Well it seems Chicago is looking alot like Kansas. Cuz I know I saw Dorothy and Todo go flying by the crib. The wind tore us up, but we all good. As you all can see, Chi-Life is related to the Jeffersons, Cuz we movin on uuupp!!Yeah Chi-Life is official!! be on the lookout for the rest of the site, coming soon of course. like we always say, tell your friends, family and significant others about the first and hottest Chicago newsletter, Chi-Life. So without further ado, I would like to welcome the world, Chi’s finest and of course YOU, to Chi»Life.

Know the Ledge

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IS NOT STRAIGHT.....
THERE IS A CURVE CALLED FAILURE....
A LOOP CALLED CONFUSION.......
SPEED BUMPS CALLED FRIENDS...
RED LIGHTS CALLED ENEMIES...
CAUTION LIGHTS CALLED FAMILY...
YOU WILL HAVE FLATS CALLED JOBS. BUT..........
IF YOU HAVE A SPARE CALLED DETERMINATION...
AN ENGINE CALLED PERSEVERANCE...
INSURANCE CALLED FAITH... A DRIVER CALLED JESUS...
YOU WILL MAKE IT TO A PLACE CALLED SUCCESS!

Wise men always know more than they tell, but fools tell more than they know.

Love is Love

Funny HA HA!!

HUSBAND SHOPPING CENTER!!

Recently a "Husband Shopping Center" opened in Dallas, where women could go to choose a husband from among many men.

It was laid out in five floors, with the men increasing in positive attributes as you ascended.

The only rule was, once you opened the door to any floor, you HAD to choose a man from that floor; If you went up a floor, you couldn't go back down except to leave the place, never to return.

A couple of girlfriends went to the shopping center to find some husbands...

First floor The door had a sign saying, "These men have jobs and love kids." The women read the sign and said, "Well, that's better than not having a job, or not loving kids, but I wonder what's further up?" So up they went.

Second floor The sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking." Hmmm, said the ladies. But, I wonder what's further up?

Third floor This sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, are extremely good looking, love kids and help with the housework." Wow! Said the women. Very tempting, BUT, there's more further up! And up they went.

Fourth floor This door had a sign saying "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak." Oh, mercy me. But just think! What must be awaiting us further on! So up to the fifth floor they went.

Fifth floor The sign on that door said, "This floor is empty and exists only to prove that women are impossible to please. Goodbye."

On the Move

Do you have an event coming up? Don’t have what you need, or not sure of how to do it.

Well take a load off!!

CA international

Is your party connection!

You call us, tell us what you want, and we’ll make it happen! That’s right we’re here to make your event...Unforgettable!

Dj, Catering, Bartending, video tape, promotions, clowns and dancers.

News Corner

Yeah it’s about to get hot and it’s time to explore the world around us. Chi is cool, but sometimes you just wanna get away for a while. Here’s the best way to do it. Imma bout (yeah I said I’m a) to break down getting out on the road and kickin it hard or seeing some beautiful scenes with your boo. First of all you wanna decide what kind of trip you going on. Are you trying to party with your peeps, cake with your love, or maybe going to make some business moves. You never know. Whatever the case, you’re going to need transportation.

Now since we are balling on a budget we want to set some boundaries. How much we want to spend just on transpo alone and how much you can afford to spend on the whole trip. This is coming from someone who did Howard's homecoming for just $60. I know your saying, "All you did was smell the D.C. air for that price." Oh contray monfray my friends, I did it all. Parties, food, party some more, hotel, car and gas. I’m gonna show you how too.(sound like those infomercials) Now take a trip like Miami. I’ll do that cuz I’m currently planning that myself. May 23, let’s get at it.

Anyway, if your flying, fly through the net. I got $100 tickets to New York through Priceline.com. Your going to hear a lot about them if you haven't already. You can also check out some hotels on Priceline and get rooms at 3 and 4 star hotels for Motel 6 prices. I got the Marriot downtown for $50. No joke! Never pay for Cherry Lane again. If you don’t want to go through Priceline, a way to get hotels for dirt cheap is to call the corporate number. Like out in Nevada somewhere. They will give you a sweet deal no doubt.

If you don’t want to do the plane thing, you can always grab a ride from a family member or just rent a car. It seems like Enterprise is the fastest way to go. They don’t get all in your grill with restrictions on age like Hertz. You have to be over 21 with a credit card to rent from them. Not Enterprise! Enterprise will even pick you up and drop you off. But the thing about renting a car is that rental companies try to get over on the weekends. So that’s why you have to either jump on Priceline or call the branch location. Don’t call the 800 number. If you're renting from the branch on 79th & Stony, make sure you call that one. We were able to get a mid-size for $18 a day on the weekend AND unlimited gas. Stop playing. Who said we didn’t know what we were talking about!

Now that the transpo and where you're going to stay is taken care of, just make sure you don’t lose your mind when you get there. Remember, on "kick it" trips there are people everywhere. You don't have to pay $60 to get in that party. There is another party down the street just as hot and not as expensive. Or you can always bust the "I’ve been in already", they don’t know. On cake missions, just walking, holding hands, eating and seeing the sites is perfect. You know, Quality Time. So treat yourself and your wallet. Be a baller on a budget.

