Shopping Cart Friends

I have been studying social networking since 2005 and it is interesting to watch how and why people use social networking sites. Some use them to find friendship from a remote location, others to stay connected with friends who are in walking distance. Many use these sites to connect with people in an attempt to build their business. All valid uses if you can make them work.

As a business person I spend most of my time watching how people use social networks in an attempt to build their business. Most people struggle using these sites to connect people to their business and this is where I like to focus my research.

This morning while looking at the business forum MLM thread on MySpace I saw two recent posts which had little to do with the forum or the purpose of the thread. One from someone who looked oddly like an alien and another from someone with no picture at all. Both people posted comments recommending that you check out their site business site. I have been watching what I call “shopping cart” posts on social networks for a couple of years.

Why do I call them “shopping cart” posts? Because the people posting these messages are not really looking to connect with the people they are messaging, they are looking sell them a product, service, or business – i.e. online shopping cart. I also call these hit and run posts. The reason these posts exist is generally because the person joined something that they really did not understand and were told go tell people and that is exactly what they feel they are doing sharing the story.

Many of these folks are added to my friends or to my favorite lists and I check back from time to time. Generally within 3 months their page no longer contains any information about the product they were trying to sell or in the case of the alien the page will be deleted or abandoned.

If all you are doing is generating what other people view as noise are you really telling a story? The answer is no and that is why these people are gone in a short time. I assume they get little or no results have no place to turn and drop out. Since they are generally anonymous sites it is impossible to follow up to get a real answer. Having tried it myself I understand completely what they experienced which was a combination of angry replies, ignored messages, and other marketers trying to recruit me to their business.

It is important to remember that people generally do things with friends and family; they do business with people they meet and like or trust. A shopping cart post on a social networking site from an anonymous stranger meets neither of these criteria.

The ignorance of arrogance

We can learn many things from Asian culture and one I learned early in my life was not to be too arrogant. No matter how much you know, someone always knows more. No matter how much you do not know, someone always knows less.

Even when you have become a master, you must remain a student.

Beyond the Hook

When distributors complain to me about building their business I ask what their system is and generally I get back:

“My mentor told me that all I have to do is Invite, present, and enroll”.

I say

“Ok that in the front end of the system but then what?”

Next I get the

“Oh we plug them into the system. We have this weekly opportunity call and training call as well as an online presentation. Some leaders are actually doing a webinars or hotel meetings.”

I then ask how many of your people are on these calls or events each week and I receive the blank look.

This is when they realize that the system really isn’t a system at all at least one that is not working for them. It is an invitation (the hook) and a presentation which works great if you are an accomplished person at inviting.

Well it is a system; I call it the Catch and Release system. Just like in sport fishing they are catching prospects, holding them up for the picture and then releasing them back into the pond hoping that enough of them survive and stick around.

What is the reality of making this type of system work? Well it works about 5% of the time. We know this because most successful leaders teach this system and the industry has a 95% attrition rate.

So now you want to know why leaders teach their people to do business this way, right?

The answer is this is this is the only way they know and it worked for them 20 years ago and again 10 years ago and it is working for them again now. They learned how to become an expert at "invite and present systems" and became accustomed to only keeping the trophy fish.

If something only works 5% of the time is that really a system?

You have to understand that before the year 2000 it was nearly impossible to do what it took to connect with everyone in your group on a weekly basis so this was the only practical way to do the business. You could not be in all places at all times like you can today. Look at this blog. I can post it now and everyone on my team can read it when it is convenient to them. In fact these systems are still being perfected but we are at a point where they are now practical and widely available.

Today we have entirely new ways to fill in the gaps in that system and connect our people to our leaders 24/7/365. Our new systems make it possible for our younger leaders to catch those older leaders and blow right by them using technology that was not possible when they built these “catch and release” systems.

The really big news is the older leaders don't really understand how to make these systems work so this is creating huge opportunities for new leaders to jump in and capture the 95% that they toss back.

Who is teaching people how to build these new systems?

We do. We already have an entire system in place:

• An online training system which runs for 1 year,
• this blog,
• social networking tools and much more

When used correctly, these tools fill in the empty spaces and provide a number of other ways to introduce prospects and keep them connected. A system is a system when it teaches you how to continue to function after you have gone through your circle of friends and also provides your prospects with several ways to stay connected both online and offline so they have access to the latest training, product information and what is working.

