The new issue of Networking Times goes on sale tomorrow. (I didn’t post a note here about the March 1 issue, because I took that issue off from my editorial-writing duties.) Here is my editorial:

Gold and Twopence: Thoughts on the Network Marketing Dream

On January 24, 1848, a young carpenter named James Marshall discovered a bit of shiny yellow metal in Coloma, a sleepy little town in the center of what was about to become the state of California. Within a year some 300,000 men, women and children had poured into the territory in hopes of striking it rich. Only a tiny percentage did so (Marshall himself was forced off his land and died penniless), but the dream endured.

According to Texas A&M professor H.W. Brands, in his fascinating book The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream, the “California Dream” spread to the rest of the country and in time became the essence of the American Dream.

But that isn’t how things started. The original American Dream, says Brands, “was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s [Almanack] … of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year.”

While George Washington is revered as the “father of his country,” it’s Franklin who is most closely identified with the roots of the modern American character, a sober mix of practical values—thrift, hard work, self-discipline and a devotion to education—with an Enlightenment zeal for scientific innovation and categorical opposition to authoritarian rule.

All traits that have a mighty familiar ring to network marketers. And yet we too have our version of Gold Rush impulse.

This is the internal conflict bred into the American experience, and it is woven through the DNA of the network marketing dream. Franklin versus Marshall; hard work and a frugal appreciation of modest gains, versus the dream of instant wealth won by boldness, pluck and timing.

But wealth, as it turns out, is a highly malleable thing.

Franklin’s two Declaration of Independence colleagues, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died on the same day (July 4, 1826, the Declaration’s fiftieth anniversary). Adams, a lawyer from a frugal New England farming family, never made much money; Jefferson, the plantation owner, was the picture of wealthy aristocracy. Yet on their deathbeds, Adams had managed to amass a net worth of about $100,000. Jefferson was $100,000 in debt.

One of Franklin’s most enduring sayings, usually misquoted these days as “A penny saved is a penny earned,” actually read, “A penny saved is twopence dear.” In other words, if you take some modest earnings and save the money instead of squandering it, you can double it; sort of a self-generated gold rush.

Perhaps the dream’s reality lies somewhere in between the nugget and the penny: there is a bit of gold in them thar hills—but it doesn’t have to take much to make you rich.

from Networking Times, “Elevating the Profession,” May/June 2009

Today the new year begins, and the new issue of Networking Times goes on sale, featuring my last-page editorial, “Love and Residual.”

But of course, you’ve already read it, or most of it — because it is an essay based squarely on a blog post I wrote right here back in September.

It’s worth hopping over to read the piece on the magazine’s site, because the article is a slightly longer and more carefully thought out version of this idea. But in case you don’t, I don’t want you to walk away empty-handed, so I figured the least I could do is share a picture of my two sons — after all, this is pretty much what the whole article is about anyway, right?

So, a quick story.

This past August I was getting dressed for my wedding, in a back room of the church. The photographer suggested we step outside in the back for a few quick outside shots. My sons, meanwhile, had traveled for hours — driving two hours from home (Charlottesville VA) to Dulles airport, flying to Hartford, surviving rental desk hassles (one son with credit card, other son old enough to drive, but neither one having both qualifications — I had to intervene by phone to get the agent to go ahead and give them the car) and driving another 90 minutes to the church.

As it happened, just as we were snapping our shot, a car pulled up, and these two handsome dudes stepped out.

So there you go: love and residual.

(click photo to enlarge)

Today the latest edition of Networking Times hit the stores shelves—and also went online here. Below is a teaser — the first one-third of my back-page editorial. You can read the entire editorial here at no charge (although you are required to become a site member by registering your name and email).

Who is a good candidate for joining you in this business?

We say, “someone who is a people-person.” Yet we’ve seen people who are bona fide people-people, yet don’t go far in this business. And people who have gone far in this business, yet who are not especially people-people.

We say, “Look for people who have influence in their community.” But the same caveat applies: that correlation often fails to hold.

We say, “Look for people with whom you share a common bond.” Hmm. I have close friends who are writers or cellists who are not interested in joining my business. My two brothers, ditto.

So when you go prospecting, who are you really looking for? I think you’re looking for someone who falls in love. How do you know? There are three signs to look for. . . .

(Just so you don’t writhe in suspense, the three factors are: that they see it, want it, and do it. Hit the link above to see how the rest of the piece works out.)

