8/19/2015: Easy Money / A Good Person is Hard to Find

8/19/2015: Easy Money / A Good Person is Hard to Find

5:15am – 7:06am

I’m debating on which title I should use for this one.  I read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” in my EPCC English class and I found some similarities between her fictional story and mine.  :)  The title is kind of off but it will make sense if you keep reading.  It’s supposed to be a catch.  :p

As mentioned in my previous blogs, I feel like I have the writer’s curse, which is, whenever I feel like writing or whenever I feel something inspirational or I have something to write about, I have to write to it.  Well, I don’t have to.  I could write it on a piece of paper for future blogs but the passion, the energy, may die off if I delay for too long.  And if I ignore the urge or passion to write, then I tend to forget or lack the passion of what I want to write.

I went to my financial business’ webinar today.  Every Tuesday at 10am is a webinar and it’s supposed to be special because the master trainer, Xuan Nguyen, which I learned a lot from, my financial mentor, will speak during that time.  I came at 11am because I know from past experience that the actual webinar starts at 11am.  10am is mostly a sharing time where they share on video various WFG (World Financial Group) sites and they share how they are doing.  It’s nice but it’s not a necessity.  At the webinar, I reviewed my reasons for going into the financial industry:

1) To make money for myself so I can, in sequential order, make a living, save money, and have fun.  [Although I’m planning to just shorten it to “To make money for myself” and I feel the clause “have fun” is kind of controversial because it is for fleshly reasons.]

2) To help people better manage their money.  [When I am selling is also an investment product and it is, imo, and I also have the same policy, much better than putting your money in a bank, 401k, etc.]

3) To contribute and build God’s Kingdom.  (The ones in bold are those I feel are my main reasons.  The manual wants us to have ten reasons)  [A portion of my proceeds and profits I get from this business will be for God.  I can serve God and His people financially.]

4) To better myself and to reach my full potential.  [This business is not just a business but it is a great learning and life growing opportunity.]

5) I am my own boss, this career is independent.  [No one tells me what to do, it’s on my own time, can be part or full time]

6) To advert or reduce the coming retirement crisis in America.  [From the book, but it’s something I realized.  Many people are not preparing for their future.]

7) To give people a hope and a future.  [I feel many people are struggling financial or they somehow just can’t save up any money.  This product can help people save money and save in the right place.  This is also one of my reasons I went into teaching.  I probably should have created ten reasons for becoming a teacher and just maybe I’ll stay in teaching.  :p  Taken from Jeremiah 29:11]

8) To help people in this area so they can help others.  [The emphasis for this reason is more on if they decide to join the team and recruit/sale to others.  The people that join has an opportunity to help others in this area as well.]

9) To fight against the injustices in the banking, credit card, and other industry.  [Maybe I’m a little biased but this is my economic orientation, that the rich takes advantage of the poor.  Why then would banks offer their customers such low interest rates.  Why such high interest rates on credit cards?  I know the usual “economic” reasons but I feel the root cause of it is human greed.]

10) To apply the concepts I have learned here to evangelizing for God’s Kingdom.  [I stopped at number nine and I felt I can’t think of any other reasons.  Then this though inspired me.  I can use what I learned and my experience in a different but also similar area.  I will share more on this later in today’s blog]

So today, I felt relatively excited.  I want to talk to people.  Well, not quite.  I kind of forced myself to want to talk to people about this because I set quotas for myself.  Quotas are not mandatory for my company but I choose so because it helps motivate me.  It’s like of like setting a deadline to do something.  Then I procrastinate which gives me additional energy to do the task.

