If you have been sniffing around the internet for awhile, and are intrigued by the possibilities of building a money-making business online, chances are excellent this question has passed over your lips: What is the best internet business out there?

Now, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people ready to tell you exactly why what they are doing is the best internet business, and I bet you a million dollars they are willing to give away some of their knowledge to you for f/ree.

Why? Because f/ree stuff is the dangling carrot of the internet and one of the most popular means of doing business online! You see, the thinking goes that when something of tremendous value is offered to you for nothing with no strings attached, you are far more likely to develop warm and fuzzy feelings (aka trust) for the source of that f/ree stuff. This is exactly what internet businesses want to have happen because the odds are very good that people who trust you online are going to purchase something from you later on down the road. You have primed their pump, so to speak, especially if what they gave you for nothing does indeed solve a problem you were having. This is the main way internet businesses make their money.

Because internet businesses are cropping up by the thousands every day of the week and twice as fast on Tuesdays suggestions for the best internet business are just as many. Everyone it seems has the answer to what the best internet business is today.

And while their intentions are indeed good for the most part, and the f/ree giveaways are 9 times out of 10 excellent problem-solvers, my answer to this question does not come in a slick ad or long, drawn-out thinly disguised sales page. No, the best internet business for you is the one you are going to enjoy working on day after day after day. Doing business online is honestly no different than doing business offline. You should have a passion for what you are doing, you should be excited about working on it every day, and you should be willing to talk about it in offline settings as much as you would any other business.

Unfortunately, the internet has a gold-rush feel to it these days because so many people are flocking to the mines believing they are  going to strike it rich if they get in on the action by claiming their stake of the internet’s territory. The danger of this thinking is like anything else in life — there are no get-rich-quick businesses out there, and mining for gold takes a lot of time, patience,and hard work. Not everyone strikes a big vein right out of the gate, either, so learning how to discipline your disappointment and recalculate your online business strategy are two very important skills to master if you are going to do business online.

Indeed, the best internet business for you is one you will enjoy doing once the initial excitement has worn off. Certainly, that can be done, and a lot of people will tell you how rewarding doing business online is. But before you go racing off to find that vein of internet gold, be clear with yourself first about what it is you really want to do online. Then, and only then, will you be certain to find the best internet business.

True or False: Losing your job is the single most common cause of bankruptcy.

Would it surprise you to learn the answer is false?

While Entrepreneurs typically don’t worry about losing our jobs, the reality is everyone is vulnerable to the single most common cause of bankruptcy, employed or self-employed. The single most common cause of bankruptcy today is getting sick, and since anyone can get sick, isn’t it better to know about how to prevent that from happening in the first place? Indeed, disease can ruin your finances the way nothing else can, by hitting you with bills you cannot pay (and insurance won’t cover), not to mention robbing you of your income (or wealth) because you cannot work.

And if you are one of the 45 million Americans without health insurance, well. Good luck. (Although it is my opinion that health insurance is really a racket since it rarely pays for anything, anyway.)

Entrepreneurs fall into an interesting category of the workforce. On the one hand, because we don’t work for someone else, we have more flexibility throughout our days to schedule time for taking care of ourselves through working out, for example. However, because our livelihoods depend directly upon what we produce, we may be busier with appointments and projects than the average 9-5er, leaving us less time to do the right things for ourselves.  (Does the 9-5er even exist anymore?) And, many entrepreneurs do not have a health insurance plan because we either don’t qualify for one or cannot afford one.

Because Entrepreneurs have enough as it is to worry about every day, it is even more critical for us to lead a healthy lifestyle. If for no other reason than to avoid bankruptcy!

The good news is, it is easy to do with the following health tips.

(Quick side-note — you may be wondering what a post about health tips is doing on a blog that is mainly about Internet Marketing. Because I believe Content is King and Health is a big piece of the Content of Your Life Puzzle, it is important to remind readers to look out for number one by taking care of yourself.)

Okay, here are 5 of the best health tips I came up with that all Entrepreneurs  can do starting today to get you on the right track toward living a healthy lifestyle (and insuring against losing out on all those wonderful rewards from your business efforts):

1. Move your body. Every single day. Even if it is for 10 minutes at a time, the human body was designed to move and too many Americans do not do this. Seriously, if you can only follow one of these health tips, this is the one to follow.

