For the first time in my networking career, I have a reward for building internationally.   The way MonaVie builds a seamless organization between countries is one of its greatest competitive advantages – just behind the leadership of Dallin Larsen.  No matter what country you join MonaVie in – you are part of the global MonaVie business.  This means someone in your group can have a friend in Brazil, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Singapore, etc. and they go right into your binary tree.  All the volume adds up just as if they were sponsored down the street from you.  Now you can have thousands of people from countries around the world in your groups and you are receiving bonuses just like they are in your home country.  How is this so revolutionary you ask?

My experiences in international networking were much different.  Every country that I joined had to be a separate business.  You could help an organization explode overseas and bring millions into the company and not receive a penny in compensation because it is all down one leg.  This is terrible for the distributors, but great for the company – designed in breakage.  Dallin Larsen designed his MonaVie business to be win-win for both the distributors and the company.  When you invest your time, money, and wisdom to build overseas markets, you will be rewarded just like you are in your home market.  I want to personally thank Dallin Larsen for applying honor, respect, and the golden rule to all of his business dealings with distributors.  MonaVie is expanding into your market, while still exploding their home market by doing it right!  Get ready for a $20 billion dollar company.  What part are you playing in the networking revolution?   God Bless, Orrin Woodward

The Team launched a new video where I describe the difference between pin working and networking.  I use an analogy of barge working or bridge building.  I believe that the right leadership team at the company and the right leadership team in the field is more important than any product, compensation plan, or high tech gadgetry.  I am not against any of these, but if you do not have leadership that understands the Three Keys to Wealth then you are wasting your time and effort.  I attempt to do everything in life with a specific intent.  Watch the video and apply the concepts to your life - it will make a difference in your life.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Orrin Woodward MonaVie Team Video

Lately, I have been thinking a lot on what beliefs make the difference between building a large community rather than just trying real hard in Network Marketing.  No matter what company you are affiliated with, these core beliefs will make a huge difference.  The key is to find a company with owners who truly believe the same principles.  These core beliefs will anchor you during the many adversities that life will send your way.   When Laurie and I mentor the leaders on our team, the goal is to instill these beliefs into their lives and share how these beliefs will empower you to further success.   Feel free to share these articles with anyone in the MLM, Networking or Community building field as I believe in giving back to the incredible field that has blessed me.  I will share the key beliefs over the next several posts to help people develop into a Master Networker.

First Key Belief

The first principle for all top Networkers that endure the test of time is an undying faith in people.  Faith allows the leader to see people where they are at, but have faith that they can improve.  Without faith, pessimism and cynicism will reign and no leadership is possible.  Leaders must give people the hope for a better tomorrow and the appropriate tools to obtain that better tomorrow.  Hope with no plan or a plan with no hope will not get the job done.  The leader must have faith in themselves, faith in their team, and faith in the plan to accomplish the objective of building a large community. 

How do you develop this faith you ask?  Everyone has faith in something.  The atheist has faith in their belief that God does not exist.  You cannot rationally prove that God exist or does not exist – both sides run out of logic and take their beginning points as articles of faith.   Faith goes beyond reason into principles of life that cannot be proven for or against with rationality.  Why do you have a faith in people?  I could point to many examples of people who have grown and changed into leaders, but that would not prove rationally why I have faith in people.  Someone else could show people who did not grow and change becoming bitter and resentful.  Any Master Networker must have an unapologetic faith in people or they will never be able to lead with conviction.  My faith in God and belief that people are made in the image of an Almighty God leads me to treat them with the dignity and respect that they deserve.  Networkers who truly want to make a difference are called to love people and use things, not love things and use people. 

Where are you on this core belief?  Do you have a faith in people to grow and change with the right information?  Yes, it is up to the people to take the information and apply it to their lives, but are you willing to faith it until they make it?  I have seen people take five years to get their thinking right before growing the business.  Can you love and respect people for years with no results and maintain the faith that they will get it right in time?  If you can, then you have the faith necessary to build large communities.  People are your most valuable asset in any company.  Watching people grow and get better is the one of the highest joys associated with building a community.  Watching people shrink and get bitter is one of the lowest of lows associated with building a community. 

A Master Networker on faith will swallow the bitter pill to have the right to enjoy the better pill.  People have an infinite worth and must be treated with care and dignity until they see the worth in themselves through the handiwork of God.  Never, never, ever give up on anyone!  The world is filled with cynics, critics, backbiters, and fools – don’t join the ever growing club.  The world is crying out for leaders of character who will follow their core beliefs even when it hurts.  Who will believe in people, even when it hurts?  Who will follow through on their dreams, even when others say it can’t be done.   Leaders by definition divide.  Leaders of faith state that it is possible to change yourself by persistent and consistent efforts.  Those who believe in this core principle will unite around the leader.  Those who don’t have faith in people will attack the Master Networker as a charlatan and a crank. 

Only time will tell who was right and who were the charlatans.  Abraham Lincoln said, “I would rather believe in people and be let down once in a while than to not believe in anyone and never truly live.”  William James, the great American psychologist and philosopher stated, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind."  It takes faith to believe that and all Master Networkers have that faith.  Pascal, the French philosopher and mathematician said, “The heart has it reasons that the mind knows nothing about.”  Building a large network goes beyond the mind into the heart and reasons that are hard to quantify.  Leaders just know in their hearts that they are responsible to serve and develop others.  Examine your faith and ask do you have faith in the ability of people to change and become better?  If you do, you have the first key belief necessary to build a large community and enter into the elite of Network Marketing.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Network Community building is one of the noblest professions in the world.  Where else do the people with results work personally with the newest people in their business to help the new person achieve success?  You will not see the CEO of any company working with all the new hires to help them achieve success in any corporation.  Why the difference?  To build a large and stable business, the top leaders must focus on rotating the processes, patterns, and systems with the new people at the proper depth points.  Nothing motivates the upline to change as much as an exploding downline group.  Top leaders understand that depth is not an option, but is essential for big numbers and residual income.

