Residual Lifestyle Marketing Group Getting Started

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2009-12-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

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Say goodbye to your upline!!!

2008-10-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-06-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

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

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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

2008-03-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

The Coming Network Marketing Boom!

2008-03-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-19T13:47:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

Pablo and Bruno

2008-02-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

9 steps for business success!

2008-02-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-11T22:23:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-11T13:23:00.001-08:00

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.

2008-02-05T19:10:00.001-08:00

Choices

2008-01-31T06:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

New Industry Website

2008-01-02T06:50:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

Dr. King and Tim Sales

2007-12-20T19:10:00.001-08:00

Tony Robbins Understanding How The Mind Works

2007-12-13T03:47:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

Tony Robbins explains the story of Sylvester Stallone

2007-12-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

In case you missed "The View"

2007-12-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

Corporate America's New Salesforce!!!

2007-12-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

Despite the sputtering economy, independent contractors are reenergizing the U.S. retail industry through the art of direct selling.

Robust cash flow. An army of salespeople. Loyal customers. Minimal overhead. The ability to bypass the relentless demands of traditional mass retailing. Those are just some of the attributes of direct-sales companies, which rely on independent contractors to sell everything from lipstick to long-distance service directly to customers.

It's no wonder, then, that such major players as Berkshire Hathaway and Binney and Smith have recently entered the world of direct selling. "I think it's the most effective form of selling in the world," says Roger Barnett, whose Activated Holdings, the private investment company of a highly successful family, recently signed a letter of intent to buy Unicity Network, a seller of nutritional supplements based in Orem, Utah.

Call it the age of direct selling. With its emphasis on personal, one-on-one relationships between distributor and customer, convenience, and a high degree of consumer education, the industry may be tailor-made for today's consumer and company. The result: The industry, with U.S. sales of $28.7 billion in 2002, up 7.5% from the year before, has become a magnet for both corporate behemoths lured by its efficiencies and dozens of entrepreneurs attracted by the lower cost of market entry. At the same time, the industry continues to offer a unique blend of empowerment and inspiration for the 46 million distributors operating around the world. Says Neil Offen, president of the Direct Selling Association (DSA): "The industry has come of age."

Yet the public image of direct-selling companies is largely negative. Studies by the DSA show that many consumers don't trust the industry. What's more, unethical players still exist. Some 25 years ago, so-called cooling off laws put an end to the use by salespeople of high-pressure tactics, by giving consumers three business days to cancel any purchase at home of more than $25. But they didn't address another fraudulent practice pyramid schemes, which require that distributors make substantial investments in products before signing on, without giving them their money back if they leave. To address these issues, the DSA has launched a major image-enhancement and anti pyramid scheme campaign (see "A Principled Approach to Business," page S16). "Since we operate mostly as guests in people's homes, we should adhere to the highest of ethical standards," says Offen.

Proponents of direct selling view the public's skepticism as a natural part of the development of any retail channel. Direct selling as we know it today hasn't been around for all that long. It really got its big boost in the '40s and '50s, when Tupperware Corp. refined the party-plan method and made Tupperware parties a part of the lexicon. "Every form of retailing, including the first department store in Paris, has been controversial, and eventually became a valid, acceptable form of commerce," says Barnett. "In a similar way, direct selling has evolved."

Barnett should know. Earlier this year, he agreed to buy Unicity from Royal Numico, with the intention of turning the company into a "multibillion-dollar player." By doing so, he joined a host of other major corporations that also recently entered the area. Last year, for example, Warren Buffett's biggest purchase was The Pampered Chef, a kitchenware supplier based in Addison, Ill. Hallmark's Binney and Smith is launching its own direct-selling company, called Big Yellow Box by Crayola. Unilever plans to start a direct-sales firm to sell cosmetics in South Africa. Other companies already in direct selling range from AOL Time Warner (parent of FORTUNE's publisher) and Sara Lee to the Body Shop and the Virgin companies.

Still, the backbone of the industry remains smaller players and entrepreneurs companies like Country Bunny Bath & Body, based in Nixa, Mo. The company, which sells soaps and gels, was started three years ago by husband and wife Ron and Nancy Bogart. Their story is typical. A full-time mother at home with three children under the age of 10, Nancy Bogart decided she needed an outlet. She started attending crafts fairs to sell her home-grown soap and bath products. The response was so positive that she realized she had stumbled onto something big. With the help of five other stay-at-home mothers, she started making products in her living room. On the advice of a friend, she decided to adopt the direct-selling method, in part, says Ron Bogart, "because she saw how this could benefit the sort of stay-at-home mom she was." The company has now recruited about 3,700 distributors and expects more than $5 million in revenues this year.

For Country Bunny, as well as many other companies large and small, one key ingredient to success is the compensation system. Most direct-selling businesses now employ a multilevel system, in which distributors earn money on their own sales in addition to those of people they recruit (called the "downline") and individuals brought in by their personal recruits. That's different from the single-level approach, in which you only make money on your own sales. In 1990, about 20% of DSA members in the U.S. used the multilevel plan; today, it's about 80%.

Avon Products, the New York-based beauty company, put a significant focus on multilevel compensation four years ago; thanks in part to that change, last year sales rose 4%, to $6.2 billion, and profits were $534 million, an increase of 20%. "Before, if you wanted to earn more, you sold more," says Brian Connolly, president of Avon-North America. "Now we can offer a tremendous earning opportunity. Multilevel marketing is at the center of the transformation of Avon."

At the same time, of course, no two company's compensation plans are alike. For example, Nu Skin Enterprises, a seller of hair, body, and skin-care products and nutritional supplements based in Provo, Utah, allows its 550,000 distributors to make money on six successive generations of recruits, while many others only allow three. Even companies using the single-level system don't use a one-size-fits-all approach. At Home Interiors & Gifts, a Dallas-based company that sells products for the home and employs a single-level plan, 3,000 of the 80,000 reps are licensed trainers; that means they earn money from sales made by people they trained.

To keep up with changing times, some of the more established companies are making other changes as well. To address consumers' time-starved lives, Tupperware, for example, recently reduced its parties from three hours to one hour and 15 minutes and, to rev up its image, introduced such innovations as "decadent and delicious" chocolate parties. Four years ago, Avon embarked on a major campaign to transform its image, stepping up R&D, increasing advertising, introducing new health and wellness products such as nutritional supplements and stair steppers, and repositioning itself to be what it calls the "company for women." This year it plans to launch "Mark," a new line of products for 16- to 24-year-old women. "We're making Avon more relevant to the next generation of women," says Connolly.

The Industry's Lure
What exactly are the benefits of direct selling? For one thing, it's cheap to enter. Distributors, who go by a range of titles depending on the company, are independent contractors conducting business largely in customers' homes, so overhead is minimal. Plus "there are no retailers or wholesalers to nurture," says Thomas Wotruba, emeritus professor of marketing at San Diego State University. The result: a lower cost to acquire new customers. Greg Provenzano, president of ACN Inc., in Huntersville, N.C., which sells telecommunications services, says his company's cost of bringing in new customers is 50% to 75% less than in telephone companies selling through more traditional methods. Another result: Companies take in 45 cents to 50 cents on the dollar that they sell. "These companies are cash machines," says Offen.

What's more, companies don't need big advertising budgets to push products and build a brand; instead, they rely on the powers of persuasion of thousands of distributors dealing directly with potential customers. "In our industry, you might spend $100 million on advertising and only get ten customers," says Joe Mitchell, CEO of Excel Telecommunications Inc., a Dallas-based seller of telecommunications services. "But with our system there's no guesswork. We're spending our advertising dollars on commissions."

Consider Fridge Smart, a product to store fruits and vegetables that Tupperware introduced in 1999, after working with agronomists at the University of Florida for two years to develop it. "We were able to start selling that product within two weeks of introducing it to the market," says CEO Rick Goings. "All without any advertising budget at all." It's now among Tupperware's top ten selling products.

In fact, the ability to introduce new products is one of the key benefits to direct selling. In today's crowded retail environment, it's become a Herculean task even for the biggest companies to convince retailers to carry innovative products. "If you can get in the store, salespeople still might not have a clue your product is even on the shelf," says Truman Hunt, president and CEO of Nu Skin Enterprises. The industry is filled with examples of innovations that would most likely never have been accepted in a traditional retail environment. Earl Tupper, who invented Tupperware and started the company in 1946, turned to direct selling when he had trouble convincing regular retailers to carry his products. When Forrest Shaklee, a nutritional supplement pioneer and founder of the Shaklee Corp., tried to sell stores on the value of supplements, he mostly got the cold shoulder; it was, after all, the era of synthetic products. So in 1956 he decided a direct-selling force able to educate consumers about his product was the only way to go.

It's that educational component, the process of explaining and demonstrating products in a way virtually impossible in other retail methods, that gives companies a uniquely effective, hands-on way to sell products. Distributors spend anywhere from one to four hours sitting down with customers, not only discussing their products' attributes but literally teaching how to use them.

Case in point is Creative Memories, based in St. Cloud, Minn. It sells materials for putting together photo albums. But in fact company distributors do a lot more than that. They run two-hour classes in people's homes in which they go over every step, from adhering photos to the page to writing comments by each picture, a process they call journaling. At the end of the meeting, customers leave with two completed album pages. "People are afraid their handwriting isn't good enough, but we teach them they're creating memories that will last," says Heidi Everett, community relations director. "If they put the album in a closet after we've gone, we haven't done our job." The upshot: Sales of the ten-year-old company are over $300 million.
All that explaining also helps companies get higher price points. "When consumers shop for products in stores, price is what they're looking for," says Tupperware's Goings. "But customers don't think something is expensive once you explain what it is and what it does." Richard Bizzaro, CEO of Unicity, points to a nutritional supplement called Visutein, aimed at eye care. Introduced in 2001, it includes a higher-than-usual amount of a vital—and costly—ingredient, leutein, and sells for a whopping $49.99. "You could never put that on a shelf at that price," he says.

"But with direct selling, we can explain to customers why it's important for the product's efficacy to include that ingredient and why the product is so expensive." The product is one of the company's top sellers.

Customer Loyalty
Ultimately, distributors are able to develop the kind of one-on-one, intimate relationships with customers that most retailers would kill for. "It's the ultimate goal, the purest form of sale," says Barnett of Activated Holdings. The result is a kind of mass customization, as companies are able to tailor their messages down to the level of the individual consumer. In some cases companies are using technology to further refine that process. What's more, thanks to the strength of these relationships, customers stick around.

"You get tremendous brand loyalty and repeat business," says Avon's Connolly. That's especially useful in such industries as telecommunications, where customer loyalty is particularly fickle. Customers of ACN stay 30% to 60% longer than those of competitors, according to Provenzano. "We keep customers for more time because of these relationships," he says. That loyalty has helped fuel company growth; revenues for last year were $280 million, up 31%, and this year Provenzano expects sales to increase to $460 million.

Those close interactions also provide an immediate mechanism for feedback, a grassroots-level forum for determining customer reactions, complaints, and desires—and acting on them. "They're like a series of focus groups," says Tupperware's Goings. As a result, companies often find out quickly about problems or questions that need to be addressed, and can respond swiftly. For example, Nu Skin recently introduced a new kind of toothpaste. Almost immediately, however, distributors reported that customers were complaining about the packaging; the lid, it turned out, was next to impossible to remove. The company responded right away and rejiggered the design to make it easier to open.

"We've done everything from reformulate products to change packaging design," says Hunt. "And if we mess up, we hear about it very, very quickly." Many companies also have institutionalized methods for gathering and acting on this information; senior field directors at Tupperware, for example, meet every six weeks to toss around ideas and provide field reports.

A Passionate Corps D'elite
Perhaps the most unusual feature, however, is the development of a committed sales force. "People are truly passionate," says Lori Bush, president of the Nu Skin division of Nu Skin Enterprises. That passion comes in large part from the opportunities that direct-selling companies offer their distributors. In most cases, distributors come from every strata of society, from college professors to housekeepers. Requirements of entry are no more than a willingness to work hard and an investment in a starter kit. "This business is unique in its ability to impact our distributors' lives directly," says Nu Skin's Hunt. "It comes down to, Can you sell? Do you have the discipline and the desire to do it?"

Take Avon representative Lisa Wilber of Weare, N.H. Back in 1990, Wilbur was laid off from her $15,000-a-year secretarial job, living in a 12- by 70-foot trailer with her husband, and trying her best to stave off creditors. Then she decided to sign on with Avon. Over the past ten years she's made more than $1.4 million in bonuses, and she is No. 4 in the country in earnings.

The fact is, however, that not every representative makes nearly that much money—or wants to. Many reps, most of whom are women, get into the business with the intention of working part-time or even, say, earning a little extra cash around the holidays. Or they crave social contact or simply want a way to buy their favorite products at wholesale prices. That's why rep turnover rates tend to be 50% or higher.

Money is only part of the attraction for reps. What most direct-selling companies have discovered is the importance of providing public recognition to people for a job well done. So they've perfected the art of establishing reward systems for distributors. And they don't all mean more money. Avon's Wilber, for one, has earned 15 trips and enough trophies to fill nine bookcases.

Consider Mary Kay Inc. The Dallas-based beauty products company has established the model for employee recognition in the industry. There are 15 steps where recognition occurs, from entry-level "beauty consultant" to top national sales director. Each step is determined by the number of recruits and amount of sales a representative achieves. Some mean bigger commissions, but others involve quite different rewards, from the famed pink Cadillac's to the applause of their peers and a pink rose. Thomas F. Whatley, president of global sales and marketing, says Mary Kay "was an expert in the area of extending the everyday courtesy of letting people know they're doing a good job."

Mary Kay's guiding philosophy, revolutionary for the time of the company's founding in 1963, is providing women with a feeling of self-esteem by giving them the chance to become independent moneymakers. This is not unusual. Most successful direct-selling companies are built on a strong, specific mission. Shaklee's is the importance of creating products that combine the best of science and nature. Creative Memories' is helping people pass memories on to future generations. The Pampered Chef's is to sell products that help families interact over meals.

