The At Home Couple

Attracting the Laws of Attraction

law of attraction

Post Internet drama, Elijah and I have been struggling a bit with thinking positively about our current financial situation. We do have work coming in, but trying to catch up with all the bill payments we have missed is a daunting task. Focusing on a plan of action is hard, because we’re trying to do so many things at once. The chaos is terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. Elijah came to me the other night with a potential movie to watch for the evening, “Beyond the Secret“, a motivational film outlining the steps to benefiting from the Laws of Attraction.

The movie itself was kind of corny, but the concept intrigues me. I’ve heard about the Laws of Attraction before, but never really delved too deeply into the topic. Eli and I are very big believers in the mind/body/spirit connection, so we’ve decided to make a conscious effort to employ the Laws of Attraction. We’ve starting meditating twice a day and focusing on positive outcomes. It hasn’t been easy for me, since I have a tendency to worry and fret. But I must say that I have been pretty good for the past couple of days.

For anyone else (I’m probably the last.) unaware of the theory, it is that the Laws of Attraction are Universal Laws that are based on the energy of the earth and of us as human beings. Basically, by focusing your energy on your desires or dreams, you are manifesting them into reality. But it goes both ways; focusing your energy on negative outcomes or scenarios can attract those as well. By simply knowing what you want, asking the universe for it, visualizing your self with it and allowing change, we can achieve any goal or dream. In terms of science, there are those who don’t believe it is possible for one to transmit their energies, yet others argue the laws of Quantum Physics, which teaches that nothing is fixed, we and everything on this planet are vibrating balls of energy have limitless possibilities.

(This is my basic understanding of Quantum Physics and the Laws of Attraction.)

I figure that because we have a lot to turn around, it is easier to focus on smaller, more attainable goals. Obviously I want to get caught up with our payments, so I envision myself paying the bills and having money left over. Simple and yet such a happy thought . . . sigh. We haven’t noticed any dramatic change so far, but that can be expected since we only started talking about this a couple days ago. (Although Eli did receive a random $25 out of the blue tonight.)

I’m really excited to get my mind and body on the same page, they’ve been at odds with each other for a while now.

There really can’t be any negative outcomes . . .

because I won’t be thinking about them.

Stay Classy,

Veronica

Elijah’s Idiot-Free Halloween Guide For 2009

This Halloween will actually be the first time in probably 5 years that I’ve actually dressed up and went “out”. I’m still not sure why I’ve decided to make an effort this year, but I think it has something to do with getting older and trying to feel younger… is it sad that I’m 28 and already attempting to recapture my youth?

All things aside, Hallows Eve has changed significantly since I was a child. Back in the 80’s it was all about garbage bags full of candy; the more we could get the better. My sister Jasmine and I would have two costumes prepared some years… making a double pass around our 5 storey apartment complex and across the street throughout our grandmothers hood. I’m not even kidding, one year we had so much candy that it had to be kept in our closet… and for almost 6 months that closet had a half foot floor of caramelized sugar and wax-based wrappers.

It truly is a beautiful thing when executed correctly…

In the spirit of all things ghastly and ghoulish, I figured I would share some insight towards making this years Halloween one to remember. Whether you’re taking the kids out for the first time or have tossed your inhibitions and decided to go make a fool of yourself among your middle-aged peers, I’m positive you’ll find my tips resourceful.

If you’re a male between the ages of 25 and 50 and haven’t participated in Halloween festivities for at least 10 years, please strongly consider the following:

You are not hallucinating. Hooker nurses and slutty school girls are considered to be costumes by the current generation. Though much of the luscious eye candy may seem to be old enough – sporting their fish net stockings and glittery cleavage – chances are they are 16 and drink a lot of milk. Don’t touch, don’t tip, don’t talk.
Be sure your costume fits. Whether you’re taking out the toddlers or attending a pumpkin-themed office party, make an effort to find a costume that is “comfortable”. What I’m actually trying to say is don’t be dressing up as your favorite Bee Gee with some skin tight grape smugglers. Though a healthy bulge was once a sign of fertility and prowess, it will now get you 10-15 years without parole if you accidentally “bump” into someone.
Go easy on the candy. There was a time when we could eat pounds of sugary goodness and do back-flips off bed posts. These days are gone. If you’re going to be drinking any sort of amber colored liquor named after a Mr. Daniels, hold back on the single serving candy consumption. Rainbow vomit is for sick unicorns, not grown men.

