CHAPTER 3

Value #1: True Equal Opportunity

I am often asked, "Since you did not

become rich from building a network
marketing business, why do you
recommend others get into the business?"
There are several book. reasons I
recommend the network marketing
business, and they are explained in this

The Closing of My Mind

It was sometime during the mid-1970s that

a friend invited me to a presentation on a
new business opportunity. Being a person
who makes it a habit of regularly
investigating business and investment
opportunities, I agreed to attend the
meeting. Although I thought it was strange
that the business meeting was at a private
home rather than in an office, I went along
anyway. That meeting was to be my
introduction to the world of network
marketing.

I sat there patiently listening to the three-

hour presentation. I agreed with most of
the points on why someone should start
their own business. The part I did not pay
much attention to was how the business
they were building was so very different
from the business I
was building. Simply put, I was building my
business to make me rich and they were
talking about building a business that made
many people rich. At that stage of my life,
my mind was not open to such radical new
ideas. In my kind, a business is supposed
to make only the owners rich.

At the end of the evening, the friend asked

me what I thought of the business
opportunity presented. My reply was, "It
was interesting but it's not for me." When
my fiend asked me why I was not
interested I said, "I am already building my
own business. Why do I need to build a
business with other people? Why should I
help them?" I then said, "Besides, I have
heard rumours that these network
marketing business are just pyramid
schemes and are illegal." Before my friend
could say anything further, I walked off into
the night, got into my car, and drove away.

At that stage of my life in the mid-1970s, I

was building my first international
business. Therefore, I was very busy
keeping my daytime job and building this
business in my spare time. The business I
was building was a manufacturing and
marketing business focused on bringing to
market the first nylon and Velcro surfer
wallets. Soon after my first network
marketing meeting, my sports wallet
business boomed. My two years of hard
work was paying off. Success, fame and
fortune seemed to pour down upon my two
partners and me. We had reached our
goal, which was to become millionaires
before we were 30. In the 1970s, $1 million
was worth something. My company and my
products were written about in such
magazines as Surfer, Runner's World and
Gentleman's Quarterly. We were the hot
new products in the sporting goods world,
and business poured in from all over the
world. My first international business was
up and running.

THE BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR PEOPLE

WHO LIKE HELPING PEOPLE

Therefore, when presented with the

business opportunity a network marketing
business offered me, my mind was closed
and I did not want to hear anymore. It
would be years before it would open
again...open enough to listen and to begin
to change my opinion. about the industry. I
did not think about the network marketing
industry again for 15 years.

A Change of Mind

Sometime in the early 1990s a friend I

respect for his financial wisdom and his
business from his real estate investments,
so it puzzled me why he would have a
network success told me he was in the
network marketing business. Bill was
already very wealthy marketing business.
Now curious, I asked him, "Why are you in
this business? You don't need the money,
do you?"

Laughing aloud, Bill said, "You know I like

making money, but I am not in the
business because I need the money. My
finances are in great shape."

I knew that Bill had just completed

commercial read estate projects worth over
$1 billion in the last two years, so I also
knew he was doing well. Yet his vague
answer made me more curious, so I
pressed on, asking him, "So, why do you
have a network marketing business?"

Bill thought for a long while and then began

speaking in his slow Texas style: "For
years, people have asked me for real
estate investment tips. They want to know
how to become rich by investing in real
estate. Many want to know if they can
invest with me or how they can find real
estate for no money down."

Nodding in agreement I said, "I am asked

the same questions." "The problem is,"
said Bill continuing on, "most cannot invest
with me because they do
not have enough money. They do not have
the $50,000 on $100,000 needed to get
into my level of real estate investments. In
addition, the reason many of them want a
no paychecks away from bankruptcy.
Therefore, they look for these cheap no-
money-down money-down deal is that
many of them have absolutely no money at
all. Some are two deals that are often very
bad deals. You and I know the best real
estate deals go to the rich who have
money and nor to those without money."

Nodding, I said, "I understand. I remember

being so poor that no banker or real estate
agent would take me seriously. You mean
they don't have any money, or if they do
have money, they don't have enough
money for you to help them. They aren't
rich enough for your investments?"

