Thinking Out Loud

I'm getting so excited for my upcoming Prosper Show presentation. It's this next week in Las Vegas where I'm scheduled to teach back to back workshops. One is helping retailers create an Amazon Video Strategy and the other one is teaching them how to leverage YouTube to grow their private label brands. So far, I have over 115 people attending the workshops and they are each paying $349 to be there. I am being paid half of the tuition which means I will earn in one day (5.5 hours of teaching) more money than I earned in my entire first year of teaching. Seriously, my contract as a teacher for the 1999 school year at Weber High was for $20,100. I left teaching as a profession after a few years because I didn't want to be financially tight. I wanted to be able to earn more money so I could better provide for my family. Little did I know then that later, teaching and consulting would provide me considerable income. The other day I was hiking a mountain and I had just re...

I just heard a story I want to always remember. It's about a woman who lived a Tao-centered life. She came upon a precious stone while sitting by the banks of a running stream. She placed the highly valued stone in her bag. The next day, a hungry traveler approached the woman and asked for something to eat. As she reached into her bag for a crust of bread, the traveler saw the precious stone and imagine how it would provide him with financial security for the remainder of his life. He asked the woman to give the treasure to him, and she did, along with some food. He left, ecstatic over his good fortune and the knowledge that he was now secure. A few days later the traveler returned and handed back the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he told her. "Although I know how valuable this is, I'm returning it to you in the hopes that you could give me something even more precious." "What would that be?" the woman inquired. "P...

I've been looking for a good charity to donate some money to when this video started to play in my Facebook news feed: It was an answer to prayers. The cool thing is the amount I was looking to donate is the same amount that it takes to sponsor an entire well for a community. How cool to be able to provide clean drinking water to a village! I had originally planned to start my own 501c3 so that I could dispense of my surplus in accord with my beliefs and values. I have been sitting on the paperwork for over a month now and in the meantime worthy causes have sprung up sufficient to suit my needs. So for now, I think I'll give through these other avenues till I have something specific in mind. I am keen to participate with several humanitarian organizations like Mercy Ships and CamFed . I was taught the principle of tithing from my youth and giving a portion of your increase is something I believe in. I don't believe you have to give it to a church to be in good sta...