It is no wonder that our company has developed more millionaires then any other company in history. One of the ways we do it is by constantly reinventing ourselves…

Energy vs. Wealth Equation – which side are you on?

The Wealth Energy Equation states that when energy costs change so does wealth, but this equation does not create the same results for everyone. For most people when the cost of energy increases their wealth decreases. We are seeing this today as a result of the recent energy crisis.

There are other companies that do better during depressed economic times – they are called recession proof industries. Supermarkets, Hospitals, and other industries which are linked to our survival are recession proof industries.

For the rest when the cost of energy goes up so does their wealth. Clearly companies involved in the sale of energy are experiencing exponential growth in wealth. There are other companies which are called recession friendly companies.

So during times of economic down turns it makes sense to look for ways to switch to an industry that is either recession proof or recession friendly.

One of those industries which is recession friendly is network marketing. During economic down turns like we are experiencing right now network marketing is a way for someone to create secondary income and therefore more people join in times like we are experiencing and more people become economically stable and economically secure.

What is more important is those who take action during those tough times, most just to get by, have more opportunity to emerge once we are economically stable with a monthly recurring income for an extended number of years regardless how much effort they put into their business when the economy stabilizes. People who took advantage of building a secondary income during the 70’s when we are in the worst recession since the depression and again in the late 80’s when the housing market collapsed were able to walk away from both of those economic recessions with a sustained income for many years to come because they had such a large group volume that people continued to purchase month after month and year after year.

Just a thought?

If you are running around in circles is that considered taking action?

The Law of Opposites

We are taught about the law of opposites in school with two magnets. It is impossible to put the same poles of two magnets together. You can use the law of opposites and to spin a motor. You can also use the law of opposites to spin a conversation to keep your prospect engaged.

Next time you are in a conversation see if you can pick out how many times opposites are use by someone else in your conversation. People generally do not like to be with other people that blindly agree with them for very long. When someone turns negative, try giving them a negative right back and see if it changes their position.

Understanding this law and how people react to positive and negative statements can really help you in conversations turn things around quickly. First, do not attempt these with negative or abusive people, these people will sap your energy and probably will never be successful in any business.

Here is a real life example:

• You: “I just joined this exciting new company and I thought of you first. I would like to show you what I am doing and see if it works for you.”

• Them: “No these companies are just a rip off, they don’t work.”

• You: “I just invited you to look at an opportunity with a billion dollar company, on its way to 3 billion dollars in what is currently estimated to be a 20 billion dollar industry. I understand this is probably not the right time for you to be looking at a business.”

I sent out positive and they responded negative. This is expected and actually welcome. I then follow their negative statement with the complete opposite positive message to invoke a response, which would be negative if I stopped here. So then I threw in my own negative response so they would feel compelled to be positive. You will get a positive response about 80% of the time, but it may not be the positive response that gets you the sale or a new distributor. If the person responds negatively again then they are generally negative and if they did join would bring down your group.

The key is to keep your prospects mind open and keep them engaged in your conversation. If you throw in the towel when they say “No” the first time your success rate will fall measurably in the negative column.

I said earlier that the negative statement was welcomed. This is because it is a sign that I can engage this person and apply the law of opposites to keep this person listening to my message. Generally people who are interested stay and question what you are saying which is how we create conversation. People who are not interested in a conversation simply walk away.

By the way this technique works online as well as in person.

With change comes opportunity

How many times have you heard the saying change creates opportunity? Right now there is one of the largest opportunities to capitalize on change that has existed in history. The world is in the early stages of changing the way we socialize and meet people.

The teenagers understand it completely spending hours in front of the computer sharing experiences and creating relationships with people around the world. The twenty plus group use social networks, but are not tied in as completely as the generation right behind them.

The real opportunity is with the over 30 crowd. This opportunity goes far beyond anti-aging skincare and health care products. Forget about getting paid pennies on a link referral. It really doesn’t matter what you are marketing there is a group of people that have no idea how to get to it or how to capitalize on it.

