Hector Sanchez | 
12 31st, 2008| 
Tomorrow is the last day of the year and I thought it would be good to do a brief recap of the best and worst things that happened to me this year that we are ending. I did something similar last year on this post “Good bye 2007, Welcome 2008!” and although it was very brief, it helps me to put things in perspective and see where I’m heading with my life.
So, first, the bad things for 2008:
1.- Losing my job: Definitely this was indeed the worst thing that happened to me this year. Maybe not that bad after all, considering that my family and I enjoy good health. Just this afternoon I was in the hospital visiting a cousin of my sister’s husband, because his body was burned in 95%. The reason, a gas explosion in the kitchen.
Losing a job has two drawbacks, one is the problem of finding a new job soon and second, once you find it, you need to start from zero in terms of learning new skills, no connections, no reputation and no friends. I was very lucky of not only finding a job soon, but a job with a great company and the luck of making great new friends.
2.- Failed to start a new online business:
This one was actually in my 2008 new year resolution. The problem with this was that all I had at the end was just a dream without a realistic and detailed plan to make it happen. I guess that I always knew inside of me, that I would get another job sometime soon. I had always blamed the lack of time as one of the reasons why I could not run an Internet Business, but once I had all the time in the world when I was unemployed, I realized that lack of time was not the reason but an excuse. I guess that the lesson learned from this was that I need to be honest with myself and not to blame other people, the lack of time or lack of money for not running an online business. There is always a way of making things happen if we have the will to do them.
Now the good things for 2008.
1.- Diana learned to walk: In January of this year, my daughter Diana did her first steps. I’m glad that unlike with her sister Ana Paula, now my wife was ready to shot a video of her first steps and that moment was saved for many years to come.
2.- Paid off my mortgage & built a new bedroom: Ironically, this one is derived from the fact that I lost my job in early 2008, otherwise I would have never been able to paid it off in such a short time. I got the money with the severance check I was given when I was downsized. This proves that even what we perceive as “bad” in our lives, can bring us good things in the future.
3.- Built a website and sold it for a profit: Although I mentioned above that I failed to make a business in Internet this year, not everything was a disaster. Actually, I created a social news site called Newsclap.com in January 2008, that I later sold for a profit in May 2008. Making a profit once it is not what I call a “business”. A business is an asset that keeps bringing in dollars month after month. Just making a few bucks in a single transaction is not an asset, but certainly making a few extra bucks was a good thing and a great experience.
4.- Got a new job with a good company: I was very lucky that just after 2 months of being downsized, I got a job with HP in Guadalajara. And when I say lucky, I really mean it.
I got a job that was something similar to what I was already doing in my prior job so the job I got with HP was almost a perfect fit for my profile. Not only that, it was a job in the same city I was already living in, I remember that I almost got hired for a job in another city and since I had nothing, I’m sure I would’ve taken that job very easily. And last but not least, the work environment at HP is something that is absolutely great not to mention the great friends I met there. So a true blessing, specially for my family.
5.- Continued my Internet Marketing Education: Despite I didn’t have a formal Internet Business per se, that didn’t mean that I didn’t continue to learn new stuff and getting new tools for Internet Marketing. In August 2008, I finished the “30 Day Challenge” and I successfully earned some money doing it. This is an intensive live training in Internet Marketing lead by Ed Dale that I highly recommend to anyone willing to start a business online. As a result of that, I was able to get a hold of some new tools that I want to use in my future Internet business endeavors.
I also continued blogging and now I feel a little bit more comfortable writing. I also reinforced my presence and became a more “real” user of the Web 2.0 world.
A Positive Balance for 2008
There are other good things that I also had during the year, but I guess these are the ones that are more visible at least. Just the mere fact of being alive and without any illness and with the people I love is good enough to thank God for them.
The only thing that bothers me a little bit, is that some of the good things I had this year, were the result of events I didn’t have too much control of. I don’t know, maybe it is my nature as a Public Accountant that makes me want to want to control most things in my life. Sometimes, I’d like to have a plan of my life for the year to come and try to make it a reality, but sometimes that is not possible. Certainly that will be a challenge for 2009, where everybody knows it’s going to be a very tough year due to the world recession we are going through.
When I was a child, I dreamed about becoming an astronaut, and I remember that when I was around 12 years old, I followed very closely the mission that took Rodolfo Neri Vela, the first mexican astronaut, into space. Down the road, I started to grow and realized that becoming an astronaut was far within my range of opportunities, so the idea of one day getting on a Space Shuttle started to vanish.