In the Spotlight

Name: Jason Caston
Occupation: CEO Digital One Technology CEO Jay Cas Enterprises

Latest Accomplishments: Established numerous computer and entrepreneurship programs throughout the Chicagoland area with various youth organizations.

If you are not aware of the new trend coming around in 2003 then you need to wake up, many young men and women are finding out (some the hard way) that the only way to keep a job is to create your own company. Entrepreneurship is the way of the future and young brothers like Jason Caston are showing others how to take control of their futures.

Chi-Life: So what made you start your own company?

Jason: You want the long story or the short story?

Chi-Life: Give us a little of both.

Jason: Okay, well the short story is that I got laid off in 2002. The long story summed up is that I got a high paying job fresh out of school in 2000 and when they let me go in April 2002, I got so upset that I decided that I would never be laid off again, so the Lord told me to start my own company.

Chi-Life: So how did you go about starting your own company, because you know everyone just can't decide to up and start their own company?

Jason: Well let me tell you how it all went down so that you can see it how I saw it. First, I got laid off, so my cash flow stopped, it took me about a month before I started panicking because I thought that it would be easy to get another job. Since the economy was slow and no one would hire me even though I had the skills, I realized that my only option was to either change careers or create my own job. Well I had always known that the only way to get rich was to work for yourself but I would always tell myself that I would do all that in the future. Well the future came last June, when I decided to get up and finally go back to church. Once I went back to church, I gained the confidence to take control of my life because I believed that through God all things were possible. Well after reading about 20-30 books ranging from "Rich Dad Poor Dad" to "Write a Business Plan in 24 hours", I began putting my company together. I started writing a business plan, curriculums, books, tutorials, and all the documentation that my company would need.

Chi-Life: So here is the real question, what does your company do?

Jason: Well I have two companies, one is called Digital One Technology Inc. and the other is Jay Cas Enterprises. Digital One is a computer and entrepreneurship training company, so basically I setup computer and entrepreneurship programs for organizations. I supply the curriculum, books and instructor and the client provides the computers and students. In the near future we will provide computers also. Now, as for Jay Cas Enterprises, well that is my family company. When Digital One takes off, I will focus on Jay Cas Enterprises and hire my family to run it. Jay Cas Enterprises will be the company I use to pursue my other ventures outside of computers (real estate, investing, etc…).

Chi-Life: So how long does it take to start a company?

Jason: About 3 days and $200 dollars to start a corporation. That is what I teach in my entrepreneurship classes, I provide all the paperwork and tell people where to go to get their company up and legally sound.

Chi-Life: So what are the benefits and drawbacks of being an entrepreneur?

Jason: Now that is a good question, well first the drawbacks, you are traveling a lonely road. Entrepreneurs are not the norm so when you start a business you need to surround yourself with people that are on the same page or else you will not make it. You need to research what you are getting into, you need to develop yourself in areas of business financing, networking and industry trends. The most important area to develop is your mindset, you must develop the mindset of an entrepreneur to make it in this world. That is what I stress the most to potential entrepreneurs, realize that your limits in life are set by your mind, if you can overcome your mental boundaries then you can do anything.
Now the benefits of being an entrepreneur, of course there is the free time, if you are a true entrepreneur then you work when you want to, if you have your own company and you have to work all the time (without free time) then you are a slave to your business and not a business owner. Another benefit is the ability to set your own salary. The final benefit is that you are the boss so you decide everything that goes on within the company, ranging from the direction of the company to the new hires.

Chi-Life: Well here is a question that many entrepreneurs face, should you go into business with family and friends?

Jason: NEVER!!!! You should never go into business with family and friends, but you can always hire family and friends. Never put them in control of anything that you started. Now if you are in a situation where you already are in business with family or friends then you need to develop your leadership skills so that you can deal with the hardships that can come with working with family and friends (unmet expectations, egos, arguing).

Chi-Life: So besides your companies what else do you do?

Jason: Well I have written a few articles that were published on websites and in newspapers on entrepreneurship. I go to church as often as possible and I volunteer at my church with the computer ministry by teaching computer classes to seniors. I try to play ball to keep in shape but my time is limited now that my company is taking off so I don't get to hoop as much as I want to. I try to get out and have some fun sometimes but of course you know that until it gets warm for good, I will stay in the house.

Chi-Life: Well thanks for the interview Jason, do you have anything else to say?

Jason: Sure, to everyone that is trying to start their own company, take control of their life, and secure their future, remember that the first thing I had to do was go to church. By saying that I simply mean you have to put God first in all you do and everything else will be given to you.

Yall heard it here first from Chi-Life. If you want to be rich then you need to start your own company. We all know that times are rough now so get ya mind right and get ya own company so that no one can fire you, unless you fire ya self and if you fire ya self then you shouldn't be working anyway. If you want to contact Jason Caston then hit him up on his website http://www.digitalonetechnology.com, or on his email caston@digitalonetechnology.com. Till later, be looking out. Holla!