My good friend Thaddeus sent a simple message, asking where I had run off to. I felt it was time to come out and play for a little bit and let everyone know what is going on with me.
Since my last post, I officially stopped marketing CLEAR. I was not able to successfully market the service due to my lack of resources; namely a vehicle or bus fare, telephone and a predictable income to support a shoestring-budget business. Waiting waiting two months for a commission check didn't help things, either. I could have done it for one month, but two months really pushed me. As soon as I started, minutes on my prepaid phone ran out, and with no way to get around town, I was dead in the water. By the time I regained communication with the potential clients I had lined up, they had either subscribed to CLEAR with someone else and disconnected the service, or they decided they no longer wanted the service after all. The dealer I worked with is now very unhappy with CLEAR corporate, concerned that he invested all of his retirement money into a venture that will ultimately fail him.
I now have AT&T's unlimited prepaid talk and text package. For $60, I receive 30 days of unlimited talk time and unlimited text messages. I was able to pull my Palm Treo out of retirement and use it again, enjoying full signal strength in the basement and using a keyboard to send text messages. I have enough money on my prepaid account to keep the account active till January 12, 2010, and the number won't expire till 2011. And, since I can transfer the number to a standard postpaid account, I won't have to change the number when I finally upgrade to an iPhone.
Last Tuesday, I enrolled in school to become a Certified Nursing Assistant. Yep, I will be a Male Nurse and I am looking forward to finally making some money again. Besides, I think I'll look pretty good in scrubs. I am told that nursing is one of the fastest growing fields, especially for men. Guys have strength women lack when it comes to lifting heavy patients or just relating with other guys in a hospital setting. For four weeks of training, I get access to entry level work that pays decently. My main draw was the low tuition cost ($600 total, plus $107 for the state certification) and the fresh start this training gives me, a "hard reset" of sorts. I just wish I found the school when I first moved here because I would have never needed to have gone through any of the drama I went through during the last eight months of unemployment. But, I learned what I am made of. Now, I just need to dredge up $550 to pay for school. I need $60 for tomorrow in order to resume school, but I don't have it. Since no one will loan me money, I will run my debit card and hope the charge goes through. If it does, I will have to deal with the $34 overdraft fee the bank will surely charge me.
And finally, I may have a solution to these short-term financial problems. I found this fantastic service, LogMeInRescue. It allows me to securely connect with a computer located anywhere on the Internet and take control of it (with the owner's consent), performing service on the computer as if I were there in person. The service is web-based and works with Macs or PC's. With a Paypal account, I can service anyone in the world. The customer just needs a phone and Firefox or Internet Explorer installed on their system. I will offer $20 remote and $40 in-person unlimited remote computer service for as many people as I can get. I will also offer unlimited 3/6/12 month support packages for $275/$450 and $850, and special incentives for small businesses. If this works, I will solve my most immediate problems: driver license, new iMac, CNA school. If it really works, I will solve many more problems. I plan to run my ad on Craigslist. I already have a Twitter account, dedicated cell phone and dedicated email account.
