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To Whom Much Is Given… Much Is Expected

By Emma on August 13, 2010 42 Comments

"My Favorite Room In The Tiebens' Home"

It has been a rough 90 days for myself and my family. The good news is that we’re all healthy, have all remained happy and have stayed together! The bad news is that we made a decision to sell our home of 11 years!

Ever since we made that decision 90 days ago there have been many challenging twists and turns that needed to be dealt with. They were so challenging that I was on pins and needles most of the time and have experienced a few breakdowns here and there!

Sure… through it all, I have managed to function – continued to attend events, connect with people, encourage my social media friends, empower my clients and still give Garrett and incredible summer experience.

However in the past few days, I decided to take a break and focus on things that mean most to me: MY FAMILY. In my silence, I have received tons of love and support that I felt a sense of responsibility to share what’s going on.

Some of you may wonder, ‘Wow Emma, this is rather personal… are you sure you want to share this with the world?” Well, I thought about it long and hard and I decided to do it because of this:

I believe that “We go through darkness so we can tell our stories and guide others to the light”.

Please don’t feel bad for us. It was a decision we’ve contemplated on for years but have been putting off because we thought for sure that if I work any harder, we just might be able to pull it off… My hope for this post is for you to get inspired and somehow learn from the mistakes we’ve made.

Like many “aggressive” and risk-taking investors, we made decisions that proved great 7 years ago and purchased investment properties not anticipating what was to transpire with our economy. We though for sure we were infallible and NOTHING will happen in the next 20 years!

Boy were we wrong… so with many others…

For the past 2 years I dove in head first learning online marketing, connecting with powerful people, building incredible relationships with them and my favorite part was empowering and helping other entrepreneurs and getting paid for what I love! Needless to say, I neglected paying attention to what’s really going on, hoping and believing that the market will turn around soon!

Sure we were able to generate enough money to meet our enormous financial obligations to the banks and remained in honor for years and years, sacrificing lifestyle but making a choice to invest more in my business education, pushing forward because through it all, I continue to believe and hold on to my dream. A dream that one day, I will have a HUGE business that will enable me us to invest again in what we love… residential real estate, gold and silver.

What we didn’t realize was for 4 or so years, we have “chased” a fantasy. We thought that if we only worked harder and seasoned it with time, we will get caught up. We really believed that the “big money is right around the corner” and it just takes that one big break for us to be able to make our millions and pay of all our financial obligations in lump sum!

In January 2008, we met Dani Johnson for the first time and one principle that we learned from her was to “Prosper Where You’re Planted…”. We so got it at that time. We realized that for us to get “promoted” in the universal sense, we need to be able to progress or succeed with what we have NOW and what we think we’re going to make in the future!

We can’t rely on future earnings, spend it now and expect to generate more…

Please listen to what I am saying here because there is a major lesson here… I am not “preaching” – I just want to drive this important principle as close to home as possible because I this is one of the major lessons we learned in this painful yet rewarding experience!

If you’re an entrepreneur who has mounds and mounds of debt, running around in circles, close to broke but continuing to live an “irresponsible” lifestyle you had prior to becoming broke, spending money you didn’t have with hopes that money is around the corner, I have news for you… YOU WILL STRUGGLE WITH SUCCESS.

It’s the Universal Law of Cause and Effect which says ‘what goes around comes around…” or the Golden Rule “do unto others as you would have others do unto you…” or “what you send out comes back to you tenfold…” I love what Joyce Meyer says all the time:

“YOU CAN’T EXPECT MONEY IF YOU DON’T RESPECT MONEY!”

The Bible says, “To whom much is given, much is expected…” The irony of it all is that in the Parable of the Talents, the one Steward who was able to invest his money wisely was given more and the Steward who chose to be irresponsible, well, instead of being give more, everything he had was taken away from him! How’s that for a lesson?

I guess I am sharing this VERY PERSONAL and painful lesson with you because 2 years ago, I heard the lesson and started doing something about it. However, when things started looking up, I went back to my old ways – to what’s comfortable and somewhat “irresponsible”.

In the process of playing catch up with success and what my mentor Joel Bauer says “living along to get along”, we realized that we were slowly sacrificing something:

QUALITY OF LIFE…

I remember before Gary and I became parents, we would go on 4-5 trips a year as we absolutely love to travel! When Garrett was born, the destinations changed a bit but we still traveled… we went on cruises, resorts and most of the time, they were top notch and on occasion, we even have our very own butler on board!

However, for the past two years, our family travel has been limited to a few trips here and there. Gary’s not able take time off work as much as he used to and my time was spent servicing clients, building my online infrastructure, further my studies via seminars and mentors and invest back into the business and in myself.

