The Wall Street Journal included a “Special Supplement” in yesterday’s (Monday, June 27, 2011) edition. It was published by the Direct Selling News and was titled “The Ultimate Social Business Model: Why Now Is Prime Time for Direct Selling.” To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an egregious understatement.

There is so much misinformation about direct selling in general and network marketing in particular—network marketing being one form of direct selling—that this 40-page full-color insert was a breath of fresh air. My regular readers know that I am writing a book on network marketing to help demystify the industry. Needless to say, this supplement will help further my progress on my book.

My own network marketing company of choice, USANA Health Sciences, figures prominently in the supplement. We are not alone at the top, however, so if health and wellness is not your passion, you are sure to find another top-rated company that is. Regardless, you owe it to yourself to take a serious look at network marketing. Don’t take financial advice from a bunch of broke naysayers … like I did until I found USANA.

To date I have merely flipped through the pages of the document, but I plan to read it cover to cover, gleaning whatever additional insights I can into this wonderful industry. Stay tuned, as I am sure to write much more on this topic.

You can download a PDF version of the supplement by clicking on the image to the right. To order hardcopy reprints, click here. Feel free to add your comments below to keep the discussion rolling along.

With the exception of two verses in the 20^th chapter of Proverbs, I didn’t find much to blog about this 20^th day of August. Instead, allow me to “vent” about two separate incidents that happened this week involving deceptive come-ons.

“Bad, bad,” says the buyer,
then goes away and boasts. (Prov 20:14, NRSV)

I get a chuckle every time I read this 14^th verse of Proverbs 20. It is so true. We all want to enter into win-win negotiations, so making the seller feel good about a transaction is simply good business.

At the same time, there can be too much deception. I received a phone call earlier this week from a woman I met several years ago at a public speaking seminar. After a brief amount of small talk, she asked me, “Are you open to additional income opportunities?” After I replied truthfully in the affirmative, she explained that she was having someone make a presentation at her home the following evening and asked whether I would be interested in attending. Having heard this particular nebulous pitch on numerous occasions before, I asked her, “Is this XYZ?” (I’m obscuring the actual three-letter acronym, in case any of my readers are actively engaged in “XYZ” and love it.) To my surprise she told me she didn’t know. I found this odd, since it seems to me that she would know. Nevertheless, I gracefully bowed out.

Friends, I’m all for learning about income opportunities. At the very least, they’ll make it into my book, Demystifying Prosperity™. All I ask is that you be up-front with the business opportunity you’re promoting. I am. I never withhold any information about my primary network marketing company. It’s either a good fit for you or it isn’t. My being secretive about the details isn’t going to change that.

The next day I received an email about a system that would help me generate leads into my primary business. This is a good thing. I feel very strongly about my primary network marketing opportunity, and I’m interested in learning about any ways to help promote it. Several emails, phone calls, and webinars later, I still don’t know the exact details about this “system” (something involving a pizza box) that will generate me $497 or $1497 or $3497 per person I sucker into it.

Folks, I want to promote my primary business, not some “system” that causes people to shell out significant money simply to further the system itself. I told the gentleman my concerns, and he said he could share with me more specific information about what exactly would come with my financial outlay. I asked him to email me links to the websites in question. To my amazement, he told me he would not. Instead, he asked me to phone him when I got back home (he called me on my cell phone while I was out running errands). Once I was back at my computer, he would then email me the links. He explained that spam filters mean that his emails often do not get delivered, and that I needed to be at my computer to verify that I received the email.

I’m sorry, B____, but you lost this sale. He has already successfully emailed, me, meaning that his email address has already been whitelisted. This is pure manipulation.

Folks, if you’re promoting a legitimate opportunity, there is no need for such deceptive practices. Be up-front with your prospects. Answer their questions. Send them to websites where they can learn more information. When I signed up with my company, I did my due diligence … and I liked what I found out. My ideal prospect would be someone just like me, someone who does his or her due diligence, someone who asks all the appropriate questions, someone who signs up only after ensuring that this is indeed the right opportunity. That’s the sort of person who will run with this opportunity all the way to the top.

