Hello everyone! Please, check into this thread!

[Briefcase87]

Haha, right there with you brother! But thankfully we got "food-stamps" so that really is a Godsend. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones in this trailer, so it doesn't go very far. But by God, it is a lot better than nothin'!

 

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[David]

Josh,

Just don't get too defensive about what other board members have to say as some have contributed 100+ words per post. You should also not blame any person or organisation for the actions that I bought you where you are today. You had a choice to take on a risky job and you should at least be greatful you are alive today.

Expensive car, apartment, camera etc.. I guess you assumed life was stable and didn't expect major events like this occuring. Build equity and knowledge as tools and use these tools as you weapon to get you where you want to be. You have been give a 2nd chance in life, use this chance to the best of your abilities.

David.

 

[Russ H]

Hum . . . looks like Josh (Briefcase87) left the fastlane on Dec 11 and hasn't been back since.

-Russ H.

 

[FDJustin]

I'll give him until January 10th to see if he comes back. December is a busy month for many people, even partly into January. (Unless he checked out in some other thread, of course.)

 

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[Briefcase87]

Hey guys, I really do have the worst luck. I had saved up quite a bit of my travel pay from going to the VA and sleeping in the car for about a week so as not to waste it on gas going back and forth, and finally had enough money to take Kristine and myself on a very much needed vacation, to try and get our heads clear, and not stress so much. I figured you know, I worked my a$$ off to have this 400 dollars I saved up from sleeping in this pos car in the below freezing weather, it should be plenty of gas money to take us down to southern florida and spend a few days in the car down there and come back. We got down there, on dec 14 and everything was fine. Used our foodstamps to buy frozen dinners at wal-mart, and took them to gas stations to heat up and eat up. We figured after about 4-5 days, we should have enough money to stay a little passed christmas. Cause we weren't driving much, so not much gas money, and food stamps are tax free so it wasn't expensive to eat frozen dinners. Everything was going grand until the day before christmas. The other heater hoses busted. They were old as the other I just changed, so all the built up pressure being put on them from the new hose was too much. So at first I was like ok, I can do this.. I did it before. Hoses only cost about 10 or so bucks for the cheap ones. Well, the problem was is that the other two houses were further into the engine bay, and almost under the engine. There was simply no way I could change them without a lift and professional help. Called around getting estimates and what time, and it was going to cost over 400 dollars for everything. Well, you can imagine I didn't have that. I spent about 100 dollars in gas coming down, and I bought her a christmas present without her knowing because she very much deserved something dammit, it brings tears to my eyes for all that she has done for me, continues to do for me, and puts up with because she deserves a lot F*cking more than me cause im pretty much worthless right now. So I get her some stuff from Victoria Secret and a pair of heels she has "needed" more like wanted for almost a year, but could never get for her. Just a regular new pair of black heels, because hers have been worn down to nubs. So thats put me back about 100 dollars. So hear we are, needing at the very least 200 dollars more just to get this car running and 100 dollars for gas. Long story short, we got back here just 3 days ago. There are so many people out on the streets hustling money, and I am sure some where legit, but everyone there (locals and tourists) knew most of them were just drug addicts or something, and made it hard for us to actually seem legitimately in need. Luckily for us we could prove our situation, and no matter how embarrassing and degrading it was to have to ask for money like that, I had to do it. But luckily, we were not stranded in a really really bad area, and we made it out ok for the most part. I still feel like complete shit, and worthless for having to beg like that, and be treated as such by almost everyone. But we are back. Unharmed, physically that is.

Btw, thank you so much told-u-so, I luckily had the fastlane book with me because of you, and I read it nearly 4-5 times. At first it was a hard read, because I felt so differently about things, but the more I read, the more I understood and the more it became clear and made sense. Thank you so much. Alot of the other time after reading it, we spent our after hours in bookstores where I read a few negotiation books, another business book, a couple entrepenurial books, and tons and tons of photography books on skills/techniques/lighting/photography business and cs5. We were there so much, the manager bought us both a book so we didnt have to try and bookmark and hide the book we were reading to finish it when we came back.

 

[Icy]

I only have a second, but it's great to hear back from you! Sucks that like it kind kicking you at the moment though. :\

Sounds like you're working hard to learn everything you can though. And no doubt you'll get yourself into a better position!

 

[Briefcase87]

Thanks, yeah that book was certainly a great read and a great learning tool. It inspired me to read other entrepreneurial books and negotiation books.

It most certainly has. Sorry about the negativity, but i have literally just gotten back from this whole ordeal, and just thinking about it, let alone typing it up, really puts me down.

Currently though, I have been looking into these Grants that people talk about, but unfortunately its quite hard to read through, and find any thing that pertains to me. Most are for organizations and such, and the SBA for Tennessee is no longer even accepting applications. Wow. Lol. Once I finish this little endeavor in research, i am going to delve deeper into the venture capitalist realm, and angels.. That is my best option, so I have a lot of learning to do. Admittedly though, to no surprise of my own, I did enter that huge mega-millions lottery for the near 400mill. Wasn't banking on it for sure, but you can't win if you don't play right? Lol, my one in a billion chance was better than no chance at all. Congrats, to those lucky few who did win though. Pretty awesome.



-Josh

edit: Btw, where do I get the cool little avatar that I "read the book" from?

 

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[FDJustin]

I'll give him until January 10th to see if he comes back.

Jan 9th, 2011 05:42 AM

Cutting it close to the deadline!

It most certainly has. Sorry about the negativity, but i have literally just gotten back from this whole ordeal, and just thinking about it, let alone typing it up, really puts me down.

That's understandable, but if you can't think about it in an empowering way, it's only going to cripple your ability to build a better situation. If you can be more solution oriented, or find the positives in your situation, you won't have to "feel like complete shit, and worthless for having to beg like that, and be treated as such by almost everyone."

You know, part of them treating you like that is your own fault? If you think that way about yourself, you will send off signals, and people will pick up on them. Don't believe me? Let's give you some proof:

The sad lonely wallflower at a party is telling everyone else there "I don't feel right interacting with people. I won't be fun." etc, etc. Other people see them sitting there, not having fun, being incredibly awkward, and think "Gee. That's too bad, but if I go talk to this person, I might get stuck playing the pity game. All this fun I'm having will be stolen from me! I'll just look over here and pretend not to have noticed."

If you must be negatively focused, and I won't blame you if that's the case... Focus your negativity where it has the most beneficial results. Criticize your tendency to beat yourself up, because it will make Kristine suffer, for example.