Category Archives: Creating Wealth

November 2, 2011

Now Faith is the Substance of Things Hoped For, the Evidence of Things Not Seen

I have two friends who are “going through it ” right now and I wanted to re-post this for them, it’s so important that we keep the faith yet it’s the first thing that we lose.

Someone reviewed my site on Linkreferral and said “I thought this was a make money blog”.  I’m not quite sure what a make money blog should do, but I know that I want my readers to leave my site feeling a little better, a little smarter and a little more inspired than when they arrived. I also know that you can make a little money by dibbling and dabbling in things, but persistency, consistency and the right mindset are going to make you a lot of money (and it won’t take 40 years of trying). So lets talk some more about faith; raise your hand if you think that Barack Obama is the POTUS because he “caught a break” or that Bill Gates is the richest man in the world because he “got lucky”, I suppose you also think that Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech” was just words on paper….hmmm

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen – Hebrews 11:1“

What do the three men I mentioned have in common? They believed in something that:

  1. They could not see
  2. They had never seen
  3. No one in the entire world had ever seen

Yet here I am, a black woman, living in the boonies in the state of Georgia and I am not afraid, because Martin Luther King had a dream “that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”  And he dreamed it long enough and hard enough and passed it on to millions of people, and what none of them could even begin to  imagine back then, has  actually come to pass.

**Do you think that maybe some people thought that Bill Gates was crazy for dropping out of Harvard ( I mean it’s Harvard, people would kill to get in and he dropped out), and crazier still for thinking that we needed a computer on every desk ( to do what? our  math homework?). Do you think he might have had a naysayer or two or three?  Lots of people probably thought he wouldn’t amount to much, well he showed them didn’t he? Because here I sit in an easy chair portable computer in my lap, no wires,  communicating with people all across the globe.

Now even I thought Barack Obama was on a fools mission, but after I heard him speak a few times, I knew ( and I told my husband, so ask him cause I ain’t making this up) that this guy had read a personal development book or two, and I knew that he knew that to be successful you have to believe it before you see it.  I think we could all see that this man really believed it, and after a while he had a lot of people seeing and believing right along with him; and here we are with the first African-American POTUS ever.

*Faith is the place where each of these men of vision stood firm in their expectations while they proved to the entire world that which (even) they could not actually see.

What are your expectations? Whether you’re expecting to succeed or expecting to fail, chances are you will. As surely as the telephone was seeking Alexander Graham Bell and the light bulb was seeking Thomas Edison – opportunity is seeking you, but it won’t matter if you can’t see it.

Faith is where you should stand while you expect to make more money in a short period of time than you have ever made in a long period of time, even though your friends and family call you constantly asking “How’s that business of yours going?” and then they make a remark like “I guess I’ll get in it when I see you start making some real money” and then they go join someone else’s business, because  you would never lie to your family but a stranger would – but you’re not bitter, cause you’ve got faith and a future that you can actually see.

* I learned this from Myron Golden and it was so powerful that I just never forgot it.

**And yes I should mention Steve Jobs somewhere in here too, so here ya go visionary Apple guy who brought us the  Iphone, Macs (my first PC experience  back in college actually), and may have had some of his ideas pilfered (I dunno for sure).

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May 1, 2011

When Crochet Is Like Real Life – Accepting the Need to Frog

Really Big bill

See the bill on that thing? It is so getting frogged

If I give it a lot of thought I start to see that I have been living the handmade life all of my life. My mother taught me how to sew at an early age so that I could make my school clothes,  There were 5 of us kids and  she was a single parent with a deadbeat ex, it was just cheaper to go to Pitkin Avenue and buy bags of fabric than to go to Korvettes or Mays and try to outfit 5 children for school. Or who knows maybe she felt about fabric the way I do about yarn – if it’s on sale it’s going in the cart LOL.

