Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Money Money Money!!

Money, Money, Money, makes the world go around ?? So ‘they’ say …..

Or puts your head in a spin

Work harder, work overtime, get a higher paying job, work 2 jobs, a part-time job, lack, bills, fear, threats, shame …………….

A whole gaggle of words clutter your mind and whirl in an ever increasing circle of torments until your brain screams “enough”!

Will you ever have enough to meet the demands of modern day living. A moderate living where an average house, an average car, average needs by way of furniture and groceries is all that you’ve ever wanted, but simply cannot sustain in the long term. And some left over to help others – Caustic thought - Humph, can’t even take care of yourself never mind others.

Then your mind goes on another tangent with a cacophony of more words, like fuel price, food price, demonstrations, violence, job losses, strikes, tax, power and the list goes on and on. The word pictures bedazzle and bewilder and you get caught up in thoughts like what is the world coming to? Where is it going to end? Why is this happening?

All the time the problem seems to be out there – not sure where that is though.

Then on your weary way home from an unsatisfying job, which you cannot quit because it keeps bread on the table, or does it? Bread was once affordable by all, but now you wonder how the poorest of the poor manage to eat. A little guilt overcomes you and for a moment you appreciate what you have. Only to have all this dashed when you collect your post and find another threatening letter. Something else you were unable to pay and the creditor resorts to the same age old tactics of battering you with threats of lawyers fees and ITC ratings and black listings etc. etc. despite the fact that you wrote all the creditors and told them your spouse is out of work and until he is employed again you will be struggling to meet your obligations – asking them to suggest alternative measures. Wow, you actually thought you were being proactive and honest in telling them the situation. But on reflection it occurs to you that the person sending you these letters is just another weary employee carrying out the mechanics of their tedious job dealing with irate debtors and hostile callers. A brief empathy for the debt collector flits across your troubled mind.

Then reality …. How are you going to ‘fix’ this? You’re tempted to take a back seat in life and let all the threats take effect and let them do the worst! After all it’s not the first time this has happened, you’ve started from the beginning so many times. However, this time it’s slightly different in a few months time you’ll be joining the pensioner’s bench and panic set’s in. What to do? Who to ask? Another thought of resignation ……………..

Then you open your post and there it is! The opportunity of a life time! But wait you’ve seen many of these over the years, you’ve even sent money away to get the promised instructions to access the promised windfall. But this one looks different, this one is saying something different … “…..Expert seeks volunteers for online money-making challenge:” That’s me you think, I’m always up for a challenge and you find a comfortable chair and relax to read.

Yes, its something you can do .. you love to write … blogging is exactly what you’ve always wanted to do …. It’s getting more exciting … more inspiring … you can see yourself attaining a new level of financial independence, and you’re all ready to take on the challenge. You look at the photograph of the person seeking the volunteers and he looks so ‘nice’, genuine, the picture displays a flat screen PC that you’ve wanted for some time now but have pushed to the back of the ‘one day I want ….’ List. You say a silent “thank you” that God has answered your prayer -asking for someone to send you an opportunity that will give you the breakthrough you’ve dreamed of.

You’ve always been prepared to work and work hard to achieve financial success and you’ve been rewarded over the years with well paid jobs and you remember the time you were employed with a company that paid you profit sharing plus an affluent salary. You drift into ‘play back from way back’ and conjecture as to what happened to it all. Then you remember and make the excuses and the calculations – it went into school fees, broken bones, upgrading the TV, washing machine and other essentials.

You jerk yourself back to the article and carry on reading. The promises seem so great, and the work so easy, everything you’re capable of and the answer to your prayers.

Then the ‘let down’ towards the end where the writer (the nice guy on the cover page) hits you over the head and says in order to attain all these promises you will be required to spend in the region of R800 for the secrets he has put together to ensure your financial breakthrough.

Your shoulders slump, your eyes well up with tears, you see your prayers being collected by angels and dumped over the sea … this is not the breakthrough you asked for. You want to get hysterical and blame God for getting your hopes up again, like the time he sent the R11m windfall which turned out to be a scam. Then you get back to reality again and thank God that you didn’t lose any money to the scam. You also wander is God really responsible for all this? Maybe not hey?