I suppose the opposite extreme is someone who reveals too much:

A gossip reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with a babbler. (Prov 20:19, NRSV)

I met with a woman yesterday morning for the purpose of learning more about her businesses and telling her about mine. She definitely had the gift of gab. Not only did she “vomit” information about her businesses on me, she felt the need to interject periodically while I had the floor. This is not the way to win friends and influence people. As I mentioned in a recent post, we have two ears and one mouth. Let’s all learn to use them proportionately.

Happy networking! Feel free to share your joys and tribulations below.

The 13^th chapter of Proverbs contrasts the rich and the poor, with a side contrast of righteousness and wickedness. Two passages caught my attention and should make for interesting discussions.

The first is a bit humorous:

Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing;
others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.
Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life,
but the poor get no threats. (Prov 13:7-8, NRSV)

I am reminded of the book The Millionaire Next Door, where the authors posit that rich people who flaunt their wealth are actually in the minority. Most wealthy people wouldn’t be recognizable from the rest of us. This has been my experience, and I am thankful for such positive role models that wealth needn’t puff one up. In contrast, the Brit-com Keeping Up Appearances has a great example of the opposite in “social-climbing snob” Hyacinth Bucket.

Verse 8 adds another twist to the mix. The wealthy have the means to pay their own ransom, but the poor have no need for it. Perhaps this is another argument for being less obvious with one’s wealth.

The second passage that caught my eye is the following:

Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle,
but those who gather little by little will increase it. (Prov 13:11, NRSV)

I could write a whole chapter on this. There are countless stories about lottery winners who are worse off a year later than they were before their big win. It seems that we humans rarely handle an abrupt change in socioeconomic status well. But as the saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race.”

In network marketing (and Internet marketing and affiliate marketing), some choose to market their opportunities as ways to become wealthy, the implication being that this transformation will happen virtually overnight. The proverbial “get rich quick” scheme generally produces wealth only for the schemers.

I have never presented my network marketing opportunity this way. To the contrary, I am often brutally honest in admitting that the commission checks will probably be low (or nonexistent) at first. So keep your day job! However, the only way to lose in network marketing is to quit. You really can’t help but succeed if you build your business little by little with daily activities. And as you add people to your network of distributors, then the earnings start compounding.

But the best advice I can give someone considering network marketing is simply to join a company that resonates with you. This is essentially word-of-mouth advertising that these companies are paying us for. People see through fakes right away. Find a company and a product you believe in. Then you can’t fail.

And don’t expect to get rich quick. I see people making this mistake all the time. When riches don’t appear fast enough for them, they jump ship and switch to another opportunity. Almost invariably, that one will disappoint them, and they switch to yet another, and another, and another. (Sadly, I know this from personal experience, as well.) Every time they quit, they put off their ultimate success. Fortunately, I came to my senses a few years back and have been focusing on only one network marketing opportunity. It happens to be the one I started with eight years ago. Sigh.

Instead, do your due diligence up front. I can help you with that. The good news about my sampling many opportunities is that I’ve been exposed to lots of different types of businesses. If mine does not resonate with you, I can point you in the direction of another. Contact me for a free consultation.

And add your comments below to continue the discussion.

The sixth chapter of Proverbs has one of my favorite passages in it:

Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior. (Prov 6:6-11, NRSV)

Working from home, I have a very flexible schedule. Unless I am teaching a class or webinar or am otherwise engaged, I do enjoy taking an afternoon nap from time to time. Societies that take a siesta seem just a bit saner than our own nonstop pace of life. I had the pleasure of living and working in Mexico City in 1981, and my colleagues and I often enjoyed two-hour lunches in the middle of the afternoon.

And yet, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,” and God knows what disasters await.

Fortunately, this tension between too much work and too much leisure can be resolved. The key is self-discipline. This passage in Proverbs begins with an admonition to the “lazybones” to consider the ant. “Without having any chief or officer or ruler,” the ant does whatever it needs to do to prepare for the future. It does not shirk its responsibilities. And it manages all of this without a boss cracking a whip over its head.

One of the mental hurdles many people need to overcome when starting their own network marketing business is to move beyond an employee mindset. Two significant areas are involved. (1) You become your own boss, so if you need a boss to crack the whip overhead, guess who has to start cracking? You. Self-discipline is key. And (2) you trade linear income for residual income. Many network marketers work long hours with little reward at first. It takes time to build a residual income stream.

But the only way to fail in network marketing is to quit. Those who stick to their guns (and don’t jump from opportunity to opportunity) inevitably reap rich rewards.

