More about the thrift store

When I was in the thrift store, I got the Mackay book and 4 others. 5 books in all. I went to the checkout counter, Discover Card in hand. Had no cash on hand at the time. The pre-sales-tax total, as figured in my head, should have been $1.50 or so for all five books.
The lady didn't feel like ringing up my stuff, so she told me, in bare minimum English, "10 cents each."
So, I was like "ok, cool thanks!"
I gave her my Discover Card. Never before in my life have I seen as sudden a shift in moods!
She yells at me "Don't you have 50 cents in your pocket!?!?"
and politely I said, "No, if I did, I would use that."
So she yells back at me (still in miniscule English) , "It costs us $1.30 just to swipe a Visa Card!!!"...
To which I not-so-wisely-and-without-thinkng-before-I-reacted said back to her, "That's ok. It's not a Visa Card, it's Discover, it pays CASH BACK"...I am still smiling at this point, if even just because it's forced.
And she yells back at me, "Just take the damn things! Pay when you're here next time!"
At this point, I told her, "Ok, thank you very much."
I walked out feeling both sheepish and triumphant at the same time. Very strange combination.
As I was exiting the building, I held the door for an elderly gentleman who was strolling in for some last-minute stuff before the store shut down for the day.
He said "thank you, son!"
and I said, "You're very welcome. By the way, this may be of benefit to you. But I just found out they take Discover cards in here!"
and I was laughing as I drove off...

Thrift Store

A few weeks ago, I was at the local library and borrowed a copy of both "How to Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive", by Harvey Mackay, founder/chairman of Mackay Envelope, and "Low Profile Selling" by Tom Hopkins, world-famous sales trainer extraordinaire.
Reluctantly, I took those books back to the library when it came time. I told myself "I WANT these books for my collection", then let it go into the Universe to manifest in it's own good time.
Yesterday, I took a bunch of stuff to the local thrift store, which is basically like a Goodwill store. Now, I'm a HUGE fan of those places, because of their BOOK sections. Usually, you'll find at least one good deal. And most of the places like that that I go to, it's between $0.50 and $1 for hardback books, and half that for paperbacks.
2 weeks ago I was in this store, and actually FOUND A HARDBACK EDITION of the book by Tom Hopkins.
When I was in there yesterday, I found a hardback of the Mackay book. :-)
Being a regular attendee of the Rio Abajo Center for Religious Science, I've learned my fair share about manifestation.
It goes along with that saying "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear".
In "Ask and It Is Given", Abraham calls it "The Art of Deliberate Creation".
I love this stuff!!!

Credit Cards

Let's talk about those little plastic keys to financial ruin. Let's talk about Credit Cards. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate credit cards so much that I don't USE them. In fact, I have more than my fair share of credit cards and the "balances due" that go with them. All I'll say is I have learned some valuable lessons. Such as, if you find yourself asking "Why do I have so many credit cards?", it may be in your best interest to find a SMART (ask a financial planner) way to get those debts into as few monthly payments as possible.
Over the past few years, I have bought into the credit trap. Buy Now, Pay Later. Put it on your card. whatever you want to call it. It's the trap that credit card companies have set and sprung. I don't fault these companies, because it's a viable business model. I've had very few bad experiences with credit card companies, simply because my wife and I make all our payments on time. This is the first time I've ever had doubts or worry about my ability to pay my payments.
So, as it goes, credit cards are like electricity. Very useful, if used properly. If not, they can kill you.
Anyone wanting to vent/talk about credit problems, email me, because I feel very strongly about the need to treat credit cards with caution and control, and if I can help someone, I will.
Speaking of which, there are some people (ahem) out there that may have a mountain of credit card debt that they can currently see no way of climbing. If that's you, I'd like to recommend reading the book The Automatic Milionaire, by David Bach.

Once again, it's been a pleasure. Comments are always welcome!

Personal Development

I've added another link in the links section>>>
It's Steve Pavlina's Site.
He is the ultimate in personal development and time management that my aforementioned friend Steve and I have found.

Peace Out for Now!!!

Another book...

As I figured, there is another book I didn't mention in the last post.
"The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles.
This is one of those books written a long time ago, that is now in the public domain as far as copyright goes.
The website I found it on has the fully downloadable/printable text, as well as low-quality audio files of the "book on tape" version.
This book is one of many that has helped change my thinking about adundance and prosperity. It has shown me the proof that I needed to know that we are all masters of our own destinies.
Anyway, peeps, the link for it is in my sidebar :)
Click away...
Read and Grow Rich!

