Welcome to my personal blog!

Hi! My name is Laura Paulson.

First and foremost, I’m a wife, happily married to my husband and best friend, Bob, of 20+ years and mom to my Amazing Gifts from God, Courtney and Matthew.  I come from “corporate America” where I worked in HR/LR Management for several years. Although I was fortunate to have a very successful career, as time went on and the higher I climbed that “ladder”….well let’s just say, the more money you make, the more they think they “OWN” you.

After several years knee deep amidst the cut-throat, turf-protecting office politics, doing more with less due to constant cut-backs (in budget and staff but of course the work only INcreased), traveling for business all the time or commuting 4 hours a day when I wasn’t, I found myself burnt out questioning… is this it? is this really worth it?

I pretty much let my career consume my life because I was working ALL the time.  I worked so much that I got to a point where I didn’t even know what to do with myself when I WASN’T working. Of course it was my own fault for letting my career consume my life but I was earning a substantial income and along with that came increasing responsibilities and at that time I really did love my job.  BUT it all came with a price.  A price, that over time and maturity, came a realization that it just wasn’t worth it anymore because I was sacrificing myself, my time and my family working all the time.   In essence, a good work ethic didn’t serve me well because I was giving the best of myself to some company???  Hello?!

And then something tragic happened in my personal life – I lost my dad.  I felt like I wasn’t there for him like I should have been which was stupid because it wouldn’t have changed anything but still…. After that, things started to change for me.  For a long time, I truly enjoyed my career but all of a sudden it just wasn’t fun anymore.  I started thinking differently and slowly started to hate my job.

My Aha Moment!

My daughter was a sophomore in high school and at one defining moment (I’ll never forget it) reality hit me, I don’t know, a split second “awakening”.at the thought and realization that in 2 years my daughter would be graduating from high school and leaving for college. 2 YEARS????!!!! You know how fast 2 years go by?!  Where the heck did the time go?!  I’m missing it.

I found myself at a crossroads in my life.  Do I continue on this path, working my life away for the sake of the title and almighty buck with the “privilege” of retiring in 20 some years with a pretty substantial retirement nest egg IF I’m even alive long enough to enjoy the fruit from years and years of labor? OR do I find a better way – a way to create wealth, on MY terms, while STILL having and being present in my life?

Well, the downside to having a high paying job that requires you to work all the time, is that decision isn’t so easy.  When you rely on that income, you can’t just quit.  And if you’re working all the time, do you have the time and energy to build something alongside so that eventually you can quit?  Or are you trapped?  Well, I was, WAS.

To make a long story short, I made sacrifices and a decision to escape that trap and did.  It wasn’t easy but I got it done!  The Absolute BEST decision I ever made!!!

Escaping the Rat Race

Always having an entrepreneurial mindset and dabbling from time to time, I went into business for myself.  There are many options to consider and I didn’t want to go the traditional business route because I didn’t want my business to own me like my career did.  There was also the major financial investment to consider.  So, instead I choose to go the network/internet/affiliate marketing route.

I did my due diligence and found a reputable network marketing company with a business model that really was pretty simple to build and got to work.  At first I struggled because there was so much to learn.  I had been an expert in my field for so many years and this was all so new, I felt like such an idiot and thought “I’m never going to learn this”.  It wasn’t a good feeling.  Like anything though, over time, things started to come together.  I was enjoying learning about internet marketing while building my business and my residual check.  P.S. once you experience residual income, you NEVER want to go back to trading hours for dollars in some “job” again – trust me

I built an organization large enough to allow me to work exclusively from home.  Life was good!

Funny how history repeats itself….

At this point, I didn’t replace my career level income yet but was still able to work from home with my business as my sole source of income because I didn’t have the expenses of working outside of the home and because of the tax advantages of operating your own business.  A couple years into building my business though, I found myself basically in the same trap I was in with my career – working all the time.  Yes, I was now building equity for myself and my family instead of for somebody else (AND I was doing it from home) BUT the whole point was to have time freedom and this wasn’t happening.  I also found that while my personal sales were growing, others on my team weren’t duplicating my same level of success so I wasn’t gaining leverage.

Around this same time, things begun to happen within the network marketing company I was representing that I didn’t like.  I started to seriously question what was happening with the company resulting in my inability to continue building my organization because my heart wasn’t in it anymore.

Eventually my ill feelings materialized.  High income earners were terminated and left stunned and in financial hardship because their large residual income, that many worked years to obtain, was now gone in the blink of an eye.

I found myself at an all too familiar crossroads.  While I may have changed the “scenery”, I was basically caught in the same trap.  I was no longer giving everything to a job anymore but I was still sacrificing all my time and energy working so much and my financial situation wasn’t any better because the majority of my earnings were tied to this company.

Important Lessons Learned…

So there I was.  I needed to take a step back, re-strategize and figure out where to go from there.

I reflected back on what I learned — burning myself out for some job wasn’t worth it and I wasn’t going back to that; putting all my financial eggs in one basket is too risky so I need to diversify; I need to work smarter, not harder so basically automate and simplify; I need a duplicable system if I want to create leverage and reach a higher level of success.

My residual income from my network marketing operations dwindled.  I was still earning from my internet and affiliate marketing but a major chuck of my income was gone so first things first.  I needed to get a job to supplement my income while I figured out what to do and build my income back up.

I then started to re-strategize.  I thought about getting out of the network marketing industry altogether and just focus on internet and affiliate marketing.  However, such a large chuck of my income came from my network marketing operations and that business model allowed me to reach my goals by helping others reach theirs and that was a HUGE motivator for me.  Plus the “leverage” the industry allows.

So, I researched extensively for another company; however, I kept coming back to the same conclusion.  What happened to that company is common and can happen in ANY company, ANY industry.   Change is inevitable.  Do I really want to build an organization only to have to start all over again a few years down the road?  NO!

Back on Track…

Then I found it!!!!   EXACTLY what I was looking for.  Like they say, everything happens for a reason.  It took me a while to get there and I learned some hard lessons along the way but that’s what got me to where I am today – building wealth the Right Way! I have automation, I simplified and have a system that’s simple to duplicate so I have leverage.  I’m combining internet, network and affiliate marketing earning multiple streams of income WITHOUT diluting my efforts.  I Absolutely LOVE what I do and it is my passion to help others find their time and financial freedom too!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. Please visit often as I share Tips, Tools and Strategies for Building Wealth and Maintaining Good Health and Wellness.  Make sure to also subscribe to my FREE newsletter to get my Internet Marketing Success Blueprint where I walk you step-by-step in creating and monetizing your own Personally Branded Attraction Marketing Funnel System to generate an endless flow of leads, attract massive amounts of traffic and create multiple income streams WITHOUT diluting YOUR efforts.  You’ll also receive TONS of cool free stuff and training reserved only for my Inner Circle subscribers.

I’m very much looking forward to getting to know you and helping you along your path to time and financial freedom while enjoying better health and wellness.

Here’s to creating wealth WHILE having a life!

To Your success,