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Success Factors in a Global Network Marketing Business

Success FactorsHow to Discover the Love, Innovation and the Entrepreneurial Fitness Required in a Global Network Marketing BusinessForwardTo everyone that is doubtful of hope – this is for you!Let’s begin. A few short weeks ago, unbeknownst to me, I had the privilege of meeting someone on an airplane bound for Adelaide, Australia; who would lead me onto an exciting path of discovery. We momentarily chatted at the back of the aeroplane on my way back from Nadi, Fiji; in a chance meeting in which I would say ‘yes’, I would like to hear more about the business model that had established her recent financial freedom and success (more to come on this encounter with an interview in the later chapters).Eager to progress my knowledge, I spent the next 4 weeks researching the industry, the organisation, the people behind it and the sequences and processes to their wealth. The learning curve was exponential – and this is my reflection. At this point in time, I was coincidentally completing my final MBA capstone research project in Adelaide, so I took the opportunity to research her discussion with me in depth and convey the message across to my followers from an Australian scholarly point of view. I had no idea about the industry, albeit little rumours here and there to complement my somewhat biased and disappointing initial online research. I found nothing positive but like an underworld that nobody truly knew about – it intrigued me because I felt that something was right.The bastion for wealth had its scent in the air. This could be its last refuge – I thought. I had to form an immediate action drill to advance a pincer movement onto this burgeoning interest. It was now or never. I wasn’t sure if it was the timing or the opportunity – the right thing to do though was to jump first and ask questions later. This is the later part of that quick equation that transpired in my entrepreneurial mind. This educative curiosity from an Australian scholarly perspective is now alive in the words that you will feel and as we go through the journey together; towards health, wealth, a great life with grand relationships and most importantly learning about the chances to glow youthfully throughout the adventure. This enlightenment was my beginning into a new and evolving industry. A new road was carved and you may feel the moments morph around your own personal experiences or fantasies. I dived immediately into the books and into the school library; the search for the golden nugget had begun. Line by line, word for word, dissecting the information and honouring the objections with gratitude. My hope is that this communicated knowledge helps novice beginners similar to myself, take that intriguing next step towards calculated risk taking, growth and most importantly, self-discovery through the facts.I hope that you gain some business value in my research and that this value inspires you to create your own decisions when the time comes for you to approach your own destiny!In Gratitude and Thanks.David.Chapter 1Introduction to Network MarketingNetwork marketing, multi-level marketing, direct sales, referral marketing, pyramid selling etc, the names are endless. For the purpose of simplification we will adhere to this business model simply as network marketing for ease of navigation, and understanding throughout the book. All of these names; simply exemplifies a unique marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue of the network company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company’s products or services. Pretty simple system – just made complicated to confuse the novice beginner like myself.1.1 History – How Did It Start?By accident to be honest. This is how the story goes and it all starts with an ingenuous idea conceptualised in 1930 by a man called Carl Rehnborg. Carl was an American businessman who lived in China between 1917 to 1927. Carl observed the benefits of using supplements in a diet that could be beneficial to a human beings health. According to Amway publications, Carl’s study became the ‘ample opportunity to observe at close range the effects of an inadequate diet’. With the knowledge he attained in the nutritional literature, he then started to envision a dietary supplement that would assist proper body functioning in any sort of diet. Carl then decided to go back to America to start his own company out of his learnings in China. He founded his company called The California Vitamin Company. In 1939, he renamed the company to Nutrilite. Carl utilised his friends to sell the vitamins but things initially looked disappointing. The vitamins were piling up on the shelves, unused and forgotten. It was heartbreaking for Carl. Until an idea lit up in his mind, to develop a kind of selling by informing people about the product. He shared the