P.S. In case you’ve wondered, “Hey, how come that JDM never seems to blog here anymore? Doesn’t he care? Has he forgotten all about us faithful post-watchers?” the truth is this: I do care, and I haven’t forgotten, and it’s true, I’m blogging here only rarely.

Here’s why: between blogging as often as I can at my “main” blog, and blogging regularly over at the Go-Giver blog (where I take turns with Bob Burg), I’m usually right about at blog capacity.

So, other than posting notices like this about my latest editorial, most times I have the urge to blogify, it’ll be over there at the JDM blog — which you can subscribe to here if you like.

The other day, I got a check in the mail for $404.79. Before I tell you where it came from, I have to digress.

My dad was born in Germany, and emigrated to this country during the war. Before he left his homeland at the age of nineteen, he had published his first book in German: a translation of an eighteenth-century classic text of music composition that had been used by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and scores of other illustrious others. The original text was in Latin; my dad’s translation was, of course, into German.

After arriving here, he was eventually drafted into the American army and shipped overseas, ending up back in Europe as a counterintelligence agent tasked with debriefing citizens. The war’s close found him in a town near the mountain whereupon sat the castle occupied by the legendary composer Richard Strauss (of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” fame) (you know, the dramatic music that plays when the apes discover the big thingamajig in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001”).

So my dad goes up the mountain to interrogate Strauss — and finds the old man teaching his own grandnephew composition, using (wait for it) my dad’s book.

After returning to the States, my dad eventually translated the book again, this time into English, and it was published here by W.W. Norton as The Study of Counterpoint. I learned composition from it when I was a teenager; it’s still used in schools today.

And by now, I’ll bet you’ve guessed how this ties back in. That $404.79 check came from W.W. Norton. It represents my portion of this royalty period’s proceeds from a book my dad started when he was a teenager in the 1930s and began translating into English before I was born.

After depositing that check, I went out with my son Chris and bought an LCD monitor has has been wanting. I’m sure my dad never imagined that his efforts at the age of nineteen would pay for his twenty-year-old grandson’s computer monitor — but they did.

Residual is like that. It defies the entropy of time. It lasts.

In a few days, the July issue of Networking Times will be up and viewable on their site, including an editorial I wrote inspired by a recent spring day’s walk.

Before I share that editorial, I want to point out that my fiancée Ana is protected 24/7 by her very own extremely discreet and well-hidden Secret Service agent. Can you spot him in this picture of her busy at work in her office? (His relevance to the matter at hand should become apparent within the first sentence of the piece.)

Our Favorite Whats
Noticing Those Experiences That Make It All Worthwhile

The other day I was out taking a walk with our dog, Ben. It was the sort of luxuriantly sensory, lavishly fecund spring days that makes you say, “Oh, right—this is why we live in New England!” The kind of day where the oxygen pours out of the trees around you, so palpable you could eat it with a spoon: air by Häagen-Dasz. Ben was going nuts, smelling every blade of grass, his body quivering as it tried to absorb the mob of scents crowding in on his little nose. And I was feeling pretty much the same way.

I heard myself mutter, “This is why I’m here.”

What exactly did I mean by that? That my life purpose is to take the dog for a walk?

We walked on, Ben wildly sniffing the dirt, and I pondering the meaning of life. (Each doing what he loves best.) What made this spring-day moment so noteworthy was that it felt so alive. It was like those flowers we always tell ourselves not to forget to stop to smell. There’s the loftiness of one’s life purpose, the thing mission statements and vision are all about. And then there are the flowers. (Or, if you’re Ben, the dirt.) For twenty years, I’ve been writing about the importance of knowing your compelling why. It occurs to me that it’s just as important to know your compelling what.

Just a few of my favorite whats:

Putting the finishing touches on a book I’ve been working on for months. Gazing, intimidated, at the blank page that signifies the start of the next one.

Discovering a breathtaking author I’ve never read before. (This month it’s Tony Horwitz; last month it was David McCullough.)

Time with my sweetheart, lying on our backs, talking and talking, about anything and everything.

Brahms and more Brahms.

And in networking? What is the best “air by Häagen-Dasz” moment one experiences in this business?

I was on the phone once with Brian Biro, who was interviewing the top leaders in our company to create a leadership profile. He asked what were my goals in the business. I didn’t have an answer. I’d had certain financial goals, but I’d already reached those. As I thought about it, a picture popped into mind: a birdcage door opening, its occupant bursting out into the open air and fluttering up and away into the sky.

