A few days ago I was talking to a good friend on the phone when he quickly said “I’ll have to call you right back” and promptly hung up on me. I sat there with the phone to my ear wondering what happened. This is a guy who would not panic over any little thing so it kinda worried me…

Sure enough he called me back just a few minutes later and gave me some shocking news. A young man that we both knew was dead. (I am purposely not using his name)  Apparent suicide…shot himself…I sat there in shock and ask him “are you sure?” We just kind of sat there in shock with no details of what had happened.

He was an awesome seventeen year old boy, the same age as my son Ryan, that I had coached in baseball on and off since he was five years old! Five years old! I’d still see him from time to time at school functions and around town. He seemed as happy and healthy as any other 17 year old teenager you would ever meet. As you coaches know, kids you coach when they are young you never forget. It’s like you helped them grow up. It can be a special relationship. As if things could not get any worse, I immediately remembered he had just instant messaged me on facebook the NIGHT BEFORE!

I could barely breathe. I started to recall the conversation from last night and started asking myself some questions. Could I have prevented this? Was he asking for help and I didn’t recognize it. Was there anything I could have done differently? What did he say? What did I say? I started to retrace the conversation that went something like this…

“POP” The noise facebook makes when someone IM’s you.

Boy-“Hey Mr. O’Neal, sup?”

Me-“Nothing much, sup with you”

Boy-”Nothing really, just hanging out…”

Me-“Yea, me too. You doin okay?”

Boy-“Yea doing pretty good…”

It was at this point where the conversation went to nowhere. I was doing four different things on my computer at the same time. I have no idea what he was doing but the conversation stopped right here. It was one of those conversations that just went to nowhere. I didn’t say anything and he didn’t say anything. I was distracted with the other tasks I was doing and never though another thing of it…The next thing I hear from or about him is he is dead.

So here comes the tsunami of questions…

Could I have said more? Should I have engaged him in conversation, been a little more interested, not been so distracted/oblivious/selfish and spent more time with him? Could I have prevented this? I began to rerun the whole thing in my mind over and over, trying to find a clue, a phrase, something that might have been a sign that he was in trouble. I couldn’t remember anything unusual. It was a normal facebook chat session that doesn’t make a whole lot a sense sometimes anyway. I couldn’t make sense of it.

All I knew was a boy I have known since he was five years old, a boy very much like my own son, was dead. I started to think about my son. Was he okay? Is he reaching out for help? Of course not! I would know if he was! What if this was my boy!? I would be devastated as I know his family is now. What I am I going to do? What I am going to say? Could I have stopped this? Is there anything I could have done differently to stop this tragedy? A million questions went through my mind.

 I would do anything to have the last 24 hours back.

I was sitting there thinking about all of this when all of a sudden I hear a car door close in the distance. Crap! Karen is home. I am going to have to tell her. I am not looking forward to this. She walks in and looks at me, absorbs the atmosphere and instantly says “what’s wrong?” (Ladies, you know how you are)

I said “baby, I’ve got bad news” she looks at me with horror on her face “so and so committed suicide” it looked as though someone punched her in the gut. She almost collapsed. And then here come all of the questions…but I had no answers. No details. Just horrible news.

I told her about talking to him last night on facebook and went through the whole thing again. She said”there was nothing you could have done. There is no way of knowing what’s going on with someone if they don’t tell you. You hardly ever see him anymore. How could you know?” maybe she was right, but I didn’t feel any better.

We sat there in silence (a rare commodity at our home) for about 10-15 minutes, which seemed like an hour. I called my son to break the news to him. I could tell by his voice he had already heard through another friend. It seems news travels fast nowadays. He was quiet if not solemn over the phone. I told him to come home in 30 minutes to eat supper.

