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Against All Odds!
Submitted by: Daniela Rodriguez
Sherwood Forest, CaFounder and CEO of a fulfillment company, 3PL.
On October 21, 2007, I watched my business burn down to ashes overnight. This was a business that I opened back in 1992 with my husband, from our back home office. This fire occurred while my husband was in Argentina having hip surgery for the 3rd time for a terrible accident that happened years ago that left him with a disability for life.
My older son was visiting me from college that weekend when I received the news that my business was burning down. I don’t have words to describe the thoughts going through my head that Sunday afternoon, watching what my husband and I had built burn down to ashes.
I had overcome my husband’s car accident when he had been in a coma, not knowing if he was going to make it or not and my kids, 4 and 12, asking me if their Dad was going to die. While the building was still burning I broke down. I started crying and all I could think of was how was I going to survive through all this. My employees would not be able to come back to work on Monday. Thankfully, no one was hurt because this happened on a Sunday and we do not work there on the weekends. My son was in college and how was I going to be able to pay for the rest of his school. My husband was disabled and was not going to be able to help me. The whole world just crumbled down on me.
While the building was still burning down, my son sat me down inside my car and said to me “Mom, you are a strong woman, you have been through thick and thin and you are not about to let this fire steal all of your dreams”.
Four days after the fire I decided to call my landlord and ask him if he had a small space for me to move in and start again. The Arson Inspector thought I was crazy. What I did not know was about the inferno I was going to be going through from all the lawsuits heading my way. I had insurance, but of course, insurance was not enough. I spent all of my life savings trying to defend myself from a fire that the arson unit determined had occurred from ‘An Act Of God’.
Everyone telling me to file my corporation for bankruptcy but I said, no way was I going to do that. I was being sued left and right and had no way to deal with it anymore.
To this date, I don’t know how the book, The Secret, fell into my hands but what I do remember was that I read that book in 3 days. I started practicing everything that the book said, word for word, chapter by chapter. One day I remember I was going through a very difficult moment because it was impossible to handle the pressure of the lawsuits, the debts, the attorney’s fees. So I turned to The Secret and started reading it again. I said to myself that I did nothing wrong and there is nothing negative about this. I started to think of all the positives things I was able to achieve while going through all of the legal actions against me and keeping my doors open. I then looked up and there was a cashier check I had given the landlord for the rent and security deposit for the building in the amount of 30K. I remembered in one of the chapters it said to write the amount of money you wish to receive and you shall receive it, but you need to see it already in your bank as if it was already there. So I did just that! I had no idea why I wrote the amount that I wrote but I added another 0 to the 30K making it now $300,000.
I am not going to say it was an easy road to cross because I almost lost my house, my business, and my mind. But I am happy to say that I achieved my $300,000.00, paid over $500,000 in debt, got a warehouse that was 3 times bigger and I am making triple our gross income!
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t say thank you for what I have and don’t have. I am extremely positive, and try to mentor others whenever possible. I am living proof that the book, The Secret, works! You just have to ask, believe it, and receive it. If you can visualize it, you can achieve it.
Thank you to all that made these books possible for us to read. Without The Secret, I do not know where I would be right now. When people ask me how I have achieved all that I have, I tell them to read The Secret and you will know the secrets of the Universe.