So let’s talk about how companies are missing the mark. They are either teaching distributors how to attract people that are already in a social network, or how to direct people to a presentation on the internet.

Few are teaching people how to convert the non-technical masses into internet socialites. The big money will be made in this industry by companies that establish social networks that connect leaders to distributors. By sharing education, establish connections and relationships to other distributor also working in your company and industry will by the tie that binds people together and drastically reduces attrition.

Watch our broadcast on Thursday night to learn more about this subject. Thursday at 9:00 PM EST (6 PM PST) on uStream.TV. http://www.ustream.tv/mybroadcasts/info/takingmeglobal's-business-webcast

Is your online system failing?

The internet is a huge, untapped, ever changing, resource for marketing. The big multi-billion dollar companies have yet to figure it out so don’t feel like you are alone.

But you have one advantage they do not, and that is direct contact and the drive to make it happen. Joe or Jane corporate America doesn’t care if the company figures it out or not as long as they keep getting paid. They won’t care until the carpet is pulled out from under them and then they will all scurry around looking for a way to buy in and solve their economic woes.

This is a huge opportunity for the small guy to jump in and cash in. So with all this opportunity why is it that people are unable to convert contacts into results? The answer is so simple you are going to laugh. They are all being taught to open there store in the same places, they are all sending out advertisements and market to the same people, and marketing to people who are not there to shop in the first place.

Can you get results, sure but it will be the biggest battle of your life. It is like setting up a store in the center lane of a busy highway. The only reason most people will stop is to find a way to get around you.

Think about how marketing works. It is about setting up a location where people are looking to shop. It is about advertising where people are expecting to see it. It is directed in a way that has people coming to you and not about you getting in their face and force feeding your message. People would rather not see these advertisements where are expected to be, now think about how they feel finding them where are not expecting them like in their comments along with their friends comment about the great weekend.

I have been on myspace since 2006 and I check the heavy in-your-face marketers from time to time and almost all are long gone. Their pages still setup and the last time they logged in was well over a year ago. They did not figure out the system and just gave up.

This week on our video blog I will be talking about this very topic. Build your business using social networks and driving others to your site along with ways of picking up the prospects your competition is watching click the Delete button.

In preparation for the broadcast think about where you are marketing – a Social Network. This is a place where people are looking to connect and build relationships; it is not the shopping mall.

Follow-me with twitter: www.twitter.com/takingmeglobal.

Our show address is: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/takingmeglobal%27s-business-webcast. Thursday evening 9 PM EST (6 PM PST).

The next generation of social networks.

Would you like to bypass the spam on MySpace, be more open than FaceBook, create a business networking site without charging like LinkedIn?

Now it is all possible because the next generation of social networking sites allow you to create your own social network and connect with your family, business associates, or friends. Sites like www.ning.com are designed, not as a social network, but as a social networking tool.

Technology experts are predicting that social networking will be a way of life within the next 5 years. Families, businesses, clubs, and societies will all establish social networks as a form of communication and a way to keep everyone connected.

We believe the next generation of social networking sites is helping make this a reality.

TakingMeGlobal TV

Join us live each week at 9 PM EST (6 PM PST) on UStream.TV. Watch the program here. Each week we will broadcast different ways to build the business live.

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If they only knew the truth...

How many times do have you seen advertisements for the special system that is revolutionizing the way network marketing is being done claiming people fail because top leaders are teaching one thing and doing something completely different – I say Hog-wash.

Every leader knows that if you want to make big money in network marketing you have to teach a system that is 100% duplicatable. The system must be easy to use and simple enough that anyone can do it. It is absolutely against network marketing law to teach one thing and do another.

The truth is top leaders are using the same system they are teaching to build their networks but it may be a system that does not come naturally to everyone. Like person to person contact. I personally do not like using the old system that is why I developed an online education duplication system. But we absolutely teach both systems to our people and let them choose the one that works best for them. Some people love person to person direct contact and others like meeting people online.

Just building it is just a beginning…

So you want to do business online? Your page is published, tags are in place for the search engines and now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the profits to roll in - Right?