In fact, it was the company's deeply ingrained philosophy that helped Mary Kay thrive, despite its founder's debilitating stroke in 1996 and her death five years later. As part of a conscious strategy—what Whatley calls the "world's most sophisticated succession plan"—Kay created a system that institutionalized her personality and mission. Among other things, she developed a top tier of distributors who would have learned her methods and approach so thoroughly by the time they reached that spot that they could easily lead the rest of the company's more than one million reps worldwide when she died. Today, there are more than 180 of these women in the U.S. "You have to be dedicated to Mary Kay's mission," says Whatley. "These are the Mary Kays of today."

Global Expansion
Like all industries in the retail sector, direct selling has gone global. A range of forces have been behind the trend, from use of the Internet to the boom in entrepreneurialism in all parts of the world. As a result, global expansion among direct-selling companies has become the norm. Over 80% of the DSA's 150 U.S. members operate overseas, compared with 20% in 1980. Total global sales in 2002 were $85 billion, up from $78.7 billion the year before. "Most of our companies go international in their first few years in business," says Offen.

Of course, this expansion has also boosted sales and profits at companies considerably. At Avon, for example, approximately 60% of net sales and operating profit come from outside North America. Its fastest-growing region, Central and Eastern Europe, had sales of $544 million, up 48% from 2001. And, of course, these moves have created a growing opportunity for distributors worldwide. Total global sales force has grown from 14.9 million in 1993 to 46 million last year.

Still, establishing operations overseas has its unique challenges. For starters, since distributors operate in people's homes, they must address the specific cultural differences in each country in an especially intimate way. Take Creative Memories. When it entered the Japanese market, the company realized its usual mode of operation—six to eight customers, each working on their own 12- by 12-inch photo album—wouldn't work in the typical tiny Japanese home. The company recently decided to cut class size down to no more than three customers.

As for recruiting and training distributors, for the most part companies put a knowledgeable person in charge in a region or country to get the ball rolling and target a few initial recruits. After that, reps generally tap family, friends, and neighbors to become part of the downline. Tupperware, which operates in more than 100 countries, for example, introduces a managing director in each country or group of countries it enters; they then pretty much replicate the basic recruitment system wherever they are.

Industry experts concur that the trickiest overseas market to crack so far has probably been China. In 1998, the government, which had previously welcomed such companies as Amway, Avon, Mary Kay, and Torrance, Calif.-based Sunrider, a seller of nutritional supplements and personal care and household products, banned direct-selling companies, only allowing them to stay if they sold through more restricted operations. Thanks to a recent agreement with the World Trade Organization, the government agreed to allow direct-selling distribution by 2005. Of course, expansion into the huge Chinese market inevitably will give a significant boost to industry growth. Indeed, in this new borderless global marketplace, direct selling has found its place in the business landscape.
— Anne Field

Automating the Sales Force
Technology can empower legions of grassroots marketers. Here's how …

Naturally, as the direct-selling industry grows up, it's turning more and more to the use of new high-tech tools. From the Internet to videoconferencing, companies and individual direct sellers are using all sorts of technology to increase efficiency, provide more convenient service, and lower costs.

However, while more companies are using technology in a variety of ways, there are limits. It's unlikely that anything will take the place of the face-to-face interaction that lies at the core of the distribution model. After all, as industry insiders explain, the soul of the business is person-to-person contact, and that can't be replaced.

Probably the most prevalent use of technology is the web. Today, a growing number of distributors are placing orders through their company's website instead of using the usual faxes or snail-mail orders. Many companies report that 80% to 90% of their orders are now placed by a sales representative via the web. According to Tei Fu Chen, chairman of Sunrider, a Torrance, Calif.—seller of nutritional supplements, personal care, and household products, for example, 20% of the company's $700 million in revenues comes from online orders made by both sales reps and customers.

In addition, distributors are using company websites for help in recruitment and training. Other companies are using the web as a channel for customer reordering. And at ACN, a seller of telecommunications services based in Huntersville, N.C., customers will soon be able to view and pay bills online.

But the web isn't the only technology being embraced. There's videoconferencing, which is particularly effective for companies with extensive international operations. Tupperware Corp. is a case in point. It holds a monthly videoconference session in which representatives from all 103 countries it operates in give progress reports.

Some companies are also experimenting with handheld devices for use in product demonstrations. Nu Skin Enterprises, based in Provo, Utah, for one, is launching a prototype to help representatives tailor their product selection to each customer. Using a PDA, customers answer a series of questions related to such topics as climate, age, and previous skin-care habits. The program then spits out the recommended regimen best suited to meet the individual's needs. The upshot: Technology is being used to make direct selling more effective and enhance the relationship between customer and distributor.

A Principled Approach to Business
The Direct Selling Association is spreading the gospel about industry ethics around the world.

They're the Rodney Dangerfields of business. Despite their records of solid growth, high-quality products, and loyal customers, direct-selling companies still don't get enough respect. A recent study by the Direct Selling Association (DSA) found that half the population of the U.S. has a negative or somewhat negative perception of the industry, thanks largely to the misdeeds of a small number of companies and distributors. "With 46 million salespeople operating globally, a few people doing the wrong things can create a lot of bad publicity and make everyone look bad," says Raymond "Buddy" LaForge, Brown-Forman professor of marketing at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

That's why the DSA recently launched an all-out effort to raise the ethical standards of its approximately 150 U.S. members and 1,000 overseas members of affiliated associations and improve their image globally. For starters, it's launching a series of ambitious studies to evaluate the economic impact of direct selling globally, and working with private and government consumer-protection groups around the world. But, perhaps more important, it's raising the stakes for members who engage in pyramid schemes, which require that distributors buy a substantial amount of product or sales and training aids initially, without repurchasing such items if they decide to leave the business.

The first big step came in 1993, when the DSA revised its code of ethics to include a requirement that members give all salespeople a buyback guarantee, promising a return of 90% of their net costs for inventory and sales aids if they drop out of the system. More recently, the association started an effort to publicize how to recognize a pyramid scheme and the difference between such companies and legitimate direct-selling businesses. It also has backed an anti pyramid scheme bill, currently pending in Congress, and is stepping up its monitoring of members and applicants for membership by paying unannounced visits to recruiting sessions. And president Neil Offen plans, in addition to the association's one-year screening process, to have his legal staff review the marketing plans and rules of a randomly selected 20% of DSA members each year. "If we find unethical behavior, our investigation will continue, even if the member resigns," he says. The upshot: Only companies with the highest standards will be allowed to be members. That's because today the association's No. 1 commandment is, "Thou shall not overlook corporate social responsibility." For those that do, there will be a nasty backlash.

Termites of the Mind

2007-11-24T17:22:00.001-08:00

Why are termites so dangerous? After all they are just a small bug, what harm could one little bug do? As I am sure you know, it's not one termite that destroys a house, it's a colony, but a colony is started with just a couple of bugs. If a couple of termites are allowed to penetrate the foundation of a home, a colony will soon arise.

Bad thoughts are a lot like termites. One bad thought will not take you down. The problem is, if you let one bad thought in, then one leads to another, then another. Soon you have your own colony of bad thoughts. It will not take long for a colony of bad thoughts to begin munching away at the foundation of your life.

Food for your bad thoughts is available every where. Our morning news is a breakfast for the termites of our minds. "Three dead today in a triple homicide" touts the smiling news person. Followed by "Our housing market is tumbling faster than Brittney's career". The amazing thing with the news is that many American's start their days with the news, and end their days with the news. I guess bad thoughts need their dinner too.

It is no wonder that America is one of the most wealthy nations of the world, yet our depression rates are skyrocketing, and our health is tumbling more rapidly than ever. So many American's are being eaten alive by the termites of their minds. I think it's time to send in the termite inspector for the mind, that inspector is awareness.

We need to pay attention to the things that we pay attention to. We need to start a bad thought extermination program. By taking the food from the bad thoughts, soon the bad thoughts will realize that they need to go someplace else if they want to eat. What are you feeding your mind? Are you starting your days with the breakfast of champions, or with 2 homicides over easy, and a side order of doom?

Goal Setting - Four Easy Steps for Tracking Your Goals

2007-11-24T05:27:00.000-08:00

You've defined your Goal, identified your key strategies, created an action plan and have started to put it into action.

What's next?

As you proceed, it is important to measure your results and track your progress (or lack of it). This is the least exciting part of the journey of any Goal, but I assure you it is one of the most important. This is where it gets a little tricky due to the fact that every Goal is different. Each Goal has it's own unique targets, time lines, and action plans, therefore it will require it's own unique system and schedules for measuring.

Not every Goal needs to be measured, just your most critical ones. For example, if on the weekends you take guitar lessons to explore your interest in learning how to play, you don't necessarily need a plan for measuring your progress. But for your highest priority Goals, you absolutely do. If you are building a business or trading in the stock market, your very financial existence relies upon your systems for tracking.

People often seek my coaching and assistance because they are stuck in some way. They say, "I am stuck! I have tried everything and nothing works!" The first thing I do is ask for their gauges, measurements and stats for the related area. Often they reply with blame or excuses about the economy or some outside circumstance for why they are off track and never is that the real reason for a decline. The reason for almost all struggle, stagnation and lack of growth is due to a lack of attention, measurement or action in the critical areas. It is usually a matter of neglect and fortunately there is a quick and easy solution to create a major turnaround.

The fastest way to create a breakthrough is to measure and examine the critical areas of your Goal.

You cannot change what you don't measure. You cannot improve what you don't measure. Where focus goes, energy flows so begin focusing on your major key areas that are critical to your success.

Tracking reveals the true reality of a situation. Many Goals can be measured with numbers. For example, Health Goals provide many numbers to monitor your progress; pounds, inches, blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure, as do a multitude of other precise diagnostic measurements.

Tracking builds confidence. When you have a great plan, are following it and producing phenomenal results, you automatically raise your own self-esteem and that optimism carries over into every other life area. Knowing that you are on track and having the validation of facts as proof gives you an enormous boost.

Tracking provides valuable feedback and indications of areas that may need to be addressed or adjusted. If your Goal is to lose weight and the numbers on the scale are going up, up, up each week, it could be an indication that you may need to re evaluate your plan or if you have a great plan and have not been following it, simply renew your dedication to it.

For every Goal that does not succeed, there are always numerous indicators along the way that would have provided a snapshot or a warning ahead of time and all throughout the journey, if the critical components would have been measured and appropriate action taken, the Goal could have been salvaged.

Your Action Plan:

1. Examine your highest and most important Goal and the key areas that will ensure it's success. What are the aspects you will need to measure so that you will know on any given day, at any given time, whether or not you are progressing on track?

2. List at least ten precise critical components you can begin measuring and tracking. (if you come up with more than ten, that's even better).

3. Create targets for each of the chosen areas. This can be done by looking at the end result and tracking backwards. What are the ideals you will need to achieve in order to successfully realize your Goal?

4. Create the most appropriate schedule for tracking and checking your gauges and schedule it into your planner. How often should you measure your metrics, stats and gauges and examine your progress? If the Goal has no end, as such with an ongoing business, you can certainly break it down via yearly, quarterly, monthly, daily and even weekly measurements.

Since each Goal is unique, your Goal will require unique systems and schedules for tracking it. By implementing this for all of your highest priority Goals, you will instantly begin to produce better results.

Goal Achieving abides by the Universal Law of Cause and Effect. If you don't like the results you are creating, change your approach, increase your efforts, modify your plan, but don't stick your head in the sand and neglect to see the truth of the situation.

The fastest way to improve your results is to measure your progress. So re examine your most cherished Goals and see where you stand. Your mind will instantly begin to search for ways to make improvements in those key areas.

Numbers don't lie. Welcome whatever data you receive and take the appropriate actions to ensure your success!

Do it anyway!!!

2007-11-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

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.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world your best and it may never be enough;
Give the world your best anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
- Mother Theresa

Charles Schultz Philosophy

2007-10-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel ! appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." (Charles Schultz)

Goal Setting

2007-10-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Goal setting is essential to any work – without goals, there’s no direction, no incentive, no guidance.

• Encourage team member to talk about what their dreams are for their life –this is the first step to setting goals.

1. Having them talk about their dreams tells you who they are, what they’re story is, why they want to do WV.
2. Be friends first - Builds rapport – once there is a bond between you and your team member, there develops a trust, so the latter will be more apt to follow your guidance.

1. Be supportive, listen to what they’re wanting, what they’re concerns are, and help them find answers. It’s all about what they want, not what you want.
2. Do intake of where they’re at, what they want to do, how much time they want to put into this – encourage them to let their imagination run wild – important because it gives incentive to make the dreams real. Incentive/motivation is an inner characteristic that helps them succeed. It gives them something to work towards.
3. Find out specifically how much money they want to make for what they want: private school for daughter - $3000, publicist - $2000, to leave job - $5000.

3. After getting answers, say, “You do understand that it’s only logical that, if you want to get something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done before. And, in order to get something that you want, you need to sacrifice and work hard for it.

• Do you know why you haven’t reached your goals yet?
• What are you willing to sacrifice, give up in order to reach your goals?
• What is the one thing that’s different that you’re willing to do towards your goals?

1. One of the things that you need to do that is different is to have a coach. All greats have a coach – Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi. You need to ask your team member: Do you agree for me to be your coach?
• Getting verbal agreement is important – it becomes a binding contract, something your team member has agreed to. When a person gives excuses or shows other kinds of resistance, they’re testing boundaries,
• Coach needs to set boundaries – another way of building trust.
• Ex. - Children may not like when you say “no”, but on some level they will understand that you are protecting them, guiding them, etc.

After setting goals and how much time they can spend on WV, then point out the easiest way to make money:
• Direct bonuses – need to sponsor 20 people this month to make $2000.

Some things to remember as they are working towards their goal:

1. Have them make a commitment: pay attention, get excited, never quit.
2. The only people who don’t get rich in this co. are quitters.
3. Because there are agents in this co. who are making mega money, the only difference between failing and succeeding is you – not the product, not the company, not the compensation plan.
4. If you don’t have a lot of rejections, then you’re not working hard enough. You’re not talking to enough people.
5. All you’re doing is filtering out the leaders. The leaders will rise to the top, all others are followers.

Eight Solid Reasons to Finally Believe in...The Coming Network Marketing Boom!