So, you lazybones, make up your mind. Are you more suited to an employee mindset? Do you need a steady paycheck and a thank-God-it’s-Friday attitude about the weekend? If so, then network marketing may not be a good fit for you. But if you are willing to invest some low-pay or no-pay time up front, the rewards down the line can be tremendous.

Take your cue from the ant. Work tirelessly on your business, and the harvest is sure to be beyond your expectations.

August 2 focuses on the 2nd chapter of Proverbs. (If you have not already done so, see my post of August 1 to introduce this series of reflections on the book of Proverbs.)

My child, if you accept my words
and treasure up my commandments within you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
if you indeed cry out for insight,
and raise your voice for understanding;
if you seek it like silver,
and search for it as for hidden treasures—
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God. (Prov 2:1-5, NRSV)

Does prosperity elude you? Are you still baffled about how the universe works? This short reflection underscores the necessary precursors to prosperity.

The cited biblical passage uses language specific to ancient Israel and Israel’s God, referred to as the Lord (with small caps, representing the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, the name of God in Hebrew). To make this passage more universal in scope, understand that “fear” means “reverential awe,” and the focus of this awe is the laws of the universe.

(I probably just offended both my Judeo-Christian audience as well as my “unchurched” followers. So be it. My purpose in these 31 days of reflections is to underscore the wisdom that ancient authors promulgated, and to bring this wisdom into the 21st century.)

My takeaway in this passage from Proverbs is simply that the pursuit of wisdom is enough. Being on a spiritual path is better than not being on a spiritual path. The pursuit of wisdom will not go unrewarded.

I apply this in my own quest to unlock the secrets of network marketing success. Why is it that the overwhelming majority of network marketers fail? I am convinced that the lack of a proper mindset is a huge determining factor.

Be open to the teachings of others. Countless people have walked this earth before us. We can learn from their experiences. All we have to do is to get out of our own way and remain open to the wealth of revealed wisdom all around us.

Stay tuned. This promises to be a very revealing month.

Who hates to write? I’m beginning to think that fewer and fewer people enjoy writing these days. Face it, we all take shortcuts: in electronic communications, you is often shortened to u, are becomes r, and so forth.

Am I the only one who finds this irritating? Doesn’t anyone write in full sentences any more?

Lest I get sidetracked early on, the purpose of this post is to inspire you to find your inner author. There is great power in the written word.

As you know, one of the hats I wear is website developer. I am currently leaning heavily towards recommending WordPress as a content management system or CMS. Consequently, most of the sites I am developing these days are driven by WordPress. I tend to attract Web clients who don’t want to have to rely on an outside webmaster to make minor changes to their sites. With the Thesis theme that I recommend, this is especially easy to do.

Yet these same clients often balk at the idea of posting periodic blog updates, themselves. “You want me to write? I hate writing!” From a purely technological standpoint, I strongly encourage such clients to overcome their dislike of writing. I say technological, because search engines love blogs! Search engines are always searching for fresh content to index, and what better way to bring their focus back to your website with each new blog post?

Many of us underestimate our writing skills. I have a dear friend who loves storytelling, always has a great joke to share, and often has a message that many could benefit from hearing. As a gift a year or so ago, I set him up with his own blog, including registering his full name as his domain name. Sadly, he has yet to write his first post.

If you really dislike the physical aspect of writing (whether with pen or keyboard), how about purchasing an inexpensive digital voice recorder—or discovering the DVR features already built in to your smart phone—and simply recording yourself? You could then hire someone else to transcribe (and, ideally, edit) your message.

Regardless, I am convinced that every one of us has a message worth sharing with the world. I’ve always said I want to leave this planet a better place for my having been here. To the extent that I can inspire others to do the same, I shall achieve that goal.

Back to the power of the word. I have attended many conferences over the years. At one a few years back, one of the presenters made the claim that public speaking is the highest paid profession in the world. I was intrigued—so intrigued, in fact, that I ended up purchasing his public speaking seminar. What I learned were techniques to persuade the audience from the front of the room to run to the back of the room and part with their money to purchase my products. The only problem was that I had no products to sell.

What I realized in all of this, though, is that it is not public speaking that is the highest paid profession in the world, but sales. Public speaking simply emphasizes the power of using words to persuade. George Foreman said it best:

I learned something early in life. If you sell, you’ll never starve. In any other profession, you can find yourself out on the street saying, “They don’t want me anymore.” But if you can sell, you will never go hungry.