Wrong. If you wait for that to happen you will be out of business before you began. Somehow you need to drive people to your site. The best way is promotion. You need to go out and tell people about your site. I am not talking about getting off your couch and missing the next segment of American Idol, ha-ha-ha. I am talking about getting online and inviting people to check out what you have to offer.

Back in the late 90’s when the internet boom was just beginning companies like Amazon and eBay used traditional advertising channels: TV, Radio, Billboards, Magazines, etc. They quickly found out that while this was a way to drive traffic to their site, it cost them more per lead than they were able to generate in profits. Shortly after that many internet companies filed for bankruptcy as investors cut off funding because they could not see a future in this business model. This is when these same companies, who are giants today reinvented their marketing and this is one of the ways we use today to generate traffic and make sales.

What they did is the same thing you can do – online promotion. It costs next to nothing, does not require a marketing degree, and can be done while you sleep with the right tools.

Here are a few ways companies use to market online:
- Email Auto-responders – They regularly hit their customer base with something new and different by email.
- Search Engine Placement – Using tools like Google Adwords they can move their listing to the top of the search. Companies like eBay and Amazon who offer just about everything for sale use these tools to place a listing near the top for just about anything you are looking for online.
- Affiliate Marketing – Affiliates are people who direct traffic to the site through links or emails and the company shares in the profit when a customer purchased as a result of the link.

We use some of these but they cost money. Since you do not have to pay someone to market your products online you can add these to your ways to direct traffic to your site and they are free:

- Social Networks – Create a page on a social network and invite people to look at your page.
- Forums – join forums and groups of interest and make sure your posts and profile contains your website link.
- Blogs – Like this one where you can express yourself and also promote your site through links.
- Affiliates – Sharing the profit is a good thing. Giving someone a percentage of the profit for sending someone to your site to purchase is great word of mouth advertising.

Most important never stop inviting people to look at your material. Ask them to subscribe to something that allows you to keep in contact with them. We will cover tips on how to keep them interested without driving them away in another blog.

Is the economy forcing our seniors back to work?

A couple of isolated observations over the last two weeks brought me to the realization that many of senior citizens are ill prepared for the current economic conditions. Most are surviving on a fixed income that has not increased or at best increased a meager 3%. At the same time interest and dividend income that they rely on has dropped almost into non-existence.

A couple of weeks ago one retiree was arguing with me, claiming that the cost of living could not be higher than 3% because the government gives him a 3% increase each year. I asked how much he paid for a gallon of gas, his electric and natural gas bill, and food last year at this time and he agreed all those bills were significantly lower but he still did not understand our claims that the cost of living has increased as much as 25% because the government told him that the 3% increase in his Social Security check was a cost of living adjustment.

Today as I noticed someone who was clearly of retirement age delivering a pizza to a business. During recent trips to Florida I witnessed and increase in the number of seniors working in grocery and discount department stores. Clearly just at a time when they thought they were going to leave the workplace and enjoy life, they found themselves in a place that they could not survive on their fixed income.

All of us who are relying on a 401K type program which is based on the stock market and interest income should take careful notice of where the economy is right now and the type of returns or losses those who are already retired are experiencing. Based on historical trends which seem to repeat every 8 to 10 years we will probably find ourselves in the same position at some point during our retirement years. Investments are great in an up economy, in a down economy cash is king. We need to be in a position where we have a backup plan…

It is happening and the adults don’t know or don’t care

There is an underground revolution underway and only a few understand it. The revolution will completely change our society and the exchange of money as we know it and most people are unaware that this change is going on right in front of their nose. They are even unknowingly participating in this revolution.

The revolution is the result of the sharing of information over the Internet. This freedom of speech is completely undermining traditional business models as we know them and I am predicting it will eventually take apart Corporate America… It is not a secret what is going on but it is being kept quiet by the media.

What’s at stake?

