http://johnheerhold.wordpress.com/

http://johnheerhold.wordpress.com/

Say goodbye to your upline!!!

WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR UPLINE?!?!?!?!?!?!

This dependent mindset has always confused me. Maybe it's a hold over belief system from working in the traditional world. Maybe it's the need to blame someone else for their lack of success. Maybe it's just avoidance behavior so they don't have to face the reality that they just might have to step forward and lead. I don't know for sure.

All I know is this... I have NEVER viewed my upline as critical to my success. That responsibility falls on my shoulders.

A common trait of the true Network Marketing Professional is they don't feel the need for "upline support". Of course, they'll work with their upline if they are like-minded and use them as a resource from time to time, but they never use them as an excuse.

So each of you just might want to engage in the following exercise... Call your upline and say "Thank you so much for the introduction to the company. I'm just calling to say goodbye. I'll be surpassing your levels of success very soon. I'm sure we'll connect from time to time at events, on conference calls or at training functions and we might even help each other out with 3-way calls or some other form of mutual support, but as for me and my business... I'll take it from here." (Of course, all of that would be said with a smile, not with a negative attitude)

If you do that, maybe... just maybe, you're ready to take your business and your life to the next level.

Successful Meeting Basics is a must read!

When choosing a location for your meeting you want to be sure that a private area is available to you. This doesn't have to be a hotel although that is where you will ultimately want to get too. A good restaurant with a private room or one of your team members home or business can work well.

I recently received an email from a member who stated that the presentation they went to in their particular town was not very exciting. They complained about the presentation they had gone to and were wishing for a new presenter. That email inspired what I am about to share with you now.

In a successful meeting 60% of the excitement comes from the membership or leadership team. The first thing you must do is look for and appoint a core group of leaders who will work together to accomplish this collective goal. Often times in the beginning that starts with just one person, you! You can help the other members create that energy, as it is what energizes the speaker. We use a lot of different presenters on our team. The key is we depend less on the presenter and more on the membership or leaders. Here are a few items that the members or leaders have to do to make the presentation successful.

Have upbeat music playing before anyone gets there. Think about any live play or movie you have ever seen. In every case the music in the background sets the tone. The same is true for your meeting. If upbeat music is not playing and setting the tone when people walk in you have already created an uphill battle for the presenter.


Never let the presenter do any set up. Presenters should be treated like
gold. This is very important. Someday you will walk into the meeting with a real player. When that person sees the presenter setting up they may ask who is that? If you tell them that's our presenter and one of the top money earners in our area your guest, if he or she is real player will already be turned off because they'll ask themselves, why would I want to shoot for that? Never, absolutely never allow the presenter to set up. By doing so you just psychologically undermined your guest. Got it? Great, lets move on.

Have your leaders or members meeting and greeting the guests as they arrive bringing them up front. These are your warm and fuzzy extroverted people who know how to make someone feel welcome with a compliment about their shoes, or a joke, or a super friendly smile. Your guest is little nervous when they arrive and tend to want to sit in the back or near the door. It is vital that they are made comfortable and walked up front perhaps being offered a glass of water once seated.

Members should not be presenting or explaining. They should be helping move people up front, make them comfortable, and introducing them to other upbeat members and most important the Presenter. Members must focus on building up the presenter to the guest, not the business, that's the presenter's job!

The Presenter should be walking the room to meet and greet. They have only seconds or minutes with each guest in order to get them to feel as thought they like and trust your presenter. Don't let presenter do anything else but meet and greet. Shield them from being caught up in techi type questions. Leaders should be looking for this and when they hear a techy question being asked they should attack like a piranha taking the other member aside, explain that tonight is to meet and greet guests for a presentation and provide them one of the listed jobs that need done. Usually these folks that ask difficult and distracting questions just prior to a presentation really want to participate in a positive manner but they just don't know how yet, so explain it to them and you've just found yourself another meter/greeter!

You'll need someone registering people as they come in providing color coded name tags. One color for members and another for guests. This will help the presenter in identifying who is who. The registration person is also responsible for providing guests the income disclosure statement as they come in.

Have someone handling the music volume up and down. You can buy a great set of speakers for your laptop with a sub woofer and the whole shebang for under a hundred bucks at most office stores. This leader is in charge of raising and dropping the music every time another member walks away from or goes to the front of the room for example the introduction.

One leader should provide a short but explosive introduction for the
speaker. It is important that the introducer edifies the speaker in a big
way but the travel story is not part of the intro. Only promote the speaker. Do not mention anything about WorldVentures, just build up the presenter. This introduction will make or break the presentation. The Music goes back up as the introducer walks away and presenter takes the front of the room with a hand shake or even better a hug. After all, the introducer just said a bunch of really super nice things about you; he or she deserves a hug!

Membership then applauds and cheers enthusiastically. All cellular phones, black berries, and laptops are off and out of site. No members are standing in the back acting like their too cool and absolutely no one is to speak or get up and go to the bathroom during the presentation. This can throw off even the best presenter.

All of the members and guests should be in seats furthest to the front. As a member you want to be sitting on front edge of your chair as though you are hanging on every word of the presenter and smiling at the presenter like you are in love. With each comment you nod your head acknowledging what the presenter has said and encouraging the presenter that his or her points are being well received. All of these things are contagious and the guests will follow suite if the group is following along.


All leader/members must be laughing at every joke even if you've heard that joke 100 times from this presenter. The presentation is for the guests not you! When the presenter says, "does that get you your money back?" perhaps pointing to a screen in the dream trips presentation the members responds with a resounding "YES!" Again, it's contagious and you'll have the guests doing the same. Besides, its fun!

As the leaders or membership creates this vibe the presenter gets elevated
and their energy level rises. If I explained all of this to you and did a presentation right now, even though I know I just told you to do it, I promise the effect on myself or any other presenter is amazing. We begin to believe our jokes are funnier and that we are just really on and our confidence and energy level just goes up 20 notches. The energy level of the room causes the guest to then get excited too.

One thing is for sure, if the membership does not create this vibe the energy and confidence is sucked out of the presenter, any presenter. I have seen it happen both ways with the same presenter. The difference is the membership.

After the presentation is done the presenter should ask if anyone has a
travel or business story. The leaders & presenter should have pre arranged and prepared a rapid fire SERIES OF 30 SECOND testimonials. The excitement can be harmed if any of these are too long. Remember, short and powerful testimonials that include the dream, the struggle, and the prize. Do not present during your testimonial!

An effective way of closing from the front of room is always helpful. One way of doing this is when the presenter or one of the leaders announces that a vacation package valued at $1,000 is going to be given away to one of the guests. Several members should have raffle tickets and applications in hand. The speaker announces the giveaway to the crowd and asks all of the guests to raise their hand so that they can be given a raffle ticket. Give each guest a raffle ticket and an application. Remember, they get a raffle ticket and an application, not just a raffle ticket. Ask the guest to bring their application to the front of the room now in order to receive the two additional raffle tickets for the vacation valued at $1,000. Ask the guest to bring their application to the front of the room now in order to receive the two additional raffle tickets for the vacation valued at $1,000.00 That is a great close if the leadership does a good job of elevating the room. This may take a few tries to do really well, but don't worry, it will be well received as you stumble thru it the first time.

As you can see very little has to do with the presenter. If these items are performed well by the membership you can create a variety of effective presenters. If they are not followed, you can destroy the confidence of the one person who had the guts to go to the front of the room. Even a pretty average presenter will do well and the guests will sign if you adhere to the suggestions. Obviously some are more exciting speakers than others, however, we know that the memberships meeting etiquette and the testimonials are what really make it happen.

Meetings need you and you need the meetings. They not only get you back in the groove and re excited but they provide the relationships and the glue that your team will need if it is going to grow. Participate in your local meetings now and help to make them successful. Make sure they get posted on our team site and in the back office. Someday you are going to meet a real player and bring them along. If you did your part to develop a successful meeting it will be there when you arrive and your player will run for you. If not, he or she may walk. You need a great meeting that you can count on to bring your next potential prospect to. Help create that environment now before that time comes!

In closing I want to remind you to never stray from the basics. The coffee shops, lunches, conference calls, and house parties should be used on a daily basis to point to the meetings, the meetings to point to the super Saturdays, the super Saturdays to the acceleration trainings. There is an undisputable direct correlation between this system and the fastest growing teams in World ventures.

Finally, meetings are where you multiply. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE MEETING! Waiting for the meeting is the best way to go slow! Do the basics all day every day and add your people and work with them to get their two, then six etc. The meetings are where you multiply! It is worth repeating, waiting for the meeting is the best way to go slow!

After the meeting allow 10 minutes for signing people up. Your fast start training should be brief and include teaching and actually practicing the 4 step invite posted in training tools. Listen to GETTING STARTED RIGHT in the link section for more info on this topic.

