If you are looking for a get-rich-quick opportunity, you may find something out there; but chances are you will not succeed in the long run.
There are plenty of programs on the internet that offer $500 or $1,000 per sale. That sounds great on the surface, but for long term success—forget it! These programs require a high start-up cost and lots of money for online advertising. If you don’t know what you are doing, and most don’t, you will be sorely disappointed. These programs give you a one-time income opportunity at a high-cost for advertising. So the promised $500 may only be $200 by the time you spend advertising dollars on Google Adwords, solo ads, classifieds, etc. Also, with some of these programs, you have to pass-up your first sale or two. They call it your tuition for training.
Some may declare that they do get income on there directly sponsored affiliates, but again, that’s one time and very hard to come by because most people just can’t sell high ticket “services.” Besides, most do not have enough advertising dollars to be successful because they have to fork out all their money on the “opportunity.”
One program that I was involved with taught people how to promote products and services online. Later I found out that I could get that information online for FREE! Right now if anyone needs to know how to promote their product or service online, contact me and I will show you.
These are not the only downfalls; programs like this offer no residual income. If there is no residual income you might as well keep your day job because you will never obtain the financial freedom that you seek. You are just a commissioned salesperson in such cases.
If you want true financial freedom, you must promote consumable products that everyone will want and use whether they are “in the business” or not. Granted, on the surface, this looks like the slow way to gain wealth. But that is only on the surface.
Let’s say you make a whopping $500 per sale. How many people do you think can cough up that kind of money? I can tell you from experience, not many! Not only that; everything is dependent on you “making the sale.” If you stop selling, your income stops as well.
Now let’s say you promote affordable consumable product that a lot of people use and can afford. I will use energy drinks as an example. There are about 70 million energy drinks sold in North America every day! How possible do you it would be to get 25 people, who drink energy drinks already, to purchase your affordable energy drink product on a monthly bases? I think that this is VERY possible. Now let’s say you can get these 25 people on an auto-ship program; where they receive their energy drinks every month without the hassle of remembering to order them. Do you know that that will yield $500 per month on a RESIDUAL basis! You don’t have to re-sell those people every single month—they are already sold!
What does residual mean? Residual income is income that keeps coming automatically. An insurance salesperson enjoys residual income from the policies that he sold to you ONCE. I haven’t seen my insurance representative for years and he keeps making money off of the original policies that he sold me! To fully understand the power of residual income, consider a dead man pulling in $45 Million a year off of work he did decades ago! His first name is Elvis.
Which do you prefer? Would you like to become a salesperson that has to keep selling to get your $500 per month? Would you not rather get a few people involved with a product, that they already love, on auto-ship, to receive $500 per month in RESIDUAL income that keeps coming in whether you keep promoting the product or not?
To me, I would rather build a customer base that will provide RESIDUAL income. I don’t want another job of sell, sell, sell, to keep income flowing. The fact is, most people can’t or won’t do that. To produce a residual income stream does take more time, but once you do it; it’s done!
If you are looking for a get-rich-quick opportunity, go to Las Vegas. If you are looking for long term wealth and early retirement, become a real network marketer and work your tail off for 2-5 years. Sure it takes time and hard work, but believe me, it’s worth it! Just a few years of labor for a lifetime of favor!
One more thing; these so-called opportunities that speak ill of MLM, network marketing, selling, phone calling, making lists, nickel and dime incomes, 3-way calls and the like are so full of B.S. They are pure hype; appealing to the laziness in every one of us. Does this offend you? Why do you think only 5% of the population is financially independent? The reason is that success is a labor. You have to WORK at it. You have to go through the gauntlet if you want to achieve greatness. If it were easy, everybody would be rich and free of debt. Read the stories of Edison, Ford, Hill, and other successes. I would also ask you to read my blog entry on the Pursuit of Happiness and you will get the picture.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Power of Faith and How to Increase It
Note: This article in intended to add hope and assurance to anyone who reads it. My goal is to augment to life of all those I come in contact with. I wrote this particularly for fellow network marketers who are struggling to make their businesses grow to achieve the financial and time freedom that we all desire. Faith plays a huge role in living a successful life. I hope that you will find this encouraging as you make your pilgrimage here on earth and do it with zest and thankfulness. Now let’s endeavor to answer the question, “What is faith?”
The Bible (Hebrews 11:1) answers this question the best, “Now faith is the assurance of what is hoped for, the conviction of what is not seen.” Wow, is that a loaded statement! Faith is the assurance, the pledge, guarantee, and certainty of mind that what you do not see, IS! Faith is the conviction, the certainty of what is not seen as already existing. Faith is believing in something that you cannot see as already yours; you are just waiting for its manifestation.
Another one of my favorite Bible passages is in the gospel of Mark and it says, “Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, all things you pray and ask for—believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” This is one of the most profound verses I have every read about faith.
Faith believes that you have RECEIVED, already, what you asked for. It is only when you believe is such a way that you will have what you want. Notice that there is also the matter of speaking involved. You also need to speak the things you want into being. You need to speak of what you want in such a way that you talk as though you already have it!