• Music – The music industry is in shambles. Not because music is given away for free, like they want you to think, it is because it is now sold over the internet. Musicians are selling more music then ever but the record companies are not getting the profits. This is causing temporary problems for artists as they learn how to capture this new market, but the difference is they can create a song, upload it, promote it, and cash in. Now a “One Hit Wonder” can cash in on a hit single because they don’t need a record company or 10 other hits to make a music album. In the past the record company would pay the musician $1 on each CD album sold, the record company would get the rest, minus the profit added on by the store.
• Movies and TV – The studios and networks are tripping over each other trying to save this dying industry. Movie attendance drops off measurably each year. Even the hottest TV shows have significantly lower viewer ratings each year. The latest trend is to bring back the old hits and television shows in an updated format in an attempt to get the adults back into their seats. The teens have tuned out and are probably not coming back. They can get together anytime and search for entertaining clips online and share them not only with the group anytime together or through an instant messenger service. Better yet they are not tied down in a theater for hours and locked into someone else’s schedule. This new form of entertainment is available 24/7/365.
• Radio – The terrestrial stations are really running scared. With profits down and 20-30 minutes of commercials every hour just to survive people are tuning out and tuning into other mediums like internet and satellite radio.
• Advertising – This is Corporate Americas last ditch effort to fight back. They are even trying to feed us these video advertisements over the internet like anyone wanted them in the first place. My message to the corporate folks is you better save your money and make some changes.
• Huge Corporations – Internet sites and social networks are allowing any mom and pop shop running out of their garage to play on the same field as a multi billion dollar corporation. The Internet levels the playing field because for a few dollars each month your product can be placed right next to any other product in that market. In the past what kept the small guy small was the money required to promote their product through advertising.

We are hearing new stories all the time about a couple of people running a business in their garage cashing out with millions in their pockets because they created and promoted a website. Other stories about companies like Amazon springing up and cashing in as a result of going direct to the consumer and cutting out the overhead of having store fronts and paying out to the retail distribution chain.

What will really keep you up at night is the fact that all of this is now possible without spending a penny in advertising!

Do you know people that get caught up in perception?

It is way too easy to get caught up in what we are told and ignore reality. There are several documentaries on how the news cherry picks stories to create a perception that things are worse then they actually are in an effort to keep us watching. Advertising creates a perception that if we use their product we will solve our problems.

Here is a real life example of how advertising and the media drives our perception that we have to purchase more to make people like us. A couple of years ago I was working with a young man who was out of work because of medical problems. It was just before Christmas and he was looking for ways to make money because he wanted his 2 year old son to have a great Christmas. He said I only have about one hundred dollars for the holiday and I won't be able to give my son a Christmas and purchase things for the family as well. He was looking for fast cash in direct sales to make it happen.

Before he received his first check Christmas would be over but it was clear he did not want to be in this position again. Before we spoke about the business I provided a few words of wisdom in the hope of relieving some of the stress he was feeling. I said "First before we get into the business lets talk about Christmas. Your son is two and he does not care about expensive gifts he cares about you and being with you on the holiday and that is all that matters. I understand that you want to give him a holiday but when he is 10 he is not going to remember that you bought him an expensive toy. A two year old boy wants cars and action figures. You can take that 100 dollars and buy him 50 little cars and a nice gift and he will be just as happy as if you had spent 10 times that much. In fact if you over do it he will probably get bored opening presents and want to play with the 1 dollar cars you bought. As far as the adults in your family I would hope that they would understand that you are unemployed right now and would not expect you to deny your son a Christmas and purchase things for them."

He listened to me and bought his son a number of small gifts most that were $5 or less. He and his son had a great holiday together and as expected he grabbed the $1 cars and played with them for hours. I remembered this story because I just visited with the young man, who is still with the business, and his son who is now 5. We were visiting and he grabbed a few of these small plastic cars and brought them to the table to be part of the group and he was rolling these around the table while we spoke. Even though he now has rows of DVD's and plenty of other toys he still enjoys playing with small cars, between playing with the more expensive toys his father can now afford.

Why did he feel he had to spend hundreds on a 2 year old child? Easy, the perception that a good parent purchases these expensive toys for their children which is pounded into us and our children through advertising. Months before Christmas children's TV is loaded with commercials of children receiving these toys and the result is they become very happy right before your eyes. Maybe it is just a big smile or their parents getting a hug but the message is very clear. Big gift equals happy child.

How is perception driving other areas of our life? Fear that some stranger is waiting to break into our home, steal all of our money, or kidnap our children. Fear that everything we eat or do is bad for us. If you step back and look at the media you see news that makes everything bad and products that makes all those bad things better.

