It started last night. I looked at my new business page on Facebook with the same 3 Likes. Shaking my head, I couldn't figure what was wrong. I had contacted everyone on my Yahoo address list, inviting them to Like my new page. Nothing.
I had deactivated my personal profile in an effort to transition from using Facebook as a social medium to using it as a platform for my coaching practice. I meant well, but things weren't going as I had hoped. Each day, I'd log on only to find the same three people. Sigh. Then the lightbulb came on. Perhaps I deactivated my page prematurely, I thought. I jumped back on Facebook, reactivated my personal profile page and started sending private messages to my friends list and posting invites on the timelines of groups I had joined. In less than 24 hours, I have 71 Likes and climbing. The outpouring has been remarkable. Folks aren't just liking my page but they are sending me "of courses" and "certainly's" and well wishes and votes of confidence.
Reminds me of the classic Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life. Actor, Jimmy Stewart, portrays a disheartened George Bailey. For years, he continued his father's legacy of helping the folks of his small town. He granted them loan extensions and other financial breaks but when his bank went belly up, folks started demanding their money. Overcome with anxiety, George did as many folks do: got drunk and drove like a bat out of hell down the road. He ends up wrecking his car and wishing he were never born. Fortunately, or maybe not so fortunately, an angel granted him that wish.
Through a series of twists and turns reminiscent of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the angel accompanies him through what life would have been like had he never been born. When he realizes that life without the ones he loves is no life at all and how so many people's lives were better because he was born, he prays that he get his life back. Through tear-stained eyes, he hears someone calling his name and realizes that he has been given such a wonderful gift. With snow sloshing all around, he runs through his house calling for his wife and kids. She comes in and he showers her and the kids with kisses completely unaware of the miracle that has happened. Within moments, the townspeople he's helped over the years turn out in overwhelming numbers with money to help him. I'm not getting money -- YET -- but the outpouring of love from my friends and friends of friends is just as wealthy.
Truly, I am basking in God's favor! It's a wonderful life!
