Kevin and the Giant Peach

….and Why I Am Still Involved : A Professional Perspective

Many professionals – doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, etc.. – leave school and start on their careers with big ambitions and dreams of living the good life. It doesn’t take long before the realities of life settle in. Responsibilities stack up as do the bills. After several years, the BIG income is just enough to keep up with the Dr. Jones’ but no more. With the advancement in carreer comes the necessity for purchasing the bigger house and the more expensive car. After all, if you’re a successful lawyer, you can’t go to court or meetings with clients driving a 10 year old Toyota Carolla, can you?

At some point, usually 10-15 years into their practice, most professionals find themselves trapped. There is no turning back. They’ve now invested so much time and money into their career and the lifestyle that goes along with it, that to scale back would be unimaginable. Many wonder what happened to the happy life they had dreamed of. Even worse, the realization that they will probably be sentenced to keep up the charade for another 30-40 years can easily lead many to depression.

So, what’s the solution? Is there one?

The answer is network marketing. Go ahead and say, “hum bug” and “I knew this would be a bunch of crap.” Get it out of your system. Then read my story.

I grew up in a small town in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie. That was in the ’60’s and ’70’s when the population of the town didn’t expand much above 15,000 souls. The main industry there was tourism – and that was only about 4 months of the year. Most people worked for the government – police, fire, teachers – or had their own small business. Middle class in Sault Ste. Marie meant that you could afford plastic to cover your windows during the winter. Rich was being able to afford real storm windows for the same purpose.

My goal growing up was to escape “the Soo.” My Dad wanted me to take the civil service exam, get a good job with the government, settle down, etc.. That never interested me. But even in early high school I didn’t know what to do. My grades were good and I read a lot. So, academically, I could pretty much choose anythng. In my sophomore year of high school a recruiter from Lake Superior State College held a kind of Q&A visit. At the time, I was curious about this new field of genetics. I asked the recruiter what it would involve to become a genetic engineer. He was very unenthusiastic about the question and answered in the same unenthusiastic way. He said that it would involve getting a bachelor’s degree and then going to medical school and then more school after that. He said that it would take a lot of time and that I should maybe think about doing something else. To this day, I regret that I listened to that idiot.

So, I put genetic engineering out of my thoughts. A friend of mine, Scott King, who was a year ahead of me, had at about the same time, decided to study chemical engineering at Michigan Technological University. Since I liked physics and chemistry, chemical engineering sounded good to me. So, I ended up going to Michigan Tech, also, and, after 4 years obtained my B.S.Ch.E.. So far, so good. I even was offered a job at IBM in Endicott, NY. And I took it. So, at the age of 22 years old, I was on my path to the good life, right? Well, not the way I saw it. It didn’t take long for me to resent having to be at my office at 7:30 in the morning and not being able to leave until 4:30 (except for lunch), 5 days a week. Two weeks vacation was not worth it. Neither was the good paycheck.

That life bored me so much that I started running marathons for the excitement. Two years into the job, I was looking for a change of scenery. So, I took a transfer within IBM into a telecommunications marketing group at their Los Angeles branch office. That was a little better and a little more freedom. But not enough. I left that after 3 years.

Then I went to work for a smaller company, the Lundberg Survey in North Hollywood. Working for Trilby Lundberg was fun, but the pay wasn’t much and my upward mobility was limited (since I worked for the owner of the company). Two years there and I found myself moving back to the midwest.

In 1992, I went to work for Envirex, Inc., a water/wastewater treatment equiment manufacturer in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The only reason I stayed with them for 12 years was because I traveled a lot – much of it international’y. While I was still accountable to my bosses, I had a lot of freedom.

But much of that changed as new bosses came in and I was spending more time in the office. Again, I found myself hating to be chained to a desk. For much of my free time, I started exploring ways to make money on the side which would someday replace my full time income. Learning how to play and win at blackjack worked but it became too much like another job. Gambling on football games also worked for me for awhile. I’d traded stocks but, again, it was too much like work. What I wanted was something that I could do for a little while but would continue to pay me when I wasn’t doing it.

I didn’t know this at the time, but what I was looking for was a residual or passive income. This is what most people who desire true freedom are looking for. But, like me, many can’t put their finger on it.

It was one early morning in February of 2003 that the events were to be set in motion that wer to finally put me on the path of what I was looking for. I was sitting in the lounge area of the Wisconsin Athletic Club in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, having coffee with my friend, Tony. We were talking about some business ideas that he had. This was something that we talked about often – which, of course, only ended up being talk. Nothing ever happened with his ideas. As we were talking, an acquaintance of ours, named Tom, came walking by our table. I knew Tom had his own business. So, I asked him as he was walking, “hey, Tom, what business is it that you’re in?” He seemed a bit startled by the question. But he stopped and quickly answered, “I just started a new venture.” I asked him what it was. His reply was, “I’m brand new myself but If you’re interested, I’ll give you a call I’m going to be meeting with some partners and will call you to set something up.” He then walked on.

