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Today is Christmas Day, December 25, 2008. Besides being Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this is also the day that I celebrate 10 months of being without a JOB. Wow, what a thing to celebrate you might think.

As I was sitting, looking at our Christmas tree early this morning before the family woke up and praying I had a thought. I remembered that it was just 10 months ago that I left my full-time job as the I.T. Manager at the big furniture store. Was that my idea? Well, yes and no…

I had been planning to leave my job there since starting my own part-time business three years ago. Like many of you I was spending hours and hours on the Internet and spending lots and lots of money buying and trying lots and lots of things to find something that would work for me so that I could quit my job and have my own home based online business.

The last half of 2007 I was working hard to help transition into my own business without leaving my employer, and especially the owner of the company who had been very good to me, in the “lurch” without my help. Not that I thought myself irreplaceable but, I did not want them to experience problems when I left. No one at the company was doing what I had been doing in several areas so I felt that I needed to make sure that things were taken care of before I left.

A year ago my friend Jeff Mills asked me to consider joining him to work on building his business and help to take it to the next level. We discussed what that would look like and when it would happen. We decided that I would begin to work with him beginning March 1^st of this year and that I would give my notice by mid month so as to not have a lapse of income between leaving the IT job and starting my pay from Jeff.

So I was very much ready but at the same time surprised to walk into work on Monday, February 25^th and have my supervisor and the HR department manager intercept me on the way to my office. Within less than an hour I was on my way home… the dream of being on my own and running my own online business was already starting.

After some brief surprise reactions from my wife we were both thanking God for His hand in all of this. As the Bible teaches, man makes plans and the Lord directs our steps.

So this morning as I reflected on the past 10 months and the past three years, I was finding answers to my questions and prayers for what is ahead for us. I know that I am to continue to make my plans and trust in God to direct my steps. I know that leaving my job last February was a gift from God.

With so many people including friends that I know who have lost their jobs in the past few months, and more to come as the US and world economies continue to seemingly spine out of control, I want to pass along to you a word of encouragement as my Christmas gift to you.

You may be a Christian or you may not, either way I want to tell you that I know that God is a loving father and He does indeed care for you. He wants only the best for you and your family but His viewpoint is usually different than ours. He can and will take care of us if we put our trust in Him.

Trying to figure out how to start an online business can be really confusing and the truth is only a few people are going to succeed in making a living online. So how to you know if you are going to be one of those who will make it? I wish I had a 10 point test that I could give you that would help you to see the future on that question.

I do have some ideas about what it takes to succeed in business online. I have looked at things that successful people in this Internet Marketing world do that I think can give us clues to what it takes. If you wish do know what they are I would love to share them with you.

If you would like to discuss your ideas for business, questions about getting started or technical “how-to” things that you are struggling with, get in touch with me and we can schedule some time to talk. You can contact me by clicking on the About Henry link at the top of this blog page and then select Contact Henry in the drop down menu.

I hope your Christmas was a Blessed one and pray that next year’s will be even better. Perhaps next year you can say that you, like me, are blessed to be without a JOB.