It is difficult not to get caught up in perception because the material presented plays on our deepest emotions, fear and pleasure. The only personal defense we have is through education. I constantly remind my children that the media only presents a piece of the story, which is probably not what actually happened, and they are only showing the worst side of humanity. They have to be more conscious of what is going on around them now then in fear of what is going on someplace else in the world.

Terrible things happen sometimes and there is no law, agency, or person that can change that or protect us from that. We can't stop living and achieving our dreams because of fear or humanity itself will fail to exist.

Is hard work creating lack luster results?

More and more companies are introducing their products through direct sales and multi-level marketing. Most hit the same markets simply because there is a high demand. Right now the baby boomer market is growing exponentially and so is the number of products claiming to be the perfect fit for that market. From supplements to skincare everyone has the answer to aging. My company has exceptional products in the skincare market and so do at least 15 other reputable direct sales companies. My company has a bottled juice anti-oxidant product and so does about 10 other direct sales companies. Are you beginning to get the message?

Most of the direct sales products are exceptional but by the time you get the words “baby boomer” or anti-aging out of your mouth your prospect is looking for the exit and never tries your product. These words are almost as over used as “Plan B”. I do not wish to discourage action, because action does create results but we all get into this business looking for immediate results and a path to an easier life. Having to kidnap your prospect and force feed your product to them is not what I view as a replacement to the corporate grind.

Bottom line you can not tell the same story as the competition. Approach the same issue with a different color package and another ingredient is not enough to differentiate yourself from the competition. You need to find out what truly makes you different and it is probably not what is actually in the package.

I know you are thinking that there are leaders that are hugely successful and you just have to do what they do. Nice thought, but if you search into their backgrounds you will probably find that they have been doing this or something else like it for years, have a natural talent, or knew the right person that pushed them up quickly. The problem is it would take too long for you to learn how to duplicate the way they present the business. If you are reading this and agreeing with it chances are you do not have the same background or natural talent and you need to find a way to present the business that works for you and keeps 9 out of 10 doors from being slammed in your face.

Even the top leaders who have extensive backgrounds will have issues building in a market with lots of competition. The difference is they have learned how to approach and close so no mater what they are selling they will always have a higher success rate.

The idea is not to have a higher success rate than your piers it is to have a high success rate and low attrition rate. You should not be in search of people who have not yet heard the story, you want a story that almost no one has heard. Remember catch phrases only last as long as the product in the box and then what do you do when all of your competition is telling the same story as you? Back in the beginning just being first was enough, today it is not.

What differentiates you from the competition?

• What do you have that is patented and proprietary
• What is the payout from your compensation plan? How does your compensation plan work to actually provide them the residual income that is often hyped? Show examples that work.
• Show how you will work together with your new prospect to help them build the business.

I just put together a presentation for our team and there were no slides about huge and expanding markets, baby boomers or how we top the competition. This presentation spoke about our differences so there is no competition to compare to. It is a win-win when your competition can’t say – “Oh we have that too” and be honest.

Follow the Leader

I was at a client today and a unique situation brought to mind one of the building techniques we teach a new distributor which is:

The people you introduce to the business will do what you do. If you sit back and wait for them to bring in new customers and distributors they will do the same and no one will succeed.

What happened today was odd, without cause, and drove home the point that people tend to follow the leader, any leader. Here is what happened:

One of the vice presidents we needed to meet was late arriving to the office and we were looking for her vehicle. The two rows of parking spaces where she normally parked were completely empty. This person along with another employee normally arrived very early and parked in the first two spaces of these rows. Today both cars were missing when the remainder of the employees arrived and all of these parking spaces were left empty. You may not think this was odd but the 30 plus spaces two across would normally be at least three quarters full by 8:00 AM.

When the Vice President arrived, almost 2 hours after her normal start time, she too parked in an alternate location. The absence of vehicles in these spaces was so odd that the President of the company asked a couple of employees why these spaces were all empty and the only answer was “No one else parked there so we assumed they were empty for a reason.”

The Result: Without special instructions everyone noticed that something was different and instinctively changed what they normally did, following the person before them, assuming everyone before them knew something they did not.

