A Culture of Grace

For most people living outside of Florida, the thing they hear about most is the weather and the beaches. They come here in droves; sun seekers of all types, with their focus mainly on the beaches, and a few major entertainment havens. However, big is not always best. For those with their eyes open, there are many cultural cul-de-sacs just waiting to be discovered.

One such delight is hidden within the antiques district of a little town named Dania in the southeastern part of Florida. This little town is sandwiched, along with several smaller municipalities; between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale along the eastern shore of the panhandle. Dania Beach is an antique lover’s paradise. It has multiple cultural stores and boutiques for your shopping pleasure, but the standout in this group is Grace Café and Art Gallery. It is located at 75 North Federal Hwy (US Hwy 1) on the SW corner of 1st street.

I had long heard about this place through friends and within church related circles. Finally, through mutual connections, I met with the proprietor, Clare Vickery, who filled me in on some details about her establishment. We greeted each other, and I asked her to tell me about her establishment.

“This is our new location and it’s being reconfigured to be a coffee bar, versus a café in 2012. The reason is that a coffee bar is more in line with our music venue and art gallery and activities that we do on a day to day basis. Originally, I started the food because there was not healthy food in the area.

However, a café implies that you are more of a standalone eatery, whereas a coffee bar implies that it is a part of other more daily activities, which is the art retail, and a venue for the music activities as well as our art, dance and drama activities. It’s not restaurant fair, and a café suggests that.”

The gallery hosts a variety of musical events, such as the Songwriter’s showcase, and a variety of classes in dance, and drama with quarterly performances. The Grace Art Center is an add-on to the existing Grace Café & Galleries. Grace Café and Galleries continues to be the day in day out retail; the for profit that brings in the sales. The Art Center is a non-profit space designed for the arts, recreation and educational classes & activities. The Song writer’s showcase, an authentic music recital, is an ongoing, popular event that will continue. Additionally, there will be a monthly Saturday night “Hop” which is a dance with live music; and concerts, as well as the quarterly drama productions.

I asked Clare to tell me a bit about herself and what inspired this concept.

“I’ve grown up with a model for a mother, and an architect for a father. They were both heavily involved in the arts, so that had a bit of an effect on me. The Grace Café and Galleries model of doing business was really a revelation of God that He gave to me.

I wanted to provide a space that I’d like to hang out in. I wanted a place that gave to the community and the arts; a place where artists can hang out, that is beautiful and fun to hang out in, but that would also glorify God. It’s not beauty for strictly beauty’s sake, or self-indulgent, but it’s got a purpose, and it’s well done and commercially viable.

Some self-indulgent artists just do art because they like it, but it’s not commercially viable and is just lying around doing nothing. We opened in 2005 and the missions evolved out of working with many churches that had many artists and musicians in them, but didn’t have a venue for them to perform in their churches. They wanted the opportunity to not just perform and praise God in their artistry, but also it gives them the opportunity to help raise funds for mission trips around the world.”

The gallery houses a great eclectic collection of art. I inquired to find out where Clare finds her artists and artwork, and whether there are any specific themes or qualifications for an artist’s work to be accepted into her gallery.
“I have a couple of good artists that started with me. Most of the artists come to me because they heard about me. When you have good artists, it brings more good artists to you.

The artist’s work has to be cohesive with Haitian, German, American, and a variety of European, Middle Eastern, and African art, but almost anything will work. We are such a wide variety that most of the time I can find a way to fit in someone’s art. I do this by either bringing them in as a regular gallery artist, or, I give them an opportunity to sell on an event basis during our various festival or quarterly events. It’s a short term opportunity to sell so we can see if their work will work well here.”

Musically, Grace Café & Gallery has supported many varieties in musical talent. Clare tends to be inclusive as much as possible; and no specific genre of music is excluded.

“It’s just the same like the art. If it fits with the theme of what we are focusing on for that event, we give them a shot. If not, I tell them that perhaps they’d fit better in something else that we are doing in the future. We are so diverse that I try to find a way to fit everyone in.”

The best upcoming event is the festival that is coming up at the end of the month, starting January 27-29, 2012. It’s the 7th annual show, and it has all the different arts involved. This event is centered around the 7th Annual Dania Beach Art & Antique Festival. There are also a series of pre-grammy music events coming up prior to the grammy awards. Some of the artists in Grace’s show are in the running for grammys. In March Storyhill, which are national recording artists, are going to be there. If you’d like more information on this organization or their upcoming events, be sure to visit their website, and check back here, as I will be doing updates on their activities and events.

New Avenues

Wow. It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? I’m still into health and nutrition. It’s just taken a slight detour. Yes, in my time of absence, I became a nationally certified massage therapist! It was a perfect fit for me, and actually, I was kicking myself, wondering why it took so long for me to get into school for that.

It took 7.5 months of schooling to complete my state required hours. However, the journey to getting my exam and license has been another 11 month process. During that interim, I encountered stiff opposition in the form of people, and economics. However, I was determined to succeed and get that national certification, despite opposition even from school administrators, who seemed to have some sort of agenda in pushing the state level exam even on the students who are determined to take the national exam.

I have a doctor who is waiting for me to get that license in my hands, because he has a position open. The license should be here within a week or so, and finally, after 2 years of unemployment, I can get back to work! Plus, I have several other therapists that want to work with me. We want to combine business resources to help each other, which makes us all profit.