I recently took a cruise with all of my aunts and uncles and as my Auntie Vida showed me how to crochet with thread, I realized that each one of the women there had been instrumental in my “becoming”. Had they not imparted certain pieces of knowledge to the prepubescent me, I would probably not be as imaginative or creative as I am today ( or maybe I would still be imaginative but just not have the wherewithal to turn that into anything concrete). Anyway, thank you aunties (that includes you Verna) for giving me the building blocks of my handmade life.

Let me start by saying that I crochet just about all the time (when I’m not working or sleeping that is), this does some things to the body, I’ll tell ya. So I could say that lesson one is – work through the pain LOL. When I first started crocheting I lived in fear of starting over. I  absolutely dreaded  having to rip anything out once I had put time and effort into it – whether that time was one hour, one day, one week or one month.  Fortunately, over time I learned that no matter how far you’ve gone

*It’s OK to frog  and start over

Six years ago when I was laid off, I made several mistakes and miscalculations because I thought that I could not compete for jobs with smartass kids who were using laptops before they were potty trained. I was afraid that I was too old and set in my ways to be of value to an employer. Oh I did try, but one or two rejections was all it took to make me throw in the towel and accept the fact that I was obviously so not the sharpest knife in that drawer. In retrospect, I was fine, but really I was just afraid of having to start over with a new company, new technology, new co-workers.

Like Trinity in “The Matrix”, I’m not afraid anymore. I know that starting over isn’t the end, it’s just a new beginning. Starting over means giving yourself a chance to :

  • Fix a past mistake
  • Learn something new
  • Face your fear of the unknown
  • Provide a quality product (even if the product is yourself)

This knowledge has made me a better crocheter, a better worker, and a better person.

Are you afraid to frog? Care to share your story?

*Frog – rip it rip rip it

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January 29, 2011

The HandMade Life – What Inspires Me

You may think that those of us who live the handmade life just wake up each day grab a patter or project sheet and just go at it until some object emerges from our efforts. But that’s not really it, the days that I do that I frog (rip things out)  more than I create. What really inspires me is what my eyes see in the world. I know  that sounds kind of lofty and idealistic , I mean I still use a pattern sometimes but it’s the thing or event that  drives me to choose that pattern on that day that keeps me inspired to the completion of the project (and trust me I have a lot of UFOs [unfinished objects which I may or may not be able to identify later] to support that theory .

The UnaDrummer’s Driver Cap

The UnaDrummer's Cap

The UnaDrummer's Cap

Last summer when I was crocheting fedoras for my husband’s band, I asked the drummer when was he going to buy one of my awesome hats, he said when I made him a drivers cap in Pittsburgh Steelers colors. Well that wasn’t very inspiring at all (bright yellow and black I mean come onnnn already). So I put it off and put it off and then the other night I was feeling a little down (unemployed and unemployable and all) and I was watching Hustle on AMC (it’s one of my favorite shows  and if someone wants to send me the box set well…lol) and the pisode was about horse racing the caps everyone wore were just amazing and I put down the baby sweater I was in the middle of, grabbed some yellow yarn and my modified Lidsville pattern and produced what you see here. Hope Mr Unadrummer likes it. BTW you can find the original Lidsville pattern here.

The” Luther” Beret

I’ve liked Idris Elba since I first saw him as Stringer Bell in “The Wire”. A few weeks back I was looking for something to keep my ears occupied on a Sunday afternoon and found a Brit mini-series “Luther” which starred Mr Elba as a cop of all things! Anyway there was a pale redhead in this awesome beret that I just had to emulate.  I modified a pattern from Berroco I think and continued the cables to the forehead to create a similar look. The yarn I used is a European worsted that’s very thin so the beret is not as substantial as this one, but I’ll keep doin it until I get it right, LOL.

The beret

I just had to make this beret
My Luther Beret

This is my version of the beret

 

My Greek Columns Hat

One of my favorite stitches is the cross-stitch so I find that when I design my own items I inevitably include that stitch. I call this my Greek columns hat because it reminds me of the Parthenon or something like (I told you inspiration comes from strange places sometimes:) So that’s my story, what’s yours?  What exactly inspires you? Tell me all about it.

