Curious about Network Marketing: The Good News, The Bad News and a Rosy Future

During this past year, I have become involved and enamored with Network Marketing. Therefore, when I was made aware of the Reports and Discussions swirling the Internet about the pros, cons, advantages, disadvantages and misconceptions, I decided that it was time to do some research.

The Good News

Robert Kiyosaki wrote in The Business School, “Network marketing is a revolutionary new way of sharing the wealth with anyone who truly wants to acquire great wealth... The system is open to anyone who has drive, determination and perseverance. The system does not really care what college you went to, if you went to one, how much money you make today, what race or sex you are, how good-looking you are, who your parents are, or how popular you are. Most network marketing companies care primarily about how much you are willing to learn, to change and to grow, and whether you have the guts to stick it out through thick and thin while you learn to be a business owner.”

Paul Zane Pilzer wrote in The Next Millionaires, “Of all the entrepreneurial opportunities available today, one of the most important is direct selling, also called ‘network marketing.’ The direct selling industry takes advantage of virtually every one of the trends we’ve just looked at, and is perfectly positioned to create many of these Next Millionaires... Direct selling is the perfect intellectual distribution business for today’s economy. A home-based business doesn’t require a storefront, warehouses, employees or massive back-office support operations. It only requires one person – you – willing to handle the educational component of the distribution process.”

The Bad News (Or, is it really bad news? I think not. It portends a Rosy Future, in my estimation.)

Toward the beginning of December, along with hundreds of others, I received the announcement of a new Report, “The Death of Network Marketing,” for free downloading. This report, written by network marketing guru, Ellie Drake, and Internet Marketing guru, Mike Filsaime, addresses their concern with the traditional, “Old School” network marketing methods. Why is this industry not making use of Internet marketing leverage? They have followed up with “NetWEB Marketing” The Birth of Network Marketing 2.0.

I suggest that if you are at all involved with Network Marketing, download both excellent reports (click on their titles) before they are no longer available.

While getting excited about Drake’s and Filsaime’s approach, I also found another network marketing (or mlm) guru, Ann Sieg. Sieg discusses many of the similar thoughts and concerns addressed by Drake and Filsaime. She has also written a report, “The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing,” along with another eye opening e-book, “The Renegade Network Marketer.” Also, visit these two thought-provoking communications.

The Rosy Future

Yes, some readers are not happy about the above activity. But many are delighted! I know that I am. NetWEB Marketing is where we will thrive.

I will end with a passage from Kiyosaki, “Years ago, many people laughed at network marketing. Many badmouthed the industry, giving it a bad name. I know I did. Today, with all the changes in the world, the future for the network marketing industry is only getting brighter. Network marketing has finally become a mainstream business even though very few people realize it ... yet. ... All you have to do is say, ‘I want the power of networks working for me.’”

Curious about Patience: Do You Use It to Advantage? Not Always Easy, but Usually Successful

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin, American politician

“For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.” - John Burroughs, American author

Ah yes! All the self-improvement materials – the books, the CDs, the tapes, the e-newsletters and the presentations – recommend patience. This is despite the fact that Internet gurus promise success-speed (quick fix) if one purchases and uses their pricey products.

So many great ideas abound and so many technology changes take place daily, it is difficult to stay patient. To not be blown away and get involved with the latest and greatest discovery takes all my patience. I do believe that if I combine my time and efforts with enough – but not too much – patience, I will succeed.

In checking out with the experts, I found that the majority prescribe patience positively. Here are a few of the general quotations:

• “Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.” - Titus Maccius Plautus, Roman poet
• “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman, American activist
• “If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.” - Mohandas Gandhi, Indian leader
• “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist
• “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” - Napoleon Hill, American writer
• “How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” - William Shakespeare, English dramatist

And, then there are those with a bit of a twist with some humor added, too:

• “A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.” - John Updike, American novelist
• “It is impossible to practice parliamentary politics without having patience, decency, politeness and courtesy.” - Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi statesman
• “Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.” - Barbara Johnson, American critic
• “My three Ps: passion, patience, perseverance. You have to do this if you've got to be a filmmaker.” - Robert Wise, American producer
• “Patience has its limits, take it too far and it's cowardice.” - Holbrook Jackson, English writer
• “It takes patience to appreciate domestic bliss; volatile spirits prefer unhappiness.” - George Santayana, American philosopher

Here are a few to post nearby for dealing with the New Year:

“Genius is eternal patience.” – Michelangelo, Italian artist

“Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.” - Guy Kawasaki, American businessman

“Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request.” - Lord Chesterfield, British statesman

So, how patient are you? Does patience help or hinder you? What is the happy medium? I love getting your comments.

Curious about Difference: Making One or Having One?

“To make a difference is just... I think... the purpose of what life is.” – Anastacia, American musician

“One person can make a difference. In fact, it's not only possible for one person to make a difference, it's essential that one person makes a difference. And believe it or not, that person is you.” - Bob Riley, American politician

As the year 2007 winds down, I realize that I will always remember it as the year when my life and businesses experienced the making of a difference. That’s one of the main reasons I chose the theme of “making a difference” for this blog.

And, thinking of all of the forces working together to make a difference for me, I consider the strongest to be the company I joined in July. Its mission is straight forward and works: “Have Fun, Make Money, Make a Difference.”

I submit to you that we don’t only want to see a difference in ourselves, but most want to make a positive difference in the lives of others. That is why this group appeals to me the way it does. Everyone who is part of this community is upbeat, positive and working on making a difference in themselves and others.

