Up until recently I have been doing business as Freedom Financial, and I was partnered with Dano's Debtbusters (DDB) as the company from which I offered most of my financial coaching products. In December of 2012 I was informed that DDB was ceasing operations. (You can read about that in the previous post)
From that decision, I decided that I would continue to do what I was already doing. Since that time I have continued to help the clients that I was already helping. After much consideration, I have chosen to legally change the name of my company. L. Sweet Coaching will encompass all the services that I have offered previously, as well as some additional coaching services that I plan to offer in the future. I decided to take "financial" out of the name becuase some of the future coaching services I plan to offer, are not financial services.
I have spent the last 6 months thinking through how my business would look. The truth is, right now my family needs most of my time, and my new found love for Zumba takes up a lot of hours in a week as well. What I still know is that God has called me to help people with their money, and as long as there is a family out there that needs my help, coaching them is what I'll do. I don't intend to coach 20 families at a time, but I can take on a few more and still have the balance I need in my life.
The new blog address is: http://lesliemsweet.blogspot.com/
Thank you for your continued love, prayers, and support of me, my family, and my business!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
When God speaks through a 6yr old
I recently sat down with my son and told him the story of Caleb (from the Bible) again. I reminded him how God told the people (in Numbers 13) that He is going to give them the land of Canaan, so they should send out spies to check out the land. 12 men go out and return with mostly the same report. The land was flowing with milk & honey (good) however the city has huge barriers and the people who live in it are giants (bad). 10 of those 12 men told Israel that they couldn’t do it – it seemed too hard, with the giants and walls and such…But Caleb said: “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”
You see, Caleb saw the walls and the giants too - he wasn’t blind. But, Caleb believed God when He said that He was giving them the land. Caleb knew that giants and walls were no match for our God. Caleb probably didn’t know at that point HOW God would give them the land, but He knew God would – because He said He would.
I love to tell my Caleb that God is going to use him to do great things too…that when all of the people in his life say that something is too hard or scary, that he too, will trust God, and by all means, overcome it!
And then, without even knowing it, my precious little boy, spoke courage into my life... Several weeks ago, I told Caleb about DDB ceasing operations. He looked up at me and said “So, who will help people get out of debt? And just a few seconds later, after deep (for a 6yr old) thought he said: Mom, you can just make up your own company!” He doesn’t understand all the giants and walls that I now face, but he knows that with God, by all means, I will surely overcome them.
I don’t know what giants or walls you are facing in your life today, but even a 6yr old knows that with God, you CAN, by all means, surely overcome them.
You see, Caleb saw the walls and the giants too - he wasn’t blind. But, Caleb believed God when He said that He was giving them the land. Caleb knew that giants and walls were no match for our God. Caleb probably didn’t know at that point HOW God would give them the land, but He knew God would – because He said He would.
I love to tell my Caleb that God is going to use him to do great things too…that when all of the people in his life say that something is too hard or scary, that he too, will trust God, and by all means, overcome it!
And then, without even knowing it, my precious little boy, spoke courage into my life... Several weeks ago, I told Caleb about DDB ceasing operations. He looked up at me and said “So, who will help people get out of debt? And just a few seconds later, after deep (for a 6yr old) thought he said: Mom, you can just make up your own company!” He doesn’t understand all the giants and walls that I now face, but he knows that with God, by all means, I will surely overcome them.
I don’t know what giants or walls you are facing in your life today, but even a 6yr old knows that with God, you CAN, by all means, surely overcome them.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
What happened to the 30lbs that I just “could NOT get rid of no matter what I tried”??
When people ask me how I stay thin, I always start by telling them about this:
I read a book a few years ago that changed my life – mostly in the area of health / weight loss, but it applies to anything. I had been carrying around an extra 30lbs or so since the birth of my first child that I just “could NOT get rid of no matter what I tried.”
In Andy Stanley’s book, The Principle of the Path, he states that “Direction – not intention – determines our destination.” Here’s my paraphrase: The destination (goal) I wanted was weight loss. My intention was weight loss, but my direction (the daily choices I made) were not on the path that led to weight loss. When I chose to eat brownies and chips instead of apples and almonds, I was choosing the direction toward maintaining the extra weight, even though my intention was to lose the weight.
Understanding this helped me see each choice as, well – a choice. I began to understand that every choice mattered…each choice had a consequence. Eating an apple leads to weight loss. Eating a brownie leads to no weight loss. I had a choice.
As I began to take responsibility for my choices, I began to make wise choices more often. I was accountable for each choice I made – no one else was…not even the screaming baby. Each healthy choice I made, led me down the path of health. Each unhealthy choice I made, led me down the path of, well, un-health.
