Cody's story offers all the components you'd expect from the success story of a young entrepreneur with Aspergers-motivation, drive, perseverance, focus, and passion. You might call it a rags-to-riches tale, and you wouldn't be wrong. But that here-to-there narrative is only the top layer. Cody's story unfolds to reveal a narrative that is more complicated and yet simpler, more central, to the human experience. What remains is the story of a boy, burdened like all of us with deep wounds and great gifts, searching for a purpose. What remains is a story that will inspire readers to find their true calling and work like hell to achieve their dreams.
The author tells how she overcame the events of her childhood, how she went from poverty, filth, hunger, and loneliness to affluence, order, fulfillment, and relationships, and more importantly, how others can use the obstacles in their lives as stepping stones to a great future.
This book is a witty and intriguing look into the world of foster care through the eyes of a foster parent. It breaks down the expectations and regulations that parents in foster care are faced with, and it touches on the problems in government policy that affect foster children. It does all this while thoroughly entertaining the reader. It is an indispensable resource for anyone considering adoption or foster care and a great read for just about anyone else.
Describes how to build self-confidence and self-esteem in children through six life skills called the "millionaire skills" and a guide to helping them start a business at a young age.
This book is written for early childhood business owners wanting to grow their business into a (multi) million-dollar company. Anyone from the home daycare provider that dreams of one day opening a center, to the small center owner who dreams of having a larger center or a single center owner that wishes to have multiple centers. Brian shares 101 golden nuggets to bring your business greater success. He shares secrets to successful operations, financial insights, management principles, employee management tips, and expansion strategies. He has also included business profiles of more than fifteen center owners who have all created seven figure child care businesses, so you can learn from and be inspired by their stories. If you are ready for the ultimate in child care business success, you'll want to get yourself a copy of this gem!
This guy is tough, and so is his message. (By Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN August 2011. Edited for length) Like the U.S. Postal Service, apparently nothing keeps Larry Bauer-Scandin - foster dad to 125 - from his self-appointed rounds. Not the weather. Not the heart ailments or the genetic neurological disorder that robbed him of movement and rendered him legally blind. The 64-year-old Vadnais Heights resident just gets up and does it. "My life was normal for the first nine years of my life until 1957 when my foot went to sleep, except that my foot never woke up," Bauer-Scandin told a group of inmates from the 3100 unit at the Dakota County Jail. But that's not the main message that Bauer-Scandin, a retired probation officer and jail counselor, wants to deliver on this day. "Whom do you blame for your problems?" he asks the group of 34 men, who are members of IMC, or Inmates Motivated to Change. Under the program, inmates with chemical dependency or mostly nonviolent offenses sign an agreement to take part in several programs and pledge not to make the same mistakes that keep landing them in lock-up. "What people need to do is stand in front of a mirror and ask: 'How much of the problem is mine and how much is it somebody else?' " I first wrote about Bauer-Scandin five years ago. It was centered on his life as a foster parent. As he told the inmates, two of his former foster kids are cops, one in St. Paul. Two are soldiers deployed to Iraq. One's a millionaire. One's an author. Most are raising families or staying out of trouble in spite of hardships. But "15 are dead," said Bauer-Scandin, author of "Faces on the Clock," an engrossing memoir about his life. The dead include suicide victims, including an 11-year-old, others from AIDS and "my last one, they found in three or four pieces, as I understand." Bauer-Scandin's worth writing about again for what he continues to do at great pain and sacrifice without pay or fanfare. He didn't sugarcoat or pull punches with his audience. "What I'm afraid is still happening is that the system is trying to figure out how to get tighter," he told them. "The sentences are getting tougher." And it's not the police, the sheriffs, the courts or even the folks in state and county-run corrections that are responsible for the race to incarcerate. "It's the legislature," Bauer-Scandin said. "And legislatures have been known to do very stupid things." He also faults the media and a gullible public that forms opinions and dehumanizes people strictly on what they watch on TV and not on real-life experiences or knowledge. "What do they see?" he said. "They see the Charlie Mansons. They see the unusual. They see the extreme. Most of you aren't that way. But that's what makes the news." Yet he doesn't divert from his main message: It's up to the inmate to take a positive step and choose the right way. "Get yourself back into a position where you can influence those people, to be able to go to a school board or a city council or legislative meeting and have your voice heard. "You can't fight the system from in here," he concluded. "You have to be out there." The inmates applauded and, one by one, stood in line to shake his hand on his way out the jail complex. His progressively debilitating disorder is taking more of a toll these days. But he steered the scooter inside the van and deftly wiggled his frail body into the driver's seat. He has no complaints, he told me. He will continue to go out and speak as long as God and his wife allow him. "I hope something stuck," he tells me before he drives off. I hope so too, Larry.
Legendary Texas surgeon Justin Webb faced his biggest challenge—winning the heart of brash, bold and beautiful detective Winona Raye. When Winona discovered a baby abandoned at her door, the bachelor doc saw his chance and offered a hand—in marriage. Independent Winona was in no hurry to walk down the aisle, but Justin was going to be there for her...whether she wanted him to or not.
From the creator of the philosophy foster children are fabulous champions, author and previous foster child herself, Capri Cruz, shows us how to overcome childhood trauma by implementing the effective healing strategies shes used throughout her life of turmoil, which ultimately catapulted her voyage From Foster Care to Fabulous. As an authority in the psychology of emotional healing, she presents techniques to initiate profound subconscious and spiritual transformation, which include perception realignment, inner-mind awakening, and the art of surrendering. Although designed with the foster child in mind, this book is a must read for all as it addresses two fundamental threads encompassing humanity: the human experience and the interpretation of that experience. The effects of negative childhood experiences often linger with lasting toxicity, which confines the mind to constricted and often unforgiving ideals birthed thereafter. Capri shows us that no longer has to be true! Its time to let the inner healing begin as she peels back the layers to reveal secrets for reprocessing damaging experiences. The simplicity of it is astonishing. By disassembling damaging experiences from childhood abuse to adulthood divorce, then analyzing them through the lens of wisdom revealed within these pages, and reconstructing subsequent perceptions, dynamic change in the trajectory of your life will be imminent. Tie this in with knowledge of deliberate creation and the master piece called your future becomes limitless as pain gets transformed to freedom! Time waits for no one! The sand in the hour glass of life continues to slip away, whether we are mindful of it or not. Thus, let urgency lead the way as you journey into her world for a fresh look at what IS possible. I assure you, the quality of your life depends on it! The healing work within is the seed for the guaranteed reward without.
The New York Times bestseller that gives “readers with an entrepreneurial turn of mind . . . road maps on how millionaires found their niches” (USA Today). The author of the blockbuster bestseller The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy shows how self-made millionaires have surmounted shortcomings such as average intelligence by carefully choosing their careers, taking calculated risks, and living balanced lifestyles while maintaining their integrity. Dr. Thomas J. Stanley also builds on his research from The Millionaire Next Door and takes us further into the psyche of the American millionaire. Stanley focuses in on the top one percent of households in America and tells us the motor behind the engine; what makes them tick. His findings on how these families reached such financial success are based on in-depth surveys and interviews with more than thirteen hundred millionaires. “A very good book that deserves to be well read.” —The Wall Street Journal “Worth every cent . . . It’s an inspiration for anyone who has ever been told that he wasn’t smart enough or good enough.” —Associated Press “A high IQ isn’t necessarily an indicator of financial success . . . Stanley tells us that the typical millionaire had an average GPA and frugal spending habits—but good interpersonal skills.” —Entertainment Weekly “Ideas bigger than the next buck.” —Orlando Sentinel