If you’re a female between the ages of 25 and 50 and haven’t participated in Halloween festivities for at least 10 years, please strongly consider the following:

Halloween is not fantasy time. Just because you’re “barely” hiding behind some wig and push up bra, this does not give you a full out invitation to become a role playing woman-of-the-pole. You are not Lady Gaga. Be classy, be smart and more importantly, don’t be a dirty hooker. YouTube is a cell phone away and real strippers will run laps around you. Keep your fantasies in the bedroom.
Try to avoid fetish parties. Don’t get me wrong, if this is your thing and you’ve had prior experience – this tip is not meant for you. But as stated above, if you haven’t done the whole “Halloween” thing for quite some time, attending a fetish party will scar you. Not only will Thanksgiving dinner with the family will never be the same, but you’ll probably end up in a corner somewhere sucking a penis-shaped lollipop – veins included.
Listen to your kids. This applies to many different areas. If your daughter says Mrs. Grimsby’s candy sucks, it probably does. If your son tells you that you’re embarrassing him, you probably are. If little John Jr. says his cape is too tight and he can’t breathe, loosen it. If 15 year old Sophia says that Mitchel’s parents will be there to supervise the party, they probably will (not).

October 31st has been an idiot-fueled ocassion for centuries. I hope my observations will prove useful towards a successful and memorable Halloween for you and yours.

I do have one last tip for all of the committed couples of the world: douche-bag doctor and naughty nurse is probably the worst couple costume in the history of this ancient celtic celebration. Be creative, because if you’re not I will find pictures and I will put my internet marketing skills to use.

And you’ll probably end up getting featured on the Ellen Degeneres Show – in a bad way.

Back on the Ball

It has now been 4 official days of internet service with no interruptions or crashes. This is monumental! It seems that that box of connections at the back of our building was in complete dis-repair; with no cover or protection. There may even have been a family birds living, what seems like, on our line. It would definitely explain the random signal dropping. My condolences go out to the family that we displaced, but there are plenty of actual trees in this neighbourhood. To think that all this time we’ve been calling customer service, all someone needed to do was physically walk to the back of our building. Sometimes I cannot believe that it took 2 months for major internet providers to provide us with the connection we need, especially since we live in the heart of a metropolitan city. We unfortunately took this service for granted. Non the less, it feels so good to know that we’re back on track. I feel like I barely got a taste of working from home and everything went in the shitter.

In hindsight, it may have been a good thing. Sometimes the only way to look at these experiences is as positively as possible. We have DEFINITELY learned some important lessons and are better for it now. But in that time, I can’t even begin to describe the frustration we were feeling. It makes me think back to the post I wrote about Copreneurs and how this was one of those times that could make or break us. Thankfully, we kept our heads on and dealt with it, with minimal tension.

It’s such a different type of stress. At a workplace, the conflict would have been a big mess during the day, but eventually you go home and forget about it for the night, until you have to go back in the morning. But for all of you that work from home and run your own business, you understand the black pit in the stomach and never ending swimming in your head. The stress in 24/7 and there’s nothing you can do but move forward. This is all still so new to me, and I’m not going to lie, we talked about me going out and getting another job.

I’m still holding out.

Things are back on the way up. Elijah’s got tons of work coming in and I’ve even got some design jobs rolling my way. It’s funny how life sometimes make things suck as much as possible and then flips it instantaneously, in my opinion to make us appreciate what we have in our lives. If anything, this past downturn is just the “rock-bottom” chapter in our success story. Look for it on shelves at your favourite bookstore in 2015.

The other silver lining, albeit small, is that I’ve uncovered my love for crafts! It may sound lame to some people, but I bet those people wouldn’t be saying so if they were curled up in a hand knitted blanket of awesomeness!

Here’s my latest project.

I’m definitely not a pro, but these are what my family and friends can expect for Christmas. Not only is it going to save us money, but it has kept me sane during these past few months.