I got up and started to cook supper. (Something I rarely do. No comments…) we had some steaks to grill, baked potatoes, and some green beans. The perfect meal. I decided to do everything tonight. (Also rare) I lit the grill, keeping low incase of an explosion. I punched holes in the potatoes with a fork being careful not to maim myself. I wrapped them in paper towels and put them in the microwave. I grabbed a can of beans and opened them. Not a word was said. The only noise you could here was the shutting of cabinet doors, the rip of a paper towel, and the footsteps of a guy who did not know his way around a kitchen. Karen was sitting in the living room looking out the window.

It seams that with everything going on in our world today, just when you thing you might get a break…bam! Something even crazier, more devastating happens. It’s like…what’s next? What can happen next God? Our worlds are upside down already. Give us a break.

Have you ever been at that point where your emotions are at the brink? Where just the slightest thing could be the straw that breaks the camels back? Well, I was there. I was keeping it together to cook, but I was there. I was going through the whole thing in my mind and my emotions. What could I have done? What are his parents doing now?  When do I call them? What if this was my son? What would we do? How can we help? Where’s the pot for the green beans? I’m a mess. All I can do is pray, so that’s what I start doing.

I am bent over on one knee rummaging through the pots and pans in our island cabinet when the phone rings. Karen answers and immediately screams “what!” I look up to see what the commotion is about and I hear her say “are you sure?” I said “what is it?” annoyed and excited at the same time. She said the three of the most beautiful, wonderful words I had heard in a long time…”It wasn’t him!” “What!” I yelled, still on one knee looking for the right size pot. “It’s not him! He’s alive!” Now wait just a dad-gum minute here I thought, this is either a bad joke or a miracle. Turns out, it was more like a miracle…kinda.

It seems the person who told my friend the bad news got his info a little wrong. It wasn’t the seventeen year old that I have know his whole life who killed himself, but his 47 year old step brother who I had never met or even seen before. Still a tragedy, but I had no relationship with this guy. I never even met him.

So… the seventeen year old wonderful, awesome, kind, respectful, handsome young man who I chatted with last night on face book and who I had just spent the last 30 minutes FULLY ABSORBING THE FACT THAT HE WAS DEAD…is now alive! Was he raised from the dead?  No. Not literally. But he might as well have been!

This was all I could take. I was already halfway kneeling looking for my green bean pan when it hit me. An overwhelming flood of emotion knocked me down to both knees. Sobbing uncontrollably and praising God. It wasn’t pretty…but it sure felt good. I think I needed a good cry! I was thanking God for a second chances! I was thanking God my buddy was still alive! I was thanking God for my family, friends, and life. I was thanking God for everything I could think of.

Just when I was able to pull myself together, get up off the kitchen floor, wipe the tears, blow my nose, straighten my clothes, get the beans in the pot, my son walks in…

He walks over to me and hugs me. Best hug ever. You’d think he just got home from war or something the way I was going on. He’s about 4-5 inches taller than me so I just hang on until he let’s go. Today he held on a little longer. I tried to keep my composure. I took this hug in like no other I had ever had. I think I even smelled his neck. Thank you God for my son. Thank you for second chances.

I began to tell him “if you ever think about doing something like that, you know you have plenty of people to talk to, right?” He cuts me off immediately, grabs my head with both hands and looks me straight in the eyes and says “dad, I would never do something like that. Now pull yourself together.” There’s nothing like a 17 year old to bring you back to reality.

So here are the lesson(s) that were etched in my heart and soul…

• If someone reaches out to you, whether it be in person, by phone or facebook… reach back. MAKE the time.

• Don’t be so self absorbed with your own problems that you can’t think about others.( I know, it sounds like common sense)

• Discern the difference between casual conversations and cries for help.

• If God puts someone on your heart, call them now! Don’t wait! You may be the voice that God uses to talk them down from doing something crazy.

The enemy would like nothing more than to isolate us. If he can isolate us he can kill us. Let’s stay connected.

Depression and Suicide increase this time of year. Please reach out to others. You do not want to go through that 30 minute span I went through the other day…trust me.

I call you blessed!

Merry Christmas!

Billy O’Neal

PS

Get/give your father’s blessing today!

www.fathersblessing.com

Happy New Beginnings!