Contrary to what those TV advertisements lead you to think, you do not have to have a fancy gym membership to lead a healthy lifestyle. Dancing in your living room to your favorite music for 10 minutes here and there can really make a difference when done consistently. No one’s going to know, either. The secret is to build small segments of movement into your day rather than stressing out over not being able to get to the gym to do a “work out” for an hour. Small steps over time lead up to a long journey!

2. Healthy eating is not as hard as you might think. Simple, small changes can lead to big results in this department. Portion control is a huge factor here, as healthy eating has more to do with how much you eat at one sitting vs. what you eat. Ever notice the way cats graze throughout the day? Humans are designed to graze, too, eating small meals 6-10 times throughout the day. Doing this keeps blood sugar levels steady and minds alert and is a cornerstone of healthy eating.

3. Supplement. Even the best eaters who pride themselves on healthy eating can fall short of their daily recommendations for certain key nturients. Adding a high quality supplement line to your daily regime is definitely one of the health tips you do not want to overlook. Entrepreneurs have special needs that average employees don’t have because of the added stress we experience. This is how supplementation can really help. There are some very fine companies out there such as Univera who offer consumers exceptional supplements that work for a variety of health needs.

For those who are interested in trying some Univera samples, just click on the “Lost Your Groove”  button to the right of this post.

The investment you make in your health today will pay off dividends over time as you stay well.

4. Sleep. Too many Americans complain of being tired all the time, often because they are not  following tips 1-3! Seriously, a good night’s sleep is dependent upon several factors including elements of healthy living like exercise, healthy eating habits, and getting proper nutrition. Entrepreneurs can be notorious non-sleepers because we have so many things on our minds, not to mention all the projects we have going at once. Making a point of not watching television or being on the computer right before bed can help you sleep better through the night. Instead of exposing your brain to all that light and stimulation right before lights out, read a magazine or a few pages in a book before hitting the pillow. Or write down your accomplishments in a journal.

5. Spend time with friends that is not business-related. Having a social life is one of the most important elements of healthy living there is. With communities breaking down all over the place, it is more important than ever these days to know you have some key people in your life to count on when times are tough. Healthy living depends upon many factors including our primary relationships with loved ones, family, and  friends. And, should times get a bit dicey, with friends you know you will make it through the rough patch. With clients and business partners, you may not.

The key to making any changes toward a more healthy lifestyle is to take each of these health tips and break them down into managable sizes. Pick one, do it until it becomes a habit, and then pick another. Lists like these are only as useful as the person actually doing what they suggest. But not doing anything at all could lead you to disaster, including bankruptcy. Take the time to start with one of these health tips today as part of your overall insurance policy against any future damage.

You — and your bank account — will be glad you did.

Getting a high ranking in Google’s search results can have a huge impact on the success of your business.
You can either hire the experts of a Search Engine Optimization company, or if you have the time, there are some simple changes you can make to your website yourself.

Step 1: Keyword Research
Finding out what keywords you think your customers would type in to search for your products or services. A keyword can be one word (e.g. “optimization”), but multiple keywords or keyword phrases can be  more effective, because they are more specific and more likely to be what your customers are looking for (eg. “ Search Engine Optimization Portland”).

Write down as many as you can think of. Brainstorm with your team. Think of alternative words. Consider geographical phrases if they are important to your customer (e.g. “Window Cleaning Portland”). Also, get some ideas from your competitors’ websites. Try to make a list of 10-20 keyword phrases. You can right click on your competitors website and click on view source, this will bring up a bunch of code, look around you’ll find out some great info.

Choose the two keyword phrases you think would be searched for the most. But also remember, the more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to achieve top rankings. If you want to rank high in Google for the keyword “insurance”, you have a very long journey ahead. So try your best to select two keyword phrases that are the most relevant to you business but that are not vague nor competitive. It’s a good idea to have 2 or 3 words in each phrase (e.g. “wedding catering services”)

Once you’ve selected your two best keyword phrases the next step shows you how to make some improvements to your home page.