Finally, see as many presentations as you can as part of your training to become a presenter incorporating all the things you hear as part of developing your own style.

There is a lot more on this topic in your back office virtual trainer too!

10 Rules of Life

Rule One - You will receive a body. Whether you love it or hate it, it's yours for life, so accept it. What counts is what's inside.

Rule Two - You will be presented with lessons. Life is a constant learning experience, which every day provides opportunities for you to learn more. These lessons specific to you, and learning them 'is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life'.

Rule Three - There are no mistakes, only lessons. Your development towards wisdom is a process of experimentation, trial and error, so it's inevitable things will not always go to plan or turn out how you'd want. Compassion is the remedy for harsh judgement - of ourselves and others. Forgiveness is not only divine - it's also 'the act of erasing an emotional debt'. Behaving ethically, with integrity, and with humour - especially the ability to laugh at yourself and your own mishaps - are central to the perspective that 'mistakes' are simply lessons we must learn.

Rule Four - The lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons repeat until learned. What manifest as problems and challenges, irritations and frustrations are more lessons - they will repeat until you see them as such and learn from them. Your own awareness and your ability to change are requisites of executing this rule. Also fundamental is the acceptance that you are not a victim of fate or circumstance - 'causality' must be acknowledged; that is to say: things happen to you because of how you are and what you do. To blame anyone or anything else for your misfortunes is an escape and a denial; you yourself are responsible for you, and what happens to you. Patience is required - change doesn't happen overnight, so give change time to happen.

Rule Five - Learning does not end. While you are alive there are always lessons to be learned. Surrender to the 'rhythm of life', don't struggle against it. Commit to the process of constant learning and change - be humble enough to always acknowledge your own weaknesses, and be flexible enough to adapt from what you may be accustomed to, because rigidity will deny you the freedom of new possibilities.

Rule Six - "There" is no better than "here". The other side of the hill may be greener than your own, but being there is not the key to endless happiness. Be grateful for and enjoy what you have, and where you are on your journey. Appreciate the abundance of what's good in your life, rather than measure and amass things that do not actually lead to happiness. Living in the present helps you attain peace.

Rule Seven - Others are only mirrors of you. You love or hate something about another person according to what love or hate about yourself. Be tolerant; accept others as they are, and strive for clarity of self-awareness; strive to truly understand and have an objective perception of your own self, your thoughts and feelings. Negative experiences are opportunities to heal the wounds that you carry. Support others, and by doing so you support yourself. Where you are unable to support others it is a sign that you are not adequately attending to your own needs.

Rule Eight - What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. Take responsibility for yourself. Learn to let go when you cannot change things. Don't get angry about things - bitter memories clutter your mind. Courage resides in all of us - use it when you need to do what's right for you. We all possess a strong natural power and adventurous spirit, which you should draw on to embrace what lies ahead.

Rule Nine - Your answers lie inside of you. Trust your instincts and your innermost feelings, whether you hear them as a little voice or a flash of inspiration. Listen to feelings as well as sounds. Look, listen, and trust. Draw on your natural inspiration.

Rule Ten - You will forget all this at birth. We are all born with all of these capabilities - our early experiences lead us into a physical world, away from our spiritual selves, so that we become doubtful, cynical and lacking belief and confidence. The ten Rules are not commandments, they are universal truths that apply to us all. When you lose your way, call upon them. Have faith in the strength of your spirit. Aspire to be wise - wisdom the ultimate path of your life, and it knows no limits other than those you impose on yourself.

Lower your cost of gas to 1.00 a gallon!!!

Right now more than ever the price is gas is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Right now this is what everyone is talking about and what is coming up in more conversations than anything else.
BUT…did you know that as a WORLDVENTURES Home Based Business Owner your gas ‘should’ be only costing you $1 per gallon? Now before you start thinking…“Man, that Mike and Wayne are amazing, what oil company did they cut a deal with?” - let me say that no matter what home-based business you’re in you can make these gas prices work for you and EXPLODE your business like never before because all gimmicks aside, this is real, your gas only has to cost you $1 per gallon!
Here’s how it works:
1) The IRS provides a .52 cent tax write off for every mile you drive that is legitimately
related to business.
2) People who do not own a business CANNOT qualify for this tax write off.
3) Everywhere you go, whether its work, church, the kid’s soccer game, or just going to the store can be a legitimate mileage tax write off if you insert business into the equation.
This is EASY to do! It can be done by leaving WORLDVENTURES business cards on peoples windshields, handing people WORLDVENTURES business cards (or Success From Home Magazines), or of course doing a presentation.
Note: You must record your business mileage in case you ever get audited and this is
where it typically becomes a sticking point with most people as they do not want to take
the time, can’t take the time or forget. If that’s you here’s what you need to do immediately: Go to http://www.Xpenser.com (this is a FREE service) and sign up. Now you can simply call a phone number before, during or even after you’ve driven somewhere (that was business related) and leave a voice message such “Soccer game handed out 3 business cards – 14 miles” and hang up. This FREE service will convert your message to text and log our it in an online mileage log for you.
4) So here’s the $1 per gallon formula – (working with round numbers)
• $4.00 Per Gallon
• 20 Miles Per Gallon
• .50 Cents Per Mile IRS Deduction
• 30% Tax Bracket
Those of you with math brains can do the calculation but the basics are – a 20 miles per
gallon vehicle at $4 per gallon cost .20 cents per mile to drive. .50 cents per mile IRS deduction x 30% tax bracket is .15 cents in real money you pocket at the end of the year and when you deduct .15 cents from .20 cents your at .05 cents per mile or $1 per gallon! These are real dollars/savings and real cash in your pocket at the end of the year.
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You might be saying “Wow, this sounds great – I see it and I’m excited that my WORLDVENTURES business is going to help me save $3 per gallon on my fuel cost – I’m going to do business wherever I go and log my miles”.
PLEASE whatever you do - don’t miss the bigger picture! The big picture here is that these gas prices could be the best thing that has ever happened for those in WORLDVENTURES. In fact, when you grab hold of what I am about to share you’re going to pray that gas goes to $10 per gallon – think about it.
If you do what we’re talking about - what is going to happen in your WORLDVENTURES business? If you’re handing out and extra 3 to 5 business cards per day and/or collecting 3 to 5 new email addresses for your ATM - You’re going to make some MONEY!! BUT…it gets even better – you can now call anyone you want and set an appointment to look at WORLDVENTURES because now you have the perfect appointment getting script!
DON’T MISS THIS -
Everywhere I go people ask me how to approach people, they ask me how to talk to people about their WORLDVENTURES business, they ask me how to get appointments, they ask me for the secret words and want to know how to approach strangers. Well, in this $1 per gallon solution you now have the silver bullet – the magic words you need to get dozens of appointments to share WORLDVENTURES at will.
Here’s what he saying:
“So what do you think of these gas prices?” (Wait for prospect to answer)
“Ya, know it’s really not affecting us – with this travel business I own, we’re only paying $1 a gallon” (Wait for prospect to wake up from fainting)
“Was wondering if you’d like some information?” (Set the appointment)
That’s it – !
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Now you’re probably saying “What does he say when he sits down with them?” – I’m glad you asked. When he sits down with them he outlines the 4 steps we talked about a few paragraphs ago how the IRS allows .52 cents per mile and how people cannot qualify for it unless they own a business then he tells them “I chose a home-based business to get my gas for $1 per gallon because of the low overhead and the one I settled on was WORLDVENTURES because its travel related and had no inventory and they are a fast growing up and coming large travel agency and travel is fun, etc. You need a home based business or the price of gas is going to eat you alive – let me show you in a little more detail why I recommend WORLDVENTURES”. (Do the presentation) (In Lucas’ area they’ve even started using this at their weekly meeting and the success has been phenomenal.)
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So let recap:
Everywhere you go, everyone you meet you’re going to ask them “If I could show you how to get gas for $1 per gallon would you want more info?” and then your’ going to set the appointment to show them WORLDVENTURES. Now they might think you’re selling some sort of gas additive so you might want to qualify your statement by saying “and I’m not selling any kind of gas additive”.
When you sit down with them (you can do this in the hotel lobby before your group meeting as well) explain to them that the IRS gives .52 cents per mile as tax write off for people who own businesses and there is no gimmick to this – they can legitimately get their cost of gas down to around $1 per gallon if they follow our formula. Tell them that they need a home based business for this reason and you’ve chosen to work with WORLDVENTURES because if you have to own a business – WORLDVENTURES is the best.
This is truly the easiest WORLDVENTURES appointment getting script you will ever find and because people are hurting and need solutions to the financial pain they are feeling. WORLDVENTURES is their solution and now you have an approach that will shock them and get their attention and if done right will get you the appointment everytime.
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If you like paying $3 a gallon more than me then by all means don’t do this – and if you’re not willing to turn your everyday miles into business miles please don’t let me see you sitting in line the next time you see low gas prices somewhere (hmmm…actually that might not be a bad recruiting idea?)
Perhaps you know a few people that might want to save $3 per gallon on their gas?
The stats are showing that the increase prices in energy and food is going to cost the average household an additional $300-$400 per month by this time next year. People need an answer – WORLDVENTURES is that answer – now let’s get out there and give them the answer.

