Where
Were You When the Lights Went Out?
Copyright
2003 (c) Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.
A power
outage of huge proportions has long been one of my greatest fears.
I've
imagined that scenario's disastrous consequences enough that I felt
immediately afraid upon hearing that more than 50 million people
on the eastern seaboard of North America were affected by last Thursday's
outage.
My
initial reaction was to flee the city. Then I realized that my truck's
gas tank was only half full. We would have run out before reaching
the periphery of the affected area.
Our
only option was to stay put, which had me even more worried, as
I knew that my friend's non-perishable food supplies were non-existent.
Fresh
water was a greater concern.
On
hearing that the city of Toronto maintains only a 24-hour supply
of fresh water, I filled the bathtub. As I sat on the edge of the
tub, I pondered our fate and felt not only sick, but very, very
stupid.
For
despite knowing the power grid to be antiquated and extremely tenuous
during hot and humid weather, as well as understanding the nasty
consequences of its loss, what had I done to prepare myself?
Not
much.
I,
like most other North Americans have been playing a 'hope for the
best' game.
Hope
for what, though? That someone else will take care of me when the
situation turns dire?
Who
might that 'someone else' be? The government? That's rich. They
too were in the dark - for which we can't really blame them. They're
only human too, and it's not like we usually choose the brightest
bulbs to light our collective way.
Instead
we elect politicians who tell us what we want to hear rather than
those who would tell us the truth.
Most
of us will elect the tax break that we can spend on a new outfit,
nicer car or exotic holiday. We definitely don't want to hear that
it'll take billions of tax dollars NOW to build a grid infrastructure
to keep our descendants and us secure well into the future.
Yet
billions of dollars will seem like petty cash when the 'breaks'
we've given ourselves today result in civil unrest and economic
collapse tomorrow.
The
same principle holds true for all that we do on an individual level.
Building a strong, secure and healthy future takes work, not breaks.
I don't
have a crystal ball, but when I consider history combined with current
events, it seems more important than ever to take responsibility
and become as self-reliant as possible.
That
means becoming less dependent on government and employers and building
our own reserves of cash and convertible assets.
However,
not many of us have careers that allow us to build up those types
of reserves, and many folks live paycheck to paycheck, with no reserves
at all. Worse still, those jobs and earnings can disappear in a
heartbeat.
That's
another reason I love my 'Net business.
Although
the power was out here, my business didn't disappear. My servers
in Florida were still up and running. And despite the fact that
millions of folks couldn't surf the 'Net on Thursday, Friday or
Saturday, millions more went online to learn about the blackout.
When
they came online, they found my affiliate sites.
The
Net effect?
I saw
an INCREASE in my average daily income during the blackout.
In
retrospect, I'm delighted that this happened. My greatest hope is
that we've all attained a new level of awareness about the importance
of responsibility and self-reliance, and that it will convince multitudes
to harness the power of the 'net to secure their financial futures.
If
you've thought about having your own Internet business, please don't
wait any longer. The time IS now.
There
are a number of ways to make money on the 'Net.
If
you want to learn about affiliate programs, invest in educational
material like my "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797
Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". It doesn't
matter if you are the newest ebusiness newbie. The book covers all
you need to know about building an affiliate business starting from
scratch.
If
you want to publish your own infoproduct for profit, I highly recommend
the 7 Day ebook by Jim Edwards as the definitive guide to infoproduct
creation.
You
could also sell other people's products and ebooks as a reseller,
where you enjoy 100% of the profits is another option.
Already
know what you want to do, but need some tools and equipment? Check
out those I use everyday in my own business at:
http://rosalindgardner.com/resources
Learn
about anything you are interested in and then start DOING something
about it. And do it soon.
Your
future will be a direct reflection of the effort you make today.
Make it big, and make it bright! |