This is an idea that I can definitely get into. I’m totally in support of reaching out to help others, because most often, it ends of being a help and blessing to the person reaching out.  Every once in a while, investing in others has the opposite effect. Instead of a blessing, they attempt to curse you, due to the content of their own hearts.

I encountered this last year; thus despite this one unfortunate encounter in which my helping brought little to no return due to the nature of the person who I reached out to; I press on, moving forward towards other people, institutions, and organizations and groups that are truly appreciative, and unselfishly support the concept of mutual affiliation for the benefit of everyone.

As part of those new associations, I will be writing about some of the fascinating people I meet, so that I can inform people of the positive things they are doing in the community, and how they are utilizing their gifts to reach out to touch people in a beneficial way. I’m looking forward to the new connections and the opportunity to share.

In addition, my son was tested and placed in a school that specifically helped children that struggle with emotional, social or behavioral problems. Because of this change, my son went from three years of failing to almost straight A’s. He is now being courted by several magnet high schools that are trying to get him interested in their programs.

I am moving us both in a new direction. First of all, I have been participating in a 21 day fast since the start of the year. I have a few days left to complete this. As part of this fast, I have compiled a list of things I’d like God to answer and address for me this year. So as these things occur, and God answers, I will update here, to let my readers know what I asked for, and what I received.

So despite the time I was gone, I have been busy developing new avenues to direct my personal ship towards. I am more excited than ever at the prospects and what lies ahead, especially because God is my compass leading me in the way I should go. It’s been a bit of a stormy start, but I don’t let that discourage me. Despite a worsening in the world’s economic systems, my economic situation and my life will get better. God is in control. Peace and blessings.

Finding My Path pt. 6

I started back to work again. It’s part time, 30 hours and no benefits of any sort, but at least its work. Thus, the delay in continuing this series. However, my working now does not deter me from the path I’ve found. It just delays me a bit, because of time restrictions from my hours. Nevertheless, I’m really getting it into my mind that I’m simply planting seeds.

I don’t want to spend time focusing on the harvest, because if I were to focus on that, and on whether or not it’s coming, or how soon it might arrive, I’ll get discouraged. As I’m sure everyone reading this has done, I tend to place a timetable on an expectation I am foolish enough to have; so if I expect a harvest, I will set myself up for disappointment when it doesn’t happen in the time frame my mind decides to set up.

What kind of seeds am I planting? Well, hopefully, very beneficial ones. Whenever I am at one of our business meetings, and I hear someone speak about our flagship product, and the benefits, or about how they were able to help someone because of the product, I inevitably see a parable in what they are saying.

For instance, the parable of the seeds is very applicable because in every category there is a process, and in every process, you have to plant seeds. Some fall into weeds, or among the rocks, but if you don’t stop; if you don’t give up and just continue with a seed planting ethic, there will be some that fall into good ground. You may not even see it at first. It may not be apparent right away, but sooner of later, the payout for that seed will come because it will bear fruit.

The other thing is that even those seeds that start bearing fruit, may not bear all the fruit they are capable of at first. The first harvest or so may not bring the maximum, but given time, and proper encouragement/education/nutrition, the harvests get better and better. What I’m saying is that we have to learn to invest in people, not just in projects or goals.

When one looks at our economy, and then at our company’s opportunity, in my mind, it’s the Pharoah’s dream…the one Joseph interpreted in scripture. There were seven shriveled ears of corn and seven good ears. There were also seven shriveled cows and seven fat cows. The seven shriveled ears of corn devoured the seven good ears, and the seven shriveled cows devoured the seven fat cows.

This is what got started when the economy tanked, and for those who haven’t noticed, a sign of this is in the fact that the color of our money is changing. Money becomes multicolored when it is losing its value. However, God provided a way out then, and He’s provided a way now.

This company is like a financial ark for anyone who chooses to get on board the boat. I personally want to get as many people on board as I can, so that they can sail into a good, nay great financial future. Why does this company and product work so well in offering such an escape?

Most people who are trying to change their lives, have (if they’ve got any sense) realized that they need to look outside themselves; outside the knowledge bank they already possess. The reason is that to continually do the same things over and over again, and expect something different is the definition of insanity. It just doesn’t work.

If you want to improve your life, you cannot rely on your knowledge bank, because that bank has gotten you to whatever state of dissatisfaction you are now in. Thus, you have to find a mentor. You have to find an example to follow out of the pit you’ve dug for yourself. You need to watch and follow a person who embodies the things you value and are striving to accomplish.

Now many people know who Donald Trump is, and many follow him, watching his show, purchasing his real estate educational materials and so on. Why? Because for anyone interested in real estate, the Donald is the icon of real estate knowledge and experience. He is one of the most well known, successful people in real estate in this country.

Many people also know who Bill Gates is, and Warren Buffet, and some people also know who Robert Kiyosaki is as well. All of these people are very successful in their chosen professions, so these are people who many desire to learn from.

In some cases, they are mentors for many. People who are into computer design and programming follow Bill Gates’ ideas and innovations. People who are into finance follow Warren Buffet. People who want to learn to manage money follow Robert Kiyosaki.

What do these leaders all have in common? Aside from the fact that they are leaders, every one of them either advocates or has started their own network marketing company. Why? Because contrary to popular believe and previous programming, this is the wave of the future.

The two biggest fields of the future are network marketing and wellness. That is where the opportunities lie and what I love is that I’m in a company that is involved in both.

To do this business, you must have a realistic picture. This business is a business of building people and is not a fly-by-night situation. I’m not going to tell you that you will make hundreds instantly. If you want something that will be long lasting; something that will propel you into, and drive your future, you must understand that you have to build it.