The sad thing in all of this is that I had already experienced the power of the word ten years earlier. In 1996 I took a lot of time out of my consulting business to learn the ins and outs of IBM’s database DB2 and its companion language SQL. From this I wrote The SQL Series of Courses. Those courses still earn me royalties to this day! I learned the power of producing a product once and getting paid again and again for it—i.e., the power of leverage. Yes, 1996 was a difficult year financially, but boy the payoff has been sweet!

Fortunately for me, I love to write. I have always been a good letter-writer. I’m sure this was due in part to growing up in a Coast Guard family and moving around a lot. I’d make close friends in one place only to have to leave them a few years later. But letters allowed me to maintain close friendships over the miles and over the years. To this day I correspond with friends from elementary school.

So what do you do if you don’t love to write? Resign yourself to a life without harnessing the power of the word? Hardly. I’ve already mentioned one technique you could use: record your voice and have someone else transcribe and edit your words. But if you think about it, why not just leave your voice recorded? Podcasts are becoming more and more popular. You could conduct teleseminars and webcasts. Streaming video is easy to add to a website. There are many examples right here in my own blog.

Just recently I learned an interesting fact. Who do you think makes more money: Singers or songwriters and lyricists? Actors or playwrights and screenwriters? Yes, there are some very highly paid performers, but in general it is the writers who make more money. They get royalties every time their song is played on the radio … and they tend to write many songs for multiple performers. It gets even better when a song they wrote gets re-recorded by additional performers.

We all have a message to share. I am finding that mine is a combination of demystifying technology® for my Web clients and demystifying prosperity™ for my fellow network marketers. What is your message? I strongly urge you to find your voice and experience the power of the word, written and otherwise.

Enough is enough! I just got pitched a third MLM opportunity this week. Don’t these people know that I am already happily involved with a great network marketing company? In my opinion, trying to interest me in another opportunity is just as evil as trying to seduce a married person.

Got your attention, eh?

I know there’s a whole school of thought out in MLM Land that the best people to recruit are people already in MLM, the reason being that you don’t have to spend any time convincing them that network marketing is a great way to make a side income.

This makes me sick to my stomach.

It’s the primary reason I am writing my book, Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing. You see, I made this very mistake, myself. If I can keep even one person from making this same mistake, then my book will have been worth it.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m a huge proponent of multiple streams of income. In my own case, I have my website design business, I do database consulting, and I participate in several affiliate programs for recommending products and services that I use—all of this on top of my network marketing business.

But network marketing is in a class by itself. Sure, you’ll want to find a network marketing business that has exceptional, unique products that people you come in contact with will want to purchase. In other words, you’ll have your share of customers. But the other thing that you have to offer is an income opportunity. For the manufacturer, network marketing is a great way to spread the word about high-end products, products that would never move off the grocery store shelf if they were marketed by traditional means: advertising and distribution.

To help spread the word, you are building a team of fellow distributors by interesting them not only in the products but in the income opportunity. What does it say about me if I’m trying to promote multiple income opportunities?

For someone already involved in MLM, he or she got involved presumably for good reasons. To me, that’s like someone who got married. When I’m speaking to someone new, the minute I find out that he or she is already involved in network marketing, I switch gears and no longer promote my business. I may still promote my products, just not the income opportunity. It’s the same as when I see a ring on someone’s ring finger: hands off!

Now yes, there are people who are in an unsatisfying marriage, and there are people who are dissatisfied with their network marketing companies. Fine. If they want to come to me, great, but the ball is definitely in their court. You want to date me? Dissolve your existing marriage. You want to join my network marketing opportunity? Likewise I expect your undivided attention.

After all, I want you to be successful! Understand, I made this mistake. In early 2008 I was juggling four network marketing opportunities at the same time, and doing none of them well—big surprise! When I came to my senses and realized that one opportunity stood head and shoulders above the others, my commitment was renewed and I never looked back. Should I be so fortunate as to get married one day, my commitment will be similarly focused.

So, to those of you who wish to pitch your income opportunity to me, save your breath. To the extent that it will help with the book I am writing, fine, let’s compare notes. But don’t think that you’ll ever get a new recruit for your business in me. I’ve already found The One.