However, as I guessed, from my experience, evangelizing and selling/offering a product is easy to say, hard to do or easy on paper but hard to do in practice.  My action plan for today is to evangelize and sell my product/recruit 50/50, starting with God first.  I planned to offer them a eternal future and then for the next person, their current future.  I went to Costco, which is nearby from the WFG office building.  I don’t have the membership so I can’t go in.  I walked around the entrance and the parking lot.  The first two I asked “Excuse me, do you have a minute?” refused to even talk to me.  In fact, it seems when I walk towards them they act super cold.  For the third person, I saw him loading his van with the goods he brought from Costco.  I asked the same thing and he told me yeah he has a minute.  I’m so happy he gave me a chance.  I tried to start causal by saying he brought a lot and that it is worth going to Costco if you buy a lot.  Then, I went straight to the point, “I would like to invite you to my Ignite Movement church,” because it’s not just a church, it’s a movement.  :)  Then, I tried to share my testimony but he then appeared disinterested midway through.  My testimony is not the typical “Before I knew God I was like this….  And after I met God, I was like this…” format.  I was raised in a Christian home.  Instead, my testimony is more like: I was raised in a Christian family but I rarely experienced God intimately.  There were times when I did, times of revival.  But I love worship songs and I love singing God’s songs.  Then in high school, I left God in favor of reason and science but during my senior year, I believed Him again thanks to Evidence for God from Science, a Christian website which convinced me of the existence of God.  But I never really “knew” God and have an intimate relationship with him until I joined the Army.  And I joined the Army because I was addicted to computer games, pornography, I would hide my grades from my dad until one day he found out.  I was practically kicked out of my house and forced to join enlist in the military.  But, look at me.  I am totally unprepared and the worse candidate for the Army.  I didn’t work out.  I was not in the football team.  I don’t have experience in life.  I’m afraid to even drive or buy stuff.  I just spend all day and most of the night locked in my room playing computer games.  I was so ate up in the military it’s not even funny.  So then, I had nowhere to turn to but God, the only One I know who can help me.  And by trusting in Him, he gave me supernatural grace and strength.  I would have died in the Army without God and I failed all my PT tests except the ones that count.  As you can see, my story is very complicated and I couldn’t really retell my story because I was part nervous and part I didn’t know what to say for my testimony because it is too complicated.  I didn’t know where to start.  And I’m still changing thanks to God and I can still share how after the Army, my relationship with God slowly died.  Sure there was revival but it was not until I went to Ignite that I started to become alive again, etc etc.  So because my testimony was too complicated, I felt it didn’t make sense to him and it was probably mumbo jumbo.  So I tried cutting it short by saying the key points, that God helped me so much in the Army and I know what he is real.  He told me he’ll check the church website out and think about it.  It was then when I saw his kid and probably his wife at the driver’s seat.  I paused.  I wanted to ask if we can pray but I felt it’s going to be awkward so I just thanked him for listening to me and his time and went off.  One spoken to. 

For me, as soon as I have a “success,” which is not really a success in a traditional sense.  I define “success” when I was walking around as people who is willing to just listen to me.  Getting people to just listen in the cold market is difficult overall.  I learned today that, in the cold market, 1) People don’t want to talk to you, 2) It doesn’t matter if you think you have something that is good for them.  Most, if not all of the people, prefer themselves to activate the process, not vice versa, like the classic fish hook vs fish net approach where one, they come to you because of your “bait” or two, you come to them, the “net” approach.  I can emphasize with them because if some random dude would to approach me, nine times out of ten, in the past, I would say “no thank you.”  If people don’t trust you, as it so happens with strangers, which most people don’t even give them a chance, there is no evangelizing or business.

I have an idea to counter this.  I can make flyers.  By making flyers, people don’t have to see me and I can reach a lot of people at one time.  And, I feel people spend more time looking at a flyer (that I made) than if they spend talking to me.

I have not been very active in my financial business partly because I am afraid of recruiting people.  For one, I don’t really have a “warm” market.  A warm market is people who are close to you.  I’m by myself here; My family are not with me.  And the close friends that I do have, I want to wait until I’m really prepared.  I find in life that I don’t have unlimited chances, in fact, many people just give you one shot at something.  I want to “practice” first in the cold market.  As a side note on friends, I find making friends is very difficult in this world.  I can’t just walk up to someone can say, “I would like to be your friend.”  No, friendships develop through relationships, though a medium.  If I don’t pay for college to go to school, if I don’t go to church, then how can I make friends?  Friendships come through interacting with people and sometimes, an excuse to go to college or to pay to go to an event would be to make friends.  How else will people have a shared need or interact?  I could walk around the street giving people free stuff but that probably won’t make any friends.  I could volunteer but I would rather work because I get paid.  Ok, so moving on.  Sorry, just many times, life is not fair.  The second reason why I don’t want to recruit is because I don’t’ want to set people up for failure.  Selling an idea to people, which unfortunately, since you thought of it first, is very difficult.  “You are not getting what I mean” someone recently told me, “It’s not being social, you have to be super social.”  I don’t want people to join thinking it’s so wonderful only to have them become disillusioned.  Although if they seem passionate even though they understand the difficulty, then it’s worth a try.  And, I don’t want to hurt my existing relationships in my “warm” and “lukewarm markets.”  So, I am going to continue this “business” part-time.  I will continue to learn more.  Many of the things they teach me can be used in evangelism and in my life overall.  The concepts are multi-purpose.  And this is a good life experience.

