Well, guess what it is that these conservative companies have in common:  GM, Gillette, Chrysler, Colgate-Palmolive, Goodyear, AT&T, Primerica and ITT?  Yep!  They all rely on Legitimate Network Marketing in one division or another, in one way or another.  Obviously, some very powerful corporations can tell the difference between Legitimate Network Marketing and illegal pyramids.  Can you?  Wouldn't you, along with people you know and care about, love to establish perpetual bushels-of-money franchise-style incomes without the franchise-style investments?  And even do it on the side?  Of course!

 Okay, so what is Legitimate Network Marketing?  It's simply the use of a self-generated sales force with overlapping incentives and responsibilities.  It's a vital part of the revolution now starting to totally reshape American business.  And as is the case with every revolution, those who capture it early and wisely can clean up big time.  You, your children and your grandchildren can BE SET FOR LIFE.

 As you are probably aware, there are conventional corporations doing tens of billions of dollars a year wherein no one but one, two, or three corporate officers have any hope of ever earning 7 figures a year. Yet there are network marketing companies doing less than one, two, and three billion wherein dozens, even hundreds, of people are earning 7 figures -- and almost all of these individuals aree surpassing those who sponsored them or joined before them.  Now, I ask you, which are the REAL "pyramids?" 

 Did you know that (so far) three giant 100% Network Marketing companies have been approved for trading on the NYSE, submitting to regulation by the SEC as well as the ICC, FTC and the USPS?  That Nobel prize-winning economist Dr. Milton Friedman and former Presidents Ford and Reagan accepted invitations to speak at conventions of still other Network Marketing giants? That the chairman of one of these 100% Network Marketing companies was invited to, and did, serve as the Chairman of the stodgy old United States Chamber of Commerce?   That the FTC has ruled that a properly set up network marketing company "...is not an illegal 'pyramid scheme'...?"  That the Council of Better Business Bureaus puts out "Tips on Multi-Level Marketing," a brochure on discerning what they call "legitimate multi-level marketing companies?"  That the Harvard Business School uses a 100% Network Marketing company in its case 

1  trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com

 With its amazing efficiency at achieving market penetration for new products, with its outstanding cost-effectiveness and time-effectiveness, and with the waning of the impact of traditional advertising, we now find myriads more "staid old corporations" looking into using Legitimate Network (or "Multi-Level") Marketing.  They're beginning to see it as the way to systematize and incent enthusiastic "word-of-mouth" advertising, and to finally get their superstar salespeople to share their secrets, and even to coach and train others, on a large scale.  Success Magazine calls it "The most powerful way to reach consumers."  Now that it's been transformed by modern technology from neighborhood marketing to global network-building, this is definitely one of those Megatrends you and your colleagues should get a handle on in time for it to make a difference.  And it can make an enormous one.  I'm not just talking about the tax advantages; there are many more important ones:  the use of a tremendous kind of leverage, the joy of helping people grow and succeed, and the abilities to diversify your income geographically, even internationally, and to finally achieve personal TIME FREEDOM, the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want.

 BUT -- more than 99% of all network marketing companies fail, and you can't tell which ones those are likely to be unless you do your homework.  And as you're going to see, relying on other people (who turn out to be fundamentally unfamiliar with this industry) to do your homework for you can prove to be very dangerous.  You could miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime and even wind up having yourself and/or your friends, clients and colleagues wasting incredible amounts of time, energy, and possibly, money and credibility by getting involved with the wrong company instead.  This booklet was written as a guide to give you specific things to look for and specific things to look out for.   And -- when you do find a program which you've checked out to your own satisfaction, consider it very possible that many people you present it to will have read this booklet or considered these criteria as thoroughly as you have.  And then you'll have valuable common ground and mutual respect from the start.

 What we have here is only some of the thinking we put into avoiding the more than 3,600 scams and dead-end deals that are out there now, and into finding the real, the solid, programs.  We hate hype, and we love common sense.  We hope you do too. 

Did they even teach The BIG Picture?  Were you shown any of it by your career counselor or whoever else helped you make your original career choice before you made it?

1.  LINEAR INCOME
 a. Salary: You work so many hours, you're paid so many hours.
 b. Sales:  You make so many sales, you're paid so many sales.
 c. Services: You perform so many services, you're paid so many services.
 When YOU stop; your INCOME stops.
 • To expand your income you must work more hours and/or hire people.
 • Either way, growth is linear too, and you always have to be there.

2.  RESIDUAL INCOME
 a. Continuing royalties on patents.
 b. Continuing royalties on copyrights or performances.
 c. Payments on renewals of memberships, subscriptions or insurance 
       policies which were originally sold by you.
 These tend to dwindle over time and finally peter out.
 • To expand your income you must work faster and/or hire people.
 • Either way, growth is only linear, and you always have to be there.

3.  FRANCHISE INCOME
 Continuing payments based on gross volume produced by franchises 
 you originally sold as a master franchisor or franchising company owner.
 Doesn't peter out, but may suffer in recessions.
 • To expand your income you must sell more franchises (growth is linear) 
           or introduce new products (slightly geometric).
 • Either way, you always have to be there.

4.  MULTIPLEX  INCOME
 Continuing payments based on gross volume produced by franchises 
  which you originally sold as an independent agent, plus franchises they 
  originally sold as independent agents, plus ones they did, and so on, 
          out to a predetermined finite limit.
 You are both a franchisee and a franchisor.  This is Network Marketing.
 In consumables this tends to keep growing even in recessions.
 • Once you find your key people, growth can become wildly geometric,           explosive, even exponential
 •    .....and you don't always have to be there.
 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

Legitimate Network Marketing                                                            Page	1
The Four Types of Income in the Working World Today	3
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The Criteria to Use to Judge a Network Marketing Company
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1.  Is it legitimate or is it a pyramid?	5
2.  What type of compensation plan is used?	7
3.  How deep does the program pay?	8
4.  Does the program have a rollup factor?	10
5.  How old is the program?	11
6.  Is the company financially sound?	12
7.  Have there ever been any problems with the paychecks?	13
8.  Who's in charge?	13
9.  What kind of unsolicited publicity is the program receiving?	15
10.  What kind of reputation is the company developing?	16
11.  Are there only one or two products, or is there a wide line?             Are they constantly upgrading the product line?	17
12.  Are the products consumable?	18
13.  Do the products require a lot of explaining, or do they sell themselves?	19
14.  Are the products actually being sold at retail?	22
15.  How much customer loyalty do the products generate?	23
16.  Are the products competitively priced?          Would you buy them?  Do you believe in the products and program?	24
17.  Is the product line recession-proof or depression-resistant?	25
18.  How big is your market?	26
19.  Is the company "going on the map"?	27
20.  Is the program going international?	28
-
How & Why Network Marketing Serves Consumers Better	30
-
About the Author	31