Now that Elijah and I are slowly starting to get back into the routine, I look forward to sharing more of my musings with you. We have a ton of projects on the go, and I can’t wait to share them. Keep you’re eyes peeled, ’cause we’re back and with a whole lot of wind in our sails!

Stay classy,

Veronica

9 Reasons Why I Love Black Hat Forums

Oh no! Elijah’s gone to the darkside. Stop freaking out. I’m sitting in front of my lap top, not on a starship.

I’m about to go to bed – and as I do often – end my day off with a cruise around the cracks and crevices of internet marketing forums and their interesting inhabitants. I’ve met some of the most interesting people in forums and I absolutely love how in a split second a thread can go from good to great or bad to suicidal. I guess forums are kind of like my soap operas.

Anyways – Black Hat Marketing Techniques – some people use em, most people don’t. Those that do usually make insane, short bursts of money. The turnaround is much faster and the risk is much greater. It can definitely be exciting. If you’re wondering whether or not I’ve ever made money with Black Hat, in short, yes. I find it great for beer money – as you can see above.

Now even though the Warrior Forum is lurking with guru wannabe’s and special offers, I always find myself attracted to the underground message boards. I’ve learned some great stuff on White Hat forums over the years, but nothing compares to the innovation I’ve encountered when tip toeing over to the other side of the lawn.

I absolutely love Black Hat Forums – and here’s why:

They are less stuffy – and a lot more comical (sometimes twisted). I enjoy this.
They are huge on sharing. I’m sorry, but even if I had the money to waste, I wouldn’t pay $997 for a digital product. It’s just not happening. You can get the latest and greatest ebooks, courses, scripts and methods for free. Always be sure to support if something has made you money. I have had the entire woo themes library cracked for a year, yet as soon as I had some money to spend I started purchasing developer licenses for the themes I already have – just to be legit and show mad love.
One of the main purposes of Black Hat is to cut corners, be steath and automate as much as possible. Though I wouldn’t try half of the major techniques, learning about them really helps me to be innovative in my White Hat ventures.
Black Hatters are always willing to lend a hand, and can be at times less judgmental. Forums are all about authority, clout and respect. I’ve contacted the owner of one particular BH forum several times with honest CPA related questions and he’s given me some really great feedback.
You see more and more young kids in Black Hat forums.. I mean 15 year olds who are banking $5000/month. This is an interesting spot to be in, especially when you can get a glimpse of how the younger generation is viewing internet marketing techniques, and what they bring to the table (considering this is their era).
Black Hatter’s tend to be a little more compu-savvy. They’re great for getting design, html and coding tutorials/answers. Need to do a meta refresh? Black Hat forums will help you out.
From a personal standpoint.. if I had to hats in front of me and needed to put on one for a portrait of some sort, I would – without hesitation – put on the Black Hat. Johnny Cash wore black hats… pffft.
Money making methods are free. Where you’d be paying $17 for a WSO, you’d never have to pay money for a method in the Black Hat forums. It’s actually common courtesy to post up a method if it has worked for you.
Most Black Hat forums have White Hat sections – and 90% of the time, the White Hat techniques are leaps and bounds more lucrative compared to their cousins in the real White Hat forums.

Anyways – all in all – being open minded towards all methods and mediums of business is essential. Lots of people think Black Hat is about scamming people and ripping people off.. and sometimes it is! But the amount of methods which fall into that category are pretty minimal.

If you’re really interested in scaling up your business a bit or need some creative juices for a new idea, just type in “blackhat forum” into Google and you’ll find exactly what you need.

If you’d like to do some reading, I’ve taken a few minutes and compiled a bunch of documents which I’ve directly profited from at one point or another. These are all “grey hat” techniques, minus 1 or 2, that take no time to set up and could potentially make you money within 2-3 days… sometimes within 24 hours! I am not the author of any of these methods, I’m merely passing them on to you so you can make some money too.

Here’s the link – all you have to do is donate something. No set amount, whatever you feel like throwing my way.

Think about this for a second – who’s really Black Hat here? The search engines who can see into your front window? Or a bunch of ambitious people in a forum who’re trying to avoid being “seen”? Stick that one in your pipe and smoke it.