Seeing people enter this business, I told Brian, caged in the various ways life can imprison, and then find their way to the point where the cage door opens … watching them enter the open air and fly high—that’s my what.

It also makes an excellent why.

I just had the singular opportunity to spend a half hour with the legendary bestselling author Marianne Williamson, interviewing her on her new book, The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife. What a gracious and delightful person she is — and wise.

In preparation for the interview, I read the book. Now I’m on a mission to persuade you to read it, too.

For one thing, it’s incredibly entertaining, and especially so if you are over 50. It’s also one of the most inspiring books I’ve read lately. And if you happen to be part of that baby boom age slice, this book will help create a continental shift in how you see your life — this is a promise.

The basic proposition of the book is that midlife, rather than being a crisis, can just as accessibly be a time of rebirth into a time of greater purpose and fulfillment. From the Introduction:

How would we live if we felt full permission from ourselves and others to give to life everything we’ve got? Would midlife be time to shut down, or time to finally get started? Would it be time to give up, or time to claim what we really want? . . .

At just about the time when the world seems about to literally blow up if some sane grown-up doesn’t come in here and do something quick, our generation is finally becoming sane grown-ups.

For the last few years, I’ve been saying, “It seems to me the first fifty years was for practice.” And I don’t mean it only as a joke. It’s delicious to read Marianne’s hilarious and touching meditation on that theme. Delicious, and empowering.

If you’re in network marketing, you’d be wise to give a copy of this book to each of your over-fifty leaders.

More news by category Topic -: Buy phentermine saturday delivery ohio Tramadol hydrochloride tablets Picture of xanax pills Free shipping cheap phentermine Buying phentermine without prescription Safety of phentermine Pyridium Generic viagra cialis Cialis generic india Pink oval pill 17 xanax identification Buy free phentermine shipping Best price for generic viagra Information about street drugs or xanax bars Ordering viagra Snorting phentermine Hydrocodone overdose Lithium Amiodarone Get online viagra Order viagra prescription Order xanax paying cod Cheap phentermine free shipping Imiquimod Tramadol next day Linkdomain buy online viagra info domain buy onlin Pfizer viagra sperm Vidarabine Cheapest viagra price Prevacid Viagra cialis levitra comparison Dutasteride Lisinopril Thiotepa Female spray viagra Black market phentermine Betamethasone Cialis forums What does xanax look like Loss phentermine story success weight Order xanax overnight Viagra alternative uk Diet online phentermine pill Order xanax cod Mecamylamine Eulexin Cheap hydrocodone Buy cheapest viagra Viagra xenical Phentermine with no prior prescription Xanax in urine Macrodantin Cheap phentermine with online consultation Epivir Buy phentermine epharmacist Ditropan Woman use viagra Cialis erectile dysfunction Xanax withdrawl message boards Viagra online store Atorvastatin Generic ambien Is phentermine addictive Next day delivery on phentermine Buy online viagra Ethanol Natural phentermine Avandamet Xanax long term use Diet page phentermine pill yellow 5 cheap Cheapest secure delivery cialis uk Information medical phentermine Cialis experience Phentermine no perscription Compare ionamin phentermine Viagra cialis levivia dose comparison Noroxin Effects of viagra on women Buy cheap cialis Viagra shelf life Hydroxyurea Phentermine discount no prescription Buy cheap online viagra Dog xanax Online cialis Viagra class action Viagra price Phentermine without prescription and energy pill Hydrocodone cod only Nicoumalone Cheapest viagra Cheap ambien Vicodin without prescription Phentermine prescription online Phentermine snorting Mirtazapine Quazepam Isradipine Buy generic viagra online Xanax look alike Moxifloxacin Viagra experiences Piroxicam Nicorette Free try viagra Sotalol Cash on delivery shipping of phentermine How do i stop taking phentermine Xanax prescriptions Cheapest phentermine 90 day order Niacinamide Phentermine weight loss Phentermine

Did you know that . . .

More than one in eight U.S. households includes a home-based business?

Every month, about 1 million Americans go through some type of job change or loss?

Seventy-two percent of all adult Americans would rather work for themselves than for another company — and 67 percent think about quitting “regularly” or “constantly”?

What’s more, the #1 reason they give for wanting to work for themselves is: “to be more passionate about my work life”?