There’s a process involved in anything you want to accomplish, and you have to be willing to complete the little steps that will enable you to reach the bigger steps and ultimately your goals.

Anyone that comes at you really fast making promises, are either talking some pie in the sky foolishness that is not grounded in reality, or that person is trying to scam you in whatever information or proposal they are making.

This is a business I’m involved in, and a business takes time to build and depends largely on your own personal dedication, motivation, and consistency. It doesn’t require a full time commitment, but it does require full consistent application.

We are educators; we are seed planters, and our goal is to get you to dream again, because your dreams can come true; you can make them a reality, and we can show you how. For 2-3 hours a day, 1-3 days per week consistently, it can happen, but its up to you. How badly do you want to change your life and fulfill your dreams?

The New Slavery Pt.3

Economic and educational deprivation equals slavery. We’re taught to go to school, get an education and get a job. Yet many of the most successful people were those who swam against the current, broke the rules and rose to success because they were seeking outside the norm.

What norm were they seeking a way out from? Linear income. We work 8-12 hours per day, 4-6 days per week, starting at about age 18 through age 72 when we retire. What’s our goal in retiring? We want to be able to relax, travel and live the good life, because we’ve worked all our lives…54 years, slaving so we can retire.

But did you know that social security will be gone by 2029? That is just barely 19 years from now. Are you ready for that? And how much does social security pay out currently? $600-$700 per month. Can you live on that? Oh wait. I forgot to subtract the $100 that is taken for Medicare. These days, this is not even enough to pay rent or the mortgage! No wonder our retirees can’t retire. Who could live on that? That is poverty.

But linear income is all we’ve been taught. That puts us on the E/S side of the cash flow quadrant Kiyosaki talks about. He says it’s the employee/self employed side. I call it the employed slave side. There is only one other alternative. It’s called Network Marketing.

Gasp! Did she say Network Marketing?!? Does she have the nerve to advocate that “pyramid” thing? Yes, I do, because first of all, if it’s really Network Marketing as originated, it’s not a pyramid, but an inverted one.

A job for a regular business is a pyramid, because the president/CEO is at the top, and all the peons in the peanut gallery are at the bottom with no access. Access is key.

In our capitalistic society, money gives access, and without that, you face the same future that I’m talking about; forever enslaved and never getting anywhere. Network marketing is one of the only ways to escape the slavery of Linear Income.

What are the other ways? There are two. Have you got a good voice? Can you make a number one hit record? If so, maybe you will be like Elvis Presley who lies 6 ft under, yet made over 50 million this year.

What about Michael Jackson, who made more money the day after he died, than he made in his entire career. His family is still making money off him, and will be well into the future. Have you got the contacts, publicity and marketing to sell your voice and song? If not, you might want to look at Network Marketing.

The second way involves a lot more thinking and writing than most people like to be bothered with. Can you write a best-selling novel? British author J. K. Rowling went from abject poverty to unbelievable success, with books, dolls, clothing, movies and many other marketing products for her Harry Potter books. Can you write well? If not, you might want to consider Network Marketing.

Why am I talking about and advocating Network Marketing? Have you heard of Warren Buffet? What about Bill Gates? Donald Trump? Did you know that these people, the nation’s financial leaders and gurus are involved in Network Marketing? They all have either started a Network Marketing company, or have a division of their current companies dedicated to this field.

What would make them do this? If Network Marketing was the scam we’ve all heard it was, why would these guys involve themselves? Aren’t these guys among the trend setters in the market? Aren’t they the people to watch and follow if you are striving for financial success on some level?

Even Robert Kiyosaki advocates this form of business, stating that it is the wave of the future, and the only thing that will pull us out of the economic earthquake that is shaking up everyone’s world.

While slavery is forced service, you still have the opportunity to choose. All you need is a complete understanding of Network Marketing.

In Network Marketing, the pyramid is inverted, because there is not one man at the top, but many. There’s room at the top for anyone who is willing to work consistently at the business. There are many network marketing companies out there, so do your research well. Make sure you fully understand the payment structure. Make sure you get involved with a company that has an education system, and viable support to help you get your business going.

You could choose to remain in forced, self-imposed slavery, but why would you, when you could get some education and choose a new path. Don’t give up your day job, but invest your spare time, a few hours per week in something that, long term, if you are consistent, will reward you with a life of financial freedom.

Change starts in the mind first. If you are looking for something to consider, why not change your forced service, into voluntary service and give back to mankind? After all, we grow the most when we reach out to help others.

For more info on a viable method to counteract the economic, health and financial slavery I’ve described, check out this site. If you want more info, feel free to contact me. If you want to join us on any level, for your personal use, or for a business, use ID# 6804779.

The New Slavery Pt.2

This new era of slavery has a changed dynamic. It’s not just about race anymore. We’ve moved into a class caste system. For those who don’t know, a caste system is a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank, profession, or wealth.

Don’t you hear the call now? Even those who can’t afford to talk this way advocate against themselves on the side of those who can afford to cast us all aside without a thought.

We are our own worst enemy and we don’t even recognize it. Robert Kiyosaki says that the reason people are struggling in the present is because they have unfinished business from the past. Your past is still affecting your present.

Many people have been living high on the hog for too long on credit. Ever since GW became president, I was just amazed at the attitude of many people who followed his Texas macho bravado after he won the election.