You try and reason how you can get R799.95 to send to the ‘nice guy’ who promised so much. It might as well have been R7m and your heart sinks wondering how you will buy fuel for the month, how you will buy food. The ray of hope that the article gave you is all but a candle light in the wind. A song comes to mind and you see a flash back of the tragic event that ended a fairy princess’ life.

You speculate and cry out to the atmosphere “is there anyone out there that can help”? The silence reverberates around the house and comes back to haunt you and with much sadness you realize that the ‘nice guy’ is only seeking to enrich himself. He couldn’t care about you, his promises mean nothing, as do all the other people who have made empty promises. They give you only enough information to get you interested and then drain your already empty pockets on the next ‘tidbit’. The donkey and carrot scenario.

You get up in disgust and toss the article in the dustbin. “Do I really want to be involved in that kind ‘stuff’? You console yourself that it’s not right to build peoples hopes up like that with clever marketing only to dash them in a small paragraph towards the end of the article.

You’re back to square one. How can one make a profitable part-time income to subsidize your depleted budget? How can your 60+ spouse be gainfully employed on the Internet? The time is running out ….. the clock is ticking loudly … Your spouse is starting to become a recluse. Your spouse is getting more and more disillusioned. His ego is taking a beating. His self-esteem that was resurrected for a brief spell when he was employed for 16 months (after a 9 year unemployment stint) and then was told the company was downsizing and his job would become an outsourced item. Only to learn within one month of him leaving that a colleagues spouse was employed to take his place. Imagine what that does to your self-worth.

You give a silent thank you to your God for your spouse. In all the 20 years you’ve been together and all the hardships you’ve experienced along the way he has never given up and continues to fight for his little bit of heaven on earth. There’s no evidence of bitterness, no thoughts of revenge, no feelings of inadequacies and lack of self-worth. Your mind clamors with more dread and you wonder how much longer can he hold on. How much longer can life deal him these ‘blows’ before he buckles under the load.

Money, money, money …. Is that what it’s all about? Is that what our plan and our purpose is? I somehow don’t think so. I think it’s how you handle all life’s blows and the attitude you have while dealing with the crippling after effects of having to start yet again to build a decent life for yourself and leave a legacy for your children and their children. I sadly reflect on how many lives I could have enriched had I had the means (money) to buy them food, clothes, the much needed medicine and some shelter. I suppose if I had all that money I could buy for my family and for others it would be too easy to ‘hand it out’ but life has taught me that people are so much more valuable than what money can buy. The kind word, the loving touch, the good attitude when you are suffering, the power of prayer in times of trouble. With gratitude and thanksgiving you remember that God is your source and He gives you the power to get wealth. His timing is perfect and He will take care of you. Material ‘things’ will stay when you go but that’s not what will comfort your loves ones it’s who you were and what you stood for. The perfect opportunity will come, never stop searching!!

That was 2008 in a nutshell …… but hey it’s 2009 now. New Year, New ideals, New goals, New, New, New Back at work for the first day we’re all geared up for change and new starts, new challenges, new opportunities, new friendships, new everything. We’re rested and able to tackle this year head on. We’re determined to get our thinking right because where we are and what we are is a sum total of our thoughts. So what a perfect start for 2009 to change our thoughts ………….

2009 Will be divine ………….. chat again – let’s have your comments.

INTERNET MARKETING FOR RETIREES

»»Internet Marketing for Retirees

A chasm of nothingness seems to fill the date beyond retirement for some of us who feel that we still have a lot to contribute to the corporate world, but don’t wish to or have the strength to hold down an 8 – 5 JOB (just over broke).

What are the options, we ask ourselves?

Be like all the other retirees we know of but haven’t personally been involved with?

Staying home and having late breakfast – maybe that isn’t quite accurate because I’ve heard that as you get older you sleep less – so late breakfasts are probably not on the cards.