 Different states and different regulatory agencies define illegal pyramids in different ways, but the consensus is that a self-generated distributor or sales force is not illegal by itself, yet its use is necessary (but not sufficient) for the identification of an illegal pyramid.  A pyramid exists only when such a system is perverted by being used in conjunction with a lack of product or service, lack of retail sales to non-participants, lack of published policies and procedures, lack of a formal training manual on product knowledge and retail sales, use of outlandish earnings promises without disclaimers, front-end loading, "buy-in" offers, a de-facto lack of a buy-back policy (did you ever hear of a pyramid with a refund policy?),  commissions based on membership dues or fees rather than on product sales, or (ESPECIALLY) programs that pay members more for enlisting new people (for "selling distributorships") than for seeing to it that product is moved and that their recruits are successful.  If the former is the case, then you'll find the company loaded with slick professional sales types who only sell distributorships one after another, without ever stopping to train anyone (if the program even has anything to train them for).  Such programs are obviously uncaring, usually short-lived, and (if they last long enough to become visible) vigorously prosecuted in many states.

 "Buy-in" schemes are a tipoff: Regulators look out for compensation plans which do NOT require distributors to build product-moving networks to qualify for the higher pay levels, discounts or other benefits.  These are the programs where newcomers are talked into investing unnecessarily large amounts of extra money just "to become immediately eligible for bigger bonuses" on their own organizations (which they hardly ever even have yet).

 Legitimate Network Marketing programs pay the higher compensation checks only to leaders who prove themselves as leaders by meeting certain qualification AND maintenance requirements, including a substantial amount of downline activity (NOT just their own) over a significant period of time.  This is not just because they want to pass the regulators' tests, but because legitimate programs are designed to move products and keep them moving, NOT to let get-rich-quickers acquire something for nothing.   The mere fact that a company

5 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 In this, the age of the coddled couch potato, it's becoming more and more difficult to find good people for ANY job, and this is especially true when sales are involved.  Anyone who's been in marketing for very long is willing to give his right arm for even 5 consistent distributors or even ONE outstanding (and loyal) sales leader-recruiter-trainer. Using Legitimate Network Marketing (wherein each distributor is an independent franchisee and may or may not choose to also be an independent franchisor) is often the ONLY way to develop him, let alone to find and attract him in the first place.

 It's an old saying: "Not even the janitor is paid until somebody sells something."  I'd like to coin a new variation for the benefit of a (thankfully) few myopic bureaucrats, politicians, journalists and ivory-tower academics: "Not even is America's competitiveness saved, its social security system unburdened, its grants funded, its taxes paid nor its jobs created until somebody sells something."  Thomas Jefferson recommended that we have a revolution every 20 years.  We're overdue.  Let's have a benevolent one to end the reign of institutionalized dependency, passivity, mediocrity  and envy, and celebrate risk-taking enterprise anew.

 Note: my warning against programs which violate the law doesn't necessarily mean I agree with each and every law.  These laws are supposed to be for our protection, for the prohibiting of fraud, not for the stifling of innovation.  I believe people should be free to make at least as many mistakes as the world's most successful people have made (and hopefully, to learn from them as well). As an education, the cost of making mistakes in business may be worth many times what a similar amount would buy in college tuition in terms of developing the necessary intensity of purpose and the mind-set for success. 
 

 Remember this:  The ultimate responsibility for your success and for your choices, and for the distinguishing of a legitimate opportunity from a mirage, will ALWAYS be yours and no one else's, no matter what.

 All the long-lived giants in Network Marketing have "breakaway" plans where any leader can build a solid, valuable business and rise to a higher position and pay level than anyone who started before him AND where only productive WORK is rewarded NOT just signing up.  As a result, it's only the breakaway programs which consistently attract high-caliber people and slough off those who lack ethics, discipline or motivation sooner or later. 

 With a history of being prosecuted in some states as violating the anti-lottery (not the multi-level) laws, "forced matrix" plans are usually short-lived anyway since they're only sign-up games by definition, and since they can be sold as something-for-nothing schemes, they will be sold as such sooner or later, the adjective "easy" becoming noticeably common in promotional literature and/or sales pitches.  This, of course, attracts a lower and lower caliber of person as time goes on, the very types you don't want in any business, the ones who have no intention to be productive, to help others, develop a team spirit, or really build a serious business.  The tipoff: ANY limitation on front-line recruiting at ANY time, allowing a recruiter to say, "Once MY front line is filled up, the computer will automatically start filling up yours."

 Just as communism tried (and failed) to change human nature ("They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work"), so does the matrix concept try to motivate people to fish by giving them fish.  Naturally, it backfires sooner or later.  I call the matrix concept "computerized socialism" (a grandiose something-for-nothing scheme) since it's a way of trying to make the rewarding of deadwood at the expense of the real producers sound somehow workable or even moral(!).  So you'll surely have to associate mostly with gamblers, dilettantes, hucksters and other creeps .. along with a relatively few good people who've been misguided (temporarily -- they will eventually wise up and go elsewhere.  Let's face it, Vern, some people have to learn about human nature, the joy of work, and reality the hard way.)  "Australian," linear and hybrid pay plans are even worse.  As Robert A. Heinlein first said in his outstanding Sci-Fi thriller The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, "TANSTAAFL!" (There Ain't NO Such Thing As A Free Lunch) !!

 You can't be short-sighted; you have to think long term.  If you don't have to work much, guess what?  The people in your group don't (and won't) either.

7 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Be careful: when it is said that a particular program pays "5 levels deep," for example, it may mean 5 levels of individuals, while in another program it may mean 5 levels of leaders -- AND generations of groups -- no matter how far down line the first 55 may appear -- and this could easily turn out to be 30 individuals deep!  It's mostly the matrix programs that refer only to individuals when they indicate depth, and the breakaway programs which refer to leaders and groups. 

 It's amazing how different programs attract entirely different types of people.  Often enough, the deeper a program pays, the higher the quality of people you're likely going to be working with (and are going to be able to attract to it) over time.  The best people want to work only with others who exemplify high integrity, great goals, and far-sighted vision. Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com --

 Deep-pay programs tend to have real products with real benefits, real markets to serve, and a real company run by dedicated people -- people who know that anyone can recruit a bunch of get-rich-quickers or flashes-In-the-pan, but It takes a special kind of person to find and develop real producers, which Is a lot harder.  They'll know that to build a solid, long-lived company they must attract people who have a grasp of reality, a long-term vision, a perspective of time, a consistent work ethic, and stickability -- with a deep pay program which results IInn enormous financial rewards for LOADS of dedicated WORK.  Incentives count.

