4 AUG 2015 :: Busy day for blogging

I just added blog post to two other topics I am trying to develop :: 

food-to-live.blogspot.com

crafts-explored.blogspot.com

I wonder what I should add to that here!  :-)

I have been trying to catch up with all my reading - the articles I printed off while looking for new information on food and business.  Reading gets to be a big challenge.  To improve my marketing efforts for Working Together and for my personal income needs, I need to find out how other people have solved these problems.  I especially need low-cost (no-cost) methods to survive and thrive.  :-)



Earlier today I was doing my "Today I am thankful for..." post and I noticed a Rush Limbaugh item about the young businessman that tried to pay everyone in his company the same wage.  I decided to make a comment and this is what I ended up with.  (copied and pasted here)

I think the statement he was trying to make to the world is worth more efforts... the amount may have been too much, the structure of the company may have had problems, and the rest of the business world may have been afraid of what he was trying to do at a personal level. --- It is my view that we are all equal in the eyes of GOD and that such disparity in wages is not always a good thing. It is my hope to build a Christian company that acts as both a ministry and a for-profit business, and that makes a statement that each person contributes equally to the success or failure of the company by making wages equal, at a liveable wage, and with benefits tied to survival needs. An hourly wage that covers the living needs of employees at the bottom of the economic ladder is a BASIC NEED, not a threat to the survival of the company. If there is a labor budget, we need to start with the pay scales at the bottom and then work up to the executive offices. My reason for wanting everyone to have a decent lifestyle with Working Together is that the needs of the End Times are going to be harsh and desperate and threatening... and there will be many, many, many people in need...not only Christians, but others who will be caught up in poverty and persecution. What would happen to the budgets of all our ministries if this focus was the norm (that everyone was paid at the same rate)? It would change a lot.

Here is the link I got at Facebook, but it goes to the article and not to the post about it.  I didn't read the article...I was upset about the perspective I saw about the man.  I felt my comment was important and decided to share it as a post on my timeline, and then decided to see if I could reach the man at his company, gravitypayments.com -- which became a contact form submission. 

I wish I could do more for his company because I think there are parts of this concept that are critical.  Becoming a co-op company is not the same as socialism.  One is controlled by the government, with the possibility of military and police-state enforcement.  The other is a large partnership.  I didn't read a lot about this company, I just heard the news about his effort.  I think he was trying to create a more equal management atmosphere, not socialized business practices.  (But, I don't really know his motives or goals.)


So many of our businesses are having to change because of the effects of technology... there really isn't going to be a choice pretty soon.  My hope has always been to create some kind of safety net for these economic changes, mostly for Christians, and mostly for the membership base I am trying to create.  Working Together is meant to be a kind of co-op, a kind of non-profit, a kind of bank, and a kind of church.  To protect it I felt it needed to be a privately-owned for-profit business, and I own all the stock until GOD brings me the person He wants to take control of it after me. 

There is no guarantee any company will flourish under any specific kind of business structure, but this seemed to be the best option for the goals of Working Together.  I am sure that the man in charge of Gravity Payments felt he was doing the best thing for his company, too.  I am concerned for all the Christian companies that will disappear if we don't find a way to help each other... instead of attacking each other.

3 AUG 2015 :: Weekends are always full

So many things happen over the weekends and I want to share their significance in this life, but I forget it all by Monday... I think they call it "information overload!"   :-)  

I was following links to food information sites, to news items, to spiritual issues, to personal activities... and then I designed a new form for tracking my food intake and losing weight and discovered a JPEG function for saving my page... which I tried to upload to Etsy, and it worked!!  I hope this is a good thing... it will help me to get my designs up to the listing process for Etsy... at least the digital ones.  I suppose I will find out all the terrible issues associated with using this function in the days ahead.  :-)

I tried to upload/deposit some money for my son in prison over the weekend.  What a disaster.  While trying to make a  $15 first-time try-it-out deposit, I wound up with four charges and a drained account.  :-(   I was not a happy camper.  I tried to call both businesses about canceling the erroneous charges, but there turned out to be nothing that could be done.  What a lesson in online problems.

Now I have to wait (and PRAY) that my money eventually is returned to my account, but it has destroyed my fragile (poverty) budget.  I am considering all the alternatives as I wait... and trying to prepare for any of them.  I wanted to get the details worked out for a video visit by Christmas.  I don't know what I will do now, but I will try to deal with their system for now.  Their info says they are the third largest in their field... maybe I will check on 1 and 2 as well.


I happened upon a site with meal information focused on vegetarian diets, and some vegan pages.  The infographics were good.  I think I saved and/or printed about ten of them.  I loved the one about nuts in the diet.  I have been trying to figure out how many are in a serving for a long time... and which ones are the best for us.  They have a lot of information on how to survive without meat as your protein, and even how to live without eggs. Some of the ideas are worth knowing whether you eat meat or not!

