We live near the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and it's great!

I like to travel, walk, fly, swim, spend time with family and ponder the whys and hows of the universe. All of that is surrounded by my goal to seek wisdom and humor.

Life is too short to always be serious and it's too important not to be, so it's all about finding balance.

I also enjoy building our business network. To me, that's not work, it's fun. It's very profitable plus it sometimes allows us to build friendships around our business relationships.

Owning myself has always been who I am, and since 1981 I've been self-employed or a business owner, and while it's not always been easy, it's been the most fun thing I know of that I could have pursued.

I know this - My worst day as a business owner was far better than my best day at a job ever was!

For me, being my own boss and controlling my time was paramount, and that's what drove me to seek income outside of the confines of having a job, and I'm grateful God gave me that attitude.

It was a revelation when I crossed over from the realm of being a customer into the fertile land of knowledge about how business works. Today, I work with many business partners in sharing the knowledge about how the wealthy think and how it differs from the way the middle-class and the poor think.

It's explained rather well in a book titled, "Think And Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill. If you've not read it, I can tell you that you're suffering in this world needlessly. If you have read it, you have hopefully read his "other" masterpiece, "The Master Key To Riches".

Imagine getting the advantage of having spent over 30 years with the wisest of the wise in the world of successful people, and not just financial success either. That's what I love about reading. I get to gather the ages of wisdom of people who spent years, maybe lifetimes, gathering experience and blending it with their acquired wisdom.

We have so much to be thankful for, and reading is right up there with ice cream. In fact, they go rather well together, i.e. if you can get your book to stay open while you're spooning!

So, what do I do for a living? In short, and let's face it, that's all you can really stand or want from me here, so, the short answer is, I shop from a network of businesses who incentivize me to shop & share and then I help other people start and succeed in their business.

There's little better than the satisfaction of helping someone become financially independent and hearing about their last day at work and what they told (or did!) to their boss.

Since 1981, I've owned my own businesses and I love it.

I am a big believer in the free-market and the lifestyle of time and money freedom it provides the entrepreneur. Employees? Well, I was one for too many years, and to me, the definition of an employee is "someone who makes other people rich."

As for some background on me, after I got back home from letting the USAF mess with my mind and borrow my body (but not my heart and soul), I returned to college and got a degree in accounting. Yuck is about all I could say about that after 5 years of climbing the corporate ladder.

Having the freedom from illness and from financial struggle is what motivates me to both share the wisdom and to seek it out from others. Yes, 'from' others because everyone has something to teach us, everyone. You see, I believe that you are an role model to everyone, i.e. you are an example to all. Now, you might be an example of what how to be, or you might be an example of how NOT to be, but everyone is an example, and everyone has something to teach you, IF you'll just look for the lesson and if you'll let them.

Life wasn't always rosy but it has been fun, even the bad parts. First as a kid with odd jobs, carrying papers and working as a gopher for a local AM station (WKGN) in high school on up to owning a chain of traditional businesses with 85 employees, I found the simplest way of making money, and more of it than I could have ever imagined.

Being self-employed and 'different' has worked well for me and I love it. Everyday is full of mystery and adventure and, like I said earlier, I've learned to enjoy the journey as I play my way toward the destination. To me, that's wisdom, and it's found all along the way AS WELL AS at the end of 'The Yellow Brick' road.

You see, I believe that if you gather wisdom all along the way, you know what you'll find behind the curtain when you get to see the wizard in Emerald City. You youngsters might need to reference the most watched movie of all time, 'The Wizard of Oz'. And don't expect any spaceships, action packed scenes or even any squealing tires. It's laden with messages and morals and hidden truths that you'll only get when you start growing up.

If you would like to discuss any issues, business or not, please feel free to contact me.

Fair enough? Now let's make a positive difference in this sometimes too negative world.

Success and wellness to you, and don't forget to smell the roses along the yellow brick road in your life travels,

Kurt Gross
Great Smoky Mountains
kurtray@gmail.com
http://Grossinternational.com