Why we LOVE what we do and NEVER WANT TO RETIRE

Welcome to our world of  helping others to become. . . the Best Version of Themselves they can be.

We are Marilyn and Ron Birkenmeier and we welcome you to our Blog site with open arms.

Are you curious about WHO we are, WHY we LOVE what we do and NEVER WANT TO RETIRE?

Please allow us to “paint a picture” for you . . . 

I have a background as a Registered Nurse and worked at Missouri Baptist Hospital in Medical/Surgical nursing right out of Nurse’s Training. I was a volunteer Red Cross Nurse and school nurse for many years. Ron’s background consists of being a veteran of U.S. Army and serving in Vietnam; drafting, building contracting, building inspections, beekeeping, martial arts, knifemaking and much more.

We were introduced  to the concept of Nutrition, Prevention and Natural Health over 40 years ago when a family member 

asked us if we would try changing brands from our One-A-Day multivitamin to Shaklee’s Vita Lea Multivitamin/Multimineral supplement and changing from our household cleaner to Shaklee’s Basic-H biodegradable concentrated cleaner. We soon experienced the huge difference in how we felt and were very impressed.

We wanted to know more because this all made such good sense. Keep in mind that over 50 years ago (in the 60’s) I did not learn much about NUTRITION and PREVENTION in Nurse’s Training and it made a lot of sense to address health and provide the body with the materials it needed to help itself before suffering the consequences.

Over the next few years we learned so much by meeting other like-minded people who had similar experiences. We learned the differences between synthetic supplements and supplements made from food. It prompted me to get my B.S and Masters in Holistic Nutrition as well as hours of learning more about the harmful effects of toxins all around us and how we can better protect ourselves from them.

We began sharing our new-found resources of wellness with our friends and they had similar results and began telling their friends too.

Several years before this, I had gone on maternity leave to have our 1st son and 6 short weeks later it was time to go back to work at the hospital. That’s when Ron and I took a more serious look at just what that would do to our lives. My schedule at the hospital was 2 weeks days, 2 weeks evenings, and 2 weeks nights so finding a babysitter for this schedule was not going to be easy. We did the math on day care expenses; travel expenses to and from the hospital 40 miles away in all kinds of weather; getting a dependable car; missing family events and thinking ahead what would happen on days the baby was sick and could not go to day care, etc. etc.

That was only PART of the story . . . what about the income I was making while working? What about the fact I really enjoyed helping others feel better and  still wanted to contribute to society and be with like-minded people?

During this time Ron was needing someone to work in our home office with his construction company. We liked the idea of having his office in our home for his construction business so why not have my own business in our home where I could schedule my own hours and still be helping others have a better lifestyle by educating them on nutrition, natural health and prevention and options for income for them as well. Besides all this, I would be partnering with a company that had been around for many, many years, had an impeccable reputation; was focused on nothing but the best in ingredients and products backed by clinical studies and millions of dollars in research and development. . . . It was a PERFECT match for me and the BEST decision I ever made . . besides marrying Ron of course 🙂

We have met so many wonderful people over the 40 years of sharing the Shaklee benefits which included motivating health and educating wellness to so many people who had no idea where to go for truthful, experienced mentoring and resources. We are still meeting new people all the time and it just keeps getting better because this has also been a self-improvement experience in so many ways. This happens by being in an environment of other people who are also wanting to improve themselves in so many ways and BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF THEMSELVES they can be.

Through the years we have kept in touch with all of our “Shaklee Friends” in person, by phone, by mail, and meetings and conferences all over the country. We thought this was the best it could be until we had the opportunity several years ago to evaluate a new opportunity of sharing Shaklee and coaching and educating others in Wellness and in Business Opportunities ONLINE. What an excellent “next step” in our lives to meet the wonderful people at “Your Freedom Project”. 

Now we can take all the things we have been doing all these years and multiply our efforts and share the good news in all the ways  as before and now also add the conveniences of our computers right in our home with Emails, E-Newsletters, Video Conferencing on Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging and so much more. 

Many of our friends are counting the days until they can retire even though they do not really know what they will do with all that time once they are not needed at work anymore. That is why I share with them how my day goes when I get up at 5 a.m. anxious to spend time with a cup of tea seeing what I can learn and who I can help that day to be the Best Version of Themselves they can be. . . . We can help others feel better and also offer options for life’s dreams to pay off credit cards and young families pay off their student loans and have extra income to “travel the 7 Seas”. Many of our retiring friends have so many years of experience with computers, with customer service, with leadership skills and who still want a way to be around like-minded people but able to set their own hours and work at their own pace. . . . so we share with them why they may never want to retire once they get a taste of our lifestyle . . . WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD we live in!

We would LOVE to have YOU join us too in whatever level of participation suits you best . . . USE (Shaklee products) . . . SHARE (Shaklee products & Opportunity) . . . or BUILD (your very own in-home business).

The personal training that you get from us  with over 40 years of experience, from Shaklee and all their resources AND from the Virtual Assistants and Trainers at Your Freedom Project is phenomenal . . . You will LOVE these people on the “Freedom Project” team and soon feel like they are part of your family. Jody Steeg is the owner with talent and ideas galore . . . and he is getting more ideas every day. . . . Not sure when the man sleeps! He does all this so you and I can sit at our desks in the comfort of your homes and get the training live or from the huge selection of archived training webinars, archived health and wellness articles and so much more.

We invite you to visit our Hub site  and also our MiniOfficeOutlet website at 

You will LOVE this place!

Thank you for stopping by . . . we look forward to visiting with you soon so we can get to know a little about you now that you know about us!

Hope you have a Happy Day!

G-O-L-D . . . Giving Options to Life’s Dreams

Marilyn and Ron