That was weird, I thought. I then asked Tony, “Do you know what he does?” Tony replied, “I think he’s in Amway.” I put my hand on my head and said, “Oh no. Now that I’ve expressed interest, he’s going to be calling and bugging me to get in.” My experience with mlm or network marketing people was that they were uncomfortable to be around. I don’t know why. Most of them just seemed a bit desperate and not really sure what they’re doing. I always felt a little sorry for them. None of them ever made any real money that I knew of – except for a guy named Herb Smith who owned a gas station in Engadine, Michigan back in the early ’80’s. He was in Amway, and I think he was doing well. But who knows? All I knew is that I didn’t want to become one of the poor souls walking around pitching soap to their friends.

Sure enough, two weeks later, Tom called me up on a Sunday night to invite me to a “business briefing” at his house the next night, Monday. I told him that I couldn’t attend. I told him that my triathlon team had swim practice on Monday nights – which was true. I wasn’t lying. I then asked him what he had going on Tuesday night. There I had stepped in “it.” Tom replied that he and some “business partners” met every Tuesday night the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield. He invited me to join them. What I pictured in my mind was one or two of his colleagues would be sitting around the table in the restaurant talking about their business. That was ok with me. I told him I’d go – just to get him off my back, of course, which I didn’t say.

On Tuesday I showed up at the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel for our meeting. Tom was there waiting for me. Next, instead of walking into the restaurant, however, he led me to a large conference room. I found myself signing my name on a piece of paper and regretting that I’d showed up. The little marquee on the door read, “Market America.” For some reason I thought this was the home-based business founded by Pat Robertson (of 700 Club fame). The next thing I knew, I’m sitting in a chair in the middle of a room of about 150 people. Immediately, I folded my arms and waited for the hype. When this thing was over, I thought, I was out of here. I’d been to these type of things before and I’d never even been tempted to join. It must be something of the engineer mind that says that if I don’t understand HOW something works, there’s something wrong. Most of these presentations talk about, “getting in on the next big thing,” “how successful you can become,” “why you don’t want to miss out,” but none of the nuts and bolts are revealed. (The truth is that most distributors for mlm or network marketing companies DON’T really understand how their company’s compensation plans work. But more about that later.)

So, I sat, and I listened. The first 10 minutes of the presentation was given by one person, a woman I think, who talked about the company. She said the Market America was an 11 year old product brokerage company, had no debt, and had 70 million dollars in the bank in reserves. That was good. My experience dabbling in stocks told me that a debt free company is one you want to invest in. So, one point for Market America.

Then the next presenter went to the front of the room and talked about the product line. Actually they talked about multiple product lines – 14 different product lines to be exact, each occupying a billion dollar industry. That was good. I don’t get excited about a single product, any product. Tell me you’ve found some juice that is the answer to all the worlds ills and I’m going to immediately right you off as a nut. Your product may cure cancer but I’m not even going to give you a chance to prove it to me. However, give me a choice amongst several things in your store and we can talk.

So, two points for Market America. I was still a long way from even considering joining them.

The last presenter was a guy by the name of Jim Winkler. Jim, as it turned out, used to be a vice-president for Rustbury corporation. Remember the Troll dolls? That’s what Jim sold when he was there. Now I was interested in Jim’s story because here was someone who had been a successful professional in the corporate world. He was now doing this network marketing thing! My question was, “why?” It turned out that because of his success, Jim was practically ordered to take over a division in Toronto. He didn’t want to go. He had no options, though. Either move to Toronto or find something else to do. He then called his friend, Brad.

Brad Emmert had been managing a Prudential insurance branch office in Appleton, Wisconsin, when his wife, Lori, started her side business with Market America. Brad wanted nothing to do with it. It was a year after she joined, that he finally looked at the compensation plan. He immediately understood it and invited his friend, Jim Winkler, to look at it. Jim agreed but ended up putting off the meeting 3 times. He just wasn’t interested in looking at some “thing.”

When Jim had no other choice, he asked Brad to show him what he was doing. Jim immediately understood it and jumped in with both feet building it to 6-figures within 9 months.

This story is the story Jim started with in his part of the presentation. I’ll admit this is what had me start paying attention. I saw myself as a professional who was too good to “do network marketing.” Afterall, isn’t network marketing or mlm just something that housewives do to expand their social life? No one really does this to make money. Or do they. Jim Winkler was someone who obviously decided it was his only way out of a tough situation.

