Dear Joyful Business Owners,

I am celebrating something very special as the new year starts. When I was writing and creating my product The Joyful Business Guide system last year, I had woven into the system a mindmap about Inspired Giving. I believe in having a generous philosophy. It is a core foundation that any Joyful Business is built on. Believing in the cycle of giving and receiving as I was writing the Guide, I had this idea about donating $10 for every Joyful Business Guide sold to one of my favorite non-profit organizations. I knew I wanted to do it. I wrote it into my vision story for 2007, but I didn’t really give it a lot of thought throughout the year as I was busy with the product launch details.

As the Joyful Business Guide launched and momentum gained, I become more focused on the product fulfillment, marketing, writing articles, making sure people knew how to use their system and talking with people about their results and all those things that a growing business owner does. Well, towards the end of December, after a day of completing a lot of accounting for the year, I woke up at 3am in the morning (you know, those 3 am wake ups!) and I realized that I sold nearly 100 Joyful Business Guide systems!

My intention was to donate $10 for every one sold. I thought, "Oh my gosh, I am donating $1000!" I’ve never given that much before. I was shaken. I started to tear up. I had made plenty of donations to friends who were completing breast cancer runs, small donations to non-profits or my alma mater, but never this much! (For some of you this may be small potatoes but for me it was BIG! And realizing that I had created this intention and to see its success was personally transforming!) I had to get out of bed and write about it in my journal. I realized I was both scared

– scared of how powerful my intentions are - also extremely proud and excited. I felt myself straighten a bit. I felt like a "real"entrepreneur! This is the type of thing that "successful entrepreneurs" do. It was definitely a milestone for me and my business.

I felt pulled to be even more successful because I started realizing the impact that I really can have. I was experiencing the reality of my vision coming true. It was one of those moments of truly embracing my purpose and passion and knowing that I am using my gifts to have an impact in many ways.

So, as a way of celebrating publically, I am pleased to announce that the Center for Joyful Business  is donating $1000 to Women for Women International. This is truly an amazing organization. I have been following them for some time. When I heard the founder Zainab Salbi speak in October I knew this was the organization I wanted the Joyful Business Guides to support. They go into war torn countries and support the women who are left by teaching them leadership skills and how to start businesses. These women have had unbearable atrocities happen to them and their families, and yet they are the ones who are usually left to pull their communities and what is left of their families back together. Their stories will make you cry for their pain and sob at how they regained their dignity. While working with Women for Women, they lear ned how to start businesses, and be leaders in creating infrastructures like digging wells, and how to forgive and love again so they could rebuild their lives. For more information visit,

www.womenforwomen.org

or purchase their latest book The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope.

Thank you for everyone who contributed to making this possible. You are creating ripples of change in this world.