Step 2: Web Copy
Web copy refers to all the words or text on your website. Because content is king in the world of search engines, your keyword phrases need to be placed strategically on your web page to convince Google that your content is highly relevant to those keywords. The more prominent they are, the better. (Keep in mind that as important as search engines are, customers come first, so make sure your copy also reads well.)

Here’s how you can increase each keyword’s prominence:

• Place your keywords in headings, preferably at the beginning of the heading;

• Include keywords towards the top of the page;

• Bold or italicise keywords where appropriate;

• Instead of having a link to another page that says “Click here to read more “, reword it to include your keywords, e.g. “Read more about our seo copywriting Services“.

An important tip is to also include these keywords in your HTML “title tag”. Use your content management system to make these changes yourself, or perhaps ask your web developer to do it if you’re unsure how.

Once you have fine-tuned your home page, consider adding new content, such as detailed descriptions of what you offer, FAQs and informative articles about your products and services. (If you don’t want to write these yourself, they can be located for free on the internet – do a search for “articles directory”).

It’s also good to bear in mind that search engines can only read text, not pictures. Often web developers embed words in images to look better for search engine spiders or use Flash for animation, but this is a major impediment to search engines.

Step 3: Linking
Each link from another website to your website (not from your website) is considered by search engines as a vote of popularity for your business and will improve your rankings.

But it is the quality, not quantity, of the links that is crucial. The other websites should be relevant to your industry, and preferably highly regarded themselves. Ten quality links count far more than 500 links from arbitrary websites. In the same way your personal business network can have a significant impact on the success of your business, so too the online network you build on the internet.

Brainstorm all the relevant websites that could link to you, such as non-competing companies, and industry bodies and organizations. Write a friendly email to each describing the benefit their visitors would get in knowing about your business, and request them to create a link to your website. Most people will not respond first time round, so a follow-up phone call is usually required.

How do I monitor my results?
Monitor your rankings in Google over the next few months by typing your chosen keywords into the search box, and recording your ranking. Also look at your hosting reports to understand what search terms your visitors are using to find your website.

The above process can be also be repeated for each page of your website. Remember to keep updating your content, and continually increase the number of links to your website.

As you see your rankings climb you should see a corresponding increase in web traffic and a substantial increase in sales. Be sure to record the source of your customer, so you can measure the success of your marketing efforts.

Remember, if you measure it, you can improve it.

Do it Yourself SEO

Remember that old pick-up line: “Hey Baby, what’s your sign?”

Besides a drink in the face, asking that question usually gets you nowhere.

Far better to ask genuine questions of whomever you are interested in getting to know better, and in return, providing interesting answers to whatever questions they may have of you.

This same general principle of dating is true for online entrepreneurs. It all rests in one of the most overlooked pieces of the e-business puzzle.

These days, anyone and everyone who is out to get more traffic, more leads, more customers and clients, and ultimately more money for their online businesses MUST ask a far more important question.

And not of others, either.

That comes later.

This question is far more important to ask of the person looking back at you in the mirror each morning.

The question is: “What’s your content?”

If you get a blank, deer-in-the-headlights stare back at you, you have got some work to do. Big work.

Because content online — just like in the real world — is king. People go to the Internet for one reason and one reason only: to find information related to whatever it is they want to know. They could have a problem they want to solve, or a specific item they want to purchase. Even when “just surfing,” people are looking for interesting content, something that tickles their fancy or helps them learn something they did not already know. If you have no content that matches what they are looking for, you will have no business and no income. And worse, Internet searchers will probably never find you.

Oh, you might have a lovely website that glitters and shines with fancy whistles and bells, but without content, your business will be like someone who sits at the bar all dressed up but never engages in any conversation with anyone. Just sits there like a frozen statue. Who wants to go on a date with someone like that?

This is why it is so important for online entrepreneurs to spend a good portion of your precious time developing stellar content, stuff people actually want to read and see. Too many businesses, I’m afraid, cut corners in the mad dash to get a website up and hang the “Open for Business” sign on their e-doors. Then they wonder why nothing happens.