2007-10-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

It seems the network marketing, or MLM, industry has been on the verge of an "explosion" for about as long as, well, there has been a network marketing industry. Certainly there have been growth spurts in popularity over the years, but the business just never really - exploded, at least for any sustained period of time. Even those occasional growth pops were always followed by slumps in the MLM economy. Yet, throughout it's history, even in the midst of those slumps, and especially over the last two decades, many of those who would promote it would tell us that, soon, the network marketing industry is going to, dare i say it again... EXPLODE! Ah, if I only had a dollar for every time I've heard any derivative of the word "explode" as it relates to network marketing I'd be a wealthy man. About as wealthy as I'd be if I got a dollar for every time an MLM distributor used the term "revolutionary," but that's another subject.

The various promoters of this alleged upcoming MLM boom have always had at least one good reason for believing their claim. It wasn't entirely on hype. Nothing more than the monumental and numerous advantages that network marketing offers to those who want to start a home based business certainly should have been reason enough to think that, soon, the masses are going to discover those advantages and flock to MLM en mass. We could surely forgive them for their optimistic delusion.

As history has shown us in many industries, the merits of a product alone won't necessarily sell it. When Ruth Stafford Peale said "find a need and fill it", she was close. Personally, I'd rather find a "want" and fill it. Obviously, people would be more likely to obtain something they want as oppose to need, and they've not flocked to network marketing en mass for no other reason than they simply can't want something they neither understand nor even know exists! There is overwhelming evidence that the reason this industry stands at a little over 7 million distributors is because, for the most part, those 7 million network marketers are all pitching their opportunities - to each other. This has created a great ignorance about network marketing among most Americans. And I use the word "ignorance" deliberately here, which does not mean unintelligent. Ignor-ance means simply, to ignore readily available information. And the vast majority of the U.S. population has, at least up until now, utterly ignored network marketing not only due to a lack of want, but a lack of knowledge as to it's benefits, or that it even exists.

But that is all about to change... forever.

For the first time in network marketing history, there are solid, logical, verifiable, reasons to believe in an upcoming network marketing boom. In fact, there are eight reasons, any one of which could result in a significant expansion of network marketing in the U.S. over the next few years, and these eight factors will soon by overlaying, one on top of the other, creating the "perfect storm" so to speak, where we have the convergence of several powerful economic, demographic, and psychological factors all hitting at the exact same time and place in network marketing history. Finally, we can make claim to an upcoming MLM explosion and it won't be just wishful thinking. It absolutely will happen, and here's why:

Reason #1: The Economy.

I have always had the belief that the condition of the U.S. economy did influence the condition of network marketing, somewhat, but not significantly. I based that belief on the simple conclusion that there was never an economy where people didn't want more money and more free time. In fact, a few months ago I set out to write an article debunking this age old assumption that bad economic conditions favor network marketing. I began to really do some digging to find as much evidence as I could to support my contrarian position. And what I soon discovered was, I was wrong. The fact that one of the strongest growth phases in network marketing history, which occurred between 1990 to '92, also coincided with the last economic recession should have been a clue. But there was so much more.
Page 1
First, an analysis of unemployment rates over the decades is key here. After all, the want for network marketing is created by the desire for alternative sources of income, and income sources that we have control over. And when we compare the popularity trends of network marketing to unemployment rates, on a semi-decade basis, there are some intriguing and very exciting revelations.

Although multilevel marketing existed as far back as 1936, for all intents and purposed MLM really began in earnest in the 1950s. So let's start there. Now, tracking MLM popularity trends is somewhat subjective, but surely there would be no argument that network marketing 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, however industry giants Shaklee, NeoLife, and Amway all came into existence from 1956 to 1959. The unemployment rate the first have of the decade averaged 4%, and was the second lowest in U.S. history in 1953 at 2.9% (only during WWII was it ever lower). However, it averaged 5.3% the second half of the decade reaching it's highest level since the Great Depression in 1958 at 6.8%. Although the difference may seem small from a statistical standpoint, translated into todays numbers that would mean almost 6 million more people becoming unemployed between 1953 to '58.

The first half of the 1960's all types of direct sales continued to flourish with the launch of Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963, and companies such as Avon, Fuller Brush and Tupperware all achieving momentum. Although the industry continued to grow from '65 to '69, it was not nearly at the same pace with no new major company launches taking place. The unemployment rate the first half of the decade was significanly higher than the second half when 2-and-a-half million unemployed people went back to work.

Let's jump ahead to the 1980's. Again, few MLM veterans would disagree that the first half of this decade definitely outperformed the second. Although there were about as many company launches in each half of the decade, there are actually more companies that launched during the first half that are still in business today than during the second. While network marketing flourished from 1980 to '85, the rest of the decade saw some of the worst fiasco in network marketing history. Also, another indicator of MLM economic conditions is the number of legal actions. During industry slumps companies and distributors tend to be more aggressive and take greater risks. The number of law suits almost doubled during the second half of the 80's compared to the first. And, while network marketing was thriving the first half of the 80's, unemployment continued to rise. In fact, in 1982 it was at it's highest level in 40 years at 9.7%. During the second half MLM slump unemployment dropped considerably, and by the end of the decade the number of those out of work was almost half of what it was at the beginning of the decade.

The 1990's saw perhaps the clearest distinction between halves of any decade with more major company launches and more companies going into momentum than any other time in history. There was also more wealth being created by way of MLM from 1990 to 1994 than any other 5 year period in network marketing history. The second half, as many of you probably still remember, wasn't exactly the best of times for network marketing. In fact, if there ever was such thing as an MLM recession, we had one from about 1996 through 1999. Why? One reason may have been the very high unemployment rate from 1990 to '94, and the sharp drop during the second half of the decade where it hit a 30 year low at 4.2% in 1999.

The only exception to this half-century long pattern is the 1970's, but that was an exceptional decade. 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 again as unemployment rates jumped. Unfortunately, all that rocking started rocking some boats, and the result was over five times as many MLM related law suits from 1970 to 1974 than all of the 50's and 60's combined. These included landmark cases involving Koscot, Bestline, Holiday Magic, Culture Farms, and others, and in 1975, there was a federal action which essentially questioned the legality of network marketing in general. Fortunately, one company, Amway, had the financial ability to defend themselves, and in essence, the entire multilevel marketing industry. This case lasted until late 1979 when the court eventually ruled in favor of Amway and as a result there was, for the first time, a clear delineation between illegal pyramids and legitimate network marketing companies. So, obviously, there was a pretty dark cloud hanging over the industry the last half of the 70's and there wasn't a lot of expansion in spite of the even higher unemployment rate.

The last, and arguably greatest MLM growth phase began in 1990, the same year we went into our last economic recession. And, again, from 1980 to '84 were boom years for network marketing and we experienced recessions in 1980, part of '81 and most of '82. Nineteen-seventy to '74 were also boom years, and our economy was in recession almost all of 1970, and 1974. Remember how the last half of the 50's and into the early 60's were years of great MLM expansion? We were in recession from '57 to '58 and most of 1960. In deed, every severe economic downturn in the last 50 years has been during, or immediately preceded every period of network marketing expansion.

We're not done yet. According to figures supplied by the Direct Selling Association, not all, but most of which is made up of network marketing companies, U.S. sales increased from 1990 to 1992 by an annual average of 9.25 percent. That was during our last recession. From 1997 to 2000, at the peak of our last economic boom, annual sales within the direct selling industry increased by a little more than half as much. Clearly, the condition of our national economy absolutely does effect the condition of the network marketing industry.

So where does this lead us? Well, as I write this it's early 2002 and we are in a recession, and have been for several months. Most recessions last around 12-18 months, but that doesn't mean that when a recession is over, so is a slumping economy, or high unemployment rates. And again, it's rising unemployment rates that are most closely tied to rising interest in network marketing. Here's a rather remarkable fact – we've had eight recessions in the last 50 years, and during the 12 months immediately after the end of the recession the unemployment rate went up! Every time. What's more, most economic experts today are predicting a much slower recovery than that which followed previous downturns, followed by volatile economic swings for the next several years.

And remember, we're only on reason number one. Let's move on to what I feel is an even more powerful reason to believe in a coming network marketing explosion.

Reason #2: Demographics.

Although the network marketing industry offers almost every conceivable product or service imaginable, most product lines are made up primarily of personal care products, diet, and health related products. These are all products that would be of most interest to again baby boomers. Now, this concept of what Dr. Ken Dychtwald refers to as the "Age Wave" in his book of the same name, is certainly not a new concept as it relates to network marketing. Purveyors of personal and health care products have been emphasizing this concept for several years now. But it does warrant a brief overview.

Baby Boomers are those born from the years of 1946 to 1964. The reason for this baby boom doesn't need a lot of explanation. During the great depression, immediately followed by WWII, folk just weren't economically, psychologically, or geographically able to make a lot of babies. So, once WWII was over they had some catching up to do – and they did. There were about 76 million babies born during this 18 year period, which at the time accounted for almost one-third of the entire U.S. population. This explains why diaper and baby food companies flourished in the later 40's and early 50's, or why rock&roll records and drive ins were so popular in the mid- to late 50's. It also explains why more grade schools were built in the early 60's and more college campuses were built in the later 60's than any other time in our history. Think back to the 70's and early 80's. How many athletic clubs, health stores, or ads for energy or weight loss products did you see? Very few. Today, they're everywhere! Why? Because most of those 76 million people are now in their 40's and 50's. You can see exactly where this giant bubble in the population is at any moment in time by simply looking at what products are most popular. And when in comes to charting the market size for what most network marketing companies offer, we're not even half way up the curve yet! The market for products that will make us look and feel younger is going to continue to expand for at least another 25 years, and will expand most dramatically over the next 5 to 10 years where some predict it will more than double.

But this baby boom is exciting for another completely different reason. The age of contractual consent in most states in 18, that's why virtually all network marketing companies require distributors to be at least 18 years old. Well, guess what happened about 25 years after the baby boom? Those 76 million baby boomers had about 75 million babies. And about 41 million of them will turn 18 over the next 7 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 MLM prospects in this short a period of time.

Of course, the number of people eligible to join is not as important as the number actually joining. So, let's take another look at the annual survey of the direct selling industry conducting by the DSA. According to their analysis, there was a net gain of direct sellers of 400,000 from 1997 to 98. By "net" I mean 400,000 more joined than quit. There was a 600,000 net gain from '98 to '99, and a 700,000 distributor gain from '99 to 2000. Not only is the number increasing, but the rate of increase is increasing, which is one of the indicators of impending momentum. However, if we did nothing more than take this 700,000 annual growth rate of direct sellers, figure about 470,000 are network marketers, assume the rate of increase never goes any higher, and extend that forward for another ten years, we end up with 4.7 million additional network marketers. To put that in perspective, it took us over 50 years to get to 7.5 million distributors, and we're conservatively projected to add another 4.7 million in just the next ten years, which means, by the way, your average downline will be 37% larger - and this isn't even factoring in any of the things were discussing here that will cause this growth rate to increase! This is just assuming everything stays the same.

And as far as a demographic reason for believing in an upcoming MLM boom, these aren't even the best ones! Check this out:

According to Gallup Polls, the average age of all Americans when they first decide to invest in a residual income producing vehicle, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, or perhaps in a business venture, is 42. The average age when we invest the most into such devices is 47. If we were to then chart on a graph the number of 42 to 47 year olds in the U.S. we'd 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're barely past the half way point of that upward curve!

Does this really benefit us, as network marketers? Are 40-somethings more open to MLM opportunities? Well, the average American is 36 years old. According to a Marketwave survey of over 6,000 network marketers from 1990 to 2000, the average network marketer is 38.6, and that number has consistently risen over the years of the survey. Other MLM surveys have found the average age to be almost 40. 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 generating business venture is going to continue to increase dramatically for another seven years!

Reason #3: Wall Street

Securities investors are, for the most part, a pretty savvy group of people. Obviously there are a lot of exceptions, but generally, these are men and women who research and analyze public companies in an effort to try to determine which ones have the strongest growth potential. Based on their due diligence they eventually invest their funds in companies who's growth they expect to go up. These are people who are, in general, pretty adept at knowing what signals to look for that might indicate an upcoming boom. So, what do they see when they turn their magnifying glass on network marketing companies? Well, first let's take a look at what they've seen.

There are over 20 publicly traded network marketing companies, but the bottom third or so are so small and trade so infrequently they're really meaningless as far as overall industry trends, so let's focus on the top 12. These are the larger, well established companies. Well, if you were to chart their stock price over the last 5 years, starting 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 very few exceptions, MLM company stock values have flattened out at their all time lows and stayed there for about two to three years. Clearly, Wall Street wasn't impressed with network marketing's growth potential the last half of the 90's.

So, what do they see now? Well, the S&P 500, an index that gauges the overall condition of the stock market, reached it's peak in September of 2000. By mid-December 2001 it was down by 23%. However, over the exact same period of time our index of the top 12 network marketing companies was UP by 7.3%. And again, this is from a basket of stocks that, for the most part, haven't budged upwards in years. And now, all of a sudden, in just the last 12 months these network marketing companies are outperforming the overall stock market by over thirty percent. Go to your favorite investment web site is and take a look at the stock charts of these companies. What you'll see is than plane coming in for a landing, taxying across the bottom of the chart, and then, right at the end - they're just starting to take off again.

So don't just take my word for it. There are a few thousand other trend analysts out there that seem to also be very optimistic about the future growth potential of this industry.

Reason #4: Supply and Demand.

I read an article a few years ago that described how network marketing was "booming." The author validated this claim by siting the huge growth in the number of MLM companies. Of course, anyone who got even a C- in Economics 101 could tell you that an industry booms when the demand for it's product dramatically increases. In deed, when there is only a tremendous increase in supply, this often times results in an industry slump. And sure enough, during this massive proliferation of MLM companies the last half of the 90's, which there very definitely was, we had a pretty tough industry slump.