 Shallow-pay programs may pay out more at first, but of necessity the maximum payout MUST level off at MUCH lower levels (There are only 100 pennies in a dollar, Vern).  So your best people will leave eventually, and THEN who've you got?  No one interested in (or capable of) driving a line deep, that's for sure.  Shallow-pay programs have too few upline leaders (and almost none with real vision) who have an overlapping, vested interest in training, motivating and overseeing any one particular distributor.  Thus higher (that's right, Fern, not lower!) attrition rates, mistakes, misrepresentation, and especially, misdirection crop up way too often.  Then the network unravels from the bottom up.

 Certainly, deep-pay programs usually take more real work over longer periods of time to achieve the big checks,  but once achieved, they tend to be perpetual.  The get-rich-quickers avoid this kind of (WORK?!!) program like the plague -- and that's a blessing in and of itself.  While shallow-pay programs may be fine for part-time retailers, the deep-pay programs offer the only realistic prospects for richly rewarding those who work with dedication and persistence for years. 

 Programs that pay on 3 or 4 leaders deep are usually better than those that pay on 6 or 7 individuals deep, and programs that can pay 4-5% -- down 5 or 6 levels of leaders (and on tthheir groups, of course) could turn out to be the best opportunities in the long run.  There are exceptions to this rule, and those would be deep-pay programs which have little or no continuing group volume requirements for maintaining leadership status, have boring products, declining or uneven override payouts (and therefore, lopsided oversight incentives), or violate any of the other criteria.  In the cases of little or no continuing group volume requirements, your volumes WILL fade away as most "leaders" need only rest on their laurels.  This is a very serious problem with such pro-grams because it's so very hard to see.  Remember this well:  one (seemingly) exciting company which did $520 million fell to $91 million 7 years later, so slowly that noone believed it had to keep worsening except for those few who recognized the booby trap: the tiny ("easy!") group volume requirements.

 The standards for leadership maintenance requirements which work have been established by the oldest, most successful, still-growing companies as being in the $3-$11,000 per month range (at wholesale).  After all, it would take 2,000 $500/month groups to equal the production of just 200 $5,000/month groups!  Even being pessimistic, figure out how many supervisor-groups you could have after say, 12 years of development, on a mature 6th level.  You'll see that that generation can produce 83% of your total volume!  We know of one veteran who'd be making $700,000 a month instead of his $30,000 if only his program paid 5% evenly down 5 levels instead of uneven rates down only 3!

  Now for the bottom line:  Most programs are lucrative only in theory.  Very few are lucrative in fact.  So find out how many people have reached (and are still reaching) the top achievement levels and how much they really earn.  CAUTION!  In programs where the leaders have to pay their downlines they habitually talk about what they gross, not what they net.  Be highly skeptical of those making most of their money selling sales aids and, especially, of those enticed from other companies and/or subsidized.  So forget the "top producers"; find out what the average earnings are for the highest level with AT LEAST 100 distributors in it.  It should be over $500,000 a year to be competitive today. 

9 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 A rollup factor is necessary for preserving the integrity of your network and the legitimacy and market value of your business.  It is a mechanism in the pay plan that prevents any deadwood from being paid on the production of real workers you develop downline from them.  So the plan must either bypass or kick out the non-producers sooner or later.  However, there must also be an incentive for each person to give special attention to those he personally sponsors and not undermine them in hopes of inheriting their personally-sponsored people.

 In the case of breakaway leaders and their groups, the plan must allow the slow starters at least, say, 3 months to catch fire and qualify to have their influence (and payout base) overlap the groups of their downline leaders.  On the other hand, if there are no limits on capturing (or recapturing) at all, you'll witness the ugly scenarios where-in the shiftless wait umpteen months (or years) for you to develop leaders further downline, only to see Mr. Lottery Player "cash in" by borrowing the money to wangle a phony qualification as a "leader," get paid on all you did, and even block you from getting paid on it!   Even if you think you could live with that, what about the leaders in your network if it happened to them?  What if you ever wanted to sell, or borrow against, your distributorship?  WAKE UP, Vern!  With no rollup factor, it's value approaches zero.

 I've occasionally been accused of advocating only programs for the "big shots" and not for the "little people."  Every time I've been able to check into such accusations, the source has been someone who does not want to work and is implicitly, if not explicitly, looking for some sort of lottery.  So when by "little people" they mean the lazy, the immature and the foggy-brained (like themselves), they're right (and the name fits).  When they try to rationalize their concern as being for "the slower workers," they really mean their fellow wishers, hopers and non-workers.  The real "slower workers," those who keep plugging away on a consistent basis but who need, say, six or more years to reach their goals (and who are mature enough to applaud, rather than hate it, when even their own people surpass them) are the ones I would consider "big people"; I don't consider them "little" at all.  These, especially, are the ones I'm concerned about, and what they need above all else is a long-lived program designed with wisdom.  And identifying that kind of program is what this entire exercise is all about.   And yes, Fern, such programs do exist.

 If it's less than 2 years old, put it on the back burner; more than 90% of all MLM companies fold in their first 2 years alone.  And if it's less than 5 years old, you'd still better think twice; more than 80% of those remaining go under by their 6th year.  If it's more than 16 years old it better be doing more than $50 million a year in gross volume (or something is wrong somewhere).

 So you've "heard that most of the big money-makers join in the first 3 years of a company?"  Listening to the half-truths of the con artists again, are you?  And what do you think they’ll tell their recruits if their company gets to its fourth year?  What is true is that the big money makers in most companies joined in their companies' first three years.  They conveniently neglect to tell you that 95% of those companies died by their 3rd birthday, so you tell me how much that statistic is worth.   The whole truth is that four companies produced more millionaires than any others of any kind, that three of the top four are Network Marketing Companies, and so far, one of those has produced approximately 15,000 millionaires directly, and perhaps another 18,000 indirectly, the vast majority of whom joined well after its tenth year!  Now, which would you rather have, a 1/10th of 1% chance of making a million in a new program or a 99% chance of making a quarter million a year in a proven one (provided it meets all the criteria and you actually do all the necessary work)?

  And do you know how long it took the average Network Marketing millionaire to achieve his status?  About twelve years!   And corresponding statistics won't be much different when the newer, classier programs mature.  So even in the best companies you have to make sure you avoid any leaders who might hide this kind of fact with (totally unwise, absolutely unnecessary, and ultimately misleading) get-rich-quick hype (which does nothing but attract the wrong people, disgust the right ones, and make lots of decent people who are progressing normally feel dissatisfied and frustrated for no reason at all -- except for being given some ridiculous, unrealistic expectations). 

