At the beginning of February, I passed my one year mark with Heritage Makers. I really cannot believe that it has been a year, but it was time for me to renew as a consultant. I began thinking of all the why’s. Why am I a heritage maker? A Storycatcher? Why am I a part of this company, and where in the world did this year go?
Maybe I’ll begin at the beginning. Last fall I wanted to make a book for my husband about his Afghanistan deployment. I started with the company My Publisher, and felt so constrained by the templates. I could only have X amount of words per little box, or so many pictures per page. My creativity was feeling quite stifled.
I began my internet searching and really became quite picky. I wanted a company where I had control over where items were placed on the page, I wanted stitched binding rather than glued. I happened upon Heritage Makers, and at the same time a friend of mine told me that she had seen a booth at Time Out For Women. I requested information from the company, which by the way, is so not like me. After a few weeks, I again requested information. I discovered later that the company was growing so quickly and they were in the middle of switching publishing systems and my email had been lost in that confusion.
Before Christmas, I was given the information of Barbara Gordon-Carroll, a founding director in the area. She showed me the system and I realized that Heritage Makers was what I was looking for…a creative outlet, a place for MY stories, and a very meaningful company. Notice, what I found was not the business. I fell in love with Heritage Makers for ME.
I began putting together my husbands book, and was having a great time, but soon was caught up in the season of Christmas. My thoughts kept returning to Heritage Makers, and I would often log into my account for short periods of time just for fun.
I began thinking about joining Heritage Makers as a consultant, and I kept trying to talk myself out of that crazy idea, and you have to understand, I had a very young family, and a husband that was working away from home during the week. I really didn’t have time to add anything new, especially a business!
No matter how hard I tried, I really felt that I should be a Heritage Makers consultant, and my driving force wasn’t the income possibilities, which are definitely there. It was because I had a great desire to help others feel the strengthening power of story in their lives.
So here I am now, one year into my business, and I still LOVE making books. I love helping others experience that same joy. There have been times where I have wondered how I could balance it all, with the key word being balance, and also fit it into my lifestyle. I have finally discovered my niche, and have come to the conclusion again and again that it is for me.
I have researched the company, business, and creative outlet and am ready to further grow my team so that we together can be leaders in this company, and at the end of the day I come back to my own pictures and my own stories and I am swept away in the process of preserving memories for my own family.
All the best…Julie
www.YourUniqueStory.com
