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Five years ago, I knew I wanted to find a new and exciting purpose. I knew it was time to shift from what I had been enjoying into something new. It was time for me to make a significant change, a change that would take MOXIE!

I was nudged by a writer to take pen in hand and keep a journal for three months. The nudge turned into a new passion. I loved writing. After three months of writing in my journal, I was tempted by a friend to share my personal stories with other women, online.

“Online?” I exclaimed!

“Why not?” she shot back.

Being a woman who loves a challenge, a purpose of giving her life meaning, I took the plunge. Looking back, I lived outside the box. That took MOXIE!

I began to write my stories and hired a young man to help with social media.

At our first meeting, I looked him in his eye and asked, “What could be the HoneyGood.com brand?”

He shrugged his shoulders signaling he did not have the answer.

Oh well, I thought to myself, it will come to me. It took five years of thought, but it did come to me.

Living into my answer…with MOXIE!

A brand is how a product is labeled. It is a company’s identity. It is easier to brand a product such as a car than a human being, especially if the human being does not have an established profession. Enter HoneyGood.com. I had no title behind my name except that of wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, and girlfriend.  Yes, I had accomplishments, but not an established profession.

I was not a singer, an actress, a scientist or a teacher. However, I was an excited new writer. In my mind, I was a big pot of vegetable soup with tons of colorful vegetables describing who I was and what my traits were. But, I was not a professional brand, and I had no clue how to explain the complex characteristics that made me up, a woman better than 50, in a few word tagline. Could you?

In multiple conversations, my honey bees and I often addressed this fundamental question: What is the HoneyGood.com brand? What one word could take who I was and my traits and put a label on the product? That product, of course, being me.

My Honey Bees loved the word, inspirational.

“You’re inspirational, Honey. That is your brand,” they often buzzed when the topic came up.

I answered them in a vibrant tone of voice, “That does not describe me!”

To me, inspiration is just one of the several elements that make up HoneyGood.com.

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Who am I?

A magazine helped brand me. Chicago Woman Magazine named me one of Chicago’s 50 ‘fierce’ women over 50. They use the word “fierce” as the descriptive word that describes women over 50. Another element of my personality. But not a noun. Not a brand.

Right, I am fierce in a most positive manner. I am loyal, grateful and feminine. But the word ‘fierce’ woman does not get to the heart of my essence. It is one of the vegetables in the pot of soup.

So my Honey Bees define me as ‘inspirational’ and Chicago Woman defines me as ‘fierce.’ I am grateful for those credentials behind my name. But those words are not my brand.

As women over 50, we have traveled down life’s roads and we know who we are. We have all earned our Ph.D. in life.

We know love, joy, heartache, and fear. Because of our experiences, we understand the importance of commitment, values and we know how to survive. Life’s trials and tribulations have helped us unearth our frailties and our strengths. Women better than 50 are visionaries who see the whole picture. We have MOXIE!

Women like us are confident. Over time, we have learned flexibility, positivity, credibility, determination, fairness, spirituality and above all else, we are grateful and hopeful. Women better than 50 are empowered, in part, because of our life experiences. Therefore, we get it! We have MOXIE!

The true story of how I found MOXIE!

It happened serendipitously, as do many things. For years, my brand has been right in front of my nose. I have MOXIE!

Many months ago Birdie de Quay, Head of Marketing at HoneyGood.com, came to me with the idea of a private network on my site. A community where you and I and our friends could converse with one another in the privacy of the HoneyGood.com site. We could form groups on different topics from gardening to widowhood, to travel, to cooking, etc. We could share photos and our stories.

I said to Birdie, “I love the idea. I love togetherness. Women need women. We want friendships. That is because women want and need to continue discovering life ideas through conversation. I know the darlings at Honey Good will love this. Let’s go for it!”

And so the idea of the MOXIE! network became a reality. Now, it needed a name.

A month or so later, Birdie sent me an email…

“What do you think of the word MOXIE! for our network name?” he asked.

I happened to be at my computer when the email arrived, and within one second I emailed back, “That’s it! It is done.”

Darlings, I did not think for a moment. I went with my instinct. I knew. That’s MOXIE!

Well, there you have it! Five years later I have a brand. If I had to label myself with one word, I would say, “Honey Good has MOXIE!”

The history of the word MOXIE!

A short story on the history of the word, MOXIE! The word dates back to the 1800s. Moxie is a native American word meaning, ‘dark water.’ A doctor on the East Coast invented one of the first soft drinks in the country. It was sweet and bitter and was marketed as a nerve tonic because it had the ingredient, gentian root. Its name brand: MOXIE! It became so popular that by the 1900s the name-brand, MOXIE, became a noun, meaning to be daring and courageous because of gentian root. The root gave an extra dose of determination.

I DEDICATE AND SHARE MY BRAND, MOXIE! WITH ALL OF YOU

Well, there you have it, darlings. Every one of you who reads my musings has her MOXIE! You are a part of my brand, darlings. That is what makes my brand unique and perfect. My brand is about US, not ME. We’ve got MOXIE!, darlings, and don’t you ever forget it. We are daring, courageous and have determination and…we don’t have to add gentian root to our diet because we are blooming with MOXIE! I am smiling.

What gives you MOXIE!? Please share your thoughts with me via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or in the comments section below.

 

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