Good Times or Depression?

Those of us in our own business good times are ahead, if you are working one of those JOB's and not striving for entrepreneurship brace yourself. This morning I get this article from Al Hergerman, I would venture to say Al has been in the MLM industry longer than anyone else in the US.(45 years) His message was so powerful I wanted to share.

Let the Good Times Roll
In today's issue of the Wall Street Journal, the headlines stated, "Sales sink, prices fall for housing!" In the story that followed, analysts forecast the slump to continue for months.

Carol and I just returned from our daily luncheon date. During our outing, we filled our Mercedes car with gas and for the first time that I can remember, we paid over $70.00 for 19 gallons of gas! When we returned to our condo here at Coronado Shores, our January bonus check was in our mailbox. It was the largest check we have received in the last four years.

We had 50 sales leaders with personal group volume in excess of 10,000 PV. Four were in excess of 20,000 PV and one with over 35,000 PV! 10,000 PV = $40,800 a year at 34%. Add in a 10% to 25% price differential and we are talking about $52,800.00 to $70,800.00 annual income from a personal group only. This does not include additional First, Second, Third and Fourth level Leadership bonuses. Considering that the median household income in the U.S. is slightly over $40,000.00 a year, we have a great money making opportunity to offer.

Now, getting back to the article, "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL", please do not misunderstand what I am about to say. Nobody wants our country and its citizens to have difficult financial times!!! But, by all indicators, our country and many of its citizens are experiencing difficult times. Many people are losing their jobs, gasoline and other prices are rising. We are all aware of the troubled housing market. What I am saying is our industry is not affected as much as most industries are.

My first sales manager, Ken Casper, once told me, "If you really want good times in the direct sales business, you want the biggest depression this country has ever seen to occur tomorrow." Now remember, we don't want tough times for anybody! But, if they are occurring and we are not creating them, let's take advantage of this growth opportunity that our industry has to offer and go out and help as many people as we can.

Another sales manager that I had when I was selling vacuum cleaners, told the story of when he was the manager of the Duluth, Minnesota, branch in the depression years of the 1930's. Branch managers in the vacuum cleaner business like all MLM sales leaders and sales leaders to be, are constantly looking for sales people. He would run advertisements in the "help wanted" section of the Duluth newspaper. He was so overwhelmed with the responses that he would rent out the grand ballroom of the Hotel Duluth. There he would give mass presentations to recruit new sales people to sell his vacuum cleaners door to door on a straight commission basis. He would recruit dozens of people this way.

I have always found in our business, over these last 45 years, that when times were good and everybody had jobs and plenty of overtime pay, etc., etc., most people were not interested in the extra income our company had to offer. But, when their circumstances changed, their attitudes changed regarding the our opportunity. That's what I mean when I say, "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL."

I would like to close this newsletter by commenting on this year's presidential election. Over the past 45 years, we have had presidents of our country that I have had a great amount of respect for. We have also had presidents that I have had absolutely no respect for. However, none of them made any difference in my making money or building a sales organization or just selling our products. I am sure the same thing will occur regarding this year's election. Don't worry, just keep throwing mud against the wall and perfecting your "30 minute pitch."

Next month we will give you our ideas on a record keeping system that really works. (We were supposed to share this system with you this month until we paid $70.00 for a tank of gas.)

Sincerely Yours, Al

Granted Al has been in the business for a long time and has lots of insight to share. One thing that I try to stress be sure when you are choosing a company to build an organization with they are stable and will be in business for the long haul like our company.