When I checked for “difference” quotations, the number was overwhelming and not all address making a difference. I will start by sharing those first:

• “It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference.” - Zig Ziglar, American author
• “Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.” - Andre Malraux, French author
• “If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.” - R. Buckminster Fuller, American inventor
• “I made a commitment to myself; that I wanted to be an actress, and I wanted to do films that make a difference. It has to move people.” - Laura Dern, American actress
• “When you believe in what you're doing and use your imagination and initiative, you can make a difference.” - Samuel Dash, American lawyer

Here are some difference quotations with a bit of a twist and turn:

• “The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.” - Audre Lorde, American poet
• “It makes little difference how many university courses or degrees a person may own. If he cannot use words to move an idea from one point to another, his education is incomplete.” - Norman Cousins, American editor
• “Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.” - Niccolo Machiavelli, Italian writer
• “There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” - Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman
• “Our subconscious minds have no sense of humor, play no jokes and cannot tell the difference between reality and an imagined thought or image. What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives.” - Robert Collier, American publisher

Here are the ones I am going to work on:

• “Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.” - William James, American philosopher
• “Life is the movie you see through your own eyes. It makes little difference what's happening out there. It's how you take it that counts.” - Denis Waitley, American writer
• “There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” - Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman

Are you making and/or experiencing a difference? Do you want to? If you would like to find out more about the company I mentioned, e-mail me at chris@creativekeys.net.

Curious about Process: Do You Have a Process in Place for Your Life and Your Business Systems?

Definition of Process: The act of proceeding; continued forward movement; procedure; progress; advance. A series of actions, motions, or occurrences; progressive act or transaction; continuous operation; normal or actual course or procedure; regular proceeding; as, the process of vegetation or decomposition; a chemical process; processes of nature.

“Life is a process of working out what's not working for you and disentangling yourself from it and trying then not walk into the same thing again. Watching your patterns and correcting them if you can.” - Siobhan Fahey, British musician

I was recently listening to a CD of a presentation highlighting process given by leadership guru, Orrin Woodward. We don’t seem to talk as much about process as system and focus, and yet all three are tied together and are equally important.

I found so many, many quotations – all instructive – that I am going to load this blog with them.

Let’s start with the process of learning:

• “The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, American President
• “This life is a process of learning.” - Lauryn Hill, American musician
• “The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose. Life is a learning process and you have to try to learn what's best for you. Let me tell you, life is not fun when you're banging your head against a brick wall all the time.” - John McEnroe, American athlete
• “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” - Peter Drucker, American businessman

And then, there is life, language and failure:

• “Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.” - Noam Chomsky, American activist
• “The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top.” - Joyce Brothers, American psychologist
• “My advice to people today is as follows: If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.” - Timothy Leary, American educator
• “We might possess every technological resource... but if our language is inadequate, our vision remains formless, our thinking and feeling are still running in the old cycles, our process may be ‘revolutionary’ but not transformative.” - Adrienne Rich, American poet

A few with a different twist:

• “It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance... and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.” - Henry James, American writer
• “Thought is a process of exaggeration. The refusal to exaggerate is not infrequently an alibi for the disinclination to think or praise.” - Eric Hoffer, American writer
• “One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.” - Edward de Bono, English psychologist
• “I love the early process of asking questions about a story and deciding which questions matter most.” - Diane Sawyer, American journalist

Here are the three that I am going to work on as habits to form:

• “I don't think you ever stop giving. I really don't. I think it's an on-going process. And it's not just about being able to write a check. It's being able to touch somebody's life.” - Oprah Winfrey, American entertainer
• “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” - Amelia Earhart, American aviator
• “Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.” - Jim Rohn, American businessman

How do you process? What processes are working or not working for you? I would love to hear from you.

Curious about Conviction: What Do You Stand For? How Strong Is Your Conviction?

“A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” - Mohandas Gandhi, Indian leader

“It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” - Muhammad Ali, American athlete

I embrace Gandhi’s quotation. But, it isn’t always easy to stand for what we believe. So often the areas where we have our deepest convictions are politics and religion – the two topics we are warned to avoid in conversation.

I submit to you, however, that we all have deep convictions in other areas that we also avoid discussing. For example, I feel strongly that we should love and be passionate about the careers we choose to pursue. Because I stand for having more than one career (my “Portfolio Career”), I get a great deal of flack for not focusing on one.

I also have a strong conviction for being disciplined about fitness and health. It is not always easy to maintain a healthy diet combined with regular exercise. And yet, when we believe deeply with conviction, we can do it.

So, what do you stand for? Even if you are not one to share this with others, I do urge you to make a list of the deep convictions you hold and how you feel about them. These will solidify your values and lay the foundation for your vision and mission statement.

Let’s turn to the experts:

• “Words should be employed as the means, not the end; language is the instrument, conviction is the work.” - Joshua Reynolds, English artist
• “The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.” - Robert E. Lee, American soldier
• “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt, American President
• “Conviction without experience makes for harshness.” - Flannery O'Connor, American author
• “You must stick to your conviction, but be ready to abandon your assumptions.” - Denis Waitley, American writer

And, a few more with different approaches:

• "A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.” - Ralph Nader, American lawyer
• “It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.” - John Steinbeck, American author
• “The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else.” - John W. Gardner, American educator
• “If you don't love what you do, you won't do it with much conviction or passion.” - Mia Hamm, American athlete
• “When you take a stand out of deep conviction, people know. They may not even agree, but they ask, 'Do I want someone who is willing to take a hard stand and someone I can trust to do that when the chips are down?' They want that.” - Barbara Boxer, American politician

Here are two more that speak to me and that you can turn to during the upcoming week:

“What convinces is conviction. Believe in the argument you're advancing. If you don't you're as good as dead. The other person will sense that something isn't there, and no chain of reasoning, no matter how logical or elegant or brilliant, will win your case for you.” - Lyndon B. Johnson, American President

“I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.” - Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman

I ask you again, what do you stand for? What strong convictions are you keeping from yourself and others? Have a great and productive week.