Diane Stephenson

The Early Years

An only child, I was born and raised in Brantford Ontario. Though I was very good at school, I really didn’t enjoy it. I was not a child that knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, and had a difficult time deciding what  to do with my life. I was shy to the extreme and terrified at the thought of having to do anything in front of people. I recall two occasions when I had to do just that. The first was a piano recital when I was in Grade 6 piano. I must have been around 12 or 13 years old. To this day I don't know how I got through that ordeal. The other time was during a Remembrance Day assembly when I was in Grade 11 or 12. Though I only had to read one sentence from a piece of paper while standing behind the podium, my knees shook and nearly buckled and my heart pounded in allegretto tempo.

Odd Gal Out

My love for classical music and my complete lack of interest in anything popular set me apart from most of the other kids my age. I attended only one school dance, but did not enjoy one minute of it. I don't recall even trying to dance. I have two left feet at the best of times and can trip over my own shadow. Sometimes I think I might even have three left feet! But I never minded being different in that way.

Career Time with a Switch

Finally, after graduating from Grade 13, I entered nurses training at the Brantford General Hospital. I really enjoyed the work and the patients, but after almost two years into the course, for reasons I won’t go into here, I left the hospital. After that I took a graphic arts course and moved to London Ontario to work in the art department of a silk screen printing business. There were times I became jack of all trades. I operated the process camera and developed the film, designed store sale material, cut stencils for the printing department. Sometimes I worked in the plant sitting at the end of the conveyer belt to make sure the printed sheets came off properly; sometimes I worked in packing. At times I had to do mock-up displays and had to mix my own paint and actually print samples. One time I even operated the printing machine. One particular day I recall very clearly. Bending down to reach a paper jam on the conveyer belt I suddenly felt a tug at my hair (I have very long hair). Though I was holding it back with my free hand, unknown to me there was a small motor which grabbed a small strand of hair that had got loose. I pulled back, but unfortunately left a tuft of hair in the belt of the motor and a bald spot on the back of my head. Someone drove me to the hospital where we sat in the emergency department for about three hours. There was no serious damage and other than the bald spot which I easily covered over and a huge goose egg on my forehead, nothing to keep me from going back to work the next day. The strange thing about this story is that I never figured out what that little motor was used for and to my knowledge it was never used again!

A New Kind of Freedom

During this time I moved from a room to a small apartment. My neighbor was a born-again Christian. As a child I had always gone to Sunday School, then to church when I got older. After moving to London I searched out a church and became involved in the choir and the women's group. But born again? I didn't understand it. Eventually I became curious enough to ask my neighbor to take me to church with her. The result was that, about two weeks later, I had an encounter with God and knew He was real and that He loved me. My life has never been the same. Gradually the shyness was replaced with a boldness I had never known existed. I taught an adult Bible class, even preached in church one Sunday morning. Anyone who did not know me during the first 25 or 30 years of my life has a very difficult time believing I was ever shy. Though I still had a long way to go, I was free and loved it.

New Challenges

I worked in the graphic arts field for 15 years, then became ill and lost my job. My parents lived in another city, and as I have never been married, it was a real struggle being on my own and sick with no pay cheque coming in. When I had partially recovered I chose to start a home-based business in crafts. All of my life I have loved to work with my hands: painting pictures, sewing, knitting, crocheting, doing all sorts of craft work such as copper tooling, aluminum tray making, wood carving, mosaic work, soft sculpture dolls, etc. My business grew over the next few years, but then too many people were beginning to make their own crafts and many of us in the craft show venue found our sales diminishing while at the same time the craft shows were becoming much more expensive to participate in. I needed to increase my finances in order to live.

My Introduction to MLM

After working for a couple of years as a Welcome Wagon hostess, I took my first faltering steps into network marketing. My upline wasn’t available to help, and my upline Director was so aggressive in his approach, pushing product literally in people’s faces and almost forcing them to sign up as a distributor,  I just couldn’t work with him. Much of the time I felt I was on my own, groping my way in what sometimes felt like dark and foreign places. I tried different companies. Though at times there was some help at hand, I still wasn’t receiving the kind of knowledge and help I really needed to build a solid business. I had some success, but not lasting. I was taught the old-school methods of marketing, and they just didn’t work. Now that I am learning where I can get the help I need, and have been introduced to Mentoring for Free, I plan to change my whole perspective and gain as much knowledge about building a business as possible so that I can take my business to real and lasting success and achieve the prosperity for which I am aiming.