Where am I getting all these factoids? From an article entitled “Why You Should Start a Business Today,” coauthored by me and Erin Casey, and appearing in the current (June/July) edition of Success magazine.

You can find an abridged version of the article online — but truthfully, the abridgement is so severe, it’s worth picking up a copy of the print version for the full text. It should be at your local newsstand.

The cover story alone—“The 50 Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time”—is well worth the cover price.

“You can trust me, honest.” “I don’t want to influence your opinion, I just want you to hear me out.” “I am not a crook.”

What do all three statements have in common? They are all trying so hard to convince that they are wholly unconvincing. (For example, if the speaker is genuinely trustworthy, would he need to tell us that?) What about this one:

“This opportunity is incredible! We are going to the moon on this one—I’m telling you, there’s never been a comp plan like this, ever!”

Nope, I’m not convinced. In fact, the very effort to convince me contains within it the seeds of its own undoing. The word convince derives from the Latin vincere, meaning to conquer. To convince means “to overcome in argument.” It is said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” And really, is there any other way to be convinced than against your will?

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” says Queen Gertrude in Hamlet (Act 3, scene 2). In Shakespeare’s time, “protest” did not mean to deny or object: it meant to assert, as in “He protested his innocence,” or, “I do protest with all Vigour the Goode and Comely Virtues of our Companie’s Hybrid Comp Planne.” The queen’s dry observation is that the lady was making an emphatic assertion—and the queen was not convinced. Me neither. . . .

This is the first half of my latest editorial in the May/June edition of Networking Times, which just went online (and on the newsstands) today.

I have always had (as readers of The Zen of MLM know well) an aversion to what in sales and network marketing is called “The Three-Foot Rule.”

If your interpretation of that rule is, as Scott Allen put it when I interviewed him in 2006 for Networking Times, “Anybody within three feet of you is worth getting to know a little better,” then you and I have no argument whatsoever. However, if it is more like the classic version, “Anyone within three feet is fair game for me to pitch my opportunity to, whether they ask for it or not,” then we have issues.

Seth Godin recently put this beautifully in his blog. Seth isn’t talking here about network marketing, but my oh my, it fits like a glove:

The end result of spam (email spam, blog spam, Twitter spam, Squidoo spam, comment spam, phone spam, politician spam [or prospecting spam—JDM]) is that it eats away at your brand. If you don’t have a brand, you might make some short term cash, but it gets tiresome creating annoyance everywhere you go. If you do have a brand, you don’t notice the brand erosion . . . until it’s too late.

Here, it’s simple:

You can contact just about anyone you want. The only rule is you need to contact them personally, with respect, and do it months before you need their help! Contact them about them, not about you. Engage. Contribute. Question. Pay attention. Read. Interact.

Then, when you’ve earned the right to attention and respect, months and months later, sure, ask. It takes a lot of time and effort, which is why volume isn’t the answer for you, quality is.

That’s a great way to get a job, promote a site, make a friend, spread the word or just be a human.

The bottom line here is your brand. In network marketing, no matter what company you’re aligned with, the core of all your activities is that you are either building your brand, letting your brand coast (read: atrophy), or ruining your brand. Make the three preceding paragraphs your personal brand bible, and you’ll build it.

Do you remember the hullabaloo a few years ago surrounding possible legislation that might hamstring a network marketer’s ability to prospect? In case you missed it, the concern was over proposed FTC rules that would require the disclosure of comparative information so extensive that it would bury even the most casual prospect with pounds of intimidating paperwork, effectively crippling the process.

Well, good news. The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that the “New Business Opportunity Rule” proposed two years ago, in April of 2006, has since been significantly revised.

According to the FTC notice, “The Business Opportunity Rule would still cover those schemes currently covered by the interim Business Opportunity Rule, and it would expand coverage to include work-at-home schemes.” Most significant to our businesses, the FTC goes on to say, “the revised proposal, however, would not reach multi-level marketing companies or certain companies that may have been swept inadvertently into scope of the April 2006 proposal.” (emphasis added)

Within the revised new rule it goes on to streamline the required discloser information by “eliminating requirements to disclose the number of cancellations and refund requests that a business opportunity seller receives or the litigation history of sales personnel.”

We don’t know who influenced this shift towards common sense, but for whomever it was, we have a message: Thank you.

(Thanks also to Art Jonak for alerting us about the notice.)