Fish in a bucket

Well, hello.
How's everyone doing? Another great day in the making for me.
A few people have asked me how I'm "holding up" after losing my job. Well, frankly, I feel as if it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me, motivation-wise.
Whereas before I was "in" the home-based business I'm working to build, now I'm pretty much doing it full-time whether I like it or not.
Whereas before I was "trying" to make money with it, now I'm REALLY doing my best to make this thing work for me.
I've come to find out from my mentors like Jeff Olson and John Addison that pretty much anything in life is doable if you approach it with the proper philosophies and beliefs.
I've been on a non-stop program of Personal Development and Personal Growth since getting involved in this business. In a bit, I'll list some of the materials I've read in the Personal Development arena.
For anyone who's reading this, and wondering, "what's this guy talking about?", Personal Development is simply the process of learning to expand your awareness to include finer distinctions regarding not only the field of study you're in, but of yourself.
The more distinctions you are able to derive and put into use about yourself, the more likely you will be to succeed in whatever task you are currently engaged.
Anyhow, without further ado, here is a short list of a few books I recommend grabbing up whenever and wherever you can:
Books:
1) Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill (took Mr. Hill 20 years to research and interview the 500 most successful people at that time, in the entire world)
2) The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson (This is an absolute must for anyone looking to improve their lives. It is a must-read to accompany ANY sort of self-help program, diet, etc...)
3) Unlimited Power, by Anthony (Tony) Robbins (This books draws on the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP, to teach you how to quickly and effectively replace negative destructive patterns of thought with better ones.)
4) The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale (This is an awesome book dealing with the creative power of thought. For you non-Christians out there, it tends to lean a bit toward that end of the spectrum, but it is worth reading to glean useful knowledge and techniques from.)
5) The Science of Mind, by Ernest Holmes (This is one of my personal favorite reads, as evidenced by the fact that I'm reading it all over again. Very insightful regarding the effect our thinking has on our lives)
6) Ask and It Is Given, by Jerry and Esther Hicks, (Very useful book full of processes/techniques that can be used to keep ourselves from being 'stuck' in any one emotional state.)
7) The One Minute Millionaire, by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen, (This is basically a very good primer on the basics of making a fortune in the "Enlightened Millionaire" way)
8) The Power of Your Subsonscious Mind, by Dr. Joseph Murphy (This is the first book that got me onto the path of personal and spiritual development. DR. Murphy, at one time, studied with Ernest Holmes, see book#5 on this list.)
9) How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

That's all I can remember off the top of my head for now. If I remember any doozies, I'll pass them on to you here.
Peace for now

Cell

Well, today the wife and I are going to my kids' school to see them get awards for "perfect attendance", as well as my son's Honor Roll award. One thing I LOVE about not being at a "real" job right now is being able to take the time to go see these things. So happy to be able to make these sorts of memories with my kids.

Freedom in Numbers...

Well, well...
Here I am again...Today's been cool.
Today's been awesome. Got my son's report card, and he made honor roll again. One of his grades went from an "E" to an "E-". He's in 1st grade, so an "E" is like an "A" I think.
Some of you may think I'm bragging on my son. Well, you would be correct :)
He was actually devastated today, when we were reviewing his report card. "Reviewing" it is something I do with my kids. I don't ask stuff like "What the heck happened here?". Instead, I ask "Do you know why you got that grade this time?"
I read somewhere that it keeps them more involved with the process of achieving goals.
Anyway, I assured him that there while it's perfectly acceptable and reasonable to want to do the best you can on an ongoing basis, he has nothing to be ashamed of.
He's my little man!
Well, while that was the best thing that happened to me today, there's more.
The company I mentioned in the last post has a division that markets the services to employee groups. Puts me in the position of an Employee Benefits consultant. I've been focusing my primary efforts doing that. Ultimately, it can allow me to help more people at once with our services.
More on how I'm doing with that as I keep with it for a few weeks.
On another note, I'm still learning as I go with this blogging stuff. My friend Steve, has been walking me through it as patiently as he can. He's got his own blog, for those of you who haven't seen it yet. It's definitely worth a read. Ultimately, I hope to get to the point where my writing here is on par with his.
That's it for now. Have a nice day/night, depending on where and when you are reading this from.

My first entry

Well, my name is Bill Perry. I decided to do this thing because a lot of people are doing it and I wanted to experience it for myself. It's really ironic, I suppose, that I'm somewhat more of an introvert than an extrovert. So this should be an interesting experience either way.
A little about who I am and Where I've been.
I'm 30 years old as of this writing. In 1994, after (and I mean RIGHT after) graduating High School, I went into the Navy and into the life of a submariner. I did the Navy thing for a little over 11 years. Over that 11 years, I came to realize it wasn't for me. I guess the best way to say it is that I'm just not a "company man". My official end of duty date for the navy was September 2005.
For about a year as that date drew near, I was at a crossroads...
Do I reenlist and keep pushing forth in a job I could no longer tolerate, or do I follow my heart/intuition and look for something that's more in alignment with my philosophies and interests?
Well, this kinda leads into another backstory. In January of 2004, a friend of mine had just gotten involved with a company that markets a very valuable service that made sense to me now. He asked me to take a look at the business opportunity with him, so I watched a DVD. I liked the concept of what the services are that the company was selling. It took me a year or so, but I signed up as a member and associate/distributor.
Then...I never really did anything with it due to my hectic sea schedule for the first few months of 2005.
So, anyway, back to my question of whether or not to reenlist...
I didn't. I decided that I want to set the best example possible for my kids. I felt that if I tried to stick out the navy for another 9 years, I'd send them the message that it's best to give up on your dreams.
So, keeping that in mind, I got out when the time came, so hopefully I could instill a sense of entrepreneurial/independent spirit for my kids.
I worked for about 3 months in a local appliance store to help cover those month-to-month self-inflicted migraines called bills and expenses. I was fired from that job, because the owners felt as if I was putting my interest in the other company I'm working with ahead of my "main job".
Now, while I slowly try to come out of my shell and start making the business work, I am wondering what I'll do if it doesn't work out for me fast enough...
So, that's where I am now. More later on.