No Vacation Nation

Written by Team FlipFlop
Americans are getting fewer and fewer days off. This lack of paid vacation, say many experts, doesn’t just translate into less time spent at the beach. An unhealthy work-life balance affects not only our health and well-being, but our families and our society as a whole. Here’s what we can do about it - GET INVOLVED WITH WORLDVENTURES! Cool

Family, Vacation, Kids, Travel, Enjoyment, Camping
Last February, after delivering a lecture at the University of Florida, I was dismayed to discover that my flight home from Jacksonville to Seattle was canceled. Not wanting to spend the night in an airport, I found an inexpensive chain motel nearby. At the reception desk, the soft-spoken, middle-aged clerk asked how I was. “Not so good,” I replied. “My flight was just canceled. How are you?”

“Well, I’m not so good either,” she said. “My vacation was just canceled — for the seventh year in a row.”

What’s up with this, I wanted to know. She explained that she’d been working at the hotel for 12 years, and her contract called for two weeks of paid vacation a year. For the first five years, she’d been able to take them. But then the hotel cut staff, and every year since then they’d told her they had no replacement and couldn’t let her go. Instead, they gave her two extra weeks of pay. “I can use the money,” she explained with a sigh. “After all, I’m working as a hotel clerk, and I’m a single mom. But I need the time even more. I’m going nuts, but I can’t quit this job. I’ve got a son who’s starting college next fall and no other options.”

She told me she was Native American and used to spend her two weeks off going to powwows with her friends. It meant a lot to her — the camaraderie, the cultural identity, the fun of dancing. But now she was able to attend only an occasional powwow, for just a day.

She said all this with a certain resignation and considerable inner strength. There were no tears, and her voice didn’t crack. But I suspect she was aching inside. And I wondered just how many other workers voice similar complaints in a country that one report by the Center for Economic Policy Research has called “No-Vacation Nation.”

America the Merciless
Americans get the shortest vacations in the industrial world — when they get them at all. A recent Harris poll found that only 14 percent of Americans were taking the traditional two-week summer vacation in 2007. Another survey completed by Gallup on behalf of The Conference Board, a corporate think tank, found that 40 percent of Americans didn’t take even a single week off as a block in 2006. More and more of us take what vacation days we have one by one, here and there, and use them to catch up on the errands for which our ever-increasing work demands leave little time.

Americans may be materially richer than almost anyone else, but we have the poorest health in the industrial world, despite spending far more per capita on healthcare than any other country. In 1980, we ranked 11th in the world in longevity; now we’re 42nd. We are twice as likely as Europeans to suffer from anxiety and depression. In large part, these deficits are caused by a lack of time. Overwork means we spend less time with friends and family, and less time exercising or eating healthily.

Although American workers are promised an average of about two weeks of vacation a year, according to Expedia.com they give back about three days, on average, to their employers, mostly because they feel they’ll be seen as slackers if they take all their time (and therefore singled out in the next round of layoffs) or because they simply don’t want to return to an inbox filled with emails.

Of those who do take vacations, studies show that at least a third take their work with them, a habit made easier by cell phones, laptops and the Internet. A quarter of American workers receive no paid time off at all, a situation virtually unheard of in the rest of the developed world. All other industrial countries — and 137 nations around the world in all — guarantee, by law, an average of four weeks paid vacation a year. In every European country, workers receive a minimum of four weeks after the first year on the job. The average vacation time is closer to six weeks, and in some countries like Finland and Austria, that’s the minimum.

Americans who talk with Europeans about this difference in vacation allotments often receive a common incredulous response: “Are you Americans crazy or what?”

Lesley McClurg, who is working with me on a PBS documentary about vacations, returned recently from a bicycle trip in Spain. “The Spanish people on the trip didn’t even believe me when I said Americans only get about two weeks off,” McClurg told me. “They thought I was lying.”

Another friend, travel-guru Rick Steves of PBS fame, told me he’s had to cut back the length of his tours because Americans seem to have less and less time off. “When I started, we were doing 22-day trips,” Steves says. “Now our average is 13 days, and a lot of people want one-week tours.”

Vacations, clearly, are not about slacking. Almost everywhere else in the world, people understand that taking time off from work results in improved health, family life, productivity, creativity and personal well-being.

Take a Break — or Be Broken
In his book, Work to Live (Perigree, 2003), Joe Robinson, a former Los Angeles Times outdoor writer who is now a life-balance trainer for corporations and government agencies, provides data from several studies indicating that people who take vacations are less likely to experience heart attacks or other illnesses than those who don’t. “But it only starts to work that way when you take at least a two-week block of time,” says Robinson.

“Men reduce their risk of a heart attack by 30 percent and women by 50,” he adds, citing data from the ongoing Framingham Heart Study and a State University of New York at Oswego study. “There seems to be no positive effect when you just take a day off here and there. It may help you de-stress a little mentally, but it doesn’t reduce your risk of heart failure. You need a block of time to do that.”

A 2006 comparison of chronic illness among people aged 55 and over in the United States and the United Kingdom confirms Robinson’s conclusions. Despite being among the least healthy people in time-rich Europe, older residents of the UK are only about half as likely as their peers in the United States to have chronic diseases associated with age, such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Their longer vacations and shorter working hours seem to be the prime reasons, resulting in less stress than Americans experience, while leaving more time for exercise and especially for socializing with friends and family.

More Than Fond Memories
The importance of strong relationships in promoting health is increasingly recognized as a critical issue in public-health circles. And vacations are some of our biggest opportunities for relationship building. For example, I still remember traveling with my dad on two-week road trips or backpacking adventures when I was a kid. The details remain vibrant after 45 or 50 years.

William Doherty, PhD, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, believes vacations provide powerful bonding opportunities for parents and children. He says the time spent together as a family on vacation often is what adults remember most about their childhood. What Doherty observes was true for me, and I’m sure it will be true for my son as well.

Of course, there are many other life-enriching experiences that come from our getaways. Much of my lifelong concern for the environment, for example, also came from those early family adventures in the natural world.

Research by Leaf Van Boven, PhD, an assistant professor of marketing and behavioral science at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in Ithaca, N.Y., suggests that the kinds of experiences people have while on vacation contribute more than what material possessions contribute to their happiness. His advice: “Instead of ˙ buying that new dress, take a vacation,” he advises.

Indeed, psychologists are finding little correlation between life satisfaction and increases in the Gross National Product that come from an emphasis on producing and consuming. On the other hand, having more time for friends and family consistently improves people’s subjective sense of well-being.

Psychologist Tim Kasser, PhD, of Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., has been researching what he calls “time affluence.” He has compared students’ experiences at points during the semester when they had plenty of time versus times when they felt rushed and overburdened. His findings, while preliminary, show significant correlations between increasing time affluence and life satisfaction, while “time poverty” correlates powerfully with unhappiness and poorer health outcomes.

The Upside for Business
Vacations actually make workers more productive, says Robinson, who has encountered a number of companies, including many small businesses, that have seen profits rise since they initiated three-week vacations for their workers.

That comes as no surprise to Cornell’s Van Boven. He finds that vacations often result in positive work outcomes, especially for people who work primarily with information. “If I take a week’s vacation and have some creative ideas, that’s of real value to my job,” he says.

Despite all this, Van Boven doubts that American businesses are likely to embrace the notion that vacations can be a win-win for workers and employers. “As a society we are a long way from placing high value on extended vacations,” he says. “For one thing, workers are afraid to ask for more time off. No one wants to say they want more vacation. Even if most workers do want more vacation time, they may think other workers and employers don’t, so they keep their wishes to themselves.”

The problem can partly be solved “by making our preferences more well known,” Van Boven adds. And enlightened employers can eliminate their workers’ fear of taking or requesting time. “If you want to invest in your employees’ well-being, you can communicate that everyone ought to take more vacation,” he suggests. “Make your concerns and norms explicit.”

Vacation Legislation
Even though more vacation clearly seems to do good things for all involved parties, Robinson thinks things will change only when the United States has a law mandating paid vacations, like every other industrial country. For several years, he has been seeking to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to add vacation rights to its minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.

Most recently, Robinson and the activist organization I founded, Take Back Your Time (www.timeday.org), have proposed a bill called The Minimum Leave Protection, Family Bonding and Personal Well-Being Act of 2007. The bill, which Robinson drafted, calls for an annual, federally mandated three-week paid vacation for all workers.