Faith is an elusive thing and very hard to possess in a world where everything seems to go against it. We have a tendency to believe what we see, hear, feel, touch, and smell. Our five senses are so strong they can wipe out faith very easily. Our environment speaks doubt, fear, and unbelief into us and leaves us unable to possess the things in life we really want. People and circumstances around us destroy our faith and leave us like a ship without a rudder; tossed by the winds of life with little or no sense of direction.
What do you really want? That is the first thing that you must focus on. Do not even think about what you do not want in life; pay attention to the things you want. Think about them, write them down, dream about them and speak of them as though you already possess them and you shall have them. Stay clear of negative people and news outlets. They will only derail your faith.
There are several good illustrations of people who possessed outstanding faith, but my favorite is Thomas Edison. Here is a man who believed that he could harness to power of electricity to produce light. His dream was to produce the first incandescent light bulb. Here is a man that tried over 10,000 times to make his dream a reality. Think about what people said about him! He probably heard all kinds of discouraging things like: “That will never work!” or “When are you going to give up on that contraption?” or “You are crazy for wasting you time on something that clearly won’t work!” No doubt he heard it all, but that did not stop him. Why, you may ask? He never gave up because he believed that he already possessed the answer. His belief overcame the doubt and fear that sometimes passed through his mind. He stay focused and on course. He thought it impossible not to have what he set his mind on…and he was right! Thomas Edison became one of the top inventors of all time because of his belief.
Thomas Edison did something that 99% of the population would never do. He took action every single day until he received what he believed he already possessed. After over 10,000 attempts (some would call failures), Thomas Edison received the answer to his challenge while coming out of one of his infamous cat naps. If anything should encourage you to keep on keeping on, it should be the story of this man!
You can have anything that you can imagine if you would only believe! If you believe you can, you will! What do you want? Have you reached the point that you feel that you have already obtained it? Do you feel that what you want is already yours? If you do, you will most assuredly acquire it! This is a law! As there is a law of gravity; there is the law of faith. The law of faith will work every time, without fail.
How does one get such faith? Mainly by hearing and speaking. Give heed to what you hear. Surround yourself with positive speaking and speak to yourself positively. Ask yourself good questions, and the answers that you seek will come. Speak of what you want. Surround yourself with C.D.’s, videos, and people that support you in your quest. Eventually you will build up such faith that, though you don’t actually possess what you want yet, you feel as though you already possess it…and guess what? You will possess that thing! Stay clear of negative people and environments that do not feed your belief. Don’t give any attention to them. Most people are just jealous and will hold you back if you are not careful. They will tell you that your dream is crazy and it won’t work. They will tell you to play it safe and don’t take risks. They will tell you to calm down and think about how stupid your dream is. I am telling you right now; don’t give those thoughts any attention!
What I am writing is as certain as the sun rises in the east and settles in the west. You can have what you want if you take possession of your mind, focus on what you want, speak of what you want and allow faith to possess you and bring to you that very thing!
There was a woman in the Bible that suffered from hemorrhaging for over 38 years. She spent all of her livelihood seeking medical help, but to no avail. She heard about Jesus and all the healings that he performed. That hearing caused faith to rise up in her heart. She eventually sought Jesus but could not get to him because of the crowds. So she thought to herself, “If I could only touch the fringe of his garment, I will be healed.” She took action and, I believe crawled to Him through the crowd and touched the hem of His garment and was immediately healed! Though many surrounded Jesus and were touching him, only one truly had faith and because of her faith Jesus perceived power going out of Him from her touch of faith. When Jesus perceived this, he said, “Who touched me?” His disciples said that everyone was touching Him, but he knew there was one who touched Him in faith. Eventually the woman rose up and confessed that it was her. Do you know what Jesus then said to her? “Your faith has healed you!” Who healed who? To the woman, Jesus healed her; but to the Master, the woman’s faith healed her.
This is an important lesson. Your faith is powerful and God responds to it by manifesting what you believe. That’s why Jesus and the woman had the responses that they did. You do your part…believe--and God does His part—manifesting what you believe. It’s more up to you than Him. He has know problem, it’s you that needs to develop the faith that makes dreams come true.
Napoleon Hill called God, Infinite Intelligence. He did this as to not offend anyone regarding their particular belief in God. Personally, I believe in one unique God, the Creator of us all and Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind. He is awesome and we were fearfully and wonderfully made by Him. We were made to know Him and enjoy His creation and all the wonderful things that He provided for us. He gave us a mind, emotion and will to build successful lives on this earth. Don’t forfeit your right to have and be anything you want to be by not exercising the law of faith. What the mind can conceive and believe; it can achieve. So do what you can, feed your faith by positive thinking, hearing, and speaking. Before you know it, you too will develop unstoppable faith—the kind that moves mountains!
The Bible (Hebrews 11:1) answers this question the best, “Now faith is the assurance of what is hoped for, the conviction of what is not seen.” Wow, is that a loaded statement! Faith is the assurance, the pledge, guarantee, and certainty of mind that what you do not see, IS! Faith is the conviction, the certainty of what is not seen as already existing. Faith is believing in something that you cannot see as already yours; you are just waiting for its manifestation.