 While it is absolutely true that the extremely well-connected and/or highly energetic people can achieve this kind of success in two years in Network Marketing, these represent only the tiniest fraction of all successful distributors.  So holding them up as the only standard for all to judge themselves by is unfair as well as unwise.  Besides, taking 12 years to make a fortune is still a good deal by comparison to the 40 years it takes to get to the proverbial gold watch, right?

11 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Pull D & B reports on both the company and its principals.  Is there any known history of dubious dealings or even of criminal activity?  Are they current, paying their bills on time?  Debts, accounts receivable, too fast a growth pattern, single-sourcing (including SELF-sourcing), ship-ping and receiving delays -- all these and more have been the death of many well-intentioned MLM endeavors. 

 With the extremely high death rate of network marketing companies (yes, Vern, this definitely includes even "good-looking" companies) there's no such thing as going too far to check out a company financially.  I myself have not only called a company's banks, but I've even grilled other banks in its town or neighborhood.  I want to see what kind of financial reputation a company has, and whether its business is something other financial institutions want to go after or to avoid.  I've also gone so far as to conduct a sort of "industrial espionage,"  calling all over the world from my home in Orlando to find out who the company's suppliers were (sources of products, raw materials -- and information), to find out how well it was really paying its bills, and how well it was really thought of from the industry's point of view.  Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com

 Although "under-capitalization" is the most common explanation for the collapse of most new companies, traditional OR network, I've often found that to be no more than a euphemism for lack of commitment or intensity on the part of management.  The ones who can make it on an ALL-CASH pay-as-you-go basis have the best records of longevity and ability to keep up with explosive growth.  They must have $3- to $5-million in capital by the time they gross $3- $5 million a month.

 Talk to the bank they write the paychecks on and find out if they’re drawn on segregated, escrowed accounts, and if they’ve always gone out on time and payable.  If any payments are made later than 60 days after the order STAY AWAY FROM THE PROGRAM.  It doesn’t matter if it’s by design or by accident.  We know of one MLM perfume company in Texas that took the money and ran.  Unfortunately, that scenario has been repeated far too often with companies that paid their distributors quickly, but this one had a lot of delayed commissions written right into their compensation plan!  How they ever got anybody to sign up for that one is beyond me.

 Commission checks should be verifiable.  In this age of computers ALL checks should be accompanied by COMPLETE commission statements or genealogy reports and volume breakdowns, and ALL distributors should be paid directly by the company; you shouldn’t have to split your check with ANYBODY, not even your downline.  And if you EVER have to send checks to your sponsors or upline stay away!  That’s another sign of some kinds of illegal pyramids or chain letters (whether products are involved or not, and whether the mails are used or not).
 

 Just as in traditional business, the personality of a company, its "corporate culture," is established at the top.  Go to the home office and meet the management in person.  What kind of people are they, pompous snobs, slick showoffs, phonies, carnival barkers?  Or sincere, caring, real people?  What is their real personal history, motivation and goals?  Do they have integrity?  Do they insist on fairness and honesty from their distributors?  Are they in it for the long term or the fast buck?  Are they up to date technologically?  Are they competent?  Are they wise? 

  Have they changed their compensation plan in mid-stream?  In favor of the distributors or against them?  In favor of the consistent workers or against them?   Do they allow anyone to own more than one distributorship where your people could sign up under themselves (or anyone else), thereby making your business, and its future, essentially worthless? Do they go to the regulatory agencies first, or do they try to avoid them?  Do they try to work cooperatively with the regulators, or antagonize them arrogantly?  Do they and the top distributors emphasize get-rich-quick hype?  Or "people helping people to help people," work, and building a solid, stable business?

13 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Find a program where you really like the people at the top.  It's extremely valuable if the program and the people behind it have a special sense of mission other than just the money.  Then you can attract ethical, benevolent, dedicated people who come from a contribution orientation. You'll be able to develop that necessary supportive environment where the team spirit, the shared vision, and the win-win atmosphere rules, not the dog-eat-dog kind that MLM was originally developed to get away from.  Even then it could be dangerous if the company is a corporation where the stockholders don't necessarily share the sense of mission (or even understand Network Marketing).  As soon as they have a bad year, a prolonged dip in the stock price, or a cut in dividends (and/or hear about the big paychecks) they'll vote to change the course of the program, cut back on the compensation plan and even vote away the distributors' rights.  Count on it.

 Look for evidence of total commitment to, and ongoing, major-league investment in, thorough distributor support, not just a home office telephone "answer line".  Can they ship to everyone direct, even your retail customers?  Can you pull your group and group activity up on your PC in real time?  Or at least get it all in an up-to-the-minute fax?  Look for a history of concern for the futures of the distributors and their families, including keeping members in the computer forever (critical for preventing the loss of people from "group-hopping" or re-assignment due to temporary inactivity) and especially, a pattern of not changing anything without first sounding out the distributors.  The ideal situation (if you can find it) is one in which the Board of Directors is dominated by distributors. 

 One thoughtful touch would be if a percentage or two of overall company volume (or profits) were split up among the top leaders and trainers.  Then they'd have an extra vested interest in helping members of all groups, not just their own.  Another one would be to let distributors pay to "register" a limited number of their favorite (willing) prospects for at least six months (there are investment houses which protect even company-generated leads for their brokers for that long).
 

 Is the media kind or unkind to the company and its products?  If it's unkind, check it out.  Ask the company if they have an official response or "no comment."  It may be only the result of ignorant (or malicious) reporters who can't (or won't) distinguish a good company from bad independent distributors, or of ignorant (or malicious) regulators who can't (or won't) distinguish a good company from a bad company (however, if the publicity is about recurring problems with the products, or about widows, orphans, and the truly helpless being permanently fleeced of their savings, it's time to dig deep and find out the facts beyond the shadow of a doubt).  You could easily miss out on a fortune if you stopped doing your own thinking and started letting media morons (or anyone else) scare you.

 Of course, if there's hardly any company recognition in the media, maybe something else is wrong. Too early?  Not unique or exciting enough?  Not broad enough in appeal?  Not successful enough to win any significant number of customers away from large establishment conventional-marketing companies or even a few top distributors away from the oldest established network marketing companies (making them mad enough to sic their media friends on it)?

 It's becoming apparent that nowadays some major advertisers are cutting back on the millions they spend on commercials and advertisements -- and sometimes it's because successful NNeetwork Marketing companies are winning away some of their market share.  So BOTH the advertisers (who've seen the proliferation of TV remote controls reduce their audiences' attention spans to zero) AND the media (who themselves are losing audiences to an exploding number of cable TV channels) may feel frustrated enough to do something foolish, such as to attack MLM in general, and the most successful programs in particular (whereas, of course, what they really need to do is to jump on the bandwagon themselves).  For the weak companies any news may turn out to be a death knell.  For the strong companies all news is good news (free publicity).

