Carl Eric Johnson

How blessed am I! As I write this (Wednesday afternoon, December 9, 2009), I am gazing out at the Pacific Ocean, waves crashing to shore in the Bahía del Descanso—the Bay of Rest. The weather could not possibly be more perfect: crystal blue skies, warm sun, and the sounds and smells of the ocean.

Sanoviv Medical Institute, about which you can read much more at sanoviv.com, is located in Rosarito Beach, Baja California del Norte, Mexico, about an hour south of San Diego. Its founder, Dr. Myron Wentz, chose the place for a variety of reasons, one of which was simply to be in Mexico where he is much freer to practice his state-of-the-art alternative therapies than he would be in the United States, such is the state of overregulation there.

But why Rosarito Beach? Dr. Wentz was fortunate to be able to procure the former Levi Strauss estate, which is situated on a cliff noted for its positive energy frequencies. (Yes, energy medicine is one of Dr. Wentz’s alternative therapies.) It could not possibly be a more beautiful location.

Yesterday was my birthday. My friend Nick has come to Sanoviv several times before and is here now for some follow-up treatments. He invited me to be here with him as his “companion.” Sanoviv has a wonderful companion program, where people not receiving treatments are able to accompany people who are for $100 a night. This covers lodging, all meals, even clothing (more later). As Usana associates, however, we were able to take advantage of a Convention special, where companions are able to stay for free during the month of December. So, as it turns out, it was cheaper for me to come here for five nights than it would have been for me to stay at home!

How blessed am I that this just so happened to coincide with my birthday!

Sanoviv’s primary focus is detoxification. We live in such a toxic world. Of course, industrial pollution is the most obvious example, but it actually goes way deeper. From the synthetic clothes we wear to the synthetic foods we ingest, our modern life styles are anything but healthful. So during our stays at Sanoviv, we are provided 100% cotton loungewear and foot-massaging sandals. The meals are absolutely delicious—and completely devoid of the most common allergens: gluten, animal meats, starches, etc. Everything is vegetarian, with fish at lunchtime.

There is no coffee in the morning and no alcohol in the evening. Martini man that I am, I thought this might be difficult for me, but it hasn’t been. I had a slight headache the second morning I was here, which I attribute to caffeine withdrawal, but other than that it has been a breeze. I can hardly wait to weigh myself Friday morning, as I know I have dropped a few pounds. (OK, I have a few more to shed, I know. Baby steps.)

So this is how I have spent my birthday. I received many wonderful birthday greetings on my Facebook wall. Thanks to all of you who wrote. How blessed am I to have so many beautiful friends!

Thank you, Dr. Wentz, for your vision that created both Usana Health Sciences and Sanoviv Medical Institute. And thank you, Robert Allen, for introducing me, quite by accident, to Usana while I was investigating real estate investing.

I used to think that 35 was old. Now I know that 55 is young.

This is the text of a speech I gave earlier this week at my Toastmasters club. I spoke from an outline, and I did not have my digital voice recorder with me, so this is not verbatim. However, I believe I captured the gist of what I said.

I just recently joined Toastmasters, although it had been first recommended to me probably 25 years ago. Although I am very comfortable speaking in front of an audience, I have already learned so much. I wonder what took me so long to join? Don’t you make the same mistake I made. Find a Toastmasters club near you and join!

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my speech.

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My professional life has been a series of fortuitous accidents. I received an M.B.A. in International Management, so it’s only natural that my first job out of college would be in … information technology? Actually, we called it data processing back then.

When I graduated from college in 1978, the Northeast was in the middle of a recession, and I was unable to find a job. My brother was working for Boeing in Seattle at the time, and he said they were hiring. He invited me to come out there and look for work. So I bought myself a one-way plane ticket on United and started my first post-college adventure. Within a week I had a job. I had the one quality they were looking for: I was breathing.

The first thing Boeing had me do was attend five weeks of bootcamp to get up to speed in the computer technologies they were using. I distinctly remember thinking to myself as I observed the instructors at the front of the classroom, I could do that. In fact, I would enjoy teaching technical subjects. Nevertheless, when the five weeks were up, I was a programmer/analyst, and I went from contract to contract and ultimately company to company over the next nine years.

One of my contracts was a 16-month gig teaching computer technologies to a group of Saudi Arabians. That was when I realized that I had both an aptitude and a desire for teaching. When I saw a teaching job in the classified ads, I applied and got it. So in 1987 my career officially switched to technical training, which I still do to a certain extent to this day.

In 1989 I accepted a job offer with Platinum Technology and moved to Illinois. Of all the jobs I’ve had over the years, this was my dream job. Sadly, after six years’ time, it had become The Job From Hell due to regime changes and policy changes. It was so bad that I ultimately had to quit. I formed my own corporation and then contracted myself back to Platinum.

