it’s also great that you had your daughter working with you. I’m sure that was a delight and I hope she enjoyed getting that education.
So things are going along well by this time but more lessons have been learned. Can’t wait to hear what happened next!
Thanks Sue and really enjoyed this post, especially the pictures. 😉
~Adrienne
Sue Price says
Hi Adrienne
Yes the transition from accounting to financial planning meant I was doing something I am more suited to. I really ended up in accounting by default. I wanted to be a dancer but then that is a whole other story lol.
So financial planning was a great people business. I actually ended up doing all the marketing and relationship building or the business. Wooing joint ventures etc. It was fun. But the fun came after a ton of hard work.
Interesting you got thrown into accounting but you are such a system person I am sure you could do it. It is less boring when you get into being creative with tax. But then that can backfire as you will find out in my my next post.
It was good to work with our kids but the downside we talked too much about business in our family time. I will be going into that more next time Adrienne the next part could be a novel in itself and was one of extreme ups and downs.
Ah glad you are liking the pictures.
Great to see you today Adrienne and thanks for your comment.
Sue
Nate Leung says
Hi Sue,
This article hit it home for me. Sometimes when you’re focused on a certain area it’s easy to forget about some of the basic rules that you’ve always lived by. It happens. After all we’re human, and we’re not perfect.
I agree with you on working too much without enough balance in your life. See, if you work on your finances and say that your doing well in finances, your relationships and health could suffer. Everyone talks how they want to make a lot of money but forget to balance the other areas and if we’re not careful, we could potentially enter a dangerous zone of offsetting one area with another.
Appreciate you sharing your story. Have a great week ahead!
Sue Price says
Hi Nate
I think not many of us are totally in balance in all areas of our lives all the time. I know for me since that time I have moved around to different areas as priorities.
Well said Nate – we are human and we are not perfect. We should give ourselves some slack on that one.
Someone once said to me that “work was a healthy addiction in disguise”. It means we are a good person. So if we neglect our family, friends and health because we are throwing ourselves into business it is for them. Unlike being addicted to alcohol or drugs where we are bad. Interesting I realized I saw it like that. But families and relationships break up where someone is too work focused.
The crazy bit is we start out wanting to do well financially to do all the other things and then we sometimes we neglect them. That saying “do you live to work or work to live” says a lot.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here Nate. I appreciate them and you too have a good rest of your week.
Sue
William Butler says
Hi Sue,
I’m really enjoying your experiences as you’re sharing them. I love that, in the process of bravely entering into a new arena, you basically forced yourself to become a much better person. When it’s time for change in one’s life, many people take no action, just hoping things will get better. For all you’ve learned, and learned not to do, you had the courage to become the person you are now. You created the future you are enjoying, including the many memories to look back on. Good for you! Really looking forward to the next post. I appreciate you.
Bill
Sue Price says
Hi Bill
I am so happy to hear you are enjoying hearing about my journey. Oh yes becoming a better person was part of the journey. Both my husband and I did a heap of soul searching and personal growth along the way.
I agree many people do not take action to make changes and have their head in the sand. I think there is a real balance there. I see it online where people quit way to soon as they are not getting results. There is a learning curve and usually it about tweaking and correcting along the way. Knowing when it is time to walk away or keep going is not always clear to people.
Ah the next post is a real lesson and did not have such a good ending. But we moved on yet again. 🙂
Thanks for your comment here Bill. Have a wonderful weekend.
Sue
Silviu says
Hi Sue,
Beautiful story with many takeaways. Learning new skills, fighting in a tough environment and during bad times. WOW!
I think that learning new skills was the biggest profit. It may be tough to change from accounting to financial planning but, at least, the domains are close in many ways.
I, for example, am in the process of switching from the job of a teacher to internet marketing. The distance is from the Earth to the sky.
Thanks for this beautiful story
Have a wonderful day
Sue Price says
Hi Silviu
You are spot on learning new skills can be tough but by doing so we do profit.
Yes accounting to financial planning is not such a big change as I am sure teaching to internet marketing has been. I too have found coming online much more challenging expecially as I am not a tech person. Although I did offline marketing for many years so that helps.
Thanks for your comment here Silviu. Have a great week.
Sue
Arleen says
Sue- Hearing your experiences has been great as it defines who you are and your determination which is admirable. When you said you did dumb things, I wouldn’t call it that I would call it learning experiences. If you did not have this experiences you would have had no direction.
I think it is great that you had your daughter working with you. It has been my dream to have one of my children working with me, but that is not meant to be. Who knows if that will change someday. You have had meaning blessings along the way.
I am guilty of working too much and not having that balance. For me it has not been trying to make lots of money, don’t get me wrong I would love it, but succeeding in something that I am passionate about. I am now finally to a place where things are working out and I am backing off some of the business so I get that balance back.
We all have had issues in our lives, they are just different. With all that you have gone through it has been into a stronger person today.
Sue Price says
Hi Arleen
I actually do call my mistakes or “dumb things” my learning experiences generally as I do agree that is what they are. I think I called some of these dumb as we repeated some things we had once before learned from. But I have also learned that if we do not learn the lessons they keep showing up until we do.