When every choice counts – you can’t start tomorrow, you can’t “blow it” for the day, you can only “blow it” for that choice. Each choice is a new choice, a new chance to make the wise choice. If you eat a brownie and “blow it” you can then choose to eat another one, or to not eat another one. If you choose not to exercise today, you don't have to make that same choice tomorrow, or even this afternoon. One unwise choice does not negate your responsibility for the next choice.
This applies to anything – not just food and weight loss. It applies to any area of your life, even to your finances (don’t get me started!!). Every choice you make, every minute of every hour of every day, has a consequence. If you want to change your life, you have to make different choices – you have to choose different behavior. It’s not always easy – but nothing worth having is easy! The more often you choose the wise choice, the closer you become to your destination.
When you stop making excuses for your problems (extra weight) and take responsibility for your choices (food & exercise), you will begin to see change and make progress. And yes, sometimes I still chose the brownie – but I also accept the consequences for that choice. And because my goal is to be a healthy weight (destination), I make intentional choices every day (direction), all day long, in order to stay on the path that will lead me to, and maintains a healthy weight.
You have a choice to make. You alone are responsible for that choice. Will you make the choice (direction) that will lead you to your goal (destination)? Or will you make another excuse? Will you stay stuck where you are and make excuses to why you can’t change? Or will you take responsibility for your life?
Your diet doesn’t start on Monday. Changing your life starts TODAY!!!
I read a book a few years ago that changed my life – mostly in the area of health / weight loss, but it applies to anything. I had been carrying around an extra 30lbs or so since the birth of my first child that I just “could NOT get rid of no matter what I tried.”
In Andy Stanley’s book, The Principle of the Path, he states that “Direction – not intention – determines our destination.” Here’s my paraphrase: The destination (goal) I wanted was weight loss. My intention was weight loss, but my direction (the daily choices I made) were not on the path that led to weight loss. When I chose to eat brownies and chips instead of apples and almonds, I was choosing the direction toward maintaining the extra weight, even though my intention was to lose the weight.
Understanding this helped me see each choice as, well – a choice. I began to understand that every choice mattered…each choice had a consequence. Eating an apple leads to weight loss. Eating a brownie leads to no weight loss. I had a choice.
As I began to take responsibility for my choices, I began to make wise choices more often. I was accountable for each choice I made – no one else was…not even the screaming baby. Each healthy choice I made, led me down the path of health. Each unhealthy choice I made, led me down the path of, well, un-health.
When every choice counts – you can’t start tomorrow, you can’t “blow it” for the day, you can only “blow it” for that choice. Each choice is a new choice, a new chance to make the wise choice. If you eat a brownie and “blow it” you can then choose to eat another one, or to not eat another one. If you choose not to exercise today, you don't have to make that same choice tomorrow, or even this afternoon. One unwise choice does not negate your responsibility for the next choice.
This applies to anything – not just food and weight loss. It applies to any area of your life, even to your finances (don’t get me started!!). Every choice you make, every minute of every hour of every day, has a consequence. If you want to change your life, you have to make different choices – you have to choose different behavior. It’s not always easy – but nothing worth having is easy! The more often you choose the wise choice, the closer you become to your destination.
When you stop making excuses for your problems (extra weight) and take responsibility for your choices (food & exercise), you will begin to see change and make progress. And yes, sometimes I still chose the brownie – but I also accept the consequences for that choice. And because my goal is to be a healthy weight (destination), I make intentional choices every day (direction), all day long, in order to stay on the path that will lead me to, and maintains a healthy weight.
You have a choice to make. You alone are responsible for that choice. Will you make the choice (direction) that will lead you to your goal (destination)? Or will you make another excuse? Will you stay stuck where you are and make excuses to why you can’t change? Or will you take responsibility for your life?
Your diet doesn’t start on Monday. Changing your life starts TODAY!!!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Scratch the Resolutions and Set some Goals!
Do you make New Year’s Resolutions every year? Do you find that by February, or even Jan 10th, you’ve given up? There’s a good reason why resolutions don’t work… A resolution is defined as a “formal expression of opinion or intention made.” It’s a wish - what you want to happen, how you want to be different, what you hope to accomplish in your life over the next year.
While it’s true that in order to change your life, you first have to decide that you are willing to change (make a resolution), but if you don’t have a plan behind that decision, you have no way of knowing how to get there, nor will you be able to measure whether or not you have reached your goal or even progressed.
This year, why not set goals? Real goals. Goals that matter. Goals are not just a wish, but they are backed by a plan. When you put a plan behind your wish, you can determine the steps necessary to reach your goal, and whether or not you achieved your goal.
Get out a pen & paper and start writing…
1. State your goal.
This is your resolution. This is what you want to change or hope to accomplish.