The idea of significant amounts of vacation time is hardly a new one for Americans, notes Cindy Aron, a professor of history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and the author of Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States (Oxford University Press, 1999). In 1913, President William Howard Taft suggested that all workers get two to three months off annually to restore themselves. Eleanor Roosevelt also championed vacations and argued that they didn’t need to be expensive to be valuable. She promoted “camping and tramping” (i.e., backpacking) as ways for even poor Americans to enjoy holidays.

The struggle for vacation time comes down to a question of values. What is our economy for, anyway? What is progress for? If what we’re trying to do is improve our quality of life, then it’s time we acknowledged that vacations really do matter. It’s time we devoted a little more of our vaunted productivity to them — even if it means choosing time over stuff.

This shift would be a welcome relief to millions of stressed-out Americans. And when it comes to building a healthier country, there may be no better place to start.

John de Graaf is a documentary filmmaker, coauthor of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (Berrett-Koehler, 2005) and president of Take Back Your Time (www.timeday.org). He is currently working on a documentary about vacations.



No Time for Time Off
Average number of vacation days for American employees: 14
Average number actually taken: 11
Percentage of Americans with no paid vacations: 23
Percentage of Americans who did not take at least a two-week vacation in 2007: 86
Percentage of Americans who took at least a one-week vacation in 2007: 57

(Data courtesy of Expedia.com, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Harris Poll and Gallup/The Conference Board)

A Month of Sundays
Countries that legally guarantee at least 31 paid vacation days (including mandated paid public holidays), according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research:

Austria: 35 days
Portugal: 35 days
Denmark: 34 days
Finland: 34 days
Germany: 34 days
Spain: 34 days
Italy: 33 days
France: 31 days


Challenge the Status Quo
Making adequate vacation time possible for many Americans will require policy change at the national level. Until that happens, here are some helpful ways to persuade your employer to grant you and your coworkers more time off:

Negotiating a new job contract? Consider asking for additional paid vacation time. No go? Suggest that you will trade some pay for extra time off. Request unpaid vacation time, if necessary. Let your employer know that having some time to live your life matters to you and that you are willing to make tradeoffs to gain more time.

Work with your employer to ensure that all employees are cross-trained to help fill in when coworkers are on vacation, as they do in Europe. Ask that vacations be scheduled in advance and that those schedules be honored. If you work for a small business, you might suggest that the entire business shut down for a couple of weeks in summer. Many mom-and-pop restaurants do this without losing customers.

Talk with your employer about why vacations matter and why you’ll be even more productive when you return to work. Refer to studies that indicate employees will be healthier, potentially reducing healthcare costs (the most significant burden on small businesses). Suggest that a good vacation policy will also produce less turnover — another major expense, especially for small businesses.

Share vacation stories with your coworkers and work together with them to ensure that all of you can have adequate vacation time without feeling guilty or fearing negative repercussions from higher-ups.

The Original Article Can Be Found in Experience Magazine and it is a GREAT magazine .

Challenge to Succeed

1. Always do more than you are paid for.
2. Face your fears.
3. Exercise your will power to change your direction
4. Admit your mistakes.
5. Define your goals.
6. Believe in yourself.
7. Ask for wisdom.
8. Conserve your time.
9. Invest your profit.
10. Protect your family.
11. Live with intensity.
12. Find your place.
13. Demand integrity from yourself.
14. Welcome the disciplines and,
15. Fight for what is right!

Inspirational

The Coming Network Marketing Boom!

Eight Reasons Why You Are in For the Ride of Your Life

By Leonard Clements, Foreword By John Milton Fogg

Ride Of Your Life

“Network marketing is exploding all around the world!”
“Fortune 500 companies are going MLM….”
“More millionaires will be made in network marketing than in any other business….”
“Network marketing is reaching critical mass!”
“Network marketing is achieving momentum—now!”
“Network marketing is the wave of the future—you better get in today!”

Are you ready for the “coming MLM boom”? From the sound of all that amazing enthusiasm, you’d better be, or you’ll be missing out, big-time! Or is all of that just the MLM choir singing hopefully and hysterically to itself? Just more of the same old network marketer’s hype and hustle? In my dozen-plus years as an author and editor in network marketing, I’ve heard these rallying cries thousands of times. And I sure would love to believe them—but I don’t…

…or didn’t, anyway. Until now.

Whenever I want the TRUTH about network marketing (in capital letters), I ask Leonard Clements. An acclaimed author and industry analyst, Len founded the highly regarded “watchdog” publication MarketWave. In my opinion (and experience), he is the most honest and knowledgeable network marketing industry expert we have. I ask Len because I know he does his homework. He is both advocate and devil’s advocate; he believes only what he sees in black and white.

Len had an idea for an exposé that would tear apart those excited headlines and hysteric hyperbole—tear ‘em apart with Len’s favorite tool, the facts. He was on a mission to expose these gross exaggerations, distortions and fabrications. Why? Because Len loves this industry and its people, and is convinced that such lies will destroy us—if lies they be.

So Len dove in to set the record straight.

You’ll never guess what happened.

He changed his mind: 180 degrees!

Not only did Len establish the proof of the truth of those “MLM is about to explode!” claims, his research also dug up more and better reasons than ever before to show that network marketers are in fact in for the ride of their lives!

Is this like buying gold at $43 an ounce? Getting in early on those real estate explosions? Buying dot-com and tech stocks in the early 90s?

Listen to Len—and judge for yourself.

— John Milton Fogg

The Coming Boom!

For the first time in history there are solid, logical, verifiable, reasons for you to believe in a forthcoming network marketing boom. Eight reasons, in fact—any one of which could result in a significant expansion of network marketing in the US alone over the next few years. And these eight factors will soon be coming together to create a “perfect storm”—the convergence of powerful economic, demographic and psychological factors all hitting at the exact same time and place.

Finally, you and I can honestly make the claim that there really IS a “network marketing explosion” on the horizon. It absolutely will happen, and here’s why:

The Eight Reasons

#1: The Economy. What’s bad economic news to most people is good news to network marketers. And there’s a lot of “good news” today.

#2: Demographics. Not only is the pool of eligible prospects increasing at unprecedented levels, but that segment of society most ready, willing and able to pursue network marketing is also exploding.

#3: Wall Street. Securities investors look for companies and industries that are about to rise up fast, and they are looking closely at network marketing right now.

#4: Supply and Demand. The greatest inhibitor of our industry’s growth the last few years has been a huge supply-side glut of networking opportunities. That’s already changed.

#5: New Blood. Our entire industry is about to go into momentum for the same reason individual networking companies enter momentum: a massive influx of folks who’ve never been in network marketing before.

#6: Positive Media Exposure. If the mainstream media could only find a way to make money from this typically non-advertising industry, would they have a much greater incentive to promote the positive side? Yes, they would. They’ve found a way.

#7: Federal Regulation. I know it sounds scary; it’s not. In fact, more and better laws will be the #1 legitimizing catalyst to the network marketing explosion.

Last, and certainly not least:

#8: Current Trends The current, positive and powerful growth trends of the network marketing industry itself.

Interesting? Exciting? You bet!

Let’s look at each of these eight solid reasons in detail.

1 The Economy

What’s bad economic news to most people is good news to network marketers. And there’s a lot of “good news” today.

I’ve always believed that, sure, the state of the economy exerts some influence on our business—but not significantly. (I mean, was there ever an economy where people didn’t want more money and free time?) When I began to do some digging to support my contrarian position, I soon learned I was wrong. First clue: one of the strongest growth phases in network marketing history occurred from 1990 to ‘92—coinciding with the last economic recession. And there was so much more.

Comparing the popularity trends of network marketing to unemployment rates, on a semi-decade basis, yields some exciting revelations.

Network marketing was born in the 1930s—perhaps significantly, in the midst of the Great Depression—but it began in earnest in the 1950s. It was far more popular in the second half of the 50’s than the first. Not a single company of consequence launched from 1950 to 1955, yet the following four years saw the birth of industry giants Shaklee, NeoLife, and Amway. In the first half of the decade, unemployment averaged four percent, reaching 2.9 percent in 1953—the second lowest in US history. In the second half of the decade, it averaged 5.3 percent, reaching its highest level since the Great Depression (6.8 percent in 1958).

[Networking Times has an editorial policy of not using networking company names in our coverage. We felt that the historical references in Len’s cover story demanded an exception to this rule—Ed.]

In the first half of the 60’s all types of direct sales continued to flourish. Mary Kay Cosmetics started in 1963; Avon, Fuller Brush and Tupperware all achieved momentum. The industry continued to grow from ’65 to ’69, but not nearly at the same pace. And guess what? The unemployment rate of the first half-decade was significantly higher than that of the second, when 2.5 million unemployed people went back to work.

