It Is the Courage to Continue That Counts!

You don’t have to be privileged or have things handed to you to be a success. Hard work, determination, and a positive spirit are the necessary ingredients to bootstrap your way out of poverty, off the streets and into the realm of millionaire or even billionaire.

Many highly successful entrepreneurs go through a personal transformation that involves resilience, drive and motivation that ultimately leads to success beyond their wildest dreams.

We were all somehow affected by The Great Recession. Officially lasting from December 2007-June 2009, it began with the bursting of an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble. Consumer spending and business investment dried up followed by massive job losses.

Many of us were in the “Turn and Burn” home phase. My former husband and I decided to build custom homes and sell them every two years to avoid capital gains. We had no idea how to do so, but we figured it out. The first one was constructed in Carefree, AZ, and things went amazingly well. It is still today a beautifully constructed home.

The second was built in prestigious Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, AZ. It took 1-½ years to go through their strict design review process. Upon approval, we scrambled to build the house in a year, but it became apparent during the construction that it was too late. With the amount of money we were paying in mortgages monthly, we could have traveled the world. Upon completion, we were forced to short sale the home for $250,000 less than it cost to build it!

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

-Winston Churchill

Our custom home lot in Cave Creek was foreclosed upon, followed by divorce and bankruptcy. I lived in the Carefree home for a year and a half by myself going a full 2-½ years without making a single mortgage payment. A really nice gentleman from the bank came by occasionally to see how I was doing. There were so many abandoned homes, they preferred that someone was at least in the house taking care of it. I remained there until they kicked me out.

I knew I had to totally re-invent myself. I decided I wasn’t going to work for someone else. I wanted to travel the world - all I needed was a laptop computer.

I figured I needed to create some sort of website to make this happen, and, I began thinking . . . . what was my claim to fame? It was this drink I created. I formed a corporation in April of 2010, and I went to work.