Hopefully is not a train...

... but a light at the end of the tunnel.

Last Wednesday I went to Mission Beach to meet a friend of mine from college; we hadn't met for almost 14 years, we had a great conversation and had a good time together. Kind of the things that you need when you are down.

In the conversation he suggested (without mentioning) that he was having financial problems. He moved from Guadalajara to Dallas,TX because of his job and during the movement he never considered the amount of taxes he was going to have to pay, living in the US. He is making ends meet, fortunately; but got me thinking about how many people and what kind of people is having financial trouble.

Today I had lunch with another of my class mates; this time I mentioned that I was in a financial bind and he recognized he and many others (he mentioned at least 5 more people I know from my time in Guadalajara) are in the same situation (for many different reasons). It is not a relief; except for the advice he gave regarding a negotiation I was about to make with one of the credit cards. He said you can negotiate with the bank a credit card debt in what is call a "personal payment plan"; but once you do that you can not make advance payments (unless you want to cancel whatever is remaining at that moment). So, his recommendation is to have at least two. That way if you can get enough money to cancel one part; all the interest on that part is gone. I think is a wonderful idea; I already started on that.

And that got me thinking about how, for whatever reason, if you do not say you are in trouble, nobody can help you. Just sharing that information can lead you to get a solution or a better deal in your situation.

That was great.

Another thing that was great is that I shared with both of them (because they are sales reps for different companies, non competing) some of the contacts I have made in my time in Tijuana, and now my company got access to some of their customers too; which means more business for the factory where I work and more growth or stability (no need to worry about my job anymore! ;^)). So, seems like this sharing/telling/mentioning things really works.

See you around.