So Jim went on and pointed out a couple things that broke down my resistence even further.

First, he asked if anyone was skeptical. I raised my hand. In fact I was the only one. With a smile, Jim said, ” at least we have one honest person in the audience.”

Second, his power point slide showed boxes in the form of a pyramid with one box on the top, a couple of boxes underneath, and more boxes underneath those, etc.. I thought, “ah, ha, I knew it.” Jim then asked the question, “what does this look like to you?” I said, out loud, “It’s a pyramid.” He said, “exactly!” He hit the clicker and the boxes started to fill in with the words “CEO” in the top box, “CFO” in one of the boxes underneath, “VP”, “Middle Management” and so on. Huh? I’d never thought of that before. Every corporate structure is shaped like a pyramid. So, why was I and everyone else so resistant to pyramid shaped business structures when, in fact, they’re all shaped like pyramids?

The rest of the presentation was a clear explanation of the compensation plan. I still wasn’t ready to signup. I had to think about it. When the presentation was over, I was surprised by another fact. No one, not even Tom, came over to ask if I wanted in. I had to go look for someone to answer my questions!

I was perplexed. I didn’t understand everything but I understood enough to know that this looked simple and it made sense. If I was correct, all I needed to do was find 2 good customers – and not right away. And all I needed to do to collect commissions was to partner with two good people of my choosing – and not right away. And though it would take time, I could have a business that pays me $184,000 – residual income – per year. Even if it took 10 years, it was worth doing.

I did find someone to ask a couple of questions of. Ty Clinton was walking to the back of the room from the front where he had told the room that he was making $4800-$7500 per month. (That was another impressive feature of the presentation. People actually stated HOW MUCH they were making on a monthly basis. My experience with these things was that distributors would only talk about their TITLE – which meant nothing to me.)

My first question to Ty was, “how much exactly does it cost to get into this thing.” He said, “anywhere from $500 to $1000 but we can work with you on that.” I told him the money wasn’t a problem – and it wasn’t. I had more questions for him so he agreed to meet with me for lunch the following week. After he answered my questions, I was satisfied that Market America was a legitimate company and that it was something that I was interested in being a part of. Two weeks later, he and Tom came over to my house and signed me into the business. (Being skeptical, I still thought there was a chance that I’d never see these guys again! But I did).

For the first year and half, my business with Market America grew steady and strong in spite of my not following the normal mlm and network marketing recruiting techniques. I did make a names list but only talked to those who a) I liked, b) I respected and c) I knew were looking for a side income. Everyone else I left alone. This is where I started deviating from what Tom and Ty and the rest of the trainers were telling me.

After that first year-and-a-half, my commission checks with Market America have continued to grow but I have not been active in that growth – which tells me that I found the right company. I just don’t believe in the normal prospecting, recruiting, and sponsoring techniques. I knew there had to be a better way to do this especially with the advent and global reach of the internet.

Now, let me step back and answer a question that was put to me about a year into building my business with Market America. The question came from a friend and colleague named Mark Gehring. Mark knew that I was a distributor for Market America. In fact, Mark was instrumental in my joining, although he didn’t know it at the time. What happened was that, the day after I had attended that business briefing in Brookfield in which Jim Winkler showed the compensation plan, I asked Mark if he’d ever heard of the company. His reply that, yes, he had heard of them in fact he knew a couple who’d become very successful at it. I asked him if he could give me their number, which he did, so that I could call them, which I did. Sarah Greco provided me with the testimonial I needed. She and her husband had recently bought a new house with the downpayment coming from what they’d earned in Market America.

But it was a year later that I asked Mark why he wasn’t at least considering it. He said he hadn’t even seen the compensation plan and he just wasn’t interested in it. That’s when he asked me THE question, “why are you doing this? You’re a smart guy. You have a great carreer. Why would you want to do something silly like Market America?” Good question. In fact, it’s one that many high paid professionals probably ask themselves when someone discusses any opportunity to develop another income stream. My answer to him was simple, “Mark, who are you kidding? You know what we’re paid here. And a 5% per year salary increase is never going to get me where I want to be. Maybe it’s ok for you, but not for me.” That pretty much summed it up in my mind. There are a lot of people who are content just getting a paycheck at the end of a week of indentured servitude. Professionals don’t see themselves in that situation. They think that they are striving for a better life only to wake up one day to realize that better life is not getting any closer and won’t unless they do something different.

But Mark had a valid point. What network marketers do is train new distributors in techniques that may have worked at one time but not any longer. Not only does the new distributor end up failing, they end up looking “silly” in the process. However, the internet is now changing that aspect of the business. The new model for prospecting and recruiting is what is called, “Attraction Marketing.”

Enter Ann Sieg.

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