Love, love, love this thread! Everyone should reply!

1. I am loving

2. I am always willing to help

3.  I love learning

4. I work hard

5. I am very creative

I have always been one to believe in hard work pays off. I had made posters which I posted around the town I lived in, I would actually make cold calls to neighours to see if they needed help with shoveling their driveway, cutting their grass, walking their dogs, helping them around the house/yard etc. Because I was in such a small town and my birth father was well known in the town it helped me tremendously with cold calls. Other ways have been going door to door with a shovel in the winter after a snow storm to see if anyone needed help clearing their driveway. Another method that had worked was going door to door to those who had dogs to see if they needed a dog walker or someone to help take care of the dog (grooming, doggy day care while people left town etc.)

By the age of 18 I was really well known around my town and had built a name for myself so work came pretty easy. I will not say that the work itself was easy but it was definitely worth it. When you’ve live on your own at 16 you find unique and creative ways to make money to make sure you’re able to have a place to live and food in your stomach.

Hi Joseph,

I am very sorry to hear that you’ve been having a tough time. First and foremost congratulations on not giving up. Life can definitely get difficult sometimes but it seems like you’re just sticking to it and not letting it get the best of you.

As for the job situation, have you tried applying to McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants? I know it may not be the ideal job but it it only temporary and being someone who has been a manager at multiple restaurants I can tell you that when employers see that you have worked in a restaurant it lets them know that you have patience, good people skills and they are more likely to hire you because they know you have lots of customer service under your belt. While you’re looking for second job you can also offer to help out neighbours with odd jobs such as possibly decluttering or cleaning their house, cutting their grass, walking their dog(s) etc. If you’re willing to work hard you can come up with the money you need. Anything is better than what your situation is now right? You can be a little more picky later when you have more financial freedom but for now you can’t be picky if you want full time hours and more money.

Now onto your car, you can’t afford it. Plain and simple. As you said you can’t keep dumping money into it especially since you have no extra money to spend on it. I would advise to park the car and start taking public transit. It may not be what you are used to but it will definitely help you save money for moving out or for an emergency fund. Plus paying for a monthly bus pass is a lot cheaper than insurance, gas and maintenance. If you want to get ahead and have more cash available you need to make some sacrifices. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever be able to drive a car, it just means right now the smart thing to do financially is to either park the car or sell it.

I am sorry to hear that your relationship with your father is toxic. Remember that you living with him is only temporary and if anything it will motivate you more to find another job and save money so you can one day move out.

Hang in there Joseph.

Hi Sally, I visited your website and really love the idea behind Outta, I think it’s truly amazing and this can really help a lot of people.

What I have a difficult time wrapping my head around though is that as a mentor you have to pay to get stickers, though the stickers only cost $5.95 it still seems odd to me that as a mentor you’d have to pay for stickers. Is this a way for you to be able to make some profit on your organization? If so I would recommend you having a donation page instead.

I was very interested in before a mentor until I seen that the stickers are mandatory. I feel as though there are a lot of other ways to promote your website, movement and organization and it shouldn’t be mandatory for your mentors to buy the stickers as you’d want to give your mentors the tools they need to succeed and if they have to pay for the tools, it may not seem as exciting.

All in all I really love what you’re website is about and I think what you are doing is amazing!