Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Discipline
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
All disciplines affect each other. Mistakenly the man says, “This is the only area where I let down.” Not true. Every letdown affects the rest. Not to think so is naive.
Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.
Discipline has within it the potential for creating future miracles.
The best time to set up a new discipline is when the idea is strong.
One discipline always leads to another discipline.
Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
You don’t have to change that much for it to make a great deal of difference. A few simple disciplines can have a major impact on how your life works out in the next 90 days, let alone in the next 12 months or the next 3 years.
The least lack of discipline starts to erode our self-esteem.
Have a great day!
Darlene Verreault
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
WHY NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO CHANGE
Robert Kiyosaki on Network Marketing
"New York Times Best Selling author explains why everyone should own a Network Marketing business."
A friend I flew with in Vietnam called me the other day. He said, "I've been laid off again. What do I do now?"
Jim and I went through flight school and Vietnam together. When we returned to the states, he got a job as a pilot with the airlines and I began building my business. Jim was absolutely in love with his work. He loved flying and the company he worked for. Unfortunately, the company was with Pan American, which for those of you who are old enough to know that Pan Am went out of business, even though it was once the number one airline in America. After five years of taking odd jobs, he finally was rehired by an airline whose name I will not mention, because it is still in business today, but just barely. This is the airline he was laid off from. "I'm 53 years old." said Jim. "I still have two kids in school. I have nothing saved for retirement. And worst of all, how am I going to find a job that
pays me $85,000 a year, especially when all I know is to be a pilot?"
Job Security Is An Obsolete Idea
For those of you who have read my books or have come to my seminars, you may know what I think about the idea of job security. I have said it for a year, "Job security is an obsolete idea." The reason I say this is because the issue of job security was the issue for my parents, the World War II generation. My parents grew up in the Depression and to them, just finding a job was a challenge, so when they found one, they clung on to it for dear life. Once they retired, they did not have to worry because the government pension, Social Security and Medicare were there to take care of them
once they were through working. We do not have that luxury.
For those born after the WWII generation, job security is not an issue. The reason I say job security is not an issue is because there are plenty of jobs. Always remember that McDonald's is always hiring. I still see help wanted signs everywhere. So the problem is not finding a job. It is long term
financial survival. For my friend Jim, a well-educated, highly skilled man, hard working man, the question is, where is he going to find another pilot's job that pays him what he needs when the airlines today, are downsizing? How will he continue to pay his mortgage, pay for his kid's college education, and put enough aside to retire on?
When Jim asked me for advice, I said, "After you find a job, this time, why not start a part-time business?"
"What kind of business?" he asked.
"Why not build a network marketing business in your spare time? Why not build something you control and you own?"
"No, no way." He said. "I just want a high paying job. I want to fly again. I'm not interested in network marketing. But thanks for the advice. I'll call you back when I find a new job with another airline. I love flying and that is all I want to do."
Lifetime Job Security Is Over
Jim has not called back. It has been almost three weeks. Obviously, he did not like my advice but for you, I would like to give you the reason I offered him that advice. As I write, President Bush is in China and our military is in Afghanistan. If you cannot see the writing on the wall, let me open your
eyes. The days of lifetime job security and your mutual funds going up by 20% per year are over. If you think your mutual funds will carry you after you retire, I think you had best make other plans. Why? Because what has just happened to my pilot friend Jim, will be happening to millions of people. The idea of high paying jobs and pension funds that increase by 20% per year is an obsolete idea. America is at war, battling an invisible enemy, an enemy without a country. On top of that, China is expected to pass the U.S. as a world financial power in less than ten years. It does not take a crystal ball to see that there will be plenty of jobs in America, but fewer and fewer will be high paying. Why? Because the Chinese are smart, hard working, and willing to be paid less... much less.
Jack Welch, the retired CEO of General Electric said recently, "20% to 30% of what is produced in America will soon be produced in China." In other words, in order to compete with China in the world economy, we must produce for less or lose. Highly skilled pilots like my friend Jim will need to work for less, if they want to work. Pilots need to work for less, many other professions will need to work for less and produce more in order to survive. If you have been watching the news, between the stories of Anthrax and President Bush in China, you may have caught a glimpse of Bill Gates and
other American business leaders shaking hands with the Chinese. Let me say this, these leaders of American business are not there because they like Chinese food.
Network Marketing Is The Business Of The Future!
The reason I suggested that my friend Jim start a network marketing business on the side is because becoming a business owner is a very wise strategy, especially at this time in history. Starting your own business gives back some control over your life. If you think your boss or company
can protect you from the geopolitical forces that are at play today, I think you need to rethink that thought. There is an old song that said, "For you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are changing." Our leaders are in China, not in the war zone. That should tell you how much things are going to change and change soon.
The reason I recommend network marketing is because network marketing is the business of the future. Back in the late 1990's, it was often difficult to talk to people about network marketing when the economy was so strong. It was hard to talk to people about network marketing when their mutual funds were going up by 20% per year. But those days are over. If you ever wanted to get ahead of the curve, now is the time to open your mind and look at this business of the future. Now is the time to talk to people when they too are looking for new answers and new ways to find true
long-term financial security. A network marketing business is one of the asset classes. It is a business. If you work hard and build the business, that business will give you the excess cash to acquire the real estate and stocks that will give you true long term financial security...security you can pass on to your loved ones. You can't do that with your job, no matter
how secure it is.
My friend Jim the airline pilot is also a casualty of the September 11th event. The problem is, he is not willing to make changes. My prediction is that for employees who are well educated, well trained and ambitious, the next few years will be tough ones. Why? Because well educated, ambitious, high paid employees are often the first to be downsized and once downsized, they often find it harder to find a job at the pay scale they were used to. In the Industrial Age, if you were well educated, hard working and experienced, you were desirable. In the Information Age, experience and age are liabilities, not assets. So with each passing year, it gets harder to re-enter the job force and find a high paying job in the new economy. As my rich dad often said, "The rules have changed. If you want to do well, change with the rules." Unfortunately, we are in time of crisis. None-the-less, for the brave at heart, now is the time to make changes, changes that will give you life time financial security which is far better than job security.
Network Marketing - It's an Asset, Not a Job
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. 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.
A '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? 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.
A network marketing system 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.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Networking Times - The Coming Network Marketing Boom!
Eight Reasons Why You Are in For the Ride of Your Life
By Leonard Clements
For the first time in history there are solid, logical, verifiable, reasons for you to believe in a forthcoming network marketing boom. Eight reasons will soon be coming together to create the convergence of powerful economic, demographic and psychological factors all hitting at the exact same time and place.
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. One of the strongest growth phases in network marketing history occurred from 1990 to 1992—coinciding with the last economic recession.
50’s - 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 4 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.]
60’s - 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.
80’s - 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.
90’s - 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.
Every severe economic downturn in the last 50 years has been during or immediately preceding every period of substantial network marketing expansion.
#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. 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
* 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.
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.
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. 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.)
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!
#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.
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, such as 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… people who’ve never been exposed to network marketing before.
#6 Positive Media Exposure
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
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.
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.
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.
#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. 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.
There you have it, folks: not one, not two, but eight solid, powerful indicators of a forthcoming network marketing explosion. 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!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Bishop Hezekiah Walker,Steve Harvey and Johnny Rodgers 3 well known millionaires apart of a company http://ping.fm/BubkO
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Let's try this again for the link did not post right.. I would like to welcome people to my blog http://ping.fm/9yJ6j
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
I missed the Oil when it was $30a barrel and now it is $100 plus the PC revolution! I'm not missing this one! http://ping.fm/MfleY
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