A very prominent MLM publication published a survey they had conducted from 1994 to 1997 where they polled all the major MLM company software providers to try to determine how many MLM companies were launching in each of these years. They found that in 1994 there were about 700. In '95 over 1,000. There were about 1,400 company launches in 1996, and 1,800 in 1997. These are not cumulative totals, this is each year. And there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to show that there were about as many start ups in 1998 and 1999. What's even more troubling is that those in the software businesses estimate that perhaps half of all MLM start ups don't go to the major software houses, but rather hire in house programmers. Do you understand what that means? It's possible that the actual number of start ups could have been double these numbers. As many as 13,000 network marketing companies may have launched from 1994 through 1999, and at least as many as 8,000, yet we only had a net gain of about 600 companies, from 900 to 1,500. For many years distributors for older, mature network marketing companies often warned prospects away from start ups with the claim that 95% of all MLM companies fail in the first two years. Up to this point, it was really just a scare tactic based on a wild guess. However, what this survey inadvertently did was verify the figure!

Yet, during this same period, based on a consensus of various educated sources including the DSA, the number of network marketing distributors in the U.S., during the last half of the 90's, only increased from about 5 million to 7.5 million. That means the number of distributors went up about 50%, but the number of companies increased by three times that much! If you do the math, you'll discover that this means the average distributor's downline shrunk by 40%. There is no question that the supply of MLM opportunities was far exceeding demand the last half of the 90's.

So, what's the good news? Well, some very encouraging things began to happen in the year 2000, not the least of which is, it seems would be MLM company owners finally began to realize that starting a network marketing company in the U.S. market was an entrepreneurial death wish! Also, more and more of those considering starting MLM companies are coming to realize that it really defeats the whole purpose of getting involved in network marketing – they're essentially creating for themselves a 12 hour a day J-O-B. Instead, they could apply their resources to building an organization in an already well established, stable network marketing program and make just as much, if not more money with far less effort, and fraction of the responsibility and risk. And understand, this isn't just my assumption. I've been a consultant to start up companies, more of a Devil's advocate for hire, actually, since 1992. So, not only from my own consulting experience, but by scanning the ads in all of the various MLM publications, interviewing other consultants, trainers, and suppliers, visiting the on-line MLM message boards, reading the abundance of MLM related spam I receive, and interviewing literally hundreds of prospects and distributors every year, it's very clear that the number of start up network marketing companies has declined significantly since the beginning of 2000.

This fact, along with the increasing number of company mergers and acquisitions that are taking place each year, will only make the industry stronger. The last half of the 90's the whole industry was groaning under the weight of this massive overload of MLM companies. As more and more companies entered the market the national distributor base was spread thinner and thinner. The result was smaller downlines, higher attrition, and generally fewer success stories. But, think about it. 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 spur an increase in demand as more and more distributors are condensed into common downlines, which will then increase the number of those getting into profit, and those reaching their income goals. The more success stories we have, the more motivation and less resistance we have to building our downlines even larger. Even larger downlines mean even greater motivation, even lesser resistance, resulting in even larger downlines – and the cycle continues upward, rather than down or flat as it has in the past.

Reason #5: New Blood.

Almost every network marketing company today would like to think, and most claim, 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, perhaps even quadruples in size in a relatively short period of time. Most momentum phases last about 6 to 24 months. Much like buying a stock low right before it goes up in price, most distributors want to attach themselves to a pre-momentum 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? Eh, they don't. No one every really knows exactly when momentum phases kick in. Some MLM theorists have claimed it commences at a certain sales volume, or around a certain number of year in business. Yet, the exceptions far outnumber the rule. But much like stock picking, we can look for clues - for historical trends and patterns to help us make better guesses. And if we go back and study every major post-momentum company and analyze what happened right before they went into momentum, there is a common event. Although they each may have accomplished this in different ways, every momentum phase in MLM history was facilitated by massive numbers of people moving into the opportunity, either as reps or customers, who have never been involved in network marketing before. No company has ever went into a momentum phase by this ebb and flow distributors roaming from company to company. Momentum is caused by a massive injection of new blood.

Where is this new blood going to come from? How are we going to expose massive numbers of people to our products and opportunities that we've never been able to reach in the past? Of course, from... how many you saw this coming?... the internet.

Now, some of you may be thinking, yeah, but the internet's been around for years. Where is all this new blood? Well, the internet may have been around in 1990, but it didn't go into it's own momentum phase until after 1995 when only 14% of Americans used the internet. By 1998 that number had almost tripled. Today it's over 60% and many predict that virtually all of Americans will be using the internet in some capacity by the year 2010. And it wasn't until around 1997 or so that the network marketing industry really began to use, or a better term might be "abuse" the internet. Certainly there are exceptions to this, but for the most part MLMers got a little over zealous in their utilization of this amazing new technology. Rather that use it to help us build our downlines and sell our products, it was, in way too many cases, used in an attempt to have it build our downlines for us. The result was, in some cases, big recruiting numbers, but very little sales volume and overwhelming attrition. The reason is obvious. People get into network marketing with the goal of quitting their jobs and doing this for a living. In other words, they are potentially making a career choice. That's a pretty serious decision, isn't it? Well, how serious could a prospect have taken this decision when they only based it on a few pretty pictures and some jazzy words on a web site?

The internet was also abused in other ways. Like so many other dot.coms, there were a lot of company failures. Some were ugly, miserable failures. There were numerous legal abuses as well resulting in several well publisized closures. The network marketing industry painfully cut it's internet teeth from about 1997 to early 2000. And now, as this shake out comes to an end and the smoke clears, what is just beginning to emerge are the remaining responsible, visionary companies that knew all along that the awesome power of the internet was not in having it do all the work for us, but rather having it help us present our products and opportunities faster, less expensively, and to far, far greater numbers of people. New people, who've never been exposed to network marketing before. They're are our future superstars – our future MLM leaders.

The internet is a sales, training and recruiting tool with unimaginable potential that we are only just now beginning to effectively and intelligently utilize, and it's an industry itself that looks to expand by 100 million users domestically over the next ten years. And as this happens, the network marketing industry will soon go into momentum the same way everyone of it's post-momentum companies did so - by a mountainous wave of new prospects and within it these future leaders. They say a rising tide raises all boats, and in this case, this tidal wave could even cause an unprecedented event in network marketing history - the secondary momentum phase, where large, post-momentum companies actually achieve momentum again!

But the internet isn't the only reason why I believe we're on the verge of massive "outer circle" recognition. There's another reason that's so compelling I'm making it a reason unto itself.

Reason #6: Positive Media Exposure.

Radio, television, magazines and newspapers all exist primarily, if not in some cases exclusively, on advertising dollars. Network marketing is an industry that, for the most part, doesn't advertise in the mainstream media. After all, we're a "word of mouth" business. So not only has the media had no financial incentive to promote MLM, it actually has a financial inceptive not to. Now, I'm not suggesting there's some grand conspiracy among these various media to hold network marketing down, but there certainly has been a consistent pattern of negative expose's of MLM companies over the years, some certainly deserving, some not, but curiously, very few corporate or individual success stories, in spite of the huge number of them to choose from.

Well, that too is changing. The mainstream media is just now discovering how to cash in on network marketing without ad revenue. The first big step in this direction was back in 1994 when Success magazine, a well respected newsstand business magazine, featured a front cover montage of network marketing companies and a lengthy and extremely positive feature article about our industry. Sure, the companies that knew they were going to be mentioned did break from tradition and ran display ads, but that's not where Success made the most money. The people of this credibility starved industry, long deserving of such positive recognition, sold out the entire run of that issue. In fact, Success magazine broke their all time single issue sales record by almost twice the previous record. The result, obviously, was a lot more positive portrayals of network marketing companies in future issues. Unfortunately, in spite of this bold demonstration of exactly how profitable it could be for doing nothing more than being fair and balanced and also presenting the positive side of network marketing, few other mainstream publications followed Success's lead. So, several network marketing trade publications decided, let's do it ourselves. Soon, we had several glossy, full color, network marketing focused magazines hitting the newsstands. At the moment, none of these publications have taken the country by storm – in fact, most have struggled – but understand, the fact that they even exist is a giant step forward for network marketing, and anyone who truly cares about the well being of this industry should support their efforts in what ever way they can.

But this isn't where the greatest promise lies as far as positive media exposure. What about this idea: Let's say, instead of paying for an advertement, you worked out an arrangement where you enrolled the media itself, got the exposure for free, but the resulting sales volume and downline that was generated from the campaign went under the company? They could potentially make far more income from overrides than from ad fees, even after the ads stop running. It's a perfect win-win scenario – we get the positive mainstream exposure, the media could get even more money from us that if they charged us for the ads. Would this work? It already is. Slowly, quietly, such a movement is taking place. I know for a fact that there are currently over 100 radio stations in the U.S. attempting this, and some are succeeding, big time. Yet, virtually the entire network marketing industry is oblivious to the fact this is even happening. It's simply a matter of time until the mainstream media's grapevine picks up on this alternative ad revenue generator.

Finally, let's not overlook the public image boost we're getting from the various athletes, celebrities, political figures and medical authorities network marketing is attracting like never before. And no, not all are just paid endorsers, and many of them have careers that are based on their reputation and positive image, and they've openly and willingly attached their good names to network marketing. We've also got well respected mainstream authors and speakers such as Richard Poe, Paul Zane Pilzer, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy and Robert Kiasaki extolling the virtues of network marketing. This kind of powerful, third party validation has never happened before, nearly to this extent. And it's just starting, and it's growing.

Reason #7: Regulation.

Earlier we discussed the cyclical nature of network marketing as it related to the economy. I hope you picked up on the fact that the first half of every decade outperformed the second half – and that's been the case for the last 40 years.

But there were more than just economic reasons for this cycle. The regulatory climate often times influenced the mood of distributors and our prospects, and therefore, has effected the condition of the industry to an extent. The most obvious example being the previously mentioned 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, and curiously seem to peak in pre-election years, but that could just be a coincidence. Most of those larger companies, by the way, not only survived the attack, but are considered models of legality today who's policies and enforcement systems are emulated by younger companies. Yes, there have been many situations where pyramid schemes have been shut down, and typically the action is described as "the network marketing company that was shut down because it was an illegal pyramid scheme." It drives me nuts when I hear someone make a statement like that. It's kind of like saying "A really honest man was exposed as a lier." 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 before we go any further on this subject: Illegal pyramid schemes often times try to disguise themselves as network marketing companies because they want to appear legal. Unfortunately, when the media reports on illegal pyramid schemes, we do suffer a guilt by association, and again, that does have an effect on our ability to retain distributors and acquire new ones, at last temporarily.

The good news is that the last few years we've seen really 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 pool of opportunities, legal or otherwise, but it also increase our ability to build, because we don't have the negative stigma of a well publicized regulatory hit creating greater resistance toward the industry. Not only that, but it also demonstrates a greater ability among regulators to delineate between pyramids and good, legitimate MLM programs. This should be especially encouraging and comforting to those who've built substantial incomes in "high profile" opportunities, or those who intend to be high profile.

And, once again, I've saved the best news for last. There is active lobbying going on right now by the DSA and others, to enact legislation that will create federal regulation of network marketing. As it is now, and always has been, operating a network marketing company in the United States is kind of like trying to do business in 50 little countries. Each state has it's own set of laws pertaining to business opportunities, some specifically to MLM, and all have statutes pertaining to pyramid schemes. Although, for the most part, each state's definition of an illegal pyramid is consistent with the other 49, the interpretation and implementation 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 even that has been utterly ignored in more recent cases such as the infamous Webster vs. Omnitrition case in 1994 where the 9th circuit court of appeals (the most overturned appeals court in the land) chose to disregard personal consumption by distributors as a legitimate, commissionable sale. Fortunately, this decision didn't create law, just a seldom followed guideline. In fact, several individual states in recent years, such as Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kentucky have created statutes that specifically recognize personal consumption as a legitimate sale, and there's legal precedent in California that they've also adopted this position. But still, the enforcement actions over the years have been inconsistent not only between state and federal precedent, but from state to state, and sometimes even from case to case within the same state.

Not only will federal regulation create a clear, consistent path for all network marketing companies, and state regulators, to follow, but, much like the federal regulation of franchising back in the 60's, may eventually require truer and fuller disclosure. Now, as I understand it, that's not what's in the current draft of legislation being proposed as of this writing. However, if this ever did come to pass, and many believe it will, it would absolutely be a good thing. Very good. Not only will it tremendously strengthen the industry by weeding out the bad apples, it will cause this massive turnover rate among start up companies to drop to a fraction of it's current level because most won't even start up in the first place. Gone will be the days of usually ex-distributors sitting around a table saying, hey, let's get a few thousand dollars together and start our own MLM company - now, what can we sell? And the ones that do launch will have to be serious players with solid backing. So not only will more distributors be packed into fewer companies, but those companies will be only the highest quality opportunities. Federal regulation will also greatly increase the respect and credibility level of our industry. This will create a tremendous boost to all established U.S. based MLM companies. 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!

Yes, there are some people who are still apprehensive about the prospect of federal regulation. I've heard the argument made, as I'm sure many of you have, that back in 1963, congress came within 11 votes of outlawing franchising. Well, not only didn't they but the post regulatory era of franchising has 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 franchising history.

In their attempt to tidy up network marketing from a regulatory standpoint, might the feds throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water? Not a chance. Not only are there over 1,200 network marketing companies in this country, employing tens of thousands of tax payers, and generating literally billions in sales and corporate tax revenue, there are about 5 million MLMers out there who are also registered voters. That may not be a huge percentage of the total population, but as our last presidential election clearly demonstrated, it's enough to make a huge difference in the political landscape of this country. Not only that, but there are even a few network marketers in congress, and some of our larger MLM companies have been quite generous in their political contributions.

Network marketing isn't going anywhere - but up.

Reason #8: Industry Growth Rates.

There are a lot of little hints out there that the interest in entrepreneurship is on the rise, such as a recent report by Barns & Noble that the percentage of business related books sold in the U.S. has risen the last five straight years. Also, not only has the number of small businesses increased annually since 1991, what's most exciting is that the rate of increase is just beginning to accelerate.

There's anecdotal evidence when we look at the supply vs. the demand for 800 numbers. It took 29 years to use up the 7 million 800 numbers available, and 888 numbers were introduced in 1996. It took two years to exhaust the supply of 888 numbers, and the telecom industry is already planning to roll out not only 866, but 855 numbers. Not only does this indicate a growing market, due to the increase in small, home based, and internet related businesses, but certainly it's more due to the dramatically lower cost and corresponding increase in availability. This could easily be a nice seguey into yet an entirely new reason for believing in an upcoming network marketing boom - the increase in technologies once affordable by only large, million dollar corporation that are now emerging in small and even home based operations. And this trend towards technological advancement, availability and affordability is still at the very beginning of that curve.

