But this new journey was to be very different from the rest, with more dark twists, turns and elements of the unexpected then any of the others. This new journey began in January 2002.
I was then Assistant Supervisor in the Vitamin section of a very busy Pharmacy (Drug Store). I had just been promoted to this position after 12 months as a casual employee. It seemed to be taking a while to adjust to this new role, earlier starts, staying back to close the store, the commuting back and forth. I kept reaffirming myself ?I'll get used to it!?
Even when I heard a comment from the pharmacy manager via a colleague ?is Alfred all right? He's lost a lot of weight.?
?Yes I'm all right! Just getting used to it, another couple of weeks??
The weeks went by, I was still losing weight, feeling tired, appetite was either absent or there was a craving for something specific that I just had to have!
One evening on the bus going home I started to cough, and cough and I felt nauseous. I got home, ran up the stairs, and just managed to get to the bathroom, where I vomited heavily. During the night I was sweating profusely, waking up completely drenched. Nevertheless I kept going: Catching a bus to the city in the morning, hurrying to the railway station, and then a train for the rest of the trip. So it went on, five days a week.
I had no energy to pursue anything after work. I'd get home, if I was hungry I would eat, but that's it. I refused invitations from friends to go out, wouldn't even meet them for a drink. One Saturday morning, I could hardly get out of bed. I felt so flat, could hardly eat, I stayed home, did nothing that weekend, but then returned to work on the Monday.
The thing is, I enjoyed my work; I was good at it. My training as a Medical Herbalist meant that I could consult customers, and help them choose the right vitamin or supplement, at times even handling complex cases. I enjoyed their interaction; I liked helping them and meeting their needs. I loved the feedback when I heard of some improvement in their condition. I liked keeping up with developments in natural health supplements, the expos, I liked my work colleagues, the business owners, everything! So I kept going.
Then one day my girlfriend confronted me with it. She was worried about my loss of weight. She knew I didn't particularly like orthodox medicine, but she urged me to go and see a doctor. At first I refused, but I was coughing more, sweating more at nights, feeling weaker and weaker. Eventually I relented.
Next week: Part 2. A Visit to the Doctor.
My Best Friends Girl Part 1
The constant failure, the jeers from friends who say "it will never work," the credit card debt. What inspires you to keep going?
My story, call me lazy but I never liked working. My first job at 17 was at Toys R Us, I loved working with people, making connections, but $6.41 an hour just made everything worse. I got fired, re-hired, and then quit. My next job, the call center (you can here the spooky music start at this point.
By the time I was at the call center, I already got caught up in my first mlm, Mannatech. Two people from my church were doing very well, including my Pastor, whose son lost his asthma thanks to mannatech. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Enroll 600 people and you're making $10,000 a month, who doesn't want this wonder vitamin. Guess what? Teenagers don't want it. My first experience in direct sales was to my high school classmates. 30 cd's and a few testimonials later, nothing.
Well guess what I did at the call center, sell health insurance, so what does this brainiac do. Market my mlm to my co-workers, turns out my boss would not like it much. It's a good thing I didn't start marketing to the people I called. Well it turns out working for commission only when you hate the hone isn't the best idea, so I soon left the call center and my first shot at network marketing.
I bummed it for a while, God bless my parents, but I couldn't live like them. They went to work early, came home late, worked weekends, and always looked tired. I knew it wasn't for me, 40 years in a repetitive would kill me before it retired me. I tried data entry, $100 in ppc and 1 $14.95 clickbank commission check (which I never got). Turns out a lot of people search about mp3's but don't want to pay for them.
Surveys, paid to click, and paid to joins came next. Gotta love testing for those $75 surveys then finding out you don't qualify and end up spending half an hour on a $2 survey. Paid to click and join offers were great, until you forget to cancel that offer in fine print and get stuck with a $49.95 monthly charge.
I then tried another vitamin company, "The Greatest Vitamin In The World." I must be extra gullible in the morning because that infomercial had me. I quickly shelled out almost all the money in my account to purchase the website, starter pack, and some sign-ups. Come on enroll 20 people, make $1000, its the greatest vitamin in the world, how hard could that be. For those who can't see me, namely all of you, I just slapped myself in retrospect. The company seems to have disappeared now, along with the commission they still owe me. What did I do wrong? I sent traffic there like mad, all those traffic exchanges and buying traffic but no results.
Next I tried out GDI. I could finally build my own website, even with the WYSIWYG editor, my website looked like crap. My traffic source, more traffic exchanges, I just never learn. On top of that this time I was on the other side of the ptc offers, I used it to advertise. I learned one of the harshest most costly lessons ever, nothing comes cheap.
I used whats called guaranteed sign-ups, pretty much paid to join where people give fake e-mails and youre happy for 7 days until they don't upgrade in GDI and you waste over $100. I got 1 paid sign-up, who actually stayed longer than I did, it just wasn't going anywhere for me. So what next, more surveys and paid to joins, made a $50 check and paid off some debt. Finally my stupidest point hit.
Ever heard of More Than Traffic, this was before my SEO days, I thought these guys were kings. Based in the UK (immediate red flag), they promised $100,000 in any program in 4 months or you don't pay anything. If they get it, you pay 15%. What $15,000 when you're making $100,000 so I invested my over $400 for them to build mirror sites to collect sign-ups. Even after reading all the complaints, hearing the accusations of people who knew better, my greed got the best of me. Even when they were "hacked" and taken offline to reboot their system, I still stupidly held to the belief I that they would follow through on their promise.
Both Alfred Bellanti & Sylvan Noel are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Alfred Bellanti has sinced written about articles on various topics from Types of Cancer, Types of Cancer and Web Development. Alfred Bellanti is a published author and webmaster of . Alfred Bellanti's top article generates over 5400 views. to your Favourites.
Sylvan Noel has sinced written about articles on various topics from Viral Marketing, Types of Cancer and Acne Treatment. Find out more about after the struggle at . Sylvan Noel's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.
Developing A Positive Attitude You can also improve your attitude and eventually make yourself into a person who is full of happiness and bliss 100 of the time. If you believe you can do it, then it will come true!