I am a believer in the whole Networking Industry and I offer these articles in a spirit of serving the greater community.  If depth is the key to long-term results, then make sure you are part of a business that will reward depth building.  Many of the oldest Amway type multilevel plans do not reward depth.  You can be a diamond and break two diamond legs and receive practically no more money.  It takes a lot of work to build depth so being rewarded for the efforts is an important point.  I love the new generation binary plans.  They pay for depth and width in depth.  The concept of check matching on your groups bonuses helps ensure that the upline leaders desires to help people make more money.  I love win-win and the new generation binary plans are definitely win-win. 

There is a 5-Step pattern that the Team utilizes to rotate the pattern in depth.

1. Make a List

2. Contact

3. Show the Plan – Start the Process

4. Follow Through

5. Get Started

    A. Customer

    B. Distributor

You can achieve any level in Networking that you are willing to work for by clearly defining why you are building your network community and making a commitment to do the work.  After that, it is rotate the 5-step pattern in depth until you accomplish your goals and dreams.  Once accomplished, the next step is to get a bigger dream and set another goal.  In life, you are either growing to ripe, ripe or rotting.  Don’t ever get to ripe.  There is always another gear and it is your responsibility to find it.  Read, listen, think, pray, serve and grow!   The Team training is an all purpose training and leadership organization designed to help people build large and loyal organizations.  We are nearing 100,000 strong distributors with a goal of surpassing one million.  But I don’t mean one million in our organization.  I mean one million attending events and developing personally into the best leader that they can become. 

What are you doing in life?  Are you living life with a specific intent or are you a wandering generality.  Too many people live life like they plan on living forever and put off their moment of greatness until it is too late.  The Team’s goal is to knock you into reality and help clear the fog from your life.  Our stated purpose is to lead people to truth in all areas of their life.  There are financial, relational, developmental, spiritual and many more areas of truth.  The Team believes that the more truth that you capture and apply in your life, the better prepared you will be for life.  We are celebrating the week five more couples that have qualified for the elite Blue Diamond level in our MonaVie network.  The average blue diamond income is $466,571/year in income according to the latest Monavie Income Disclosure Statement.  We have over triple the amount of qualified Blue Diamonds in MonaVie than we had Diamonds qualifying in Amway.  The average income for a Blue Diamond in MonaVie is well over twice the yearly income of the average diamond in Amway.   This means we have over three times as many distributors making over twice as much money for an amazing six times the success rate plus!   Laurie and I have only been in MonaVie for less than five months so these results will only get better.  This is the difference between an organization that rewards the depth builders and an organization that chooses to keep it all for themselves. 

I am proud to be in business with Dallin Larsen and believe that his vision of a free independent distributor will win out over any command and control culture.  Dallin believes in free enterprise and earning the trust and confidence of the distributors on a daily basis.  The future of Network Community building is with free distributors that are served not controlled by the owners of the company.  Find a leader with a servant attitude that will earn your confidence and trust.  When you find the leader, the products and compensation will take care of themselves by working as a team.  Dallin has already announced that he will unveil a new product at the MonaVie International Convention.   Let the continuous improvement cycle begin!

I have never been more excited about the future and feel we are on the leading edge of the next wave of networking.  We have passed the ‘information age’ and are now entering the ‘conceptual age’.  In the ‘conceptual age’, it is not the person with the most information that wins – it is the person that can take the information and develop a conceptual framework that serves the greater communities needs.  The Team and MonaVie are building that conceptual framework.  In a world filled with cynical news, pessimistic politicians, scared and hurting people – the Team promises to do their part to bring the older way of hope, optimism, faith and trust back into the global community.  Remember, if you are going to do the work of rotating the pattern in depth - make sure you get paid what you are worth!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

I continue to hear stories of the behavior of Amway Corporate officials that are extremely disheartening.  The once proud free enterprise organization that survived and thrived for over 40 years without a non-compete or other fascist like principles has now reached all-time ethical lows, in my opinion.  I will share the basic free enterprise principles on the right to own property that Rich Devos and Jay Van Andel espoused frequently and expose the real life behavior of the Amway Corporate officials.  You be the judge of whether Amway is practicing free-enterprise or Neo-Fascist behavior.  I believe there are some good people at Amway Corporate, but think the power hungry, heartless lawyers and bureaucrats have taken over this once great company.  I pray that Rich Devos cleans house and corrects this unconscionable behavior before Amway loses their legacy and their entire distributor force.  Here are the standard principles that define property ownership.

Traditional principles of property rights includes:

1. Control of the use of the property – You can choose how to use the property and what to do with it at any time.

2. The right to any benefit gained from the property (examples: mining rights and rent) – It is your property and if there is an income earned then it is yours with no questions asked

3. A right to transfer or sell the property – At any juncture where you decide to no longer own the property, you have the right to sell on the open market.