For this business, in a way, I know what to do, but I don’t know how to do it.  Xuan Nguyen said emotions bring people in but logic maintains the commitment.  He said:

When you sell to people, sell them the responsibility of taking care of their family and the possibly of building wealth for their family’s future.  At the same time, back it up with facts, figures, and track records.  Otherwise, they may make a decision to buy but will cancel when they think it over!

This is kind of like the approach I am taught to take with evangelism.  We have to tell with passion, genuinely, of what God can do for their lives but we back it up with logic, i.e. our testimony and, if possible, supernatural revelation about that person from God.  The latter is something I am struggling in using.  I don’t want to say something only to find out that the other person says it’s false.  When I told this to my spiritual mentor, she told me sometimes, the people we evangelize deny it or are lying because it is true.  I hope that is the case.  She also told me that’s why we say it in the form of a question like “Is your family struggling financially?” 

I write my blogs, the more lengthy ones, by creating an outline first so I won’t forget any thoughts but something it causes my writing to be too mechanical and I may repeat myself.  Sorry about that. 

But to end this early morning blog, and I need to sleep because I’m helping someone organize their classroom, actually I want to write about that first.  When people ask for help, I see it as an opportunity.  I win and they win.  I get to help people, interact with others, and learn about life while they get their tasks done.  I was thinking, and perhaps I read somewhere, that if I don’t know my purpose or if I can’t or it’s too late to achieve my purpose, then the next best thing is to help someone accomplish theirs.  The worse is to be selfish and live only for pleasure.  I have talent in computers but I always decided and resisted going into that field.  I tell myself that the main reason why I went into computers and technology is due to games.  While that is true, it can also be used for good.  I probably should have majored in computer science or information technology instead of social work.  I feel it’s too late for me to go back now.  I need to find a part-time or full-time job in addition to my part-time financial job to make a living and to save money for the future.  I can still help with the media team and with technology-related issues but I won’t be able to reach my full potential.  The pastor says when we are in perplexities, where there is no way out, we seek God.  I was in perplexities when I joined the Army and while in it and that’s the reason why I seek God.  And now, I feel I’m in a perplexity again, with my future and indecision.  But, the only way out, the only sure and true and best way out is to have a relationship with God.  But when times are good, I need to seek God as well.  That is a perplexity in the spirit.  :)

Spear Fighting / The Way of the Spear

Spear Fighting / The Way of the Spear

S: 3:16am

E: 4:06am

Being a writer, I’m under a writer’s curse.  That is, when I think of something marvelous to write about, the desire to write within me burns.  It is now 3am in the morning and I’m having a fever, but I still want to write.  Actually, I feel, at least in the beginning states, having a fever increases a person’s intellectual ability.

Q: So what do you want to write about?

I’m a fan of military strategies and of weapons.  One of the weapons that fascinates me is the sword.  Oftentimes at night, I envision myself as an half-elven fighter dual-wielding swords to fight off evil. 

Q: Then why write about spear?

I find, after some thinking, that the spear is actually superior to the sword.  Sure, the sword looks flashier but it is youth’s folly.

Q: Why is the spear superior?

The spear, or to use euphemism, a pointy stick, has a greater range or reach than a sword.  When used correctly, this can be to deadly effect.

Q: How so?

The spear always has the advantage of range.  However, most spear fighters does not use that to the fullest extent.  The spear always, thanks to the range, has first or a preemptive strike.  It is important to outthink your enemy than to out-fight him.  The key to doing that is to understand human physiology.

When a person moves forward, it is the legs that move forward first.  If the spearman were to focus not on the body but on the upper legs, specifically the area from the kneecaps to the upper-thigh, that spearman will have a huge advantage.

Q: What kind of huge advantage?

To emphasize, the spearman always has an advantage in range.  By aiming at the legs, the body part that moves first, that spearman doubles that advantage.  It is the person’s legs that move first, then everything else.  The second or fractions of a second needed to get the rest of the body in position can be used to devastating effect by the spearman. 

