My Retirement Story Doing It The Hard Way

I am in my mid - sixties and finding retirement not gladly what I expected. Our story began the

equivalent now most couples. Since a young couple we regard we had all the time in the world to prepare

for retirement. That was for ancient people. My cultivate and his father owned a very successful floor

cope business and reasoning it would be passed on for several generations. We were so ingenuous.

Along came a bad economy in the 80s and suddenly in 1990 we were no longer in business and

had huge debts.

We are now in our forties with two partly grown sons and no business. Forty isn ' t elderly so we

contemplation we still have extraordinarily of time. We decided to catch a very different path for our life. My

uphold was consumed of the leak pursuit of retail sales and being at the mercy of every economic wind so

we totally changed directions for our lives. We had both been involved in short - term mission stress

with our sanctum and heard of an good fortune for a longer word of mission need. I had been teaching

school for about 5 years and learned that there was a need for a teacher in a mission hospital in

Mafraq, Jordan. I would be teaching the children of the missionaries and giving them an American

education. Succeeding settling our college - age daughter in an apartment, we isolated for Jordan in August 1994. We

made the preference to go on God ' s retirement plan. We were in Jordan two years. I taught and my

guard oversaw the preservation of the hospital and built furniture for the wards and common

areas.

Alongside two years we returned to the United States and worked in New Mexico at a Christian

children ' s home. There I had a variety of responsibilities and my husband was in charge of the

maintenance. At last a job with benefits including retirement, but you had to work for ten years to

be fully vested. We loved the work and New Mexico is a beautiful place to live. When family

responsibilities required us to return to Georgia after just five years, we lost about 40 % of what was

in our retirement account. This was 1999 just before the tech - stock bubble burst. So we lost even

more of our retirement money. This was followed closely by 911.

We began work in Georgia at another Christian children ' s home and again they offered us a

retirement benefit but only after you had been employed for two years would they match your

contribution. Since my husband had previously been employed at a Baptist church, he qualified

immediately but I didn ' t. After just two years, I realized that being a house parent to 10 teenage

girls was not my calling. I left and returned to the classroom in a Christian school with no retirement

benefits. He stayed for another three years. After a serious back injury, he was forced to retire

when he was just 61. I continued to work so we didn ' t need to draw on his retirement immediately. Remember those economic winds we didn ' t want to be subject to, well I was teaching in a private

school and those winds blew, enrollment dropped and teachers lost their jobs. I ' m 64 and no one

wants to hire a 64 year old teacher. Now we had to draw on that very small retirement we had set

aside along with Social Security. ( Young people you cannot live on Social Security. ) We needed

more income and we knew that the small retirement would only last a few years. We had to look for

another source of income.

My husband loved to build furniture and I loved photography. Taking these two pleasures we

decided to see if we could sell our work at arts and craft shows. As we learned the ropes, we

gained some degree of success and enjoyed what we were doing. We participated in our first

show in 2006. Flash forward to 2011. We are five years older and our bodies are slowing down.

We began to wonder how long we could continue doing this. My husband ' s outdoor cypress

furniture is heavy and his injured back and shoulder are having more difficulty lifting. I ' m not much

help. I was never physically strong and now I have a torn rotator cuff that needs surgery. We knew

we needed to find something else that was less strenuous.

We began to look to the internet for possible solutions. We couldn ' t sell his furniture on - line

because it was too expensive to ship. So we tried to sell my photographs. The saying " if you build

it; they will come " just isn ' t true in the world of e - commerce. I didn ' t sell anything. I didn ' t have any

visitors. I knew other people were making money on - line so I wanted to find out how they did it.

After a lot of research and investigation, we became involved with a company that not only hosted

web sites but offered coaching and lots of support each step of the way. We made the financial

commitment to work with this company and then they introduced us to another company that did

extensive training and coaching. They had great people who came along side of us to guide and

direct us. Was this expensive? Yes, but it is an investment in a business and I am confident it will

pay off in the future. I have learned more about internet marketing than I ever knew there was to

know. They suggested that I try to sell another product in addition to my photographs. We have

built a great web site that sells slipcovers for all furniture needs. The furniture slipcovers are Subm selling. Slipcovers for all your furniture needs at EverydaySlipcovers. com ( I still haven ' t sold a photograph on - line. Nature and Nostalgia Pictures by George at natureandnostalgiapictures. com ) My photographs and my husband ' s furniture are

available on one web site for people to see. The slipcover web site is beginning to work for me,

thanks to all the folks on my marketing team and my coaches.