4. A right to exclude others from the property – No one can take or co-own your property without your direct approval

If any other the four principles are missing, then you do not really own the property.  To the degree that the principles are missing, determines the degree that you no longer own the property.  Fascism is a form of governmental control of private property.  Let’s review the American College definition of Fascism.

The difference between [socialism and fascism] is superficial and purely formal, but it is significant psychologically: it brings the authoritarian nature of a planned economy crudely into the open.

The main characteristic of socialism (and of communism) is public ownership of the means of production, and, therefore, the abolition of private property. The right to property is the right of use and disposal. Under fascism, men retain the semblance or pretense of private property, but the government holds total power over its use and disposal.

The dictionary definition of fascism is: “a governmental system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all affairs of the nation (industrial, commercial, etc.), emphasizing an aggressive nationalism . . .”

In my opinion and based upon mine (and many others) experiences with Amway Corporate – all we would have to do is change governmental to business and nationalism with corporatism and we would have an accurate definition of Amway Corporate.

“A business system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all affairs of the corporation (distributors, accreditation, bonuses, legal and training companies), emphasizing an aggressive corporatism. . .”

Let’s see how well this definition fits the behavior of Amway over the last year.

1. Strong centralized power – Nothing is allowed to be changed without the express approval of Amway Corporate.  Amway can change their North American operations back to Quixtar regardless of whether 75% of the people had never been in Amway.  The have total centralized control.  Amway Corporate is making billions while many of the distributors are going back to work due to the failed policies of the corporation.

2. Permitting no opposition or criticism – Amway Corporate sued numerous bloggers and field leaders for daring to question the failed policies of Amway/Quixtar.  Any criticism or opposition is addressed with a lawsuit or threatened lawsuits.  The old saying, “If the only tool you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail” applies here.

3. Controlling all affairs of the business (distributors, accreditation, bonuses, legal and training companies.), emphasizing an aggressive corporatism- Distributors have no choice of whether to come or go due to the non-compete.  Distributors are not allowed to start a new career for six month after signing a Quixtar application.  The non-compete was not even in the distributor contract that they signed.  Accreditation was promised to be optional, but Amway stated the next year to not pay any bonuses to distributors unless they were part of an accredited system.  Privately held training companies would be controlled by Quixtar or they would terminate your contract.  If you opposed any of these polices then you would be terminated or sued and in some cases both.

I attempted to the best of my ability to communicate to the IBOAI board the principles of free enterprise being violated by the Amway Corporation.  40% of the Board understood the violations of free enterprise and liberty and made a stand.  In my opinion, the other 60% of the Board understood clearly what the issues were.  But they pragmatically chose to keep their special positions - even if everyone on their team suffered, they would still make money by being diamonds or above.  This is not an acceptable position for true leaders who are called to serve their teams. 

Let me give you real life examples of how Amway distributors, in my opinion, do not actually own their own business.  You read the true examples and decide for yourself.  I could not morally continue to represent a business that had started practicing more Fascist principles than Free Enterprise principles.  Amway Corporate will argue that distributors do “own” their business, but read this paragraph on Fascist vs. Socialism.

It is true that fascist systems permitted property ownership, while socialist ones did not. However, fascist "property rights" were only nominal: A businessman (such as Oskar Schindler) would retain legal title to his goods, but he would not retain any control over them. Because he was not politically free, the government could order him to use his property as it desired (such as by using it to produce war implements) - even if it was his property that was being used. Just as there can be no split between mind and body, there can be no split between political freedom and economic freedom. Man cannot exist without a mind and a body, and he cannot be free if someone else controls either.

This states clearly that if you do not have true economic freedom then you are not truly free politically.  I personally believe that you are freer before you sign up into Amway.  After you have joined Amway, you are subjected to a six month non-compete that you are not even aware of!  This is only the beginning - you are also subjected to a 2 year non-solicitation, mandatory arbitration, control over your free speech, etc.  I (and others) confronted Amway/Quixtar with all of these and more and was ‘rewarded’ with termination and litigation.   

Let’s review the four principles of private property and see how being an Amway distributor stacks up.  Do Amway distributors truly ‘own’ their own business?  You decide after hearing these true life examples.

1. Control of the use of the property – As a Quixtar business owner, I allegedly ‘owned’ my own Quixtar business.  You can imagine the distributors surprise when we found out that we would all be Amway distributors without our permission or approval.   How do we have control over our business if we do not even control having a choice of whether to be involved with Amway?  Amway changed the bonuses, the rules, and the name without our permission or consent. As a qualified EDC and three year IBOAI board member, I realized that I had no control over the business I allegedly ‘owned’.

2. The right to any benefit from the property (examples: mining rights and rent) – The best example (of many) that I can give is the John Delin story.  John wanted to remain a Amway/Quixtar distributor, but without the new contractual principles that Amway had added to the contract.  If John owned the business, then certainly he should have a right to reject the new (fascist?) contractual principles added to the contract.  Here is actual exchange that is documented in a recent lawsuit filed against Amway/Quixtar.

13. Quixtar’s abuse of its superior bargaining power (in fact, its refusal to bargain at all) is not conjectural. It has happened. Repeatedly. For example, on January 23, 2008, a Quixtar distributor named John Delin sent a letter to Quixtar’s Director of Global Rules and Regulations. In that letter, Mr. Delin and his wife, Diana Delin, sought to renew their distributorship without accepting some of the conditions Quixtar had placed on renewal. They wrote:

We do not agree to Rule 6.5 and the non-compete claimed by Quixtar. There is no non-compete clause in any agreement, which we have ever agreed to with Quixtar. Any statements, written or otherwise, are not agreed to.