Although this tangent really deserves further discussion, let's get back to growth trends.

Based on information supplied by the Office of Employment Projections and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number of self-employed workers in the U.S. changed very little from 1986 to 1996. However, they project an 11% increase from 1996 to 2006, with sales related occupations being the largest segment.

However, according to the Small Business Administration, the number of self employed people actually dropped slightly from '96 to 1999, likely due to the robust economy and abundance of good paying jobs. This means that for these projections to hold true, the entire 11% increase would have to occur from 2000 to 2006.

But let's get to the bottom line: What are the growth trends of the network marketing industry itself?

Since the top twelve publicly traded MLM companies provide the most reliable information, and they make up the majority of the largest, most well established companies, I'm again directing my analysis towards them, although an informal survey of unaudited data provided by private MLM companies reinforced these results.

From 1990 to 1995 annual sales growth averaged about 16%, and some years was as high as 30%. However, if we track the growth of these public companies, based on U.S. revenue only, you'll find that the average annual sales growth from 1996 to 2000 was 8.7%, reaching a low of just over 6% from 1999 to 2000. And the entire direct selling industry's growth rate dropped to a ten year low of 4.5% around this same time. Based on this information it would seem that industry growth was about to come to a grinding halt. But instead, the growth rate of these companies from 2000 to 2001 was 14.6 percent, more than double the previous year's rate! Without question, the slowing trend has reversed. This is by far the strongest signal of pending momentum, when there is not only an increase in growth, but the rate of growth is also accelerating. Now, one year of doubling growth rates certainly does not guarantee a boom, however, one thing is certain - every company momentum phase throughout MLM history began with that first period of doubling growth rates.

There you have it folks. Not one, not two, but eight solid, powerful, verifiable reasons for finally believing in an upcoming network marketing explosion. No one knows exactly when it will happen, it could be next month, it could be next year, if could be anytime the first half of this decade. All we know for sure is, if you get involved now, and stay involved, you will be there when it happens. So hop on, strap in, and get ready for the ride of your life. It's gonna' be a blast!

What worked? -- What Didn't? -- Whats Next?

2007-10-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

One of the common denominators of successful people is their ability to persevere when things don't go as planned. Effective people don't allow themselves to get bogged down in feelings that don't serve their purpose.

On the other hand, ineffective, unsuccessful people allow their emotions to rule rather than their rational and objective nature. They lament what happened or what didn't and become victims rather than masters of their circumstances.

We all have disappointments. We all suffer setbacks. If we're going to attempt anything worthwhile, we're going to experience failure. The mature—and ultimately successful person—sees failure as part of success. When one method fails, they try again with a new one. Sometimes it takes many attempts.

In my coaching/consulting work, I see all too often the tendency to fix blame instead of fix problems. Rather than looking at challenges rationally and objectively, emotions are allowed to dictate the process.

They're unable to make corrections without invalidation. Something goes wrong and they want to blame. Profit isn't reached fast enough and someone needs to be fired. There's never a shortage of people or things on which to blame the failure.

I suggest a different approach. It's a process called, "What Worked, What Didn't, What's Next?"

This practice works whether you're dealing with a business, a relationship, a project or your life. The key is to evaluate often, objectively, and then to move on.

And the more often and impartially you measure and evaluate, the better it works. It's just feedback—and feedback is neither positive nor negative. It's simply information. I call feedback the "Breakfast of Champions". Looking at what happened with a healthy degree of detachment allows us to make better decisions.

What Worked?

What actions moved us toward our objective? What's worth repeating? What felt good? What created excellence?

Acknowledge your successes. If it's a big one, celebrate it. Praise your own as well as the efforts of others. When you focus on what worked, you begin with positive energy. And you create momentum toward solutions.

What Didn't?

Ok, where did we screw up? What created the mistake? Not WHO dropped the ball, but when, where and how did we drop it? How can we avoid it next time?

It's rarely PEOPLE who mess up but rather systems that don't adequately support them. Most people mean well and try their best. The focus should be on how to better support one another to reduce errors and increase quality.

There are many ways to accomplish what you desire. Often, in finding NEW ways, we create things we never would have if the first or second effort had succeeded. Acknowledge the mistakes, make new plans and devise new strategies.

What's Next?

Regardless of how well or how badly things went, IT'S HISTORY. Nothing is going to change the past. Being upset about it, feeling guilty, placing blame—or even resting too long on our laurels will cause us to lose headway.

One might be wise to use the US Marine Corp acronym, FIDO—Forget It, Drive On. But I would add one more piece; learn from the experience.

After you analyze what happened, the question should be, "What's next?" This takes the focus off from what's happened and places it on where we're going and what needs doing. You can quickly go through this process alone or with a group. It can take a few moments or several hours depending on the complexity of the project.

The key is to do it with impartiality and objectivity. Mistakes, corrections and new attempts are merely part of successful ventures. They don't mean anything, they're simply opportunities to create excellence.

Perspective from Robert Kiyosaki

2007-09-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Alarming Stats from the 4 Hour Work Week!!!

2007-09-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

These are interesting (and alarming) statistics which could be helpful for your presentations. They are taken directly from, "The Four Hour Workweek". Excellent book! The stats have been verified, and the sources are listed at the bottom of the email.

*The Top 10 Stats To Know: You Are Not Alone

63% of all employees want to work less, up from 46% in 1992 [1].

26% of adult Americans report being on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown [2].

40% of workers describe their office environment as “most like a real-life survivor program [3].”

Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation [4]. The average American therefore spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation.

61% of Americans check email while on vacation [5].

53% of employees would opt for a personal assistant rather than personal trainer [6].

62% of workers routinely end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% report strained eyes, 38% complain of hand pain, and 34% report difficulty in sleeping due to work-related stress [7].

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life [8].

70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children [9].

In 2005, a psychiatrist at King’s College in London administered IQ tests to three groups: the first did nothing but perform the IQ test, the second was distracted by e-mail and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana. Not surprisingly, the first group did better than the other two by an average of 10 points. The e-mailers, on the other hands, did worse than the stoners by an average of 6 points [10].

*Unending Workweek Growth and Burnout

Compared to 1970, American managers are working an additional month per year [11].

Americans are working more hours than any time since the 1920s. 63% of Americans log more than 40 hours per week at the office, and 40% log more than 50 hours per week [12].

Turnover rates among mid-level associates in New York City law firms is 36%. The entire system is predicated on burnout [13].

62% of workers routinely end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% report strained eyes, 38% complain of hand pain, and 34% report difficulty in sleeping due to work-related stress [14].

In total hours, the average middle-income family works four months more than in 1979 [15].

People work approximately 8 weeks longer per year than in 1969—in the space of a single generation—but for roughly the same income (after adjusting for inflation) [16]

40% of employees work overtime or bring work home with them at least once a week [17].

*E-mail Addiction and Information Overload

66% of people read email seven days a week and expect to receive a response the same day [18].

61% continue to check email while on vacation [19].

56% have anxiety if they can't access email [20].

“Crackberry” was the official winner of the 2006 Word-of-the-Year as selected by the editorial staff of Webster's New World College Dictionary. Blackberry addiction has been labeled “similar to drugs” in a study performed by Rutgers University; millions of users are now able unable to go more than five minutes without checking e-mail.

According to online surveys of more than 4,000 people, conducted jointly by AOL and the Opinion Research Corporation and reported in 2005:

41% of Americans check e-mail first thing in the morning

18% check e-mail right after dinner

14% check e-mail right when they get home from work

14% check e-mail right before they go to bed

40% have checked their e-mail in the middle of the night

More than one in four (26%) say they can't go more than two to three days without checking email, and they check it everywhere:

In bed - 23%

In class - 12%

In business meetings - 8%

At the beach or pool - 6%

In the bathroom - 4%

While driving - 4%

In church - 1%

Being “e-mailed” (like blackmailed) worse than being stoned?

In 2005, a psychiatrist at King’s College in London administered IQ tests to three groups: the first did nothing but perform the IQ test, the second was distracted by e-mail and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana. Not surprisingly, the first group did better than the other two by an average of 10 points. The e-mailers, on the other hands, did worse than the stoners by an average of 6 points [21].

*The USA vs. the World

Average Annual Vacation Days

Italy 42

France 37

Germany 35

Brazil 34

Britain 28

Canada 26

Japan 25

USA 13

Is it any wonder that US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks just about everything but worker satisfaction?

Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers [22].

The Japanese document approximately 10,000 cases per year of "death by overwork," or karoosh [23]. Considering the above stats, what must the undocumented US numbers be??
The US is the only nation in the industrialized world with no minimum paid-leave laws. European law provides each worker with 4-5 weeks per year of paid-leave.

Nonetheless, Europe has had a higher productivity rate than the U.S. for 14 out of the 19 years between 1981 and 2000 24]. More just isn’t better.

*The Coming Extinction of Vacation

26% of Americans take no vacations at all [25].

Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation [26]. The average American therefore spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation.

American workers get an average of 8.1 days of vacation after one year on the job, and 10.2 days after three years [27]. At that rate of growth (25.9%), you won’t even break three weeks after 12 years on the job.

Employees hand their companies more than $21 billion in unused vacation days each year [28].

*Work-Life Imbalance and the Disappearing Family

57% of the class of 1999 graduating business students in 11 countries said that attaining work-life balance is their top career goal [29].

32% percent of workers cited work-life balance as the top priority in their careers, followed by job security at 22% and competitive salary at 18% [30].

How are they actually doing?

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life [31].

70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children [32].

64% of Americans report that time pressures on working families are getting worse, not better [33]..

*What Happens When Employees Work Whenever and Wherever They Want?

By the end of 2007, all 4,000 staffers at Best Buy headquarters will be on ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment), which permits them to work whenever and wherever they want. So, what happens when smart companies realize that work isn't a place where you go, but something that you do? That performance should be based on output and not hours?

Average Rise In Worker Productivity Since 2005: 35%

Average Change in Voluntary Turnover (Quitting) Across Divisions: -72.3% [34]

Sun Microsystems Inc. calculates that it saves $300 million per year in real estate costs by allowing nearly 50% of employees to work anywhere they want.

If your company won’t wake up, you’ll just have to speed the process by firing their asses or outsmarting them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] “Feeling Overworked: When Work Becomes Too Much,” The Families and Work Institute, 2001

[2] American Psychologist, 2000

[3] USAToday.com, Jan. 1, 2004

[4] The Families and Work Institute

[5] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[6] Circles, 2001

[7] Integra Survey, 2000

[8] Aon Consulting, 2000

[9] Family Matters Survey; The National Partnership for Women & Families, 1998

[10] “Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” New York Magazine, Dec. 4, 2006

[11] "Why Are We Eager To Work Longer Hours?" 2000, In JAP; Loyola University Chicago

[12] Expedia.com Customer Poll

[13] “Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” New York Magazine, Dec. 4, 2006

[14] Integra Survey, 2000

[15] “Washington to Nation: Drop Dead on the Job,” Alternet, June 20, 2003

[16] “Work, Stress, and Health,” National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health Conference, 1999

[17] “Shifts in Work and Home Life Boundaries,” Xylo Report, 2000

[18] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[19] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[20] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[21] “Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” New York Magazine, Dec. 4, 2006

[22] ILO Report

[23] “Washington to Nation: Drop Dead on the Job,” Alternet, June 20, 2003

[24] U.S. Federal Reserve Board

[25] Boston College Survey

[26] The Families and Work Institute

[27] The Bureau of Labor Statistics

[28] Expedia.com Survey Calculations

[29] Price Waterhouse Coopers Survey, 2000

[30] Office Team Specialized Administrative Staffing Survey, 2002

[31] AON Consulting, 2000

[32] Family Matters Survey; The National Partnership for Women & Families, 1998

[33] The National Partnership for Women & Families Family Matters Survey, 1998

[34] "Smashing The Clock,” BusinessWeek, December 11, 2006

Overwork FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Flexible Work Schedules FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Telework FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Gen-X and Gen-Y FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Workplace Flexibility and Health FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Phased Retirement FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Making Work “Work” – New Ideas from the Winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards Read report

Families and Work Institute

Feeling Overworked—When Work Becomes Too Much Read report

Overwork in America Annual Report Read report

Dual-Centric – A New Concept of Work-Life Read report

Workplace Flexibility for Entry-Level Employees Read report

Businss Meeting Etiquette

2007-09-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

* BRIEFING SET-UP
o Chose a nice location for the Briefing – must be easy to access
o Briefing Etiquette
+ Be early
+ Dress to impress
+ Bring positive energy & a smile
+ Help set up
+ Check the chairs
+ Make guests comfortable
+ Fill the front rows
+ Sit in with the guests
+ Stay seated
+ Be attentive/take notes
+ Participate/give energy
+ Don’t ask questions or interrupt the speaker during presentation no matter what

o Have sign-in table that everyone signs in on
o Everyone should get a Name tag
+ Blue name tags for the Guests
+ Red for the World Ventures Rep's

o Play upbeat Music before and after the briefing
o Use an LCD projector with the Newest WorldVentures Approved Presentation
o Have a Whiteboard available in the front of the room
o Have a nicely arranged display table showcasing Your Business at Home Magazines and a photo album of Vacations and Acceleration Training
o Make sure the lighting in the room is adequate
o Keep the room cool
o Make sure there are no bright lights on the presentation screen

* AFTER THE BRIEFING
o Help Guests with their decision
o All Red Tags should be talking to all Blue Tags - Not just their own guests!
o Remove negative Guests from the Room
o Bring the completed paperwork to the speaker – announce the new Rep’s name to everyone in the room and give them a hand!
o Encourage guests to stay for quick start training
o Help clean up
* HELP YOUR PRESENTER (Local Rep's)
o Don’t bring them challenges before the briefing
o Show them Honor/Edification with a well planned introduction of their accomplishments
o Carry their bags
o Don’t let them set up
o Bring guests to them AFTER the presentation
o Make sure they have everything they need
+ Water
+ Books/Magazines
* THE MEETING AFTER THE MEETING
o Network with successful reps from other teams
o Bring your journal
o Business dinner etiquette applies
o Pay your tab & tip generousl

Secret to Success: Find winners who are looking for something new...