Greek Columns hat

It's the grey one on the left there or did I even need to tell you that?

 

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January 17, 2011

My Top 5 Reasons For Getting Out Of MLM PLUS: Crochet Drawstring Bag Pattern

The following is just my personal opinion/confession and is in no way shape or form meant to be a judgement of MLM or the wonderful people who are successfully working it.

  1. I had more questions than there were answers – and I’ll leave it at that because I am not writing this post to badmouth MLM. I’m just telling you why it’s not where I want to be.
  2. I got what I came for – not every road is the end of the road, some roads are just taking you to where you really need to be. MLM taught me a lot of things and opened me up spiritually and personally. So I got what I came for and was ready to move on a long time ago.
  3. Sometimes hard work doesn’t pay off because the wrong people are getting paid – and that’s my way of saying that I wanted my hard work to pay me. As things stood I had to share my residual income (which by the by is only residual if the business you brought in is still on the books, nothing from nothing leaves nothing right?) with my sponsor, her sponsor, her sponsor and the company. I knew that if I was going to take time away from my family to make money, then I wanted us to be the major beneficiaries. Not only that but I felt that the only people really benefiting were the ones who were speakers, teachers, or had some product that network marketers could use to “explode” their business in some way. Now those guys are making money for real.
  4. I found it impossible to balance working outside the home with working from home. This was unfair to my team and anyone that I added to my team. So I just stopped trying to recruit a team or bring in any new business
  5. I made more money crocheting and I didn’t have to make any calls – plus, I could watch TV while I did it. Nuff said. Now here’s one of my first  patterns, it is untested, but makes a really cute bag:)

drawstring-bag1

Hook size J

Red Heart super saver

 

2 strands held together chain 5 and join with sl

Color A – White

Color B – Pumpkin

 

 

Round 1- Chain 2 and 10 hdc in ring join to ch 2 with sl

Round 2- Chain 2 , 1 hdc in same stitch and 2 hdc in each hdc around join with sl to ch2

Round 3- repeat round 2

Round 4- Chain 2 , 1 hdc in each hdc around join with sl to ch2

Round 5- Chain 2 , 1 hdc in same stitch, hdc in next st *2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 2 st repeat  from * around join with sl to ch2

Round 6- Chain 2 , 1 hdc in same stitch, hdc in next 2 st *2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 3 st repeat  from * around join with sl to ch2

Round 7- This round you will reverse your work so that the right side will become the outside bottom of the bag. So turn the piece with the right side away from you and the wrong side facing you. Ch 2, working in front loop only for this row, 1 hdc in each hdc around join with sl to ch2

Round 8 -9 – Ch 2, 1 hdc in each hdc around join with sl to ch2

 

Now drop Color B and work the next 6 rows with Color A (1 strand only), work sc into the sc of the previous row

Round 10– Ch 2, 3 dc in next stitch (shell made,might change this),* sk 1 st, sc in next st , sk 1 st, 3dc in next stitch. Repeat from * around join with sl to ch2

Round 11-15 – Repeat round 10

 

At end of Row 15 drop color A, join color B

Round 16 – 21 – repeat round 10

 

At end of Row 21 drop color B, join color A

Round 22 – 27 – repeat round 10

 

Round 28 – Ch 4 (counts as tr + ch1)  2 tr in 2nd dc of next shell , *ch1, 2 tr in 2nd chain of next shell. Repeat from * around. Join with sl to top of ch 4. Fasten off

 

Round 29 – Join color B, ch 1, sc in each stitch around

Round 30 – Ch 1 , sc in each st around

Round 31 – Ch1 reverse sc in each stitch around. Fasten off weave in ends. NOTE: my reverse sc is – insert hook in sc, yo and pull through (two loops on hook). Turn needle 360 degrees, yo and pull through.

