I love learning. I don’t understand people that don’t. One of my biggest fears is that I’ll run out of time before I’m done learning. There’s just so much that I’m interested in.
I was reading an article in the New York Times recently that talked about taking classes online. Of course I know that there have been online classes for ages, but I wasn’t aware that 1) many were free, and 2) many Ivy League and top-tier schools were making courses available online through Coursera – FOR FREE.
The Coursera Mission
We (Coursera) envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions. Our technology enables the best professors to teach tens or hundreds of thousands of students.
Through this, we hope to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. We want to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.
How cool is that? I can attend Harvard, Brown, Columbia, or a long list of other prestigious universities (worldwide) and learn almost anything I want.
My Coursera Plan
What an abundance of topics and things to learn at Coursera! I was too late to register for the Greek and Roman Mythology class, taught by Dr. Peter Struck from Penn State University, but I signed up for it anyway and will take the Coursera course “time shifted” later this month.
At this moment I’m on “spring break” right along with the students at University of Virginia. The Coursera course I’m taking at the moment is “The Modern World: Global History since 1760,” taught by Philip Zelikow. Professor Zelikow has an amazing CV – he’s been a professor at Harvard, a diplomat, been published numerous times and, most interestingly, headed up the 9/11 Commission. Nice credentials, huh?
How Coursera Works
Getting started with Coursera is easy. Just signup as a student (no fussy applications, no screening tests or interviews) on the Coursera website. Pick a course, sign up for the course and begin to LEARN. You won’t regret it.
What a world we live in now, huh?
If you are interested in how I’m also building my financial future, please fill out one of the forms on this page.
HATE when this happens! Ever have insufficient funds to pay for stuff?
Insufficient Funds
We’ve all been there. You go to go and pay for something and… insufficient funds.
I’ve been there.
I’ve had insufficient funds to pay my mortgage and rent.
I’ve had insufficient funds to pay my electric bill.
Heck, I’ve even had insufficient funds to buy groceries.
But, I’ve also owned a house, held a job, been self-employed, traveled all over the world and owned a BMW X5, and Audi A8 and a Jaguar XJ6.
Insufficient Funds?
Yeah, I’ve been there, done that. Really.
What most people know about me is all the successful stuff. Multiple 6 and 7-figure earner, best-selling author, leader, blah blah blah.
What they don’t know, is sometimes the price along the road to success is to take a risk on yourself (it’s called “insufficient funds”).
I’ve bought advertising for my business instead of paying my bills.
I’ve elected to read a book or learn something online instead of going out – for months.
I’ve had a garage sale, sold my TV, borrowed money… everything you can think of (including having “insufficient funds“) to get to where I am today.
I’m not some wunderkind that had overnight success. Or “knew” someone. Or got “lucky.” I simply did whatever it took, for however long it took, to get where I am today.
Are you willing to do that? If so, I’m willing to coach you.
Get started here: /join.php?id=ksilver
Maybe you won’t ever have to see INSUFFICIENT FUNDS again.
Worse, I really, really, really didn’t want to go back to Corporate America. I had enough time off to realize that there had to be a better way. I wanted to have a LIFE and make money at the same time, but was there a way to have both and have success from home?
At the time, very few people that I knew actually worked or were successful from home. The people I knew that didn’t go to an office were either artists, or actors, or people that owned service businesses. The other people that didn’t go to an office were unemployed.
That was almost 10 years ago, and my how times have changed. The US Department of Labor estimates that by the end of this year, the #1 employer in the United States will be “SELF.” A huge percentage of self-employed people now work from someplace that is not an office-place – typically from home. If that many people are working from home, that tells me that there is plenty of ways to get success from home.
What Does it Take to Have Success From Home?
There isn’t any way anyone could have success from home by sitting on the couch eating Doritos. Just won’t happen. We all know that?
But, what does it really take to be successful out of a home office.
It’s probably not what you think.
Success From Home Must-Have List
Here’s the list:
Habit – Get up at pretty much the same time every day. Do some personal development first thing – every day. A better you = a wealthier and healthier you. Get in the habit of doing your income-producing activities at a certain time every day. Every day.
Tribe – Make sure that you’re connected with a tribe of like-minded people that support you in your success from home, or whatever else you decide you want to create in your life.
Personal Responsibility – Everything that happens to you– good and bad – is your personal responsibility. Blame or accolade no one but yourself. These are the choices you’ve made – this is the life you’re living. Accept the consequences of your actions – both good and bad. This is a terrific way to live powerfully.
Learn – You do NOT know ANYTHING. I know, that’s a bold statement, but just understand that you will be going in a new direction, so let go of all your previous things you “knew” and open up to learning from others.
Find a Mentor – This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT in the list. There is nothing that will accelerate the pace of your business more than simply finding someone that has walked before you and already has success from home. Tap into their knowledge. Do what they tell you to do. No excuses.