He had that “We’re Americans! We’ll kick your…..” You get the idea. So many people were and still are saying that we are the strongest or greatest nation in the world. It’s just not true. It wasn’t true then, and it most certainly is an illusion now.

At that time, everyone believed the hype, and rushed out to enslave themselves further with more debt, buying huge, unnecessary vehicles like Hummers, and homes they couldn’t really afford on credit, as the real estate market blew up like bubble, just waiting to pop.

The culture was just buy, buy, buy, and credit is no problem, but living outside your means is always a problem. Living outside your means on credit means that you are a slave; because you have to keep working longer hours, more jobs, more frequently in an attempt to pay off a growing bill for things that lost their value within a few weeks of your purchase. Yet, you are still paying for them.

These credit card companies are like monsters that just keep growing. If you pay only the minimum, you will never be free. If you don’t cut up the card, you are likely to use it again. If you go over your limit, you will be charged a fee, and trust me, I know about this; they will wait until you are a few bucks close to the limit, to process that fee, just so you go over again.

It’s modern day slavery to purchase anything on credit. So if that means you can’t impress the neighbors or your friends, so be it. Get yourself out from under that white elephant, because as long as you have that card and debt, you are living in the past.

If you are running from your past, you have effectively eliminated your future. You cannot change your future unless you address the issues of your past to change your present. What you did yesterday affects today, and what you do today affects your tomorrow. The definition of insanity is to repeatedly do the same things, and expect a different end result.

The truth will set you free, so in order to change your path, you need to honestly face your past and address it, so that your personal truth will not be chasing you; you’ll be living it in the here and now, and you’ll be free. The truth is, you don’t need as much “stuff” as you’ve been programmed to think you need.

The other part of the truth for most of us, is that we are not, have not and our children will not be properly educated. I’m not talking about college here. I’m talking about basic academics before college.

Why am I saying that we aren’t properly educated? I’m saying this because those of us that are not rich, are not taught about finances. We aren’t properly taught about money. We are taught to be good little worker ants. We are programmed to get a job, which does not cause us to truly progress, but keeps us “Just Over Broke.”

Why aren’t we taught this information? The powers that be want to keep us enslaved via lack of education. Thus we will always be worker bees and worker ants to feed their pockets.

How many of you went to college? And out of those who did, how many of you are working in your chosen field today? If you are working in your chosen field, are you getting paid what you thought you’d get paid? Feeling liberated yet? I didn’t think so.

You are a slave because you don’t work to live, but you work to pay the bills; bills created by living beyond your means. You bought into the hype; you’re trying to keep up with the “lifestyles of the rich and famous,” by living on extended credit which has enslaved you in debt. You are programmed by those who make huge profit on your lack of financial education, and if you don’t make a change now, your economic picture is only going to get more dim. Fortunately, there is a way out, and it starts with exposure to new information, and a change in your mindset.

Continued here…

The New Slavery Pt.1

Slavery? In this day and age? Yes. Its true, and I’m not talking about in some foreign country. I’m not talking about the black market slave trade. No. What I’m talking about is right at our doorsteps. It’s been going on for years, but very few people have figured it out. It was set up long ago. The powers that be have pulled the wool over our eyes and continue to do so.

I remember years ago, when I first found out about the extortion done by insurance companies, particularly for life insurance. Instead of selling you straight life insurance, they allege to a savings or cash value in the policy. So in actuality, you pay 3 times the amount for the insurance.

If they promised you $50k on the policy, and you saved in the cash value of the policy, $20k before leaving this atmosphere, then you’d think that your loved ones will get the $50k they promised, plus your $20k savings in the policy, a total of $70k, but that’s not what happens.

They pay out the $50k, because in essence, that is what you paid for…as if you had a term life policy, paying for straight, pure insurance only. But they will keep your $20k that was in the savings. Not only will they keep it, but they don’t pay you any interest on it.

Not only that, but they’ll tell you that you can “borrow” it out, and charge you interest on what they claim is your money. How much sense does that make? If it is really “my” money, why would I be “borrowing” it, and why would I, the “owner” of that money have to pay it back with interest?

In addition, they make about a million in interest on it during your lifetime, money you could have made in a proper investment, but the insurance company never tells you. This is the cost of ignorance.

I found out about this scam over 20 years ago, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. I now see how much the scam has grown. It’s not just life insurance companies now, but health insurance, and the entire medical profession, who tell us that we have to pay high premiums to protect us in the “event” that sickness occurs in our families, or someone suffers an accident. However, they only insure those considered insurable; meaning, as long as you don’t have a long term, debilitating disease or condition already, that will cost them money, you are insurable.

They are partnered up with the entire medical profession, and the FDA, who get kickbacks from the pharmaceutical industry to treat our symptoms only, and not the cause of the illness or condition.

The FDA gets paid to approve all these drugs that keep us addicted and/or dependent. We’re fed a lie that we can’t function without drugs to help us cope, to help us lose weight, or to treat a variety of diseases, which in actuality don’t treat the disease, only the symptoms. It’s a billion dollar industry that thrives on sickness, disease, and death.

We’ve been led to believe that our doctors have our best interest at heart, but they are running businesses, or work for a hospital that is run as a business. Businesses all have a bottom line, and that is to get paid. Cash flow is king as Robert Kiyosaki, the author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” says. So my health and your health is not important, because our well-being is not the bottom line to any of these businesses. If it was, they’d be treating us for free as a service to the community, or at cost.

It’s now completely understandable to me why the bible speaks of a pale horse of disease in the book of Revelations. Why wouldn’t this occur when we have the entire medical industry, that is alleged to be about wellness, making us sick?