I thought you guys would like to read this testimonial. It will inspire and encourage you!

Not in the Christmas spirit?

Well, I wasn’t either yesterday. It seems as I get older, sometimes the cares of the world tend to sway me away from my childhood joy of Christmas. But I was slapped back to my senses last night when I heard a man speak by the name of Reggie Dabbs. His message last night, which you can find at www.trinitychapel.org was one of those words in which I found myself crying out to God saying “thank you”. Thank you for everything! My life, my family, my friends, my church, and yes even my problems! I, like many of use, start letting our “problems” get the best of me until I am paralyzed and unable to function. Many days I’m just going through the motions. But Reggie’s message last night reminded me that my problems are tiny compared to what many people face everyday.(I’m not going to go into details of his message. Buy the cd. If it not’s not the best money you ever invested, I’ll give you your money back!)

Many times we let our problems become so huge that we think that they cannot be solved; that there is no way out. But the truth is, there is He always makes a way out. I like to tell folks when they are complaining about the economy, the weather, their job, or whatever, that “it beats dodging bullets in the desert”. There are men and women right now, right now as you read this, thousands of miles away from us and their families fighting for our freedom. There are people all over this world and as close as in your neighborhood that have overcome dibilitating diseases, abuse, neglect, and personal tragedy everyday. They get up, get dressed, put their “gameface” on and do what they must do everyday to feed their family, raise their children, or just get through the day.

Sometimes, like last night, God gives me a good pop in the butt like to say “wake up, son, look at what others have to go through everyday just to survive, are you really going to keep having your little pity party for yourself because your world isn’t perfect?”  That’s when my vision, my perspective, my life, comes in to focus and I realize once again, I am blessed!

I’m blessed to wake up every morning next to the most beautiful, loving, and caring woman in the whole world!

I’m blessed with a sound mind and body that allow my feet to hit the floor every morning and to do what I love to do everyday!

I’m blessed with most wonderful son and daughter a man could ever pray for. Healthy, happy, and saved!

I’m blessed to live in the greatest country in the world!

And I’m blessed to be connected to a body of believers who are doing more than just “playing church”.

In other words, I am blessed! I have always been blessed! And I will always be blessed! Whether I chose to beleive it and/or walk it out is up to me.

Last night and all day today, I started to get the Christmas spirit back! I chose not to focus on my problems. But rather trust in Him that all things are possible and to focus my energy on doing the things necessary to diligently move forward with Gods plan for my life. Sitting around moping gets old…fast. I thank God that he loves us enough to give us that “wake up” call we all need sometimes and says “snap out of it”.

We all have problems. Some more than others. And I am not minimizing yours. I’m just saying… it could always be worse. A lot, lot worse! Listen to the cd of Reggie Dabbs’ message last night and you’ll see what I mean! So be thankful! Be thankful for the opportunity, the freedom, the grace that God has given us just to live in this country! Focus on the blessings in your life! It could always be worse, you could be dodging bullets in the desert!

Merry Christmas!

Billy

I took the Family to see a movie this weekend and I’d like to encourage everyone that can to check it out. It’s ‘The Pursuit Of Happyness’ ( I know I spelled happiness wrong, that’s how they spell it in the movie) with Will Smith and his son, Jaydon Smith.

This movie made a profound impact on me as I watched it. It reminded me of the sacrifices that I, and millions of people all over this country, make everyday to diligently pursue their destiny.

Please take your children with you! They will appreciate the sacrifices you and others make everyday to attain their destiny. It’s good to show them that we COULDN’T always eat at Longhorn’s after church on Sunday and we COULDN’T always swing buy Starbucks for a $ 4 cup of coffee every time we get a wild hair.

Anyone who has laid everything they have on the line or been down to their last nickel not knowing where the next nickel was going to come from can relate.

The never, ever, ever give up spirit of this movie is inspiring and will encourage you to keep diligently moving forward. It will also reveal to many how very little some people are willing to sacrifice or even to be inconvenienced to better themselves. Some ’say’ they want to better themselves, but in reality they are really are not willing to sacrifice ANYTHING to get to the next level.