It’s because they skipped over the most important step of all:

Creating great content.

Successful Internet marketers worship content and give it their full attention consistently. If you can answer the question, “What’s your content?” thoroughly — and with confidence — you will see your e-business traffic increase. And if you can provide your visitors with what they want, the sales are sure to follow, with no drinks thrown back in your face ever again.

In an era of Tweets, emails, Facebook updates and the like, the hand-written note expressing our thoughts and sentiments has all but disappeared. We are far more likely to use our Smart Phones than we are an envelope and a stamp when passing on a word or two to our loved ones and outer circles. Besides, who knows anyone’s snail mail address anymore, anyway? And stamps and envelopes are such…a nuisance.

Which is precisely why I am urging everyone to take a few minutes this holiday season to write a simple note in your own hand to someone you care about. Friend, neighbor, mother, sibling, spouse, business partner, customer. It does not matter. I guarantee you will make that person’s day. Promise.

The value of a hand-written note cannot be underestimated and indeed, is close to entering the priceless range. As receiving one is just about as rare as sending one anymore. I apologize if I sound like a broken record, but…

This needs to be said. Take the time to compose a hand-written note and you will increase your value quotient ten-fold, if not more.

Indeed, it is a rare day when we discover among the bills and junk mail a card, a letter, or post card written to us by someone who took the time to sit down with pen and paper to actually write an expression of love, friendship, gratitude,  or simply a thinking of you. Such a contrast to what is normally dashed out in 140 characters or less.

An actual thought. In someone’s personal hand writing.

It does not even have to be in a card or letter. It could be a short thought written inside the cover of a book, given to a special person for the holidays or other occasion.

I was fortunate enough to receive the latter at an upteam’s holiday party last weekend. While the book in which the message was written looks very good, frankly the message he took the time to write to me is far more meaningful and what I will remember long after I have read the book and placed it on the shelf. What took him less than a few minutes to scribe will carry with me throughout this next year, and beyond.

Given the nature of this business we have chosen to be in, I am surprised that more attention is not paid to teaching our organizations the timeless advice of sending out occasional notes to customers and associates. They do not have to be long, drawn-out dissertations, but rather simple expressions of gratitude for service or business rendered.

Statistics show that customer retention is significantly higher when those customers are consistently reminded of how much they mean to a business or organization. A hand-written note sent a few times a year can mean more referrals, more business, not to mention genuinely happier clients.

So again, I urge you to set aside a few minutes during this busy time and hand-write a few notes to people you truly appreciate. Put them in envelopes, get some stamps, and make their day greater than they could have imagined!

He has been with me in my car for the last six years, a constant companion,  inspiration and reminder of the power of possibility.

I was fortunate enough to see him live in the 90s when he came to town with other motivational speakers.

I know his “Building Your Network Marketing Business” CD by heart, and often hear myself quoting lines from this simple, yet extraordinary, recording.

“It is not the blowing of the wind that determines your fortune, but the set of the sail.”

The cadence of his voice was compelling, as were his insights, stories, and suggestions for the millions and millions of us who loved him.

Mr. Jim Rohn was indeed a legend, and he will be greatly missed.

But his work lives on, and will continue to inspire those who seek the truth about business, relationships, and most of all, living a good life.

Thank you, Mr. Rohn, for the gifts you shared with us while you were alive, and for the treasures of your words you leave behind.

God bless.

http://tribute.jimrohn.com/

When I first started my journey into Relationship Marketing six years ago, I did not have the foggiest idea of what I was doing.

And let’s face it: anyone who builds a Network Marketing business at one time was a rookie. Floundering around, looking lost, full of self-doubt. Especially people like me who come into this business from a highly successful other career. I think I was seriously one of the most bewildered of anyone who joined this company. Frankly, it was humbling — and scary –  to start at the bottom and not be the expert in the room.

Jonathan Budd has a very powerful video he uses for his online marketing campaigns in which he candidly discusses his own learning curve from knowing zero about Relationship Marketing to becoming what he is today. But by his own admission, it did not happen overnight. Nor should it.

We learn best by going through the learning curve. In order to grow, we have to fail. Make mistakes. Stumble.