It was great to work with our daughter and in my next chapter a son and his now wife. My husband was against it as first as he ended up in his Dad’s business because he Dad was ill and he wished he had more choices. So he never wanted our children to feel obligated. It was totally their choice to join us.
I think most of us work too much when we are getting our business off the ground. I am sure though you had the same dedication in your real estate days. Having balance in our lives is challenging and most people seem to wrestle a bit with it.
Yes Arleen we do all have issues in our lives. They do make us stronger and define us as people.
Thanks for your comment and have a great week.
Sue
Mayura says
Hi Sue,
I’m glad to make your series and one more to go 🙂 I feel it’s better I read all the posts in one day. Flows like a story 🙂 Yeah, it is!
As you talk about a “respectable” profession, I’m qualified for “Software Engineer” position. My relatives think that I’m giving up a respectable profession by working at home. But it’s more about the social status, ’cause they worried that I’m not working for a reputable company as others do.
Other friends telling me that I’m missing the fun by being at home 😉 Sure I would, if I loved partying all nights spending thousands of money 😀 lol… But I’m having fun spending money for my family here.
Gosh… It goes with years, eh? 8+ years is a long time. AND tough decisions along the way. More risk and being brave enough. But those tough decisions helped you accelerate. Aren’t they Sue? 🙂
I really like your view point in this series. No negative approach but always looking forward to a bright future. If you work for it, you will attract. Isn’t it? Indeed an investment towards our lives. I feel the same way right now as I could read more than I expected within a little time Sue 🙂
Love to learn from your personal experience and I’m grateful enough for deciding to share this all with us dear 🙂 Else, we would never know and indeed an inspiration for our lives too.
Hope next post is not painful that much, but yet to be revealed 🙂
Have a GREAT day there Sue 🙂 What a wonderful girly you are!
Cheers…
Sue Price says
Hi Mayura
I am sure the way you have read this is like reading a book 🙂
I understand what you are saying about your family wanting you to work for a reputable company. Especially if your parents did not get the opportunity to have such a good education they so want to see their kids living that corporate dream. Now we know it is not really the dream but that is such a strong belief. I know a man called Dolf de Roos who teaches property investment. He used to work with Robert Kiyosaki and I have been on tours with him while we were promoting him. He qualified as an Electronic Engineer but while he was an University he started investing in property. He ended up doing property as his career and abandoned his engineering without ever working in the field. He is now a mulch-millionaire and his mother always says she is sorry he never got a good job 🙂
I think you are making a wise choice for sure.
Yes we always looked forward as one chapter closed. To me it is the only way.
I am telling these stories as I do hope others can learn from my experiences. We can learn from others of course.
Thanks Mayura for reading my mini-series. Yes the next one is interesting. 🙂
Have a great week.
Sue
Debasmita says
Hey Sue…
I have gone through all the parts of Moving Forward:Accepting changes…and I must say its wonderfully written…
Changes are an inevitable part of every aspect of life….and one can move forward only by accepting those changes and adapting to them…be it in business or in personal life…
You couldn’t have explained it in a better way than giving example of your own journey…and it was really good reading it…:)
Thanks for this inspiring series of posts and looking forward to read the next part soon….
Sue Price says
Hi Debasmita
Thank you for finding me here and for reading my series. And of course thank you for your feedback.
Yes I agree change is inevitable for all of us and I have had my share.
I am glad you enjoyed it and thanks again for your comment.
Have a great day.
Sue
Manny says
“You can learn new skills and move on to another profession.” This is very true Sue. I am a graduate of Information Technology but I found out that I want to be a mechanical engineers and work with automotive especially in small engine servicing. Thanks for a very enlightening post!
Sue Price says
Hi Manny
Wow that will be a change IT to mechanical engineer. It is good you have found what you want to do and are willing to change.
Thanks for visiting here and for taking time to comment Manny.
Sue
Dee Ann Rice says
Sue,
I am loving getting to know you more. What a journey your life has been.
I love excitement and and adventure. That is what I see that you lived. I understand that there must have been some really gut wrenching times during all of this though. I think it is so great you had your husband to share all of the highs and lows with.
I am excited to read the last part of your journey or at least the last part in this series.
I think it is so great that you used Robert Kiyosaki’s material and had all of your people go through his courses. I have used that material myself and love it. It is so good.
What a powerful story you have.
Dee Ann
Sue Price says
Hi Dee Ann
Yes my life so far has been a journey. There are times when i think maybe I should have lived it more conservatively but then I remember all the good times.
And yes there has been plenty of excitement and adventure in there. 🙂 I grew up with such security and lack of change really. My brother became a teacher and is now the Principal of a school. So not sure where I got this streak from.
Doing personal development and working with Robert Kiyosaki has for sure been excellent. It was so good to work with people who were working on themselves. Glad you too have used his material. I feel blessed to have worked with him.
Thanks for your comment here Dee Ann. I appreciate it.
Sue
Jess and Brandon says
Great post, Its very motivating. Thank you for sharing this lovely article with us.
Sue Price says
Thanks Jess and Brandon. I appreciate you reading it.
Sue