 

Handle (make 2 one in color A and one in color B)

Ch 100 or however long you want your handle to be (account for part that has to be sewn into the bag)

Round 1 – 2 dc in 4th chain from hook,* sk 1 chain, sc in next ch, sk 1 ch, 3 dc in next ch. Repeat from * around, fasten off.

 

Hold 2 handles together and sc in ea st around. On bottom of shells work an extra row of sc

 

 

Drawstring –  Chain 70 (or length you want drawstring to be) – dc in 3rd chain from hook and in each chain across (add beads if desired)

 

Sew handles to bag with whipstitch on both sides of the handle (you want it to hold). Run Drawstring through round 28 (triple crochets)

 

Line bag if desired.

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October 13, 2010

Keeping Hope Alive – Behind the White Noise and Shiny Objects

recessionAs you probably already know my recession started in late 2006 following a (in retrospect) bad decision on my part to accept a new position in another division of my company. I was let go and then I had to learn how to let go:

  • Of resentment
  •  Of anger
  • Of fear
  •  Of material things (like my house and my car)
  •  Of the past

 

Four years later, even though I have worked several decent paying gigs:

·         my bank account is light

·          if you ask a financial adviser they’ll tell you that my retirement plan is looking a lot like a job as greeter at Walmart

·          I don’t remember what an annual physical or mammogram is like because I belong to one of those (insert number in thousands or millions depending on your party affiliation here)  people with no health insurance

·         I do not possess a credit card or a high credit score

And you know what? I’m fine with all of that. Every day is a beautiful day, a blessing to be cherished. I appreciate what I have and what I can actually afford to buy [I bought my son a laptop and paid cash, I was so proud when I realized what I had done]

 

So, Where are YOUR Bootstraps?

 

And I’m telling you this because….

  1. I want you to know that no one is going to come and “fix” your personal economy. Once you get far enough away from a steady income and deep enough into debt, it’s a long road back
  2. I want you to realize that you can’t blame the government for your situation, then say the government is too big, and then blame the same government for your situation – yes I repeated myself, reading it makes as much sense as doing it does.
  3. I am slightly angered by corporate sponsored candidates who will tell you that if government stepped out of the way, companies would step in and take care of the “community”. Bullshit, is what I say. Why aren’t they doing that already? There is no legislation stopping these companies from taking care of the community now!  So why would you believe for even one moment that the people with the real power (jobs) to turn the economy around, who have not exercised that power, are going to make things better if they gain political power. Yeah they’ll make things better – for them.
  4. I tripled my yearly earnings under Clinton, lost everything under Bush, and gained some of it back under Obama. But I’m not assigning credit or blame to any of them, because this is my life and my responsibility, and it’s my hard work, foresight, intuition that causes me to gain or lose. I want you to stop blaming the wrong people for where you are. As a matter of fact, I want you to stop blaming altogether, that’s a lot of your spiritual power that you’re giving away there.
  5. I’ve learned that if you turn off the external noise – friends, family, media – and turn inward to the place in you where God is – he really will make a way where there is no way. I have never considered murder–suicide – not mine, not the President, not my family – as an alternative. You see I know that in 10 years, the past 4 years or so  will be just that – the past, and life and the world will have moved on and the angry people will find someone/something else to be angry about, and I’ll be living and crocheting in Europe (which is a dream of mine and honestly nothing personal against y’all).

 

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July 16, 2010

If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You Could End Up Anywhere

Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)
Image via Wikipedia

And Seriously, is that so bad?

Life isn’t about setting a goal and being so laser focused on it that you never stray from the Path.

I don’t mind ending up anywhere, anywhere might be more interesting than either here or there.

I was just reading about a stay at home Mom who had become very successful in her business, but she is giving it all up

for the family  that she stayed at home for in the first place! See, she realized that she just never got to spend any real quality

time with her husband or her kids so for her  that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow  just doesn’t shine as brightly

as the two bundles of joy she had given birth to.

