quote... sound advice, from someone who cares ... unquote

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Why did you start this website?

Answer: One of the reasons I started this website is because there were times when I had things I wanted to talk over with someone outside of my sphere of friends who could be totally objective and unbiased with their opinions and insights. I was unable to find a website that offered what I was looking for. I tried some of the free advice websites and received an answer to my questions only about 20% of the time. When I did get an answer, which was rare, it took 3-4 days to get a response. It was a frustrating experience.

Question: Your website talks about wanting to help people. Why do you ask for donations? Why don’t you just do this all for free?

Answer: Like any worthwhile endeavor, creating and maintaining a website takes time and money. The main expenses I have are the fees I pay to my website designer and advertising expenses. I have donated an enormous amount of time, and plenty of my own money, to start up and maintain this website, all in an effort to help others. Any donations that are received help to offset some of the expenses that I mentioned above. Unfortunately, most people do not contribute anything. But that really is irrelevant. I am committed to continuing to help as many people as humanly possible and will foot the bill myself in order to do so.

Question: What’s in this for you, Uncle Spencer? Why go to the trouble?

Answer: I truly enjoy hearing from people and it gives me a good feeling to know I made a difference for some of them. I also enjoy the process of getting a question and trying to come up with the best solution. Sometimes it’s a mind bender and really challenges you. Sometimes the question is easy. You never know what the next question might be. And every situation is different.
When I played high school and college lacrosse, one of the greatest feelings of accomplishment I ever had was when I would score a goal or get an assist. It was euphoric! It’s the same thing when I hear back from someone who feels like I gave them some help and insight into their lives. It may sound corny, but it’s true.

Question: What value do you think your website brings to others?

Answer: Many people cannot afford to pay for counseling sessions or therapy at $50.00 to $175.00 per appointment. I feel that our service is a viable alternative. Not only do we save people a lot of money, but we also provide a lot more convenience to our customers. There’s no scheduling of appointments and no missing work. AskUncleSpencer.com occurs on-line at a time and place that is convenient for the customer. Most importantly, we DO help people and make a difference for them in their lives.

Question: I want to make a donation, but have concerns about using a credit card on the internet?

Answer: We use a secure payment process provided by Pay Pal that allows our customers to use Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, or echecks via Pay Pal. When you are ready to submit your donation, you are re-directed to a secure payment site that provides the latest internet security protection.

Question: What makes you and your staff any different than anyone else?
What are your qualifications? Why should I bother listening to your advice?

Answer: I’ll be the first one to admit that AskUncleSpencer.com doesn’t have every answer to every problem that exists in the world. What I believe this website does offer is advisors who possess a combination of formal education, practical experience, and a commitment and ability to advise, support and mentor people. For me personally, this website is a calling and something I am passionate about. It’s a way that I can help other people. I work a 45-50 hour job through the week to support my family, but it is this website that really allows me to do what I feel I was put on this earth to do.

Question: How do I know if your website can help me? I don’t want to waste my time.

Answer: I don’t want to waste your time either. Unfortunately, there’s no way you can truly know if AskUncleSpencer.com will be helpful until you try us out. A lot of people spend a great deal of money on all kinds of counseling and therapy trying to get help. Sometimes they do get help and sometimes they don’t. The first step is to try and get help and then be willing to listen and keep an open mind. Isn’t your emotional well-being worth an investment of your time?

Question: When I first visited this website, there was a per-question fee. Now questions are answered for free. What prompted the change?

Answer: The high volume of traffic to the site and the questions I received from people all over the world prompted me to change my approach. In its first three weeks of existence, the site had 3000 hits, which was really amazing, considering the limited advertising we were doing. This confirmed for me that there were a lot of people looking for answers in their lives, something I believed all along and one of the reasons I had started this website in the first place. Out of the 3000 visitors we had during the first three weeks of existence, only 15 or so asked a question. My conclusion was that most of the 3000 visitors probably would have asked their question if they didn’t have to pay money to do so. And as I found out from the people who did ask questions, money was a big concern. So I changed the approach of the site from it being both a business and mission endeavor, to being strictly a mission endeavor.
Another reason for the change was that I received many questions from people who didn’t send in a payment, but still went to the trouble of asking their question, knowing that, according to the previous website policy, their question would not be answered until the payment was received. It made me wonder how many of the 3000 plus visitors to the website didn’t ask their question because they couldn’t afford to pay. There was no way I could continue to charge money for answering questions when I knew that the fee was keeping some people away. For the record, I answered all the questions I received, regardless of whether payment information was received or not. Because I decided to do this, I did not process anyone’s payment. I determined that if anyone wanted to pay, it would be done so voluntarily as a donation. At that time then, I immediately changed the website policy so that all advice was offered free of charge.