If we have reoccurring symptoms and illness, they have repeat business, and business, after all, is the bottom line because its all about the money. We’ve all been programmed via the media to go to these same people, same outlets…same death camps to get treated; correction, poisoned a little more each time, whether directly or indirectly.

I remember about 15 years or so ago, I saw a show about an incredible invention this man created to give paraplegics back the ability to walk. This small machine was like a tens machine, which are used to treat chronic pain by sending electrical impulses through electrodes placed over the painful area. His invention somehow sent these electrical impulses from the brain to the limbs, engaging them by bridging the broken connection, thus enabling that person to walk again.

This product was miraculous, but despite how innovative, incredible and viable it was, I never heard anything else about it. I never saw anyone utilizing it, nor did I ever see or hear of it on the market. Why? Don’t you know the wheelchair companies, and manufacturers of various canes and walkers would be out of business?

They aren’t going to stand for that. I’m sure they utilized their lobbyists or the FDA to make sure that product never hit the market. After all, what’s the bottom line? Certainly not our health and well being. Now the powers that be that control these extortionist companies have devised an ingenious way to get our money faster; and to get more of it.

With the FDA in their back pockets, they began poisoning our food with chemicals they told the public they were instituting to protect the crops, our food source. They’ve been feeding us things like cancer while claiming they were protecting us. But the proof is in the pudding.

These sorts of chemicals are not used in Europe, and people there are not as sick in unbelievable numbers, as we are in America. People in Europe do not have the majority of their citizens suffering from excessive obesity like we do.

In places like Canada and Russia, where their medicine is socialized, they don’t have the volume of sickness and disease that we have. Why? Because since their medicine is not involved in capitalism, they actually do the job we’ve been led to believe doctors are supposed to do.

They actually treat disease, not simply symptoms in order to keep repeat business. They strive to get their patients well, because it costs the government if the people are sick. Medicine in those countries is not a business, but a service to the people because it is more cost efficient to keep the people well, than to allow them to be sick from ineffective treatment that serves profit margins.

In this country, the “service” is, we give our lives to feed their pockets, because medicine is a business here under capitalism, so we don’t matter. We are simply a means to an end. This is the first form of slavery….we are enslaved through our health.

Its a circular situation. We work ourselves to death in an environment that has been polluted externally. At the same time, our lives are threatened internally via the poisoning of our food.

They poison us to force us to purchase insurance on our health and life. They treat our symptoms only, thus encouraging sickness under the guise of chemical medicines that eventually make us more sick.

We work ourselves to death trying to afford it, and they profit upon our shorten lives and early death. It’s a wicked, wicked world, but fortunately, God always provides a way out.

Continued here…

Finding my path pt. 5

Something kept coming up as missing in action, but I didn’t know it yet. Meanwhile, I was still on the hunt for a substantial opportunity that was grounded in reality. When I was introduced to Winalite, I thought that this might be something worthwhile for several reasons.

While in the laundromat one day, I met a friend of mine, Debra, who introduced me to a product that I found to be superior to anything currently on the market in that particular product line. They had a new, patented system in this product, which already had competition in a general sense, but nothing competed with this company’s new technology in this field.

The company  originates from China. Everything about this company looked very sound. I even attended one of the big meetings and met several of the people who started the American branch of this company. I got names, numbers, and was told to call if I needed any assistance in explaining the product to a potential client.

On the surface, the company plan and compensation sounded great. The only problem was…who was I going to approach with this product? This is a feminine product line.

The first reason I was interested was that the product sold itself. The technology is excellent. I like their motto: “Technology is love.” It seemed to me that it was their desire to utilize technology for the good, to help people. I have always been interested in helping others. Until recently, my skills were best utilized in writing and giving information that would help or enhance. Teaching comes pretty naturally to me, so it’s no surprise that this would translate into what I write.

I wasn’t convinced about Winalite just based on what Debra told me. I went to the website, saw the video demo, and then became convinced about the product. I joined based on the quality of the product, but I had yet to be convinced about the company itself.

At first, everything seemed fine because of Debra aligned me with her beautifully effervescent cousin, Dr. Jemma Sinclaire. Doc Jemma is just a star; a bubbly bit of light and laughter that I really connected with. I so enjoyed spending time with her, that I really didn’t see the shortcomings of the company as a problem at first. We set about to solve the issues ourselves.

When I met the bigwigs at the meeting I mentioned before; I made sure to inform them that we had no ongoing training that was available to us. Everything was being done in California, as that is where the company’s US headquarters is located. Since the company had not officially launched yet, we were told that this was the reason. We were also promised the baby line of this new technology for months, but it never materialized.

Meanwhile, all these upgrade promotions kept going on. They company kept sending emails trying to encourage people to upgrade levels by purchasing more product, promising great returns down the line. Yeah, yeah. Yet no one was getting training in our county. There were no reliable leaders, and no structure for us to base our efforts on.

Doc Jemma and I got quite frustrated trying to come up with a system. We spent endless hours devising scripts, trying to find network marketing training systems and so on. I became turned off, because one of the systems recommended involved this guy, “Big Al,” who was advising people to get someone to a meeting to see a presentation by telling them something like this. If it was a man, tell him that you are taking him to get a free oil change and lube done on his car.

