Hey Joey,
I was watching some politics feature the other night, it was on our news channel here.
I don't know how much actual truth there is in what these guys and gals come on Tv and say, you  know how they like to dramatise everything - they said that if we think that we (the UK) are in a panic over the financial climate, it is nothing to the panic going on quietly in America.

For all the pomp and ceremony of Obama, for all the hope he has instilled, there is still a very huge and real underlaying panic in America.

With respect to your good self: You Americans do like to talk things up. You like to take a small incident and make it news of the week.... For example - there is a car chase and it gets put on Tv then it becomes bigger than what it actually is.

We here have this habit of banging on and on about all the bad stuff happening with banks and jobs and it is relentless, all the time, always bad news, the only bit of good financial news I have seen in ages here is that Simon Cowell made a profit (I can't think about Tesco's profit, I don't like Tesco much and wish they would sod off and give smaller firms more of a fighting chance!) That is as far as we go to being marginally cheerful about things and then it's said with an almost scorn.

The financial man on Tv said all of America is in panic. People are not spending at all. That the panic is worse over there than it is here. I can believe that is actually the truth.

So, your problem here is your prospective clients are scared to spend cash. Afraid for their jobs and your media is doing a good job of making those in work feel afraid. A far better job than we are doing here and we are not doing too badly on it at all!

You have established the area your working from is not going to work out for you.
So, what can you do to raise a bit of cash so you can go on tours? You have mentioned that they always turn out a profit for you?

I have realised that we all have to be realistic for a while. Not lower our standards but certainly lower our expectations.
I never before did half hours. I do them now.
I get up every weekday, get bathed, get dressed, get makeup on, get my hair sorted. Then I sit and get on with other work I have and when the phone rings I am ready to take that half an hour right away.
I never used to do that. I only do the personal jobs on the weekends now. Like the shopping and so on, I don't want to be in the shop and miss a potential call because of it.
I find personally, the weekdays are my earning days, the weekends not so. So I have changed routines to accommodate that.


To hear you having such a rough time makes me quite sad for you. The post you wrote that struck me the most was the gym one. Where you can not go and work out as you can not feed your body what it needs while in that routine. I have seen the guys at the gym, I know what they pack away food wise while they train.

At the risk of offending you, which I in no way want to do... Ok, Joey, the moan is over, we have heard it, read it and you have our sympathies.... Let's all see what we can do to help you out.

The most important thing to address is your attitude. It's going to be hard but you need to buck up a bit. Stop thinking Oh no, this is terrible and start thinking, right, it's tough, what can I do about it?

Like your tours for example.
Think how you can raise cash to go on only one. Only one will make it possible to do another. How can you advertise that?
I have been in the situation a couple of years back, before I started this, where things had to be sold Joey. I had to sell my stuff to get by.
It's only stuff. You can get more stuff so think what you can do to fund only 1 tour?

Let's see a thinking Joey, as in thinking positive not negative now. We are all behind you on this, we are all suffering right now, you are more than us, yes, so let's see you fighting your way out not drowning under it all?
Come back with ideas and we will all round up and help you out?
x



 

I agree with Joanna. When I went to LA, I got the impression that there's definitely a bigger panic over there than here. I didn't make a huge profit, I didn't expect to. I was happy with what I got considering the circumstances.
Even on the flight over I sat next to and was chatting to a newly-graduated teacher with dual citizenship for the UK and the US. She said that California was firing teachers left right and centre and she was considering going back to the UK to teach as there was nothing for her in California. The funny thing is, there's one job that's safe in this economy in the UK and that's teaching. There are people who've been made redundant here who've actually turned to teaching because we're in such need. I can't understand the concept of sacking teachers in the States, who teaches the kids then?
There's definitely a panic in the States. I'd imagine you're not the only one suffering over there.