Do you agree? Do you disagree? Add your comments below.

I have become an active social networker, participating in group discussions on LinkedIn and Facebook. Just now I replied to a post in one of my network marketing (MLM) threads, and I felt it would make for a good blog post. Here is the original discussion post:

Is representing more than one MLM company (at the same time) hurtful or helpful to your home-based business?

I’ve been involved in MLM for a bit over three years now and have already experienced the fact that I have found myself representing more than one company at the same time. Much of this is due to the shifting around of my immediate upline and their upline leadership. I have gotten to know many other network marketers, who say, with pride, how many other companies they’ve been involved with. I met one guy who say’s he is currently with 12 different companies—all at the same time! How is this possible? Or, more importantly, how is this profitable?

I am perplexed how I could even commit my time and energy to promoting only two “opportunities” with success.

Am I alone here? Does anyone else out there have suggestions on how to best succeed with presenting more than one opportunity?

Thanks,
Guy

Hi Guy:

Here’s my experience, and I look forward to hearing others’ experiences, as well.

I joined my first network marketing company in 2002 and immediately started seeing other opportunities all over the place. I joined a few, and most fell by the wayside, but over time I found myself juggling multiple opportunities at once, and none of them profitably.

By January of 2008 I was actively trying to promote four opportunities. Then I got the great idea of writing a book about network marketing, figuring I must be an expert by now. I outlined my book and started writing the chapter on how to evaluate a network marketing opportunity.

It occurred to me that I should plug my four opportunities in to my own criteria and see how they measured up against one another. Guy, it wasn’t even close: my first opportunity, the one I joined way back in 2002, was head and shoulders better than all the others combined.

I could have kicked myself. If only I had stuck to my guns with the first one instead of letting myself get sidetracked by “greener pastures” elsewhere, I would have found myself in a much better financial position. I stopped promoting the other three opportunities and focused on my first love. It was definitely the right thing to do.

I strongly encourage you to focus on one opportunity at a time. I have developed great relationships with my colleagues in other companies, and when I speak with a prospect who I think would do better in one of their opportunities, I am more than happy to refer him or her on to my counterpart. Over time, I’m sure my counterparts will start passing me their prospects whom they think would be a better fit in my company. In my opinion, this is a better way to juggle multiple opportunities—with multiple people!

I’m still plugging away at my book. I invite you to sign up for email alerts at demystifyingprosperity.com and I’ll keep you posted as to my progress.

Best wishes to you for massive success in 2010! The more of us who make network marketing work for us, the better off we’ll all be.

The recently departed Jim Rohn, one of my most influential mentors (rest in peace, dear friend), was an ardent proponent of network marketing, not to mention health and wellness and proper nutrition. His passing has prompted many glowing tributes.

I just read one in the form of a great blog post from Randy Gage, a fellow network marketer. He explains brilliantly and succinctly what makes network marketing so different from any other profession in the world. Here it is in its entirety:

http://www.networkmarketingtimes.com/blog/the-power-of-your-testimonial/

To summarize the points that Randy makes:

• The basis of what we do is duplication. We make money by helping lots of other people make money. In other words, this is a business model based on cooperation and not competition.
• Self-development is key. Network marketing makes us better people. I was not aware of this byproduct when I signed up.
• The people you sign up may very well earn more than you. What other business model has people lower on the “totem pole” making more money? Network marketing rewards effort wherever you find yourself in the hierarchy.

If you are already involved in a network marketing opportunity, good for you! Stick with it. The only people who make no money are the people who quit. Also, unless you are totally dissatisfied with your company or your team, don’t let other opportunities lure you away from your primary focus. You joined your company for a reason. Stay the course, follow the directions of your successful upline and crossline, and reap the benefits, one of which, as you know, is helping lots of others achieve their financial dreams along the way.

If you are not yet involved in network marketing, what are you waiting for? It is absolutely genius. Find an industry and a product that you are passionate about, sign up, and then spread the word. Paid word-of-mouth advertising makes so much sense. Most people start part-time, working their business in the nooks and crannies of their lives. As their commission checks grow, then they experience true financial freedom, continuing with their “day jobs” only if they want to, not because they have to.

You might consider signing up for email alerts at the website for my upcoming book, Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing. And please post your comments below.

Here’s to your massive success!

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.

—◊♦◊—◊♦◊—◊♦◊—

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.