2007-09-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

As we all try to reach out to others to share the WorldVentures business opportunity what most of us do is fail to identify our ideal prospect. I know we all have a different perspective of the ideal prospect but as someone who is real serious about growing as large of an organization as fast as I can I have identified my ideal prospect as a sharp business minded individual who has had significant success in the past but due to conditions outside their control there income opportunities are not as fruitful as they have been historically. As we look in the news we read about mortgage reps being laid off by the tens of thousands, and new home starts are at a 12 year low. To me this means mortgage reps, as well as real estate agents and new home reps could be real open minded to looking at something like World Ventures. This creates enormous opportunity for us to expand our business because it takes just one of these individuals that will lead us to more people who are also used to making a nice income, and are hungry and open minded to getting back there. We know this first hand because mortgage reps have been some of our top producers to date.

Another area that comes to mind is medical and pharmaceutical sales reps. These people have been some of the highest paid reps in the sales profession but recently companies are cutting territories, and doctors are giving these sales professionals less face time which is starting to impact their sales. With drug companies starting to control the incomes of their sales staff, as well as requiring more scientific backgrounds these road warriors are also going to be more open to what we are doing.

But a word of caution some of these people will think they can do this without much training and by themselves. That is a big mistake. Many of their skill sets from their profession will carry over, most of these sales reps think like hunters and a hunters role is to kill. To succeed with WorldVentures you need think like a farmer and think like someone who grows stuff. So although some of your skill sets will carry over others need to be developed. Make sure they listen to the getting started call, go through at least the getting started section of WorldVentures VT as well as complete the "Passport to Success" during your game plan session with your new rep. Also introduce them to your Upline to get them involved with their training process.

Is Network Marketing a Scam

2007-09-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

There's a huge difference between network marketing and pyramid schemes. Learn the truth here.

Is Network Marketing Just a Scam?

There's a huge difference between network marketing and pyramid schemes. Learn the truth here.

Q: Some friends continue to try to recruit me into network marketing deals that seem like some type of money game or pyramid. Other friends tell me they're illegal and I'll get into trouble. How do I know what's legal and legitimate?

A: To help you understand what network marketing is, I must first explain what it isn't. First, network marketing isn't a pyramid scheme. Pyramids are programs similar to chain letters where people just invest money based on the promise that other people will put in money that will filtrate back to them and somehow, they'll get rich. A pyramid is strictly a money game and has no basis in real commerce. Normally, there's no product involved at all, just money changing hands. Modern-day pyramids may have a product, but it's clearly there just to disguise the money game.

Network marketing is a legitimate business. First, it's based on providing people with real, legitimate products they need and want at a fair price. While some people do make a lot of money through network marketing, their financial benefit is always the result of their own dedicated efforts in building an organization that sells real products and services.

Pyramids are illegal and are based on taking advantage of people. For a person to actually make money in a pyramid scheme, someone else has to lose money. But in network marketing, each person can multiply his or her efforts, skills and talents by helping others be successful. Network marketing has proved itself as part of the new economy and a preferred way to do business here and around the world.

Network marketing isn't about taking advantage of your friends and relatives. Only a few years ago, network marketing meant retailing to, and sponsoring people from, your "warm list" of prospects. Although sharing the products or services and the opportunity with people you know is still the basic foundation of the business, today we see more people using sophisticated marketing techniques such as the Internet, conference calling and other long-distance sponsoring techniques to extend their network across the country.

Network marketing isn't a get-rich-quick scheme. Of course some people do make large amounts of money very quickly. Many would say those people are lucky. But success in networking isn't based on luck. (Unfortunately, money won't sprout wings and fly into your bank account no matter what someone has promised you.) Success in network marketing is based on following some very basic yet dynamic principles.

Now let's discuss what network marketing is. Network marketing is a serious business for serious people. It's a proven system where the design, creation and expense the corporate team has gone through becomes a road map for your own success. Just follow the simple, proven and duplicable system that the good companies provide.

The real key is this: Network marketing is all about leverage. You can leverage your time and increase the number of hours of work effort on which you can be paid by sponsoring other people and earning a small income on their efforts. J. Paul Getty, who created one of the world's greatest fortunes, said "I would rather make 1 percent on the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent on my own efforts." This very basic concept is the cornerstone of network marketing.

For example, most successful people building a network marketing business do so in an organized method. They work a few dedicated hours each week, with each hour of effort serving as a building block for their long-term business growth. Then they sponsor other people and teach those people how to sell the company product and sponsor others who duplicate the process.

By helping the people you personally sponsor to sponsor others, you duplicate yourself. As this process continues, you create compound growth that can lead to hundreds or even thousands of people coming into your business. You leverage your time by helping others be successful and earn an income from all their efforts.

With network marketing, there are no big capital requirements, no geographical limitations, no minimum quotas required and no special education or skills needed. Network marketing is a low-overhead, homebased business that can actually offer many of the tax advantages associated with owning your own business. Network marketing is a people-to-people business that can significantly expand your circle of friends. It's a business that enables you to travel and have fun as well as enjoy the lifestyle that extra income can provide.

By Michael L. Sheffield

Sharpen your AX?

2007-09-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

An experienced lumberjack walked past one of the new
recruits. The new recruit viciously chopped away at the large
tree but only managed to bruise the bark. Seeing the hard work
and wasted effort, the experienced lumberjack said, “Hey, why
don’t you sharpen your ax? It will make you much more
efficient.”

The new recruit answered, “No. I can’t take the time to
sharpen my ax. I’m busy trying to cut down this tree.”
Many new MLM distributors suffer from the “dull ax”
syndrome. They set goals, work hard, but never reach the
success they desire. Why? Because they never took the time to
sharpen their “ax” by learning new, effective skills. These
distributors waste effort, waste resources, and waste their
careers. If only they would take a little time away from their
frenzied futility to learn the skills that would serve them for a
lifetime.

"You need training even
if you get a job at McDonald’s flipping hamburgers. So why not
expect to invest some time and effort in learning new skills for a
career in multilevel marketing?”

Do you own a business or do you own a job?

2007-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Do you own a business or do you own a job? It’s an important question every small business owner must answer. The vast majority of small business owners THINK they own their own business, but just the opposite is true.

Here’s how to tell if you REALLY own your own business.

Do all business decisions need to be made by you because you tried letting other people make their own decisions and things just got messed up?
When people call your business, do they ask for you by name and are immediately connected to you?
If you walked away from your business today, would it start to unravel within a matter of weeks?

If you answered yes to ANY of these questions, you don’t own a business, your business owns you.

When you own a businesses and not just a job, it has people in it who are just as serious about its success as you are. And it has systems that are self-sustaining, delivering high-quality work every time, whether you are there or not.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. This kind of business is the real American Dream!

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

2007-09-05T21:31:00.001-07:00

When you were a tiny, little child, you made your way around the world on your hands and knees crawling. Everyone around you was walking and one day you got it into your head to give that a try.

So, little by little, you worked on developing the skills you needed to walk. You grabbed on to something above you and pulled yourself upright. You stood up, holding on to a table or chair or big stuffed animal. Wobbly and unsure, you let go, fell down, and tried again and again, until you stood up all by yourself. Then, you took a step.

The older people you watched took one step after another: right foot, left foot, right foot, left ...but you managed only one step-and you crashed.

After days of side-stepping around the coffee table, awkwardly bringing one little foot out from behind the other while you held on to Mom's or Dad's fingers, you eventually took your first couple of steps... all alone...all by yourself...and (hopefully) to the cheers and applause of your family.

Baby steps. One at a time. And you were WALKING!

IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING HOW TO WALK, you probably spent more time failing than you did succeeding. But did you ever have the thought of quitting? Did you ever tell yourself, "I'm not cut out for walking-guess I'll crawl for the rest of my life?" No, of course you didn't. So, why do you do that now?

What's different today with any goal you want and desire you have for accomplishing anything? When did you lose the ability to make a goal, go for it, and get it? How come you don't do what you did when you were one or two years old?

The answer is alarming, yet simple:

Somewhere along the way in your life, you became unwilling to take baby steps. You lost faith in the universal truth that the simple little disciplines done again and again over time would move the mightiest mountains.

Shakespeare said "to climb steep hills requires slow pace at first," but now you put your trust in achieving breakthroughs...making quantum leaps ...instant this, instant that...hitting the lottery. You began a habit of settling for less, just because more was so far out of your reach. You forgot about the most proven, powerful success philosophy on Earth - "The Slight Edge."

WINNING IS ALWAYS A MATTER OF SLIGHT EDGE. Who can forget that moving moment of triumph in the '94 Olympics when American speed-skater Dan Jansen at last overcame years of discouragement, disappointment, and frustration to finally win the gold medal in the 1000 meters, setting a world record of one minute, 12.43 seconds?

Do you know by how much of a margin Jansen won? Do you know what the difference was between the winning world record gold medal and the virtual oblivion of second place?

Twenty-nine hundredths of a second! That's a very Slight Edge!

No matter where you look, no matter in what area of accomplishment, life, work, or play-the difference between winning and losing, between going down in the record books as first and best...or not at all-the gap that separates success and failure is always measured as ... THE SLIGHT EDGE.

And the best news of all is that it's not just the winning goal that's THE SLIGHT EDGE. The Slight Edge is the process itself that all winners use to achieve their goals.

A PENNY A DAY, DOUBLED FOR A MONTH... If you were offered $1,000,000 (one million dollars) right now, or a penny a day, doubled each day, for one month, which would you choose? Unless you've read this illustration before, like most people, you'll probably choose the right-now million. But you'd be making the wrong choice. One penny, doubled every day for a month adds up to $10,737,418...and 24cents. Compound interest. Leverage. Doubling. Geometric growth. It all adds up-and that's YOUR SLIGHT EDGE.

With THE SLIGHT EDGE, time is on your side. What if you gave yourself five years to become twice the person you are today: to earn twice the income, have twice the personal relationships and contacts, make twice the impact on the world, enjoy twice the quality of life? Could you do it? How would you do it?! Ask yourself honestly, "If I doubled my efforts ...if I had twice as much time...if I became twice as smart.. if I worked twice as hard as I do today ...could I really become twice as productive as I am right now? No, you couldn't, and you know it. But wait! There is a way to become two, three, four, and more times as productive as you are today. THE SLIGHT EDGE.

IF YOU WERE TO IMPROVE just .003 each day- that's only 3/10 of one percent, a very Slight Edge-and you kept that up for the next five years, here's what would happen to you:

The first year, you would improve 100 percent (you would already be twice what you are today The second, you would improve 200 percent. The third year, 400 percent. And the fourth, 800 percent. And by the end of year five-by simply improving 3/10 of one percent each day-you will have magnified your value, your skills, and the results you accomplished 1,600 percent. That's 22 times more than you are today.

Just 3/10 of one percent per day-and that's NOT compounded. That's just adding on 3/10 of one percent each day. That's the awesome power of The Slight Edge. If all of this is so, then why isn't everybody using The Slight Edge? We are. All the time. Everyone. The Slight Edge is always operating. It never stops. It's either working FOR you or AGAINST you. And that's up to you. It's your choice.

THE SLIGHT EDGE IS EASY TO DO-and it is easy not to do. Now, I'm defining EASY here as simply "something you can do." The Slight Edge philosophy is based on doing things that are easy-little disciplines, which, done consistently over time, add up to the biggest accomplishments. The problem is that all those things that are easy to do are just as easy not to do. Why is something easy not to do? Because if you don't do it, it won't kill you today. But, that simple, seemingly insignificant error in judgment, compounded over time, will kill you, destroy you, ruin your chances for success, and demolish your dreams. You can count on it.

Take, for example, the health issue of fat and cholesterol in your diet. Would you say that it's a good idea to eat at least a pound and a half of butter each day? How about drinking a quart of saturated oil? "Hey, my cholesterol's way down to 200-got to get it up above 300." Crazy, right? Sure it is-but millions and millions of people are doing it every day. Why? We know what's good for us: fresh fruit and vegetables, complex carbohydrates like whole grains, unsaturated fats and oils, fish and chicken instead of beef. So why do we keep digging our graves with our teeth? It's easy to eat well-right? It's easy not to-right? And when you eat that hamburger, you won't die, will you? No, of course not. But that simple error in judgment compounded over time will ruin the quality of your life and eventually take you out of your life forever!

If you ate that hamburger and you had a heart attack-would you ever eat another one? No way! Eating a hamburger won't kill you today, but compound all those greasy, dead-animal patties over 10 or 20 years-as many as 5,000 of them!-and one day your clogged-up, stressed- out, overworked ol' heart just quits! It's not the one hamburger, it's the thousands! That one hamburger is just a simple, little error in judgment. But compounded over time, it can and will destroy you. It's easy to do! It's easy not to do! Either way, The Slight Edge is at work and at play. You've got to choose which way to go with The Slight Edge. And here is what makes doing the right thing such a hard choice for most people-

THE ODDS ARE NOT IN YOUR FAVOR!

DID YOU KNOW that only five percent of people succeed and 95 percent of the people fail, no matter what realm of life or work you're looking at. It's true. Just one out of 20 people will ever achieve their goals in life. That's how the numbers crunch out; it's just the way it is. Back in the early 1950s, the Hartford Insurance Company did a survey of 100 brand new college graduates-all approximately 25 years old. They asked them this question:

"Will you achieve your financial goals within your working lives-within 40 years?" Every single one of them answered, "Yes!" Forty years later, in the early 1990s, the Hartford went back and checked out what had happened to all those now-65-years-old people. Here's what they found:

One was wealthy, Four were financially secure, Six were still working, 35 were dead, and 54 were "dead broke," having $200 or less left to spend each month after paying off their bills.

Five out of 100 had become successful. That's only one out of 20. Why? What was missing for those 95 others? The answer has to do with GRAVITY-and the downward pull of life. REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE in the fourth grade? It was expected that you'd graduate and go on to fifth grade, wasn't it? Your teachers, your parents, and all your classmates expected you to graduate. The whole system was geared to you moving from fourth, to fifth, to sixth grade and so on.