In January 2010, when I went to the Internet Marketers Caribbean Cruise I had a ton of fun but there was one thought that stuck in my mind the entire time:

“I wish Gary and Garrett were here…”

It dawned on me that we have not taken any major trips for 3 years! I remembered always imagining that when we have our child/children, we will be traveling extensively, taking them to see museums, dining in the best places and introducing them to various cultures so they will grow up respecting all cultures of the world and loving the history of those cultures.

But instead, due to time and money limitations, we’ve opted for San Diego, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara… Sure they’re not that bad for most people but for us, we knew it was time to:

Buckle down… re-assess… re-group… learn to “prosper where we’re planted” – be able to live within our means. We were ready to no longer be:

HOUSE RICH AND CASH POOR…

Quality of life means so much more to us now that Garrett is 8 years old.

And so, on June 2, 2010, after dodging the decision for 2 years, we have painfully decided to put our home of 11 years in the market… a home we helped design, where we have experienced incredibly beautiful memories – the home that housed our dreams.

Here are some photos our our beloved home… while we’re going to miss it, we know it will house a new family who are yet to create beautiful and memorable dreams for them. I know that the best is yet to come for us!

I have learned a ton of painful lessons and joyful miracles during the past 2 1/2 months from when we made this decision. I plan on sharing them with you, my wonderful friends and readers in my upcoming blog posts with hopes to inspire you and give those of you who are probably on going through the same experience some tools, techniques and resources to help guide you through this painful though “cleansing” process.

I thank all of you who continue to support and cheer me on as I go through this ordeal… Your friendship and love means sooo much to me! I am creating this “series” as this is my way of paying it forward…

Cheering You On To Your Success!

Emma

The Price of Freedom… What Have You Paid?

By Emma on July 4, 2010 3 Comments

Happy Birthday, America! Happy July 4th! Every year, my family observes July 4th with a weekend “getting-to-know-more-of-America on the History Channel. Yesterday’s feature was Benjamin Franklin. I was so surprised that there was so much I didn’t know about him and the more I knew about him, I realized that he is the epitome of the most Creative, Brilliant and Influential Marketer ever! He was a Genius Inventor yet a Master Persuader who helped change the course of this country’s history! In the process though, he gave up so much all the way up to giving up his citizenship from his beloved England.

I myself was an immigrant from Manila, Philippines. Twenty one years ago, I my port of entry was San Francisco – I was a bright eyed, bushy tailed 20 something and with one suitcase in hand, I told myself: “Well Emma, you’re here now… what are you going to make of your life?” Sink or swim, was the answer! I remember this kind Immigration Officer asking me, “Young lady, are you here to go to school?” I just replied: “If I had the opportunity I will…”

The past 20 years weren’t all rosy – there were a lot of struggles, challenges, uncertainties, failures and tears. However through it all, my faith has always been strong. I have always believed that God created me for a greater purpose and gave me gifts that will enable me to help others and do well in the process… I believe in my heart that ALL OF US were called for a greater purpose and we need to figure out how to do good with it.

Benjamin Franklin called it: “Doing well by doing good…”

I meet many people online who share the common passion of helping others, and as attraction marketers, I see a lot of people who are natural at helping fellow entrepreneurs”. From speaking with a lot of entrepreneurs online, I also see that the most common challenge is monetizing their passion and the common thread is that they get into the mode of helping all the time that they forget that they do need to somewhat get paid for what they do! Sometimes, it’s just a matter of tweaking ones mindset and the money does follow!

As successful entrepreneurs, we always tell people – Do this, do that and you will experience financial, time, spiritual or whatever freedom a person is looking for. What we’re forgetting to tell them is that FREEDOM COMES WITH A PRICE. Just like Spiderman’s Uncle said “With great power comes great responsibility”.

The price of freedom equates to the sacrifices you make to get to the destination that will afford you your freedom. I would like to share with you the sacrifices I made to get to where I am now and let me tell you… these sacrifices have helped shaped who I am today and I look back with gratitude because I now understand what freedom means!

1) Leaving my family and friends in Manila, Philippines.

2) Working at Big Lots (used to be Pic N Save) to make $3.00/hr.

3) Learning to identify trustworthy friendships from complete strangers.

4) Having to declare bankruptcy in my early years in the US.

5) Spending hundreds of hours and dollars in Personal Development books.

6) Spending thousands of dollars trying different network marketing opportunities.

7) Spending thousands more in courses and traveling to attend seminars and meet industry leaders.

Making decisions whether to buy the latest purses, shoes and outfits in fashion or invest more in seminars and courses.

9) Investing over $100,000 in my jewelry business only to see it fail.