Intellectual Property. Since when, and we both know it was when our IBO lists went online, has the organization of people that we, being my wife & I, built now become yours? I didn’t see anyone in the car with us, nor at any of themeetings, nor putting any of your dollars into, nor building any relationships with any of these people, nor anyone at any time contacting them, or helping them “build a business.” You were and always have been the SUPPLIER. . . The LOS [Line of Sponsorship, i.e. the list of recruited IBOs] and the list of names and identities of the people in our personal group are the confidential that belong to us, not Quixtar. We do not accept the conversion of our property to Quixtar’s name.

Pricing. We have poured a sizeable investment into our business, mostly due to loyalty. We understand this. . . . However, we do know and so do you, that al lot of the product pricing is not fair. There has to be changes. We do not agree with the manner in which Quixtar has priced the products that Quixtar sells to its IBOs. Because of the high price of the products, the products cannot be sold at retail or to retail customers. Therefore, IBOs are forced to buy products for internal consumption purposes only in order to meet their performance goals.

Name Change. You have got to be kidding me!!! . . . . We agreed to build a Quixtar business. We did not agree to build an Amway business. Any change in the name will adversely affect the business and our profits.  

Five days later, Quixtar responded by terminating the Delins’ distributorship.

Dear John and Diana:

We have received and acknowledge your letter dated January 23, 2007 regarding your formal protest of the renewal of IB#1229237. You state that you do not and will not agree to several of the Rules that comprise the IBO contract with Quixtar. You propose to renew your IB subject to exemption of several of these rules, as set forth in your letter. Quixtar does not accept your proposal, and, accordingly, your business is not renewed. 

We would also like to remind you that although your contract with Quixtar is terminated, you are still bound by certain provisions therein, including but not limited to the provisions of Rule 6.5.

14. This is a perfect illustration of Quixtar’s abusive attitude toward contracts, the law, and its distributors.

In my opinion, this is an abusive display of raw power.  To take away a person’s distributorship because he has a disagreement with newly added provisions to a contract?  You take away a person’s business after decades of faithful service and being taught that he ‘owned’ something?  Not only was John fired, but he can’t do anything else for six month in his chosen profession!!  This is so unfair that I cannot remain silent any longer!

3. A right to transfer or sell the property – There are many examples here to choose from, but the main point is the right to sell your ownership in the business that you built.  Amway/Quixtar repeatedly refused, delayed or terminated people that were attempting to sell their ‘ownership’ asset.  If someone owns something, then how can Amway/Quixtar refuse the right to sell it?   Jerry Harteis recently sent me an email outlining the disappointing behavior of Amway corporate.  Joe Harteis (Jerry's brother) desired to sell his business to his mother and eventually join MonaVie after sitting out the six month per the contract.  Joe had a good sized business that would have produced income for his mom.  Read the email below to see what happened instead.

My brother Joe was terminated by Amway for asking his people if they would like to buy some MonaVie from his daughter, who is involved with MV. Now Joe was personally sponsored by my 90 yr. Old mother. She has been very active with Amway since they started in 1977. In fact they were recognized as commercial distributors of the year. Therefore there is no question of her competence. She is a widow and as you can imagine depends on the $ from Amway to help her to get along. Also it gives her peace knowing that she has a place to be productive and is rewarded for that effort. When she started back in 1977 she was told that should anyone that they personally sponsored, leave the business, that their business would just move upline. So when Joe was abruptly terminated my mom, Ruth, who raised 14 children, felt that the business that she helped Joe to build would naturally move up to her.  Since she had personal relationships with those people it would only make sense to do this. However, after not receiving bonuses on my brother Joe's group, she placed a call to Amway to inquire. She told me that they decided to move that business upline to Brett Deimler, who has taken over the organization. When she asked why this was being done, she told me they replied 'because we have decided to do it that way'.  No reasoning, no recourse, no explanation, just we've decided. Now those 30 years she spent  being loyal and doing millions of dollars worth of business are wiped away by simply saying 'we just decided to'. I am still pursuing this issue for her so we may be able to resolve it.

Jerry

No ability to sell, no ability to confront (unless you want to spend millions in arbitration), just blind obedience to the all powerful corporation is expected.  What exactly can a 90 year old great grandmother do to protect her ‘ownership’ against a corporate behemoth? 

4. A right to exclude others from the property – Amway took part of Ruth Harteis business and gave it to the upline, without her approval or consent.  How can Ruth state she owns a business, when a corporation can take away from one and give to another without any agreements?  This is classic Fascist behavior that would make Hitler and Mussolini proud, in my opinion.  When a nation or corporation can take the ‘ownership’ away from one party and give to another with no reasonable recourse, then we do not have true private property or ownership. 