 In the new millennium the best media situation (for a healthy company) may well be one in which positive articles about the products keep cropping up while the program becomes a much-talked-about source of curiosity, fascination, and even intense controversy.  What you want is a program where the (ever-present) professional gripers among the quitters are quoted as saying, in effect, "I thought I was signing up for a get-rich-quick-scam, but it turned out to be a real work program instead," NOT the other way around.

15 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Call the Federal Trade Commission.  Call the Better Business Bureau in the company's home area and make sure it's an actual supporting member who agrees to BBB standards.  Call the state Consumer Affairs Departments.  Numerous unresolved complaints on record, especially about the products, are bad news.  No complaints at all may be even worse (see Section 9).  However, if there are only complaints about certain independent distributors and their misrepresentations, find out what the company does about them and if deception is tacitly encouraged or vehemently prohibited by both the company and your would-be upline.  Oh, yes, and call the franchise tax board of your state to see if the company is in good standing there, paying your state's sales taxes conscientiously. Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com

 Caveat emptor!  Even if there are no problems with government or consumer agencies, that's no guarantee of safety.  One serious problem with such (non-U.L.-type) agencies is that their very existence gives people a false sense of security, elevating the (so far) uncaught crooks to the level of the reputable companies in the eyes of the public, and lowering the reputable companies to the level of the crooks in the eyes of the regulators (and the self-righteous spewers of sickening cynicism).  Another (very) serious problem with them is that, all too often, they've scared the ingenuous among the public away from really solid, honest companies and driven them into the arms of the scams and dead-end deals, sometimes for evil reasons (a friend of ours attended a conference of attorneys general where he was assured in private that the investigations his company underwent were motivated by strictly political, and not legal, considerations).

 If less than 1% of all Network Marketing companies are legal enough, smart enough, strong enough AND dedicated enough to survive the witch hunts, which would you rather have, a program that hasn't gotten (and may never get) big enough or exciting enough to attract regulatory attention, or one that has and triumphed?  You can stack the odds way against yourself or way in your favor, depending on how you answer this one.

 Fortunately, there's an extremely tough, untouchable, U.L.-like self-policing body for the Network Marketing and Direct Sales industries, the Direct Selling Association headquartered in Washington, D.C.  If you do nothing else CHECK WITH THEM to see what kind of reputation the company  has.    Just as you'd never buy an appliance without  

 Companies which try to live and die with only one or two products are putting their heads into the hair-trigger guillotines of technological and/or regulatory change.  Some even haven't taken into account the ongoing spread of economies of scale (for example, when the cheapest hand-held calculators cost $140, one outfit thought it was going to last forever selling them for $98!).  Look, Vern, all human knowledge has doubled in the last 7 years alone.  So a program based on only ONE product (or ingredient) runs a very high risk of becoming obsolete (or unprofitable) overnight here in the space age.  If one product or hyped ingredient represents more than 30% or 40% of gross sales, it's just not good enough.  Thousands of programs like that (many with really phenomenal products) are now bye-bye.

 Even a wide line of products must be related (by benefits, not by ingredients or prices).  Otherwise that valuable sense of mission will be diluted if not lost. Besides, the less of a theme you have, the more you're in danger of becoming (God forbid) yet another wholesale buying club (where you'll be putting up with the most boring types of disloyal penny-pinchers and unimaginative under-achievers...and one of the highest attrition rates in the industry).

 Is the company always working on new products and on improving existing ones?  They'd better be if they want any hope of avoiding obsolescence.  If they've been an essentially one-product program they'd better be fast and furious about it.  A program which does have a wide line of popular consumables doesn't have to come out with new ones all the time, but it's still needed as a regular show of commitment to the long term, to market leadership, and to giving your network a periodic shot of adrenaline.

17 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Is the distributor really needed often after the first sale to a particular customer?  Go ahead and be a perpetual salesman and recruiter if that's your cup of tea, but realize that there are thousands of people in the long-lived giant programs who have made 5, 10, 20 and more thousand dollars PER MONTH since "retiring" 20 or 30 years ago PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THE WIDE LINES OF CONSUMABLES.  Since 95% of the American public likes to simply "share what they've found with their friends," the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of distributors in such mature programs are part-timers, each of whom only sell a dozen different products to the same 20 people month in and month out and month in and month out.  (This is the essence of sensible Network Marketing, a lot of people selling a few products each instead of a few people selling a lot of products each.) 

 So the leaders who worked extremely hard to help set up such huge networks have enjoyed a STABLE permanent income as a result.  And (need I add?) any mature, sane, economically literate person knows they deserve it. Do you honestly think most of them (or any other kind of empire-building, risk-taking, fear-facing, tool-making, job-creating entrepreneur) would have taken all that grief if it weren't for that perpetual income at the end of the tunnel?  Or that these companies pay that way only because they want to?  Guess what, Vern?  They pay that way because they have to. Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com

 Needless to say, a program with essentially non-repeat products will seldom equal that kind of success since all the distributors must be professional salespeople (and, in my opinion, it should be presented as such -- as being only for those who actually enjoy finding lots of new customers all the time), a distinct (4-5%) minority notorious for its general lack of company loyalty. 

 Besides, the concept of multi-level for non-consumables borders on being bent on self-destruction sooner or later.  Since each distributor must find new customers all the time, when he does take the time to go recruiting he's in a sense creating his own competition (or at least guaranteeing the need  for everyone to move on to new territories after every house in the neighborhood has a water filter or alarm system or whatever).  This is a far cry from programs with consumables where the average distributor stops at less than 20 repeat customers, and the population grows way more than 20 times faster than the number of persistent distributors.

 Even if the products are consumable (or even meet all of the foregoing criteria, for that matter) you don't necessarily have a winner yet.  Often enough such things as tonics and herbs require as much explaining as insurance or investment programs (many people under 30 have to convinced that they need any, let alone yours).  There ARE programs which fill needs people have.  There are even programs that offer things that people really want, even go crazy for.  Which ones do you think are likely to have the best growth potential, Vern?

 Of course, when it comes to the obvious intangibles, there are a lot more problems besides seeing only the sales pros stick with it.  Not only do you need to find new customers all the time, and to train a constant flow of replacement distributors how to do all the explaining that's required, but you'll find yourself in the ridiculous position of saying, "Once on board, most people don't change their long distance service (or insurance company, investment program, wholesale buying club, or whatever) in one breath, and then "we're going to have thousands of people out there teaching the whole country how easy it is to change their (long distance service, buying club, etc.)" in the next.  Think about it.

