Blue Moon Enterprises

As I was sweeping my living room floor today I was adrift in my thoughts. Not really knowing how I reached this point, I found myself pondering gratitude, specifically the gratitude I felt at that moment for simply having a living room floor to sweep. I guess I'd been thinking about a friend of mine who is really down on her luck and living in the Red Cross shelter here in our village. This woman had recently separated from and divorced her husband. She is unable to work as the result of a disability and her sole source of financial sustenance is Social Security Income. Before she became married she lived in government subsidized housing, but she allowed her membership to that program to lapse because her husband was earning an income substantial enough for the two of them to live comfortably. Once her husband was out of the picture she was left with an apartment she could not afford on the meager income provided by SSI. She could not simply re-enroll in the subsidized housing because it takes time, paperwork, investigations and interviews to become accepted to the program once again. She tried to find a roommate to share her small two-bedroom flat with and ease the burden, but none came to her aid. She's been in the shelter now for about a month. She is a great woman with a loving personality and, I guess, it bothers me.

So there I was amidst the manual labor of cleaning me and my fiancé’s apartment and it hit me just how precious our very own space truly is. How often that is taken for granted in my life. It was a momentous epiphany I had staring at that linoleum-covered floor, caring for my home, looking for wayward dust particles and tufts of cat hair, envisioning these vagrants in a dust pan and weighing this present experience of mine against that of my friend. It's not enough to say to myself that I deserve to live in these quarters, that I've earned my place here through my own performance and strokes of good fortune, and that if my friend had been smarter, more prepared and insightful toward her own security then she'd be happier. I need more than that. That is just an easy way to dismiss the facets of my own thoughts that are rather less desirable, such as the struggles others in this world endure, and a facility I tend to use to keep the blinders on and my mind focused on myself. Because I've struggled in my own life, I find myself more apt to identify with another's hardship. This is an easily overlooked doorway into the experience of grace and a veiled opportunity for my own soul to expand and grow.

I felt grateful in that moment for having a place to call home and a life worth living however full of insecurities, downturns and utter disasters. I am alive and able to experience moments of gratitude, compassion, serenity and grace. I love sweeping my floor...

I want to work from my living room...Who's with me? I've heard the success stories and I know that I want to belong in them. I want the freedom that comes with success in a home-based business. I want the freedom to go back to school, to be there when my kids get out of school, to not have to inform a boss when I need to make it to an important appointment (and possibly endure his diatribe regarding my accountability). I want to be the one to decide what hours I work and how many of them I devote to earning my beef. I want to have the time to participate in my life rather than be required to be at a place I may or may not desire to be at on that particular day in order to bring in the clams and ensure that I have a life to participate in. I want the financial control that comes with the thriving work-at-home enterprise.
     I know also that it is quite possible. The Internet began for public use, what, a decade or so ago. All of the stories I read point to the same conclusion- that Internet business and services are beating out many of the more out-dated, conventional methods we've used to acquire our information, our goods and our services. Our daily newspapers are one great example. For instance, I can get all of the top news stories I desire simply by logging into my browser. I can even personalize what news I wish to receive. If I want to work for someone, I can access any number of job search sites or classified ads, including the local newspaper's job postings, with very little problem or investment. Coupons are easily found for those who like to save at the grocery and one can't help but surf right into a bargain on the items we wear, eat, drive, or otherwise use in the course of our daily lives just by doing some web-clicking. Do I want to know what's on T.V. or playing at the theater? No need to search for that black-and-white-and-read-all-over roll of paper I used to use for such things. There is an interactive directory complete with show times, reviews, and all kinds of info right in my bookmarks folder on my home page. The days of the paper-in-hand and thrown-onto-your-doorstep newspapers are soon to be written into the annuls of our vivid and colorful history as more and more individuals realize how much of an outdated and wasteful media it is. I'd be curious to know the statistics regarding the amount of natural resources it consumes to simply produce one major newspaper. Let's see, there's the trees removed from their forest or jungle to make the pulp for the newspaper, there's the electricity (provided by other natural resources) and other such needed items to manufacture it, there's the gasoline required to deliver it, and then there's the resources needed to recycle it, given that even half of them do in fact get recycled. If you ask me, it's a no-brainer.
     This is , of course, just one example and I am certainly not so in-the-know about all of the ways that the Internet is affecting the way our world has been working itself out. But I do know that the Internet is not going away. This world-wide utility has become our marketplace, our meat-market and social scene, our gatherer and deliverer of information, our radio, our television, our telephone, our post office, our photo album, our connection to our bank and other businesses, and it has become our workplace, should we decide that we wish to learn how to apply and diversify our skills. I know. I have been participating in these things for months now. I kinda like it, too.
     Now I'm not saying that I believe all the gazillion-dollar-a-month income opportunities all these promos I stumble upon surfing the Web want to throw at me. But I do believe that there is a way to earn a comfortable living by doing the RIGHT things on the Net.
     I believe that affiliate marketing is one such business that will provide an income substantial enough to keep a person operating a business from home. There is a lot to learn in the world of affiliate marketing. There are a great amount of tools and resources available on the Net and, in my experience, it takes time and dedication to learn how to use these tools. There is a great deal of competition out there for an individual in this industry and more often than not it is the creativity factor that closes the deal. I have been marginally successful in this field. I will do better once I actually apply myself and take the steps I need to understand some of the utilities and methods of affiliate marketing. I won't turn a cold shoulder to affiliate marketing.
     Recently I had stumbled (literally) upon another way of making money on the Internet. I was sent to a site, the same way I've been directed to soooooo many sites before. Something about this site caught my attention and I began reading. Before I knew it I'd reached the bottom of the page and wanted more. I even played a video testimonial (which I rarely do). It was talking about something new, some fresh way of creating money from home. I was sketchy but I entered in my info (using a trash email address) to be taken to the next page. I read all of it and played all the video testimonials. The thing that got me going was the fact that I didn't need to give them any money to become involved. All I had to do was complete a free trial offer. I chose a blogging kit and paid only a small shipping and handling fee ($1.97). I became a member that easily. No huge investment, no obligation. I just had to remember to cancel the free trial I'd signed up for to become member. Since doing this business I've learned to keep really good notes regarding the things I do on the Net. It's just part of the whole thing. I was assigned to three mentors and away I went. I've been earning money regularly ever since. My income in this is not reliant on anything but what I choose to do. I sign up to do a deal, I do it and I get paid. It's very simple and it takes so little amount of learning and understanding that my 8-year-old son may be able to do it.
     Anyway, I am a very happy man as a result of being directed to this site. I began making money within 24 hours of signing up as a member and I see a very comfortable future in it for me. The competition is almost none because my income is not reliant on what other people are doing. If I need to make a certain amount of dough, I simply log on and do some work to earn it. There is no data entry, no advertising, and no posting articles and such all over the web. I have found control of my online income! I am more confident in my online presence now and I am a very, very happy man...
     To find out what I'm talking about, follow this link or type it into your browser: http://www.projectpayday.com/go/1440005