Let me preface this by saying that in my entire life, I think I’ve won 2 items. In fact, I’m so unlucky at winning things, that I pretty much gave up entering any contests or draws by the time I was 20.

So imagine my surprise when I opened my email this morning to find this:

Hi Jini,

Congratulations! You were chosen as one of the winners for a free package of Yanik’s Maverick Business Insider based on your blog reply at Yanik’s Internet Lifestyle Blog.

If you could reply and give us your shipping information, we’ll get the package out to you ASAP!

Thanks for your support and we look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,
Gary
MaverickBusinessInsider.com

I’m still in shock! Especially since I did not post in order to enter the contest – having given up on winning contests! – I simply wanted to respond to his video. But hey, life’s great and I’m certainly looking forward to going through the materials when they arrive.

Here’s my winning post on Yanik’s Blog:

Jini Patel Thompson Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm

Hi Yanik,

I’ve derived 100% of my income from my online businesses for the last eight years – hence I’ve listened to and bought stuff from a lot of internet marketers (including you, of course!).

And I have to say – it is SO nice to see someone finally putting forth a more holistic business success model. This industry is so dominated by turbo-charged males – who are not up nights with their kids, cooking unprocessed food to ensure their health, volunteering for the reading program at their kids’ schools, etc.

Whoever said SUCCESS was just about MONEY anyway? Sure, money is a nice big part of the success pie, but not the only slice. Here’s how I define success:

* How’s your health? (Good Health Is Real Wealth is the title of my subscription newsletter)

* Do you have meaningful, intimate relationships with your spouse and kids?

* Are you actually parenting, nurturing and teaching your own children?

* Do you do things on a regular basis that nurture your soul and stoke your passions?

* Are you well-travelled and able to move fluidly in different cultures?

* How many languages do you speak?

* Are you helping the earth, or harming it?

* Do you have lots of fun and a good measure of adventure in your life?

* Do you have enough money to live the life you want to live?

* Do you have enough money to travel, pay for your hobbies and provide for your kids’ needs?

* Are you giving back or just taking?

And yes, I walk my talk. I’m not to the level of wealth that you are, but I live in a million + house, have a second vacation home, my main online business generates 35 – 40K per month. Since we have outsourced, subcontracted and automated everything, we routinely go away to hot, beach destinations for 2-3 month blocks of time. Our 3 kids – aged 2, 5 & 8 – travel brilliantly and never suffer jet lag cause they’re so used to it and can sleep anywhere.

I take art classes (I’m learning to paint!), do yoga or martial arts (with and without my kids), have breastfed all 3 of my kids for 5 years total, I cook them organic, unprocessed food from scratch and I spend at least a couple hours every day nurturing my soul with my favorite thing: lying in bed with a good book and a table of snacks.

And no, I’m not a hyperspeed, supermom either – just listening to women like that exhausts me. I’m the queen of outsourcing and working smart – not hard – so I can be chilled out and smooth. Now I sound like an alcoholic beverage…

Anyway, of course, I want to make more money (and I will) but I’m on the path. So like I said, it’s REALLY great to see someone else (in your nice relaxed, chilled out manner) putting forward a well-rounded, holistic business model too.

Thanks for being you!

And for having the balls to share that in a marketplace glutted with hyper, driven, let-me-make-sure-at-least-every-sentence-I-utter-contains-at-least-two-power-words, gooroos.

cheers,
Jini

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I’ll let you know what I think of the program after I’ve had a chance to go through it and implement some stuff – probably in the Spring, since we’re spending December & January in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Yeah, I know, life’s really rough for me these days!