I did not write this article out of malice, but out of concern for a once great business.  Doug and Steve have lost their way and tuned the business over to corporate bullies.  Rich DeVos, please while you still have time – fire the corporate bullies and bring honor, decency, love, and hope back to hurting/fearful distributors across the world.  Free Enterprise and serving your customer worked for over 40 years.  Please don’t continue the Fascist behavior by terminating and suing your former customers.  I have not attacked anyone personally and only ask that you reconsider your current principles and to ask whether they are more Free Enterprise or Fascist in nature.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Here is another sample of the leadership training through historical examples from the Louisville seminar in 2007.  I love history and I love reading about how leaders made courageous stands against tyranny.  We enjoy the freedoms in Western Civilization that were obtained through thousands of years of learning and growing.  George Santayana said, "People who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it."  Let's not repeat history - let's go out and make it!  Enjoy the history lessons and if you would like to buy some more then feel free to go to the Team site.  Check out these web specials - DVD's at 50% off and CD packs at 50% off while supplies last!   God Bless, Orrin Woodward 

I have been receiving numerous emails from readers asking how they can order leadership training materials.  You can go to the Team site and browse from the shopping cart the many selections.  When you become a member, you have access to many more videos and articles.  Here is a sample video from one of the best selling DVD's in the Team system.  The DVD is called Lung Busters and will teach you how to develop a positive self talk to align your thoughts and actions.  I love Network Community building because it allows people to learn principles of success and then share it with others.  I want to share this video with the Networking community to help you achieve your goals and dreams.  Remember: You don't always get what you want, don't always get what you deserve, but you do always get what you expect!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

The leaders in the Networking field have three key roles that they play in helping their people win with the right company. 

1.  Maintain the bar high on personal excellence through tough love and high expectations.

2.  Accept, Approve, and Appreciate their teams by encouraging and being a good finder in people's lives.

3.  Provide proper training and educational methods to develop leaders for sustained growth. 

I covered the first point in my last article and this can be summarized in the following Networking Creed.

3. Networking leaders hold the bar high on their people’s potential by providing tough love and refusing to settle for anything less than the personal best from themselves and their team.

I have always understood NM Creed #3, but did not grow a huge community until I learned the next Network Marketing Creed.

4. People yearn for genuine Acceptance, Approval, and Appreciation – Sustained growth in the Networking field is only possible when a culture of encouragement is bred into the entire organization.

You will see many organizations that are good at speaking the truth, but they do not speak the truth in love.  This hurts people, damages relationships and ultimately fractures the communities before they reach their potential.  Other organizations never tell the truth and people are arrested at different levels of development because they are not getting the proper mentorship.  The secret to large communities is the ability to share the truth in a loving way because the leaders want what is best for the people.  All of us must confront the sticking points in our leadership so we can grow and change.  NM Creeds 3 and 4 must go together.  One without the other will limit the size of your team.  With that said, if I only could take one then I would take #4 hands down. 

I have seen more people quit the Network Community Building field due to hurt feelings ten times more than I have seen people quit due to lack of income.  People need encouragement and belief from their leaders in order to grow.  Encouragement for the soul is like oxygen for the body.  Without encouragement people will never live up to their potential.  I still appreciate a sincere encouraging word from people I respect and so do you.  Let me share a true story of the power of encouragement and example in a person’s life from the book The Amazing Law of Influence by King Duncan.

“Andor Foldes was one of the most gifted classical musicians of the twentieth-century.  A native of Budapest, Foldes was already a skilled pianist by age sixteen, but he was troubled due to conflict with his piano teacher.  At this critical juncture in Foldes’ life, a renowned pianist, Emil von Sauer, came to his city to perform.  Von Sauer had the unique heritage of being the last surviving pupil of Franz Liszt.

At von Sauer’s request, young Foldes played for him some of the most difficult works of Bach, Beethoven, and Schumann.  Afterward, von Sauer kissed Foldes on the forehead and told him his teacher Hans Liszt had kissed him on the forehead when he was a student.  Liszt was passing on a kiss he had received from Beethoven, who had been moved on one occasion by Liszt’s playing.  Von Sauer felt Foldes deserved the honor of preserving this heritage.”

Can you imagine the encouragement that Andor Foldes must have felt by receiving that kiss on the forehead just as Beethoven had previously given to Hans Liszt and passed onto Emil von Sauer to Andor?  Talk about a blessed heritage!  Andor went on to a highlight career in the classical music field simply by the encouragement of people he respected.  Isn’t is a scary thought to consider how many would be talents in all fields have been criticized out of their professions due to pessimistic, ignorant, and unloving critics?  The world is filled with simpletons that can ruin the labor of decades in a single day.  There are two ways to have the highest building in town – take the long term effort to build your edifice or take a wrecking ball to all the other buildings in town.  Too many people in our culture take the second approach.

Michelangelo took years to finish the Sistine Chapel, but any critic can take a spray can and ruin his work overnight.  Is it fair? Just? Humane?  No, but it is the facts.  All the great achievement is done in our society despite the critics.  Laurie and I decided long ago to be a builder not a wrecker of people’s dreams.  Remember, every critical, unloving word that you say to others may douse the fire of their dream.  On the other hand, every encouraging, lifting, positive word you say may be the gas that lights a person on fire for life.  A leader literally has the power of life and death of dreams in their words.  Choose your words carefully and with love in your heart.  This leads me to my last Network Marketing Creed for the day.

5. In Networking and in life, one small positive difference can reverberate through others lives and literally change the world.

I will share one other powerful true story from King Duncan’s book.

“The date was December 13, 1899.  The Boer Wars were going on in South Africa.  At the time John Howard was an Englishman working near the town of Pretoria.  An English journalist who had escaped from a Boer POW camp knocked on Howard’s door and sought refuge.  Howard took him in, looked after him for a week, and helped him escape back to Europe.”

Why would John Howard, a successful English businessman stick his neck out and risk imprisonment to help an unknown reporter?  John, like many in the field of Networking believes that serving others is the right thing to do.  Whether you gain financially or not is secondary to doing what is right regardless of the personal risk! Let’s continue the true story. 