There is a price to be paid to attain anything worthwhile!  No matter what it is.

Sometimes we all need to be reminded to ‘count the cost’.

I call you all blessed!

Merry Christmas!
Billy
 

I returned from Washington D.C. this week with a renewed respect for our founding fathers and our fallen soldiers. I was moved to tears as I learned the details of the sacrifices of so many who fought and died for the freedoms we have today. I also came away determined to support the troops who are in harms way TODAY, putting their lives on the line like so many before them. FIND WAYS SUPPORT THE TROOPS! Remember, it’s not their decision to be there. They are following orders! Regardless of how you feel about the politics of the situation, support the troops. The inscription on the Korean War Memorial is burned into my memory which reads ‘Freedom’s Not Free’.

Another fact that continued to surprise me was how entrepreneurial our founding fathers were! Man, these guys were doing it! The one that stands out the most was George Washington, the founding father of our country.

We visited his home at Mount Vernon and learned that his parents planned to send him to England to be educated. But when his father died when he was a teenager, he took a job with a surveyor AND USED HIS INCOME TO BUY LAND!

George Washington was a real estate investor! As were many of the founding fathers!

Thomas Jefferson pulled off the greatest land deal in history when he was President called the Louisiana Purchase. Not only did he buy over 530,000,000 acres of property from the French for only $15 million. BUT HE CONVINCED THEM TO OWNER FINANCE A PORTION OF IT! You go T.J!

The U.S. paid France $ 11,250,000 down and the rest was covered by the U.S. assuming debt owed to France from U.S. citizens. Was this the first ’subject to’ deal in history?
In a stroke of a pen, then United States DOUBLED IN SIZE! Plus, free navigation of the Mississippi was invaluable. We paid about $35.00 per acre for land that is worth multiplied billions today. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

But that’s not the end of the story! At that time, the Constitution DID NOT empower the federal government to acquire new territory by treaty! Jefferson did not have the legal right to enter into an agreement to buy this land! Talk about READY, FIRE, AIM! Of course, the Senate agreed with him shortly after and the deal was done.

But just think for a minute, what if Jefferson would have waited for permission to strike this deal? What if he was the type of person who waited for everyone to agree with him, waited for everything to be in order, and waited for the stars to line up? If he had waited, the deal may have slipped away. I thank God that President Jefferson saw an opportunity and acted on it! I believe that is what God has called us to do.

I encourage you to follow the lead of our founding fathers and starting investing in real estate! NOW!

Ready, Fire, Aim should be your motto. Get started now! You can always find a reason not to do something. Winners are people who do it afraid. Don’t let excuses keep you from attaining God’s best for you and your family. Anything worth doing usually isn’t easy!

If you have not started investing yet, get started today! Go to www.unlimitedvessels.com for more info.  If you are investing, redouble your efforts and keep it up. If you are a seasoned investor, become an apostolic entrepreneur and help someone else get started. Become a mentor or coach.

Join us for a webinar scheduled for this Friday April 6th at 7 PM EST. Learn how to buy houses with no money and no credit with excellence, honesty, and integrity! More emails will be sent out soon to sign up. But go ahead and mark it on your calendar.

God bless the U.S.A!

Billy

You all know or should know by now how important coaches and mentors are in our lives. They are critical! I wanted to tell you a little about a coach that changed my life.

Twenty five years ago (wow, am I that old) I was part of an incredible team that won the State High School wrestling championship here in Georgia. A couple of weeks ago, several members of the 1980 Sprayberry High School wrestling team decided to surprise our coach who many of us had not seen in over 20 years!

I thought this trip would be a nice way to catch up, see old friends, and say thanks to a coach who meant a lot to all of us. As it turns out, this trip meant so much more!