This contract lasted a year, at the end of which time I had formed a new business relationship with a company in New Jersey, and they had a lot of work for me. At the same time, I was dissatisfied with the quality of their courseware, so I wrote my own series of SQL courses. I spent the bulk of 1996 writing my courses and working a reduced workload, but I then discovered the joys of royalty income. To this day I earn royalty checks on the courses I wrote back in 1996. I like this idea, I thought to myself: work once, get paid multiple times. It was my first experience of true residual income.

From 1999 to 2001 I was directly employed by this same New Jersey company, then they downsized me. I had a chunk of change to live on, so I was in no hurry to find a new job. Instead, I looked into investments as a source of income. I studied stock investing, commodities, and real estate. I bought a CD series from Robert Allen, a famous real estate investor, titled “Multiple Streams of Income.” He spoke mostly about various ways to earn money with real estate, but his last CD in the series dealt entirely with network marketing as another source of income to pursue.

Immediately the defenses went up. I had had a bad experience with multilevel marketing some twenty-odd years before, so it took someone with Robert Allen’s reputation for me even to take a look. But I liked what he had to say. He explained what network marketing was all about, and then he outlined how to evaluate a network marketing opportunity.

I was intrigued, but I didn’t know where to begin to find a network marketing company for me. Lo and behold, at the very end he said, “And if you’d like to learn about the one network marketing opportunity I endorse, call this 800 number and we’ll send you out an info packet.” I thought to myself, What do I have to lose? So I called the number, found out the company was USANA Health Sciences, got the info packet a few days later, liked what I read, and at the end of a week’s time I had signed up at the highest level.

I am fond of saying that I got into network marketing through real estate … and then watching people’s quizzical looks on their faces.

So you see, my professional life has been a series of fortuitous accidents. I originally got into information technology because it was the only industry hiring at the time. Then I got into technical training when I discovered that I had a knack for it. Then I got into network marketing via real estate investing. Even as I seek employment back in information technology, I plan to stay with USANA for life. The products are exceptional, and I am proud to be associated with such an ethical company. I now see why USANA is the one company Robert Allen endorses.

Thank God for accidents.

In my inbox this morning was a fascinating e-mail from my friend _____ (I’ll keep him anonymous) whom I met at a personal development seminar several years ago. The addressees were blind-copied so he evidently sent it out to his entire network. Here’s the gist of his request:

This last year as everyone knows there has been a lot of change, from stock market to real estate market. Our new president Obama and change has happened. I have made money and lost lots of money over the last few years and am reaching out to my network to find out what they are doing to make money in these changing times. I am interested in finding out the items you have been investing in that you think I will be interested in. Please contact me. Thank you in advance for your knowledge.

It’s not every day that an idea for my blog appears first thing in the morning. Many days go by without me writing in my blog at all. Now, this is my third blog entry in four days.

Here is the answer I sent to _____. It is fitting that I re-post it here for my readership, as many of you wonder just what it is that I spend my days doing. Now you’ll know wherein my passions lie.

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Great to hear from you, _____. Excellent topic for discussion. I’ll be interested in hearing the range of replies you get back. Perhaps you and I can compile them into “Recommendations for Surviving and Thriving in the Current Economic Downturn” … or some such thing.

As for what I’m doing to make money, you’re asking at an opportune time, as income is beginning to pick up in all three areas of pursuit:

1. Web work. I still register domain names and host Web sites, and I’m beginning to do a bit of low-end website design—what I call electronic brochures with a blog. I’m also creating a seminar titled “Blogging and Social Networking for Professionals,” and speaking gigs are beginning to flow in.
2. Network marketing. I joined USANA Health Sciences in October of 2002. Since then I made a series of mistakes, most having to do with diverting my focus to other opportunities that have since come and gone. Then in the middle of last year I came to my senses and realized that USANA was the best network marketing opportunity around, and I am focused entirely on that now. It is also the main reason I am writing my book on network marketing (more below).
3. Direct sales. I joined Global Resorts Network in March of 2008. I did this primarily because of the promise of joining a team that focuses almost entirely on the Internet and so-called “attraction marketing” techniques—techniques that I knew I could also use in my USANA business. Also, I’ll confess that the generous commission structure helped. GRN helps me pay my bills today, while USANA will help me pay my bills on into the future. I consider USANA my pension and retirement plan, such is the power of residual income.