"Once safely back in England, this journalist wrote a news story about his adventure in South Africa.  It was so gripping that it was carried by newspapers around the world.  In fact, the story was so widely published that the journalist gained international fame that eventually propelled him onto the center stage of politics.  The journalist name was Winston Churchill”

Can you see how one small positive difference performed by John Howard led to a part of Winston Churchill’s destiny?  Winton’s destiny was entwined with the destiny of Western Civilization through his defense of freedoms against Nazi tyranny.  Here is my point: One life can and does make a difference in the world.  One of the biggest lies that Satan plays on people is to make them feel that their life doesn’t count!  YOUR ACTIONS IN LIFE COUNT SO MAKE YOUR LIFE COUNT!  One small action from you may be the propelling moment in the next Winston Churchill, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King Jr. etc. lives.  Not all of us will be a Winston Churchill, but all of us can be like a John Howard in another person’s life.  Never stop doing what is right and do what is right regardless of the cost.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

The subject of Networking can increase the temperature and lower the emotional intelligence of many fine people.  Why can it be such a heated topic at times?  I believe because it hits along the main ideological battles going on in our country currently.  Are people owed a living simply by being born in the USA?  Is the Biblical injunction, “He who will not work, will not eat” still valid today?  Should someone be guaranteed success in Networking Communities simply for signing up or is it reasonable to expect them to perform?   Is the person at the top in a Network someone who has earned this position through performance or just got in first?  Is it right for people to “make money” off of other people’s efforts?  These and many more questions are bandied about on a daily basis in living rooms, coffee shops and hotel meetings across the country. 

Let’s get one thing out on the table right away.  Networking success is not achieved by sitting at home and spamming the internet.  Networking success is not achieved by magically sponsoring 3 leaders and they do all the work.  The facts are that Networking is hard work, as is all achievement!  If you want big results and hard work scares you then don’t get in the Networking field.  All great achievement comes through learning the principles of delayed gratification for long term results.  Our culture is so self-centered today that the thought of delaying gratification even for a couple of months causes many to overheat.  I can’t blame them with a TV culture that has bombarded them with the belief that they deserve the good life with no effort or sacrifice, but eventually they must wake up to the reality of their situation to achieve success.  Charles Sykes wrote a several fantastic books called, “A Nation of Victims” and “Dumbing Down our Kids.”  The gist of the books can be captured by the titles.  When we lower the bar on people - we do not create more champions, but more victims.   This is what leaders do in a Network Marketing business, maintain a high bar for achievement.  Networking leaders teach people the true rules of life and help people become champions in a culture encouraging victims. 

In my opinion, there is no greater field to influence people in a positive direction than Network Community building.  Instead of waiting for our countries politician to fix our country, why don’t we get out there in the living rooms of America and teach these principles ourselves.  We can either be part of the problem or part of the solution and Laurie and I have chosen to be part of the solution!  Read this list of 11 rules of life that Mr. Sykes wrote in the second book with my thoughts on each underneath.

RULE 1 - Life is not fair - get used to it.

Life does not deal everyone the same hand.  Some our born billionaires through their daddy’s efforts and some are born broke and must work their way to the top.  In networking you may get help from your upline, may be in the hot spot for opens or may have nothing but the opportunity and your dream.  Either way, get over it and get moving.

RULE 2 - The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

We have too many people talking about self esteem without the corresponding teaching of work ethic to achieve a healthy self confidence.  Confidence can only be built by making the sacrifices that the average person refuses to do.  You begin to realize you are un-average only when you consistently do what the average person is unwilling to do.  I love everyone unconditionally, but my respect is earned through your performance period.  To gain confidence in the Networking field, you must be willing to be bad – long enough to get good.

RULE 3 - You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both.

Quit looking for handouts in life and start serving other people’s needs.  Everything you need to know at the top must be learned at the bottom.  This is why so many second generation children accomplish so little.  Their parents believed they could skip the sacrifice step for their children and just hand people their victories.  Life doesn’t work that way so quit waiting for your ship to come in and start building it!  In the Networking field, your pay raise will become effective as soon as you do.

RULE 4 - If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

To maintain any position in the information age, it will require constant increases in your knowledge and skills.  Those who think their education ends when their formal schooling ends are in for a rude awakening.  One of the best parts of the Networking field is the constant emphasis on learning and growing.  Customers in the Networking field and new distributors will vote with their feet if you do not serve their needs.  This is free enterprise so get used to it.  No one has to be part of your business and you earn their trust and respect every day.

RULE 5 - Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping they called it Opportunity.

If you think you are above doing the basics in the living rooms then you will never earn the right to speak on the big stages.  Achievement starts by doing the little things well and then receiving more responsibility from a job well done.  Everyone starts at zero points in Networking and has to earn their ranks.

RULE 6 - If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

You will mess up.  The only question is will you get bitter or better from the experience?  Leaders in Networking teach their teams to expect some setbacks, challenges, and failures on your way to victory.  The key is to learn from each one of your mistakes and never pass the buck.  Leaders have learned to accept responsibility and have no part with the current love affair with victim status so prevalent in our culture today.

RULE 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

No one is a self made person.  All of us have climbed onto the shoulders of the greatest minds and leaders in Western Civilization to enjoy the privileges we have.  Never take for granted all of the people in your life who gave you a hand up instead of a hand out.  If you desire to change the world, then begin by changing yourself.  All great movements begin with an individual who was moved to change.