I am looking for the best foods to focus on for my health and diet needs, the right portion sizes, and ideas for exercise in my situation.  I eat a LOT of popcorn so I searched for some place to find out how many calories it is costing me.  I found a website titled popcorn.org and more info than I really needed, and lots I am glad I read.

I think I have almost depleted my printer's ink supply because of all the copies I made to read and then share.  ( Another budget issue. )  I am a fiend for a lot of different types of information.  Some of it is really worthwhile, the rest you don't know about until you actually read it.

My weekend was filled with more than these things, but they offer a highlight. 

I have to change my routines next week.  I am needing more exercise on the weekends.  I tend to vegetate and get sit-down things done.  It causes my lost pounds from the week to return on Mondays.  We need to do something to prevent that... somehow.  Getting out the door is a problem for me, but I am working on a plan!  :-)


I am waiting on my house-flipping response this week, too. It is easier to look over materials at home, to check further online, to explore more at home.  I hope they send me the materials I was suppose to receive at the class/seminar/product introduction.

Don't forget to check on my new listing at Etsy and see how the form I made became a photo upload, and how it displays.  I am really excited about how it displays.  I will be able to create and attempt to sell a lot more of my planned digital products as I get them formatted.  I am already planning a strategy for getting them listed ASAP (as soon as possible).

Enjoy your evening... I will talk at you tomorrow, GOD willing.

Friday, 31 JULY 2015 :: End of the month, flipping houses experience, etc.

Another month has passed... I don't know where the time goes...it just seems to disappear faster and faster.  Even my "to do" lists can't keep up!    :-)

I have to finish creating my new budgeting form and try it out on AUGUST... plus file July's records and create files for August.  I am in the process of getting my routines figured out.  The end of the month and the beginning of the month are the main times for me.  I am trying to find a way to keep my spending within my planned budgets.

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It was a long day for me yesterday, trying to get errands done as I went about my seminar route... picking up meds, taking something back to a store, looking for supplies on my list, finding a bank to get the money for payments...  and not eating when I wanted to, in the heat  (terrible heat of the day), and sitting toooooooo much.  It was a mixed day.

The flipping houses seminar was an introduction to their paid services, including the flipping houses support and education, but also a second program about purchasing tax liens as a way of creating income through interest payments or acquiring properties.  I didn't get the free materials promised for attendance so I sent a reply email to the program asking for them. I'm waiting for a reply.

I can't afford the 3-day training (a price that varies between about $2K [buy today!] - $6K [web price, it seems]), or the tax lien materials ($1500+ - stated amount, but "deeply discounted" for those who also purchase the 3-day training), but I have seen other seminars on real estate wealth creation so I have a small idea of what is involved.

There's no way to find out what caliber the materials are without purchasing them and checking them out yourself.

 

 

The secret to any program's success is the person who is trying to use it.  Each person has talents and dreams that belong only to them.  There's no way to know who will succeed and who will just read it and decide it isn't possible for them. The two presenters mentioned that they were "weeding" out the ones who want to succeed  --  which is really a way of saying those who are willing to pay for the product.

I was trying to decide what their profit program was, but still am not sure.  I wondered if the presenters get a commission for their time.  I wondered how the profits of the program were divided up, or the new loans, or maybe the access...  lots of profit options for a sales person, just not sure how the company divides them up to make the investments worthwhile.   :-)

It seems their primary income source is the fees/interest for lending money on approved properties, leaving the net profits (100%) to the one who is learning how to use the program and beginning to flip houses, create rental incomes, and building their own financial assets for retirement income.

I decided that what you would be paying for, at any price, is not having to go through the "learning process" yourself, which can be costly.  :-)  I would like to have access to their forms and support network, and especially the financial support options for purchasing properties.  The greatest statement I heard was that the lending approval is based on the property itself... not your credit numbers.  This would be a safeguard for me as well, because they wouldn't approve a property that was a bad deal.  This helps a "newbie" to get the foundations figured out before they lose too much money. 

I hope to hear from them soon, with all the materials I might need.  :-)  That would be a great blessing.  I did ask for freebies because I am trying to find workable solutions to home ownership for the homeless, poor, and low-income households.  I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

It was really hard to find their web address...  I had to search several titles and names, follow links to Facebook pages, etc... etc... etc....  That's why I ended up with a reply function to their program.  Maybe you will do better.  I started with "Flipping Boston" as my search term.

These kind of experiences are teaching me how important it is to have your contact points on everything... especially the online ones.  I am getting much better at this process as I learn more about it.  :-)   I hope to design some really good materials to pass out -- that have everything necessary in a small space, like a business card, bookmark, postcard, webpage, Facebook or Twitter post, and so on.

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I may visit here over weekends eventually, but I'm not sure.  Monday to Thursday are my regular planned work week.  I end up thinking of things to share, so I may just start drafts to post on Mondays... just not sure how to handle this yet.

Enjoy your weekend.
Pray that GOD will help us... those who love Him.