2. Determine your starting point.
If you don’t know where you are starting from, then where will you start from? If your goal is weight loss, you need to step on the scale. If your goal is debt freedom, you need to know how much debt you have. A guess will NOT work here. If you aren’t willing to make the effort to find out where you currently are, then you won’t be willing to make the effort to reach the goal either.
3. Set a date
What is the time frame in which you want to accomplish the goal? Many of the goals we set this time or year are annual goals, so most of our “dates” are Dec. 31st. However, if you want to go on vacation in June, your “date” should be prior to June.
4. Divide your goal up and decide what you need to do TODAY.
If you want to lose 50 pounds by Dec. 31st…that’s almost 1 pound per week…that’s 1/7 of a pound per day. Once you have a specific (daily) goal, you can hold yourself accountable for each choice you make…to exercise or not to exercise…to eat the cookie or have an apple instead. Daily goals are much easier to focus on because you know what you need to do at every choice to get there. And if you blow it today, you get to start over tomorrow!
One of mine & Nathan’s favorite date nights of the year is our January date. We review our goals from the previous year and see how we did. We don’t ever reach all of our goals, but we reach some and we always progress! Then we talk about our dreams and get to set new goals for the new year. (BTW – one of our goals every year is date night…when we don’t make it a priority, we forget to date each other).
What are your dreams? Where do you hope to be next year? What can you accomplish? Why not set some real goals? Why not spend the energy to figure out how you can reach the goals? Why not you? Why not now? Wouldn’t you like to look back next December and see the progress you’ve made? You really can change your life, stop making excuses and start today!
While it’s true that in order to change your life, you first have to decide that you are willing to change (make a resolution), but if you don’t have a plan behind that decision, you have no way of knowing how to get there, nor will you be able to measure whether or not you have reached your goal or even progressed.
This year, why not set goals? Real goals. Goals that matter. Goals are not just a wish, but they are backed by a plan. When you put a plan behind your wish, you can determine the steps necessary to reach your goal, and whether or not you achieved your goal.
Get out a pen & paper and start writing…
1. State your goal.
This is your resolution. This is what you want to change or hope to accomplish.
2. Determine your starting point.
If you don’t know where you are starting from, then where will you start from? If your goal is weight loss, you need to step on the scale. If your goal is debt freedom, you need to know how much debt you have. A guess will NOT work here. If you aren’t willing to make the effort to find out where you currently are, then you won’t be willing to make the effort to reach the goal either.
3. Set a date
What is the time frame in which you want to accomplish the goal? Many of the goals we set this time or year are annual goals, so most of our “dates” are Dec. 31st. However, if you want to go on vacation in June, your “date” should be prior to June.
4. Divide your goal up and decide what you need to do TODAY.
If you want to lose 50 pounds by Dec. 31st…that’s almost 1 pound per week…that’s 1/7 of a pound per day. Once you have a specific (daily) goal, you can hold yourself accountable for each choice you make…to exercise or not to exercise…to eat the cookie or have an apple instead. Daily goals are much easier to focus on because you know what you need to do at every choice to get there. And if you blow it today, you get to start over tomorrow!
One of mine & Nathan’s favorite date nights of the year is our January date. We review our goals from the previous year and see how we did. We don’t ever reach all of our goals, but we reach some and we always progress! Then we talk about our dreams and get to set new goals for the new year. (BTW – one of our goals every year is date night…when we don’t make it a priority, we forget to date each other).
What are your dreams? Where do you hope to be next year? What can you accomplish? Why not set some real goals? Why not spend the energy to figure out how you can reach the goals? Why not you? Why not now? Wouldn’t you like to look back next December and see the progress you’ve made? You really can change your life, stop making excuses and start today!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
What happened last week
Last week I received an email from our home office stating that Dano’s Debtbusters will be ceasing operations in our current format on December 31, 2012. Now that everyone involved has been notified, I can share this with you.
I have spent the last 5.5 years of my life pouring my heart into building and growing this company, and having it all ripped from me breaks my heart. I now have some strong emotions that I need to sort through and I plan to do so privately and productively.
That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news:
Just because I no longer work with Dano’s Debtbusters, does not change the fact that I believe that God has called me and uniquely gifted me to help people with their money. I believe that God is in control and I can trust Him. My life may not make sense and I may FEEL like it is out of control, and often I think things should be done differently – but regardless of my opinion or feelings, God is God and I am not – so I choose to trust Him.
I have known for a long time that I could do this on my own if I had to, I just didn’t want to – nor did I have any indication that I would be doing it on my own today. I still have access to all of the tools that I helped create and I still coach the clients that I was coaching last month, and I will continue to coach them next month. The logos on the documents will change, but the services I provide will not.
I can already look back over the last few months and see how God has been preparing me for this change. I am excited about the future and what God has planned for me and my family through this journey. God never said life would be easy, but He did say I could trust Him, and I will.