RULE 8 - Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Every night that you show the plan in a Networking business - you will pass or fail based upon your ability to sell your product and services.  If the prospect does not get involved then they did a better job of selling their convictions than you did of selling yours.  You pass or fail every night in this business and success is an inside job.  Just remember that failure is never final and that further growth will lead to victories.

RULE 9 - Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

The Networking field is open for business 365 days per year.  You must determine how hard and how long that you will work for your dreams.  It is sad that people will spend more time planning a vacation than they will in planning their life.  I love the saying, “If it’s to be, then it’s up to me.”  If your upline helps you then that is a bonus, but not a given nor a requirement.  If you have a training system, then plug in and get going.

RULE 10 - Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

In the field of Networking the fantastic lifestyles that you see are the result of hard work.  If anyone tells you that you can achieve that without a serious work ethic then they are lying to you.  You are only limited by your ability to dream in a good Networking business and most people do a great job of limiting themselves.

RULE 11 - Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote his classic “Ugly Duckling” story to capture the essence of someone (through hard work & association) changing from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.  I love the Networking Industry because I have witnessed many people turn from the Ugly Ducklings into Beautiful Swans.  Yes, you will be criticized for telling people they can be Beautiful Swans, but I would rather believe that and be criticized than give up my belief in people.

Leaders teach people to dream and hope again.  There is no such thing as a “hopeless situation” only hopeless people in situations.  A leader’s role is to give them hope, give them ideas, and give them the skills to change their situations.  When they win, it is their victory, but you have the joy of having a front row seat in the process.  If you are a leader in the Networking field then what you do is a most noble of enterprises.  You have the honor of leading the most precious asset of any country and that is the people.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Cruising around the Mediterranean for the last two weeks gave me plenty of time to think and read.  I finished 12 books in between touring the beautiful scenery at the 7 ports of call.  I asked myself several questions that I thought I should answer for all Network Marketers who strive to do their personal best.  Here were my questions that I asked and the answers I produced.

1. Why is there so much bias against the Network Marketing field in the liberal media?

2. What is the true value that leaders provide to their Networking Communities?

3. How do you hold communities together for the long term results vs. the one time pins?

4. What are the key principles that produce lifetime results in the Network Marketing field?

I will take each question as a separate post.  Please feel free to comment and add your thoughts to the discussion in a cordial manner. 

Network Marketing/MLM/Community Building is an enterprise where people help people start and build their own businesses.  Some of the key factors in helping to build a successful business are: value based products, proper compensation plan to reward win-win behavior, world class training to train, educate and inspire the communities, vision of the owners of the company. 

I believe the liberal media is biased against MLM’s because of the media’s ideological presuppositions that oppose any business which separates people based on performance standards.   You will hear statements that lead you to believe that unless everyone does make big money then it is a scam.  This explains more about the liberal critic than it does the performer building the business.  Karl Marx argued along similar lines when he stated that inequalities of wealth would ultimately destroy the capitalist system.  Mr. Marx’s system has been proven quantifiably false in every country that it was implemented, while free enterprise continues to flourish.  It would be amusing to read the illogical statements from the liberal media if it weren’t so detrimental to the free enterprise system that provides the media their jobs. 

Let me provide an example of the poor thinking involved.  You will hear someone say, “But doesn’t only one out of 100 make it?”   The answer is no, but it takes an understanding of probabilities to prove this.  Suppose it takes 8 years to become a doctor and a certain new school claims to have a 100% success in helping every single student graduate and become a doctor.  One year after the school starts, it has no graduates and a zero percent success rate.  The headlines would blare, “New school has zero graduates.”  But any discerning reviewer would know that since it takes 8 years to complete the doctoral program that no one has completed the process yet.  After 2 years we now have both freshman and sophomores, but no graduates.  Let’s fast forward to 7 years and still no graduates.  The new school will have taken a beating and yet if all the students have stayed in school, they are right on track.  Even after 8 years and one graduating class, the media could say, “yes, but only 1 out of 8 have graduated.”  This displays a complete misunderstanding of sequential processes and an ignorance of basic statistics.  The school can graduate 100% of the students and can be criticized mercilessly by an ignorant reviewer.

I will provide a specific analogy for the MLM industry.  It usually takes around 100 active people in any network to make around $50k per year.  By the very nature of the sequential process, the statistic will never be better than 1% make 50k if it takes 100 people to produce that result.  This is plain common sense and more proof that common sense is the least common thing.  Imagine network marketing as a bridge.  If you use a bridge as an analogy of networking then it would take 100 cars lined up across the bridge before the first car would get to the other side.  As soon as the car get to the other side, then this car builds it own bridge and requires a hundred more cars to fill its bridge.  No matter how many cars get across the first bridge and start building other bridges, it would still not change the fact that only one out of 100 are ever qualifying to start their own bridge.  Even if 100% eventually get across it doesn’t change the 1 out of 100 statistic.  This is because you are taking a snap shot in time and not tracking the overall process. 

There would be a huge difference in actual results between a traffic jam on the bridge where only one car has made it across and the others have no velocity and no results vs. another bridge that is clipping along at 55 miles per hour across the bridge and many cars are starting their own bridge.  Anyone who would argue the results are the same because only 1 out of 100 are making 50k at any point in time needs a lesson in remedial statistics.  But this is exactly what the liberal media does when they play with statistics that they do not comprehend.  Amway was like a bridge with 100 people stuck in a traffic jam and only one person on the other side.  People were falling off the bridge and no one was building any new bridges because of the churn rate.  Yes, 1 out of 100 made it, but it was the same one that was replacing nearly 50% of his 100 every year. 