We still have to do craft shows but I see the day coming when the web site will be that income

supplement that we need. Then we can really retire and not work so hard. This is not the retirement

plan I would recommend to any one. It is retirement the hard way. Plan ahead while you are young.

Realize it is necessary to save for the future. If you want to build an internet business, start sooner

rather than later. It is a great way to supplement your income. An internet business like any other

business needs time to grow and mature. We don ' t have the luxury of a lot of time left. Our

business is going to have to grow up fast. Learn these lessons early so you can retire the easy

way; not the hard way as we did.

Joe George is the author as well as the owner of http: / / www. everydayslipcovers. com which sells slipcovers for all your furniture needs. A few years ago, I was looking for a recliner slipcover to cover my comfortable old recliner that was looking pretty shabby. After months of searching, I couldn ' t find one that had the look of quality and style I wanted. The frustration of the search led me to start my own business. My goal was to offer top quality and stylish slipcovers at an affordable price. I truly believe our furniture slipcovers will give you top quality at a budget price. I also wanted to offer furniture slipcovers for the hard to find furniture styles. We carry slipcovers for both wing - back chairs and wing - back recliners. We also have a slipcover for your lift recliner. What ever your furniture style or size we have a slipcover for you. Get ready for Spring with a fresh new look for your furniture with a new slipcover from http: / / www. everydayslipcovers. com

Memoir Writers for Hire Create Your Life Story With Little Effort

If you ' re ready to get your life stories down on paper, but don ' t observe up to the ultimatum, there are memoir writers for hire who will expertly bird dog you through the process of creating a book based on your experiences and life events. Writing a memoir can be a rewarding activity, whereas you sift through recent experiences with a professional writer. They will receipts you through three grave steps required for designing a book: make-up, implementation, and payoff. However, before you get started, go over these steps to help the collaboration to go smoothly.

Steps for Working with a Memoir Writer:

Determine the purpose of writing your memoirs before proceeding with all other things. If you plan to hire a writer to do the writing, then work out your costs or expenditures, and the timeframe for the same. Sine you are the person directing the decision - making process, you ' ll need to be clear about the content, including the focus and audience you expect to read it.

Memoir Writers for Hire

Memoir writers for hire employ professional writing standards. They work alongside you, and guide you in designing a perfect legacy. The content style will vary depending upon the audience. If you are not interested in creating a printed book, another popular option is eBooks. After finalizing these types of decisions, determine your project timeline with your writer. This ensures both you and the writer understand the goals and when they should be completed.

Organizational Help

You can create your memoir in two different ways:

First, you can personally write down the experience, if you have the ability to frame out the content in a sequence without missing valid points. After this stage of the work is done, you can call a professional memoir writers for hire service to organize the content, offer other pertinent feedback, and editing services if needed.

The second option is to have the memoir writer actually do the writing. This is ideal if you don ' t have experience in writing or don ' t have the time to devote to it. The memoir writer will record your stories, events, and history live, and then transcribe and edit it on a computer. They may also ask for copies of letters, old photos, and other documentation pertinent to the focus of your memoirs. Finally, an electronic copy will be emailed to you, for further examination.

The biggest benefit of going for memoir writers for hire is that they will tweak and modify the content, until you are satisfied with it. Once you approve it, it is ready to go to print, and in short order you ' ll be able to hold the finished product in your hands.

My Spiritual Coming Out of the Closet Story

I always knew. I knew that there was something that was different about me. But for years, I remained in the closet. Although it may come whereas a surprise to multifarious of you, I was a inscrutable kid. I was both feared and collectible, a insecure combination that rife priests and politicians would cream for. I did the entire Goth item before it was identical popular.

Since I am naturally brunet, it was an easy look to pull off. But these things were just lie low. The garb and the attitude was just war emulsion that I wore to fend off anyone who tried to get close to me. I didn ' t want anyone to know the real me. Deep down inside I knew what I was, a spiritualist who was too cowardly to come out of the closet.

Over the years, my dark clothes turned into expensive stiff two - piece power suits. My talent for being feared and admired enabled me to become the ultimate corporate bitch, closing deals before the stock market rang its bell. I was a top producer, with dozens of frenemies. I had the life that many people dreamed of. Despite all this, my love for spirituality continued to grow.

I knew that I was in serious trouble when I found myself in some East Village loft, sitting crossed leg in a man made circle. We were all holding hands while meditating to the sounds of the Mediterranean Sea. It felt great! How could something so good, be so wrong? I wanted to feel that way all the time, but if I expressed how I really felt, people would think that I was loony. My fears of looking and or going crazy motivated me to get some counseling, spiritual counseling.