What to do with the rest of the day? Straight after breakfast plan lunch – gosh I’ll be eating all day! Got to remember that the budget is now drastically cut so it will have to be low income earners recipes (pensioners delight). I do have a stash of them somewhere which I used when we were cash strapped. Oh yes, have to remember to check the pensioner’s shopping days – crucial to get discounts.

So maybe a nap in the afternoon and then a stroll around the garden and it will be supper time?

I suppose one could do this for a short period of time and then …………….?

My mind is too active, my brain needs continuous stimulation, I have ideas which give birth to more ideas. What am I to do with this information? Aha, the Internet!

As one seriously considers retirement, the long awaited rest after years of ‘working/slogging’ away at a daily job one comes to the realization that its not what its cracked up to be.

A whole new set of goals need to be set. A whole new lifestyle is waiting and if one is not careful it could become a long boring wind down to extinction. Yogh!

The Internet offers a heap of interesting and exciting opportunities to supplement your income and keep you from losing touch with the developments in the world, both corporate-wise and technologically speaking. However, you need to be selective and look beyond the sales ‘blurb’ or the ‘press-the-button-once-a-day-and-make-a-fortune’ sites.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of starting an online business only to find that it’s not that simple. It would be recommended that you sit down and make a list of goals, shot-term and long-term.

In summary decide what you want to achieve by having an online business. For instance, do you want to do it for fun, or to make money? Are you interested in growing your knowledge base about a certain topic? Are you interested in pursuing a new subject?

This will help to narrow down the opportunities on offer. If you don’t know what you want you could spend endless days just ‘surfing’ and never finding anything of substance. The saying goes if you don’t have an ‘end destination planned’ you’ll get there anyway. Then we can’t complain, because the place of ‘anywhere’ is filled with people who had no goals.
A very interesting observation I need to make – no where that I’m aware of does the Bible (Book-of-Instructions-before-leaving-earth : The LIFE manual) make mention of retirement. Is it possible that we weren’t meant to retire? We were meant to be fruitful until we leave this place? I believe that is it. Granted there are many people who are just not capable of carrying on after a certain age but then there’s us! Surely we can be put to much better use than running Old Ladies’ tea clubs and getting together once a week to complain about aches and pains.

Is it at all possible that we comply with societal dictates and are therefore so programmed to expect not to be able to work after a certain age?

Science is proving through modern technology what the Bible has been saying for a long time. “As a man Thinketh so is he” Proverbs 23:7

If we think we are old then we are right. If we think we are young then we are also right. Our thoughts will dictate what we are. Our thoughts will also be apparent in our behavior. Our thoughts will become speech and our speech will become actions and our actions will rule our behavior. That’s it! So simple! (Recommended read Dr Caroline Leaf – “Who switched off my brain?”)

It’s totally amazing how complex we make life and box all our ‘life phases’ into neat (or maybe not) files to act out at different times – or as ‘they’ predict we should.

I think of all the achievements people have made when they were well into what is classified as ‘old age’. Mother Theresa, although she never aspired to intellectual achievements she was at her ‘post’ until those around her convinced her that she needed to ‘retire’. To the end she was occupied with her ‘calling’.

I ask myself, is it possible that we don’t have a ‘calling’ – we just follow a job that will take care of the living expenses?

Another thought comes to mind …… people like Donald Trump – he has been known to say he doesn’t do it for the money (he probably has more than he can even count) its his passion for real estate and the drive to ‘make-a-deal’ (my words not his).

So we lack passion? Maybe? How do we kindle a passion when we’re going to retire. Well, I think that’s quite simple. Find out what your friends, colleagues and family complain about and see how to turn it into a business – solving the problem. Mmmmmm ………. I’m thinking some people just complain to complain so they can’t be taken seriously. But it’s a start.

I can think of dozens of little problems that irritate me so maybe those are the one’s I should address firstly.

Litter heads the list and with 2010 around the corner (18 months to go) the problem needs to be solved very quickly.

Okay so I could go around and pick up papers and sticks and, and, and …… and who would pay me? Nah!

