This has been a tough year.  And a year of new beginnings…

A year ago (the week before Christmas), I was cutting south through the northwest corner of the Texas panhandle trying to get around the southern edge of a snow storm.  I was carrying a load of computer for United Van Lines from Pennsylvania to Washington.  The idea was to cut north out of Albuquerque between storms through the southwest corner of Colorado and on through Utah, Idaho, Oregon and into Washington.  That was the plan.  Suddenly, I started hearing a screaching sound like metal on metal.  I quickly pulled off the road with the clutch in.  Once stopped, I pulled the parking brake on, put the gear shift in neutral and let out the clutch.  The truck jumped and the motor quit.  You mechanics probably know what that means.  For those who don’t, that meant that the transmission was frozen (like melted together).  I called for road service.

The next afternoon, after being towed into Amarillo, having picked up a rental tractor and hooked up to the trailer, I headed south out of Amarillo because that storm was coming further south than what had originally been predicted.  I was headed for El Paso in order not to get trapped by the storm.  I eventually went through southern California and back north through Oregon to western Washington, where ironically I ended up delivering those computers during a snow storm.  For the rest of that trip (which culminated at home in Washington) and the subsequent trip back to Missouri (through Texas again because of more snow storms), I knew that my driving career was over.  I’d known since that afternoon heading south out of Amarillo.  The shop had called to let me know it was going to cost me $11,000 to replace the transmission.  I’d been wanting to get out of the trucking business; this just wasn’t the way I had imagined it.

After dropping the trailer off at United’s headquarters in Missouri, I had to return the tractor to Amarillo in order to minimize my expenses.  From there, I flew home to Washington.  Enroute home, I received a call from the owner of the shop.  He had a friend he thought might be willing to take the truck off of my hands.  We talked and settled on a price.  That settlement carried me through until almost May when I was able to find another job right here in my home town.

The job was nothing fancy.  I was working as a counter person for a auto parts house.  It, at least, covered basic expenses.  That is until the end of October.  By that point, the economy had slowed enought that the manager of the store had to lay somebody off.  I was the low man on the totem pole; and, so, I was the lucky one to go first.

I had been looking into internet marketing for a few years as a way to get out of the trucking business.  I’ve bought my fair share of course and have developed a reasonable theoretical concept of making money via the internet.  So, I actually haven’t been that upset at being forced out of the trucking business or losing my J.O.B. in the parts house.  During all that time, I was aware of the CPA networks since Carlos and Lupe launched their program.  It was obvious that it was a lucrative area of internet marketing.  I just wasn’t sure how to get started; and, I wasn’t in a position to pay what Carlos and Lupe were asking for their course.  I’ve never wanted a brick and morter business; and, in many ways, their program reminded me of such.

Recently a program was launched to train affiliates for a CPA network company due to open in the early part of next year.  I have been lucky enough,and ready enough, to be in a position to be one of those affiliates.  This has been a year with many beginnings.  I am grateful for all the opportunities that came my way.  And, I’m grateful for the experiences that I have experienced in this year of change.  I go forward into the new year with the unresounding knowledge and calm, quiet understanding that I am at the beginning of the greatest beginning I’ve experienced in my life.  And I am grateful for the opportunity.

Hey! Let me know what you think, regardless if its a suggestion, conflict, concern or gripe.  Thanks!