You Know You Made It When...

There is that great moment when you ask yourself, “Is this a sign I made it?”

I am speaking, of course, to any of us who has written a book, started a new business adventure or is selling something on Etsy. We wonder how we will know we might have reached a level where we can say people are generally interested in what we have to offer. Well…I may have reached that height without ever knowing this particular way existed: Business Scams. The business scam I am speaking of is when they are offering what every entrepreneur wants…recognition and a full-fledged promise to market your product and ‘show case’ your product in their next magazine, newsletter, radio ad, etc… All I have to do is pay (insert dollar amount), and they will match that amount, plus more, and my book, Sparkle On, will be sold all over the world! Whaat?! All over the world? This is so great!! Wow. How did you select my book? Tell me more!

Now I want to give the spoiler alert early…I didn’t bite all the way. Just a little bite. I spit it out. But I did take a bite…I mean it did sound, ok I will now add, too good to be true (insert heavy sigh), but I still live with the belief of: What if it is really true? And the story goes, with clues to the scam included at no extra charge…

From my husband, Pat (clue #1): “Hey I got a message left on my phone looking for you. It’s a magazine out of New York wanting to highlight you and your book for their next edition. I looked up on their website. Looks like they have magazines, but I have never heard of them, have you?”

Me (clue #2): “Oh wow! This is so exciting!” My mind suddenly creates two sections. One for the excitement. A brain fog of sorts. And the other section is for the knowledge of knowing somewhere, somehow this IS NOT how it goes for most magazines. No one is just selected as a featured guest without some connection. And, wait, why did they call my husband? I have a website listed right in the book. I am pretty easy to find on social media. But I jump back to the brain fog section of being excited. “Did they leave a number to call?” I ask excitedly.

Pat (clue #3): “Yes. It’s an 800 number.”

Me (clue #4): “Huh.” Back into knowledge brain section. Then quickly back to brain fog excitement, “Oh, maybe they have to give this 800 # because of all the people calling.” I called it. I left more information than necessary and my voice sounded over excited and higher pitched than I normally am. Brain fog dissipates.

From my daughter, Lindsey (clue #5): “Mom someone left a message for you about your book on my phone.” Enough said.

Me (clues #6 – 10): So, they can find both my daughter and husband’s phone #’s, but not mine? Pat is not even on social media except for Twitter. Not looking good. I do what every person coming out of the brain fog does, I realize this may not be all that it is cracked up to be. I look up the number and the so-called magazine online. Suddenly I am in the world of ‘Scams To Watch Out For!’ Meantime, my cell rings. It is the 800# I was so excited for about an hour ago.

I let it go to voice mail. I can’t listen in real time to their real time scam. But I did listen to their recorded message. I hear everything I read they would say in the scammer info online. Deleted. Blocked. And I sulked.

For one hour, and only if I was in the brain fog portion, I was a sought-after author to be featured in a world-wide distributed magazine…AND…this publishing company wanted to invest in my book…along with my investment, of course.

All of this leads me to suddenly feel really good. I now choose to believe I have made it after-all! I mean, doesn’t it say something that the scammers had even heard of my book and went to all this effort to, well, scam me?

This means my book is still being noticed!! Sparkle On is still Sparkling On!!!

I am back to being excited.