 Moving on, if the individual distributor sells a subscription to a service and is not really needed for constant reorders from the end user, he (or his company) WILL eventually be restricted (or replaced) by market forces.  MLM long distance repackagers are already being inexorably squeezed out in some areas (and some distributors are having their quotas raised) because of competition from companies with essentially no budgets for advertising or promotion.  All the latter do is give one $25 credit to their referring customer for each subscribing referral and pass all the savings on to all the subscribers in the form of rock-bottom rates (no room for any overrides).

 Wholesale Buying Club membership is another idea whose time has come...and gone.  While you might sign up a lot of people who only wish they'd pay attention to shopping wisely (and still don't), most real bargain-hunters take a special pride in their ability to shop.  And with the vast American (and now, world) marketplace becoming ever vaster, and with the warehouse-type stores, other kinds of clubs, and liquidation sales proliferating, they resist (what they see as) being told HOW and WHERE to shop (and they might even be able to teach you and your company a thing or two, including what "cost-per-use" is).

19 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Unless they can come up with something totally unique and proprietary, programs based only on the idea of saving money (PRICE) can't last (they'll be killed eventually by both outside market forces and the non-performance of the limited-vision, uncommitted, imploded personalities they attract) while programs based on providing  unique products with visible, emotional benefits and concentrated quality (VALUE) can.  Remember this: in every category there are two kinds of consumers, price shoppers and value shoppers.  Price shoppers will never be loyal to anyone or anything, while value-shoppers will.  All you need is a product that 20% of the people who try it will kill for, and a realistic appreciation for the law of averages.

 An even bigger joke is some of the "no-run" pantyhose programs.   Although the idea of a no-run pantyhose sells itself, the point is the product itself doesn't.  The explaining will come in when your angry customers realize that, while it's true they really don't "run," what they do get is circular holes instead.  Either way, it's a one-shot sale, right? 

 Now, how about this one:  exposing your downline to publications which advertise all the latest get-rich-quick scams (among the 50 to 75 new programs launched per month and the 50 to 75 which die every month) just because they happen to publish occasional articles on motivation (and even commitment!).  Insanity.

 If you're going to make a major business decision, and especially, if you're going to advise others on long-term career decisions, don't you think you should do it extreme-ly carefully, Vern?  You have to take a good hard look at your industry demographics before you make any choices.  What we're concerned about here is product timing.  For example:  fewer and fewer people are drinking beer, and more and more people are drinking wine coolers now that the huge baby-boomer generation is in its 30s and 40s and even pushing 50.  So choosing to distribute wine coolers rather than beer may be much wiser in the long run.

 If you're not familiar with trends and demographics, take the time to bone up.  Read such books as Megatrends by John Naisbitt, Age Wave by Dr. Ken Dychtwald, The Popcorn Report by Faith Popcorn or Powershift by Alvin Toffler.  Read a dozen issues of American Demographics Magazine.  Look up the article "The Future of Work" in Harper's Magazine and the even more exciting "Screen Play" in Reason Magazine. Your own research:  just do it.

 If the products are tangible and emotional, will enjoy growing (not shrinking) demand, and especially, if they give exciting, obvious results, which improve lots of peoples' lives, then you've got the key to the most successful type of winning program.  Even the non-professional salespeople can move these kinds of products.  If you have products that even the retail customer and end user can't help but talk about (and are even besieged with questions about), well then, even your most amateurish distributor could get reorder after reorder and referral after referral, and THAT'S the basis for a REAL long-lived program.  And network.  And income.   And career satisfaction.

21 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 From everything that we've covered so far you can see that your program must  be driven by product, not just long-term incomes.  So don't take the word of any pitchman or brochure; go ahead and check it out yourself.  Do this:  Find out what the gap is between wholesale purchases by distributors and retail sales to end users.  If you can't get a good handle on that, ask the home office about the ratio of promotional sales ("starter kit" product selections for distributors only) to loose-product sales (which are either really used or sold).  If it's huge STAY AWAY.  If it isn't a pyramid then the products must be too ordinary (or worse). 

 The most spectacular example of this was in the case of USA Vitamins, a program which boasted the most celebrity endorse-ments and the slickest brochures at the time.  It made it to the point of being about the 10th program (out of way over 40,000 ever launched) to ever hit $100 million in sales in a single year.  Only it vanished from the face of the earth the very next year.  Why?  Few "leader" requirements.  Also, it had the most spectacular gap between promotional and retail sales in MLM history.  The year they did $100 million only $2 million was sold as loose (non-kit) product!  Obvi-ously even the distributors who tried them didn't want to buy them again.  Besides, when asked the killer question, "Yes, but who sells the products?" they gave an answer designed to attract the wrong types, the hard-selling pros and those who won't sell, teach selling, or even learn about soft selling yet hope somehow to get rich anyway!  Terminal stupidity.

 Face it, Vern, this is a kind of direct sales.  People who refuse to acknowledge that fact are either con artists or con victims.  If they're afraid of even the minimal amount of soft selling required in legitimate network marketing, or of learning or teaching the simple, basic personality skills needed for it (and for life, for that matter), then they have no business even aspiring to become group "leaders." 

 Look, I have nothing against a self-generated wholesale buying club (although some regulators certainly do) if you just want to be able to buy the products at wholesale on occasion; just don't expect anyone in your group to do more than that.  But if you want to build a serious business it can't be done with "All Chiefs and No Indians," so if anyone tries to tell you it can, run.  Instead, the programs wherein each leader is really a leader setting the example with his own "pilot franchise" cluster of part-time RETAILERS as well as wholesale buyers are obviously going to have the strongest basis for what you absolutely have to have: perpetual product movement  with  significant  group  volume  at  ALL  levels. 
 

 I haven't run a scientific test or poll on precise allocation of brand loyalties, but certainly within any given industry, some products enjoy much higher customer loyalty than others.  Whether you use your own best judgment, someone else's, or mine, at least you should take this question as one of the three or four most important considerations.  How long the end user lasts as a customer has the greatest impact on the longevity of the distributor, then the network, then the program.

 After talking with thousands of value-shoppers (and ignoring price-only shoppers) it appears to me that, generally speaking, the very lowest brand loyalty is among diet programs, with wholesale buying clubs coming in a close second.  Then, in an improving order,  something like this: information services, cheap home-care products, tonics, investment programs, travel clubs, herbal preparations, automobile additives and car care products, and long distance service.  Better: quality home-care products, vitamins, cheap cosmetics, fad personal care products, and insurance  policies.  Best: quality nutrition products, quality cosmetics, quality personal care products and anything else doctors and professional people will sell.

