Kent,
It never ceases to amaze me how others can attack certain ones, and overlook others.
How many books have been recommended on this site? Many. And yet I don't think I've ever heard someone complain. And yet when I recommend my own book as a resource to help others, especially ex-JW's, I get reamed. Why can't I recommend my own book? What is wrong with offering it to ex-JW's as well as the general public? Why pre-judge me by assuming that I am out to take undo advantage of others?
Facts are too many people are trying to make lots of money on others misery and “happiness” is sold for billions every year. Religious zealots, political lunatics, psychiatrists, fortune tellers and “New-Age” healers are doing a lot of damage to people already beaten up.
This is not the first time I’ve been accused of this by others, and without merit I might add.
How about adding Doctors, Nurses, Dentists, Chiropractors, and many others to your list? Do these very ones not make money off the suffering of others? And yet, do they not also provide a needed service? Are the people they help not grateful for this? The same is true for those who want to heal the spirit within.
The general idea that someone will achieve “more success in every aspect of your life” by reading a book – no matter if it’s sold or given away – is highly overrated, to say it the least.
The fact is that no book, article, speaker, or anything else will make you change or get "more success in your life." You must do it for yourself. The advantage of self-help books is that they cause you to think. And that is all I am trying to do, provoke my readers to thought.
Since you believe that self-help books are "overrated," it is obvious you have not read many or are not particularly interested in personal growth topics.
It’s a fact there is a lot of vulnerable people on this site, just like Tallyman say, and because of that he reacts to the fact that people are advertising how to get MOTIVATED and EMPOWERED and BUILD SELF-ESTEEM for hard cash on a site like this.
Yes, there are many who are hurting on this site, and they are in desperate need of some encouragement. This is exactly why I have offered my book to them for FREE. Encouragement is in short supply, and I would like to change that to the extent I can.
Also, it is obvious that both you and Tallyman have missed the entire point of my Empower the Spirit website. It is to help people overcome the things that hold them back. It is NOT a site directed at ex-JW's, it is directed at the general public. Out of the many FREE articles and resources on my site, there are only 2 items for sale (one of which I do not make a dime on), in addition to my coaching service. If I was trying to milk people’s grief, don’t you think I would offer far more products?
I don’t know how you fund your efforts to help others. Perhaps you are independently wealthy. But I am not. It is completely ethical to charge a reasonable fee for one’s services. However, it should always be Win-Win, not Win-Lose on either side.
I guess I don’t agree in your claim that Tallyman attacked you “unprovoked” – because primary claims like the ones you’re promoting can be provocative to a lot of people – me included.
Tallyman says that the link to my “commercial” website is posted in my signature tag. It is not. I deleted it quite a few months ago. That means he had to do some digging to find it. That means that he attacked me, unprovoked by me, by digging up the past. He was simply acting out of anger towards my wife, and he came up with the only thing he could. Wouldn’t it be better if he would spend his time upbuilding and encouraging others, rather than tearing down?
If he had a serious problem with me posting the link, would it not have been kinder to e-mail me and tell me of his concern? Point made.
But, as I said – I don’t know your book. IF you learn what you claim – I’m amazed the book isn’t a staggering success. According to yourself you have to give it away. This could be because of your good heart and a pure will to help others.
This could also be because the book doesn’t stand further investigation into facts.
For a book to be a “staggering success,” it needs to be promoted. Books that are not promoted—regardless of quality—do not become “staggering successes.”
I do take comfort that my book HAS BEEN A “STAGGERING SUCCESS” to a handful of the ones who have read it, and then wrote to me about how it “changed their lives.”
Just to set the record straight, I do not “have to give it away.” You are correct when you say it is “because of your good heart and a pure will to help others.”
Have you ever written and published a book because of your sincere desire to help others? Have you then tried to get it published by a publishing house? Have you ever felt the frustration that so many successful authors have felt when they get rejection letter after rejection letter? In just about every case, any successful author is rejected dozens of times before their book is a “staggering success.”
As for you individually, you are also correct when you say, “This could also be because the book doesn’t stand further investigation into facts.” I don’t believe my book is for you. But it is for many other people.
I am also surprised that you posted this. To my knowledge, I have never had any unfavorable dealings with you. You are trying to help people in your own way. So am I. And I don’t know about you, but I have earned less than $100 selling my books and services because I give most of it away. Most of the money I have made is from non-JW's. Now I suppose you could go off on me again and say it is because what I have isn’t worth it, and again, you would be correct— but only for yourself.
What I have, what I offer, and who I am is wholly as worthy as anything and anyone else. I am proud of what I have accomplished in my book, my writings, my efforts to help others, and in myself. I am proud of myself for overcoming incredible tragedy in my life (as so many of us have).
Over the past year, I have learned an extremely valuable life lesson—a “Game Rule for Life, if you will. And that lesson is that it doesn’t matter how good you are, it doesn’t matter how sincere, it doesn’t matter whether you have a PhD or any other degree, it doesn’t matter how much good you’ve accomplished, there will always be people out there who love you and people who hate and accuse you of ulterior motives.
I sincerely owe a large debt of gratitude to the people out there who have criticized me and my work without really knowing who I am and what I’m trying to do. It has sharpened me, and caused me to refine myself and my writings immeasurably.
And I am also grateful to those that appreciate my work. It provides the encouragement to trudge forward that so often is in short supply.
My best to you.
FreePeace
"The World is my country, and to do good, my religion." --Thomas Paine
TruthQuest: http://beam.to/truthquest
Who Am I? -How to Reinvent Yourself After Leaving the WTS
