Happy Birthday AND 6 Year Anniversary of Preparedness Pro

 It’s My Birthday! (at least it WAS when I was writing this) *grin*  To celebrate, I’ve got LOTS of fabulous surprises in store for all of our readers that we’ve been working on for more than a year. But now I finally get to share SIX of them with you!!!

6 years ago, today, I officially founded Preparedness Pro. It just so happened to coincide with my own birthday. At the time, I was working hard in the world of finance and didn’t need something else on my plate, but I had a voice that I felt I wanted to be heard.  A couple years later we were faced with some serious challenges which ultimately resulted in us having to do the unthinkable…unthinkable to my husband and I, anyway.  We had to file for bankruptcy, both personal and business, as our income was contingent on the income of our clients who relied heavily on the mortgage industry. But when the crash in the mortgage industry hit in 2007/2008, our clients, who were wholly supported by that industry, had a very hard time making ends meet. If they weren’t earning money, then they weren’t paying on their contractual agreements with us. And back then I was UBER stupid enough to spend the money as if it would always be there according to contract.  New office being built and decorated, opened a new division of our company, marketing, advertising, and new employees extended us well beyond what was coming in on our contracts. We held on as far into 2009 as was possible, refinancing or selling everything of value that we owned to make payroll and keep our heads above water, but ultimately, reality faced us and we had to file.

After the dust settled, we saw ourselves lower than we had ever been before. People we thought were our friends dropped like flies once the money disappeared. Employees that we had sacrificed to personally keep on the payroll only remembered that they ultimately lost their job.  I didn’t even bother putting up holiday decorations that year. No parties. No gatherings. And other personal circumstances made things look bleak. We had hit the all-time low. In fact, at that time, I didn’t feel like we could be any lower—in part, because I believed we were there due to MY foolishness. I had let my husband down, myself, family members who relied on us, etc.  So, as we sat up late one night, conversing in solemn tones, I asked my husband, “Honey. We can’t go any lower than we are right now. But we’ve always made decisions in our life based on what would pay us the best and we’ve made a lot of money, but look at where that got us? I don’t want to EVER make a decision again based on what it will pay us. I want to do something that will MEAN something to us today and into the eternities; something that comes from the heart. So, I have a question for you; if you could do ANYTHING in the world, regardless of the pay, what would you do?”

That night we talked into the early morning hours. Our answers surprised us both as we both discovered that we had long held passions about pursuing very different careers from where we had been, but that night, we never felt more clear in our purpose and we were excited that we were finally heeding our passions! We were armed with the painful experiences from our past, learning that we can’t ever believe in someone else more than they believed in themselves again. So we decided we’d do what we did with a purpose–not to change lives, but to be true to the undeniable passion we felt.

We also vowed that we’d never have to learn this painful lesson again. Not only about how we looked at money, but how we looked at what we did for a living, and allowing money to dictate our behavior.  We promised to NEVER give heed to the enticements of credit or credit scores again. We’d pay for anything we ever bought with CASH or we’d do without. And most importantly, we committed to never be beholden to someone in order to get their approval, agreement, business, or praise. We’d only value the praise of a loving Father in Heaven. And so, that night, Preparedness Pro became my primary focus. The next day, I officially wrote my first full-length, researched, edited, and illustrated articles for Preparedness Pro and Women of Caliber—an extension of all that Preparedness Pro stood for. And I kept writing again and again and again.

Here I am tonight, writing at midnight as usual, and adding one more article to the more than 1,000 articles written and published on our blogs.  Who would have thought that it would have expanded to all of this today??

 In spite of being overweight, under-tall, and out of shape, I’ve had more than 50 million viewers come into my home and see some of my crazy personality and some of the things that I do in the interest of everyday, peaceful preparedness.  I’ve appeared in 3 international magazines, including Mademoiselle and Marie Claire. I’ve had cameramen fly in from NYC, Korea, France and Australia to feature some of the unique approaches I’ve chosen in becoming independent and self-sufficient. I’ve been interviewed by the host of the longest standing International Talk show in France. I’ve been flown to NYC to do press appearances on Fox News and the Anderson Cooper show, and I had the privilege of using what little French I remembered from high school as I hosted the camera crew from France’s version of “60 Minutes”, known as “Enquette Exclusive”.  I’ve spoken and taught at more than a hundred live events all over the U.S., and I’ve had the privilege of serving as a culinary instructor at the prestigious Thanksgiving Point in Utah.  There’s much more, but more importantly, I’ve made a whole lot of friends through this journey—real friends. The come-to-dinner-on-a-Sunday-night, visit-for-a-week, help-me-pack-and-move-in-less-than-4-days, driving-3-hours-out-of-our-way to-meet-for-lunch, take-care-of- in-the-hospital, cross-country roadtrip companion, pray-for-by-name, Christmas-card-list, kick-me-in-the-pants-when-I’m-wrong kinds of friends from all over the world!

