I thought I was following my dream of being a fine craft artist but I was struggling with so much. I knew I needed to make a change. I thought I was doing what I wanted to do, which was selling my handmade items at craft and art shows. I wasn’t even remotely satisfied or fulfilled, and I often considered quitting and doing something else.

But it was so many other people’s dream job that I thought there was something wrong with me, and I wasn’t grateful enough for what I already had. I had such elaborate goals and dreams but it was difficult to see the steps to actually reach my goal.

The first time I took B-School, it opened my eyes to so many new things. I found myself writing out all these goals that were way above and beyond what I thought I was even capable of doing. I used this information to make more money, and to change how I thought about my customers and how I present myself.

I’m really thankful Marie Forleo allows her students to retake the course because that’s when many of the big changes happened for me. I retook the course while I was dealing with health issues following a difficult pregnancy.

After our daughter was born I again revisited my original B-School coursework and started to make a long-term plan of action on how to accomplish these goals. From that point forward, the significant life-altering changes began to rapidly take form:

• My husband quit his day job to work full time with me.
• We doubled our annual income and can now fully pay the bills with what we sell.
• My photography has been published in international fashion and art magazines almost 30 times.
• ​Since 2015, I’ve won three international awards; two in fine craft and one in photography.
  
• ​I had my first solo exhibit, three group shows, and three full fashion shows in Canada’s biggest fashion week.
  
• ​Multiple interviews in local newspapers, magazines and TV.
  
• ​I worked hard on increasing our online presence and doubled our online sales in 2017 from the previous year.

I am at the point now where I want to gain financially, to be able to afford to take some time off, pay off any debt, and start putting away money for our future. In the past, financial gains and rewards were never our top priority as it was always more about bringing our creative visions to life, investing in our business and generating new ideas for items or projects. It was hard to even imagine being able to pay the bills and mortgage with just my little handmade business and even harder to imagine my husband working full time with me. But we did it! So I know I can use my B-School skillset to push the envelope financially. We are not the same people, our attitude is not the same, our lives are not the same, and even the people we call our friends are not the same.

I was hesitating to share my story about how B-School had changed my life because it seemed almost too outlandish that my life could change this much over an online course. But what I realized while taking this course over again was that there was so much more to my passions and who I am meant to be. It didn’t happen overnight and it took a lot of effort but I made my goals, stuck with them, continuously learned and made all of these changes in just under four years!