Welcome, and Thanks for Stopping By

In his wonderful book about building "a lifelong community of colleagues, contacts, friends and mentors", Never Eat Alone, networking guru Keith Ferrazzi suggests that there are really only three things that most people sincerely care about. He then identifies these as: their Health and the Health of the people they care about; their Wealth, at least to the extent of providing financial security; and the Time to be with those they love while pursuing their real passions. This resonated with me, but at 57 years old, I realized that I was not doing very well by this standard.

My health was generally pretty good, but trending in the wrong direction in many ways. I was carrying an extra 10 pounds, my blood pressure and blood sugar levels were slowly moving up out of the normal range, and my dentist kept warning me about my impending periodontal meltdown. I also knew I that I had inherited some risky genes. Cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Altzheimers..... if there was a way to die of it someone in my family had. So while I wasn't dealing with any immediate health problems, I didn't see any reason for confident complacency.

My wealth was circling the drain. After a disastrous, savings-draining three year entrepreneurial fiasco, I started a business in 2006 working with small businesses to help them improve their hiring results, employee retention and performance. Just as the world economy slid into the worst recession in decades and companies started to shed jobs like autumn trees did leaves may not have been the best time to start a business focused on helping companies add good employees. My previous venture left me with almost no financial cushion at all, and no matter how hard I worked and how much time I devoted to the new business my savings was slowly evaporating. I didn't even consciously realize just how much financial pressure I was under until I found myself seriously contemplating selling my most prized possession - my 1978 Cessna 172XP.

My time was spent trying to work more, and harder. Even if I had any "free" time, I didn't have the money to do anything with it. No eating out. No vacations. No flying. Postponing any purchase not urgently needed. Delaying care and maintenance on my aging home. Even the time I spent with my family and friends was shrinking - either because I could not afford to do much or maybe that I just didn't want them to see how bad things had gotten.

There is an old saying: "If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got." Something had to change. And soon. And the only thing that I could change was .... me! And once I was ready, the opportunity to do so appeared as if by magic. And that brings us to my blog.

We'll be talking here about health, wellness and nutrition. About network marketing, working from home and starting over later in life. About making life fun again, and meaningful and what we want it to be. The ups and the downs. The great ideas and impressive mistakes. I don't know where this will all end up but I figure it has to be better than where I am now.

However you got here, welcome. I hope the name attracted you and that in time the content and community will bring you back. I'm looking forward to the discussion.