I thought this was the stupidest idea I had ever heard. So you lie, and get this guy to the presentation, and then say what? Even if he likes the information in the presentation, your credibility is shot. What’s the point? I always felt that honesty is the best policy. This, he claimed, was a surefire way of “leading” your potential client. By using some misleading words and phrases,  he assured his readers that they would control the mindset of the people they speak to, and lead them into signing on the dotted line.

Frankly, I don’t want to control anyone’s mindset. When I form my team, I’m looking for people who are more than capable of thinking for themselves, and can clearly see the value in what I’m trying to accomplish and the vision I present. I want someone who can enhance the team effort and be a real contributor. If someone joins me, I want it to be because they have made a sound decision based on the quality of information I present to them, no matter what type of business I’m doing.

Doc Jemma and I spent a lot of time spinning our wheels in the mud, before we realized that the problem with Winalite was no structure. They have no viable training or education in their program, and therefore, unless you come into their company as a seasoned network marketer, you will not succeed, even with such a great product.

Its a shame really. In this economy, people should have awakened to the fact that doing the same things yet expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Companies are still operating under the status quo. We’re still being told to go back to school, but there are plenty of people who just finished school and can’t find a job. Aside from that, the schools are not teaching the right kind of education. In addition to that, by the time one finishes this useless “education” in school, the technology has already changed, and their “education” is already outdated.

It’s become painfully obvious that a different path is needed; one that has vision, and certainly, one that involves reaching out to others; because in this economy, many will need help. Maintaining the same mindset that has been failing us for years is just not the answer. We have graduated from the industrial age, and clearly have been living in the information age for quite some time now. The dinosaurs of the past are falling. It’s time to stop riding them.

Dying Unnecessarily

Do you know how it feels when you get great information about some major piece of news that  is so important to people’s lives that you want to share or warn everyone you know and even people you don’t know?  Do you know how it feels to have life giving knowledge; information that can save lives, but you can’t find the people who need it the most?

Isn’t it frightening when some major news or information comes out, for instance another school shooting; and its in your neck of the woods? So you rush to the phone; you want to call your family, your friends and loved ones. You want to make sure that people you know have knowledge of this vital information and that they and their families are alright and are taking advantage of the warnings and available knowledge to keep them and theirs secure and safe from risk. Isn’t it frustrating when you can’t  seem to reach them to get the information out there?

Those are the shoes I’m now standing in and it grieves me; not because of the shoes, but because of the difficulty in reaching others. It’s the interaction initiation that frustrates me. Its being part of a body and not knowing other parts are struggling, suffering and dying from lack of knowledge. Its the knowledge that people will perceive a sales pitch, when your heart is truly towards helping; when all you want is to see them recover…to be alive and well.  Its like a salmon swimming upstream against the current, and trying to jump that seemingly huge hurdle to get there.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about death…and life. I’m talking about how people are dying unnecessarily. I’m talking about the suffering of their families and loved ones who have to accept and grieve over their loss. I’m talking about people who could have been saved, but are dying because of lack of knowledge; who have been caught up in the game of capitalist greed, and lost their lives as a result.

I’m angry. Now that I have this life saving information I’m angry; because my eyes have been opened, and I can see even more than most what the greed in this country is doing. The devastation is more than economical. Its physical, emotional and spiritual. It’s destroying families on more than one level. I’m angry because our trust is and has been misplaced, and we haven’t been aware of it.

Hsa 4:6    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge…

There’s a picture I saw years ago of an enormous fat man in a business suit. His body took up the entire frame of the picture, but around and behind him in small sections you could see what looked like factories. In front of him was a conveyor belt with people on it. The belt was moving towards his wide open mouth, which was filled with lots of people already. The people on the conveyor belt  just stood there with blank looks on their faces, because they were oblivious that they were on a path of destruction brought about by the greed of a few. This picture sums up what I’m frustrated about. I wish I knew the title or author so I could post the picture here.

Greed is devouring this country. It’s like Og of Bashan in the book of Deuteronomy in the bible. That name means the Fat King of Plenty; and like all other former great nations, his fall was inevitable because of greed. It happened to Eygpt, Rome, Germany, and its coming around to us.  For years we have allowed those with positions of power to dictate to us. We’ve sat back and been too comfortable to just be a bunch of cattle, prodded this way and that, lead to whatever fields they wanted to lead us to, and fattened up for the slaughter. Now the slaughter is in full swing. People are dropping like a swarm of flies in a mist of a chemical pesticide.

That’s exactly what we are. That is what we are in. We are being poisoned, physically, economically, and spiritually; and its been going on for years. Right now, my anger is about the physical. The economical and spiritual are in God’s hands, but He has already provided for the physical and this country doesn’t know. This country has been so inundated with scams that people cannot see what is right in from of them.

Jer 6:10A     To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear.

People are too lazy to take the time and investigate anything that might be to their benefit; that might help them. They’d rather blindly trust in the powers that be that have been misleading the nation for decades into the mess we are now in. They’d rather continue to be pawns and be taken advantage of.

What am I raging about? Death. My pastor reported 3 more deaths this weekend; ceremonies that he had to officiate because people lost their lives. One of the deaths was by accident, and seemingly unavoidable; but the others were losses by the number one killer in the nation, cancer; and those deaths were preventable. Those two people could have survived if they knew what I know. But how to reach reach them? How do you reach out to people you don’t know with life saving information? How can you touch someone’s life if you aren’t connected in time? Thus my dilemna and frustration.

This information will not be advertised. The powers that be would prevent it because the truth will stop their cash cow. No. This is a world wide, underground movement. People across the world are being healed, and America is the last to know. The English speaking market is the most difficult to crack because of the lackadaisical attitude of Americans who are too quick to trust in the powers that be that are leading us to our doom.

