I am on a journey to live a life I love and to fill my life with the things that truly bring me joy... my dream job, loving relationships, financial abundance, a healthy mind and body, and a deep spiritual connection with all that is. I am living consciously to create a life filled with all the things I love.

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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Finding Ways to Bring in Money

I know a lot of people are looking for ways to bring in some additional cash these days, especially those who:
a) were laid off
b) are currently unemployed
c) are changing careers
d) are going back to school
e) had to take a pay cut due to your company's performance

And then there are those that are also affected by the economy, but not directly through their jobs. These include those who:
f) have had their credit limits reduced
g) are maxed out on the credit cards
h) have bad credit and can't get additional credit
i) are trying to sell their properties
j) lost a considerable percentage of their retirement accounts
k) lost a considerable sum of money in other investment accounts
l) had unexpected large expenses such as health care costs, car accident, home repairs, etc.
m) had their credit card companies drastically increase their APR

As you can see, there are a multitude of reasons why people are in financial difficulty these days, and the impacts of these can pretty drastic. Foreclosures, short sales, evictions, collection company notices, bankruptcy, closing down businesses, etc. Whether the reasons you are in financial difficulty by choice (because you decided to pursue a different career, move to a different place, etc. to pursue a better life) or you were a "victim" to the economic circumstances (in which case, you are STILL responsible for the events that have occurred in your life), we can all use some additional money right now.

Let me explain what I mean by "victims" being responsible for the events that have occurred in your lives. The reality is that we are only "victims" when we consider ourselves such. The more you consider yourself a "victim," the more life will deliver situations and circumstances that make you feel like a "victim." The truth is, we are not victims, even if you were laid off or some injustice occurred, remember that we are all responsible for the life we create for ourselves. We do this with our thoughts, our beliefs, and the affirmations we say to ourselves every day. All you need to do is change your thoughts. If you can change your thoughts, you change your words, which change the habits in your life, which will result in a different outcome. Doing things that make you happy will keep your emotions positive and you will get closer and closer to what your life was intended for.

Sometimes big, ugly things happen in our lives to give us a wake-up call that we are going down the wrong direction. Consider these blessings. The sooner you "wake-up" and realize that the direction you're headed down is not making you happy, the sooner you can choose to make a change that can alter the course of your life forever. There are hidden blessings in ever event that may originally seem to be a bad thing. Look for the lesson that these events are trying to teach us, learn from them, and then you will choose to take steps towards doing things that bring you joy.

Use your emotions as your compass. Only you know what is good for you, and you have the answer to all of your questions inside of yourself. You may receive signs from your environment or people around you, but the answers are within your heart. No one knows what you want better than you. If you are weighing options, pick the one that makes your heart flutter with excitement rather than the one that makes your gut or jaw tighten because deep down you really don't want do take that path. Don't do what you "should" do. Do what you WANT to do. This is very important. Because even though the path towards your happiness may seem more "risky," trust in the universe to want good things for you and always deliver what you need when you need it. There is always a way, even if you may not see the answer clearly in front of you right this moment.

Let me give you an example of how I am living this out. I took a look at my finances, and my finances look like everyone else's, if not more heavily indebted for now due to costs of the lifestyle we chose to live and the degrees I chose to pursue. Anyhow, there is no blame here, no "we should've done this instead," or any other negative thoughts. The only thoughts I'm choosing to have now is to observe my current situation and think, "ok, so this is our starting point, and therefore this is where we will start." Everyone has a different starting point. It's like a diet. Depending on how well you took care of your body for all these years, you are in a different position than the person next to you. You cannot blame anyone else for what has happened to you. Even if people try to influence you, ultimately, it is your decision to take someone's advice. It is all up to you.

The world is truly your oyster, and you can choose the reality that you want. You choose now, and little by little, as you believe that what you choose is rightfully yours, the world around you will begin to change and the opportunities that you seek will start coming your way. Believe this, try this, and keep practicing until you can master this. It is one of the laws of the universe.