After the shock of surprising the ole coach (who by the way, at close to 70 years old, was still in better shape than most of his students) wore off and we all started reminiscing and telling old war stories of the good ole days, something happened. I noticed that many of the grown men at this gathering were successful, productive people, and they were giving the credit or at least acknowledging the major impact our coach had in who we were today! Especially me! I coach and mentor people and fully understand the critical role I play in getting people to the next level, but I didn’t think I would be so deeply affected by seeing my old coach again. It was an awesome night! One of those times you will never forget.

Coaches are important! Coaches change lives! I thought my coach was teaching me how to wrestle, but as it turns out, he was training me to battle through the challenges life throws at me everyday. I was deeply moved by the reunion and wanted to share with you guys the emails that were sent a couple of days later to sum up my thoughts and feelings.
Email from Coach Frank Keller

What a great evening! The effort you made in coming to see me after all these years means more to me than any honor or award that I could ever receive. It seems like only yesterday that you put Sprayberry High School on the athletic map, giving all the schools in the state a spanking. People still talk about our teams at the state tournament. You were the cutting edge for modern wrestling in the state of Georgia. You set the standard for other teams in the state to follow. You have built a legacy that will last many generations. Congratulations on a job well done.
I am so proud of all of you. You are respected members of your community. You are successful in your profession. You are a productive member of society. And most of all, you have families that are grounded in God and love. As your coach, it was my hope and dream that through the great sport of wrestling you would learn lessons that would serve you well in life situations. You have far exceeded all my expectations.
The t-shirts were a perfect likeness…right down to the eyebrows! I will wear my shirt with pride at every appropriate or inappropriate occasion. 
I am looking forward to the seeing you again in the near future. Please keep in touch! You are always welcome in our home. I’ll look forward to your visit to Steinhatchee for some great saltwater fishing and fellowship.
 
Coach Keller

And I replied

Coach Keller,
Last night was a great night. We have been looking forward to it for some time now.
I wanted to tell you a couple of things last night but just wasn’t able to get the words out. I probably would have squalled like a baby right there in front of everybody. (Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing?)
But I just wanted to say “thank you”. As I look back over my life with all of the trials and tests that life brings, I sometimes wonder how I got/get through it all. Now coach, I know that the grace of God is the answer, but I also know that God does things through people! I have people comment to me how that I have a “never give up” spirit about me. That I never quit, no matter what. And we both know that this is not some “ancient secret” that everyone is searching for. This is basic common knowledge for anybody who has ever tried anything worthwhile and been successful at it. But knowing it and doing it are two different things. I believe that the sport of wrestling in general and you specifically trained me to never give up. This “basic training” has never left me and serves me well today. I believe God has used you to train, encourage, teach, and love me and hundreds like me through the years. And it’s because of this “investment” you have made, that many, many students who lives you impacted are successful today. Now you are probably shrugging this off by saying “this was my job” or “all teachers/coaches should have this impact on their students”. Well, they probably should, but they don’t. You are the coach that I wanted to see after 25 years! You are the person that I thank God for putting in my path, not my English teacher! So while yes, all teachers may want to make this kind of impact. Very few do. You have made a very big impact on my life and therefore on my children’s life.
Proverbs 13:22 says “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous”. This scripture is used mostly when talking about money. And it is talking about money, which is important. But I also believe that an inheritance is more than just money! It’s leaving your children with no negative strongholds, no curses to be broken, leaving them with the knowledge that they can achieve anything they put their minds to. While I/we may not be your blood children (although you raised a lot of us like we were) you have left an inheritance to us! You’ve given us an inheritance of imparting the values of hard work, smart work, never give up, teamwork, fun, celebration, recognition, and a cause bigger than ourselves, and as it turns out, to be champions, just to name a few.
Whew! Maybe it was better I didn’t get started with this last night!
Thank you for everything you have done and everything you do to pour into people’s lives! I, along with hundreds if not thousands of others, are grateful! Thank you!
I pray God continues to bless you in everything you do! I pray at least a 100 fold return for all that you have poured into others lives. God has truly used you, thanks for being a willing vessel!
Thank you for giving me a chance, training, recognition, encouragement, love, tough love, direction, a mentor, a roll model, and a butt whooping. You have left me an inheritance. And I will pass it to my children as well as others.
 