Americans think that socialized medicine is a bad thing, but they don’t realize that capitalistic medicine is what’s killing us all. Russia has socialized medicine, and they are using this knowledge of natural healing I’m talking about, to heal people from all kinds of disease, cancer included, because their government’s goal is to save money on treatments.

This means that they are actually trying to cure people, versus cure symptoms and keep people sick, like in this country. They don’t profit from disease, but from wellness. That is the difference in socialized medicine. If costs have to be cut, they are going for the cure, and not prolonging treatment under the guise of being unable to find a cure,  just so they can line their pockets with your money and let you die anyway.

I’m sick and tired of hearing of people dying from this particular disease when I know it is preventable; when I know that we are being poisoned by the powers that be for a profit; when I know that we are being fed cancer. The numbers are too great. I’m hearing it too often. Too many are losing their lives to this killer after a great deal of time suffering. Too many have placed their hope, in vain, in the medical profession and the treatment of pumping even more poisons into the body. It’s killing the only defense mechanism their bodies have, and they don’t even know it.

What am I angry about? I’m angry because collectively, we aren’t aware that our lives have become a reality show called Survivor, and no one is getting Immunity when it is available to all!

Finding my path pt. 4

The biggest problem we have as people today is choices. There are just too many. One could easily spend their life researching all the available information to try to figure out the best options available. Then, of course, once you find all the options, if you find them all; you’ve still got to decide which out of many, are the best choice for you in your particular situation. It’s quite easy to get off track with your nose to the ground sniffing out options.

One of the options I found was a system called the thirty day challenge. I love their tag line: “There is no charge for awesomeness.” You’ve got to picture that tag line being done in a deep, British or Australian voice. It’s funny, but cool too.

I started this system, but I never even got through the tools. I only got as far as to download and begin using Flock and twitter. I also connected with friendfeed. I think that was the maximum. These choices were within the first few tools. I went through the videos up to that point, then choices caused me to stop working on that system. I got redirected, yet despite this redirection, I still want to complete that system and learn it. The tools are really cool.

However, just those few tools that I did learn kept me quite busy. Despite not completing that system, my audience did increase just from utilizing the tools they show you. That system is on my list of things to do. However, right now, I’m still trying to maintain my focus on 3 out of four things on my plate. In actuality, I am still, to a degree doing all four, because although I’m not working that actively on the children’s book at the moment, I am still writing.

The thing about that system is, they claim to teach you to drive traffic to your site. Well, first, I need to build a site. Secondly, at last check, they had made 6 millionaires from this system; people who completed the training and really caught on to how to utilize it to make money. They also espouse the team system and the originators want to be notified whenever someone makes their first dollar from the system.

It’s definitely something to get back to, but I believe my first dollars from a system will come sooner than that. I do agree with Robert Kiyosaki, however, who says that one should strive for 5 income streams. So I’ve been searching. I knew that I had one possibility…my writing. I am also interested in real estate, and have been for quite some time, but cash flow is an issue for that. So I started reading Kiyosaki’s materials to learn more about managing cash flow. I really want to try that cash flow game, but it’s a $300 expense that is not an option at the moment.

I had seen my father do network marketing  over about 20 years. He went from company to company without ever researching any of them. I watched him do Amway when I was a kid. Because my mom didn’t support him in that, he went to A.L. Williams which later became American Can, which later became known as Primerica. I went to several of their meetings, but I really wasn’t into insurance.

Then he did some thing he only referenced as “O,” which had something to do with gold. It was all very secretive and hush-hush. This was back in the days when I was barely internet savvy, so I, myself, didn’t know enough to check these things out. He convinced me to invest in this and I lost 6K that I couldn’t afford to loose.

Allegedly, the people handling the gold investment had not known about certain fees and additional costs for transport from the mines in Africa. Right. I guess I should have figured out that if he didn’t have a complete name for the organization…how could I trust what they or he told me about it? How could I entrust them with my money?

But, that was back in the days when his word had more weight. After so many of these failures, he became the scam-meister to us, always getting involved in schemes and never checking them out. He just bought into whatever these people told him. I realized that I had been stupid to trust him without researching that thing myself. After that, I never believed anything he got into again.

So here I am trying these different companies. My mother asked me that question too. You know, “Are you doing the same thing your father did?” My answer was “No.” I did come to realize that my father was probably seeking something too. He was looking for something that would provide a way into something better. He just went about it in an ignorant way, not checking out the companies and validating if they were legitimate.

The difference for me is, for one thing, I’m checking out these companies. I’m not investing a great deal of money prior to doing some homework. For instance, a year of so ago, I responded to an ad that claimed to train people to be real estate investors. I went to several of their meetings, including one of their big, day long conventions.

After listening to everything, it all sounded pretty good. I had been given a vision of a ministry for single moms and homeless people, and this vision required obtaining a large piece of property. After hearing all this real estate info, I was, for a brief moment, wondering if this was my answer as to how the land could be obtained. I met several very nice people at this convention. We had lunch and they told me their visions to contribute to society via this system.

We went back into the convention, and then I noticed something. All the people who were up on that stage presenting to us, all said that they were so busy handling deals with/for members, that they didn’t even have time to do any deals for themselves. This was happening right about the time that the economy first began to tank, within the last two years. It got me thinking that while they were busy hyping us up into buying into their system and purchasing real estate, they weren’t because of the economy.