In addition to these three sources of income, there are two more that will come into play in the near future:

1. My book. Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing has already opened doors for me, even before it is finished. I’m sure this will add to my credibility with USANA as well as being its own income stream.
2. My prior career history in IT. Years ago I specialized in IBM’s database DB2, and now I find my expertise being sought after once more. What form this will take remains to be seen, though I am open to all possibilities: full-time employment, contract work, or putting on my own seminars with my own course materials.

These are exciting times we live in, _____. Let me know what you are doing these days to pay the bills.

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And now I’ll open this up to the rest of you. What are you doing these days to pay the bills? Is it enough? More importantly, is it fulfilling work? Post your replies and let the discussion begin.

OK, I don’t often post company-specific information in my blog, as I intend it to contain information that people in any industry, in or out of network marketing, can benefit from. However, in the world of nutrition supplements, there really is no other company I trust. The following five-minute video explains a little about the USANA difference.

USANA continues to rank at the top of NutriSearch’s analysis of well over 1500 different nutrition supplements in the United States and Canada. If you are at all concerned about your health or the health of your loved ones, you owe it to yourself (and them) to take a closer look at USANA.

Call me at any time. It is my joy and privilege to represent USANA Health Sciences.

• 1-866-964-9025 ext 1 – toll-free
• +1 978 299-6777 – local & international

You’ll notice that the subtitle of this blog is Demystifying Prosperity™ by Demystifying Technology®. Perhaps you’re wondering where these two trademarks come from. To explain I shall have to provide a brief history of my professional life.

Although I did not major in computer science in college—indeed, I went to college before such programs were widespread!—my first job out of college was with Boeing Computer Services, and I remained in IT for many years. I enjoyed working as a programmer and systems analyst, then as a consultant on various assignments. Recognizing that I enjoy teaching, I switched careers in 1987 and took a position as a technical trainer.

I ended up working for a company called Platinum Technology in Illinois. This started out as a dream job and ended up as The Job From Hell under a particularly incompetent manager. (I can’t watch The Office on TV, because it hits too close to home.) So in 1995 I quit and formed my own corporation with the incredibly clever name of Carl Eric Johnson & Company.

I did some contract training for Platinum and other companies but was dissatisfied with the quality of the courseware I was working with. So I spent the bulk of 1996 writing my own series of SQL courses. It was at this time that the catch phrase Demystifying Technology® caught on, so I registered it. My ability to demystify technology was proved time and again in the classroom, as I reduced complex topics around IBM’s database DB2 to concepts that my students could easily master.

I partnered with a company in New Jersey to market my courses, earning royalties every time they were taught. Sweet. Unfortunately, that partnership pretty much dissolved in 2001. They still sell my SQL courses, but not nearly as frequently as they once did.

I had enough money set aside to take the summer of 2001 off—my first summer off in decades. It was wonderful. But summer became fall became winter became spring, and before I knew it a whole year had passed. Now I needed to start looking around to see what I might do to make a living. Although I enjoy teaching, I was fairly burned out on DB2 and SQL. So I looked into passive ways to make money: stock investing, commodities futures, and real estate. I took various courses in all of the above and had some modest successes.

One of the courses I took was a CD series by Robert Allen, New York Times best-selling author of Nothing Down, Creating Wealth, and other books. The CD series was titled Multiple Streams of Income. It was a 6-CD set with a bonus 7^th CD dedicated to network marketing. I was skeptical, having had a bad experience in the late ’70’s with a multilevel marketing company. But I respected Robert Allen and listened to what he had to say. I was intrigued. He explained what network marketing was all about and how to evaluate a network marketing opportunity. At the end he invited his listeners to call an 800 number to learn about the one network marketing company he endorsed. I did so, found out it was USANA Health Sciences, got an information packet in the mail several days later, and joined at the highest level within the week.

Wanting to share what I had learned about network marketing with others, I soon transitioned into Demystifying Prosperity™. I have several blogs and e-mail autoresponder series on the topic, and I am currently writing a book titled Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing.

In recent years I have used more and more Internet technologies to promote my network marketing ventures, and so this is where the two (Demystifying Technology® and Demystifying Prosperity™) overlap. Rather than waste a lot of money on telephone leads any more, I am now learning how to use social networking (a k a Web 2.0) technologies to attract free leads to my businesses—so-called attraction marketing.

And just what are my businesses? Well, I am certainly still with USANA Health Sciences and will be for the rest of my life. I am also in Global Resorts Network, a direct sales company marketing memberships in luxury timeshare rentals. It is from my team at Global that I have learned all of my attraction marketing techniques. And I am sure that my book will open doors for me.

I am available for speaking gigs of anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours. If you have an audience who would like me to demystify prosperity for them, let me know. I love helping people realize that they do have options, especially in our current economy. Actually, there has never been a better time to get into network marketing.