It’s all okay.

Doing the work day after day to gain the knowledge we need to be strong business leaders and business owners is essential if we want to break through to the next level. My personal experience is a strong case study of someone learning the ropes of Network Marketing as she goes along. No one handed me the business I have today. I did what I needed to do to get the knowledge and experience necessary for success.

But that all changed — again — about two months ago when a friend introduced me to the power of Internet Marketing for building the next wave of my business. Again, I found myself at the bottom of the proverbial dog pile, wondering how I was ever going to understand this foreign online language. SEO? PPC? Squidoo? Captcha? I was more bewildered this time around than the first!

But.

My philosophy is grounded in the principle of being a life-long student. I know that once I have mastered a particular skill, there is another one waiting for me just around the corner. While I am not intent on mastering all skills, I do believe that when you have a clear vision of where you want your life and business to go, you must do what it takes to acquire the skills necessary for making your vision come to life.

Thus, enter blogging.

Blogging is such a powerful tool for learning and teaching because through our own words, we can share with readers our stories of success and failure as means of helping people grow, as well as helping clarify for ourselves what we know and what we still need to learn. I am so grateful to have discovered some of today’s online Masters like Jonathan Budd, Jenn Lawlor, and Perry Marshall, just to name a few. People who have done what I am learning how to do and can now teach me what I need to know. People who serve as role models. Everyday people who, through hard work and persistence, have made their newly minted skills pay off.

In turn, I write my stories with the intention of showing others that no matter how many obstacles exist for you in your own journey to Network Marketing success, they are ultimately ones you can overcome if you are willing to do what it takes.

My mentor in this business has never sugar-coated the truth about winning in Network Marketing. At the end of the day, he always asks everyone who comes into his organization, “Are you honestly willing to do what it takes to win?”

And it is a question that can only be answered by each individual of whom it is asked.

This one question alone often weeds out the serious players from the grand-standers. And a serious player may not start with the team for a long time. But may instead show up every day, suited up, ready to play.

Ready to learn.

This business is about learning. And growing.

And both of those take time.

Are you honestly willing to do what it takes?

This is the greatest business in the world, as far as I’m concerned. Winners are created every single day because they want what they want.

Whatever that may. They want what they want more than they want what they don’t want.

It is a question they ask themselves every single day. And when they look deep down inside themselves, they know, without a shadow of a doubt, the answer.

My question for you is, do you?

The other day I was perusing some publicly posted resumes online and noticed an intriguing pattern emerge.

Every other posting had a line somewhere in the text that read something to the effect of, “And please…no scams!”

Now because of the work I do as a professional Network Marketer, I knew immediately that these pleas for “no scams” were directed at anyone who has a business opportunity to offer. And that the person who wrote that line has not the foggiest idea of what Network Marketing is or how it could change their life.

I also knew it proved a point that so many of us who have discovered the truth about this line of work know first-hand: Network Marketing is actually the most fair way of doing business in the world when done right.

For anyone in the Network Marketing profession, the word “scam” is heard all too often, and often out of the mouths of the people we love and care about most. For instance, how many times have we heard these questions:

“Is this one of those pyramid things?”

“Is this a scam?

For those of us who understand that Network Marketing is not only a legitimate way of doing business, but also quite noble, these questions always raise our hackles even when we are seasoned professionals. No matter how long we have been with our company, no matter how long we have presented our opportunity to new people, no matter how ethical and wonderful the company we represent is, the odds of someone asking one of these questions remains higher than average.

This is not our fault.

Instead, it merely reflects a lack of education.

Six years ago, I was one of those people saying those very words. I was one of the masses of uneducated. Despite having a Masters Degree in Education (of all things!), I remained ignorant about Network Marketing and had preconceived notions of what this business was about. When a friend introduced me to the company I am currently with, I balked. I may have even told him he was crazy, among some other choice words.

And yet…

Because he was my friend, and because I trusted him, and because when I tried the product samples he gave me and they worked, I was intrigued enough to take the next step and see what this company and Network Marketing thingy were all about.

I became a student.

I read.

And I read some more.

And I attended company events.

And slowly, methodically, I changed my point of view and discovered how truly incredible Network Marketing is when done the right way, as it was designed to be done.

And I wondered…Where had Network Marketing been my whole life?!

Have there been some unscrupulous Network Marketing companies along the way that have destroyed innocent people’s dreams and years of hard work?

Absolutely.

But there have also been some unscrupulous companies. Companies that have destroyed innocent people’s dreams and years of hard work.

Enron. Lehman Brothers. Arthur Andersen.

Just to name a few.

To me, any person or persons who misuse systems for their own gain and take advantage of trusting people deserve to be called and labeled the nastiest names. Talk about scams! What Bernie Madoff did was a scam. But legitimate Network Marketing companies are about as far from scams as football is to hopscotch. I mean, seriously? Whenever anyone ignorantly calls this business model a scam, we need to — gently — set the record straight, for our own dignity as well as for the dignity of all the companies doing things right.

As Network Marketers, we are obligated to uphold the integrity of this method of doing business so that future generations can continue to enjoy the bounty it can bring to so many lives. We are obligated to teach people who misunderstand or just plain don’t get Network Marketing, not so they join us in business per se, but because doing so raises the credibility and reputation of what we are so passionate about.

No one else is going to do it for us. It is up to us to educate so that in time, the word “scam” will no longer be heard in the same sentence as Network Marketing.

Below is a terrific explanation of Network Marketing by one of my favorite people, Tim Sales. For anyone — both new and seasoned alike — Tim offers some of the best basic training anywhere.

Onward!

Is Network Marketing a Scam?

Lego’s sure have come a long way.

My son, who is ten, was looking at the online Lego Christmas catalog this afternoon to get some ideas for his wish list when he discovered a program he could download for free that would allow him to build his own custom Lego sets. Being the softy that I am when it comes to that kind of thing, I said “yes” when he asked if I would download the program so he could try it.

3 hours later, he has built several versions of the same custom car and is now designing and building a virtual airplane.

Aside from the obvious technological sophistication of this program, I am captivated by what is truly emerging as a significant trend these days that is showing up not just in online Lego catalogs, but in all sorts of industries. From design your own Nikes to the custom jeans Lands End offered a few years back to the fast food jingles that tell us we can have it “our way,” the trend of customization is all around us, and it is driving much of what we see happening on the Internet and particularly in the Internet Marketing arenas. With more and more people every day vying for a piece of the Online Real Estate Pie, and wanting to get their particular message out to as many people who are willing to listen as possible, is it any wonder the cry for standing out from the crowd through some form of customization is ringing louder and louder with each passing year? In a world where so much is becoming uniformly bland and blurring together, people are hungry for originality, creativity, indeed, those very elements that make the human spirit unique from anything else out there, those elements that make us, well, us…as opposed to the other 6+ billion people populating this tiny planet.

People want a way to stand out, to be noticed, to define themselves as unique. Nowhere is this more evident than in Network Marketing. While we love being a part of something bigger than ourselves, and need, to a degree, the homogenization social networks and communities provide, at the same time we also need to be the one-of-a-kind person we were born to be, which means finding some way of showing that to those in our inner and outer circles as we promote our one-dimensional businesses.

Traditionally, the word customization would not be used in the same sentence as Network Marketing, unless someone was trying to illustrate what not to do with this business model. One of the paradoxes of Network Marketing is its reliance on both duplication AND having “The Magic” (a fancy way of describing customization), two contradictory elements that, when working seamlessly together, bring individuals massive success in this business. For creative types like me who naturally have “The Magic”, but struggle with doing things one particular and rote way, buying into the duplication process is challenging. This is because we want to re-invent the wheel, tinker with the systems, put our own stamp or twist on things, make it that much better. Not because we don’t think the system is good — but rather because we are naturally inclined to make things better and more original.

But as anyone who has been in Network Marketing for any length of time, reinventing the system is the kiss of death when it comes to building a massive organization. There is always a reason, and a good reason at that, for companies to promote and teach a certain method of doing the business, one that anyone can plug into and duplicate. This is one of the many features that makes NM so attractive to so many people of various backgrounds. If a good company with good products and strong leadership can show people a simple pattern of doing their business that leads to massive success on many levels, then it will attract quality people and grow for years. Duplication is at the root of this success model. Franchising has been showing for decades that this cookie-cutter  approach works, as have several of the big NM companies that have stood the test of time. Why mess with what works?

