I love hanging out with my kids because they are always teaching me lessons and allowing me to see the results of my reactions.  When my eldest daughter was 4 she was always pushing the limits and has been doing so since she was two years old.   It’s her job.
 

When I was pregnant with my second daughter I had to go shopping for a pair of open back shoes as my feet were swelling and I could not fit into anything.  I brought my eldest daughter with me who was 2 ½ years old at the time. She found these shoe horns and space pads under the seat I was sitting on.  She pulled some out and was playing with them when she then looked at me and said “Mommy can I have these?”.  I automatically said “no they belong to the store and they are not for us to take”.  She looked right at me and said I can ask.  I was just about to say no again and something reminded me about a training I took a while back that in life and in business we should always ask, be polite but always ask.  So I stopped looked at my daughter and told her that she could ask the lady nicely. If the lady said no she needed to accept the answer in this case.

The sales person came over and my little girl proceeded to ask if she could please have what she had in her hand.  The lady bent down and said “yes and thank you for asking so nicely.  I will get you a matching pair and a new shoe horn.”  My daughter looked right at me and said “See mommy it’s okay to ask.”

More recently, my daughter who is now 10 years old reminded me that anything is possible and if we don’t try we will never know.  She had been asking me for quite some time to have a lemonade stand.  So this past summer I said let’s do it.  My youngest who is 7 wanted to make sure the money went to a charity.   So the 3 of us, along with their best friends sat down and decided on a charity. I asked “How much do you want to make?”  The two older girls said $1000.   In my head I thought wow that is high, they probably won’t reach that number.  Then I stopped myself and said “Let’s make it happen”.  We shared the lemonade stand with everyone, parents at the school, social media, family and put up posters all over the neighborhood.  We spent most of the day out front and the girls raised $780.00 that they donated to Million Dollar Smiles.   They did not hit the $1000 mark, but we gave it everything and came really close.   We will have to raise our goals for next year. 

One of the business courses I had taken taught us that we can always ask for a deal, help or support, and the worse thing someone could say is no. The best is yes and how can I help.  If you don’t take the action you will never know what is possible.

The moral of the story is that anything is possible and really depends on the decisions you make and how you approach the situation.  Let me explain.  I could have easily said that $1000 was too high and that they would not be able to make it. Instead I focused on anything is possible and now the girls see it too.  

Let’s keep dreaming and taking the actions to make our dreams a reality.

Myia, thank you so much for reminding mommy that anything is possible; I welcome your simple reminders and lessons to help me be a better entrepreneur and mom.

Carolyn Dickinson

International Success Coach