But what if nobody cared whether or not you graduated? What if the entire educational system, our society, and culture had absolutely no interest or expectation that kids would ever graduate to fifth grade? Would you have done it? If the structure were not in place for children to learn all the fourth grade stuff and pass the test, graduating and moving up to the new challenges of fifth grade, only five percent of us would ever do it! Ask yourself this question: Where is the expectation and the structure to support me in being a success in my life and work? The alarming fact is that outside of our formal system of education, which most experts believe to be fatally flawed anyway, there is no expectation and no structure for your success-none. We get what we expect-and only five percent of us ever expects to win and keep on expecting that. Plus, we have no structure, no system to support us succeeding in life. Isn't that heavy? Well, life is heavy. And it's heavy because the predominant force in life is gravity and it's always pulling us DOWN. It pulls 19 out of 20 people DOWN.

The Slight Edge is a success system ANYONE can use to break free of the downward pull of life and become the best you can be. Here's how you can make it work for you- FIRST, DON'T GO "WHERE THE ACTION IS!" Here's a chart you've probably seen before:

ACTIONS > RESULTS> QUALITY OF LIFE

Your ACTIONS create your RESULTS, which in turn create the QUALITY OF LIFE you live and enjoy. Simple, powerful, and true. The problem is, your actions are not the source of your problem. That's why diets don't work. You see, there's another side to the equation, and that's the place where your actions come from.

Take a look at this:

ATTITUDE > Actions > Results > Quality of Life

Your actions are created by your attitudes-but attitudes aren't the heart of the matter, either. There is one thing more fundamental and essential ...Your Philosophy. Your philosophy is your paradigm of the way life is, how life works (or doesn't), and what's the best way to live your life. Simply put, there's nothing more fundamental than your philosophy. Frank Lloyd Wright said this:

No stream rises higher than its source. Whatever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was... He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built... His philosophy, true or false, is there.

Human beings are builders by nature. Your philosophy is the foundation upon which you build your life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ spoke of The Two Foundations. The Master spoke of a wise man who built his house upon the rock:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.

And Christ told of another man-a "foolish man"-who built his house on sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house; and it fell and great was its fall.

Your philosophy is the source of your failure or success. And the philosophy I recommend you adopt is The Slight Edge.

PHILOSOPHY > Attitude > Actions > Results > Quality of Life

WHAT DO YOU THINK is the key that unlocks The Slight Edge?

When I ask this question in seminars and training, here's the answer I get back most often: "The key is knowledge." To a point, that's correct. But there's more. Educating yourself is the critical ingredient in The Slight Edge philosophy. You must acquire the knowledge you need to master any subject, and pursuit that will contribute to your personal and professional growth and development.

There are three ways for you to get this knowledge:

1) Studied Knowledge
2) Activity Knowledge
3) Modeled Knowledge

STUDIED KNOWLEDGE. Books, tapes, seminars, training; read, listen, and attend everything you can; then, read, listen, and attend some more...study. READ 20 PAGES OF AN INSPIRING, INFORMATION - RICH BOOK EVERY DAY. Pick books that make a contribution to your goals. You're either building someone else's dream or building your own. When you read romance, mystery, or detective novels, whose dream are you building-yours, or the author's and publisher's? When you read Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich-a book that took 20 years to write, that interviews the richest and most successful men and women in the world and reveals their 13 success secrets-whose dream are you building? Read 20 pages per day of an empowering book. Is that easy to do? Sure. And that simple discipline compounded over time, like a penny doubled daily for a month, will send you to the top! Is it easy not to do? SURE. And if you don't do it, will you destroy your life and work today? No way. But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time, will pull you down and take you out of your life!

Listen to a self-improvement cassette tape for 15 minutes every day. You can listen to music on the radio in your car, building Michael Jackson's dream or Barbara Streisand's. Why not choose instead to build your own dreams? Listen to Jim Rohn's tapes. He's a master-and he'll help you build YOUR dreams. Is listening to a tape for 15 minutes a day easy to do? Of course. Is it easy not to do?...And if you don't do it, will that ruin your life right now?...

Do a self-improvement seminar or training every few months.

Better yet, do one every month. Take a course. Take two. If you don't have the time to do that, because you're playing softball every Tuesday and Thursday night, you just don't get it! If your bowling average is over 180-you're losing your Edge, right now! Skip the bowling league. Take a class instead. Is that easy to do?... Is it easy not to do?...And if you don't do it, what will happen today?... But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time WILL kill you! You'll end up a willing participant in the "conspiracy of mediocrity" that 's destroying 95 percent of the people in this country!

ACTIVITY KNOWLEDGE. Life is not a spectator sport-fish or cut bait. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. And life is not a result, either. Life is not the goal-it's the PROCESS. The road to success is always under construction. Marx was wrong: Life is both the ends and the means. Emerson said, "Do the thing and you'll have the power." You can't just go get the power and then do the thing. The only way to have the power is to do it, just do it. People constantly ask me for the key to success. "What's the one thing I can do to guarantee my success?" My answer is always the same: Be here- actively immersed in the process-one year from now. That's the right answer-don't you agree? It's The Slight Edge answer. Commit to the process. The process is THE SLIGHT EDGE. Is it easy to do?... Is it easy not to do?

MODELED KNOWLEDGE. Did you know that your income will tend to be the average of your ten best friends' incomes? (If having more income is a goal of yours, either get new friends or raise the income of the friends you have now!) If you want to raise the quality of your life, hang out with people who have been there and done that. If you want to be a great public speaker, hang out with great speakers. If you want to be a success in business, hang around successful business people. If you want to be a terrific parent, spend lots of time with men and women who have mastered parenting. Do you know why birds of a feather flock together? Because they're all going in the same direction. They share a common vision. If you're after a goal-any goal-go find the people who have achieved that goal, or who are well along the path to attaining that goal, and be with them, hang out with them, camp on their doorstep. It's called the Law of Association. It's a Law because it always works. The first commandment of The Slight Edge:

Thou shalt educate thyself.

Is it easy to do? Is it easy not to do? And if you don't do it, will you fail today? But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time, will ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, GUARANTEE YOUR FAILURE! LEARNING TO LEARN is committing to the process. The Slight Edge is the process.

"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn." -Carl Rogers Freedom

To make The Slight Edge work for you, you must learn how to learn.

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, wrote:

"Learning is an approach, both to knowledge and to life, that emphasizes human initiative. It encompasses the acquisition and practice of new methodologies, new skills, new attitudes, and new values necessary to live in a world of change. Learning is a process of preparing to deal with new situations."

Clearly, we live in a world of change. Constant change. Rapid change. Today, we accomplish in five years what our grandparents and parents took 50 years to do. And everything is getting faster! Learning to learn is a mandatory for success today-and especially for tomorrow. Learning to learn is committing to the process. The Slight Edge is the process. Learning to learn is a choice. You make that choice moment to moment-not just once and then you're done with it for the rest of your life. Each new moment will present you with a new choice. Choose to read 20 pages a day-and you'll have to make that choice every day. Choose to model and associate with winners-and you'll have to make that choice every day as well. You have to choose to make The Slight Edge work for you-moment to moment.

IS IT EASY TO DO?

IS IT EASY NOT TO DO?

"The Four Hour Workweek" Stats

2007-09-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Top 10 Stats To Know: You Are Not Alone

63% of all employees want to work less, up from 46% in 1992 [1].

26% of adult Americans report being on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown [2].

40% of workers describe their office environment as “most like a real-life survivor program [3].”

Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation [4]. The average American therefore spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation.

61% of Americans check email while on vacation [5].

53% of employees would opt for a personal assistant rather than personal trainer [6].

62% of workers routinely end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% report strained eyes, 38% complain of hand pain, and 34% report difficulty in sleeping due to work-related stress [7].

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life [8].

70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children [9].

In 2005, a psychiatrist at King’s College in London administered IQ tests to three groups: the first did nothing but perform the IQ test, the second was distracted by e-mail and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana. Not surprisingly, the first group did better than the other two by an average of 10 points. The e-mailers, on the other hands, did worse than the stoners by an average of 6 points [10].

*Unending Workweek Growth and Burnout

Compared to 1970, American managers are working an additional month per year [11].

Americans are working more hours than any time since the 1920s. 63% of Americans log more than 40 hours per week at the office, and 40% log more than 50 hours per week [12].

Turnover rates among mid-level associates in New York City law firms is 36%. The entire system is predicated on burnout [13].

62% of workers routinely end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% report strained eyes, 38% complain of hand pain, and 34% report difficulty in sleeping due to work-related stress [14].

In total hours, the average middle-income family works four months more than in 1979 [15].

People work approximately 8 weeks longer per year than in 1969—in the space of a single generation—but for roughly the same income (after adjusting for inflation) [16]

40% of employees work overtime or bring work home with them at least once a week [17].

*E-mail Addiction and Information Overload

66% of people read email seven days a week and expect to receive a response the same day [18].

61% continue to check email while on vacation [19].

56% have anxiety if they can't access email [20].

“Crackberry” was the official winner of the 2006 Word-of-the-Year as selected by the editorial staff of Webster's New World College Dictionary. Blackberry addiction has been labeled “similar to drugs” in a study performed by Rutgers University; millions of users are now able unable to go more than five minutes without checking e-mail.

According to online surveys of more than 4,000 people, conducted jointly by AOL and the Opinion Research Corporation and reported in 2005:

41% of Americans check e-mail first thing in the morning

18% check e-mail right after dinner

14% check e-mail right when they get home from work

14% check e-mail right before they go to bed

40% have checked their e-mail in the middle of the night

More than one in four (26%) say they can't go more than two to three days without checking email, and they check it everywhere:

In bed - 23%

In class - 12%

In business meetings - 8%

At the beach or pool - 6%

In the bathroom - 4%

While driving - 4%

In church - 1%

Being “e-mailed” (like blackmailed) worse than being stoned?

*The USA vs. the World

Average Annual Vacation Days

Italy 42

France 37

Germany 35

Brazil 34

Britain 28

Canada 26

Japan 25

USA 13

Is it any wonder that US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks just about everything but worker satisfaction?

Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers [22].

The Japanese document approximately 10,000 cases per year of "death by overwork," or karoosh [23]. Considering the above stats, what must the undocumented US numbers be??

The US is the only nation in the industrialized world with no minimum paid-leave laws. European law provides each worker with 4-5 weeks per year of paid-leave.

Nonetheless, Europe has had a higher productivity rate than the U.S. for 14 out of the 19 years between 1981 and 2000 [24]. More just isn’t better.

*The Coming Extinction of Vacation

26% of Americans take no vacations at all [25].

Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation [26]. The average American therefore spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation.

American workers get an average of 8.1 days of vacation after one year on the job, and 10.2 days after three years [27]. At that rate of growth (25.9%), you won’t even break three weeks after 12 years on the job.

Employees hand their companies more than $21 billion in unused vacation days each year [28].

*Work-Life Imbalance and the Disappearing Family

57% of the class of 1999 graduating business students in 11 countries said that attaining work-life balance is their top career goal [29].

32% percent of workers cited work-life balance as the top priority in their careers, followed by job security at 22% and competitive salary at 18% [30].

How are they actually doing?

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life [31].

70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children [32].

64% of Americans report that time pressures on working families are getting worse, not better [33]..

*What Happens When Employees Work Whenever and Wherever They Want?

By the end of 2007, all 4,000 staffers at Best Buy headquarters will be on ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment), which permits them to work whenever and wherever they want. So, what happens when smart companies realize that work isn't a place where you go, but something that you do? That performance should be based on output and not hours?

Average Rise In Worker Productivity Since 2005: 35%

Average Change in Voluntary Turnover (Quitting) Across Divisions: -72.3% [34]

Sun Microsystems Inc. calculates that it saves $300 million per year in real estate costs by allowing nearly 50% of employees to work anywhere they want.

If your company won’t wake up, you’ll just have to speed the process by firing their asses or outsmarting them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] “Feeling Overworked: When Work Becomes Too Much,” The Families and Work Institute, 2001

[2] American Psychologist, 2000

[3] USAToday.com, Jan. 1, 2004

[4] The Families and Work Institute

[5] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[6] Circles, 2001

[7] Integra Survey, 2000

[8] Aon Consulting, 2000

[9] Family Matters Survey; The National Partnership for Women & Families, 1998

[10] “Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” New York Magazine, Dec. 4, 2006

[11] "Why Are We Eager To Work Longer Hours?" 2000, In JAP; Loyola University Chicago

[12] Expedia.com Customer Poll

[13] “Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” New York Magazine, Dec. 4, 2006

[14] Integra Survey, 2000

[15] “Washington to Nation: Drop Dead on the Job,” Alternet, June 20, 2003

[16] “Work, Stress, and Health,” National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health Conference, 1999

[17] “Shifts in Work and Home Life Boundaries,” Xylo Report, 2000

[18] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[19] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[20] eRoi Email Addiction Survey, Oct. 17, 2006

[21] “Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” New York Magazine, Dec. 4, 2006

[22] ILO Report

[23] “Washington to Nation: Drop Dead on the Job,” Alternet, June 20, 2003

[24] U.S. Federal Reserve Board

[25] Boston College Survey

[26] The Families and Work Institute

[27] The Bureau of Labor Statistics

[28] Expedia.com Survey Calculations

[29] Price Waterhouse Coopers Survey, 2000

[30] Office Team Specialized Administrative Staffing Survey, 2002

[31] Aon Consulting, 2000

[32] Family Matters Survey; The National Partnership for Women & Families, 1998

[33] The National Partnership for Women & Families Family Matters Survey, 1998

[34] "Smashing The Clock,” BusinessWeek, December 11, 2006

Overwork FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Flexible Work Schedules FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Telework FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Gen-X and Gen-Y FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Workplace Flexibility and Health FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Phased Retirement FAQ and Factsheet Read report

Making Work “Work” – New Ideas from the Winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards Read report

Families and Work Institute

Feeling Overworked—When Work Becomes Too Much Read report

Overwork in America Annual Report Read report

Dual-Centric – A New Concept of Work-Life Read report

Workplace Flexibility for Entry-Level Employees Read report

Reasons for failure

2007-09-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

The truth is, anyone can make a fortune in network marketing if they really want to. Yes the industry has a failure rate of 90% or more, and almost everyone knows someone who was in NM but didnt make any money.