10) Many sleepless nights studying, learning, implementing and re-inventing myself.

11) Not having enough time for friends and eventually losing touch with them.

12) Sacrificing family time while away on seminars, conferences, private masterminds.

13) Being misunderstood by family members who don’t understand what I do.

14) Shedding lots of tears and having felt fearful that I was never meant to succeed.

15) Painfully overcoming the fear of rejection, judgment when I started my first video and I spoke in a group for the very first time.

While these are my personal sacrifices and the price I paid for the freedom I have now, these are nothing compared to the sacrifices our Men and Women in Uniform have endured so that we can all enjoy the ultimate FREEDOM of being in a nation where we are all given the opportunity to succeed.

My question to you is… WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FREEDOM YOU HAVE, TO MAKE IT WORTH OTHER PEOPLE’S SACRIFICE? Will you do something with your life? Will you get out of your desperation and realize that others already made sacrifices for you because you’re worth something?

To pursue the freedom true entrepreneurship brings requires a lot of sacrifices. Some of us have already paid our dues and maybe you have yet to pay yours. Just make a decision to start somewhere and start NOW… pay those dues, get it over with… invest in yourself… invest in knowledge and skills… become the leader you want to follow.

If it takes a year or two years to get to a level of freedom that you feel is comfortable, so what? Two years will be here whether you make a decision to choose freedom or not… Why not put it on a “lay-away” plan? Start paying your dues for freedom NOW! You’ll be sooo happy you did and yes, you can just thank me later…

Cheering You On To Your Success!

Emma Tiebens

Inspired By Ann Sieg… What Will Your Legacy Be?

By Emma on November 26, 2009 2 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s 3:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and I was awaken by an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I decided to write a Blogpost about it. Ironically, as I looked through my email, I came across a video blog of one of my favorite and trusted industry leaders, Ann Sieg.

I’ve been very blessed to have met Ann Sieg and her awesome Executive Assistant Candace Hogan, when my good friend Jerry Chen scheduled their interview at our home. What a real treat that was to spend an entire day with Ann, Candace and Jerry! I can’t wait for you all to watch their interview – you will see a side of Ann Sieg you have never seen before! Like Ann, I am a wife, mother and an entrepreneur whose passion is to empower entrepreneurs globally. When I watched her video blog post earlier, I couldn’t help not share my thoughts as inspired by her message.

I thank Ann for her transparency and for her willingness in not only sharing her beliefs with the world but her passion in making sure that people are educated enough to enable them to exercise having choices!

Her heritage is so rich! Her great, great grandfather was imprisoned from exercising his beliefs which ultimately shaped what Ann has become today. I admire her desire to honor the legacy of generations before her! After seeing her video, it has become clearer why her and her teachings have always resonated with my spirit!

Like Ann, my success is definitely not measured by money alone, however, I firmly believe that money enables us to do tons of good in the world! That’s the reason I do what I do to encourage, enlighten and empower entrepreneurs. Success for me boils down to this simple question which is the basis for why I founded “The Relational Marketer” – it’s the question: “Whose Life Is Now Better Because Of Yours”?

Everyday, I well up from an overwhelming gratitude to God who has been so good to me! Even if I don’t necessarily have EVERYTHING I have, the fact is I have more than enough! I have an amazingly loving and supportive family who encourages me to act upon opportunities to be, do and give more! I am grateful for the FREEDOM to have choices, to be in this country where opportunities abound! I am grateful for having access to amazing Mentors such as Joel Bauer, Mike Dillard, Ann Sieg, Mike Klingler, Dani Johnson,Tracy Repchuk which has now enabled me to have a platform to be able to help change many people’s lives in a global sense!

As a young girl in the Philippines, it was reading which has inspired me to realize that there is a bigger and abetter wolrd outside my little town… it was reading that has allowed me to see the infinite possibilities of what I can become. I support our public library here in Huntington Beach and part of my vision is to be able to put a public library in many small towns in the Philippines so that many children will be given the same opportunity about reading as I have!

The legacy I want to leave behind is simple… to have people I care most about – and those who choose to be mentored by me – all allocated for financially with income producing assets – including intellectual properties and businesses – that will encompass generations upon generations.

More importantly, I want to leave a legacy of encouraging them to have a personal relationship with God and His beloved son Jesus – who has plucked me out from a teeny tiny unheard of small town in the Philippines and elevates me to a leadership position that enables me to positively impact thousands of lives! A legacy of helping people believe that they are called for a Higher Purpose and their lives mean more than what their minds can comprehend – I want to leave a legacy full of HOPE and LOVE!

What about you? What legacy will you leave behind? What actions are you taking right this moment to make sure that your life does count for something?