In my world, I am looking at my finances and thinking that if I truly want to change careers and go back to school, I need to find a way to finance it. I declared to the universe that indeed I will be going to school, and there will be a way for me to pay for the tuition, preferably in cash, and then I opened myself up to the opportunities and thoughts that came my way. I held onto this thought over and over for the past 6 months. I trusted that the money will come and that I will be able to go to school this fall. Now, that time is coming up quickly. I am approximately 2 weeks away before I start classes. Up until now, I have been financing my other courses on credit card, but this is not a good solution.

Let me summarize what has manifested for my tuition for this upcoming fall semester:
1. Small merit scholarship
2. Stafford loan
3. Mutual fund account money
4. Corporate stock shares money
5. Reimbursement for taxes overpaid on property
6. 401k disbursement from last job since the balance was under $1,000
7. Amazon book sales
8. eBay sales

1. Small merit scholarship
This was an interesting manifestation. After I received my acceptance letter, I was still debating whether I should make such a drastic change in my career. It was a risky move, by conventional standards, and I wasn't 100% sure if this was the direction I was going to pursue. To help lessen my own fear, I declared to the universe that if I received a scholarship, then I would definitely move forward in this direction. I had no idea how I might receive one, but that is what I declared. I ended up writing an email to the admissions office to see if scholarships had been distributed yet, and they mentioned that it was in the process. I just wanted my name send them an email to make sure they knew I was interested. A week later, I received a letter in the mail stating that I had received a merit scholarship. Wow. I was shocked myself. Since that moment, I committed to this direction and decided to find other ways to make money.

2. Stafford Loan
After submitted my financial aid form, I then received a letter in the mail within a month or so stating that I had received a government loan for each semester. Now, I was up to about 40% of what I needed to pay for my tuition.

3. Mutual fund account money
My mother called me one day to tell me that I had a mutual account that she had transferred over to my name after I graduated college. I had completely forgotten about it, even though I received statements in the mail. I had been so busy that I had not had the time to keep up with those statements. It turns out there's enough money here to cover the majority of the remainder of the tuition for the fall semester.

4. Corporate stock shares money
While cleaning out the papers in a huge pile, I discovered a statement from a stock shares program I had enrolled in with a company I used to work at. I thought I had liquidated it all, but it turns out there was some money left in it. I called to see what the it was worth, and it was more than I expected. Another bit to help me cover the costs.

5. Reimbursement for taxes overpaid on property
We also received a check in the mail for some property taxes we overpaid on our old place. I wasn't expecting this at all, so it definitely helps!

6. 401k disbursement from last job since the balance was under $1,000
In my last job, since I wasn't there for a long time, my 401k contributions were under $1,000 total, so I received a letter in the mail stating that they were going to send me a disbursement for the balance unless I decided to roll it over.

7. Amazon book sales
This was an amazing find that I discovered. I had tried it years ago with not much luck, but this time around, it has been keeping me busy. I have been trying to declutter my place and make extra cash by selling my books on Amazon. This time, I am sending items Media Mail (I had lost quite a bit of money last time by sending everything regular mail and just spending time to send items while making no money), so everything has been working out great! I have sold 72 books so far, in only a couple of weeks. Pretty amazing! I highly recommend this route if you have lots of books that you know you won't be reading. Amazon gets tons of traffic.

8. eBay sales
Certain items are good for eBay. I had some additional stuff that I really didn't know what to do with that I decided to put on eBay. Don't expect to make much here, but every bit helps these days!

So, my point in telling you all of this is that if you keep moving forward with your goal and intend your desired outcome, somehow, some way, opportunities will arise and creative ways will come about for you to get to your intended outcome. Listen to your gut and let your feelings guide you. Do what feels good, and you know you're going the right direction. Trust that what you are intending is on its way to you. Listen and watch for opportunities, ideas, and signs, and act on them. Sending you much love, peace, wealth and abundance in your lives.

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