vitamins to more of his friends, to the friends of his friends and so on. You can see where this is going right? Alas – network marketing was born!The business model grew further when Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos became the distributors of Carl’s products. The three noticed a phenomenal increase in sales. KABOOM… !! Network marketing was unleashed into the world. They later set up a competing company (because competition is good in a capitalistic economy) called Amway and they also bought a controlling interest in Nutrilite in 1972. In 1994, Amway took over full ownership and is one of the largest network marketing companies in the world today.1.2 How Do They Get Paid?As the business world innovates and disrupts, network marketing compensation plans evolve to attract new recruits and customers. It is a very simple strategy for expansion to capitalise on the available market share. It is different for every network marketing company just as there are different salaries for different corporations. However the most common is the commission based on the two revenue streams. The first stream of compensation can be paid out from commissions of product sales. The second stream of compensation can be paid out from commissions based on recruiting similar minded distributors. The amount of compensation varies between network marketing companies. I would have to study every single company in the world to understand this – alternatively I can study the success stories because success always leaves hints – in the results.Chapter 2Demographic ExamplesLet’s look at some quick examples of the people who have seen the opportunity and taken the leap. Here we witness the amazing stories of different individuals who have tasted the recent fruit of success in network marketing – becoming phenomenally wealthy.2.1 TeacherSarah Robbins always dreamed to become a teacher. So she became one. She thought she could now have all that she wanted with a limitless appetite for continuous personal growth and development. However, the economy stumped in the US of A, challenging her thoughts on the economy.She had heard of the Rodan & Fields products. She then decided to join so she could earn an extra income and expand her personal development at the same time. Unexpectedly, with her initial goal to earn just a bit of extra income, she earned more than she thought, even more as a teacher. Her career in network marketing grew and she decided to focus on it rather than her teaching career. She was earning six figures at a very young age. She joined the millionaires club and becoming the first distributor to be inducted into the Rodan & Fields Hall of Fame. Sarah continues to educate people on the benefits of network marketing and benefits of its wealth through her unique educational style.2.2 WriterEric Worre, an ordinary writer spent 30 years working in network marketing once he saw the light. He spent most of his 30 years as a distributor and eventually became the president of his own networking company – The People’s Network. He then decided to retire as a distributor and continued his journey in network marketing as a coach and helped network marketing novices, organizing sales presentations. He then wrote ‘Go Pro – 7 Steps to Becoming a Network Marketing Professional’ in 2013, to reach and educate more network marketing aspirants. It has sold more than 1.5 million copies and has been on six best-sellers lists on Amazon.2.3 Single MotherDonna Johnson is an example of a network marketing miracle. A single mum who did not have anything before she started in network marketing. No college degree – just an ordinary swimming coach in a little American town. With her determination to succeed, she now earns more than $1 million per year and is the leader in one of the top network marketing companies, Arbonne. She is now one of the biggest earners in network marketing and has a bed and breakfast business in Jamaica amongst other entrepreneurial ventures.2.4 Government WorkerRebecca Simon is a modest mother who was brought up in one of Adelaide’s toughest suburbs. She recollects how she would travel to work every day and sit at an uninspiring desk job, knowing deep down inside that she was capable of more. Today she is building her own resort on an exotic south pacific Island – just three years after she started in network marketing. More on Rebecca’s inspirational story later on in the book.Chapter 3The Feminine Revolution40 years ago, when the empowerment of women took off, many loved their new found independence and the opportunity to dress in a suit and drive off to a esteemed corner office. Things have changed a lot since the 70s and 80s, today she is just as happy to pull on comfortable yoga pants and skip the travel to the office altogether. Instead of tolerating negative office stigma and glass ceilings, modern women are heading towards the unique opportunity to be their own CEO, have control with no limits on their annual income. Some other reasons why network marketing industry is proving to be amazing for the ladies are:Drum roll…