However, the reasons for the high failure are lack of training and skills, and lack of belief in succeeding. And honestly, some people are just plain lazy. Doesn't everyone know people who would love to be rich if the lottery made them that way, but they are not willing to do what it takes to be successful themselves?

If someone joins a company to "give it a shot" or "see how it works out" they don't have the right mindset and almost certainly will quickly drop out. Another thing is poor people tend to take advice and listen to other poor people. Why would someone ask their Uncle Bob or Aunt Sue what their opinion is of NM when they buy lottery tickets and live pay check to pay check?

Network Marketing - It's an Asset, Not a Job

2007-09-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

I am sometimes asked, "Why do so few people make it to the top of their network marketing system?" The truth is, the top of the network marketing system is open to everyone — unlike traditional corporate systems, which allow only one person to reach the top of the company. The reason most people do not reach the top is simply because they quit too soon. So why would someone quit short of the top? Most people join only to make money. If they don't make money in the first few months or years, they become discouraged and quit (and then often bad-mouth the industry!). Others quit and go looking for a company with a better compensation plan, but joining to make a few quick dollars is not the reason to get into the business.

The Two Essential Reasons to Join a Network Marketing Business

Reason number one is to help yourself. Reason number two is to help others. If you join for only one of these two reasons, then the system will not work for you. Reason number one, means that you come to the business primarily to change quadrants — to change from the E (Employee) or the S (Self-employed) quadrant to the B (Business owner) or I (Investor) quadrant.

E (Employee)

Trades Hours for Money

S (Self-Employed)

Trades Time for Money

B (Business Owner)

Builds Assets for Long-Term Return

I (Investor)

Invests in Assets for Long-Term Return

This change is normally very difficult for most people — because of money. The true 'E' or 'S' quadrant person will not work unless it is for money. This is also what causes people to not reach the top of the network marketing system: they want money more than they want to change quadrants. 'B' quadrant or 'I' quadrant person will also work for money, but in a different way. The 'B' quadrant person works to build or create an asset — in this case, a business system. The 'I' quadrant person invests in the asset or the system. As a 'B' or an 'I', sometimes you don't get paid for years; this, a true 'E' quadrant or 'S' quadrant person will not do. It's not part of their core values. Risk and delayed gratification disturb them emotionally.

Delayed Gratification and Emotional Intelligence

One of the beauties of network marketing is that it focuses on developing your emotional intelligence as well as your business skills. Emotional intelligence is an entirely different matter from academic intelligence. In general, someone with high emotional intelligence will often do better than someone
with high academic intelligence but low emotional intelligence. That explains, in part, why some people do well in school but not so well in the real world. The ability to delay gratification is a sign of higher emotional intelligence. In a recent study of emotional intelligence, it was found that people who could delay gratification often led more successful lives than those who could not. This is why the educational system inherent in a good network marketing opportunity is so important. It's the emotional education or emotional intelligence aspect of their programs that I find so valuable for people. Many people write me and tell me they loved my book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, but I fear that many of them don't get the most important point of the book: Lesson #1, "The rich don't work for money." Once I have built or bought an asset, that asset works hard to make money for me. But I will not work for money — I will work only to build or buy assets. Those assets make me richer and richer, while I work less and less. That is what the rich do. The poor and middle class work hard for money, and then buy liabilities instead of investing in assets.

What Kind of Asset is a Network Marketing Business?

Remember, there are two reasons to be successful in network marketing: to help yourself, and to help others. Reason number one means helping yourself get to the 'B' side of the quadrant. What about reason number two? The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you don't really make much money unless you help others leave the 'E' and 'S' quadrants and succeed in the 'B' and 'I' quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be successful in the business. If you only want to teach yourself to be a 'B' quadrant and 'I' quadrant person, then
a true network marketing system won't work for you. You may as well go to a traditional business school, which focuses only on your becoming a 'B' quadrant person. The beauty of a network marketing business is that your goal is to create assets, which are other 'B's working under you — and their job is to create other 'B's working under them. In traditional business, the focus is for the 'B' to have only 'E's and 'S's working for them. The type of business I was taught to build is a business with me at the top and 'E's and 'S's at the base. I really don't have room at the top for many other 'B's, which is why in my businesses, I strongly recommend that all my employees look into network marketing as their own part-time business. The traditional corporate system really is a pyramid, because there are a few 'B's and 'I's near the top, and more 'E's and 'S's at the base. Network marketing is a reverse pyramid: its primary focus is to bring more and more 'B's to the top. One type of pyramid, the traditional type, has its base on the ground; the other type has its base in the air. It's a pyramid that pulls you up instead of pushing you down. A network marketing business gives everyone access to what used to be the domain only of the rich.

Robert Kiyosaki is the author of the best sellers Rich Dad, Poor Dad; Rich Dad's CASHFLOW
Quadrant; Rich Dad's Guide to Investing; and Rich Kid, Smart Kid. USA Today called Rich Dad,
Poor Dad "a starting point for anyone looking to gain control of their financial future

By Robert Kiyosaki

Dr. Charles King appearing at World Ventures Acceleration Training in September

2007-08-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

TAX BENEFITS OF THE HOME-BASED BUSINESS

2007-08-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

Taxes! What are you doing today to control the single largest drain you have on your income? One powerful answer is a Home-Based Business. There are several great reasons why the home-based business segment of our economy is growing exponentially. It is currently 50 million strong and increasing at approx. 125,000 new businesses per month.

Believe it or not, (and I don’t recall getting the memo from the IRS), Congress actually wants you to be in business and often passes new laws favoring the home-based business arena. That begs another question: why would congress want you to have a home business? Because it stimulates the economy and helps build a strong America. The way it does that is simple. Each time you buy a new product for your business, it goes through the economy several times by way of sales, production, manufacturing, assembling parts and much much more.

Many ex-IRS agents have said that nobody takes all the tax deductions they deserve. Why is that? Much of it is fear of the IRS, but a very large factor is lack of knowledge. With a little understanding, you will quickly discover that having a home-based business truly can be the #1 strategy in America for reducing your taxes. You can even learn to CONTROL your tax liability by setting up legal entities that will put a person in the same league as the big boys with major corporations, all from the comfort of your own home and in your pajamas if you choose to do so. By developing a few good habits right up front, you will receive substantial dividends for years to come.

The typical wage earner has very little left he/she can deduct as individuals, especially without deductions for a residence or dependents. By finding the right home business that fits your life style and setting up a good solid foundation in the home, you will discover new deductions immediately, including offsetting your taxes from W-2 wages, and also those of a spouse. This strategy could amount to thousands of dollars annually, resulting in payment of little or no taxes at all. It’s like getting an automatic pay raise without asking your boss.

The home office deduction also offers enormous tax advantages. Again, fear of the IRS may deter some business owners from claiming the home office, even though the IRS is rumored to have relaxed a bit on this issue. Use the deduction. You deserve it! Even without a designated room, you can still deduct office furniture, equipment and supplies. It depends on what you need to legitimately run your business.

A special note here: it is absolutely critical to have a daily tax planner tracker with you at all times, and use it consistently. You will keep track of appointments, and record all your business and mileage expenses. Not only will it help you to be more accurate in keeping your record of expenditures, but it could stop an IRS audit very quickly when an agent see’s your detailed and accurate entries.

Now the fun can begin. You should be able to find an additional five to ten thousand dollars a year in new deductions as a real savvy individual. This makes a home business look attractive for literally every American even if they live overseas. From the beginner to the very wealthy, everyone can benefit. And I know several prominent people who have set up home businesses for this very reason.

Other deductions that should jump out at you are fully deducting all medical and dental expenses, hiring children, converting some personal to business mileage, deducting meals, entertainment and travel. Employing a spouse, educational assistance plans, qualified pension plans, many section 162 expenses which are just ordinary business expenses. There are hundreds of them.

Now, if you really want the best of both worlds and to maximize all personal and business deductions, a home-based business entrepreneur can also set up legal entities like LLC’s and corporations. And if you want to optimize your tax strategies you can set up your network marketing business in a tax-free state instead of your home state because it is classified as interstate commerce.

By setting up entities, with a little guidance, you can take every deduction and fringe benefit that major corporations do all over the country. And it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Having a HBB really can change your life. It can be simple, effective and save you thousands year after year. Now you can take the rewards of enjoying more family time, church time, travel and enjoying friends. And thanks to Uncle Sam, much of it can be deductible. As a side note, this is a great way to add security and reduce stress by making you lay-off proof from your regular job.

You can take control of your life by having a home-based business, the last great tax haven. You will never want to be without it again.

By: Jerry McMullin

Is Network Marketing difficult?

2007-08-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

It is difficult when you must produce a report on a Sunday afternoon and cannot attend your son's football game.

It is difficult hearing the mobile phone ring on Christmas morning and you cannot see the excitement on your daughter's face as she feverishly tears into another box.

It is difficult knowing the rust bucket you call a car is eating you alive in maintenance, but you cannot afford a new one.

It is difficult to go to your annual performance review, and even though you have worked hard for another year, you come away empty handed.

It is difficult knowing that you shop by sticker rather than whether the garment looks good on you.

It is difficult knowing that the house you are in, is because prices just went up and your budget is to the bare bones.

It is difficult knowing that you married a wonderful person, and promised them the world, and for the next 30 years you look at balancing the budget and figuring out what sacrifices must be made.

It is difficult reciting "If we get this, we cannot have that".

It is difficult always lowering your dreams to meet your means.

It is difficult knowing that you have spent 40 years of your life working for someone else only to realize that you will be retiring on 1/3 of what you cannot live on today.

It is difficult when your children move out, and you cannot visit them because traveling costs too much.

It is difficult knowing that the fish are biting this week and you cannot drop what you are doing and take your dad fishing.

It is difficult watching the spark in your partner's eyes fade because both of you realize the house you have been wanting is just a dream, because someone else is controlling your finances.

It is difficult waking up one morning and realizing that your children, the most precious things imaginable, no longer need bottles, diapers, have tea parties, eat things found under the sofa, are shorter than the baseball bat they are trying to swing–but are grown and starting their own families and you missed all of that because you agreed to be locked in an office for twenty years by a boss who watched his children grow up.

It is difficult dropping your one-year-old at the nursery because you have to be at work by 9am to stand by the Xerox machine or handle irate phone calls, and realize someone else is going to watch your daughter take her first step, or have your son say "dad" (or "mama") to the playground teacher.

It is difficult knowing that you have diligently worked only to be given an early retirement.

I will tell you what is difficult. It is real difficult realizing it is too late and that time frittered away can never be retrieved. It slips through our fingers one second at a time.

What are we doing with it? We have nasty habits about rationalizing, procrastinating and skirting important things rather than facing the issues. Too often we allow others who do not pay our bills, who do not share our dreams, to direct our future.

We have absolutely no freedom as a child.

We rebel in our teen years and scream for freedom.

We die for the right to be free.

We fight vicious wars to have the seemingly innocent ability to choose.

We reach adulthood and we relinquish freedom because we think it is too difficult.

We do not want to take responsibility.

We do not want to make a wrong decision so we obligingly give that awesome power to someone else.

We feel it will take too much time. Then, we have the audacity to complain when the decisions made were not what we wanted.

We wake up too late; (we say) phrases like "I wish I had only", "If I could only have that time back" etc.

I believe the majority of people want to sing, but die with the music still inside. Face the music and shoulder some responsibility. You cannot have that time back. You have chosen your direction. If you have not spent your time wisely, too bad.

You have no one but yourself to blame. You had the chance. Perhaps the opportunity was presented many times and each time you elevated the trivial to a higher priority than yourself.

Is network marketing really difficult? Is it so traumatic to show someone an exciting product or idea? Is it so difficult to understand that if you work this marketing idea for a couple of years, you might not have to confront some nasty options?

Would you work real hard for a year or two so you could put your family in the home of their dreams? Would you work real hard for a year or two so you could send your children to a college chosen by excellence rather than one chosen by price? — the same criteria you used for clothes shopping?

Would you turn off the idiot box, the soaps, the talk shows, sporting events or (CSI) for a year so you could take dream vacations several times a year?

Would you apply yourself for a year or two so you would have the freedom of being able to roll over, yank the covers over your head and wake at the crack of noon because you wanted to?

Would you work really hard for a couple of years to mold a lifestyle of your choosing so your family could live a lifestyle of their dreams, rather than trying to live how someone else thinks you should live?

We really think we are important in our jobs. The company we work for cannot survive without us. We are the cog that keeps things moving. Everything would grind to a halt without our presence. Think again. Corporations are not structured like that.

A corporation does not rely on people to remain viable. A corporation needs many properly arranged little squares, functioning in a preset order to survive. After many years as a manager in the corporate environment, here is an excellent visualization of your importance. Find a bucket and fill it about 3/4 full of warm water. Make a fist and push your left arm in the bucket up to your elbow. Now, quickly remove your arm. The resulting hole is your impact. Sobering, isn't it?

Can you identify the words "next time"? How many "next times" will you have? What will it take to get you off dead center?

Will it be knowing that people are physically deteriorating when you have a product that will help them, but are afraid of someone thinking you are taking advantage of that person and are just out for the money?

Gosh, I hope not.

Will it be knowing that people are agonizing through bankruptcy, realizing they only needed a couple more hundred dollars per month– not $50,000 per month–but you procrastinated once again?

I hope not.

Realize the awesome power you have in your hands with network marketing. The business you have chosen has the ability to change lives.

IT cannot do anything. But YOU can change lives with IT.

YOU are the one with the life-changing ability. What are you waiting for?

What will it take?

You will pay a price for your actions.

Which one do you choose to pay?

Author Unknown

You Have 6 Minutes

2007-08-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

There's some mighty fine advice in these words, even if you're not superstitious. I received this in an eMail and it said that it is from the Anthony Robbins Organization. I do not know if that is true or not but the message is great none the less.

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

SIX.. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionat ely. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say "God bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson .

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immed iate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone.