Demystifying Prosperity™

So who am I to write a book about how to be successful in network marketing? I have not yet achieved much success, myself. I’m definitely not a millionaire (not yet, anyway). In fact, I’ve made more than my share of mistakes along the way.

Actually, that is precisely why I have chosen to write this book. Of course, it helps that I enjoy writing. But I feel I do have something to say, precisely because of all the mistakes I have made. If my writing this book can keep someone else from making the same mistakes, then it shall have been a success.

The first and foremost mistake I made was to allow my focus to get diluted. For those who have listened to my radio interview from this past Monday, you already know some of what I am about to say. (For those of you who have not yet listened to it, I invite you to click or right-click here. The hour-long show with news break and commercials is reduced to a 44-minute MP3 recording, which is still long enough that you’ll want to allot sufficient time to listen to the end.)

My first venture into network marketing (excluding a horrible experience back in 1979—perhaps you have had horrible experiences, too) was with a health-and-wellness company in 2002. It was recommended to me by Robert Allen, New York Times best-selling author of several books, including Nothing Down, Creating Wealth, and Multiple Streams of Income. He presented network marketing as an additional income stream for everyone to consider. He outlined how to evaluate various opportunities, then he invited us to “cut to the chase” and call an 800 number to learn about the one network marketing company that he endorses. I did so, liked what I heard and read, and ended up joining within the week.

The company was USANA Health Sciences, and I have been a dedicated consumer of their award-winning nutritional products ever since. The problem was that I didn’t stay with just USANA. I was immediately pitched several other opportunities, one of which I joined, and that diluted my focus from USANA for the first year I was in the business. I have joined and quit several other opportunities; more recently I have joined some that I intend to stay with.

However, the more I have learned about network marketing companies, the more I realize that Robert Allen was right: USANA is simply the best.

Does that mean that everyone reading this post should become a USANA associate? Absolutely not. Health and wellness has always been one of my passions, but if it is not one of yours, you may be better suited to joining an equally fine company in a totally different industry. However, passion aside, USANA remains the best that I have seen in terms of compensation plan and distributor satisfaction. (So if you are indifferent to the product involved, do take a serious look at USANA even if health and wellness is not your passion.)

I can help you analyse your options. Simply leave a message for me toll-free at 866-964-9025 (international +1 978 299-6777) with your name, your phone number, and the best time to call you back including time zone. In addition to the companies I am directly affiliated with, I have colleagues in several other reputable companies that I would wholeheartedly recommend, should they be a better fit for you.

And please spread the word about this website. I thoroughly enjoy helping people. And I enthusiastically endorse network marketing as an industry. That is why I refer to myself as a network marketing evangelist.

Best of success to you!

I had the great pleasure of being interviewed on the radio yesterday morning from 11:00 to noon. My friend Debby Hoffman has a weekly radio show called Community Business Connections on WKXL 1450 AM in Concord, New Hampshire. In the show I speak about my upcoming book, Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing.

The show has been recorded, and the MP3 file can be found on www.wkxl1450.com—click on Program Audio; then click on Community Business Connection under Weekly Shows; and then click on Monday, August 4, 2008. A direct link to the 44-minute recording (bypassing all the above steps) is right here. You can click on the link to listen to the interview, or right-click to save the MP3 file to your computer.

Let me know what you think. Your comments are sure to influence my book.

This is a “reprint” of a post made to another blog. It is fitting as an initial post for this new site dedicated to my book Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing.

When people ask me what I do for a living, my typical response goes something like this: “You know how most households are struggling financially, barely getting by, even with two or more incomes? Well, I teach people how to leverage their time and effort to produce the financial freedom they so desperately want.” In a nutshell, this is the power and the promise of network marketing.

Since 2002 I have been involved in several network marketing enterprises. Some have come and gone, and a few have stood the test of time. This series of posts will ultimately become the basis of an e-book on How to Choose the Right Network Marketing Opportunity for You, as well as the aforementioned book.

So what is network marketing? The traditional business model is to develop a product and then market it through various distribution channels: national wholesalers, regional distribution centers, local retailers, along with a hefty advertising budget. In recent decades, more and more companies have begun marketing their products through a network of independent associates in a direct-to-consumer model that bypasses all the middlemen. And instead of spending a fortune on advertising, those monies are distributed to the associates in the form of commissions, remunerating them for their word-of-mouth advertising . . . which is essentially what network marketing is.

Network marketing is a subset of the direct sales industry. Typically, network marketers receive commissions for their own efforts, along with commission overrides for the efforts of the associates that they introduce to their businesses. This results in residual income that can grow over time and become quite substantial. In many cases, these residual income streams can be willed to your heirs and continue indefinitely. Now that’s leverage!

And that is precisely why you should care about network marketing. Even if you enjoy your current job, you should give serious consideration to augmenting its linear stream of income with something more residual and powerful in the long run.

That’s enough for now. Feel free to add your comments below. They are sure to influence my future posts.