3.1 Work – Life BalanceBeing burnt out today is no longer the exception, it is the norm. People have to put up with inflation, rising food prices, cost of living, raise families and commute sometimes for hours to get to, and back from work. The amount of work to be taken home is also increasing, teachers working to plan their workloads weeks in advance and project managers working extended hours to launch projects on time. You have heard it before and again, the balance has gone out of whack but some refuse to accept the truth.3.2 EnvironmentMost career women have worked in team environments and enjoy the collaborative and interpersonal communication that goes with it. It is no surprise that the network marketing industry has exactly that and for most women joining the industry, it is this support and collaboration that they miss the most from a usual 9am to 5pm, sit in the corner and do your work routine.3.3 Choice to ChooseNetwork marketing gives women the freedom to choose who they would like to work with as business partners. They choose who they recruit, who they work with and who they would rather not. This choice to choose is empowering and exciting at the same time for women in the industry.3.4 Global Empire at Your FingertipsYou drive around cities and towns nowadays and still see the for lease sign up again at the shop that closed around the corner. You wonder why some businesses prefer the old way of doing businesses in a time where digital disruption is taking stores online. The brilliance of network marketing is that apart from an initial modest start-up fee, there are no overheads, no garages for stock keeping, accountants, legal advisers, etc, you get the idea. The brilliance with network marketing is that most if not all the work can be done from your mobile phone or laptop computer. Your store is online!3.5 Cool Rewards and IncentivesThere are hardly any places left in the world where a large corporation hosts large global events that also reward women for trips, cars, gifts, holidays etc, all whilst developing women business capabilities and personal development. Name a lady who doesn’t like to be pampered from time to time with absolute luxury?3.6 Glass CeilingWith 82 percent of the network marketing industry made up of women, more and more are rising to the top, claiming multi-six- and seven-figure annual incomes. The world is your oyster in this industry for women and those that grasp the opportunity are confirmed with a gift, and if utilised, become extremely wealthy. No glass ceiling in the industry. Effort equals reward!3.7 Freedom of TimeLet’s face it, we all need more freedom, money and time. Where else can you get that? In the industry business partners are told to work at least 2 hours per day to grow their businesses. That’s an average of 8 hours from Monday to Friday. If done correctly this is all one needs to sustain a healthy and wealthy lifestyle from passive income brought in by the industry. Freedom has the allure to pull and no one will ever say no to an opportunity to get more!And, finally, perhaps the most important reason of all…
3.8 AuthenticityThe network marketing business model thrives on the values of femininity such as nurturing support, collaboration, and authenticity – all of which are inherently feminine traits that are easily transferrable into the business model. The more women show up as their natural caring selves, the more successful they become in developing long term substantial relationships in growing their teams and customer base.Chapter 4The Meek Shall Inherit the EarthThe worlds middle class is becoming much larger, the worlds education system is being made more accessible and demographics from the poorest suburbs on the planet have made that extraordinary leap from third world country struggle – to developed world multi-millionaire. Let’s have a look at some examples.4.1 The Gift of AdversityStudies and research have proven time and time again that those from minority, ethnic or migrant backgrounds go that extra mile to achieve their goals in life; if given a small and fair chance to give an opportunity a ago. With that attitude and hunger in network marketing, most if not all, go on to become extraordinary wealthy, becoming multi-millionaires and leaders. There is just something magical, mystical, unknown and empowering about enduring as an underdog from one of those aforementioned backgrounds. Turning adversity and challenges on its head can be the source of generational wealth for years and years to come. Let’s research an example of a network marketing company that is capturing this driven demographic.4.2 KyaniKyani is a global network marketing giant who has successfully positioned itself for global dominance in developing