Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I’m A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

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IS THERE SUCH A THING AS- SOMETHING FOR NOTHING?

Today is Good Friday, April 2, 2010, and this thought keeps running through my head, is there such a thing as – SOMETHING FOR NOTHING? As I scroll through the mental inventory that is my life, I am trying to come up with a situation where ABSOLUTELY NOTHING was given and EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED was received….Guess what?…I couldn’t find one. What I found, it is easier to remember times when what I desired was received and what it took to achieve the desired outcome. I will give a few personal examples later but first l would like to talk about others. To do this, I will first list WHO, their DESIRED OUTCOME and what was GIVEN to produce that outcome….Please keep this in thought while you read- Every action produces a result and doing nothing also produces results.

US Founders

• Independence from Great Britain and Freedom and Liberty for US Citizens
• Material wealth, Loss of life and family

Harland David Sanders (Colonel Sanders)

• Bring his chicken recipe across America (at age 65 w/ $105)
• He was refused 1,009 times before he heard his first yes. His spent two years driving across America in his old, beat-up car, sleeping in the back seat in his rumpled white suit, getting up each day eager to share his idea with someone new

Nelson Mandela

• Multi-racial democracy in South Africa
• 27 years in prison

Abraham Lincoln

• Abolish slavery
• Reputation, personal safety and eventually his life

Mother Teresa

• To care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone”
• Dedicated entire adult life

Jesus

• Opportunity of salvation for all of mankind
• Gave HIS life on the cross

Every person who has ever walked this planet has had experiences where they had a BURNING DESIRE to achieve something. They paid the price and the DESIRE became reality. It is just the way it is. Although I am not a big fan of this, I see people every day huddled outside the convenience stores scratching lottery tickets with a desire to win. They will scratch away until they win. Whether these people realize it or not, they are willing to pay a price for those wins. Now , again, I don’t advocate this because the math doesn’t work….Imagine this, if they kept that same BURNING DESIRE to gain financial wealth and got sound advice from people who have accomplished this (without winning the lottery) , then use that advice with the same ferocity as scratching tickets. Now they are on to something!

Wow, it has taken some time for me to write this because of thinking back on the many times I didn’t pay the price and got exactly what was deserved. Makes me realize that doing nothing is the same as doing something and the time spent is the same. What a slap in the face that is. Same amount of time spent but 2 entirely different outcomes.

Here are few of my personal examples … Some of these are going to hurt…Just being honest.

Contest: Increase subscriptions on my paper route (12 years old)

• Win Red Sox tickets for top Standard Times producing paperboy
• Gave up a few neighborhood baseball games, worked an extra few hours knocking on doors

Result: Won the tickets (obstructed view..hey, that’s Fenway) and whole box of other goodies

Athletics

• Play sports in college
• After tearing an ACL- worked incredibly hard to get leg back in shape

Result: Able to play both football and baseball at Mass Maritime Academy within 12 months

Construction

• Grow a successful residential carpentry business
• Did nothing but show up to work and do what other carpenters did

Result: Paid the bills, legs finally gave out, and left the business

College

• Get mechanical engineering degree
• Partied, goofed off, and was in denial

Result: Left school 40 credits short of degree and wasted a lot of money

Sales

• Earn over $100,000 a year
• Studied the trade, learned from the successful, and practiced

Result: One of the top earners, $100,000++, on the annual sales trips with top producers

Marriage

• Find a woman of my dreams (that will put up with me)
• Time to listen, compromise, and forgive

Result: Married the lovely and feisty Anne Marie- Going on 14 years- Love her more and more each day.

I got to say, it was a real eye opener writing this….The cool thing is, there is truth in the saying, “There is no such thing as something for nothing” but I would take it one step further and add one thing:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS

SOMETHING YOU DESIRE FOR NOTHING

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Easy Right? The guy who wrote this book solved a problem I have been dealing with since 1994…You know the one…Where is that file I just downloaded?…Where are the pictures from our trip to Hawaii?…Where are my tax files?

If you have the same problem, here is the link for his book, http://www.findfilesfast.com/

All I can say is, Thank You John Cini!!!

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Is is amazing how people’s attitude change with the weather. Maybe it is a New England thing. All I know is, after a long winter and the sun finally comes out, you see neighbors for the 1st time in 6 months. Sometimes I wonder if they had moved away…So, bring on the Sun and the great attitudes!

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Could you just imagine having the Faith to take this leap?… I would like to think, with the right training, I would do this….Simply incredible!

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Millions of Americans have their heads on the chopping blocks…Is your profession on the list?….Do you have a Plan B?

Disappearing Jobs

Here’s a list of the top 10 industries expected to lose the most jobs by 2018 — Scary stuff if you don’t have a Plan B !

1. Department stores: Projected to lose 10.2 percent of the 1.56 million jobs they had in 2008.

2. Semiconductor manufacturing: Projected to lose 33.7 percent of the 432,000 jobs it had in 2008.

3. Motor vehicle parts manufacturing: Projected to lose 18.6 percent of its 544,000 jobs.

4. Postal service: Projected to lose 13 percent of the 748,000 jobs it had in 2008.

5. Printing and related jobs: Projected to lose 16 percent of its 594,000 jobs.

6. Cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing: Projected to lose 57 percent of its 155,000 jobs.

7. Newspaper publishers: Projected to lose 24.8 percent of its 326,000 jobs.

8. Mining support jobs: Projected to lose 23.2 percent of its 328,000 jobs.

9. Gas stations: Projected to lose 8.9 percent of its 843,000 jobs.

10. Wired telecom: Projected to lose 11 percent of its 666,000 jobs.

Curious what’s out there as a Plan B?   www.nextgreatbiz.com

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Your employment options got you down check this out http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2010/01/06/nr.be.your.own.boss.in.2010.cnn

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Sandra Anderson Jones wrote on Facebook:
The Hope and Love for Haiti program is up and running! THANK YOU SHARI and CINDY at Old Company Store… FB friends…. contact me at jonesey7340@yahoo.com if you are interested in helping out this great cause! 100% of the profits will go direct to the Red Cross Relief Efforts in Haiti!

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