Why Do we Succeed!

A better question is what is it all for? Our struggles, our stress, our worry and our pain? If you want to succeed in your job or even in your own business, traditional or at home what determines if you will succeed?


All I know is successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Successful people don't have a why that is big enough. Unsuccessful people make up reasons (excuses) on why they are happy were they are. Or they are unwilling to do the activities that create success and keep finding reasons to do different activities. Usually this would lead to a post about how to get on track but today I want to focus on what keeps me on track.


Yes we all have kids and they are my why. I don't use them as an excuse,.. I mean reason on why I can't work. I make sure I set the example of what success is for them.


Don't make your success bite size either. Don't say things like, "Money does not matter as long as you have love" we tried that. Money is not important but work ethic to reach your goals to create opportunity in your life is also way more than money. So let me ask you, what kind of example of you set for your kids today?




Yours Truly,
Stacy O'Quinn

Why Does DFI Coastal Travel Work?

Today I was speaking to a friend who is a financial advisor and he asked me why did that online coastal travel business I did work so well? It was a simple question and it almost totally stopped me in my tracks for a second. Coastal Travel is an incredible opportunity how/why does it work so well?

I've always said the business was simple but why? I'm going to lay out in bullet points what I explained to him and why I believe Coastal Travel is so simple.

1. The product is in huge demand. Who does not want to take a vacation? With the news and perception that the economy is slow who does not want to make some extra money on top of that? But that alone does not make it simple.

2. The presentations, the telling and selling is already done for you. DFI is a marketing and training system established by Coastal Travel Directors for Coastal Travel Directors. IF you are part of the DFI Marketing/Training and Development system then you don't have to build websites that is already done. Live Conference calls that are live and with real people. Hosted by people who are giving back of their time. Usually 6 Figure Income earners doing the presenting for you and answering questions for you when you are brand new.

3. Advertising and Marketing already figured out. While you can market coastal travel like any other product or service. If you don't have that type of background you can use the same marketing methods that every other leader is using. 95% of the money I ever earned came utilizing our marketing companies that DFI has set up for us. This is probably one of the biggest reasons for success. The successful directors are building their business just like the newest person. That's duplication.

4. Support and Training is unbelievable. In Coastal Travel you can believe that almost always your director I don't care how long they have been around they will be there to help you. It's genius the way the training pay works. I'd say it definitely ensures that someone is there to help you but, on top of that the DFI Training System is incredible. 18 live support training calls every week were successful directors are volunteering their time to help you build a business and succeed. They are giving back because someone did it for them. OK maybe this is the reason for the business being so simple.

The bottom line is this where else in corporate America does it exist were the most successful people will volunteer hours a week to help guide you and be there to provide feedback for you when ever you need it. If you are like me you maybe wandering what do they get for it? That was my biggest question about 4 years ago as well. The reality is they get absolutely nothing except for a good feeling inside knowing they are helping someone get to where they are.

5. The People, are genuine honest and real. Some of the best people I ever met in my life were in DFI. I'd have to say that DFI makes Coastal Travel what it is. People who care about you from day one. It doesn't matter that they don't know you, in the beginning you just know that they are there to help. It's not till later that you realize behind the scenes on every call there are hundreds of people in the background that are cheering you on and pulling for you. They really do want you to succeed. Over time they start to learn who you are as a person, by your voice over the phone and your personality. How many times have you had someone encourage you to do better over and over. They were never jealous they just wanted to see you succeed!

I guess I'd have to restate the obvious now because of DFI, Coastal Travel is an extremely simple why to work from home. All the hard part of being in your own business is figured out. They have the product, the presentations are figured out for your clients via websites or conference calls, they have the clients already expecting to hear back from you and they have people that are incredibly giving. Over all combined DFI has created the best experience of my life.


Living the Dream,
Stacy O'Quinn

How to Work From Home and Succeed

Prior to becoming a financial advisor for Edward Jones I made a great living working from home. It was the most valuable experience of my life. The primary reason is simply because what allowed me to earn a six figure income every year working from home easily translates to creating success in other areas. Below in no paticular order I will talk about what allowed me to succeed from home and how that has helped me achieve the status of being in the top 10% of my peers worldwide in the financial world.

1. First Tip - Never recreate the wheel. Starting anything new is difficult and also a nervous and exciting time. Why increase that nervousness starting out. To succeed from home there is no reason you have to be "groundbreaking". I will admit, to make 7 figures a year you may have too. But not to reach six figures your first year. Find someone who is having success and do what they are doing. Make sure there is an exact system you can follow, sometimes you may have to look for it but almost always one exist.

2. Second Tip - Find what you enjoy and do more of it. I enjoy making money I also enjoy traveling. So when I worked from home I found a business that allowed me the ability to travel the world and make money. You will be most successful when your hobby meets your income needs. Working hard does not feel like work at all.

3. Third Tip - Be extremely confident in your product or service. As a financial advisor you must know that someone is better off working with you than they are on their own. If you market a product or service you have to know that someone is better off with you than with out. Almost like they are up a creek without a paddle without you. When I worked from home I sold an 11,000 dollar product and I was confident there was nothing else out there like it and I also knew that the clients I worked with would always feel really good about us working together. With that level of confidence you will always beable to over come any objection that a new client or customer throws at you.

4. Fourth Tip - Establish a track record or verify one is established for you. To begin with you will not be able to have many satisfied clients or customers regardless if you provide a product or service. If you are new and you are not recreating the wheel so you are following a pattern that someone else has already set out make sure it works. I know that seems like a no brainer but makes sure there are people who talk about that product or that service. Testimonies on a website or marketing material are good but, make sure you can verify them in some way. It is as simple as having several sources of proof saying the same thing. If there are stories on a website for instance then there should be real people that are willing to say the same thing. It does not have to be the exact same people just real live people. The more you can verify the better.
-a negative response is not bad, remember if you have a real service or product someone somewhere will not be happy. You want to make sure if you are doing any kind of marketing that you verify the people who say good or bad things are real people.

--we've all seen testimonies on websites and brochures and that's good but make sure you find real people who are passionate about what they have or are doing as well.


Yours Truly,
Stacy O'Quinn

Mom are you ready to start a business from HOME?

Are you really ready? Just surfing the Internet I ran across an old website that I used to read when I worked from home with DFI and Coastal Travel. It's interesting how things change over time but basic principles stay the same. Below follows an article that is just common sense but definitely a guide written from a mom that applies to so many more than her.

It has been my experience that looking for a good home business online can be frustrating, challenging and down right discouraging. We hope that these companies will do what they say and say what they do, but time after time and scam after scam we are sorely disappointed. Legitimate companies do exist but how do we find them and what do we look for?

Here are some tips to get you started on the right path.

1. Estimate: How much time, money and effort are you willing to invest into starting an online home business.

2. Evaluate: Find the "niche" business that's right for you. Write down favorite past times, hobbies, and personal interests and evaluate which niche would you enjoy doing as a home business and which one is most profitable and marketable. We all want to make money online but statistics show that more people with an online business succeed doing a business they love, enjoy or have a passion for.

3. Educate: Like any business starting out, education is the key. Familiarize yourself with your particular "niche" online business, and invest in "how-to products, software and learn as much as you can by taking advantage of the many FREE advice columns, online classes, forums, articles and blogs that can help educate you in starting your home business and marketing your business online.

4. Embark: This is just the beginning; as you take the steps and follow the advice given from various resources and put them into practice, you will be well on your way to having a legitimate and profitable home business. Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day!

Best Wishes!
Filoiann Wiedenhoff

Filoiann is a Pastor's Wife, Work at Home Mom, Woman's Biblical Counselor and Bible Teacher. Her work can be found on a number of home business and Christian websites and blogs. www.filoiannwidenhoff.com

Working from home is one of the best experiances of my life. It's a shame that so many people that do look to work from home are not ready to give it the respect it deserves. If you are working from home remember it should not be easy, it should only be worth it!

Yours Truly,
Stacy O'Quinn

The recession is OVER!

I hope you are having an awesome weekend! I want to take a moment to give you, my readers who I appreciate a ton a new fresh look vs what we've heard on the news.

It's easy to blame the economy, lack of luck, missed opportunity or lack of, bad timing or a million other things why we are not where we would like to be right now in life. I for one have gotten in my own pity party in the past.

Let's look at the economy for a moment though. When will this recession end? When will the economy start moving again? Here's what we know for a fact! Recessions always end before they are realized to have ended. Often times it has taken 22+ months before our guru's in the media have been able to tell us that the recession was over.

WE have to remember that bad news is good for ratings. If we understand that and we are wanting things to move our way then maybe we should make that happen before we wait for someone else to tell us that things are great 22 months after they were fine. What I'm saying is let's stop letting the media or others create our excuses for us. I for one think the economy has some weaknesses but overall we are great.

How do you survive a recession? You don't have to if it's over! Let's kill that excuse. Here's what top brokerage firm Edward Jones has to say about it. We Believe it's OVER!


Yours Truly,
Stacy O'Quinn

Are you worried...?

What is worry?

Short three letter question but are you confident in how to answer it? Is it fear?

No, fear is what blocks opportunity. I once heard someone smart say the devil only places fear in front of a door that he knows you won't fail at. So fear is an emotion that holds you back or blocks you from going down a path potentially.

I'd also recommend that if you are looking at an opportunity today and you feel fear to ask your self if you knew failure was not an option how would you react? Then do it NOW! You may say, "Well Stacy you don't know my situation." You are right but we can never change the pain of regret in the future.

...So this takes us back to our original question. What is worry? It is my belief that worry is something we often experience as we walk through opportunity before we achieve our destination. It's taking tomorrow's problem or the problem from next week or next year and assuming that it's going to happen today. A problem which may never actually occur. We shoulder that burden usually by saying "What if".

The result often times is that we will choose a new path to walk down and get off our path of opportunity. Today I encourage you to not let fear hold you back or let worry get you off track.

You can do it!
Stacy O'Quinn

Life is About Dreams or it should be...

What is your dream? Maybe you are struggling right now and not dreaming much? How do you survive in this economy and this world?

You have an internal desire something pushes you. Something drives you... or it did once. If you don't feel that push or that drive seek it out and find it again. That natural drive is a road map. Dani Johnson says that desire reveals design. It is extremely important that you know what your desire is, because as Dani Johnson says your design is revealed.

(As a side note she backs that up biblically, but that's not my point at the moment)

If an eagle was designed to soar than it would be equipped with that desire... Do you believe and eagle was equipped to soar? Think about it, a lion does it have a desire to hunt? How was a lion equipped?

If you have a dream or a goal and it could be big or small. Maybe it is to get out of debt? Travel the world or help the less fortunate? Than you are equipped to do just that.

Now I know you may have doubts and I get that. I believe in you because someone believed in me and this is what I'm asking you to think about today. A dream or a goal is always a vision or shown to us mentally as something that has been accomplished which satisfies us. But it is the end game, today you are in the beginning of that dream or goal. Focus on the first step right now. What can you do NOW!

In the spirit of football season, think about the next down not the end zone. The desire to get to the endzone it what keeps us going. How are you going to cover the next 10 yards today and focus on that alone!