I’m not saying that you should give up on your dreams and aspirations, oh I would never even suggest such a thing!

What I am saying is that the road is your life.  You’ve  heard it before,  it’s the journey not the destination.

So enough about you, lets talk about me…

As a child, I thought I would be a doctor when I grew up.

As a teenager I thought I would be a writer when I grew up.

As a twentysomething single mother of two I thought I’d do something with computers when I grew up.

As a thirtysomething wife and mother of three I finally got my Bachelors and planned to be paid more than my age when I grew up.

In my early 40′s I found myself a musician’s wife and thought that I’d just travel a lot and say “I’m with the band” when I grew up .

In my late 40′s I thought I would become the next MLM success story when I grew up

And as I prepare to hit that half century mark, I can honestly say – I still don’t know what i want to be when I grow up, but man I have had so much fun and met so many nice people  while I’ve been trying to figure it out.

I can’t wait to see what’s next!

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March 15, 2010

I Believe…

“Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for—because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.“~~Peter Marshall (1902–67) Senate chaplain

water-lilies Since I started blogging here on the interwebz, I have struggled with the desire to say what I want, when I want  and still maintain my privacy and some sense of anonymity. Sounds strange I know. However, a good writer has to sometimes set their other half free, otherwise you just become some chick with a marketing blog, right? Right, so this morning I was thinking about what I believe to be true (not what some unknown “they” tells me is true) and good and right; and why it is that I think we the people  have strayed off the reservation so to speak.

I believe that life is more about the journey than it is about the destination and you absolutely have to live in the “NOW”. If you are the one sitting in the backseat impatiently asking “Are we there yet?” then please let me remind you that the only “there” involves a box and a hole in the ground (or ashes in an urn, your choice).  Life is after all, to be lived – that means that you have to experience everything in equal parts whether it’s the high of being in love or the messy events leading to the breakup; your first paycheck with 4 figures before the period or the check wrapped in a pink slip. Today’s lows will be tomorrow’s memories, heck you will probably talk about them with a smile someday.

I believe in Karma – I agree that the game of life is a game of boomerangs and “what you throw out comes back to you star”. Someone called me the other day to explain why they were unable to do something that I desperately needed them to do, their excuse was word -for -word one that I have used frequently in similar situations! The higher your spiritual awareness, the faster those boomerangs come back, so be careful out there and temper your truths with kindness – it’ll soften the blowback:)

I believe that it is done unto you as you believe.  For example, if you believe that the world is a bad place, then your world probably is, or is surely about to become so. If you believe that things are “getting better all the time”, then your conditions will begin to improve and will continue to do so . On the other hand if you are the patron saint of gloom and doom, whining and complaining constantly to anyone who will stand still long enough to hear it – well then you know where that puts you.

I believe that there’s a little God in all of us, which gives us the ability to formulate and create the life that we want to live. I believe that if we use this ability in a bad way , we will eventually reap what we sow.

I believe that before you can receive a lot, you have to give a little.

I believe that we’re doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, until we learn our lesson.

What do you believe? Do you believe that I am full of it?

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February 28, 2010

A Daily Spiritual Treatment for the Betterment of Conditions

prayerI am especially fond of Ernest Holme’s “Living The Science Of The Mind”.  The following treatment is my favorite and (if I recall correctly) is one that I  promised to share a while back.  You can say this one for yourself , for your family, for a friend or coworker, or any person or persons who could use a hand up.  As with prayers, they don’t have to be there or even ever know that you did this for them. Also, your level of belief and sincerity will determine your result sor lack thereof..

The words I speak are the Law of Good and they will produce the desired result because they are operated on by a power greater than I am. Good alone comes from me and good alone returns to me.

This word is for myself. Everything I say is for me and about me. It is the truth about my real self. There is One Life, that life is God, that Life is perfect, that Life is my life now.