Q: If the spearman focuses only on the lower body / leg area, then he/she leaves the upper-body open.  Wouldn’t that be a problem?

That is not an issue, again, thanks to the spearman’s range.  If the swordsman were to swing his sword at the upper-body, that person will hit only thin air.  In fact, if that swordman were to do that, the spearman should take this opportunity to attack the legs. 

Q: What if the swordsman has heavy leg armor?  Would that cancel this strategy?

Perhaps, but you will then have a greater strategy.  Throughout history, humankind focuses its armor mostly on the upper half of the body.  The lower-half, if armored, will impair movement.  A fighter that is not agile, due to heavy weights on his legs, will be dead meat to any fighter.  If that is the case, than out-maneuver and aim for the body.  You can still aim for the legs as the enemy’s legs will move slower due to the weight. 

Kind of off-topic, but using the spear also confers another advantage: pierce damage.  The same type of damage caused by modern bullets.  Pierce damage is extremely effective because it concentrates all its power on a small area, making it much more possible to go through (or pierce) enemy armor. 

Q: What if the enemy tries to dodge with his legs?

If the enemy tries to dodge with his or her legs, than that fighter will be unable to attack.  As said earlier, any movement or positioning is done by the legs first.  If the legs are dodging, the fighter will not be coordinated to attack. 

Q: What if the enemy swordsman was able to successfully dodge forward and close-in on the spearman?

This is when a second, concealed, back-up weapon will be needed.  A concealed dagger will be a good choice.  If the swordsman were to break the outer guard of the spearman, the psychology of victory will take over.  That swordman will be so excited to break the guard that he will close-in, almost touching, to kill the spearman.  However, when that happens, the spearman needs to drop the spear quickly, pull out the dagger and stab at the enemy body.  The spearman will benefit from this adage:

“Go big or go home.“

The spearman focuses on long-melee or short-melee range (the dagger).  In the above situation, the spearman will have to be as close to the swordsman as possible, which should be easy as the swordsman is also trying to close the distance to avoid the long-range attack.  It is difficult for the sword to do serious damage when the enemy is skin to skin.  The sword is a medium-ranged weapon, it needs some space to swing to build power.  The dagger, again using the stab-pierce motion/technique, will connect with the body and that will be enough to finish off the wounded warrior.

Q: Describe a typical spear-sword fight using this technique.

The swordsman will be constantly trying to close-in, however, he cannot as his legs betray him.  The spearman may have a few hits on the enemy’s legs, with each hit slowing and damaging the enemy’s mobility.  Eventually, the spearman will make enough hits that the sword fighter will not be able to stand anymore.  When that happens, the spearman can just run him over. 

Another point I almost forgot to mention is that most fighters are trained to defend from upper-body attacks, whether it’s dodging or parrying.  It is harder for most fighters to defend against lower-body attacks.  Looking at human physiology as well, most of the muscles of the arm are geared towards defending the upper-body, as well as ergonomics. 

The experienced spear fighter can also add some fun into the fight, by aiming between the person’s legs.  Would you fight against a spear fighter if that person is always aiming at your dick (sorry for vulgarism)?  Logically, it is not as effective as the knee-cap and upper-thigh area but it could be psychologically effective. 

So, to conclude, by using this method to fight with a spear, the spearman will almost always defeat the swordsman in one-on-one battle. 

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My method of fighting is more of the skirmisher / ranger.  Range beats melee any day.  A person who is adapt in ranged and melee fighting, and is willing to use hit-and-run attacks and prefers range, will be superior to almost any other fighter.  So far, the best doctrine I have is a decentralized, “continued-battle,” where there are no fixed lines, but fluidity and never-ending harassment [of the enemy].  With skirmishers harassing the enemy.  They will of course wear light armor because speed and mobility is more highly valued than protection.  But that is my blog for another time. 

Hope you enjoy reading and try it!  

Add: I did not include the possibility of the swordsman using a shield as well.  But, even then, human physiology confers a disadvantage to defending the lower-body with the shield.  That person, if he or she as a small shield, will have to bend down, sacrificing his or her posture and offensive ability.  With a larger shield, this spear strategy may be less effective and will need to be combined with other spear-fighting strategies.  As with warfare, it is like rock-paper-scissors.  There is no perfect strategy.  There is always a strategy to counter or defeat another strategy.  This technique works best against fighters without a shield.