MonaVie on the other hand, has grown from zero in sales in 2005 to a projected $1 billion in sales by the end of this fiscal year.  Did you catch this?  This means that MonaVie has been able to help enough people get across the bridge and start their own bridge so fast, that in just over 3 years they have more people succeeding than Amway has in nearly 50 years!  This is the missing factor in that 1 out of 100 statistic – Velocity!  The rate that people are making it across the bridge is the key factor in any network.  This brings us at our first Network Marketing Creed.

I. Check the growth rates (velocity) of the any prospective company before investing time and money in a company with static or shrinking sales.

The rate of growth in any Network Marketing field is critically important in determining whether people are making it across the bridge or whether you are just another road kill on the bridge.  The Team averaged over 50% growth in a Quixtar model every year that was rapidly falling outside of the growth of multi-cultural communities and the Team.  The Team had developed systems and process to overcome the poor business model of Quixtar.  When Quixtar announced that they were going back to Amway and changing their model to a point where I did not believe that I could help people win - I reacted by confronting them.  I would have gladly worked with Quixtar, but refused to promote people onto a bridge that was traffic jammed and only fed the people who had already made it across under drastically different conditions.  I felt this was unethical to promote a business where there was no velocity.  As long as the Team that I was leading had velocity and people who worked could grow, then I felt I should work on change within the Quixtar system on the IBOAI board.  When this was no longer true then a leader must confront the brutal reality for the sake of those following the leader.

Another major issue in the ideological conflict amongst the liberal media and the Networking Communities is the egalitarian principle espoused by the liberal media that claims all results should be equal.  This is a horrid twisting of the founding fathers principles on equality before the law.  We all deserve to be treated equally in our opportunities, but unequal in our results based upon our individual performances.  If everyone was paid equally whether they worked 5 nights a week or stayed home and watched television then you would see everyone staying home.  Only by rewarding your top performers, do you have people strive to be a top performer.  Thomas Jefferson called it the “Aristocracy of Achievement.”  Mr. Jefferson said that we do not have an aristocracy of blood, class, or countries and that anyone can be aristocracy based upon performance.  By criticizing anyone who achieves a high rank in Networking Marketing, it only shows the liberal media’s bias for achievement in any area.

Think about the liberal media’s arguments. 

1. If you attempt networking and do not succeed – they will grant you victim status and headline news quotes.

2. If you are doing networking, but do not have appreciable results yet – they will call you a sucker for being involved and mock you. 

3. But if you work hard, change, grow, lead and accomplish your victory – they will grant you exploiter status! 

How absurd is this?  Do we really think that everyone who succeeds in Networking is an exploiter?  Sure there are people who come and go from the field that have exploited others.  This is true of any industry, but the people who make it in the long run are those who provide value consistently to their teams.  The liberal media’s argument amounts to proposing a shut down of the entire Network Marketing field.  We are talking about a 39 billion dollar industry in the US alone and the liberal media desires to strike the whole thing due to their ideological conflict with achievement?  Peter Drucker (the famous busines guru) once stated, “Most researchers are not willing to go through the trouble of seeing the world through the business person’s eyes.  My consulting allows me to do that.  I would never try to interpret what I see without spending some time living in the world of the people I study.”   This is the major disconnect between the achievement oriented Networking field and the Egalitarian oriented liberal media field. 

I do not believe the two fields will ever come to an agreement on the merits of MLM’s and training because their presuppositions are so opposed to one another.  This leads to my second Network Marketing Creed.

II. If you desire to do something bigger in life, then you must expect the criticism of those who desire to do something smaller with their lives.

I have no hatred in my heart for anyone either pro or con in this discussion.  I believe everyone should have a choice of what they do with their life as long as you are not hurting others.  Why all the personal venom against people that neither side has even met?  I wish we could address the issues in a more professional manner and not resort to name calling and personal attacks.  At the end of the day, we are all interested in producing a business that works for anyone who is willing to work.  We all must play a part in making this happen.  I believe when a person has run out of logical arguments that they tend to resort to name calling or unsubstantiated generalizations.  I have much more to share, but I will stop for now and open up the dialogue.  What other areas to you feel the liberal media displays bias when it comes to the Networking field?  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Randy and Val Haugen are building one of the most profitable MonaVie Black Diamond businesses in the country.  Laurie and I are so proud of them for stepping up to the plate and swinging for the fences.  It is magical to dream big and it is courageous to dream big long.  The Haugen’s are building depth, building relationships and building volume.  The sky is the limit for these true living legends in the community building industry.  Randy and Val are living proof that dreams do come true for those who persist in a worthy endeavor. 

I personally believe that Randy is one of the best all-time at helping people catch the dream of a new lifestyle.  No one can cast a dream of a better tomorrow any better than Randy Haugen.  Val is one of the strongest emotionally intelligent leaders on the entire Team.  I have seen her handle major issues with uncommon grace and class.   Randy and Val have earned their success by staying focused on their dreams and having an incredible attitude in serving others.  I am convinced that we will see many more Black Diamonds coming out of their incredible team.  I encourage everyone to set their goals and be part of the first 25 Black Diamonds on the MonaVie Team.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward