There are days where I am so overwhelmed with fierce joy, I wonder if I am living someone else’s life.

You see, we cannot connect the dots going forward, but looking back… EVERYTHING BECOMES so clear. Imagine that we have always been traveling to be RIGHT HERE— in this glorious moment in time. No matter how hard we work to create a road map— it’s always a shock when we ACTUALLY ARRIVE.

Take a look around you…do you see how far you’ve come?

I just had the great honor of speaking to a lovely group of (mostly) women entrepreneurs at the Shabby Lane Shop Small Business Conference in Nashville, TN …so very far away from home… and yet,  so close. There were attendees who –I learned later– booked their tickets to see me speak, because they were long-time members of OurMilkMoney.com, or listeners of the This Little Parent Stayed Home radio show. Ironically, it was I who was honored to be in their presence. 

I had many surreal take-aways… the first being when a woman told me that she attributes much of her success to the organization that I founded nearly 6 years ago. I remember my vision for OMM like it was yesterday, and I had only hoped that it would make a difference in people’s lives– but I could never have predicted this recent… profound… moment when I realized that all those years ago, my decision to execute my vision ACTUALLY made a difference in someone else’s life.

This told me several things:

**It is important that we ACT on our visions and our dreams. Not only for US— but for others. When we find success, we give others permission to do the same. The effects of our learning experiences will continue to expand and grow ALL OF US as a progressive human race. When YOU find success— ultimately WE ARE ALL better for it.

**When someone has made a difference in YOUR LIFE— TELL THEM!!! There is nothing more invigorating and empowering than realizing your significance. The cognizance that YOU HAVE MATTERED can create enough powerful energy to light up a city– or ignite a successful small business. If you are willing to tell someone else what they have meant to you… IT WILL come back to you. Trust and know that.

**Numbers are not JUST NUMBERS— they are PEOPLE… individuals with life blood and loving souls. I admit it, I am addicted to watching my radio show numbers go up every month. That is because in my “one-way communication” with you… this has become THE ONE way that that I am able to measure my reach… and the effects of the insight that I work to bring you each week.

…And so IT’S NO WONDER we get obsessed with watching our numbers… (YouTube views, Blog readers, newsletter subscribers, Facebook “likes”, Twitter followers, etc, etc…) BUT it is EASY TO FORGET what these numbers represent: PEOPLE. These are not JUST downloads, subscribers, “likes” on a Facebook page, or a comment on a blog… each “number” is an opportunity to gain new insight into something that we didn’t know before.

Getting on the stage to speak publicly reminded me of how important it is for us to stay connected with each other…on a personal level. With more than 30,000 radio show downloads each month, I have fallen into the same trap as so many of you… forgetting what each number represents. It can almost make your mind EXPLODE with the opacity that EACH NUMBER is an ACTUAL PERSON— filled with hopes and dreams…  fears and challenges… and the choice –and desire–to make a difference in this lifetime. Each one of us is filled with experiences and memories that have created and molded us into our true selves. Each person we meet is an opportunity to learn something new– and you never know when you could be meeting your next best friend.

IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS— how distant we can be from one another when we are all so fragile… it is so very… HUMAN. And yet, we DON’T have to live that way.

We are ALL capable of living full and rich lives…especially when we CHOOSE to connect with one another.

On this show, I have a really fun and brilliant guest joining us – Mazarine Treyz. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her savviness in social media and fundraising, among other things. I admire how she carries her sense of humor and spirit of life everywhere she goes, and in everything she does. She is known as the WILD WOMAN – because she has created MANY valuable resource guides for wildly passionate women– (my kind of gal!)

Mazarine and I will be talking about how to GET OUT, GET BUSY and GET RICH— because it really is true what they say about happiness and fulfillment being the true source of wealth. If you had actual access to my bank statements, you might be surprised to learn that I may not have many more dollars than you— but one thing I can say for certain: I am wealthier than most. WHY? Because I am REALLY living. Really LOVING… really relishing in each and every moment that I am on this planet.

Today’s Guest

Mazarine Treyz

Mazarine Treyz is the author of the popular Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising. Her book was named as one of the Top 10 books of 2010 by Beth Kanter, CEO of Zoetica and author of The Networked Nonprofit.

In 2005 she co-founded a nonprofit called “The Moon Balloon Project” on the south shore of Boston, MA. Since that time she has raised over $1M for various local, national, and international nonprofits with appeals, emails, grants, sponsorships, and more.

After her success using social media for her small business, she decided to write a second book to teach small businesses how to market their businesses on a shoestring with LinkedIn, Blogging, Twitter, and more!

Ms. Treyz has taught hundreds of small businesses how to use social media since 2010. In 2012 she published The Wild Woman’s Guide to Social Media. This book is available at http://wildsocialmedia.com.