#178 Free and future plans (retro)

Free offer and future plans

Well, how are you doing today?

Honestly.

It’s important for us to take some account of how we feel when we have a loved one in prison. I realize that few of you are going to be dancing in the streets, but what I mean is that we take care not to slump into depression.

And that is a lot easier to do than you think. It always starts with a negative thought, then builds on either the fear of that thought or a second negative thought, and it begins to build. When you have a loved one in prison, you have to constantly guard against falling into that trap.

Am I saying to prevent negative thoughts from coming…no, we can’t do that. Even the best of us will often have a negative thought in us, but the trick is to not embrace it, because that is where the problems start to come in.

So I ask how you are doing because I want you to always be aware that to get through this, you must keep looking for positive things to think about. Even when you get negative thoughts, or fears about how your loved one might be doing in prison, you don’t have to embrace them. You can always email me at derf4000 (at) embarqmail (dot) com if you want me to go further into that.

Anyway, today it is near 1am, and I wanted to give you a heads up on an offer I want to do by Valentine’s Day. I think I had an offer like this last year, I would have to check my blogs to find out.

But the basis of this is that I want to offer a FREE Prison Encouragement Certificate to anyone (within a certain number, because I can’t do but so many), who wishes to send one to a loved one in prison.

I want to be able to give you something to give to a loved one in prison. Now, even if the theme is Valentine’s Day, if you really want to receive one and don’t have a Valentine in prison, for example just a good friend or something like that, that is fine, I can substitute it with another prison encouragement certificate. Just let me know.

Originally I thought about sending it to anyone YOU wanted me to send it to, which could actually be faster. Somebody might have a loved one in a prison in Oklahoma, and emails me to just send it straight to the prison. That could be faster, but if I do that, then the problem would be that I would be sending too many certificates from my home address, which might start getting inmates writing me directly instead of to you. While I don’t mind one or two letters from a prison, I am not quite ready to handle numerous letters from inmates, especially if they should be writing to you.

A second reason is because it is my desire that YOU see what I am sending, that way there is a trust built when you get to see what I have sent you, to send to your loved one. I tend to win a lot more people that way, rather than sending it straight to your loved one. I want you to see the prison encouragement certificate I am sending, so you know exactly what your loved one is getting.

So my offer is a FREE prison encouragement certificate, to be sent in the first few days of February, or the last few days of January. Email me at derf4000 (at) embarqmail (dot) com and let me know if you want one. All I need is a physical address to send it to, that is all.

“Why are you doing this? What’s the catch?”

Well, the reason why I am doing this is first, I CAN do this. When I get support from other readers in gifts, it puts me in a better position to be able to show my sincerity to those who really want some help. When I say “thank you” to those who sent me gifts to support my blog, I mean that. If you go out of your way to send me a few dollars so I can take care of the things I need or want, then it gives me a strong incentive to help others.

And this isn’t the first time I have done this either.

I cannot tell you how much more excited I get when I get a letter or a card from a reader who believed in me enough to send me something to encourage me to keep writing. One person sent me $75 because she heard me blog about how much I needed a new computer. She told me “I have a son in prison, and you have been there for me more than most other prison sites. I hope this helps you get some ink for your printer”.

Another person sent me $20 saying, “I want you to take this and enjoy yourself with it, as long as you continue to blog and help others, you will be blessed.”

When I get people like that who understand why I blog, and are helping me, it really empowers me to want to do 100 times more than I already am. So every now and then, I want to offer my readers something for free, because I have been blessed by others to be able to, in turn, bless people myself.

And I know it isn’t so much, but it is a start. I hope to be able to offer free prison cards too in the future, but I do have some available for purchase. I have numerous ideas I would like to implement for readers, including a newsletter, but after seeing how Prison Talk Online have gotten many former members upset at the possible scam, I have to really be careful in how I might do it.

The catch, if you see it that way, is that all I need is a physical address to send it to. That’s it. I am offering a free prison encouragement certificate, all you need to do is email me and request it, and give me an address to send it to. That is all.

“Aww come on, nothing is free, there is something else to it”

Well, yeah, there is a method behind it, let me explain by giving you a real example.

If you have read my posts from about a year or two ago, you know that I used to work in local radio and was the executive of our sports at the “Christian” radio station…

(you have to understand why I said it that way to comprehend the statement)

Anyway, we needed commercials for the games, and being the only guy working on this, I went downtown and was looking for anybody who would like a free commercial done for the football games. We had our bills paid, but I needed more variety of commercials so we could sound more professional. And I believed that if I could offer something free to a business, then after they see how sincere we were, they would consider doing business with us next year. It’s in investment of faith that we would get that business next year, or at least prove to them we knew what we were doing.

So I went downtown and visited about half a dozen businesses, with the offer of a free commercial during our first game. All I needed from them is info on what they wanted in that commercial (know as “spots” in radio).

Most of them felt the same way, that “nothing is ever free”, and many felt that there was a catch. We are more likely to discredit a free offer than we would if you had to pay for it and get cheated. It really amazed me that these people were debating a FREE commercial or two during a local high school football game.

But they all eventually agreed, and we were able to put their spots on during the first football game, and I think a couple we carried over to a second or third game. There was no catch, as I promised, and by doing that, I won many of them over.

The same thing applies here.

My goal is to win you over so you can see that I am really trying to help. If I can get you to see what I am trying to do, then maybe down the road you will consider me when you want to buy my book, or some prison cards, or other things I make. Or, if I have really been a help to you, then maybe you will consider sending me a gift to help me further. But all that is your choice, just as the free offer is.

“But just what is a prison encouragement certificate?”

Well, it is exactly what it is. A certificate of encouragement to a loved one in prison. I have made I think over 50 of these, and have ideas for many more. Thoughts of faith, peace, joy, love, friendship, anything positive, can be made into a nice looking certificate and sent to a loved one in prison. These can be a different way of bringing encouragement to a person who needs it. Some of you have received these before, so you know what I am talking about, but if you are still unsure, email me at derf4000 (at) embarqmail (dot) com and ask me to talk about them, I would be glad to talk about a few that I have made.

Anyway, the offer is out there, a free prison encouragement certificate to anyone who wants one, up until a certain limit. I can’t do 1000 of these, heck, even 100 is a strong stretch, so it will be first come, first served. I will set a side some for the readers who support me, because if they want one, I should make sure they get one.

We’ll talk more about this later, since I won’t be sending them out until either the end of January or the very beginning of February. Let me know what you think ok?