Billy O’Neal

If I have a fraction of the impact on you as coach Keller had on me, then I’ve done my job!

If you want more info on my coaching and mentoring program, please go to www.ultimaterealestatecoach.com

The impending mortgage crisis will have a huge impact on our economy as well as the way we as investors do business for years to come. I haven’t received the call report yet, but I believe more people joined this call than any other call I’ve done in the past. The interest in this topic is incredible! E mails poured in from folks who couldn’t make the call but want to hear a replay. I did not record that call, but will start recording them in the future. (Sorry) And I want to give a brief overview of the call for those who missed it.

Over 100 national lenders have gone out of business in the last 8 months. This number really hit home with me when Hombanc, one of Georgia’s largest lenders when out of business stranding hundreds of people at the closing table waiting on their keys!

The mortgage industry is going through incredible turmoil that will send a shock wave through our economy no matter if you are in the real estate industry or not. This will affect us all. But specifically for investors, this could an opportunity in the market place we haven’t seen in 40 years or more!

This is not a “the sky is falling” gloom and doom report. We live in God’s economy, not the world’s economy!

The purpose of this email is to alert you of the times we live in and encourage to prepare yourself to take advantage of opportunity in the marketplace.

How did we get here?

2001-2003 were record breaking years for the mortgage industry and a lot of lenders made a lot of money. In 2004 or so the mortgage industry began to create new products (many with lax credit standards, no down payments, etc.) to keep the income coming in to keep pace with the two previous record breaking years (instead of riding out natural business cycles) These products pretty much made just about anyone with a pulse able to qualify get some kind of loan.

Many of theses loans were adjustable rate loans that had a very short time before they adjusted. (1 month-2 years)When interest rates began to go up the payments of these loans also went up. Many people “stretched” themselves to buy as much house as they could and when the payment adjusts, sometimes doubling the payment or more, they are simply not able to make the payments.

We are just beginning to see the first wave of millions of these loans adjust and therefore the wave of defaults/foreclosures are just beginning, for these “risky” loans, in record numbers.

What does this mean?

When these defaults began to happen in record numbers, the wholesale lenders (investors) the people who provide the money for mortgage companies to lend, stopped making new money available to mortgage companies because the default rate was making the return on this money so low they no longer wanted to lend money in this vehicle.

In other words, it became a bad investment for wholesale lenders (investors) so they stopped investing. INSTANTLY!

Imagine, Homebanc, a major lender with thousands of employees doing business one day, and the next day not having any product to sell. They shut the doors! And so have more than 100 just like them.
What does this mean to me as an investor?

OPPORTUNITY!

The foreclosed loans that will be absorbed by the banks, which are ALREADY ARE UP TO THEIR NECKS IN FORECLOSURES ALREADY!

They must find a new way to get rid of these loans/houses in a new, faster, easier way or they will be sitting on thousands of houses. Lenders hate houses!

I see two things that must happen to handle the flood of foreclosures:

1. Lenders will streamline the process of short selling these loans at severe discounts.

AND/OR

2. The Government will get involved and attempt some sort of “bailout” for these companies.

Either way, we as investors will see unprecedented opportunity!

The ability to buy these homes at a discount and sell them to good people, who made a choice on a loan that didn’t work out for them, will be there for savvy investors.

What should we do?
Prepare for this new wave of opportunity by:

1. Educating yourselves about investing! If you have not started investing, get started now!

2. Get up to speed on short sales (discounting the loan amount to the bank).  This will be a technique that will be utilized to buy from banks at a discount.

3. Develop private money sources. Cash will be king in this market and many loan programs for investors have been eliminated/limited in this crisis.

4. Learn “subject to” techniques of buying houses. “Subject to” is a technique that we use to take over loans without formally assuming them. I see this strategy being used more than ever in the future.