 Of course, none of these rankings has a darn thing to do with how easy or how hard it is to even find a customer in the first place.  Certainly the latter is an important consideration, but if you have to choose, remember that products with the highest brand loyalty have proven to be the backbone of the most solid, long-lived programs, not the products that were the "easiest" to sell in the first place. Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com

 To exaggerate the point, even if it took the average distributor 20 months to find his 20 fanatically loyal "lifetime" customers, this type of situation is much more advantageous to the average non-sales-type (so long as he doesn't mind the search and you are straight with him about what it may take) than one in which he could find 20 customers every month -- but that he and everyone in his networkk would have to continue to find 20 a month for the rest of their lives (because of the lack of loyalty for the products, even though they happen to be consumables).  You could burn out your distributors and find your customers starting to avoid you if you make the wrong choice here.  Products that are both "easy" to sell and to get reorders for, even ten years later, would be the ultimate, the ideal, product choices if you can find such things.

23 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 If the products are totally unique, there may be nothing to compare them to, pricewise, except your guess about what the public would do instead.  That kind of guessing is often misleading, however.  Thousands of inventors and marketeers have gone broke betting on what they thought was a sure winner without testing the waters first.  You're better off conducting your own market research by presenting the products, benefits and prices to a WIDE variety of people from different economic and social backgrounds to tell if there really is a good market for them out there.  Talking to less than 144 people is not a valid market survey; professional pollsters talk to 1,728. 

 And by the way, you'll seldom get valid product insights by talking to former distributors because they're almost always the kind who never even made 144 product presentations themselves.  Besides, you'll only get cross-eyed wondering what came first, the bad opinions or the bad attitude, the limited world-view or the limited self-image, the lack of results or the lack of work,

 Bear in mind that many of the most successful network-marketed products are actually higher-priced than a knee-jerk guess of what might be discount-store or grocery-store substitutes, but so vastly superior in quality  and/or cost-per-use that there really is no valid comparison.  Remember, the best, most loyal customers for network-marketed products are among people who know and really care about value, not "price."  Often enough, network marketing brings products superior even to those in the exclusive department stores more within reach of those who previously only wished they could afford them.

 Since Network Marketing done right virtually requires you to make friends, or at least long-term relationships, with your customers and your distributors, there's NO room for con-artists, liars, or old-fashioned "wham-bam, thank you, ma'am" sales techniques.  This is the 21st century; the Baby Boomers run the show, and most of the trend-setters of their generation have been directly or indirectly exposed to sensitivity training and personal-growth workshops.  So many more people can see through insincerity quickly, now, that I think we can say, finally, that the days of the phony are numbered, if not over.  Yes, Vern, you can find a program that you and your associates are proud of and  keep, even enhance your credibility with. 

 Some economists are saying we're due for another great depression, possibly one worse than that of the '30s.  Of course, economists often turn out to be wrong, but it's a good idea to be aware of what kinds of industries survive the hard times.  When we look at the history of the '30s we see that those which tended to fare the best included entertainment, liquor, drugs, cosmetics (yes, I didn't realize this before, but apparently millions of people will give up lunch before they give up looking good), staple foods, hot dog stands, garden supply and hardware stores (for the do-it- and fix-it-your-selfers), and repairmen and doctors with highly specialized skills.  Certain luxuries, investments and products for the upper and upper-middle classes did fairly well, thank you -- AND that tells you something about who your clientele must include (and how superior your products must be) if your business is to survive all economic downturns.  The ones which fared worst included housing, construction and real estate, new cars and appliances, travel and tourism.  Handy-men and general practitioners had a flood of work, but they didn't get paid very well (or very often).

 The recessions of 1982 and 1990 showed how high-quality network marketing programs experience tremendous growth during such periods, as more high-quality people are motivated to build home businesses and work them seriously.

25 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Some economists are saying we're due for another great depression, possibly one worse than that of the '30s.  Of course, economists often turn out to be wrong, but it's a good idea to be aware of what kinds of industries survive the hard times.  When we look at the history of the '30s we see that those which tended to fare the best included entertainment, liquor, drugs, cosmetics (yes, I didn't realize this before, but apparently millions of people will give up lunch before they give up looking good), staple foods, hot dog stands, garden supply and hardware stores (for the do-it- and fix-it-your-selfers), and repairmen and doctors with highly specialized skills.  Certain luxuries, investments and products for the upper and upper-middle classes did fairly well, thank you -- AND that tells you something about who your clientele must include (and how superior your products must be) if your business is to survive all economic downturns.  The ones which fared worst included housing, construction and real estate, new cars and appliances, travel and tourism.  Handy-men and general practitioners had a flood of work, but they didn't get paid very well (or very often).

 The recessions of 1982 and 1990 showed how high-quality network marketing programs experience tremendous growth during such periods, as more high-quality people are motivated to build home businesses and work them seriously.

 Any new program hyped as being "ground-floor" means nothing (EXCEPT STAY AWAY for now).  Remember this:  The VERY BEST most exciting products can rip your heart out if the program never really gets OFF (and STAYS OFF) the ground.  Thousands and thousands of programs with fantastic products never did.  Besides, contrary to popular belief (fairy tales, actually), with everything else being equal you have to work no less hard (and often a lot harder) in a ground-floor opportunity than in a well-established one (unless you're already very well known in that very small community who kindly refer to themselves as "MLM direct mail pros" -- but mail-order MLM is 99.99% short-lived garbage programs and scams anyway).  By the way, in real MLM there is absolutely no such thing as "saturation" except in the minds of those looking for a "logical"-sounding euphemism for "I'm not interested," "I hate work," or "I don't think I can do it" ("my mind is programmed negatively").

   In Legitimate Network Marketing saturation can occur only when people who turn out to be consistent workers sign up faster than people are born.  This is so far from possible, it's mind-boggling.  After all, it's not a matter of "signing up people who sign up people" (which only fools take seriously, pro or con).  It's a matter of retailing the products on a consistent basis.  OR, it's a matter of moving product and recruiting and training others both consistently every week and persistently every year, and conducting an honest search for others who really do the same.  Can you tell the difference, Vern?

 With the greatest number of distributors, Amway has well over 1.4 million worldwide.  Yet do you know how many people turn 18 in the U.S. alone every year?  3.4 million!  So what's Amway's problem?  It's not saturation; it's the fact that, in the past, so many distributors used deceit (such as the invitation to "dinner" which turned out to be really a business opportunity presentation), resulting in a terrible taste in the mouths of millions, in my opinion.  Besides, there's hardly any theme to, or excitement about, the 4,000-item product line.  Nonetheless there's no question Amway, now called Quixtar and/or Alticor, is on the map and is here to stay.  And so too are some newer programs which bear serious looking into, at least two of which I consider much more exciting, of a much higher class, and meet far more of these criteria than Amway does (although this book was deliberately written so that no program will meet all the criteria perfectly).Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com
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 Stable Network Marketing Companies have been successfully crossing international boundaries for years, and now, with the fall of the iron curtain, the "Free World" is a lot larger than it used to be.  The largest Network Marketing Company is now enjoying its umpty-seventh explosive growth phase, this time in Eastern Europe, and is, in effect, offering those newcomers to Capitalism the lowest cost franchises (and lessons in business ownership) they'll ever find, and probably the only opportunity for a decent income they'll come across for years.

