Fess up. Do you get all uncomfortable and sweaty whenever that question is posed directly to your face? Like your veins suddenly expand as you are caught off guard and you switch immediately, subconsciously into defense mode?

I was asked that today.

My instant response without thinking was, “How much?” rather than “No”. I have done enough money lending in my lifetime to live by the rule that I only give, not lend. Chasing money that is owed belongs to the world of business, not between friends and family. If we’re talking a hundred bucks because there was no time to go to the bank this week, sure. But what if it was a thousand?

All money that I have ever lent in the past somehow never made it back to my bank account. Over time, they got lost with the wind. The discomfort of asking becomes too much to bear and at some point, you just give up.

If I had cash to spare, I’d happily give. But I don’t. Not right now.

Yet. I was once in that same position where I needed to borrow 10,000 dollars. I had a big cheque for the sale of my car that hadn’t yet cleared but I had to put in a big deposit for the apartment that I wanted to rent. Pronto. Being fresh in the workforce meant no savings.

In desperation and not wanting to go through the whole circus of apartment hunting again, I made a call to my dad to ask the taboo question. He told me he didn’t have 10,000 dollars. Yeah, right.

I made a few more calls explaining that I will pay it back in exactly 4 days.

One sweet angel said sure. Magic to my ears. He traipsed to the bank that very day to hand me the cash. I remember it so vividly. We met and he delivered the 10,000 cash in an A4 brown envelope. I thanked him and passed him an ‘I owe you’ note. He binned it. I felt so blessed. We parted.

Another time, another knight saviour, did the dreaded task of breaking his fixed deposit account just so I could have the cash I badly needed. It has been repaid. Bless his heart.

I will never forget these 2 kind souls. The trust that they placed in me will always be much appreciated and I will be forever grateful.

Today, my younger cousin asked me for 4,000 dollars. He said that his hard earned money was kept in a joint account with his mother but since they were arguing, she had refused to give him the money. He has just secured a good job in Melbourne and would like to bring his Chinese wife with him. There is a deadline as he starts work in 2 weeks and needs to process his wife’s visa application, airfare et al.

From my game of twenty questions, I deduced that his mother did not approve of his wife tagging along. Jealousy perhaps? I couldn’t understand why he’d kept all his money with his mother but he said his mother had always controlled him. I suggested he reasoned with his mother at a better time and at worst case, to borrow the money from another relative who actually HAD some money? But he didn’t want any of it to get back to his mother. Fishy?

I thought so. But I felt sorry for him. Without hearing 2 sides of the coin, I will never know if he was being completely honest or if he was trying to pull a fast one.

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Who is Mamapumpkin?
Mamapumpkin spent 7 years in London committing crimes to gain her Bartlett degree in Architecture. She then spent 7 years as a Stay At Home Mom raising her children as documented in this blog of over 15 years thereafter returning to the Corporate World stronger than ever as the Country Director of a British Multinational. She sets out to prove to all, that you can have anything and everything that you want; if you have that fire of desire burning within and the drive to work hard. Even better with much love.

Mamapumpkin has not only grown corporate businesses successfully in the past but has grown not one but TWO network marketing businesses in the notorious MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) industry, achieving success in under 2 years. She believes in the MLM business model but realises the DRASTIC PITFALLS and great stigma attached to it, understanding EXACTLY WHY the majority would shy away (or RUN for their lives) from ANY MLM business. But open your eyes and take time to understand it intellectually, remove your hang-ups, confirm your research, and you may just want to seize an opportunity. She did. And no, she never went about chasing people for sales. She had a sophisticated system work for her through technology and a smartphone.

She now impacts lives authentically with proven strategies amassed through the last decade of her own transformation offering online coaching programmes and always supports the underprivileged. She believes that we can all have a life of our own desires to enable real contribution into the world. But first, one needs to understand what this all means.

A beautiful life without limits.

If you wish to learn some tools to propel your life forward guaranteed, be brave enough to make contact as her life's purpose is to build people. She operates through a discovery call after which she will commit to helping you. Or not.

Most lose out on an opportunity because they are afraid they would be sold to, conned or whatever fear resides in their brain without even trying. And that's on them.

Mamapumpkin is a living testimony that women really can have a lot. Being financially and time free has enabled her to travel the world anytime, anywhere, doing anything, and she spends most of her days with her children, having fun, and supporting others wherever she can. Also having fun.