An Old Dog Learns New Tricks

All of my life I was nervous riding in a car. When I was in Grade 7 I recall being driven by a stranger with several other kids in our school choir. We were to sing in a church out of town. I was terrified as the man drove well over the speed limit. As a passenger, even when older, I probably observed more than the driver. I always said no one would ever get me to drive. Famous last words! When I was 44, I got my drivers licence. Since then I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles and love it. I have taken some very long trips, one of which was to Dallas to visit a friend. I drove all by my lonesome and had a great time. I had very little money for the trip, so took some of the dog toys, coats, etc. I made at that time and sold some at a saluki dog show in the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington. On my way home from Dallas I was afraid I might just run out of money for gas, so decided to do the drive in two days. When I reached St. Louis Missouri it was around 10:00 at night and I couldn't find the motel I had booked. I drove and drove. Suddenly I realized I still had my sunglasses on! Well, I did find the motel and arrived home safely after another 14-hour drive.

Never Give Up!

The one ingredient I believe I have in my life that has kept me going through many ups and downs, one very deep and dark spiritual valley experience,  and repeated failures is the fact that I have never thrown in the hat and said, “I’m through with this network marketing. It just doesn’t work!” When failure happened, I picked myself up, started over again and gave it my best, believing that if it works for others, it will eventually work for me. I know my faith in God has given me this tenacity of spirit. Yes, I have had many times of almost complete discouragement, times I felt like giving up, times I wondered where the next dollar was coming from, but I kept going.

Write Time

Somewhere in all this I began to write: short stories, poems, music, books. I had a short story published in the Pentecostal Testimony magazine several years ago. In the fall of 2007 I won first place in a creative non-fiction contest with a prize of $100.00! In that same contest I also received honorable mention for rhyming poetry. Last year I completed my first novel and it is now at a publishers. I should know by September whether they will choose to publish it.

Enter the StemTech Opportunity

A little over five years ago, my mother fell and broke her hip. The doctors said she could not go back to her home alone, and as she lived in another city, we decided the best plan was for her to move in with me. A couple of months later I sold her house. This past March she passed away at the age of 97. Four days later I received my first order from StemTech Health Sciences Inc. I had hoped to start my mother on the StemEnhance, but it came too late.

After my mother's death I had a great deal to do - sorting through her things, rearranging my apartment so I could use her room again, etc. - that took my focus away from business for a few months. I really needed to find something that would bring in a substantially higher income than in the past and that would allow me to not only achieve my own dreams but be able to help others do the same. I believe I have found that in Healthy Coffee International. In less than two weeks I have achieved Founding Member status in Canada and have people ready to join me in this fantastic opportunity. I have acquired a numbr of very satisfied customers who have felt the benefits already from the reishi mushroom and ginseng that is in the coffees, chai tea and energy drinks. I have personally felt the benefits - I have a lot more energy and my pain/discomfort level has dropped considerably. And nearly everyone who has tasted the products loves them.

One New Thing I've Learned

The first new thing I have learned is to blog. I have even set up my own blog site. A week ago I knew nothing about how to do this, but by refusing to be afraid of the technology, even though I know very little about it, I have successfully set up the site and written and posted a number of blogs on the site. I must say I am very pleased with the result. I feel energized and envigorated by the exercise. It feels great to realize I have done something I never did before without outside help. I have accomplished something significant. Perhaps for others this seems like a simple accomplishment, but to this technologically challenged gal it is like reaching the top of Mount Everest. I will soon be working on a WordPress site that will be a place to share my business and product, link to my other sites and blog.

Time for New Things

Many people have life situations that have forced them to lay aside their dreams. They may remain dormant for many years, to the point that hope of ever having them fulfilled is almost gone. I have written a book (not yet published), from a Christian viewpoint, to help those who want to retrieve their dreams and get back on the road to fulfilling their destiny. One piece of advice I give in it is: Never give up! Never give up! Never give up! My prayer is that I will learn new methods of marketing, achieve my own success and then give back by helping others reach their goals and fulfil their dreams. By the way, I hope to publish the book as an e-book within the next couple of months. Watch for the announcement! Let's work together for a better tomorrow for ourselves and others.