Network marketing was thriving during the first half of the 1980’s, as unemployment continued to rise. In 1982 unemployment was at its highest level in 40 years (9.7 percent). During the later 80’s, an era of MLM “slump,” unemployment dropped considerably; by decade’s end the number of those out of work was barely half what it was at the decade’s beginning.
What’s bad economic news to most people is good news to network marketers. And there’s a lot of “good news” today.

The 1990’s saw perhaps the clearest distinction between halves of any decade. The first half saw more major company launches and more companies going into momentum than any other time in history. There was also more wealth being created through network marketing from 1990 to 1994 than in any other five-year period.

The second half was not exactly the best of times for network marketing. If there is such a thing as an “MLM recession,” we had one from 1996 through 1999. Why? The very high unemployment rate from 1990 to ’94 dropped sharply during the second half of the decade, hitting a 30-year low at 4.2 percent in 1999.

The only exception to this half-century-long pattern is the 1970’s, but that was an exceptional decade for this industry.

Remember the last half of the 60’s? Industry growth slowed as unemployment dropped to a post-war low. During the first half of the 70’s, network marketing started rocking as unemployment rates jumped. Unfortunately, all that rocking rocked some boats. The result: more than five times as many MLM-related lawsuits from 1970 to 1974 than in all of the 50’s and 60’s combined. 1975 saw a federal action that essentially questioned the legality of network marketing itself.

Fortunately, one company, Amway, had the financial ability to defend itself and the entire multilevel marketing industry. The case lasted until late 1979, when the court ruled in favor of Amway. As a result, there was—for the first time ever—a clear delineation between illegal pyramids and legitimate network marketing companies. A fairly dark cloud hung over the industry for the last half of the 70’s, and there was not much expansion, despite even higher unemployment rates.

The last and arguably greatest network marketing growth phase began in 1990, the same year the US went into our last economic recession.

1980 to ’84 were boom years for network marketing; we experienced recessions in 1980, part of ’81 and most of ’82.

1970 to ’74 were also boom years for our business; the economy was in recession for almost all of 1970 and 1974.

The last half of the 50’s and into the early 60’s were years of great MLM expansion; the country was in recession from ’57 to ’58 and most of 1960.

Most recessions last 12 to 18 months; however, the end of a recession doesn’t necessarily mean the end of a slumping economy or high unemployment. We’ve had eight recessions in the last 50 years; during the 12 months immediately following the “end” of each, unemployment actually rose!

Every severe economic downturn in the last 50 years has been during or immediately preceding every period of substantial network marketing expansion.

Strong evidence. And we’re only on Reason Number One! Let’s talk about an even more powerful justification to believe in a coming network marketing explosion.

2 Demographics

Not only is the pool of eligible prospects increasing at unprecedented levels; that segment of society most ready, willing and able to pursue networking is also exploding.

There were about 76 million babies born between 1946 and 1964, at the time accounting for almost one-third of the entire US population. Since then, it has been glaringly obvious exactly where this giant bubble in the population is at any moment in time, simply by looking at what products are most popular.

When it comes to charting the market size for what most network marketing companies offer, we’re not even half-way up the Baby Boom curve yet! The market for products that will make us look and feel younger is going to continue to expand most dramatically over the next five to 10 years, as the Boomers reach their 50s and 60s.

The Baby Boom is exciting for an altogether different reason, too. Virtually all network marketing companies require distributors to be at least 18 years old. Guess what happened about 25 years after the baby boom? Those 76 million Boomers had about 75 million babies. About 41 million of them will turn 18 over the next seven years. At no other time in history, other than the original Baby Boom itself, have this many people been added to the body of eligible network marketing prospects in this short a period of time.

Of course, the people eligible to join is not as important as the number who actually join. The Direct Selling Association (DSA) conducts an annual survey of salespeople in the industry. (Roughly two-thirds of “direct sellers” are network marketers.) According to their figures, there was a net gain of 400,000 direct sellers from 1997 to ’98; a 600,000 net gain from ’98 to ’99; and a 700,000-distributor gain from ’99 to 2000. Not only is the number of people increasing, but the increase is increasing!

Extend current growth for another 10 years and you end up with 4.7 million additional network marketers. It took network marketing over 50 years to grow to 7.5 million—and we are conservatively projecting an additional 4.7 million in just the next 10 years! (By the way, that also means the average networking organization will be 37 percent larger!)

According to Gallup Polls, Americans first decide to invest in a residual income-producing vehicle, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, or perhaps in a business venture, at the average age of 42. The average age when we invest the most into such devices is 47. Graph the number of 42- to 47-year-olds in the US and you find that starting about 1988, the line begins to point upward at almost a 45º angle as the Boomers started turning 42—and that line continues to rise at a level never before seen in history all the way to the year 2009.

We are barely past the halfway point of that dramatic upward curve!

Does this really benefit us as network marketers? Are 40-somethings more open to network marketing opportunities?

The average American is 36 years old. According to a MarketWave survey of over 6000 network marketers from 1990 to 2000, the average network marketer is 38.6, and that number has consistently risen over the years. An exceptional number of those over 40 do participate in network marketing, and this segment of the population which is most ready, willing and able to invest in a residual income business venture is going to continue to increase dramatically for another seven years!

3 Wall Street

Securities investors look for companies and industries that are about to rise up fast; thousands of analysts are looking closely at network marketing right now.

Professional investors are a pretty savvy group of people. Based on their due diligence, they eventually invest their funds in companies whose growth (and profits) they expect to go up. What do they see when they turn their magnifying glass on network marketing companies?

There are over 20 publicly traded network marketing companies, but the bottom third are so small I’ll focus on the top 12 well-established companies. If you were to chart their stock price over the last five years, starting with December 1996, in almost every case you’d see a line that looks a lot like the path of an airplane—coming in for a landing. With few exceptions, network marketing company stock values flattened at their all-time lows and stayed there for about two to three years.

Clearly, Wall Street was not impressed with network marketing’s growth potential during the last half of the 90’s.

What do they see now?

The benchmark S&P 500 reached its peak in September of 2000; by mid-December 2001, it was down by 23 percent. Over the exact same period our index of the top 12 network marketing companies was up by 7.3 percent! And all of a sudden, in the last 12 months, these network marketing companies are outperforming the overall stock market by over 30 percent. That level of performance really gets investors’ attention!

4 Supply and Demand

The greatest inhibitor of MLM growth the last few years has been a huge supply-side glut of networking opportunities. That’s already changing.

Anyone with even a C in Economics 101 can tell you about “supply and demand”: an industry booms when demand dramatically increases. Tremendous increase in supply results in a down-turn. Sure enough, during the massive proliferation of network marketing companies in the latter 90’s, we had a deep industry slump.

Based on a survey of network marketing company software suppliers, over 4900 network marketing companies opened from 1994 to 1997; there is anecdotal evidence to show that there were about 3600 start-ups in 1998 and 1999 alone. Even more troubling, perhaps half of all MLM start-ups don’t go to the major software houses, but rather hire in-house programmers—so the actual number of start-ups could have been double these figures.

Bottom line: as many as 13,000 network marketing companies may have launched from 1994 through 1999; there were at least 8000. But we had a net gain of only about 600 companies—from 900 to 1500. (Have you ever heard the claim that 95 percent of all network marketing companies fail in their first two years? I thought that was a scare tactic spread by older companies, but these surveys say it’s true.)
Since the beginning of 2000 the number of start-up companies has declined significantly. This, along with the increasing number of company mergers and acquisitions, will only make the industry stronger.

During this same time period, the number of network marketers in the US increased from about 5 million to 7.5 million. The number of distributors went up about 50 percent—but the number of companies increased by three times that much! This means that the average networking downline actually shrunk by 40 percent. No doubt about it: in the last half of the 90’s, the supply of MLM opportunities far exceeded demand.

What’s the good news? First, since the beginning of 2000 the number of start-up companies has declined significantly. This, along with the increasing number of company mergers and acquisitions, will only make the industry stronger. When more and more companies were entering the market, the available distributor base was spread thinner and thinner, resulting in smaller downline organizations, higher attrition, and generally far fewer success stories. But think about this: if there were just as many distributors but half as many companies, the average downline would be twice as big!

I’m not suggesting the number of companies will contract to half, but any reduction in supply will certainly help increase demand, which will then expand the number of those men and women getting into profit and reaching their income goals. The more success stories we have, the more motivation and less resistance we have to building our organizations even larger—and the cycle continues upward, rather than down or flat as it has in the past.

5 New Blood

Our entire industry is about to go into momentum for the same reason individual network marketing companies enter momentum: a massive influx of folks who’ve never been in network marketing before.