I have personally been doing business as Freedom Financial for a few years, and I do not know at this point if I will keep that name or change it as I go forward. Thank you for all of your love and support over the last 5.5 years and thank you in advance for your continued support as my family starts this new journey!
For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
I have spent the last 5.5 years of my life pouring my heart into building and growing this company, and having it all ripped from me breaks my heart. I now have some strong emotions that I need to sort through and I plan to do so privately and productively.
That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news:
Just because I no longer work with Dano’s Debtbusters, does not change the fact that I believe that God has called me and uniquely gifted me to help people with their money. I believe that God is in control and I can trust Him. My life may not make sense and I may FEEL like it is out of control, and often I think things should be done differently – but regardless of my opinion or feelings, God is God and I am not – so I choose to trust Him.
I have known for a long time that I could do this on my own if I had to, I just didn’t want to – nor did I have any indication that I would be doing it on my own today. I still have access to all of the tools that I helped create and I still coach the clients that I was coaching last month, and I will continue to coach them next month. The logos on the documents will change, but the services I provide will not.
I can already look back over the last few months and see how God has been preparing me for this change. I am excited about the future and what God has planned for me and my family through this journey. God never said life would be easy, but He did say I could trust Him, and I will.
I have personally been doing business as Freedom Financial for a few years, and I do not know at this point if I will keep that name or change it as I go forward. Thank you for all of your love and support over the last 5.5 years and thank you in advance for your continued support as my family starts this new journey!
For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
First, let me encourage you to not take offense at what I’m about to say. We don’t judge you if you don’t agree or have a different view point, as most people don’t agree with us. However, these are OUR convictions, and for that, we will not apologize.
Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ…We believe that Santa is a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas. For example, when you offer a child the choice of interest between a bright red fat man with flying reindeer who gives them shiny toys vs. a humble baby, the obvious choice is Santa. We do however, tell them about the real person of “Santa” – about his generosity and giving to the needy.
Next, the truth is…Santa is not real. Nor is the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Shrek, Tinkerbell, or Captain America. At the end of the day, if I tell my child that Santa (or Spiderman) is real and he is not, I have not told the truth. We hold integrity VERY highly in our family and believe that agreeing to participate in this fantasy, does not line up with our values.
Personally, as a child, I can remember having friends that get more than me from Santa, specifically friends who behaved worse than me. I can remember wondering what was wrong with me...after all, wasn't GOOD behavior what got Santa to come? While this is obviously a selfish reason, I can tell you that it did not help my self-esteem, even as a little girl… And anyway, isn't the unique thing about a gift the fact that it isn't earned, that it's given?
Further, we believe that the idea of Santa furthers the extreme commercialism and entitlement mentality in our culture. Kids write letters to Santa – who often brings the biggest gift – and this is what they look forward to at CHRISTmas…they gifts they get…what they want. Not only does Santa easily become more exciting than the fact the the God of the universe left heaven to be born into this world so that He could save us, but Santa easily becomes more exciting than giving, serving, and being with family.
So, we aren’t crazy…we may be unconventional, but we are ok with that! We firmly believe that our job as parents is to empower our children and to instill them with the values and qualities that we believe are important – and the bottom line is…Santa doesn’t line up with or fit into our value system.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Is Dano’s Debtbusters a “real” way I can earn extra money?
If by “real” you mean: is it a Ponzi or Pyramid scheme, then the answer is: Yes, it IS real! No, it is NOT a Ponzi or Pyramid Scheme…
Dano’s Debtbusters was founded in 2002 by Dan Sturm in Knoxville, TN. I have been working with Dan since 2006. Until just recently, we have been educating people through our DDB Coaching Program. Since coaching involves sitting down with a family across the kitchen table, we quickly realized that we weren’t going to be able to help enough people that way. People are struggling all over the country and we needed a way to help them.
We have spent the last 7 months taking the Credit Restoration portion of our DDB Coaching Program and created a step by step e-course that anyone can do, from anywhere. Not only did we create the program, but we are offering it for 95% off the retail price. So not only can anyone do it, but anyone can afford it.
Our goal is to become the largest debt education company in the world, and in doing so, pray that we change the way Americans relate to and handle their money. What we need now is a group of people to market our product. We are adding Affiliates to advertise our products across the country. The minimum requirements for an Affiliate are to place and ad daily, 5 out of 7 days a week. If you can do this, you can earn income with Dano’s Debtbusters.
The process of placing an Ad can take as little as 3 minutes each day. If you can copy and paste a pre-scripted ad, you can do this. When a product is purchased because of your Ad, you earn a commission from that product sale. We pay out up to 65% of all product sales. Income potential is unlimited…the more product sales, the more commission earned.
This is the link to my website with a 6min video that you can watch: http://www.ddbllc.com/lsweet02/
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