Thankfulness Goes a Long Way!

So very thankful am I for God's blessings on my life. My life is abundant and full. It's only just a few days before my family gathers around for a traditional Christian Thanksgiving feast.

A meaningful thing we've done in the past, is to spend time rehearsing all the things we have to be thankful for. After a while, you'd think that we were special or something.

However, as we've all made a point to center our lives around the Word of God, and intentionally live our lives as a reflection of the living God --- loving others as ourselves --- and doing our best to surrender to the Will of God --- our lives really are continuously filled with thanksgiving, joy and peace --- even when bad things threaten to shake up our lives.

The word of God says that the "rain falls on the just and the unjust". As a result we don't spend time licking wounds. We don't live our lives in denial either, when things are going wrong, or even against us. We don't say to ourselves, or to anyone around us that we "have no problems". However, we live thankfully, joyfully and in peace despite what we face. That's one beauty of putting our faith and trust in someone bigger than ourselves.

Meanwhile, most folks around me are starting to gather for annual Thanksgiving festivities. I have a fun family and this is a tiny number of them that are spread literally around the world.

Here's a shot from my uncle's 80th Birthday celebration five years ago. The lady on the far right in Navy blue is my mom Neva --- affectionately referred to as "The Neva". She was my primary financial backer back in the day. The others include from left to right, back to front: Chris (Carolyn's husband), my Uncle Marion, my Aunt Dorothy, and again my Mom; Carolyn my cousin with son Kevin in her lap and finally Kyle in the center. Such a nice bunch of folks they are!

Yours for an abundant Thanksgiving holiday where you can count your blessings, and let your blessings count!

Jay

Houston. We Have a Problem.

I'm now officially sixty days behind schedule in launching my training course. It's been unbelievably complicated and time consuming. I'm glad I'm not having to hold my breath --- or my bladder!

I've still got writing, editing, and tons of loose ends waiting to be nailed down. Who knew how much brain power was required to put together something like this, I ask.

Meanwhile, I'm motivated by the fact that one of my mentors offered two-day training camps every two months for about ten students at a time for about two thousand dollars each person. If my math is correct that's about ten thousand dollars a month gross before expenses. He probably spent about thirty percent on overhead. He told me that it wore him out and he's no longer offering the training camps. Hmmm. Maybe it was too inexpensive?

My other mentor meanwhile is grossing nearly four hundred thousand a month selling a newsletter! I'm almost tempted to go into the newsletter writing business! :) Nah.

Yesterday I was writing advertising copy. It read well enough that I was halfway tempted to pull out my VISA card and order my own course from myself! Ha! Maybe I should do that anyway just to make sure everything works?

During my research of various account providers I discovered that PayPal has a LOT of restrictions, including holding back money from it's clients for six months in the event they suspect fraud. I also learned that one of the merchant account providers held up several hundred thousand dollars of my mentor's VISA receipts because the credit card processor was surprised by and consequently suspicious of the huge amount of money they were processing. They are still holding back several hundred thousand dollars of his --- after six months! Another vendor is still holding about thirty thousand dollars. Wow. That would be scary and irritating!

I just learned that my credit card company wants to know what my sales estimates are before they "approve" my merchant accounts. With all the 9/11 security checks and money laundering schemes they want to know what to expect. I have zero idea. For safety reasons I'm going to say, "Exactly Six Quadrillion Dollars a month."

That's a start, huh?

Meanwhile, back to the writing, editing and marketing "stone." I'm so anxious and excited about my course launch that I'm giggly on my way to bed every night!

More to come later...

Der Bubble