Inspiration is a funny thing. Hard to find, impossible to force, truly amazing once it’s found! The inspiration for my book was a combination of things which sparked an idea I knew I had to pursue. Having worked since I was 14 years old, as refreshing as it is to take a break and focus on my family, around 6 months in I began to feel like I needed a purpose…a goal…beyond my four walls. That purpose presented itself in the form of an Usborne Facebook party that a former coworker hosted last November. I had already attended a party for another friend a month earlier and purchased several books which had quickly become treasures in my children’s library because of their high quality and unique approach to educational topics. I was already pondering the idea of becoming a consultant when my coworker invited me to her Usborne party, run by a close friend of hers who it turns out worked at my previous employer on my old team! We quickly struck up a lengthy conversation and before I knew it, I was joining her team and starting my own Usborne adventure.

The kit cost $75 dollars but came with 10 books, a website and all the supplies needed to start my business which was perfect since this was something I always wanted to do. I quickly purchased http://www.usbornebookangel.com and business cards to begin branding my business and began selling! My husband (and friends!) probably thought I was crazy – I treated my consultant role like a CEO role in my own company and quickly began hitting milestones…$1000 sales in 30 days…50% refund on consultant kit…$50 free books and merchandise…first recruit…$25 free books…second recruit…$75 more free books…before I knew it I had turned my $75 investment into $600 commission and $600 in free books for my kids!! Now don’t get me wrong, I was fully aware of this new adventure’s limitations – 25% commission on sales was certainly not going to make me rich but it would pay for my mommy and me classes with London, morning coffee and the occasional splurge on clothing – and it was so satisfying! My first attempt at entrepreneurship had yielded a 400% monetary returnROIF…but more importantly, it had yielded an ROIF, an emotional return, a return on investment in family. It had reenergized my love of books and desire to capture my creative vision on pen and paper in pursuit of a lifelong goal.

Over the past few months I have spent hours reading these amazing books to my children, quality time we have both come to look forward to. This quality time not only sparked a passion for learning in Mason but the inspiration for my children’s book – a book which I hope will ignite the same love of reading and learning in your home as it did in mine.

…so here I am! Anxiously excited to write my next chapter…and hopefully share it with the world in the very near future!