countries to assist the worlds growing middle class. A new starter but safely past the initial 10 year start up survival phase, and rapidly expanding into some 60 plus different countries over the short space of time, Kyani doesn’t limit its sales in developed economies but has strategically given interest to the worlds developing nations such as Honduras, Guatemala, Kazakhstan and Slovakia to name a few. You only have to grab a copy of Kyanis annual network marketing magazine to see proof of the overflow of the minority demographics from countries such as Korea, Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines who are being inducted into the 7 figure salary clubs. Most had disadvantaged starts in life and were from the ordinary occupations such as soldiers, hairdressers and tradesman.Let’s look at some life examples.4.3 Les BrownAfrican American global inspirational speaker, Les Brown didn’t have the best start in life. In fact it was horrible. However, he turned that pain around and become an inspirational example of hope for the world. Les Brown often refers to another historic global icon Ralph Waldo Emerson in his speeches who coined today’s existence as the ‘age of self-reliance’. Les Brown champions unorthodox underdog mental motivation and entrepreneurship – qualities that are found in those that are from minority, migrant and ethnic backgrounds.4.4 Robert KiyosakiFrom a military and Japanese Hawaiian background – Robert Kiyosaki, the award winning Rich Dad, Poor Dad writer; has proven that network marketing success and wealth is not reserved for any demographic. Success can be achieved by anyone, and from any background.Chapter 5Global Icons in Network MarketingNow, let’s look at some well-known global figures who have aligned their businesses with the network marketing industry.5.1 Warren BuffettThe man needs no introduction as a philanthropist and investor and usually sits in the top 3 of the richest people on the planet. He is valued at nearly 70 billion USD and owns Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway owns three network marketing companies, Kirby, World Book and the Pampered Chef. To this day Warren Buffett calls purchasing these network marketing companies – the best purchase he has ever made!5.2 Richard BransonA man that also requires no introduction. One small branch of the Virgin Group that often goes unmentioned is Vie at Home, a network marketing company formerly known as Virgin Vie. Vie at Home made over $60 million of profit in its – first year maiden of existence! Ouch!5.3 Donald TrumpYes, no political affiliations here but when asked on the David Letterman show: What would you do if you lost everything and had to start over from scratch? Trump replied – “I would find a good network marketing company and get to work”.5.4 Bill ClintonIn 1997, Bill Clinton endorsed network marketing in his remarks to the Direct Selling Association. President Clinton stated that ‘You strengthen our country and our economy not just by striving for your own success but by offering opportunity to others… Your industry gives people the chance, after all, to make the most of their own lives and to me that’s the heart of the American dream’.5.5 Jim RohnOne of the worlds pioneers in personal development and network marketing. Today remains one of the founding fathers of the personal and professional development movement and mentored motivational leaders like Tony Robbins. Jim Rohn found the light and opportunity within the network marketing industry and within 6 years – turned his fortunes around to become extraordinarily wealthy, by the age of 32.Chapter 6SummaryWith our brief history and introduction lesson complete, we will go from a beginner to more advanced network marketing challengers and the strategies that will equip the beginner early in the journey. We will unearth deep scholarly research to help structure your leadership for both, the local and the rising global markets.This Australian scholarly research will include vital business concepts that have been proven to increase the chances of success by leveraging both digital and offline mediums. As a bonus and later on in the book; the author personally will outline how his global and MBA experience has helped him in the industry.I sincerely hope that this book adds insurmountable value to your life, those around you and most importantly, your bright future.Thank You.AboutDavd was born in Fiji. At 20 years of age he enlisted into the British Army at Stoke on Trent in England. He served all over the world for a decade as an engineer and team leader. Some of his postings included Germany, Bosnia Herzegovina, Cyprus, Australia and Afghanistan. He moved into civilian life in Australia on May 22, 2012 and rose quickly through the civilian and public service leadership ranks. He graduates in November, 2018 with an MBA degree from Torrens University Australia and lives in Adelaide.