Almost every network marketing company today would like to think they are about to “go into momentum.” Momentum, as it applies to network marketing, is the stage in a company’s growth cycle where sales volume begins to increase geometrically and the company doubles, triples, and perhaps even quadruples in size in a very short period of time. Most momentum phases last about six to 24 months.

Much like buying a stock right before it goes up in price, most networkers want to attach themselves to a company right before it explodes. Thus, practically every distributor will try to make a case that their company is “about to go into momentum.”

How do they know?

They don’t. No one knows exactly when the momentum phase will kick in, but much like stock picking, we can look for clues—historical trends and patterns to help us make better guesses.

An analysis of all the successful major network marketing companies shows that every momentum phase in MLM corporate history was facilitated by massive numbers of people moving into the opportunity—either as reps or customers—who had never been involved in network marketing before. Momentum is never the result of people moving from one company to another; it is caused only by a massive injection of new blood.

Where will this new blood come from? Today in the US, a little over seven million people participate in network marketing—which means that about 270 million don’t! How are we going to reach those massive numbers of people we’ve never been able to reach in the past? The Internet.
Our entire industry is about to go into momentum for the same reason individual network marketing companies enter momentum: a massive influx of folks who’ve never been in network marketing before.

The Internet began to come into its own around 1996; by 1998 the number of people on the Net had almost tripled. Today over 60 percent of adults are online; experts predict that virtually all Americans will be using the Internet in some capacity by the year 2010.

The network marketing industry cut its Internet teeth painfully from about 1997 to early 2000. As with so many other industries, there were a lot of network marketing dot-com failures. Some were ugly; legal abuses resulted in several well-publicized closures.

For the most part, networkers were a little over-zealous with this amazing new technology, in a magical-mystical attempt to have it build our networks for us. The result was big recruiting numbers, but very little sales volume and overwhelming attrition.

As the smoke clears, what is emerging is what the responsible, visionary companies knew all along: the awesome power of the Internet lies not in having it do all the work for us, but in having it help us present our products and opportunities faster, less expensively, and to far, far greater numbers of people.

New people—people who’ve never been exposed to network marketing before.

6 Positive Media Exposure

If the mainstream media were to find a way to make money from this typically non-advertising industry, would they have a much greater incentive to promote the positive side? Yes, they would. They’ve found a way.

Radio, television, magazines and newspapers all exist primarily on advertising dollars. But network marketing doesn’t advertise in the mainstream media. (After all, we’re the “word of mouth” business.) Not only has the media had no financial incentive to promote network marketing, it actually has a financial incentive not to.

Now that, too, is changing. The mainstream media is discovering how to cash in on network marketing.

The first big step in this direction was back in 1994, when Success magazine published a lengthy and extremely positive cover story about our industry and its people. The people of this credibility-starved industry sold out the entire run of that issue; Success broke their all-time single-issue sales record by almost double! The result was a lot more positive portrayals of network marketing companies in future issues. But even this isn’t where the greatest promise lies in terms of positive media exposure.

Picture this: instead of paying for an advertisement, what if a network marketer worked out an arrangement where he sponsored the publication itself, got the ad for free and the resulting sales volume and downline commissions that were generated from the ad went to the magazine? They could potentially make far more income from overrides than from ad fees, even long after the ads stop running. It’s more than just a win-win scenario—we get the positive press and the media gets even more money than if they charged us for the ads. But would it work?

It’s already working. Slowly, quietly, such a movement is taking place. More than 100 radio stations in the US are currently attempting such a plan; some are succeeding admirably. Virtually the entire network marketing industry is oblivious to the fact that this is happening, but it’s simply a matter of time until the media grapevine picks up on this phenomenal new ad revenue resource.

Let’s not overlook the public image boost we’re getting from the various athletes, celebrities, political figures and medical authorities whom network marketing is attracting like never before. Not all are paid endorsers. Many have careers based on their reputation and positive image and they’ve openly and willingly attached their good names to network marketing. What’s more, well-respected mainstream authors and keynote speakers, such as Richard Poe, Paul Zane Pilzer, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy and Robert Kiyosaki, are now extolling the virtues of network marketing. This kind of powerful, third-party validation has never happened before. It’s just starting, and it’s growing fast!

7 Federal Regulation

I know it sounds scary; it’s not. In fact, more and better laws will be the principal legitimizing catalyst of the network marketing explosion.

Recall that in the first half of each decade, network marketing historically outperforms the second half. That’s been the case for the last 40 years, and there were more than purely economic reasons for this. The regulatory climate has also effected the performance of the industry, the most obvious example being the famous slew of federal actions back in the 70’s.

Legal attacks by state or federal authorities on high-profile network marketing companies do occur from time to time. (Curiously, they seem to peak in pre-election years—surely just a coincidence.) Most of those larger companies, by the way, not only survive the attack but also come to be considered models of legality whose policies and enforcement systems are emulated by younger companies.

There have been many instances of true pyramid schemes being shut down. Typically the action is described as, “this network marketing company was shut down because it was an illegal pyramid scheme.” It drives me nuts when I hear someone say that. It’s like saying, “This really honest man was exposed as a liar.” Well, then he wasn’t an honest man, was he? Either you’re an illegal pyramid scheme, or you’re a network marketing company. You can’t be both.

I want to make this very clear: Illegal pyramid schemes often try to disguise themselves as network marketing companies, because they want to appear legal. Unfortunately, when the press reports on illegal pyramid schemes, we all suffer guilt by association, and that does have an effect on our ability to retain good people and acquire new ones, at least temporarily.

No one knows exactly when; it could be next month, it could be next year. It could be any time in the first half of this decade. All I know for sure is this: if you get involved now and stay involved, you will be there when it happens.

The good news is that in the last few years, we’ve seen no significant legal attacks on network marketing companies, and several closures of illegal schemes. Not only does this make the industry stronger due to a smaller, higher quality pool of legal opportunities, but it also increases our ability to build businesses because we don’t have the negative public stigma creating greater resistance toward the industry and its opportunities. It also demonstrates a greater ability among regulators to delineate between pyramids and legitimate network marketing programs. This is especially encouraging and comforting to those networkers who’ve built substantial incomes in “high profile” opportunities, or those who intend to.

Once again, I’ve saved the best news for last: There is active, professional lobbying going on right now by the Direct Selling Association (DSA) and others to enact legislation that will create federal regulation of network marketing.

Right now, operating a network marketing company in the United States is something like trying to do business in 50 different countries. Each state has its own set of laws pertaining to business opportunities, some specifically about network or multilevel marketing, and all have statutes pertaining to pyramid schemes. For the most part, each state’s definition of an illegal pyramid is consistent with the other 49—but the interpretation and application of those laws has been somewhat haphazard and arbitrary over the years.

It’s true that there was a significant legal precedent created by the federal court’s decision in the Amway case in 1979, but still, enforcement actions have been inconsistent, not only between state and federal precedent, but from state to state—sometimes even from case to case within the same state.

(Many of these cases involve judicial opinions as to whether a distributor’s personally consumed products should be recognized as legally commissionable sales. This is the focus of the federal legislation currently being proposed; several states, including Texas and California, have already recognized such volume as bona fide.)

Not only will unified federal regulation create a clear, consistent path for all network marketing companies and state regulators to follow, but also, much like the federal regulation of franchising back in the 60’s, it eventually will require true and full disclosure. If this does come to pass, and many believe it will, it will absolutely be a good thing—very good. Not only will it tremendously strengthen the industry by weeding out the bad apples; it will also cause the massive turnover rate among start-up companies to drop to a fraction of the current level. They won’t start up in the first place—and the ones that do launch will have to be serious players with solid backing. More distributors will be involved in fewer companies, and those businesses will be only the highest quality opportunities. Federal regulation will also greatly increase the respect and credibility of our industry. This will create a tremendous boost to all established US-based network marketing companies.

Some people are apprehensive about the prospect of federal regulation. They fear regulators may throw their entrepreneurial baby out with the legal bath-water. Not a chance. Not only are there over 1500 network marketing companies in this country, employing tens of thousands of taxpayers and generating billions in sales and corporate tax revenue, there are also about five million network marketers who are also registered voters. Not a huge percentage, perhaps, but as the 2000 Presidential election clearly demonstrated, it’s enough to make a huge difference in who has the political power in this country.

I’ve heard the argument made that back in 1963, Congress came within 11 votes of outlawing franchising. Not only did they not do so, but the post-regulatory era of franchising, in fact, created an industry that now moves over one-third of all the goods and services in this country! Federal regulation was the catalyst to the biggest boom in entrepreneurial history.

Not only do I not fear the concept of federal regulation, I find the vision of this new era of network marketing to be absolutely exhilarating!