Cheers,

Elijah

They Thought Killing Us Would Be Easy

Do you see this face? This is the face of a man who will not go quietly. This is the face of a man who will not give up on his dreams of financial freedom and mini retirements; all because the system refuses to cooperate. Technology tried to crush our focus. The corporations tried to give us the runaround.

They tried to kill TheAtHomeCouple.

They tried to kill Elijah and Veronica.

They tried to kill us and they failed.

For those of you who’ve been wondering if we’re doing ok, here is a brief, but graphic summary of the last 8 weeks:

The light bulb in my desk lamp blew out. At first it didn’t seem like a big deal, but later I would realize that it was a symbolic gesture foreshadowing the mind-numbing course of events to follow. A few days after that our Internet stopped working. It had been 3 years, with the same service provider, without a bump.

No internet equals no money. Funny how the guru’s never mention that one. Note to self.

With the obvious sense of impending urgency, we decided to give them 2 weeks to fix it. 3 technicians and 2 weeks later the problem was still occurring, so we made the executive decision to cancel services (broadband cable internet and digital cable television) and call up our voip provider and get some DSL web service bundled-up and running.

If it were only that simple. There is no “option” in “monopoly”.

6 weeks, 40 phone calls and 7 support tickets later, we have no high speed internet, our credit cards are maxed out and we’re 2 months behind on all of our utility bills with $20 in the bank. There is no bail out for ambitious home business owners. Help was not on its way. We were 1 click away from checking out the cubicle-job market on Craigslist.

Apparently hitting rock bottom is required and we were fulfilling our obligation.

Today is Wednesday, and today we have high speed. We’ve come full circle to our original service provider, but discovered along the way that they have business internet and phone solutions that offer a more robust support package, with a considerable increase in service speed and features. Where was this 6 weeks and $3000 ago?

Please listen to what I’m about to tell you…

If you have or are planning to quit your job and work online full time – make sure you have a solid, back up resource for high speed internet. Whether it’s your grandmothers place, a Starbucks downtown or a 4G usb internet stick – know exactly where you are going and what you will do if you suddenly have no internet access.

I realize that in this day and age we completely abuse and take advantage of our dependency on technology. Money spends the majority of our lives in a virtual state. Our banking, businesses and social black books rely on technology.

If you’re chasing this money making dream – please take at least 30 minutes to think about what I’ve just shared with you. Yes, we can all make money online. Yes, we can quit our jobs and cash Adsense checks once a month. Yes, we can visit each others blogs and make little jokes about things we’ll do when we’re “at the top”.

But what will you do if all these great things were coming into fruition and your internet connection fails? Simple, yet deadly.

Cheers,

Elijah

August Was Crap – What’s Next?

Is it just me or was August crap for everyone? Not to be a total buzzkill but Veronica and I had the worst possible month ever. As tempted as I am to get into everything, let’s just say that after Veronica quit her job, everything that could have possibly gone wrong has gone wrong. Websites haven’t been selling, we’ve had to change Internet providers (in the process), lights are blowing out in our apartment, tears have been shed, scotch has been consumed and my laptop screen doesn’t seem as bright as it once was.

A few things that I’ve realized while picking my nose at absolute rock bottom is that my absolute worst case scenario isn’t all that bad. What’s the worst that could happen, really? Let’s think about this for a second:

The rent can’t get paid
The bills fall behind
We get evicted

We have no children, no mortgage and no car. Both of our families could easily take us in for a few months if we crashed and burned. We would help out around the house, continue plugging away online while paying down our debt and pitching in. In the meantime we’d be well fed, with the company and support of those whom we love most and things would eventually get back to where they were before Pandora’s box opened.

I was so stressed a week ago. I honestly felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown and once I visualized the absolute worst case scenario, it all seemed a little over dramatic in my head.

Each day is a new opportunity.

Today wasn’t so bad. I managed to secure relations with a new client, as well as connect with two prospects for long term development and marketing partnerships. Our Paypal account is $373 heavier today and it’s my birthday right now (09/04)… I have a strange feeling that my 28th year of existence is going to monumental. I’ve already got a couple of gray hairs and I’m okay with it.

Shit could always be worse.

Keep your heads up!

Cheers,

Elijah