My Story of Joy in the Journey to Financial Freedom

Author: Aurora Monsivais-Cruz

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, many people lost their jobs, and that included my husband.  This didn’t affect us immediately because we were good at saving money and had that to fall back on.  But we quickly depleted our savings.  I would see my husband worry at times, and I was the one that was trying to calm him.  I would tell him that it was going to be okay.  I just needed to get healthy and get through this cancer.  If we needed to sell the house, we would sell the house.  We could always buy another house later.  That didn’t even matter to me; the materialistic things didn’t matter to me.  My husband is not a materialistic person.  I think it was just him feeling like a man would feel, like he is a provider, and he has never been without a job.  But I gave him that support to remind him that it was going to be fine.  He didn’t have a job from March through September.  And then he finally got called back, but it was little by little.  The pay wasn’t the same, and the hours weren’t the same, but little by little, we began getting back on our feet.  Here we are a year later in March, and we are still working on getting back on our feet.  And this was part of the reason that I got involved with It Works.

With my cancer, I was scared, but I knew that I wanted to still be at my best and take in the very best nutrition.  I knew that the devil was a liar, and I was not going to let him defeat me and bring me down.  I had been watching Mariza Robinson’s videos on Facebook, and I loved all her positivity.  I was addicted to watching her videos and reading her posts because she was just so inspiring.  I became interested in the It Works products as I began my cancer healing journey.  I ordered almost everything they had available because I wanted to try it out and see what worked for me.  I am so happy to say that while taking in all this nutrition throughout my cancer journey, I never had nausea, I never threw up, I never felt as tired as I should have been, and I kept riding my bike and having energy.  I told myself I would not let cancer defeat me and I knew I would fight this; and part of that was taking in all the nutrition, staying active, staying positive, and remaining focused on God.  I would have some sad days, but I never fell into full blown depression.  I knew that God was going to use this experience for a greater purpose.  I have been able to be there for so many people and have wonderful conversations, helping others to encourage them and uplift their spirits. 

When I started using the products, I fell in love with them.  I felt like they helped me regain strength and energy.  I continued to ride my bike and stayed active.  I shared the products with friends and family, but I wasn’t a distributor yet.  I would refer everyone to Mariza because I admired her from afar and wanted to help her.  She was so inspirational to me, and I loved her!  Then I realized that with all the sharing I was doing, I should become a distributor.  My neighbor also knew someone with It Works, so we began talking about signing up.  My neighbor signed up with the person she knew, and I went ahead and jumped in and signed up with Mariza.  With Hector not working during that time, my thought was that even if I made $100 a month, that’s grocery money.  And I wanted to help our family income as much as I could.  During that time, I read this self-development book that recommended everyone should have a side hustle because we never know what will happen with our jobs, and we need to have something to fall back on. 

I would think back to the days when I was a single mom and how hard I had to work to make ends meet.  I had such a deep “mommy guilt” because my mom practically raised my children when they were young.  I worked at a law firm and put in long hours.  I feel like I lost so much time with my babies.  Time has gone by so fast, and now they are all young adults.  I wish that I had this opportunity back then when they were younger, so that I could have spent more time with them.  I want to be able to help give others that opportunity to have the flexibility of time with their families. 

I started my journey as a distributor with It Works back in August, so it’s been 6 months now.  I admit that there were some loved ones who weren’t very supportive at first.  I was teased and told that this was probably a scam.  I blocked out all the noise and just focused on my goals and what I wanted to get out of this business opportunity.  I later found out that my upline distributor, Mariza, had specifically prayed over the “leg” that I was placed in the flowchart of the business.  And suddenly we are now seeing that it’s blowing up and still growing!  In my first month of being a distributor, I enrolled 30 customers.  I didn’t think I was doing well because no one told me anything about my progress.  But little did I know, I was over the charts with my progress!  I still think back to some of my first videos where I was talking about this new adventure in my life.  I was still bald, but I had so much courage and faith to do this, and I didn’t hold back one bit.  I didn’t have a lot of guidance, but I created my own goals and ways to work this business.  I made myself a goal of signing up one customer a day, and I still try to do that even now.  With all the hard work I’ve done and with God’s blessing on my goals in this business, I have been able to get back-to-back promotions and have earned the Diamond status in 6 months!  It takes many people years to accomplish that – and I don’t say it to brag on myself, but I say it to give GOD all honor and glory!  When I got my promotion, I just got on my knees and bawled crying.  I pray over my team every day.  To other people, it might seem like a silly thing to get these promotions.  But to me, it’s all God. I know what a blessing it is, and I know what’s still in store for me.  I know that God wants to bless me in abundance for a reason, and I am going to do great things with this.

One of the biggest ways that cancer impacted my life positively is that it changed the dynamic of the relationship between my oldest daughter and me.  With my oldest daughter, we have similar personalities, so we have always butt heads with each other throughout the years.  My cancer journey brought us so much closer than ever.  It opened her eyes to the fragility of life, and she began to express her love and gratitude toward me much more.  It changed us as a family.  We are that much closer and better than before; and this makes me grateful for the process. 

My doubting loved ones who were initially negative about this adventure, are now some of my biggest supporters.  They cheer me on, and they are happy for me.  I wear these charms on my bracelet that are from It Works.  I have an emerald, a ruby, and I am waiting on my diamond.  But to me, they represent so much; they represent the grit, the sweat, and the sacrifice.  I am now chasing my next promotion, which is Double Diamond.  I can’t say enough what this opportunity has done for my family and how it’s given me so much more than I ever imagined. 

Another reason that I launched this business opportunity was that I really, really needed the fellowship. I wanted something to keep me motivated in looking forward to the future. In a sense, I was trying to be pro-active with staying busy and focused on something positive in my life so that there would be no room for sadness or depression.  Like said before, I was so very inspired by Mariza; and with my cancer journey, I knew I could touch many more lives bringing awareness to breast cancer. There is life after Cancer. God is so Great!

The two people I mentioned in my stories is Sophia James (neighbor and 2-time breast cancer survivor) and my enroller/leader Mariza Robinson.

I have met the most amazing women that are my leaders in this business, and I can’t imagine my life without these women. Had it not been for It Works, I would’ve never had the opportunity to have these people in my life and do the self-development that I now do daily. I am learning every day how to become a better leader for my team. I want to be the best version of myself for them, to lead with love and purpose.

I truly believe that I am the happiest I have ever been in my life so I will never be upset that I got cancer. If it wasn’t for the cancer journey, I don’t think I would’ve learned the lessons and I would’ve never reached out to Mariza wanting the opportunity of financial freedom and one day owning my own time and most importantly for me at the time was the fellowship and surrounding myself with positive influence.

After the things I’ve gone through in my life, I could have become depressed.  But I truly feel like I am living my best life!

If you would like to read more about Aurora’s journey in Finding Joy in her life, read the following links as she shares her battle with breast cancer and her journey to finding love again.

https://findjoy.blog/2021/03/10/my-story-of-finding-joy-in-my-journey-with-breast-cancer/

https://findjoy.blog/2021/03/10/our-story-of-joy-in-finding-love-again/