I believe we need to be like Joseph in the Bible and take advantage of this opportunity in the marketplace.

Money doesn’t fall from the sky! Start the process of building wealth today!
Deuteronomy 8:18

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives us the power to get wealth.

God gives us the power! But money won’t fall out of the sky! We must educate ourselves to recognize AND take advantage of opportunity in the marketplace, just like Joseph!

If you are not investing, get started today. If you are already investing, redouble your efforts and be alert for this new wave of opportunity!

We offer the most complete, turn key education to start investing. Go to www.BillyOneal.com for more info on our home study system, websites, and personal coaching and mentoring program!

Blessings,
Billy O’Neal
 

I just wanted to thank everyone who made it out to the Christian REIA meeting on Tuesday night. What a great crowd! For those of you who could not make it, be looking for a chance to listen to it online soon.
 

I announced at the meeting that I was celebrating my 19^th wedding anniversary to my awesome wife Karen on October 4^th. And I wanted to share with you guys

what God revealed to me as Karen and I spent the day together.
 

As we were reminiscing about how we met and this journey we are in the middle of called “life” over lunch at Pappasito’s (Yummy), God reminded me AGAIN what a great lady I am married to. You may be asking “why is letting us in on all the mush?” Good question.  I’m telling you this because as I reflected on where we started and where we are now and how I would have never made it through some tough times without the love and encouragement of my wife.
 

A little over four years ago when “jumped in with both feet” and started investing in real estate, my wife didn’t jump with me at first. No she had seen and heard me talk about every get-rich-quick scheme that had come down the pike (sound familiar ladies?) until she wanted to see some proof before she became emotionally vested. And do you know what she meant by “proof”?
That’s right. She wanted to see a check! It wasn’t very long until she saw the first one, then the next one, and then the next one (by the way, ALWAYS make copies of your checks before you deposit them)
 

But even though she wanted proof, she did not try to kill me dream or quench my desire to learn everything I could about this business. She wasn’t a critic.
 

You see, there are many people called critics who sit on the sidelines watching, waiting, hoping and praying that we stumble and quit so they can JUSTIFY their inaction. I thank God my wife was not one of them.
 

Many people ask me how to deal with a spouse who isn’t as fired up to invest in real estate as they are. I tell them let your spouse come around in their own time. As if you didn’t know, God made us differently. Most men (I said most not all) are “river boat gamblers”, sometimes ready to try something new at the drop of a hat. While the women (not all but a lot) are security oriented, less likely to try some thing with out a lot, sometimes a whole lot of prayer and research. God made us this way for a reason. Don’t try to usurp the Divine design.
 

What I did was to learn everything I could while taking action to get up to speed on this business as soon as I possibly could. My goal was to show Karen a check.
 

But through this process there have been ups and downs (just as in any process) that I’ve had to walk through. Karen has never said “quit” or “I told you so” one time. She encouraged me that if God has shown me this, then to stick with it.
 

And I guess this is what I’m trying to say is: Spouses (women and men), be anointers NOT embalmers.
 

Anoint your spouse with words of encouragement and edification. Bless them. Speak blessings over them You may be the only support system they have. There is no “boss” telling you “ada boy” or “ada girl”. No we have to lift ourselves up, pat ourselves on the back, and celebrate ourselves! Speak life to our spouse!
 

Don’t be an embalmer who sits around waiting on a hurdle (and by the way, there will be hurdles) just to be able to say “I told you so”. Anybody can be a critic. It’s easy. It takes no special skill or training. It’s the people that are investing and starting new ventures that make the business world go round.
 

Also remember your spouse is not just investing to get rich for rich sake. No we are “blessed to be a blessing”, this for your whole family and for the building of His Kingdom! You directly benefit from their success!
 

I thank God for my wife, her attitude, and for her being an anointer! I love you Karen!
 

Bless your spouse! Be an anointer! Encourage and speak life and blessings on them!
 

I call you all blessed!
 

Billy
 

P.S.
 

Remember, nothing happens until something moves. Take action today!