I decided that I needed to research this group and it’s president more. Something about him never rubbed me right. So I started looking, but this company, Nouveau Riche, has inundated the web with their own ads and testimonials. They have so flooded the web, that when you do a search on them, all you find, for the most part, are glowing reviews. Their own propaganda inhabits the first few pages of almost any search engine. It took some doing to find testimonials and information that did not praise them. I managed to find a CNN story that gave me some good insight.

First, it indicated that the president was a scam artist that had previously been arrested for an attempted insurance scam. Secondly, it clarified the Nouveau Riche “University” as a non accedited, non-certified school that the president called a “university” in an effort to give it validity. The process that they referred to as “leverage” is, in reality,  just another Ponzi scheme.

They promised that they could guarantee the rents on the properties purchased under their system, for two years. These properties were largely available to be flipped or done on a short sale in remote areas of states up north, where industries had left, and thus the people had vacated as well. So they guaranteed the first two years of rent. What happens after that? No guarantees – and here is the Nouveau Riche student, stuck with God knows how many properties going into foreclosure. I decided this wasn’t for me.

I wrote to the people who got me into it, as well as the people I had met at the convention, and sent them a copy of the info I obtained from the CNN report. I don’t know what they all did with it. The only person I heard from was the ones who invited me into the company. The husband was angry and attempted to slam me with insults about my lack of foresight and intelligence. Right now, he’s riding high on the hog, making money with these “investments.” I just wonder when the balloon will burst. I don’t think it is too far off now.

As for me? I had to find something more substantial. I wanted a company with a better, proven track record, as well as a better opportunity.

Continued here…

Finding my path pt. 3

Anyone hear of Global Domains International? I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention GDI. I tried even that. The thing is, it’s not their promotions of fabulous cars and riches that attracted me. Sure, I wanted to make a bit of extra money, but the get rich quick sort of gimmicks don’t attract me. I was only testing the water to try to find a viable source of a bit of extra income and this was another in a group of companies I dabbled with.

Basically, the idea behind this concept is to sell internet domains under a new domain type. For instance, they claim that we are running out of .com type domains, so we have to go to something else. So they have created another type of domain, and this is what they are selling and promoting.

The concept is ok, but sometimes I think that it may not be the company necessarily that is the problem, but it’s the group you get in within any of these companies. That will make the difference between how well you will do, or whether the system will not work for you. It depends on the people.

Unfortunately, I got in a group with a guy named Ron and his partner Bill. I guess there’s always going to be someone who thinks they can outwit the system. This is the guy I was dealing with. He had devised a way to submit ads more frequently than craigslist allowed. He had figured a way to subvert the system.

His system involved the purchase of a site at 1and1.com.  You also had to obtain an account at powweb.com. I’m sure you’ve figured out that he was getting a kickback from these companies for sending his people to them. He took over GDImarketcenter.com, and arranged the agreement with 1and1.com for his people to pay $6.99 per domain.

He recommended that we purchase at least 10 domains via 1and1.com, then forward them all to powweb.com via the dns settings. Once in powweb.com, you had unlimited amount of subdomains you could create at no cost, so he suggested that we create 100 subdomains. We would then create picture ads, which craigslist could not read text from, and submit those pictures with links that connected them to the subdomains we had created.

Here’s an example of some of the ads I created, which were pretty good, but I was unable to utilize due to the circumstances. I basically scanned a bunch of pictures, and pulled images from several whether they were backgrounds or other objects, people or animals. I would just look at an image, see a slogan and search for the complimenting images to put together with it.

These 100 domains could be used in one ad campaign per day. He even had a catchall, to have the email responses from the craigslist ads forwarded to, so it wouldn’t clutter up our regular email. There was a list of topics and categories we could post under and he even had an autoposter program that we purchased to do the posting for us.

This guy even had a program to change our IP address so that craigslist wouldn’t recognize the computer the ads were coming from. It was a really elaborate setup, that sounded like it worked really well to generate traffic and attention to our individual GDI accounts. He taught this system via his private forum, and you had to pay for access via obtaining the powweb account. I think he had arranged something with these companies so he was partners with them or on the board.

Like I said, the system seemed viable, and he claimed it would get you past the guards craigslist had in place to prevent multiple postings in multiple cities. I went into the forum to try to understand and learn everything about this intricate system he and his partner had set up. He had videos to train us, but they weren’t all that clear on the process.

So I went into the forum to get help from others who had also joined and were under his system. You could post questions in the forum, and sometimes  Ron or Bill would respond, and other times, one of the other people under them would try to help. After a while, I asked what I suppose could be viewed as a dangerous question.

I went in the general forum, and asked if anyone else besides Ron and his buddy Bill had fully tried the system. I then asked if anyone else was having the success with it that Ron and Bill claimed would happen, or if Ron and Bill were the only ones claiming that this system worked while taking our money to fund it.

One guy did respond to me privately in email, to tell me that he had put $1200 into it and did not see the results Bill and Ron claimed. Thankfully, I started questioning this before having spent more than $200.  This guy told me there was another group that I could get in that he had gotten into because when he consulted others in GDI, they claimed that Ron and Bill operated more along the lines of a scam.

When I attempted to reply to him that I wanted more info because I was unsatisfied with the lack of results of everyone but Ron and Bill; the message went back into the forum, instead of directly to this guy I was communicating with. Once Ron and Bill saw that, I was immediately barred from the forum, but by that time, I had determined that GDI was not for me.

Continued here…