This is a "chapter" from my book, Life: It's a Trip. I worked in restaurants for many, many years, and my favorite part was being a waiter. Being a waiter allowed me the flexibility of scheduling that I didn’t have when I worked as a manager. And I enjoyed the fact that for the most part, I controlled my income by taking care of my customers. Let me share two stories from when I worked at Steak and Ale to illustrate my point. One night, as I was going about my shift taking care of my customers, one customer surprised me with the question, “Did you use to work at Atchafalaya’s?” “Yes”, I said. “That was three years ago.” “That’s right”, he said. “And you waited on us one time. That was the best service I had ever received. From now on, I am going to ask for you every time I come here.” I thanked him for the compliment and for remembering me. He took care of me very well that day. About a week later, I got a phone call at home from the restaurant manager. He told me that some guy called and said he was bringing in some business clients the next day and wanted me to wait on them. The manager told him that it was my day off and I wouldn’t be in, but he will have the best waiter take care of him. The man said, “No. Will you please call Rasheed and see if he can come in to wait on me, and call me back?” I knew who it was. I went in, worked for an hour off the clock to take care of my customer and made $50.00. That was in 1996. When I said I controlled my income, for the most part, incidents like this were a part of it. The other part is the fact that when your customers are asking for you, the management tends to give you the best stations to work and make sure that you are making enough money to stick around. There is another aspect of it, as well. You become the best waiter, the one that is assigned to special customers. One night, the manager took me aside and told me, “A couple is coming in at seven o’clock and it is the lady’s birthday tomorrow, but the gentleman has to be out of town, so he wants to surprise her. I have set up a table in the back room for them. They want to be left alone but have a memorable experience. Take care of it.”

I have been working with the brilliant Tania Fox for a couple of months now. Her genius is to help you excavate your genius and then communicate it to the world in a way that makes it easily accessible. It is conventional to build a mailing list in order to reach your target audience, and that is what I was discussing with her when I came to realize what I would call my genius. I have always believed that whatever I need, want, or ask for, is available to me because it already exists and is in motion towards me. It shows up, materializes, or manifests at the right time when I tune into it and communicate my desire to the Universe. The reason this works is because I am in tune with my intuition. Whenever I am being myself and act by tapping into my intuition, my actions produce the results that manifest my desire. I believe that all the resources of the universe is at my disposal when I am genuinely being myself and acting from that core. In other words, when I take inspired actions, they always, unmistakably, lead to a series of events that produce the results I want. You can call it synchronicity, coincidence, or luck; it doesn't matter, because the results are always the same. When I act from that place of knowing that comes from surrendering to my intuition's guidance regardless of how counterintuitive it may feel, miracles unfold. Another way to put it is this: the how is not my department. I cannot say that this would work for everybody or in every situation, but at this stage in my life's journey, creating a mailing list and a marketing strategy feels like dabbling in the "cursed how's." And, THAT is why I have decided not to create a mailing list.

...to myself. Make a post about why I decided not to build a mailing list. Update: Here is that post @Katinka van Kan @Tarek Badr @Angel Conway

Welcome home! The first thing you need to do is to create a post under the Introductions category. Tell us who you are, what you do, and the reason you decided to join the community. How can we be of help to you and what can you offer others as a means of helping them. Then find at least three posts that catch your attention and like them, Leave a comment to let them know what you liked, agreed or disagreed with. Start a conversation. When others like your comment, you earn points that help you level up in the community. There will be courses and bonuses you will be able unlock as you level up. The more people see you and know about you, the more they'll be able to support you. It will also garner more trust for you which in turn bring you business if you are offering something of value. Self-promotion is okay and encouraged. Just don't be a taker and not give anythinbg back. It will become obvious quickly and people will avoid you, and you don't want that. If you have any questions, post them in the General Discussion or you can DM @Rasheed Hooda here. Kick off your shoes and make yourself at home. Oh, one more thing. Have fun, will ya?

Hey everyone, please help me extend the Real Self. welcome to our newest members @Leigh Ann Hello and @Angel Conway Welcome, ladies. Just hop on over to the Introductions category and tell us all about yourself.