Success from home is within anyone’s grasp. In Nike’s words, just do it.
Baby Boomers Working from “Home” (Cap d’Antibes, France)
Between the difficulty of our current economic situation and the increasing ease of starting home based businesses, many Baby Boomers have left their 9 to 5 jobs in favor of working from home.
Even more have been downsized, can’t find a new job and Plan B has been to find a business where they can be a baby boomer working from home.
Baby Boomers Work From Home Advantages
There are many, many benefits that baby boomers working from home can enjoy:
Leverage their experience
Typically have enough capital to ramp up a business
Time freedom – take time with family any time
Plump up retirement funds
Learn new things – internet marketing
Suppliment income
Leverage work ethic
Travel
many more
Supplementing your retirement income and your shrinking 401K doesn’t have to be difficult. Baby boomers working from home, earning money and starting a new career can be lucrative and interesting and fun.
Baby Boomers Work From Home are Successful
Baby boomers are perfect candidates to work their own businesses from home. They are more likely to be successful. What puts many of them off is the idea of being “scammed” (oh how I hate that word) or not being able to learn what it takes to have success from home. The baby boomers work from home that I know are typically the most successful people in the companies that they are affiliated with.
Many boomers that look at the business that I work are apprehensive about being in an online business. Don’t be! We are old enough to know that we can learn anything. How did we achieve what we did in our jobs? We learned.
My husband and I are baby boomers working from home. You are probably a baby boomer if you are reading this. Explore your options. Learn. Understand that your age is not a limitation but an asset.
I had a difficult conversation at the end of last week, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I won’t mention this guy’s name on my blog, let’s just call him “Bob.” Bob had requested information from my website about what I do for a living. Bob is a baby boomer and has had a very successful career. He’s been a loan officer, is looking to make $150k/year, and, according to his comments is looking to get his life back.
Sound familiar? It should, because there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other people out there that are looking for the same thing.
I know I was.
A couple of weeks ago “Bob” phoned me and we had a short conversation. He indicated that he was still doing his due diligence on my business. That’s cool.
He also friended me on Facebook – good for him (that’s an excellent way to get to know someone).
What started our “difficult” conversation was that I noticed that he was posting rather negative comments about his situation, the government, the economy, etc. on his Facebook page and, of course, I could see them on my Timeline. I figured that he could use some help, so I asked him… “can I help you?”
Here’s his reply:
“You know, at 60 years of age I am no longer a wide eyed hopeful and naive young person. All I see out there are ways to pay more taxes, work for minimum wage, pay more for food, watch a growing Police State, and I have done (insert his list of other businesses), and none of them were sustainable. What a wonderful world.”
I kinda got mad at this because, this lousy thinking is exactly why he is broke.
Here’s my not-so-great reply, )actually, it’s pretty terrible):
“NICE… So… you are the same age as my husband. We’ve opted out of your so-called police state, with wide-eyed KNOWLEDGE that we don’t have to have anything to do with that because we do not have jobs ( I meant self-employed), can live wherever we want and don’t have to build a stupid MLM business.
Even when we were broke.
So you can decide to opt out too, OR you can complain and go back to a job.
Sorry about the “in-your-face” comments.
To which he replied:
Ok, I have no anger left for or towards anyone, so “in your face” comments have no effect on me anymore. Like I said, I have no money to invest, no checking account (tax man grabbed that) and I do not understand this stuff anyway.
Like Bob Dylan said, “It’s not Dark yet, but it’s getting there.”
Lousy Thinking is at the Root of His Problem
I am not usually confrontational. I usually don’t complain, I just “do.” When I need to solve a problem, I just get busy. I like to just be an example of what someone can do/be/have. However, I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE ARE STOPPED BY THEIR OWN LOUSY THINKING.
The funny thing is that he has this poem posted in his “About” page on Facebook:
“I hold it true that thoughts are things:
They are endowed with bodies and breath and wings;
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good or ill.
Thast which we call our secret thought
Speeds forth to earth’s remotest spot,
Leaving its blessing or its woes,
Like tracks behind it as it goes.
We build our future, thought by thought,
For good or ill, yet know it not,
Yet so the universe was wrought.
Thought is another name for fate;
Choose, then, thy destiny and wait,
For love brings love and hate brings hate.”
I pray that this guy figures out that he has lost his way. I’ll remain a beacon for him for when he does.
From all the little things like the traffic jam to perhaps spilling coffee on your favorite shirt… to other things like working long hours and worrying about the unhealthy economy.
With so many things that get us worried or upset, it’s no wonder that it’s so easy to feel like you’re always getting the short end of the stick. Like everything is out of control.
Well, this video of Nick Vujicic is a reminder that external factor are exactly just that! External.
The power to get what we want, be it personal or professional or financial, lies INSIDE us. It should never matter what the external situation or the external economy is like.
