Loose Change Changes Lives

Like most women, I carry a wallet. And that wallet has a place for loose change.

And when that loose change builds up, said wallet becomes heavy. So heavy, in fact, that if I was accosted on the street and swung my purse around, I could knock a perp cold with one accurately placed whack.

That happened to me yesterday – oh, sorry – not the accosting and perp and whack thing; I picked up my rather large purse … um, let’s call it more like a bag, or a work bag, or a satchel I could hide a small dog in … ANYWAY: I picked up my purse and it must have weighed 5 pounds.

Probably 4 of those 5 pounds was loose change in my wallet, which is surprising because I almost always leave all my change in the tip cup at my favorite coffee stand.

Which got me to thinking about loose change, and then the word change.

But before we get into that, you should know something … This is how my mind works; I call it my A-to-Z Random MindMap. It makes sense to me, but to my poor husband and my children it’s a wildly random mind that is hard to keep up with.

I have a thought. Let’s say that thought is the loose change in my purse.

My mind might then go to the word loose. Which reminds me that the drawer pull in the kitchen is loose. Need to fix that.

Which might then lead me to visualize the screwdriver, which is in the cupboard that also has the extra pens.

Oh – that reminds me, the pen in my purse is out of ink. I better get a new one.

Now I’m back to my purse, which has my wallet, which has the loose change.

And that change is odd because I normally put the extra change from my latte purchase into the tip cup at my favorite local coffee stand.

You know, the change I leave (and all my fellow customers leave) could be a small financial help to the people who work at the coffee stand.

Within about 3 seconds of my Random MindMap, I realize that the words ‘change’ and ‘change’ are interchangeable. (Ha! Clever word usage, don’t you think??)

Within that same 3 seconds, I also realize how important the word change is.

So where does all this possibly random thought process lead?

To here, and to a not-at-all-random realization:

In my work life, I teach and coach people how to leverage the newly recognized side-gig economy into a viable, sustainable, monthly income. The positive personal changes they’re able to make financially – which helps their families out in so many ways – comes directly from the monetary change we’re able to help them generate. Money they put in their wallet.

It might be loose change in a purse or a pocket, but that loose change will change lives.