Bill nodded, "And on top of that, if they do

have a little money, it is often their lift And
you and I know that a person who is afraid
of losing often loses." if they invest their life
savings, they are often so afraid of losing
they wind up losittg savings. You know I do
not recommend investing everything you
have. On top of that.

My conversation with Bill went on for a few

more minutes, but I soon had to dash for
the airport. I was still not sure why he was
in a network marketing business,
but my closed mind was beginning to open.
I was beginning to want to know more
about why someone as rich as he was had
a network marketing business. I was
beginning to realize that there was
something more to the business than just
the money.

Over the next few months my dialogue with

Bill continued. Slowly 1 began to
understand his reasons for being in the
business. His primary reasons were

1. He wanted to help people. This was his

main reason for having this business.
Although a very rich man, he was not a
greedy or arrogant man.

2. He wanted to help himself. "You have to

be rich to invest with me. I realized that if I
helped more people become rich, then I
would have more investors." Bill continued.
"The irony is that the more I helped others
become rich building their own business,
the more my business grew...and I became
richer. Now I have a thriving consumer
distribution business, more investors, and
more money of my own to invest. Talk
about win-win. That is why in the last few
years I have begun investing in much
larger real estate projects. As you know, it's
hard to get really rich investing in small real
estate deals. It can be done, but if you
don't have much money, all you get are the
real estate deals that people
with money don't want."

3. He loves learning and teaching. "I love

working with people who want to learn." He
said to me in one of our later discussions,
"It is exhausting working with people who
think they know everything. In my world of
real estate investing. I work with many of
those people. Working with someone who
thinks they know all the answers is tough.
For me, people who start a network
marketing business are looking for new
answers and they are ready to learn. 1 love
learning, teaching business, and sharing
new ideas with people excited about their
ongoing education. As you know, I have a
degree in accounting and an M.B.A. in
finance. This business gives me a chance
to teach others what I know and continue
learning along with everyone else. You
would be surprised how many very smart,
well educated people from different
backgrounds are in this business. There
are also many people without a formal
education who are in this business to gain
the education they need to find financial
security in a world with less and less job
security. We get together and share what
we already know from our life's
experiences and what we are learning. I
love teaching and I love learning, and that
is why I love this business. It's a great
business and a great real-life business
school."
A Newly Opened Mind

So sometime during the early 1990s my

mind began to open and my point of view
on the network marketing industry began to
change. I began to see things that my
closed mind could not see. I began to see
things that were good and positive about
the industry rather
than the things that were negative...and
there are negatives to the industry. But
then again, there is something negative
about most things.

After retiring in 1994, financially free at the

age of 47. I began my own research into
the someone invited me to one of his
presentations, I went along just to listen to
what he or she had to say, I did join a few
of the network marketing companies if I
liked what they said. However, I joined not
necessarily to make more money; I joined
to take a long hard look at the positives
and the negatives of each company.
Instead of just closing my mind, I wanted to
find my own answers. After looking into
several companies, I saw the negatives
that most people see at first glance such
as the strange people who initially come
into the industry and promote their
business. It is true that many dreamers,
hustlers, con men, losers and get-rich-
quick artists are attracted to this type of
business. One of the challenges of a
network marketing business is that they
have an open door
policy, which allows almost anyone to join.
This open-door policy is the fair and equal
opportunity that most socialists cry out for,
yet I did not meet many hard-core
socialists in these businesses meetings.
These businesses are for capitalists or at
least for people who hope to become
capitalists.

"A network marketing business has an

open door policy."

After getting through the masses of

wannabes, hustlers and dreamers, I finally
began meeting the leaders of some of the
companies. The ones I met sere some of
the most intelligent, kind, ethical, moral,
spiritual and professional people I have
met in all my years of business. One I got
over my own prejudices and met people I
respected and related to, I found the heart
of the industry. I could now see what I
could not see before. I could now see the
good and the bad.
Therefore, this book is written in part to
answer the question, "Since you did not
become rich from building a network
marketing business, why do you
recommend that others get into the
business?" It is because I did not gain my
fortune from building a network describes
what I see as the real value of a network
marketing business...a value that goes
marketing business that I can be a bit more
objective about the industry. This book
beyond just the potential of making a lot of
money. I finally found a business with a
heart and a deep caring for people.

