Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
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.
Last but certainly not least is the excitement of becoming an Internet auctioneer. Learn more about that at:
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://NetProfitsToday.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!
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