Everything that I do, say, or think is governed by Divine Intelligence and inspired by Divine Wisdom. I am guided into right action. I am surrounded with friendship, love, and beauty. Enthusiastic joy, vitality, and inspiration are in everything I do. I am aware of my partnership with the infinite.

Every thought of not being wanted, of being afraid, of uncertainty and doubt is cast out of my mind. My memory goes back to God alone, in whom I live, move and have my being. A complete sense of happiness, peace, and certainty floods me with light. I have confidence in myself because I have confidence in God. I am sure of myself because I am sure of God.

The Spirit within me knows the answer to any problem which confronts me. I know that the answer is here and now. It is within my own mind because God is right where I am. I now turn from the problem to the Spirit, accepting the answer. In calm confidence, in perfect trust, in abiding faith, and with complete peace I let go of the problem and receive the answer.

I know exactly what to do in every situation. Every idea necessary to successful living is brought to my attention. The doorway to ever-increasing opportunities for self expression is open before me. I am continuously meeting new and larger experiences. Every day brings some greater good. Every day brings more blessing and greater self-expression. I am prospered in everything I do. There is no deferment, no delay, no obstruction or obstacle, nothing to impede the progress of right action.

I identify myself with abundance. I surrender all fear and doubt. I let go of all uncertainty. I know there is no confusion, no lack of confidence. I know that what is mine will claim me, know me, rush to me. The Presence of God is with me. The Mind of God is my mind. The Freedom of God is my freedom.

Today I bestow the essence of love upon everything. Everyone I meet shall be lovely to me. My soul meets the Soul of the Universe in everyone. This love is a healing power touching everything into wholeness. I am one with the rhythm of Life. There is nothing to be afraid of. There is nothing to be uncertain about. God is over all, in all, and through all. God is right where I am. I am at peace with the world in which I live. I am at home with the Divine Spirit in which I am immersed.

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January 21, 2010

The Real Truth About Network Marketing – The More You Fail, The More You Will Succeed

“To think what you want to think is to think Truth, regardless of appearances” – Wallace D. Wattles

momentum is everythingIt’s going to happen to you (if it hasn’t already), whether it’s a phone call  or a face to face  with a network marketer, or maybe you will attend a local meeting  of a network marketing company.  The person who prospects you will tell you about Suzy Q the homemaker who just wanted to make $400 extra a month to help her hardworking husband with the bills, who threw herself into network marketing  and it was so hard that she almost gave up! But she kept at it and today she is a six-figure earner! And then there’s Jimmy Z, everyone knows about Jimmy, he started way back when before Al Gore invented the Internet and he built a multi-million dollar business by doing meetings in McDonald’s and grocery store aisles!

If you go to a local meeting Suzy, Jimmy and their friends will be paraded across the stage and they will each tell their story and they will cry genuine tears – because it was hard and everyone laughed at them and said it couldn’t be done – and they did it anyway! At this point you will be crying too as you fill out the form being handed to you.

When all is said and done you have joined a new business opportunity, you are pumped, you are ready to change your life, you are going to eliminate all of your debt in the next 12 months! You’re so danged excited that it’s hard to sleep some nights, I mean after all you are going to be earning six figure by this time next year – imagine that!

But wait – did you not hear the disclaimer, did you miss the part about :

1. Results not being typical and

2. And the fact that it can  take a lot of years, tears and hard work for the average Joe to succeed

Yes, yes, in your excitement you totally missed where Jimmy said that he talks to folks in parking lots (that’s gauche and yo don’t plan to do that and anyway you just got this email from some MLM guru guy who for just $1197.00 is going to show you howto earn 10K per month by this time next month).  You didn’t miss the part about two to ten years to that six-figure income because that’s for average people and you plan to be Suzy Q the one who did it in a year, heck if she can do it so can you!

