"If I could just get my hands on a 16 year old, I would tell them how easy it is to start your own business, make money, and pay for your own college education."

This was the conversation I was having this morning. All the things I know now that I wish I knew so much earlier in life.

You see, I did not grow up in an affluent home, though, we always had enough.  I remember worrying as a child that we would not have enough money for food because my mom would count out pennies to pay for our groceries and I often got told "no" when I picked out ice cream and sugary cereals that we just had to buy.  I had no concept of health back then, so I assumed it had to do with the fact that Cocoa Pebbles cost more than the plain-old-boring Corn Flakes.  I had no idea.  My father has worried about money at least daily every day of his life, while I guarantee you, he has more than enough.  But that is his life story from another time and another era.  My grandmother never threw away napkins that were "partially" used because that would be wasteful.

All of these parts of my story is why I would love to get my hands on someone who has not fully developed their "money story".  Because your money story directly impacts how much money you have.

My money story was not great as a kid, but I was tenacious.  I sold girl scout cookies, determined to lead my troop in sales, and then found a stationary sales when I was in Junior High and High School.  Even my lemonade stand made great money.  And, here is why.  Because I knew what I wanted to accomplish in sales and I used a number of methods to get there - when someone zigged, I zagged.   When what worked in the morning, didn't work in the afternoon, I changed strategies.  And, through all of this, I kept thinking, "what do people need right now that I can provide".  And, it worked!

Now, many moons later, this is what I LOVE to do for a living.  I love to help people learn how to authentically, through being of service, zig and zag to ensure they can get their service, skills, and products out to the world in a way that will serve and uplift.

I am thrilled to offer these services to so many amazing people.  Each person has an idea, a vision, a thought inside of them that they want to bring to the world.  Many people are already doing this, because they can't not do it, but they are not making any money doing that.  In truth, what you bring to the world is needed .  If it is needed, then you need to be able to eat and live and support your family.  Making money by offering your passion is not selfish, it is an honor.  The honor that we have to live in this world and to bring our gifts to the world, and to be able to support ourselves by doing that.  That is what we have created at Being Present to Serve, a facebook group, where we teach people how to zig and zag to abundant success.  I say abundant success because there is a feeling of successful fulfillment when you give of yourself to the world and are sincerely rewarded for doing so.  Click here to learn more about Being Present to Serve.

I am one month from my 40th birthday and started to think about what I have accomplished in life and what I really want to accomplish in life.  I find myself saying, I always wanted to... and then what I say next is so simple and so easy, that the natural response is, well, why don't you just go do that?  In my facebook group, Adventures with Amina, the theme for the month of October is "Bucket List".  My dear friend, Candice Carlton was talking to me about her new project and commented, that most of the things on people's bucket list are *easy* to do... so why don't we do them?

As a coach, the first thing I always ask my client (as soon as I have determined their love language), is what do you want?  In most cases, this leads to a conversation about everything that is not working in their life, i.e., everything they do not want.  I say to them, I see what you do not want, but what do you want?  The idea of clarity on what we want in life seems so obvious, but for so many of us, myself included, it can be mysterious and confusing.  I believe that most of us, at some point, knew exactly what we wanted, but then external forces pushed us to re-think, re-consider, or just plain, give up what we really wanted.  And, for us Type A folks, there is added pressure of am I sure I am going to want this forever? 

This month, I am encouraging all my readers to sit with the question, what do I want? And see what comes up.  This is especially meaningful today on September 11th.  I have a friend who lost a loved one on 9/11.  He said something to me that I will never forget.  He told a story about something she really wanted and she did prior to that day and said, "life is short, if you want to get something (or do something), you shouldn't wait."  Yet, so many of us are waiting.  And, it is nebulous what we are waiting for... time, more money, better health, kids to grow up, etc.  There will always be something - we all know that.  We have to make the time to live right now. 

Here is your Amina's 40th Birthday exercise:
1. Pull out your bucket list or Create your bucket list.
2.  Evaluate what you have on there and see if they still fit.  Remove anything that doesn't get you excited anymore.  It is ok to take it off... I give you permission to change your mind :)
3.  Re-create your bucket list in the following format:
 -  column 1:  #
 -  column 2:  Item you want to do
 -  column 3:  Is it easy, medium or hard to achieve
 - column 4:  does it require money (i.e., more than a "normal or within budget amount".  For example if one item is visiting your family and you normally have money for travel each year, this would be blank.  If an item is a Mediterranean cruise that you need to save up for, then put a "$" to indicate you would need to plan for extra funds).
 - column 5:  is it something you can do by yourself or do you need to enroll others to support you / go with you / etc
 - column 6:  If you had to, could you do it today (i.e., could you make a plan and begin execution today).  For example, one of my bucket list items is to go to a Notre Dame football game in South Bend. I could buy tickets, make hotel arrangements, etc for that right now, so I would put a "Y" in that column.

Once your bucket list is updated and ready to plan, join us at Adventures with Amina where the entire month of October we are going to be encouraging one another to start doing our bucket list activities.  And, since it is my birthday month, there are going to be all kinds of other fun things going on over there (you all know how I roll...)

In closing, I want to remind you all on the power of deciding what you want.  Clarity is magical by itself.  Once you know what you want, every one of your brain cells lines up to make it possible.  You have a huge force that is either managed and working for you or spinning in circles - your brain.  Once you get clear on what you want, your conscious and sub-conscious and well, super-conscious parts of your brain line up to show you opportunities that have already existed but you have not seen before.  Your entire army (I.e., your brain) will be out there finding ways to make the list a possibility and I know with my heart, we are going to have some miracles this month.  My definition of a miracle - that which is beyond your ability to believe is possible.  I invite you to join me in getting clear on what you want and allowing the miracles to unfold!