January 11, 2007- This year I am customizing my career. I have worked as a school psychologist (**legal disclaimer: as a graduate student and then as a substitute, but not licensed), as a child and adolescent therapist (both legal and licensed as a Professional Counselor), and then as a child care business owner.

I have spent my hard-earned money learning about business opportunity scams the hard way. Twice. Both times, within a few months of me being concerned the business that made me a “distributor” or “member merchant” was struggling, I was notified by the Federal Trade Commission that the company was taken into receivership. That means a judgment was made against them to cease operations and all assets were taken over to repay the debtors. In those situations, the people who paid thousands (or tens of thousands) for a business opportunity are at the bottom of the list of debtors, and large corporations are at the top. Wave to me, down there at the bottom.

Beginning now I will be creating a professional practice that includes personal growth counseling, consultation, and coaching. I am energized by helping people find meaningful work and meaningful volunteer opportunities, helping them find ways to be self-employed or becomes business owners, and helping them become better parents. Along the way I plan to share the things I learn, directly from my own efforts creating my practice and indirectly from helping other people.

I also plan to learn a lot by reading, observing, listening, and watching as I gather many different viewpoints on how to take control of the direction of my life. I will sprinkle the bits of wisdom I gather along the way into my posts. Knowing me, they will be contradictory and paradoxical sometimes, so I’ll have a lot of work to do just trying to make sense of them!

Thanks for joining me on this journey.

With Regards,

Steve Coxsey