Prologue: Chapter 1

First, I need to get you caught up. I'm taking a minute to see how far back I want to start. I was living in Springfield, IL with my wife and daughter. Springfield was nice for getting away from confusion (family) and distractions (friends) in order to organize your thoughts. Thoughts like "what do I want to do for the rest of my life" or "what do I really want out of life" and "what is it that I am supposed to do for happiness, for fulfillment, and for money?" I had about as much financial education as any of the other 90% of this country's populations that earned and controlled 10% of the money here, but I was smart enough to know that whatever I decided to do, it would involved playing into my strengths, weaknesses, and characteristics.

What did I know about me?

I liked money. I knew that it could not bring me happiness, but I not only can you not live comfortably without it; it did help some in the happiness department.

I liked being able to help people. I was a pretty good problem solver. Some of my credentials are based on self evaluation because many that asked for my advice didn't always take it and ended up not improving within the problem that they had. Plus, being a "know it all" often puts me in the dog house with my wife.

I disliked school, because of boring lectures and homework. I even tried an online course on Comp TIA+ based upon the amount of time that I spend on the computer. IT didn't work.

Ironically, I was a good listener.

I was emotionally driven. Some of my most memorable and meaningful actions were the result of having a fairly extreme emotional response to a situation. Feeling tired, bored, or bothered made me want to get a task done and over with. The calm person that I usually am is just a lazy person. Anger fueled my drive and determination and seemed to make the gears (what I call the logical thinking portion of my brain) run quickly and effectively. Sadness, depression, remorse helped me find poetic and creative inspirational words of encouragement and sorrow.

I was smart enough to know that all these pieces of me could fit together to make a future; dreams and detailed thoughts of what I look like, had, and did. I have all the support a man could need in my wife, but I needed her to be at my side, not pushing from behind. I was smart enough to know that if you wanted something from a woman without any hassle (questions), you didn't ask…..at least not without spending the proper time with her. I needed her to give me a clue as to what to do. If I would have asked, that conversation would have been frustrating for at least one of us. So, I just spent the time with her while she introduced me to all of her house flipping and real estate buying and selling television shows (the answer).