My Not Getting Rich Quick Story!

Once upon a time, we listened to our grandfather's stories. If there ever was a natural-born storyteller, grandpa, who was called Pap, was the best of all. His histrionic tales entertained us for hours on end. Often, we lost track of time. The fictitious tales captured our attention and imagination. As children, we loved listening to his stories. The stories instilled pride and confidence in his grandchildren. Admittedly, back then, children didn't have all the distractions that they have today.

Unsurprisingly, everyone loves a good story. While reading stories can transport us to far-off lands and adventures, you can read fiction or read nonfiction stories teaching yourself so many things. Think about it, stories help us learn; stories help to console or encourage us, and stories help to entertain us. 

As a matter of fact, you could say that our lives are a continuous story. Sometimes, people write down their stories in journals and in letters or verbally tell their stories to others. Unfortunately, if they are not written down, the stories fade away over time. Truth be told, we love to read stories; we love to write stories; we love to watch stories; and, we love to listen to stories. Everyone, myself included, is passionate about stories.

While my grandpa's fabricated stories as well as my dad's war stories have long eroded and faded away as time marches on. Remembering the times my grandpa and my dad told their stories, those memories are etched into my heart and mind. Perhaps, their storytelling was the seeds planted that sprouted into my purpose and passion for writing and creating stories. In addition to writing and creating stories, my purpose and passion lie with my grandchildren. Sharing stories with my grandchildren is super special for so many reasons. For one, it opens lines of communication between generations. Unable to tell my grandpa's and my dad's stories verbatim to my grandchildren is heartbreaking. Thoughts fill my mind. If only the stories told by my grandpa and by my dad were written down or recorded. Sadly, my wish won't bring the stories back. Reminding myself, my thoughts must stay positive or the thoughts will fall into a melancholy abyss of moody blues.

Unsurprisingly, all my memberships consist of stories! Yes, my memberships consist of three different platforms, but they all have one thing in common and that is stories. Facebook has pictures and stories. Linked in has stories connecting professionals. Vocal plus, my last membership, has reading, writing, and creating stories.

For me, Facebook is a mammoth social media storyteller for individuals and businesses alike. While my membership in Facebook goes back to 2009,

The platform lets me follow and keep up with my grown children's stories and my grandchildren's stories. It's great to see their snaps on Facebook and allows me the opportunity to write a comment or give a like or heart to their post.

In addition, Facebook Marketplace gives me a platform to sell my new and gently used items locally. In the Fall of 2019, my first items were posted and surprisingly a few items actually sold. Just as things were starting to pick up, COVID-19 and lockdown happened. Things have been slow the first six months of this year.  Of course, my preference for selling locally does affect my sales. Shipping the items has its advantages and disadvantages, of course, the advantage would be more sales, and the disadvantage would be the potential for items being lost in shipment. While writing about shipping in this story, my email inbox received information about a UPS webinar for Facebook Marketplace shipping. How timely! That might be a game-changer for me. Who knows?

Currently, my total sales for 2021 are approximately $100.00 worth of items sold. Woohoo!

With the weeks and months of the pandemic rolling on and on, by January 9th, 2021, my once dormant Linked in account was activated. While Linked in is a networking platform, its mission is to connect the world's professionals. Being retired, for me, my main focus was on reconnecting and connecting to others on Linked in. While my group isn't large, the size of my network is irrelevant. For me, the Linked in membership became my escape from all the negative news and negative politics. Reading about a person's promotions, work anniversaries, announcements of career opportunities, birthdays, sharing positive thoughts and quotes, the positive stories were encouraging and uplifting. Linked in contributes to my thinking positively.

By March 2021, Vocal showed up in my Facebook feed. It was FREE to enter and so my first story was for the little black book challenge; however, being new to the free vocal account platform, my story wasn't entered in that challenge. Ultimately, Vocal + ran a three-month special at $4.99 a month for three months. So, my frugal self went for it.

Making $6,000 a month had nothing to do with me joining Vocal +, the attraction was my purpose and passion for stories. Vocal +'s  creative platform enables me to read other people's stories and to write my own stories. Besides, the six million reads appeared to be an unrealistic number. My realistic self thought. Without a doubt, there was no way for me to reach six million reads in a month, not even in a year's time or multiple years' time. My passion for stories conquered my fears, Besides, my ability to create stories and entering the challenges enables me to write stories and share them with my grandchildren who will be able to read and continue to read them long after my demise. My written stories will be a tangible legacy. The best part, my grandchildren will know that the stories were written with them in mind. If anyone else reads my stories, it is just icing on the cake. 

With my read numbers now over 200, the funds in my wallet of $31.46 have recently been deposited into my bank account. After the monthly expense of $4.99 a month for three months, my getting rich quick is off to an extremely slow start turning it into a not getting a rich quick story. 

At the end of the day, my three memberships have fueled my purposes and passions. My purpose and passion are being fulfilled by sharing stories with my grandchildren on Vocal +. While not getting rich quickly, my ability to write stories is rewarding in itself. In addition, my newfound passion for selling new and gently used items on Facebook Marketplace is starting to pay off while my passion for my Linked in the network of professionals continues to make my day a positive one.

Writer's notes: Thank you for reading.

If you are not winning, you are learning.