Here's how to never worry about money again

Shay,

I think you hit the nail on the ole noggin when you said the harder you work, the luckier you get. In my business, it is nose to nose and toes to toes and bingo, before long, you dont have to if you don't want to.

Love your answer. In fact, had you answered anything else, I would have tuned out.

Tom

Dan, this is extremely difficult to answer on an open forum!

BUT, at its most basic, I think it's my beliefs about the world and myself that are at fault. I don't believe in gods, angels or miracles, I think The Secret is the biggest, steamiest pile of **** I have ever come across and spirituality is just mumbo jumbo. YET, I see people with these beliefs as being happier and more likely to succeed. I cannot ever believe fairy tales, unfortunately! Sorry if anyone's offended but that's my genuine point of view. I see all these things as crutches people use to disguise the reality - there is no higher purpose, when you die you go in the ground and that's it.

I'm going to add this next part because I think there may be somebody out there that needs to hear (read) it.

And it goes to mindset.

About 15 years ago I had left my husband. I had a 20-month-old son and I was four months pregnant.

After a brief stay in a battered women's shelter, I decided that 700 miles was better protection than a piece of paper from a judge.

I scraped together enough money to get a cheap ticket, and I left the state with my purse, a diaper bag, my son, and two boxes. I had about $30 to my name, and that was in my purse. I had no credit, no assets, no nothin'.

I stayed with family for a little bit until after my daughter was born. I tried to get jobs while I was staying with family, but as soon as the interviewer saw I was pregnant, the interviews were over before they even began. I even tried dressing so that I could hide my pregnancy just long enough to get a job, but at some point during the interview it would become clear that they suspected that I was pregnant, and since I didn't think that outright deception was the way to go, I would admit that I was. Then the interview would be over.

So I started working from home.

I didn't make a huge amount of money, believe me. But being able to work from home without day care costs meant that I could make a lot less than a regular job and still come out ahead.

It would have been very easy to focus on how difficult the situation was and to just wallow in that.

But I had two babies to take care of. Giving up wasn't an option.

Someone asked in an earlier post what I thought about luck.

People who take action get luckier than those that don't. Sometimes the action is simply a small inner voice that tells you to do something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense at the time, but it ends up being exactly the right thing to do.

Case in point - I needed a car, and there was no way that I was going to be able to get financed for one and I didn't have the money for one. I placed an ad in a local paper for $1.80:


I had five phone calls. I was very honest about my situation and explained that I worked from home on commission and how much I can afford to pay every month/week.

Four of those phone calls said that they would work out payment terms with me if I could come up with a small down payment ( which I could).

The fifth phone call came from a guy whose son had just gone overseas for a mission. He had a little car - a hatchback - that was in pretty good shape, but had a good bit of miles on it.

The man got permission from his son to give it to me for free. I drove home with a free car, just because I took action and the right person saw my ad. I drove that car for a couple of years.

I ended up getting a cute little townhouse for me and the kids. When I moved from that townhouse to my house, it took seven truckloads to move my stuff - and that wasn't including the stuff that I sold or gave away before I moved.

Going from a purse, diaper bag and two boxes - to seven truckloads of stuff and a house.

Material things aren't everything, but it shows progress, right?

Fast-forward to today. I have a business that is thriving, a house and two cars that are paid for, and so much more.

Yes, there are some personal issues that are less than optimal.

But because of what I have already been through - and thrived - I'm not afraid of the future.

I read a lot of books. I listened to a lot of tapes. For the longest time I didn't have television in the house, so the kids and I did so much reading and dream building. It made a huge difference.

Don't ever get so caught up in your current circumstances that you lose sight of the prize.

There's no telling what that prize might be - it's different for every person - but you need to make sure that you keep your eyes on it.

I don't say all of this to toot my own horn. I just hope this encourages someone today.