Small Business – When Government Stacks the Deck Against You

We expect a fair degree of corruption, arrogance and drooling self-interest from our elected officials. After all, in the last 206 years, we have fallen a great distance from the days of the “virtuous republic” that existed-or was thought to exist-in that first decade after the Revolution. Yes, we expect it, but I would have more respect for the operatives, the party-men and the politicos themselves if they could be just a little intelligent about it. The current issue with the Bush Administration, Congress, the SBA and the awarding of a great deal of money earmarked for small business, is a case in point.When Big Business Seems SmallIt is illegal, a felony that comes with fines and a prison term, to try to pass your big business off as a small business to get one of the 23% of Federal contracts reserved for small businesses. Yet, it happens all the time. According to the American Small Business League, a non-partisan watchdog group, some $60 billion in Federal contracts go to major corporations each year. How it happens brings us to the question of how you decide that a business is truly small.Counting HeadsWhat is a small business? How do you measure it? Is it revenue? Sales? Staff size? Any one of these could be a viable measure, but for the most part the matter is decided with staff size. Depending on the industry, you can have a maximum of 1,500 employees and still be considered a small business! (Federal Regulations Title 13, Part 121, Section 201)These larger “small businesses,” with 1,000 to 1,500 employees, deal in oil, aerospace, rail transportation, textiles, and chemical and rubber products. Wholesalers, regardless of their products, are capped at 100; information technology value-added resellers are capped at 150 (a very recent change) while the rest are capped at either 500 or 750. In 2005 (the most recent data available), there were 5,966,069 firms in the U.S. with 500 or fewer employees and they employed 58,644,585 people out of a total employment of 116,373,003. That is 50.3% of the working population working in what could easily be described as legitimately small businesses. If you add up the firms with larger numbers of employees, you find that there are 11,546 of them and that they employ 9,475,180 people, 8.14% of the workforce.Call me crazy, but a firm with 1,000 employees doesn’t seem to be very small to me! It may be small when compared to the giants in its industry, but it is a giant compared with the vast majority of small businesses. In 2004, there was an effort to bring the number of employees down from 500 to 100 for a business to be classified as small. In spite of a great deal of support for the measure-including U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), who said: “By working to change the definition of a small business for government contracts from 500 to 100 employees, federal contracts specifically designed to ensure the success of American small business would go where they belong – to support Americans, not big companies dressed in sheep’s clothing.”-the effort was killed by the SBA itself. That, however, is only the beginning. Another has to do with how small businesses are certified.Finding a Certified Small BusinessThe question of how many employees a small business can have is complicated even further when we see that the government has been rather lax in enforcing the contract award rules for small business. In fact, in 2005, some $49 billion in Federal contracts that were set aside for small business were actually awarded to the 13 largest government contractors. This lax enforcement has led to cases where the small business in question is actually a subsidiary of a much larger company, where businesses have outgrown their small business status, where big business misrepresents itself as a small business and where government procurement offices, such as with the military, simply disregard the rules and do business with who they like.The Small Business FrontTwo of the most prevalent ways that large companies can maintain a small business front are through the legal loopholes that allow a small business to retain its status throughout the life of its original contract-and bid on new business as a small business-no matter how large it grows and even after it is bought out by a large company.In either case, what the company in question is doing is, in fact, legal. Their actions are also limited by the fact that the loophole is based on the length of the small business’ initial contract. For example, if a small business wins a 10-year contract to provide computer hardware, it maintains its small business status for the full 10 years of the contract regardless of how large it grows or if some huge conglomerate buys it. This has been an issue for some time. Consider the following:According to a 2006 report on the U.S. Government Accountability Office: Commerce Information Technology Solutions (COMMITS) Next Generation Governmentwide Acquisition Contract, “We found that many of the 55 COMMITS NexGen contractors have grown significantly or have been acquired by larger businesses and may no longer meet small business size standards. We also found that a significant portion of the task orders intended for the smallest contractors were issued to larger, incumbent contractors.”Incumbent contractors tend to get the lion’s share of the government’s business. A 2004 SBA Office of Advocacy: Eagle Eye Publishers’ Report said that: “Of the top 1,000 small business contractors in FY 2002, Eagle Eye Publishers’ analysis found 44 parent companies it identified as either large firms or ‘other’. Contracts to these two groups taken together had a total value of $2 billion.” The report continued, saying that: “The Department of Defense and the General Services Administration accounted for 