 The most fascinating country for network marketing is Japan.  While it has rightfully acquired for itself the epithet "Fortress Japan" because of its long history of near-impenetrable trade barriers to conventional American corporations, it is almost rolling out the red carpet for American Network Marketing companies. Japanese distributors recently bought control of one of the oldest and largest ones, for example.  Because they meet with so much less envy and bureaucratic interference from unenlightened regulators there, because their distributors consider it a matter of honor to work extra hard after receiving upline help, and because they're so grateful for "people profit-sharing," Network Marketing Programs (and their quality products) are enthusiastically embraced by the Japanese (whose average direct seller enjoys prestige and outsells his American counterpart by a margin of 3 to 1).  In fact, two other large American MLM companies have been enjoying continuing explosive growth in Japan, and one of them is even enjoying it in the even-harder-to-penetrate European market.

 One of the very best ways around a stagnant local economy is the geographic diversification (the lack of territorial restrictions) offered by network marketing.  And the economic diversification of your being able to go international can be awesome.  DON’T settle for a company that isn't going international, or one that cuts back on your paycheck or takes away your distributors if it is (many companies put unreasonable restrictions on your international sponsoring efforts or global pay scale, and some even put your overseas networks under someone else).  Find a DEEP-pay program which allows YOU to build and keep an international network of your own.  Then you need only to know someone who knows someone (etc.) in the other countries or in the global markets.  And THEN and only then will you have the best of both worlds:  a serious global opportunity in a solid, proven, committed company AND, as new countries are opened, a whole series of "ground-floor" opportunities as well.

  So do your homework with due diligence and choose your program wisely.  Then you can achieve that state of mind where your confidence in your program is so high that you don't have to worry about whether it'll be restructured or gone tomorrow.  If you get into a solid program you can build a clientele and a network on concrete, on rock -- not on sand ("get-rich-quick"sand).  There's nothing like being able to work with bone-deep confidence.  It feels good, and it shows.

 "Good luck" -- which means: good thinking...AND take action.  "Lucky" people almost always make their own luck, because they think systematically (not haphazardly),  they become decisive, and they take persistent, purposeful action.  I would think that, by now, you have a pretty good feel for what we have here, an exciting industry about to explode into prominence, and for why you need to go ahead and bring as much wisdom as you can to bear on your choosing of your program so you can catch the wave, achieve your goals, make your contribution, leave your mark and live the lifestyle you want.

 Naturally, since you've read this far, you must realize that you do have the capacity for thoroughness needed to "go the extra mile" and get the very best guidance you can.  May you work with integrity and always set the very best example for your children, the dynasty you found (the network you build) and even anyone you meet.  So whatever you have to do it straight, do it right and do it now. And honor whoever gave you this book. ...

Rick Gaber (407) 595-9595, trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the kindness and wisdom of:  Bobby and Sharon Siow, John and Giselle Sexsmith, Tom and Barbara Bongard, Jerry Campisi, Richard Kall, Craig Bryson, Clara McDermott and many others too numerous to mention.  Bless you all.

29 trulylucrative[at]yahoo.com 

 Rick Gaber (motto: "A preposition is a good thing to end a sentence with.  And a conjunction is even more fun to begin one with!") is the former branch manager of an investment company for which he had to go through training, testing and experience to obtain a "principal's license" as well as various broker's licenses.  One of the main responsibilities of an investment company principal is to perform thorough due diligence on a wide variety of investments and enterprises.  To our benefit, he has applied this experience and set of skills to the Network Marketing industry, which he has researched for well over15 years.  Because of this he was the subject of a cover article in Opportunity Connection Magazine.

 A modern day "Renaissance Man," Rick has a background in a wide variety of endeavors.  He has to his credit structural patents, design patents, books, articles and a fool-proof voting system.  Plus, he's been a single dad raising his kids by himself the past 13 years.  He co-founded the "Association of New Intellectuals," a spin-off of which now has 3,500 members.  He founded and ran Gaber Designs, his own highly successful manufacturing and design company.  So he knows how to think.  And apply it to the bottom line.  He attended and participated in group psychotherapy sessions "for well people who want to excel" for seven years.  He's very sensitive to the nuances of personality and is a pretty fast, accurate judge of character.  He's humble enough to know damn well he doesn't know everything, but his unusual life experiences, together with his friendliness and generosity, bring a refreshing, interesting and fascinating array of viewpoints to anyone's table.

 His attitudes can best be illustrated by his advice on choosing a sponsor:  If you find a great program by being introduced by a distributor, sign up with that distributor.  You owe him your undying gratitude, even if you don’t like him tremendously.  Besides, if you’ve really internalized the spirit of network marketing, you couldn’t be setting a better example for your recruits and your network, AND you will undoubtedly find someone somewhere upline you do like and can work with.

 On the other hand, if you’ve chosen your program by yourself after doing your homework, then you need to go ahead and select a sponsor as your next step.  So choose one based on who is ready, willing and able to show you the ropes individually and do your first presentations with you, remembering that this will seldom be the top distributors (who may hardly ever be available and who will be working with many, many others when they are).  Finally, if you still have more than one inspiring, caring sponsor to choose from, it’s always better to pick ones who have enormous goals themselves, whether they're to be to establish a charitable foundation or to do business worldwide on private jets and yachts.  After all, wouldn't you rather work with leaders with big visions for the future?

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The Direct Selling Industry Receives Recognition from Worldwide Leaders

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 
 

Quotes in reference to the Direct Selling Industry
 

Former President Bill Clinton: “Your industry promotes core values all around the globe and gives people the chance to make the most of their lives.”
 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared direct selling to be: “A tremendous contribution to the overall prosperity of the economy.”
 

Fortune Magazine: “An investor's dream… the best kept secret of the business world . . . an industry with steady annual growth, healthy cash flow, high return on invested capital, and long term prospects for global expansion.”
 

Warren Buffet labeled it simply, “The best investment I ever made.”
 

Business is booming; direct selling has grown more than 91% in the last 10 years and currently enjoys around $30 billion in the US and $100 billion worldwide. 

A Fortune magazine article recently stated “Forget the paycheck; your W-2 days are over. It's a 1099 world now.” 

One of the fastest growing industries is direct selling. Yet less than 1% of the world's population is currently involved in direct selling. Instead of employing a separate sales force, direct selling companies compensate the people who use, love and enthusiastically recommend their product or service.” 

-- Quotes about Direct Selling found in Success Magazine, Nov. 2005 issue, pg. 8