8 Current Growth Trends

The top 12 publicly traded network marketing companies provide the most reliable information, and they make up the majority of the largest, most well-established companies; so I’ll again direct my analysis towards them. (An informal survey of un-audited data provided by private network marketing companies also reinforced the following results.)

From 1990 to 1995, annual industry sales growth averaged about 16 percent, and some years was as high as 30 percent. From 1996 to 2000, average annual sales growth of these public companies—based on US revenue only—was only 8.7 percent, with a low of just over 6 percent from 1999 to 2000. The entire direct selling industry’s growth rate dropped to a 10-year low of 4.5. It seemed industry growth was about to come to a grinding halt.

Instead, the growth rate of these companies from 2000 to 2001 was 14.6 percent—more than double the previous year’s rate! The slowing trend of the latter 90’s has unquestionably reversed. This is by far the strongest signal of coming momentum: not just an increase in growth, but an increase in the rate of increase.

One year of doubling growth rates certainly does not guarantee a boom. However, one thing is certain: every company momentum phase throughout network marketing history began with that first exciting period of doubling growth rates. What are the chances that the same phenomenon holds true for the entire industry?

There you have it, folks: not one, not two, but eight solid, powerful indicators of a forthcoming network marketing explosion.

No one knows exactly when; it could be next month, it could be next year. It could be any time in the first half of this decade. All I know for sure is this: if you get involved now and stay involved, you will be there when it happens. So hop on, strap yourself in, and get ready for the ride of your life. It’s gonna be a blast!

Insurmountable Opportunities

The challenge in network marketing has never been a shortage of prospects. The challenge has always been the fact that everyone on planet earth wants to achieve big money and free time, and distributors are forced to make choices in an environment of insurmountable opportunities.

Simply put, there are too many prospects and too little time. In fact, it’s so daunting that many people become overwhelmed and begin engaging in activities that are totally unproductive so that they can eventually defend their failure by pretending that they just didn’t have a good upline or no one taught them how to succeed.

Others blame their companies, products or unsupportive families. Some decide to become full-time trainers (teaching others what they were themselves unable to pull off), while others form mastermind groups for the purpose of supporting each other in a comfortable, non-threatening environment in which everyone remains stuck in the "getting started" phase.

Why face rejection from prospects when we can get hugs from associates?

The problem with network marketing has always been the fact that it truly is too good to be true. Every non-networker is a prospect. So is every networker, for that matter.

Anyone can afford to buy a business kit. Nobody needs overhead. Nobody needs business experience or a college degree. The only thing everybody needs to figure out real quickly is an exit strategy in order to protect their self-esteem.

Nobody is embarrassed to admit that they aren’t a surgeon because it’s easy to claim lack of tuition, problems in college level chemistry, a low SAT score or the need to go to work to support a family instead of pursuing medical school.

But how do we justify failure in network marketing when our companies have great technology, unlimited income potential and no barriers to success?

One of the easiest ways to defend mediocrity or failure in networking is to pretend that it’s hard to find prospects. In other words, some people reverse the truth: they pretend that the following strategies—each of which allowed some people to earn millions—simply don’t exist:

* the athletic event
* the employment agency
* the data specific list
* the local expert
* the ATM drop
* the shopping mall kiosk
* the button
* the T-shirt
* the ski slope handout
* the fate encounter
* the graduation list
* the volunteer
* the limo driver
* the bumper sticker
* the billboard
* the media appearance
* the Toastmaster membership

The truth is: everyone needs your products, services and business opportunity. The only real cause of failure is amateur behavior. By that I mean engaging in activities for which no one is compensated. Professionals get paid. Amateurs don’t.

Occasionally it just makes sense to ask ourselves two questions:

1. What does my network marketing company pay me to do?
2. Is it intelligent to participate in activities for which I am not being compensated?

I’ve been in this profession for over twenty years and I still can’t believe my good fortune for having discovered it.

I have no bureaucrats bossing me around. If I want to earn $1,000 today, nobody can stop me. I can give myself a raise whenever I want to or take the day off and go fishing.

I know that wherever I go, anywhere in the world, everyone I see is a prospect because everyone wants more money and free time. I also know that it’s all up to Mark Yarnell.

Nobody is ever going to hold a gun to my head and force me to recruit and retail. But there will be a thousand diversions every day that can throw me off track if I do not remain focused on those activities for which I am compensated.

As professional networkers, we are either plagued with insurmountable opportunities or we’re in the toughest business in the free market economy. Either way, it’s all up to us.

Insurmountable Opportunities

The challenge in network marketing has never been a shortage of prospects. The challenge has always been the fact that everyone on planet earth wants to achieve big money and free time, and distributors are forced to make choices in an environment of insurmountable opportunities.

Simply put, there are too many prospects and too little time. In fact, it’s so daunting that many people become overwhelmed and begin engaging in activities that are totally unproductive so that they can eventually defend their failure by pretending that they just didn’t have a good upline or no one taught them how to succeed.

Others blame their companies, products or unsupportive families. Some decide to become full-time trainers (teaching others what they were themselves unable to pull off), while others form mastermind groups for the purpose of supporting each other in a comfortable, non-threatening environment in which everyone remains stuck in the "getting started" phase.

Why face rejection from prospects when we can get hugs from associates?

The problem with network marketing has always been the fact that it truly is too good to be true. Every non-networker is a prospect. So is every networker, for that matter.

Anyone can afford to buy a business kit. Nobody needs overhead. Nobody needs business experience or a college degree. The only thing everybody needs to figure out real quickly is an exit strategy in order to protect their self-esteem.

Nobody is embarrassed to admit that they aren’t a surgeon because it’s easy to claim lack of tuition, problems in college level chemistry, a low SAT score or the need to go to work to support a family instead of pursuing medical school.

But how do we justify failure in network marketing when our companies have great technology, unlimited income potential and no barriers to success?

One of the easiest ways to defend mediocrity or failure in networking is to pretend that it’s hard to find prospects. In other words, some people reverse the truth: they pretend that the following strategies—each of which allowed some people to earn millions—simply don’t exist:

* the athletic event
* the employment agency
* the data specific list
* the local expert
* the ATM drop
* the shopping mall kiosk
* the button
* the T-shirt
* the ski slope handout
* the fate encounter
* the graduation list
* the volunteer
* the limo driver
* the bumper sticker
* the billboard
* the media appearance
* the Toastmaster membership

The truth is: everyone needs your products, services and business opportunity. The only real cause of failure is amateur behavior. By that I mean engaging in activities for which no one is compensated. Professionals get paid. Amateurs don’t.

Occasionally it just makes sense to ask ourselves two questions:

1. What does my network marketing company pay me to do?
2. Is it intelligent to participate in activities for which I am not being compensated?

I’ve been in this profession for over twenty years and I still can’t believe my good fortune for having discovered it.

I have no bureaucrats bossing me around. If I want to earn $1,000 today, nobody can stop me. I can give myself a raise whenever I want to or take the day off and go fishing.

I know that wherever I go, anywhere in the world, everyone I see is a prospect because everyone wants more money and free time. I also know that it’s all up to Mark Yarnell.

Nobody is ever going to hold a gun to my head and force me to recruit and retail. But there will be a thousand diversions every day that can throw me off track if I do not remain focused on those activities for which I am compensated.

As professional networkers, we are either plagued with insurmountable opportunities or we’re in the toughest business in the free market economy. Either way, it’s all up to us.

Pablo and Bruno

9 steps for business success!

1. Very often people's objections are only excuses to hide their fears or insecurities. Keep this in mind when you get objections from people. Often it's not you or your business they are rejecting, but it's their lack of self-confidence preventing them from moving forward.

2. Persist with those prospects that you know can really do this big time. You don't want to put time into the wrong prospects, but when you have that feeling in your gut that there's someone who could "knock this thing dead", you want to persist with them. Often your biggest producers will not join with one phone call or one presentation or invitation.

3. Multiple exposures. My sponsor kept having me listen to more conference calls, see different trainings, etc. Realize that it often takes multiple exposures to get your prospect to a decision point. Use every tool you have available in your business to do this. Today you have Web sites, emails and autoresponders, live conference calls, three-way calls with your upline or others in your business who are having success, recorded calls, direct mail or postcards, calling them on the phone, and of course live group, one-on-one presentations and home parties. I have built my business using every one of those methods and they all work. But the key is multiple exposures. Many people need to see and hear the information more than just one time.

4. Facts Tell, Stories Sell. Stories are critical to your success. Stories are the only thing that get people over the psychological process of: is this simple, does it work and can I do it? Facts do not get this job done. Look at the way you do your presentations. Are you boring people with the facts? Stories are what motivate people to buy your product. It's what motivates people to reorder. It's what motivates them to join as a rep or distributor of your company. It's what motivates them to go to work and stories are what motivate your people to keep trying when they get discouraged and feel like quitting.