I spoke to a guru who had been practicing for a very long time. He sat me down and cleared everything up for me with one powerful sentence. " You have nothing. " What! I couldn ' t believe it. The losers who came into the bank asking for money had nothing. I had everything, a great career, flaky friends, tension headaches, and money that I spent on useless things that didn ' t make me happy.

Then, I realized that I truly had nothing. It was an aha moment. I was like the clients that I hated, high risk, potentially dangerous, and foolishly believing that I could get money with lunch and a smile. I had nothing when I wasn ' t connected to the source. For me, the source was my ancestors.

They have the capital and resources to support me in any endeavor that I choose to partake in. But I couldn ' t go to them with a half ass business plan. I had to give them something, prayers, offerings, sacrifices, trust, and love. I had to earn their support. I couldn ' t do it being afraid, or shameful. I couldn ' t do it by being locked in a closet. I needed to tell the world who I was, and I needed to do it loud and proud.

I AM THE OFFSPRING OF MY ANCESTORS!

Motivational Stories The Story of B. R. Ambedkar

If there is ingredient man who has successfully fought antagonist all through his life, not unrivaled from predestination but besides from his own countrymen, it has to be Dr. B. R. Ambedkar - the main creator of the Constitution of the largest democracy in the world - India. What makes his life so inspiring for people who find themselves in impossible situations is the truth that Dr. Ambedkar was born in a family that was one of the millions of families in India ( and still is ) that was treated apathetically, and sometimes flat inhumanly, by the so - called higher castes. The way he managed to get himself educated and the method in which he fought inveigh all the obstacles time rising to the most prestigious position in the country is remarkable.

Dr. Ambedkar, or Bhim owing to he was called by his mother, first suffered due to the prejudice of casteism in India when he first went to school. In India, Hindus have built a ridiculous caste system where the lowermost classes are called ' untouchables ' and they are treated just as the name suggests. The ' untouchables ' were, and in fact still are, not allowed to stay in the village but on the outskirts. They are not allowed to drink water from the same well and they were not even allowed to worship in the same temple. Bhim was born in such a caste.

As he grew up, Bhim started observing how he and his family were treated by the other members of the society. There was this incident in his school which is said to have really motivated him. On one of his initial days in school, he was ordered to stand in a far off corner of the room, away from the upper caste students. This is how he spent his days in school and he still managed to be the most brilliant student in his class. However, being from the lower caste, he wasn ' t appreciated at all by his teachers. This didn ' t stop him from keeping on shining in his studies.

Bhim had to face many more obstacles as a student in his teenage years as well. When he wanted to learn Sanskrit, the language of the ancient Indian holy scriptures, he was denied the permission to do so for he was from the lower castes. However, he still managed to learn Sanskrit on his own later in life. He had to face countless insults from his fellow students and his teachers. Inspite of all the adversaries, he passed the matriculation examination and was the first from his community to do so. Further, he wanted to go abroad for higher studies but didn ' t have enough money to do so. The Maharaja of Baroda came to the rescue with a scholarship for exceptional students and Bhim qualified for that very strongly.

He went to California University where he studied Economics and Sociology. The freedom and equality that he experienced in America had a profound impact on him. He had never experienced so much freedom and so much respite from the caste prejudices of his own country. After a lot of ups and downs he finally completed his education, but his educational qualifications didn ' t mean anything to his own countrymen who still saw his caste first and not the man.

He lead many protests, mainly peaceful, and through great perseverance made his way up to being the father of the Indian Constitution. He had to face much pain, suffering and insult on the way but his sheer mental strength and his resolve to fight injustice provided him with all the power in the world to keep on fighting till the end. He died being an inseparable part of the great personalities who have shaped modern India.

No Conflict, No Story Make It Count!

The Greeks had a good confabulation for this: agon. Its whereabouts we get protagonist and enemy from. Essentially, what they realized was that the real center of drama was conflict. You may remember this series of conflicts from your high school literature class:

Man vs. Man

Man vs. Nature

Man vs. Himself

Man vs. Society

Although very simpleand we recognize that Man vs. Himself is not a satisfactory way to describe Hamletthis list effectively shows us that stories are about different kinds of conflicts. And, if you think about the books that most moved or influenced you, youll realize that they are all centered around a conflict.

Do not think about your story in a Man vs. Man way if your detective protagonist is matching wits with a serial killer. Do use this kind of conflict to understand that it is really about how the character is revealed through the conflict.

Motivational Stories The Story Of Charice Pempengco

Charice Pempengco is a vocalist from the Philippines confessed for singing on The Ellen Degeneres Array and other famous television parade along with being guested on several talk shows throughout the United States. Declared for her smash hits like Pyramid and Louder, not terribly manifold people are aware of her life story that starts off with a sedate beginning.

