Awake late at night, helps me think, write and make life decisions.
Are we spoiled?
Are we demanding way too much of our lives?
Have we replaced quality with quantity?

Today’s society has planted new rules in our brains. We MUST succeed with our career, we MUST live in a great home, drive a great car, and the list goes on.
Have we realized how fast life goes by?
Have we realized that we are willingly sacrificing family moments, friends, fun and plain old relaxation to the little voice in our heads that has us convinced that we always need MORE?

More work
More money
More, more, more

And one day we wake up, a family member is really sick and we are jolted to reality. What are we doing?

Let’s think about this for a minute: We come to this world naked, and we depart with a pair of clothes. EVERYTHING else is on loan.
We will take NOTHING to the next stage. No career, no cars, no money, NOTHING!

So sit back and evaluate what you want out of LIFE. Not out of career, not out of money. Just LIFE.

Is any job or career worth our health, well-being, and lost opportunities to live a quality life?

It takes some guts, but sometimes just saying “I respectfully step down from my position”, is the biggest gift you can give yourself.
A gift that will be shared with family, significant others, and that will give you the opportunity to reboot, recharge, and help the ones in need around you with great joy. Family comes first. Do not forget that.

Some of you will ask: But money? It’s not all about money.

As a very dear friend Robert Emmons wrote in his book Six Thousand Sunrises:
Wrap your arms around your dreams,
drive off the naysayers and philistines,
embrace your new tomorrow with the passion to make your dreams, your truth.

Author(s)

  • Mariella Stockmal

    Operations & Risk Management Executive

    I combine many years of experience and strategy to create results across various functions from eCommerce, Finance, Operations, and Risk. Skills and Experience: * Operations & Office Management * Finance, Fraud Management and Safety Measures creation to protect brands and companies. * Claims, Disputes and Chargebacks (Vantiv, Braintree, Ethoca, PayPal, Shopify, Global Collect, Adyen etc.) * QuickBooks and Bookkeeping * Policy Creation specific to an organization’s goals * Ability to solve problems * Desire to learn new things * Passion and adaptability * Slack, Zoom, G-Suite, and other office/business software * Accustomed to handling sensitive, confidential records. * Diplomatic and tactful with professionals and non-professionals at all levels * Word, Excel, Google Drive, Social Media * Fully equipped home office for remote work assignments * Languages: Greek, German, English, conversational French and Italian Job History: Owner at Business And Risk Management Jan 2018 – Current Blog about Business, Risk, Finance and Fraud Protection. Risk Manager, TrackR September 2015, January 2018 Protected the company from fraud and unauthorized transactions. Brought chargeback rate down from 17% to 0.3%. Also worked with QuickBooks online doing reconciliations and entering data. Chargebacks – Claims Manager, FastSpring December 2011 – September 2015, Santa Barbara, CA Worked closely with co-founders, managed Fraud and Chargebacks, and worked with QuickBooks. Created policies, updated back end to portray proper sales/refunds. COO, SteveStockmalMusic.com Music Education - Music Performance Risk Management and Policy Creation, Financial management. Operations Manager at Santa Barbara International Film Festival Office Operations Management, policy implementation. COO, D. Kallonas & Son. Ltd. Policy creation, overall Company operations, international travel and finance