So  (totally ignoring all the training you are receiving from your team about investing time rather than money at the front end)  you buy expensive leads, take out expensive ads, and do that guru program and you check your back office and bank account daily to see if you’ve signed up  a thousand distributors and made any progress towards your 10K.  Well that’s just exhausting isn’t it?

And when you realize that you’ve invested more than you’ve made, well that’s when you start to throw up the “Obstacles To Your Own Success”:

1. You begin to find fault with your upline – after all he brought you in, he gets paid off you every month,why isn’t he helping you?  Why doesn’t he provide you with leads or do calls for you so you can watch TV in peace?  And he probably doesn’t even make as much as he said. What a loser, he’s just using you…..

2. You begin to find fault with your company, product or team and you disconnect – you don’t listen to training calls, you don’t attend events, you think the product or service is too expensive or doesn’t work….

3. You become cynical about network marketing – after all everywhere you look on the internet they say 97% fail, and you probably have to get in at the beginning to be successful, and maybe it really is a scam….

So where are you right now? Are you reaching for the stars or are you throwing up obstacles?

* disclaimer- Al Gore did not invent the Internet

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December 30, 2009

The Real Truth About Network Marketing-It Ain’t Easy

Hard Work
Image by Christolakis via Flickr

As we head into a new year many of you are thinking about what to do next, how to make the extra income that you need to pay the bills, go on vacation, pay for your child’s school trip or football dues. Many of you reading this are already aware of network marketing and have been working hard to be successful at it. Some of you have been in network marketing and quit because it just wasn’t for you (your words not mine). And then there are those of you who have no clue what network marketing is and assume that the nice gentleman who just left you a message is a telemarketer and works for some large corporation that pays him by the hour.

Network Marketing (the Denise Lee definition)

Network marketing is a business model based on the tell-a-friend concept of marketing. A company has a product or service to sell and instead of spending millions on Super Bowl commercials or glossy magazine ads, they enlist people like you and I to spread the word about their product. We are paid a percentage of the sale price for our services. We go out and find customers by calling leads, advertising online and offline, and marketing via Twitter, FaceBook and other “social media” avenues.

The second (and honestly probably the most important) part of network marketing is building your team. The idea here is that instead of you personally going out and selling a million dollars worth of product, you build a team of ten or ten thousand; this makes achieving that million dollars in sales for the company a whole lot easier and then the company rewards you by paying you a percentage of your teams’ sales too.

Well that all sounds pretty darn pedestrian and maybe you still can’t see why anyone would want to do MLM instead of a job. The third and most exciting component of network marketing is residual income. There is usually a monthly fee or minimum auto ship requirement that each person on your team must fulfill to remain active. One part of your residual income is the percentage that you get from this monthly payment. The other part comes from your customers who are also paying a monthly fee for your services or are on auto ship with your products.

Between selling, recruiting and residual income you can see how/why there are people making anywhere from 500 to 50K plus dollars a month just doing network marketing. No wonder network marketers are so damn passionate about what they do. Husbands buy wives their dream homes and wives have been known to bring husbands home for good!

Network Marketing – The Good , The Bad & The Downright Ugly

The truth about network marketing is that (even for people who have spent years being successful in sales) it just ain’t all that easy. Network marketing is a huge paradigm shift because if you act like an Encyclopedia salesman and bully, cajole, or force people into buying your product or joining your business – the next month, poof, they are gone and so is any possibility of earning residual income from them.

This is a true people business and you have to provide value to your team members and customers in so many ways – from having a viable product that does what it says to providing training and support to your team. Network marketing is all about faith and if you don’t believe in yourself, your company, or the product and service you market – then you will FAIL.

I’ll cover more about the bad and the downright in part two (you know I hate posts that go past 500 words LOL) but as the New Year approaches and you start thinking about getting into network marketing (or getting out of network marketing) remember this it may not be EASY, but if you are consistent, persistent and downright tenacious – it is most certainly WORTH IT.

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