The primary reason I support the industry

is that I have always hated the values I
found in years old, and a teacher told a
friend of mine named Martha that she
would never amount the traditional
educational system. I remember being a
junior in high school, about 16 to much in
life because she was not doing well in
school Martha was a shy and sensitive girl.
I saw that words of our teacher go straight
to her soul. Martha dropped out of school,
months short of graduating from high
school.

The problem I have with school and the

corporate world is that they are similar.
Risa survival-of-the-fittest value system. If
a person begins to have trouble or cannot

understand something, the system simply

passes them by. The systems seem to
have lost their heart.

While working at Xerox, a friend of mine

had three months straight of poor sales.
Instead of helping Ron, the sales manager
began to threaten, rather than teach, Ron. I
can still hear our sales manager saying, "If
you don't sell something soon, you'll be
fired." Ron resigned a week later.
Therefore, another reason I support the
network marketing industry is that in most
cases, the companies are very
compassionate businesses. If you are
willing to stick it out, and learn and study at
your own pace, the business will continue
to stick by your side. Many network
marketing companies are truly equal
opportunity businesses. If you will invest
the time and effort, so will they. Even
though I did not make my fortune in a
network marketing business, I will support
any business that values human
compassion and true equal opportunity.

In Summary

Between the ages of 18 and 27, I was

either in a military academy gaining my
college education or the U.S. Marine
Corps. In those two organizations, the
values are truly a survival-of-the-fittest
value system. At the academy, if you gave
the teacher the answers he or she wanted
to hear, you graduated. If you didn't, you
failed. In the Marine Corps, if you did as
you were trained to do, you survived in
combat. In war, it truly is survival of the
fittest.

When I returned from the Vietnam War, I

found myself wanting to change some of
my values. I did not want to
be good at playing a win/lose...survival-of-
the-fittest (or smartest) game we learn at
school. That is why [Link]'s mission
statement is, "To elevate the financial well-
being of humanity." We believe that just
because a child does not do well in school,
or does not land a high-paying job, does
not mean they have to suffer financially all
their lives.

Another reason we at [Link] support

many in the network marketing industry is
that we feel many, but not all, in the
network marketing industry share in the
same mission. Today, rather than beat my
classmates at test time, or kill my enemy
on the battlefield, or wipe out my
competition in the corporate world, I would
rather work with those who want to help
others to achieve their financial goals and
dreams without hurting others. For me this
is a value worth supporting.

[Link] took our CASHFLOW for

Kids board game and turned it into an
interactive game online. The interactive
game also comes with a classroom
curriculum for ages 5 to 12. This interactive
game and curriculum is delivered over the
Internet "network" free of charge and free
of commercial messages. It is our way of
giving back some of the good fortune we
as a business have been blessed to
receive. It is also our way of reminding
ourselves to be generous rather than
greedy.
The fun and entertaining game and
curriculum teaches young people
throughout the world the same basic
financial education and skills my rich dad
taught me as a young boy. Years ago, John
Lennon of the Beatles taught the world to
sing, "Give peace a change." What we at
[Link] are saying is, "Give all kids a
chance." Give all kids the equal opportunity
to have a strong basic financial education.
We believe that one of the best ways to
bring peace is by actively working to end
poverty. We also believe the best way to
end poverty is by financial education rather
than by financial handouts. As my rich dad
often said, "If you give a poor person
money, you only keep them poor longer."

Today, many network marketing companies

are spreading peace through economic
opportunity all over the world. Not only are
network marketing companies thriving in all
the major capitals of the world, but many
are also working in the Third World,
bringing financial hope to millions of people
who live in impoverished countries. Most
traditional corporations can only survive
where people are rich and have money to
spend. It is time that people all over the
world have an equal opportunity to enjoy a
rich and abundant life. rather than spend
their lives working hard only to make the
rich richer. If the gap between rich and
poor widens, it
will be harder to give peace a chance.

The Next Value

The next chapter is about the value of life-

changing education that many network
marketing companies offer. If you are
ready to make financial changes in your
life, this next chapter and value is for you.