“I don’t know where to turn financially- I was made redundant and was without a job for two years. Then I started a little shop and a hurricane destroyed everything I had. I tried to make some money in a network marketing business, but the profits were too small to make a difference. To add to it all, my girlfriend is expecting our first baby in three months. I really feel hopeless right now.”

As a financial coach, I hear a lot of stories of financial despair. Sometimes it’s the quiet desperation of persons who are outwardly successful with all the trappings of wealth, but are inwardly terrified because the bank owns it all, and they know that a missed pay cheque can lead to financial ruin.

Then there are the plaintive cries from those who have no income- tales of job unavailability, impending foreclosures, and bailiffs at the door abound. Then somewhere in between are the masses of people mired in credit card crises, spending addictions, pension-less retirements, failed businesses, and payroll loans spiraling out of control.

Many people feel that there is no hope for improvement in their financial situation. They continue in their cycle of spending and debt, hoping that bankruptcy, like many hurricanes that have threatened to wipe out Jamaica, will turn south and spare their lives. Others sit at home depending on a monthly remittance to make ends meet and cease to look for viable earning opportunities.

When the financial going gets tough, do you get going to find a solution, or do you just give up?

Often the difference between success and failure in life is your willingness to persist, even when the horizon looks bleak and a guiding light is nowhere to be seen. Ralph Marston in his Monthly Motivator online newsletter confirms that long term, consistent success in any endeavour requires persistence. “With enough persistence, anything is possible. It is a quality that counts more than skill or knowledge or intelligence or the right connections. The ability to persist is the ability to win.”

However, if your financial world is crumbling around you, how can you find the persistence to keep going until you find a solution?

Marston explains that anyone can develop a stick-to-it attitude. The first step to creating persistence is to find a compelling reason NOT to give up. For you that would be the impending birth of your child. You really don’t have a choice but to keep searching for financial betterment as someone else will soon be dependent on you. Children can be a powerful motivating force, and many people have beaten overwhelming financial odds to take care of them.

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Another important step in building persistence is the ability to get past your limitations. Many people use their shortfalls- not enough experience or qualifications, to hold them back from getting something they desire. I have a client who was desperate for a particular job, and refused to let his inexperience and apparent unsuitability for the position deter him. He continued asking for the job, and even offered to work for one month free, in order to prove that he could do it. He eventually succeeded and after a few months became a supervisor!

Persistence can be difficult when there seems to be nothing but obstacles in your path. According to Marston, obstacles are not there to stop you, they are there to challenge you. “Obstacles are what make achievement worthwhile, if there were no obstacles, then achievement would be meaningless and without value.” He says that challenges may appear to block your path, but in reality they create and define the pathway towards success.

Perhaps your particular financial challenges will spur you on to find your inner talent and purpose. Do you have any skill that can be used to make money, and also give you job satisfaction? Are there any needs or problems in your community for which you can find a solution? Your desperate situation could give you the impetus to find a profitable income-earning opportunity.

It’s important to get support and counseling to help you persist. Many successful people had a long history of financial challenges. Look around for business leaders in your community and ask for guidance. Go back to your sponsor in the network marketing business and get suggestions to grow your business. You can also seek advice at a financial planning institution.

You have to keep looking for financial solutions, for as Marston says, “You can only win the race if you run it through to the end.”
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On‘ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – Calvin Coolidge

Copyright © 2007 Cherryl Hanson Simpson. No reproduction without written consent.

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Originally published in The Daily Observer, September 06, 2007

Cherryl is a financial columnist, consultant and coach. See more of her work at www.financiallyfreenetwork.com and www.financiallysmartonline.com. Contact Cherryl