79 percent of the contract awards found to have gone to large businesses.” One of the conclusions drawn from the report was: “As a result of this lack of transparency, many awards that should be reserved for small firms go to large firms unchallenged.”Disregarding the RulesRules can be broken either directly, by a willful disregard on the part of those the rules were intended to regulate, such as a company that purposefully misidentifies itself as a small business in order to get a contract; or they can be broken indirectly by a lack of oversight and enforcement that creates an atmosphere in which the rules can be ignored. One of the problems sited against the SBA is oversight. “SBA did not review the majority of reported bundled contracts that we identified, though procuring activities must provide, and SBA must review proposed bundled acquisitions. As a result, 192 contracts identified by procuring agencies as bundled were awarded without SBA’s review. If all of these are actually bundled contracts, a minimum of $384 million would be potentially lost to eligible small businesses, based on minimum dollar reporting requirements of $2 million.” (SBA Office of Inspector General: Audit of the Contract Bundling Process, May 2005) And consider this from the SBA Office of Inspector General: Audit of Monitoring Compliance with 8(a) Business Development Contract Performance, March 2006:”Though SBA delegated 8(a) BD contract execution authority to 26 procuring agencies, SBA did not ensure that procuring agencies monitored whether companies complied with 8(a) BD regulations when completing 8(a) BD contracts . . . SBA has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that companies comply with 8(a) BD regulations”The SBA is the final oversight authority for these contract awards and yet through their lack of enforcement efforts, it is easy for large businesses to slip through. Why is this? There are two likely reasons. The first is that the Bush Administration, when it came into office, cut funding for the SBA. At the end of the Clinton Administration, the budget for the SBA was about $1.1 billion. By 2006 it was down to $456.5 million. Funding has increased since the 2006 low; for 2009, that number has increased to $657 million, mostly due to funding for disaster relief loans; but the agency has nowhere near the budget it used to have. Generally speaking, if you cut funds to an agency, certain things start to slip and that is not a message that the SBA, or the Bush Administration for that matter, want going public.However, it already has.An audit by the American Small Business League (ASBL) and two independent experts showed that even while the SBA was saying that it is a “myth that large companies, including large, multi-national corporations are taking away federal contracts specifically intended for small businesses,” it was discovered that the Bush Administration had in fact included billions of dollars in awards to Fortune 500 corporations and other large businesses in the United States and Europe in its small business contracting statistics. Also, the Bush Administration failed to comply with the congressionally mandated 23% small business contracting goal by including such corporate giants as:
Dyncorp
Battelle Memorial Institute
Hewlett Packard
Government Technology Services Inc (GTSI),
Bechtel
Lockheed Martin
General Dynamics
General Electric
Northstar Aerospace
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
Raytheon.
British Aerospace Engineering Systems
Buhrmann NV (Dutch)
Thales (French)
More than that, ASBL’s research also found that the government was forced to systematically increase the volume of contracts awarded to small businesses in order to balance out those that were going to inappropriately large companies. In addition, awards to legitimate small businesses were systematically inflated to equalize the reduction of small business contract dollars awarded to Fortune 500 corporations. The ASBL found that according to SBA numbers, Circle B Enterprises Inc. received $887.5 million during 2005. However, the government’s own figures indicate that Circle B Enterprises Inc. received $287.5 million during 2005, which represents a discrepancy of $600 million. The ASBL audit found several other instances where the contracting numbers of legitimate small businesses were also significantly inflated.The Bottom LineThe government decided to play fast and loose with small business contract money and they got caught siphoning it off to some of the largest companies on Earth. There are those that will only see the damage that this will do to McCain in the fall, yet another Bush Administration failure/debacle/betrayal-whatever you like best. That, however, is not the point. The point is why was the SBA hamstrung and placed in the position it has been in by the Bush Administration? More than that, why has this abuse been allowed to go on for so long? Call me a political cynic-I am from Chicago so I come by it honestly-but the only thing that makes sense to me is that government officials are paying back the people with deep pockets who helped to get them elected and they are doing it at the expense of, well, YOU. True, paybacks are a time-honored political tradition, but by stealing the money from small business, the U.S. Government as a whole turned its back on the overwhelming number of U.S. employers and employees in favor of a handful of major corporations. I urge you, as a small business owner; and you as an employee of a small business, to write your senators and congressmen, and to write to each of the presidential candidates, McCain and Obama, and their respective party chairmen-Republican and Democrat alike, and tell them that you want this to stop. Remember, small business contract set-asides are for YOU, not major corporations. It is time to remind Washington of that.