Charice was a young spring chicken who always had a pulchritudinous language. Canary would associate contests constantly from the age of 7 all the way up until 13. The matchless difference between Charice and several other singers was the simple truth that female wasn ' t over wonderful due to umpteen other Filipinos. One of the most arduous times for her would be when schoolgirl would duck to other singers in local contests that were never precisely good, but they won seeing of their looks.

One of the most popular times when this happened was when she joined the famous talent search show in the Philippines, titled " Little Big Star ". It offered young children and teens in the Philippines the chance to show off their vocal skills and make their mark in this industry. When she first joined the show, she was kicked off at the entrance of the audition ( without singing ) simply because she " didn ' t have the certain look that they were looking for ". After negotiating, she was given the chance to audition for the show. After much luck, she was able to take home third place, but the sad fact being that the winner was simply a dancing vocalist who won because of his charming good looks.

After just two years of losing from that competition, she guested on the Ellen Degeneres show, and then she went on to succeeding with guestings on Oprah and a wide variety of other shows throughout the US.

However, it wasn ' t just her looks that caused her the trouble and difficulty in the music industry; it was also the cause of having an abusive father growing up. Her father abused her Mother until she was three, and it was during this time when they moved out. With the money and fortune taken away from the father, they were left with no money, having to live with Charice ' s grandmother and later on having to stay in a much smaller home. This was one of the biggest hurdles for Charice, her mother and her little brother, Carl. Charice would sing to earn money for her family where she would join contests with cash prizes, which in turn would help pay for food and shelter. It wasn ' t until Charice joined big contests like Batang Kampeon ( Child Champion ) along with Little Big Star where she would provide for her small family good enough money to survive.

Charice ' s story remains one of the most motivational for me because it talks about passion, love, power, and how hard work with perseverance will pay off even when your country decides not to support you. While she is very well honored in the Philippines now that she is so successful, she was only noticed because of her success and fame founded in the United States. Her amazing voice is surely captivating and one of the best that you will ever hear. It is nice to know that she is now making millions of dollars every year from her albums and hit shows across the world.

Motivational Stories The Ben Carson Story

The story of Dr. Ben Carson is one of the greatest contemporary real life stories that illustrate just how much every individual can carry through with the honest amount of determination and motivation. Ben was a piceous boy raised by a single mother at a time when African Americans did not cotton to half being prevalent privileges since they do today. For the greatest part of his early greenness, Ben believed that he was the dumbest kid in his school. And he had very good reason to do so. At the heel of every assessment and stab, he was always at the bottom of the class. One incident in particular illustrates just how dumb Ben apparently was. One day, his teacher was handing out the results of a assessment that the pupils had taken earlier and piece called out the names of the kids in the class at serendipitous to find out what they had managed to score. When gal called out Ben ' s name, he replied in a timid voice. " None, " he said. His teacher, hearing nine instead of none actually congratulated Ben for having obtained nine percent before another pupil corrected her, to the utter jubilation of the entire class.

The fact that the teacher actually congratulated him for scoring 9 percent in a test, which is indeed a very low score, illustrates clearly just how dumb he was in class. Getting nothing right in a test was however something that Ben was accustomed to at the time. It is hard to imagine how a boy who could barely get anything right in class turned out to be one of the most respected neurosurgeons who ever lived and arguably the most successful.

In his story, a book titled Gifted Hands, Ben outlines how he did it. The true hero in his story is his mother who was always telling Ben and his brother that there was nothing in the world that they couldn ' t achieve if they put enough work into it. While working as a housekeeper for a professor, Ben ' s mother was quick to realize the role that books played in the man ' s success and upon realizing this, she made her two sons borrow books from the library, read them and write her a report. This was the first time Ben ever read a book from start to finish. And this too was the turning point in his life. After some time of blind reading in order to satisfy his mother, Ben soon realized that the stuff he read was actually useful in class.

Within months, he was on his way to the top of his class. As his grades continued to improve with sustained reading, Ben realized the potential that hard work held, knowledge that was to help him throughout his rise to his prestigious career. Because of his determination and hard work as well as a deep rooted self confidence instilled in him by his mother, the boy who joined school as the dumbest kid at the bottom of the class graduated as the top student and went on to conquer the world of neurosurgery, becoming the first surgeon ever to separate two babies attached at the brain. Bravado!

Personally, I think the story of Ben Carson is truly inspirational. I like and enjoy Ben Carson story a lot. I hope you will learn something out of this short story. Keep a look out for more motivational stories because there will be a lot more coming your way ( very soon ), hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I do. Take care.