Yes, I've been doing all of this for years now the last time I can remember. It's a little bit confusing at first but let me explain. First and foremost, I need to pay back all the child support money that I owe to my baby mommas. Second, I need a source of income or revenue so I can pay for such. Now, I'm sure a lot of us run into this problem, but what was my approach? How was I ever going to be able to tackle this problem? Coming out of high school and even college, I had no idea how I was ever going to support anyone else other than myself. Being young was a scary time. None the less, I used whatever resources I had to invent something. I didn't start out with much, and I needed to be as resourceful as possible. Venture capitalists? Angel investors? No one was ever going to give me "free money" for my dumb, beginner ideas. Whatever, I didn't need any else's free hands outs. I was going to work for my money. I would like investors but that always involves a lot of leg work and trust in other people face to face that just didn't roll with me. I do live in the New York City and New Jersey area where those big movies with fancy business suits always parade around, but I guess the social skills and business savviness just never rubbed off with me. Unlike a lot of other businesses out there, "other people's money" or latching onto mommy or daddy wasn't going to do it for me. As a result, I was going to have to work really hard to think up of ideas that would work with my personality type. I'm not a big believer of people. I don't think they have money or are willing to spend it on anyone else other than themselves. I do believe the vast majority of people out there are cheap and will throw a fit if a penny dropped out of their pocket. Regardless, I watched a lot of homeless outside of the city begging for money growing up. One day in school, a classmate told me how the average bum would make about $200+ over the weekend in the city just by panhandling. Surprisingly, it's true; but I didn't want to succumb to such. I don't think pretending to be a bum and asking people for money was something in my mission statement. So the weeks continued to fly by, and I was always left with this hunger to make money so I could pay my child support. Looking around, how was a deadbeat dad like me ever going to pay child support?
I needed answers from school, from parents, from family, from friends; but no one had what I was looking for. Everyone was too busy doing their own thing and that's fine. I wanted to know what was my thing. What the hell was my thing!? "Teacher", "bus driver", "police officer", "doctor", "engineer", "lunch lady", everyone seemed to know who they were EXCEPT ME. With a lack of faith in myself, I took up jobs in grocery stores and other lower end retails stores. No, it was not fun having to work with "customers". "Kill them with kindness" is what I've learned. Instead of being equally as nasty as the customer is more than willing to be, one must elevate themselves and "kiss ass". Remain calm, "kill them with kindness" and "kiss ass". These 3 tips helped me survive my days working retail. Let me tell you, it was a nightmare. Thank God, I was fired and qualified for unemployment. Any who, I understood clearly how money was so hard to make. As a result, I saved up a vast majority. I'm not going into the details, but it's enough to survive. When I was working in retail, I never saw a future for myself. It was the worst human experience possible. Regardless, I would continue to work each day to better myself or at least find something productive to do. Beneath it all, I wanted to find my passion. Maybe customer service is my thing? Maybe I was meant to serve others with a nice, friendly tone. A lot of other people were in the same field; and I was not much different from them. But, I did not want to stay. I always felt that I WAS MORE; I WAS MEANT FOR MORE. "Doctor" or "professor" . . . something that was MORE. I never wanted to settle as a cashier or something low on the food chain. IT'S NEVER ENOUGH. Looking at the prices of tuition to be someone important pretty much killed it for me. Again, I was stuck on the bottom of the food chain. How did I ever manage to step up my game from the bottom? The answer was Unemployment. They hooked me up with "free tuition" for my x-ray technician program and that paved the wave for my future!
Back to my incubator, I was saying how I was in retail - I saw and compared prices of toys on clearance and that of which was online. The earning potentially was what I believed to be phenomenal. Like out of a movie, I would spend the money I was earning to buyout the store's clearance toys. I quickly posted them up online and resold them for a profit. As time went on, I got better at identifying what toys sell and which ones were worth the most. I also avoided anything that didn't look like it could be resold for profit. There was a key to all of this - Toys appreciate in value over time. I'm talking about the good toys with hundreds of likes and reviews. Unlike stocks or bonds, the return on investment was pretty good over a short period of time, even better over a longer period of time. When I realized this, I knew what I wanted to do. I finally knew what "my thing" was! There was more than enough stores that had seasonal clearance sales. Every once in a while, I would drive out and start buying out toys that were on clearance. LEGO, HASBRO, TRANSFORMERS, HALO, MEGABLOCKS, DOMO, whatever it was, I would buy out whatever I could to churn out a profit; and unlike so many other things I've tried it actually worked out to be profitable. It was the perfect business model for me. I didn't have to invent anything, I didn't have to call the phone to China and have something mass produced, nor did I need another $100,000 for tuition. Reselling toys was the perfect game plan and market for me. Whatever it was going on, I MADE MONEY - rinse and repeat. With my overdue child support payment plan trying to be the death of me, what else was I going to resort to? School tuition is overly priced to the point no one wants to go anymore, so what other options were there? THE SOLUTION: START YOUR OWN BUSINESS WITH THAT MONEY! No, I don't want to hear it again with school. All college was ever good for was ripping young people off with fake dreams and hopes for a future. Yes, it did work back in the day; but for many of us college is just another money scam. College is great for people who already have money, but what about those who are always struggling and that life doesn't seem fair? No more lies for me, I want my own business. I want to make money by working hard and treating myself right. When you treat yourself right, everything else will follow. Your customers will be happy and will thank you for it.
