A question many of us ask of ourselves when faced with situations which may seem beyond our control. Oftentimes, instead of putting much deliberate thought on the matter, we toss our hands up and ask, “What can I do?”

This was the question I asked myself recently. See, like you, I have family and friends who have fallen on hard times. No job, little to no outside support… Oh, they have roofs overhead and shoes on their feet. We’re not going to let them starve, for sure. There’s always room for another plate at our dinner table.

But lately it’s become a harsh game of mere survival for them, and I can’t stand watching them suffer. Yet still, I asked myself, “What can I do?”

I have a family of my own to support, and even here, the budget is stretched to snapping point more often than I’d care to admit. Still, I thought, there had to be something I could do to help aleviate the pain of their situation — at least a little bit.

An idea I’d thought on briefly in the past came winging back to me. For years I’ve wanted to be able to do something that would enable me to help others in need, but I kept telling myself there was nothing I could do — not yet, I’d say. Soon. Soon.

But how long can we wait, realistically, before something drastic happens? Sometimes, we have even less time to step in and help than we think. And then it’s too late.

You don’t want that to happen. None of us ever want to be faced with the minute when there really is nothing else we can do. No, we’re able. We’re capable, darn it! Right?

So unlike times before when I’d think there was nothing I could do at the moment, and move on with my own life, I decided it was time to stop putting it off and act.

The first thing I had to figure out was what resources I had available to me. My talent is writing. Over the years, I’ve accumulated a lot of written information. But I haven’t done much with it. Mostly let it sit and moulder on my hard drive.

Now, however, I have a better motive driving me to put what I’ve written to good use. After a bit of digging, I rounded up about 18 or so information products, written by me, that contain evergreen content. I also gathered a few well-written bits of PLR, and I sat down and made a plan for what I wanted to do with them.

What was my plan? To put the products I’d written (but hadn’t bothered to do anything with) on a website and sell them at a low enough price anyone could afford — even in todays economy. Then I’d use what I make off of it to help where I could.

If you’re interested in seeing what I came up with, the website is at www.warriorfiresale.com . I started with nine products — all priced at $1.99 each. Yes, I’ll add more later, but for now, I just needed a few to get started.

But check this out:

In total, it has taken me two days to rework the products, create the covers, build the website, grab the code for PayPal buttons, and get everything online. Two days.

Doesn’t seem very long when you have plenty of time to do things, but it feels like forever to someone whose time could be running out, you know? I do. I’ve been there.

Anyway, back to the point of this post, which is: You CAN do something.

If you’ll think about it long enough, I’m willing to bet there is some little something you are very good at — like me with writing. Maybe you enjoy making beaded jewelry. Or painting. Or fixing things. Or … the possibilities are endless.

You could take some jewelry and sell it and use what you earn to help lessen the burden some of your loved ones may be feeling lately.

Or you could frame a painting or two and do the same. Or you could fix things for others a few hours a week and take what you earn off that to buy a few groceries, a bag of diapers, pay a bit on the water or electric bill of someone in need that you know.

Take some time to study on it today and see how many ways you can come up with to help the people you love.