The Team
On this date, from this side of the desk, The Aspen Project is an army of one. Obviously there is a goal of expansion, but at this moment my ask is that you put your faith in me. Allow me to shepherd you through a transformation unlike any other that has ever been seen.
I suppose we should get to know each other first, so here I am, on a platter for your reading pleasure:
​
My name is Joseph Conrad (like the writer but MUCH younger). I was raised by a single mother in a poor house through rough times, but I was blessed. I was protected from our financial position and status the best I could be. In addition to this protection, I was offered a life opportunity that knew no limits. I could have been the president, an astronaut, a lawyer, a doctor, anything I wanted to be. I was raised to believe that anything was possible and the difference between someone that had nothing and someone that "had it all" was simply a matter of hard work and commitment.
I did my best to put this training to the test. I worked hard enough to get good at some things, but few things held my passion enough to master. Looking back now, perhaps that was a missed opportunity. Perhaps it was exactly what I needed in order to be sitting here writing this today.
You see, I always knew that success was right around the corner. The same way my mom sold me the hard work ideal, my public education, the entertainment media, and all of the other adults in my life sold me the idea that the hard work would amount to "success". They defined success as good grades in school, with exemplary behavior and good SAT scores leading to: college acceptance, degrees, owning a home, having a fancy car, and credit cards with sky high limits. If I was really crushing it in life, there was even the possibility of my own health insurance policy!
I tried really hard to play the game. For 20 years I bounced around restaurant to restaurant and career to career starting from the bottom each time and working my way to the top as best I could. This was the trend of my life until 2020 (what a year!!). I've been a hotel F&B Manager, General Manager of multiple restaurants, Executive Chef, Certified Sommelier, Bar Manager, CFO of a construction consulting firm, a restaurant chain bookkeeper, and most recently worked my way up through middle management at a retirement investment company. The story of bottom-to-top illustrates "Hard Work" and "Commitment", and as I worked my way through these ranks I noticed that "Success" was still right around the corner. I played the games! I followed the rules! But it never got any easier. In 2020 I met my wife, and in 2020 I met myself.
In 2020 I mapped out the rest of my future at the rate I was moving and realized I would soon be 60 and doing the exact same thing I'd done the last 20 years. I was tired of struggling to get around that corner to success. In 2020 it dawned on me that it wasn't me, it was the game. The game is rigged.
You see, every definition of success that we're taught in the mainstream world has a common thread that binds them... debt. Every landmark on the path to their definition of success comes with debt and interest. Success is nothing but a billboard "brought to you by the company that will be making the most money off of you achieving that landmark". Student loans, mortgages, car notes, credit card interest, vacation homes, healthcare costs, the banks come out on top, we come out in debt. That's what turning the corner looks like. This is not success.
We sit in our cubicles and keep on plugging away, just waiting for the opportunity to give more of our future independence to a vulture in a suit that's been convincing you it's a good idea since the minute you were born.
It's unethical. It's criminal. It's cyclical but it needs to stop. Who am I? I'm here to stop it, and I'm going to need your help.
Who are you? You wanna help? Email me (JConrad@sandsministry.org) with your life story and let's do this thing together! Or just follow along and join this movement for just a few dollars a month!