5. Find someone who is doing well and copy them. If you want to succeed, you have to learn from successful people. Find someone who is having success in your upline or company and do what they do. If you don't have someone you can work with directly and learn from, then find a trainer you can learn from and copy what they teach or what their system is on how they achieved their success. Copy someone successful first… then become an "original" later.

6. Attend training Seminars. They are worth every single penny. How much does a doctor, attorney or engineer invest in their education? And how long does it take before they see the rewards or pay off that debt? Be willing to invest in your education for this industry, it will be only a fraction of what most spend on a college education, but the rewards are much greater.

7. Apply what you learn. Go to WORK. All out massive action equals massive results! When I came back from attending my first seminar, there were many things that changed. But one of them was I went to work and started talking to massive amounts of prospects each and every day. Keep up that activity level and you'll start to build momentum. Don't wait until you have it all perfect, start now where you are and get into all out massive action. You will learn and "perfect" your system through practice on live bodies!

8. Get mad about your current situation. Get uncomfortable and make a commitment to change today. No matter what your life looks like, or what you're circumstances are, you are in control and you have the ability with God's help to turn your situation around and reach your goals. But you have to get to the point where you will no longer accept your excuses. Remember, an excuse is a well-planned lie. And when you "buy" your excuse, the only one you're hurting is you. You have to get to the point like I did when I was living out of my car, broke, depressed, and all alone; that "enough is enough!"

9. Never give up, never give in, and never quit! No matter how bad the circumstances, no matter how bad the tragedy, no matter how huge the problems. Never ever give up. After being homeless I became a millionaire in just a couple of years. You never know when your life is going to explode and change forever!

The Millionaire Mindset

A million-dollar mindset person sees the possibilities.
An average person focuses on reasons why it isn't possible.

A million-dollar mindset person makes it happen.
An average person makes excuses why they didn't or couldn't make it happen.

A million-dollar mindset person sees beyond an obstacle or roadblock.
An average person only sees the obstacle or roadblock.

A million-dollar mindset person brings out the best in others.
An average person looks for faults in others.

A million-dollar mindset person doesn't have a work day.
An average person can't wait until their work day is over.

A million-dollar mindset person learns from their mistakes.
An average person gets lacks the discipline to learn from their mistakes.

A million-dollar mindset person lives in the present with a focus on the long-term future.
An average person lives in the past with a focus on their current situation.

A million-dollar mindset person pays themselves before they pay anything else.
An average person pays the bills and never saves anything for themselves.

A million-dollar mindset person thrives on playing the game.
An average person sits on the sidelines and watches others win the game.

A million-dollar mindset person will do anything it takes to make it happen.
An average person simply won't do the things to make it happen.

A million-dollar mindset person can always see the light at the end of the tunnel.
An average person gets lost in the tunnel until the train runs them over.

A million-dollar mindset person looks fear square in the eye and says "move aside."
An average person runs from their fear back into their comfort zone of mediocrity.

A million-dollar mindset person focuses on establishing nourishing relationships.
An average person allows themselves to be guided by toxic relationships.

A million-dollar mindset person fails their way to success.
An average person never even tries.

A million-dollar mindset person knows that a little faith goes an infinite way.
An average person says "show me first and then I'll make my way."

3 Key Principles of Goal Setting

Before we set out on our goal setting journey it’s important to understand some of the foundational principles that will help us set better goals for ourselves.

The “Acres of Diamonds” Philosophy: In Russell H. Conwell’s famous speech, he tells the story of a Persian farmer who went to look for diamonds. For years he searched with very little success. Then at the verge of giving up he returned to his farm to find that it was literally covered with diamonds. The problem with diamonds is that they don’t look like diamonds in their natural state. They look like ordinary rocks. Likewise many of our best opportunities come disguised as hard work and our best opportunities, like the “Acres of Diamonds” story, are probably right under our own feet – figuratively speaking.

In order to make the “Acres of Diamonds” philosophy work, you must be willing to move out of your comfort zone. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. When you get an idea or opportunity, move on it quickly. The more things you try, the more likely it is that you will eventually triumph.

Find your Area of Excellence: You will never be truly successful and happy until you become absolutely excellent at doing something that gets you the kind of results that you want and that earns you the kind of money that you deserve.

It’s only when you become truly excellent at something that you will excel and succeed. Find your area of excellence, for once you do your possibilities become virtually unlimited. Goals founded on something you are excellent at will have a dramatically higher chance of success.

If you know you need to be excellent in an area you are currently not, make an effort to become so. What do you need to do now to become excellent in a vital area?

Determine your Major Definite Purpose: Your Major Definite Purpose (MDP) is the one goal that you want to accomplish more than any other single goal. It’s the one goal that can help you achieve more of your other goals than any other. This is the goal that you desire with a burning intensity and that you absolutely believe you can accomplish if you work at it long enough and hard enough.

Your ability to think through your life and to settle on a MDP is the key to unleashing your full powers and to unlocking your true potential. When your MDP becomes your mission you will find it to be a driving force in your life and all that you do.

In order to be effective your MDP must be clear, specific and measurable. It must be time bounded and committed to paper. It must be accompanied by a plan to achieve it. It should be the central focus and key measure of most of your activity. Once you have decided on your MDP and begun to move toward it, you whole life will begin to change.

Remember that a plan is critical to the success of your goals. Any plan is better than no plan at all. Clear, specific goals combined with a realistic and workable plan will create a complete and integrated system for success & achievement.

Choices

Choices
By Zig Ziglar

The choice is yours. Question: Do you believe there is something you can specifically do in the next seven days that would make your personal, family and business life worse? Chances are good you did a double-take on that one and rhetorically responded, "What does he mean, 'make it worse'?" O.k., next question: Do you honestly believe there is something you can do in the next seven days that would make your personal, family and business life better? Chances are astronomical that you answered "yes" to that one. With that in mind, let me pause for a moment and ask you, do you believe the choice is yours, and do you believe that every choice has an end result?

Now, let's think it through as I make the observation that if you were serious with your answers, you just made a profound statement. Here's what you said: "I don't care how good or bad my past has been, I don't care how good or bad my circumstances are at this moment. There is something I can specifically do right now that will make my future either better or worse, and the choice is mine." That thought is truly profound. Think about it. You can do something about your future. To dramatically improve your odds at making it better, you must accept that responsibility. Two-time Pulitzer-prize winning historian Barbara Tuchman said that America's number one need is people who accept responsibilities.

Action step: Make the right choice, take action on that choice, keep your thinking sound and persist, persist, persist - because if you do, I will enthusiastically say to you that I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

For Leaders: Creating Momentum

Events that take place in our lives, and the lives of our downline, are not always predictable much less controllable. Sometimes we work for weeks or months toward a goal only to have our efforts thwarted in the home stretch. Our downline experience the same challenges and, often times, this is what has brought them to us in the first place.

When confronted with these situations, we find ourselves wishing for other choices. Wouldn't it be great if we were not in the predicament we find ourselves? Wouldn't it be great if such-and-such had not happened? Wouldn't it be great if we could turn back the clock?

The fact is, we have none of these options.

Responding With Ability

We do have a responsibility to ourselves, our downline team, and our loved ones to push forward. We must respond with ability (the components of responsibility), and in this case, the ability possessed by each of us is our leadership. Where is our energy directed? Where can we do the most good? What are we focusing on?

Are we looking back in anger and frustration? Are we wallowing in negativity and resignation with the Despair Triplets "coulda, shoulda, and woulda?" Or are we creating a vision for our future that engenders excitement and anticipation? Are we helping our team members envision the life they truly desire and deserve?

Newton's First Law of Motion states, "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion." It's time to get it in gear. It's time to make things happen. Granted, it will be challenging to build momentum from a complete standstill. This, good friend, is what we signed on for when we decided to become leaders.

It is easy - almost reassuring in a strange way - to look behind us and justify all the reasons that have us frozen in our tracks. It's a little bit tougher, yet far more rewarding, to look to the horizon and take the next step - however small - and keep moving forward!

Outstanding Service

New Industry Website

Tim Sales, the producer of Brilliant Compensation, has released a new website called www.firstclassmlm.com which continues to educate people on the business model and distribution channel called Network Marketing. I would encourage you guys to check it out.

John

Brilliant Compensation

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Dr. King and Tim Sales

Tony Robbins Understanding How The Mind Works

How to shape your destiny...it all begins with a thought!

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny!" People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them. Live today as if its your last day. Live for God and never dwell on the past. Pray for the negative people and embrace the positive ones. Associate with the elite, then dominate them. Never let fear control you. Let others fear you. Brace for the surface, and indulge in the heart. Infiltrate others emotions and utilize them to your advantage... Success is Yours!!

How to have Your Best Year Ever