Another one of my favorite Bible passages is in the gospel of Mark and it says, “Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, all things you pray and ask for—believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” This is one of the most profound verses I have every read about faith.
Faith believes that you have RECEIVED, already, what you asked for. It is only when you believe is such a way that you will have what you want. Notice that there is also the matter of speaking involved. You also need to speak the things you want into being. You need to speak of what you want in such a way that you talk as though you already have it!
Faith is an elusive thing and very hard to possess in a world where everything seems to go against it. We have a tendency to believe what we see, hear, feel, touch, and smell. Our five senses are so strong they can wipe out faith very easily. Our environment speaks doubt, fear, and unbelief into us and leaves us unable to possess the things in life we really want. People and circumstances around us destroy our faith and leave us like a ship without a rudder; tossed by the winds of life with little or no sense of direction.
What do you really want? That is the first thing that you must focus on. Do not even think about what you do not want in life; pay attention to the things you want. Think about them, write them down, dream about them and speak of them as though you already possess them and you shall have them. Stay clear of negative people and news outlets. They will only derail your faith.
There are several good illustrations of people who possessed outstanding faith, but my favorite is Thomas Edison. Here is a man who believed that he could harness to power of electricity to produce light. His dream was to produce the first incandescent light bulb. Here is a man that tried over 10,000 times to make his dream a reality. Think about what people said about him! He probably heard all kinds of discouraging things like: “That will never work!” or “When are you going to give up on that contraption?” or “You are crazy for wasting you time on something that clearly won’t work!” No doubt he heard it all, but that did not stop him. Why, you may ask? He never gave up because he believed that he already possessed the answer. His belief overcame the doubt and fear that sometimes passed through his mind. He stay focused and on course. He thought it impossible not to have what he set his mind on…and he was right! Thomas Edison became one of the top inventors of all time because of his belief.
Thomas Edison did something that 99% of the population would never do. He took action every single day until he received what he believed he already possessed. After over 10,000 attempts (some would call failures), Thomas Edison received the answer to his challenge while coming out of one of his infamous cat naps. If anything should encourage you to keep on keeping on, it should be the story of this man!
You can have anything that you can imagine if you would only believe! If you believe you can, you will! What do you want? Have you reached the point that you feel that you have already obtained it? Do you feel that what you want is already yours? If you do, you will most assuredly acquire it! This is a law! As there is a law of gravity; there is the law of faith. The law of faith will work every time, without fail.
How does one get such faith? Mainly by hearing and speaking. Give heed to what you hear. Surround yourself with positive speaking and speak to yourself positively. Ask yourself good questions, and the answers that you seek will come. Speak of what you want. Surround yourself with C.D.’s, videos, and people that support you in your quest. Eventually you will build up such faith that, though you don’t actually possess what you want yet, you feel as though you already possess it…and guess what? You will possess that thing! Stay clear of negative people and environments that do not feed your belief. Don’t give any attention to them. Most people are just jealous and will hold you back if you are not careful. They will tell you that your dream is crazy and it won’t work. They will tell you to play it safe and don’t take risks. They will tell you to calm down and think about how stupid your dream is. I am telling you right now; don’t give those thoughts any attention!
What I am writing is as certain as the sun rises in the east and settles in the west. You can have what you want if you take possession of your mind, focus on what you want, speak of what you want and allow faith to possess you and bring to you that very thing!
There was a woman in the Bible that suffered from hemorrhaging for over 38 years. She spent all of her livelihood seeking medical help, but to no avail. She heard about Jesus and all the healings that he performed. That hearing caused faith to rise up in her heart. She eventually sought Jesus but could not get to him because of the crowds. So she thought to herself, “If I could only touch the fringe of his garment, I will be healed.” She took action and, I believe crawled to Him through the crowd and touched the hem of His garment and was immediately healed! Though many surrounded Jesus and were touching him, only one truly had faith and because of her faith Jesus perceived power going out of Him from her touch of faith. When Jesus perceived this, he said, “Who touched me?” His disciples said that everyone was touching Him, but he knew there was one who touched Him in faith. Eventually the woman rose up and confessed that it was her. Do you know what Jesus then said to her? “Your faith has healed you!” Who healed who? To the woman, Jesus healed her; but to the Master, the woman’s faith healed her.
This is an important lesson. Your faith is powerful and God responds to it by manifesting what you believe. That’s why Jesus and the woman had the responses that they did. You do your part…believe--and God does His part—manifesting what you believe. It’s more up to you than Him. He has know problem, it’s you that needs to develop the faith that makes dreams come true.
Napoleon Hill called God, Infinite Intelligence. He did this as to not offend anyone regarding their particular belief in God. Personally, I believe in one unique God, the Creator of us all and Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind. He is awesome and we were fearfully and wonderfully made by Him. We were made to know Him and enjoy His creation and all the wonderful things that He provided for us. He gave us a mind, emotion and will to build successful lives on this earth. Don’t forfeit your right to have and be anything you want to be by not exercising the law of faith. What the mind can conceive and believe; it can achieve. So do what you can, feed your faith by positive thinking, hearing, and speaking. Before you know it, you too will develop unstoppable faith—the kind that moves mountains!
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