So, as I sit here late at night penning one more article, I’m just bursting with excitement. Not because my hubby gave me a very nice day of birthday celebration, but because I FINALLY get to announce the broad expansion of Preparedness Pro that I hope will further benefit your lives and bless us all with more genuine friends, more inspiration and education to do our best and to be our best, and develop more strength to face the adversities that are certain to come our way—a strength that can only come from Peaceful Preparedness.
 

You should know that there’s more than just myself and my husband behind everything that has had to happen in order to get us to this point. There have been SEVERAL men and women along the way that have also cared about YOU to the point that they were willing to share their talents behind-the-scenes to make Preparedness Pro THE reliable source for quality information and education for your journey of living a more self-sufficient, peacefully prepared life. These men and women have busy lives, families, full-time jobs, and a litany of other responsibilities, but they have cheerfully donated time in exchange for whatever was available to give them. Sometimes I’ve been blessed to pay them a pittance and sometimes I’ve been able to give them other items of value in exchange for their time, but ultimately, they have ALL given so much more than they will ever get to collect, materially speaking. Why? Because they have believed in what we’re trying to do here and they have believed that it has the potential to change lives for the BEST, in a time when “good enough” in a mass of mediocrity seems to reign supreme. So, without further delay, let’s share what’s coming your way!!

#1: MORE media!
Yes, I’ve heard you. I KNOW you want more videos. I know you want the radio show again. I’ve heard you tell me that I have to write more books and have my own TV show. Well, while I have no intention of ever being a part of a formal TV or radio broadcast again, I think I’ve come up with some great alternatives for you. Beginning April 1^st, you will be able to get your Preparedness Pro in a variety of media forms. Via podcasts that will be posted every Wednesday, and via YouTube that will be posted EVERY WEEK now.

We’ve already lined up some GREAT people that are anxious to be a part of what we’re doing here at Preparedness Pro and are freely giving of their time to help educate in that regard. More on that in a moment.

#2: MORE EDUCATION!

We will be holding regular scheduled webinars that go in-depth into topics that are really important in today’s world. Self-employment success, alternative health care, strategic preparedness, and so many other topics. We’ve teamed up with WizIQ to host these classes LIVE with the latest technology so that you can join in our training events from the comfort of your own home but with all of the convenience of a classroom setting. Raise your hand, get valuable reference handouts, etc. We realize that most people learn best by visual education, so we’re bringing it to you! You want to learn how to wax cheese? We’ll SHOW you! You want to learn how to make your own solar-operated water heater? We’ll SHOW you. Between the more liberal YouTube videos and this new class lineup, we’re going to make a LOT of people VERY happy!!  And we’re SO EXCITED to do it!!! Today’s technology now has the ability to eliminate the time and cost restraints that so many hungry minds have to deal with, but without the impersonal, stagnant, pre-recorded stuff. These classes will be LIVE so that you and the instructor can interact in real time.

This technology will also enable us to offer you classes taught by more than just The Preparedness Pro. We’re rocking and rolling in our upcoming schedule of specialists that you’re SURE to LOVE!! The schedule of upcoming classes will be posted by April 1^st!

#3: New Preparedness Pro Family Member—First: Healthy and Well Ever After:
I’ve written articles that involve all of the Ten Principles of preparedness, but admittedly, everyone comes to this site with a variety of needs. They may just be looking for ideas for meals and instead they get a detailed article on alternative health care of radiation poisoning protection. The point is, not everyone is interested in some of the areas as in depth as I like to provide them. Furthermore, there are some that aren’t yet on the “preparedness bandwagon” but who would like to approach their health care from a more independent position.  As such, I have formed a subsidiary company and site, “HealthyandWellEverAfter.com”. You will be able to access that site from here as well as from an individual site approach. But it’s where I’m going to go into greater detail on taking care of our health needs in a world that continues to fail us in our journey for REAL health and wellness.

I will also be teaching LIVE webinars that will go into great depth of topics that really need to be addressed. I’m constantly being asked about how to address issues such as “the Black Plague” , radiation poisoning, “survival nutrition”, etc. All of these topics are dear to my heart, but they just haven’t belonged on the more general site of Preparedness Pro. This new site will focus solely on that topic and you’ll be notified when new articles, YouTube videos, podcasts, and webinars are available under this new subsidiary. Just make sure you’re subscribed to Preparedness Pro.

#4: New Preparedness Pro Family Member—Second: EnTEAMpreneur

We’ve added another family member to in the form of EnTEAMpreneur. Interested persons will be able to access the in-depth articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos within the Preparedness Pro site, or as a completely separate site environment.

As you may know, I constantly beg people to be sure that they have an alternative stream of income in their household, and it’s no secret that I’m a big proponent of being self-employed. But, I’ve received literally hundreds of e-mails over the past 5 years from people asking me HOW they can successfully start their own business in spite of the obstacles that they face. We ALL face these obstacles, and we also know that being self-employed is daunting at times. But that’s where EnTEAMpreneur comes in. You can go it alone, but you don’t have to do it ON YOUR OWN. Instead, you’ll be able to tap into my years as an expert business consultant, particular in the area of marketing—because marketing makes or breaks ANY business. But more importantly, you will also be able to tune in to other like-minded people who are making their preparedness life work for them while paying their bills too.