But the questions still arises: Is there any room for customization when it comes to building a Network Marketing business? Up until a few years ago, my answer to that question would have been no. But today, I believe the Internet is allowing that to happen. The automated systems, or means of duplication, available online are there for anyone to use, things like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and the like. Within those systems are options for users to be creative, to brand themselves, which is merely another word for customization. This kind of massive branding was not possible until the Internet came along. The game has changed forever now that business builders can reach out to huge numbers of people with their own personal messages, videos, websites, etc. Never before has there been so much available to anyone who wants to broadcast themselves and their unique angle to the world.

However, the question “Is this a sustainable model?” needs to be asked. Will the day come when we just cannot deal with another Tweet or Friend Request or video showing us yet another person with their own message? At what point will all these opportunities and messages become one big blurry mess attracting no one to anything? Again, the paradox comes into play here: people are naturally attracted to the promise of simplicity a system offers, but are simultaneously drawn to work and partner up with specific individuals because of their unique qualities and personalities. At some point, we have to make a decision about which system and which people are right for us and then do our thing accordingly.

Just like my son is drawn to the familiarity and comfort of the Lego brand, he is also turned on by the power of creating something original that reflects his ideas for what a really cool Lego creation can be. It is no different from what us grown-ups are doing each day as we promote and build and reach out and attract others to us using online systems and tools. Some of us will naturally want to build cars, while others will gravitate toward creating airplanes or dollhouses or fire stations. In the end, if the systems are strong, and there is room for us to customize within them, others will find us just as we will find others. And in the end, when done right and in the spirit of freedom of expression, everyone succeeds.

There once was a man who was the oldest of 14 children who came to this country from Mexico to make a better life for himself and his family. Born to a Mexican father with no formal education and a Peruvian mother with a doctorate degree, Carlos* understood the value of both hard work and education as ways of getting ahead in life. But with little opportunity in his own country, Carlos did not know how he would make things better unless he left his country and came to the United States.

Carlos’s family could not afford proper shoes for all the children when Carlos was growing up. One day his father came home with a pair of shoes for Carlos that were the wrong size, and pinched his feet when he wore them. Fairly quickly, the shoes caused development problems in Carlos’s feet, so he told his father he did not want to wear them anymore. His father scolded him for not wanting to wear the shoes and told him that his only other option was to wrap pieces of plastic around his feet to protect them from the elements. While it wasn’t the greatest option in the world, at least the plastic did not pinch his feet. But that early experience made Carlos even more determined to one day earn enough money to afford good shoes for himself and all of his brothers and sisters.

When he first came to America, he found work in the fields, picking apples and berries. One day, a man dressed in a suit and driving a fancy car stopped by the field where Carlos was working. Speaking in Spanish, the man asked the group of laborers who among them was interested in learning how to make a lot of money? Carlos immediately stepped forward and said, “I do.”

“Very well,” the man said. “I will show you what to do.”

The man drove Carlos to a fancy home and introduced him to Network Marketing. Carlos had never heard of Network Marketing before, but from the presentation that night, he understood if he worked hard, which he already knew how to do, he could change his life forever.

And that is exactly what Carlos did. He got to work, and rose through the company’s ranks quickly, reaching the highest pin level that company had, which rewarded Carlos with a monthly check of roughly $10,000. For the first time in his life, Carlos could afford things and send home money to his parents and his siblings in Mexico.

“If it hadn’t been for that gentlemen who introduced me to this business model called Network Marketing, I would probably still be picking apples and berries from season to season. And maybe even wearing plastic shoes!” Carlos says with a grin and sparkle in his eyes.

Carlos has indeed become a tremendous leader in the industry, inspiring people from all backgrounds to go after their dreams and never give up. He has never forgotten his roots and practices gratitude daily. ”Network Marketing opened the world to me,” he says. “I want to open the world for as many others as I can and give them the same chance I was given.”

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.