Just the other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and he brought up an interesting topic that intrigued me. This friend of mine is old enough to be my father so he has gone around the black a couple of times, so I value his knowledge. The topic that he touched upon was about always being prepared.

   'But Josh how can you always be prepared, when Life always throws something new at you?' I'm not saying that anyone is a hundred percent ready for anything that comes their way. I know people that are swinging at a fast ball and off a sudden Life throws a bowling ball at them. In my interpretation always being prepared means you never know what is coming your way but you have to be ready for it in some degree. A prime example of this is to always have a couple of business cards on you at all time. As an author, I must make it my duty to always carry business cards. The reason for this is because in my business I have to gain an audience and the best way to do that is by word of mouth. If I hand out one card to a person and they enjoy my writings, then they might tell their friends about my work. Guess what if I never handed out my business card to that person then I can not help them or the multitude of  people they are connected to. You may be thinking to yourself at this point that my example sounds like networking, well that's because it is networking. Many situations arrive throughout our lifetimes and one way to prepare for them is by having a network of people that can help you get through any situation. My network consists of  almost any profession or knowledge base, anywhere from garbage me to rocket scientist.

   Another way to be prepared for some of life's rough patches is a rainy day fund. This is something that I learned from Dave Ramsey. This fund has to be a minimum of a thousand dollars but not easily accessible. This fund is not for you to go buy the newest IPhone. A couple of months ago Murphy came a knocking (Murphy's law), in the form of my water heater failing on me. Even though I had an unplanned expense I was able to overcome it because of this rainy day fund. A thousand does not sound a lot of money but its just a starting point. When you can you can add more money in it because some obstacles can cost more than others. 

   Thanks for reading, the above information is not new but sometimes you just have to hear it in a different way.

                                                                                                                                          Stay prepared,

                                                                                                                                                     Josh R.