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Basically, after high school I worked trying to save up for college but it was really hard to do and one day I set **** it and I moved to the fox valley with $300 in my pocket to put myself through college for Auto Body and Paint Refinishing.
After that I had the unique opportunity with a temp job to work on vintage Ferrari's at Motion Products in Neenah, WI. This was the most memorable experience that I had with my Auto Body career when a millionaire shook my hand and thanked me for doing a good job on his car that was worth over a million dollars. Another thing that I will never forget was when the owner told me something. He said, "Mike, the rich are assholes, but the super rich are guys like you and me." Thank you Wayne I will never forget that.
I had gotten married while going to tech college and was married for seven years. I wasn't very happy in the marriage and wanted a divorce. This was very hard on me because I felt that it wasn't a "good enough reason" to get a divorce, but in the end I was happy with my decision.
At this point in my life I found god. Just kidding, no I didn't turn that route but I did became a much more spiritual person. I started getting into the philosophy of Zen, Buddhism, enlightenment, meditating, etc. I still continue this practice today and it has made me a much better person. Every morning I meditate on things that I want in my life and others and during the evening I meditate on being grateful for the things that I already have in my life. If you want to learn more about this listen to Wayne Dyer and Deepok Chopra about manifesting your destiny.
About a year later I got remarried and thought I found the one that I wanted to be with forever. At the time I was working at Pierce Manufacturing making good money and decided to chuck it to move to Blaine, Minnesota to put my wife through college to get her masters degree. Minnesota is a tough place to live financially. The cost of living is about double of the fox valley in Wisconsin and I was forced to work a job for only half of the salary I was making. Needless to say I ended up taking on two full time jobs to take care of my family. (She had two kids when I married her) After 5 months of working two job and traveling 2 hours to go to each job I was forced to go down to one job due to the fact that I kept falling asleep at the wheel. It was at this point that I founded The Internet Presence. (Commuting to work for one of the jobs was much easier when you worked out of your own house)
After my wife graduated we moved to Michigan where I finally asked for a divorce about two years later. I won't go into the details, but the reasons for the divorce were sufficient.
Oddly enough I had an even tougher time going through this divorce because her feelings were hurt worse than my first wifes.
Damn that sensitive soul of mine! It was also the reason I had such a tough time in high school because I took everything to heart. I want to take the time now to tell everyone that had an impact on my life that I'm sorry for not being able to take it well and to say I forgive you all as well. Thank you very much, you were the best teachers in my life and I cherish every moment that happened to me, good and bad.
So, there I was left spending much more than I should with a business still in its infancy. I put my nose to the grindstone so to speak and kept marketing and increasing my business to the point I was able to buy a house in Vulcan, MI. Shortly after that and the divorce I ended up with a tumor. Two months after my health insurance was stopped due to my divorce. Damn! Oh well.
I discovered a lump on Saturday, went to the doctor Tuesday, and he wanted surgery done on that Thursday due to the circumstances of the lump found.
Crap! So for two days I worked my ass off trying to find and qualify for funding. A lot of time I just made a little too much money to qualify, but could not afford the bills.
At the time I was to be admitted I chose a hospital that could not get back in time to me to see if I would qualify for a reduction in price. It "FELT" right and I decided to have the surgery at Dickinson County Hospital.
Upon the surgery they discovered that I had a hernia as well in a weak area where I had a hernia in the past. (It must have been because I moved a washer and dryer into the basement of my new house the day before my surgery. Shame on me!) So I got two things done at once and they sewed in a mesh to strengthen the wall to keep hernias from happening in the same place again. That doubled to triple my bills, but I was grateful because it would be cheaper to have it all taken care of at once instead of in two different occasions.
To quickly summarize I managed to get my bills cut in half. (Amazing how they will work with you when you tell them that your lawyer recommends you to file for bankruptcy but you don't want to go that route. Good thing I had a lawyer firm as one of my clients. Thank you Upper Michigan Law www.uppermichiganlaw.com) Despite it being thousands of dollars I still managed to pay it all off in a years time and I am very proud of that fact. It took a lot of work and wheeling and dealing to pull this off. A lot of time I paid off an entire bill at once to leave me only $5 in my checking account. (They will give you a percentage off of the entire bill if paid in full. They would rather get that money now instead of $5 or $10 per month. Part of the wheeling and dealing I did. Damn, I got pretty good at this!)
I wanted to tell the specifics of what happened because I felt that the quick summary I had emailed made me look a bit conceited and that was not the case.
This was when I met Amy. The woman that accompanied me to the reunion. She had helped me through some tough times and I was glad to help her through hers. We've been together two years now and I am still waiting for order to come back into my life before I become serious about any relationship again. Remember I was burned twice before, but as she has said, "I am a patient fisherwoman and I will wait for you."
An incredible woman and I am glad to be with her.
Business is still doing good despite the economy. In fact, I think the economy actually helping me because more and more people are turning to me and asking how to make more money on the internet. I had more inquiries of this in the first month of this year than all of last year combined.
That should be enough for now. 20 years is a lot to write about. Much more has happened, but I had to cut this somewhat short.
**Follow Up***
The mesh that they sewed up inside of me for my hernia ended up on a recall list! Wish me luck that it doesn't go bad on me. Or else you can wish me luck that it does go bad so I get a settlement for it, but I would rather not go that route.
*** Follow Up ***
I got married to Amy August 14th, 2010