 It doesn’t matter that your bank account is at zero right now. It doesn’t matter if you’re confined to a wheel chair. EnTEAMpreneur will be where you can go to get REAL information, support, strategies, IDEAS and HANDS-ON help for your individual needs in pursuit of financial independence that can stand the test of time that will undoubtedly be filled with trials.  We’re talking more than just self-employment here. This is self-employment that is more than just a way to pay the bills. We’re talking self-employment that makes you happy and secure and fulfilled on a daily basis!

Sure, there are millions of ways for a business to fail. But, there are also millions of ways to succeed and the good news is, you only need ONE of those millions of ways to succeed.  I’ve been very blessed to have had great mentors and support since I was a young teen, and as such, I grew up never fearing life as an entrepreneur. With very few exceptions, I’ve always been blessed to work in a “Law of the Harvest” scenario instead of what most people call “a real job”. As you can see, those “real jobs” have put a whole lot of people in some devastating times. It’s time to change the balance and go back to being the kind of faithful and hope-filled people that built America in the first place. EnTEAMpreneur.com is going to show YOU how!
 

#5: Preparedness Pro Community Board:

Since we’re going to be encouraging all of these entrepreneurs, we wanted a spot where other preparedness minded people could support other like-minded people and their businesses. But, given the sense of “family” that we have amongst Preparedness Pro readers, we wanted to do so in a good old fashioned Community Board  kind of environment. We want to help make this world a little smaller by connecting people and communities together all across the world, and by featuring the goods, services, and needs of other Preparedness Pro folks.  We want a place where we can all go to rub elbows with people who have the skills, mindset, resources, tools, gadgets, and ideas that will help all of us in our pursuit of peaceful preparedness.  Want to trade a horse for a solar oven? Have some fresh rabbit meat to sell? Looking for a used military truck?  No problem. You’ll find it on the Preparedness Pro Community Board, read by hundreds of thousands of people regularly. In spite of the large number of specialized readers, we’ve decided that we don’t want anything to get in the way of our readers in expanding their business and connecting with others. So we’ve decided to make the listings on the Board so ridiculously affordable that no sane person will be able to say “no”.

The fact that Preparedness Pro is always adding new content unique to the preparedness community means that the search features on the internet often direct traffic to Preparedness Pro where the various listings on the Community Board can be featured, on each and every page of content that Preparedness Pro offers, INCLUDING the new subsidiary ventures.

You’ll also see us highlighting Preparedness Pro readers who are business owners or who have spear-headed a great community project.

We’ve had paid advertisers on our page for two years now and if there’s one thing that the advertisers always tell us is that Preparedness Pro readers are an excellent caliber of people. They’re committed to their efforts of self-sufficiency, they are intelligent buyers, and they are fiercely loyal.  Those are the very type of people that we want to feature on our Community Board.

#6: Private Forums:

The truth is that there aren’t a lot of people out there that we feel we can trust, but there are also a lot of people out there that are just like you and me who want to make friends and relationships and yes, alternative bug out plans with people all over the U.S.  But there aren’t many venues that are in place to really help people connect like that. So we’ve decided to pull the trigger on setting up a membership based forum where we can have some semblance of screening so that folks can find like-minded people without the NSA breathing down their necks. Let’s face it. Facebook, Google, and all of those social sites have sold us out for zeros and ones on a computer screen.  And things keep getting worse with these companies changing their privacy settings overnight without the users being informed.  I suspect that there are a LOT of us that are just plain fed up with it and we’d like to go and converse somewhere without undesirables breathing down our necks. That’s where you’ll find the sense of community at Preparedness Pro to come in handy.

Oh, and what would a Community be without your neighborhood matchmaker?  We know that being single in today’s world isn’t easy and it’s significantly MORE difficult to find someone who had their head on straight with regards to being prepared.  So naturally we knew we just HAD to have a little section of our site that could help love birds to match up. So be sure to keep your eyes open for the special events that we’ll hold online and OFFline to give a little nudge to you folks who haven’t yet found Mr or Mrs. Prepper. *grin*  My friend Clint has been working on this singlehandedly while being a full-time computer geek, an attentive husband, a great friend, a reliable neighbor, and a dad to six young kids. So I don’t get to announce this to be ready by April 1^st. But our reasonable goal is set for the 1^st of May! Yay!!!  *Happy Dance*

Well, that’s enough good news for now. There’s more—lots more, but we’ll be keeping you posted on all of that via your inbox if you’re a subscriber to our Newsletter. So be sure you SUBSCRIBE!!

Hope you enjoy your Birthday Gifts! *grin*

Here’s to your Peaceful Preparedness!