My son is crawling around on the floor at my feet chewing on his plush tool kit and babbling on about da da. It’s adorable and every time I look down I think about how he’s at my feet babbling instead of at a daycare worker’s feet.

It’s so freeing to know I will never have to put him in childcare over money.

What is your dream? Where do you want to travel? Is there somewhere you want to live? Someone you want to bless? Something you want to do?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my own dream and what I want to do with my life. Mostly, I want to grow old with my husband. In his profession, there are no certainties–there never are in life, not really, but as a military wife in particular I have a few more question marks than most do and I’m okay with that because I am not in control; God is. In seventy years, I want to look into his wise, wrinkled face and tell him I love him. Preferably, he’ll still be able to hear me, but if he doesn’t start using ear protection when he goes to the range I’ll have to give up on that hope. I want five children and more grandkids than I can count on my fingers. I want people to think about Jesus when they hear my name and look into my eyes and see unbridled joy. I want to be a woman who exudes confidence and peace and I want to be a woman who serves.

Those things hinge on my relationship with Jesus and my own personal development. But what about what could be considered the more superficial dreams in life? The ones that require financial freedom and time freedom and health.

Oh, I certainly have those too.

I want a castle on this mountain (which, by the way, we have been to–I took this picture)
Scotland always comes up first when I consider my dreams. I love to imagine myself old and grey in a wooden rocking chair on the porch of my castle watching the sun glimmer over the Scottish highlands. If castles don’t have porches, I’ll add one on. We will be able to fly our kids and grandkids out whenever they want to come and we’ll be supporting missionaries all over the world. If we decide we want to go to Italy for the weekend, we will. If we want to travel back to the US to visit our family and friends there, we will. There’s so much we want to do in between too–become dorm parents in Malaysia, keep our house here when the military moves us next, never go into debt again, travel the world with our family–but all our dreams require money and time.

Right now, my husband can’t just pack up and leave when we want to travel. If it’s a weekend trip, sure we can, but we have bigger dreams than that. One day we’re going to done with the military and then we’ll have the chance to do everything we’ve always wanted with our time–unless we have to work.

You have to work to pay the bills; I know.

But what if 10 years down the road when my husband is done with the military and we can do anything we want we have a source of residual income that is bringing in ten thousand dollars a month? What if my office is mobile and our income is more than enough to take us anywhere we want? What if I don’t have to go to work because I am my own boss?

I really shouldn’t be silly–only wealthy CEOs get to do things like that and even they still have to attend meetings.

But am I really being silly?

Well, no. I’m not being silly at all. In fact, my dreams above are not simply dreams, they are plans, because I have a job there will take me there any beyond as long as I stick with it. Network marketing companies don’t guarantee any income level but any network marketer will attest to the fact that the size of your paycheck strongly correlates with the amount of work I put in. If I put in 20 years of work, my paycheck will reflect that.

Take a look at Young Living’s income disclosure in 2015. In it you can see the amount of hours worked, the months taken to reach the rank, and the average incomes of Young Living distributors.

Royal Crown Diamond took an average of 126 months to achieve–that’s 10 years of sticking with it–and the average monthly income is $141,851.

$141,851 per month.

That’s not the highest income, that is the average income! I could absolutely buy a castle in Scotland and travel the world with that, and this income disclosure chart is proof that is a realistic goal. Not everyone reaches the highest level in network marketing companies; in fact, less than 0.1% of distributors in Young Living have reached the highest income level, but those who worked hard for 10 years did. The highest amount of time taken to achieve Royal Crown Diamond was 230 months–just under 20 years. I am 20 now so in 20 years I will be 40 and I could be bringing in over $100,000 per month.

Royal Crown Diamonds work an average of 37 hours a week which is less than your typical full time job, but once you’re making that kind of money you don’t have to put in hours to bring in a paycheck. It’s not a pyramid scheme because you don’t coast off the hard work of those underneath you, you coast off the hard work you put in for 20 years. If you think network marketing is a pyramid scheme, check out the 5 minute video below.

That is the freedom that is network marketing.

The dreams I have that require financial freedom and time freedom are realistic ones for me because I’m going to have that freedom with my job. When I dream isn’t not wistful thinking, it’s where do I see myself in 20 years and how do I get there? My dream drives me because with hard work I can achieve it.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Where do you want to be in 20 years? Are they different?

Because if they require freedom, network marketing is the way to get there.

The beauty of dreams is they can be anything you want, but the most beautiful part is when they become reality. In 20 years, you could have the financial and time freedom you need to live your dreams.

What is that freedom worth to you?