As the night dwindles and the Monday morning is soon to set, I realized that a lot of the times I don't care enough about reaching out to people, which is why I'm not as successful as I want to be. It's always about POLITICS. I once got an email back after writing to a business company. They told me that they wanted me, but I never followed up. The author wrote to me how she wanted to talk more. I just didn't respond. I didn't want to relate to her with such a negative impact. I wrote a blog about how much of a hell hole working a 9-5 retail job was. Getting a response from a professional lady wasn't something I was intending. Whatever it was, she fell for it. She said that it was touching and personal. She wanted to contact me, but I failed to be more opened with her. That was the first professional response I ever received. Surprisingly, she wanted me!? Speaking to a young lady, I didn't want to corrupt her. I didn't want her to know. It wasn't something I wanted to share with her. She didn't have to know about it. Deeply, I was ashamed and wanted to present to her a better side of me and not some homeless guy trying to survive. Instead of dazzling her by being rich or fancy, I did it by being personal and making a connection on an emotional level. Whatever it was, I felt a connection; and she responded. Reaching out to someone, huh? Well, I made out with what I thought was the best choice that actually worked - Unemployment. The last line of humanity for me was ultimately Unemployment. There you will find the biggest ghetto and moochers alive. Living off of welfare, food stamps, and other free government handouts? Yup, that was the answer I was looking for. There's no invention or big business, it was just a ghetto welfare line. Horribly, ugly looking people with no aspirations for a future whatsoever. It was a chaotic mess of grumpiness, a black cloud of death. I've never seen such a depressing site. There was absolutely nothing there except no good bums and lots of them. Just row after row of bums. Couldn't anyone do something about this? Why are there always bums with no jobs lurking around every unemployment office? Once in a while you get someone respectable looking, but for the vast majority it's a living nightmare out of a horror movie. With such high taxes, you'd think life would look a lot nicer. Sorry, no it's a hell hole of a place. None the less, Unemployment was the answer I was looking for. This is what four years of college was worth? What in God's name was going on here!? Yup, college was a lie - Everyone goes to Unemployment. In my heart, I knew there was no other place to turn to. School was never going to help me out of this one. Unemployment was the bottom line, the end of the road, the matrix of it all, the center of the universe if you will. All these fancy suits and ties was worth absolutely nothing. It was just a crummy lie to me. How could I possibly trust the school system ever again? Nothing else here, but to retrain and find another 9-5 job . . . It's a slow and tedious journey, but that's life for The Unemployable.
I am The Unemployable . . . that's what people like me do in life, they feed off the government like leaches; but wait I thought I was hard working? Nope, I fail to make connections with the right people and haven't amounted to much other than a college education. I believed in going school everyday, but that wasn't enough. I had perfect attendance and Straight A's and still turned out to be Unemployed. Jesus Christ, I guess I'm just not cut out for POLITICS. Regardless of how hard you work, much to do about money is about POLITICS. It's not what you know, it's who you know. As long as you and your company is logging down everyone's name and contact information, you'll be connected with whoever you want to at any given time for business or whatever reason. Networking is essential at dividing people from the haves and those who have absolutely nothing but the shirts on their backs. NETWORK, NETWORK, AND NETWORK. Dressing up sharp and appearing to be friendly can increase your chances of meeting someone, but that's NOT ENOUGH. You also need a business plan or at least common interest. You need the whole package. Don't just rely on one source or one idea. A wide range of diverse and different ideas need to encompass and surround the whole plot - To be able to see the bigger picture. You always want to understand the bigger picture of things and not just the little nitpicking niches. Don't settle for less, always understand the bigger picture of things and why things have to be done right the first time around to get the ball rolling. Should you fail, you end up like me - You'll be one of thousands of people unemployed, like a zombie in a vast ocean of other mindless zombies with no name or face. Regardless, I wish to complete my radiology program. Yes, I know trying to get your foot in the door in the healthcare field is as political as being the first black American president, but I have to do what I need to do to strive for a better future. Is working in the hospital really that bad? Yes, it is hot and heavy all the time. People don't want to hire you unless "you know someone". It gets pretty repetitive and annoying but that is how it is all the time. For some it may come naturally, but for others like me, constant improvement and work is always necessary. Believe in yourself . . . believe, believe, believe.
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