Remember we’re starting at the bottom here so bear with me. Thinking this through and I’m really passionate about removing litter.

Gotcha!

Bet you can think of a thousand ideas that you’d like to pass on. So why don’t you? Maybe we could solve it together?

What is difference between MLM and GIFTING

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MLM & GIFTING?

Being members of the Better Networkers family, we all know what MLM is, but do we know what GIFTING is and how does it compare with MLM.

Actually they are both very similar. They are both based on the MLM system.

MLM is an enterprise which has a product which is either used by the member or sold by the member to the public or the down line. I think every MLM enterprise has a monthly fee payable by all it’s members, usually about $50 per month, give or take a few dollars.

Having joined the scheme one then has to actively recruit a down line. It is from this down line that their money is made. No down line, no money.

Until such time as one has enough people in their down line to cover their monthly membership fee, they are required to pay that. I believe that this has been the downfall of thousands of promising prospects. Due to financial constraints, they have been unable to pay the monthly fee and so have had to leave the enterprise, invariably then bad mouthing the system to the world.

The GIFTING system works on the same principle. When one joins, they pay a small once off payment, which is broken down into 5 gifts going to their up line members.

Thereafter, just as in MLM it is their responsibility to recruit their down lines. 5 Levels are as far as one can go. The size of the level is infinite. There is no limit, on the first level one could have 10, 50, 100 or even 1000 or more. The more on your first level the more successful one will be.

The other difference is that one can only be in the system for a six month period, unlike MLM which can be a life time. After six months, one can join again, pay the small start up investment and start again, or continue, to build a down line.

I know the MLM organizations don't like the gifting system. Probably because there is no product involved, no monthly fees, no meetings Thus it is a threat to them, being more cost effective to the member.

Sure the gift is small, only $5. But $5 multiplied by several hundred or thousand people adds up nicely. Once the first level is built up, the funds will steadily come in. Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after them selves.

I believe that main advantage that the gifting system has over MLM is the "NO MONTHLY PAYMENT" It takes the pressure off, of course that can also be a bad thing, no pressure can mean no effort no down line.

I hope this helps those who might not have known what the difference was between the two.

Norman "2009 is Mine"

http://www.lksix38.com

Friday, January 2, 2009

Scams

Just had a guy make me an offer. His boss has been arrested by the Russians. He is a multi millionaire or billionaire who used his money for the opposition parties. Now Alan here says he has $15 million that he wants to put into my account - legally? and when he is out the country we will split it and I get 30%. Wow, 30% of $15m is R42.75million. I recon I could live off that, I would probably have to live like James Bond or the fugative, what a Blast! Having the KGB chasing me here there and everywhere.
I told him, there are much easier ways of making money, go to my website and live off your giving, in peace, no fear here. Hey I got me second signup in last night, It's working. Told Jane my daughter, now she wants to join, when she has the money - that could be a while!

On New Years night we had 40mm of rain and another 4 last night so the property is really looking good. Must go and do some more mowing though. That is never ending, 2 acreas is a lot of mowing. I must get a ride on job. All my neighbours have them and they are able to do the whole job in a couple of hours. Yo! the ones they had on the gold course down at Hazyview were amazing, 5 hydraulicly driven drum heads on a very smart 4 wheeler. My neighbour tells me they cost R300 000!!!, - Why didn't I take the money! I could have had one for me and Lorraine.
Norman 2009 is mine!
http://www.lksix38.com

Thursday, January 1, 2009

T AKE AUTHORITY IN 2009

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. I have decided to take 2009 by the throat, take authority over it, and tell it what it will do for me this year. Enough of being dictated to. After all we rule and reign as kings in life by Christ Jesus. We have been called out of the darkness, of 2008, and into His marvelous light, we are a chosen generation a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
This year I speak Health and fitness over my life, prosperity and abundance, life in abundance to the full till it overflow. "2009 is mine"
Have an awesome year in God's blessings, remember, "The Blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and adds no sorrow to it".

Norman
http://www.lksix38.com