Think about this for a minute and do you think that if you started creating action in your business people would instinctively follow? Every successful leader I have ever met jumped into action and stayed in action, sometimes against the odds. Most will tell you they don’t know what happened they took charge and people followed. Many ended up introducing people who experienced far greater success but because of the compensation plan they still prospered.

My Grandchildren were in the newspaper

Yesterday I received a call that my grandchildren were in the newspaper. My last blog entry contains a picture of my two grandchildren which was taken last weekend when we took them bowling for the first time. Jaki (my daughter-in-law) sent the picture into a newspaper photo contest and the paper (Record-Journal) selected the photo to advertise the contest, which is entitled “Best Friends”.

If you would like to see the contest entry visit: http://record-journal.mycapture.com/mycapture/photos/Image.aspx?ImageID=238565&EventID=490407&CategoryID=36876&CollectionID=0&Sort=

While you are there please vote…

The great thing is they are really that close. Of course there is the normal sibling fighting but generally the two are inseparable.

A week for the record books

As a veteran of the network marketing business I have heard many horror stories from other distributors, who had been in their own businesses prior to joining our industry and why they closed their businesses to go full time in this business.

I have one to add to the story books. I received a call from an employee of one of my clients, the business manager who I worked with professionally several years, a little over a week ago telling me that she was falsely being accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from my client and she said she was calling me because they were questioning the value of my service as part of her termination interview. My service is a key part of their billing. I was confused and rather upset that they would be questioning me and my company after 2 years and a measurable reduction in their outstanding receivables. A few days later I was contacted by a partner in the company, told that the business manager was terminated and asked to bring in my invoices for the last 24 months. I was told that there was a discrepancy in the billing and they would appreciate if I would provide them with what I billed their account. When I arrived and we reviewed my invoices, I was told that on their books they had paid me 6 times the total invoices just last year. I was in shock and did not know what to say. I was told that my account was one of many in question. This was a first for me a client cutting checks with my name on them, somehow getting them cashed and keeping the money. The client is transferring their billing to an outside agency to avoid this type of future loss so I will be losing the account within the next month. For me clearly it is time to make a change. The fact that this is possible and a large portion of my income is dependent on contract services like this created a gut check moment for me that now is the time to really focus on one business that creates residual income.

The best part of the week!

The week wasn’t a total loss; we went bowling yesterday with the grandchildren. This was the first time they both had been bowling (Mark 5 and Kady 2). They had a blast. The bowling center, which just upgraded their lanes, automatically adjusts the lane for the children so when it is their turn to bowl gutter bumpers automatically come up so the adults and kids can all bowl together. It was a great time.

It is also getting closer to boating time. I visited the marina yesterday to check on the boat. Just a few weeks it will be in the water and I have to get the cover off and prep the boat for the water, can't wait for weekends away... I still have to paint the bottom and flush out the systems. The kids are already talking about taking the jet ski out and looking forward to the water. The river was at flood stages yesterday and the marina was watching the levels, expecting possible flooding today. It may be a good day for a drive to get some pictures. I am truly blessed to have the ability to get away like this with a boat and Jet Ski. I hope that I can help others also obtain these items or whatever their dreams are by helping them obtain them through the business.

Back to blogging

I have been out of the blogging loop for a while. I am resurrecting my blog and getting back to work. Not that I have stopped witting. I still write for a monthly publication (Common Interest) which is distributed mostly in my home state of Connecticut.

Today I started making contacts and building. I have an appointment tonight with an old distributor who is also getting back to work and we will be making a few contacts.

I had a great weekend with my oldest son and grandchildren (Kady 2 and Mark 5). We went to a place called club kidz on Friday evening, it is a place where they can get rid of their energy and have some fun. This place has all sorts of things for kids to do from go carts to a climbing wall. Saturday we went to the movies to see Horton hears a who. I was happy to be spending time with the family but at the same time wondering if I would enjoy this animated story, I knew as a child. But the story was interesting and the computer animation was excellent. Definitely a great movie. The two kids sat through it and surprisingly so did the 3 adults.

Unfortunately this blogger is going the way of everything else and I already had an issue with my blog being marked as spam. If that happens again I will transfer services and take this some place else or just program my own.