Making Money in Hard Economic Times

I’m a fussbudget. Before I get involved with a business, it has to meet four rigorous criteria:

1. The product or service must shift the paradigm. I’m not interested in a “me-too” product.
2. The opportunity has to be a win-win-win-win for all concerned, and especially a major win for the customer. There can be no losers. In other words, no one gets exploited or cheated or short-changed. Everyone involved must win. The environment must not be harmed. And the product must make a meaningful contribution to society.
3. The realistic possibility of making a breathtakingly huge amount of money must exist.
4. It’s got to be FUN.

If a business opportunity fails to meet any one of these requirements, I decline to get involved. I just know I would end up getting bored with it.

Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind starting from scratch. In fact, I prefer to. But the vision of possibilities embedded in an opportunity must fulfill those four criteria.

Needless to say, with those formidable hurdles, I’m rarely attracted to a business opportunity.

Interestingly, one opportunity that met these criteria landed in my lap a few months ago. But I didn’t recognize it as the rare gem it was. That’s because it came wrapped in something that I’ve always avoided like the plague. That something is “network marketing.”

Here’s the story: When my dear friend Allen told me about a nutritional juice product and the wonderful benefit he was getting, I was intrigued. But as soon as he mentioned it involved network marketing, I completely shut down. I couldn’t find an exit from this conversation fast enough. At that moment, another friend mercifully joined us. To my great relief, I was able to politely and elegantly and immediately change the subject.

I thought I had successfully escaped.

I hadn’t. Allen invited himself to lunch the next day. Now I love this guy. I love talking to him. And he is always welcome in my home. But given my chilly knee-jerk reaction the previous day, I didn’t think he’d ever mention network marketing again.

To my chagrin, I was wrong. He relentlessly pursued the dreaded topic over lunch.

I tried to explain to him that I’m an extremely healthy dude. At 63-years old, I swim every day, eat my nutritionally-minded, gourmet wife’s fabulous organic vegetarian meals, and get plenty of rest. My blood pressure is normal, bad cholesterol is low; good cholesterol is high; and the ratio between the two is ideal. My PSA is low. Nothing hurts. I sleep well, don’t get sick, and feel happy and content.  Why would I need a nutritional drink, I asked rhetorically?  

He was unmoved by my arguments and continued to pursue his agenda.

To get him to finally shut up about his damn juice, I agreed to try it.

So every day, for the next week, my wife and I dutifully sipped the suggested amount of his juice.

We were blown away.

My wife immediately lost her craving for chocolate and Coca Cola – two miracles. She also felt significant relief from the arthritic pain in her spine. I started sleeping much more soundly and was waking up fresher. (I didn’t think it was possible for me to sleep deeper.) And while I don’t have any bothersome health challenges, I felt my body was being nourished, strengthened, and even rejuvenated on a deep, cellular level like never before. I loved drinking the juice and actually looked forward to it.

Okay, I conceded to Allen, the product is truly great, even spectacular. But network marketing? Let’s get real. The sun would flame out before I’d even consider doing something as abhorrent as network marketing.

Or so I thought.

Buoyed by the product’s excellence and motivated by Allen’s prods, I started looking for flaws in the opportunity. But the more I investigated the juice and the company (www.exfuzeforyou.com), the more impressed I became. The truth be told, I couldn’t find any flaws. This company was clearly trying to do everything right – from how they compensated those who harvested the fruits to how they formulated the juice to how they processed it to how they compensated their distributors. I looked into their pricing structure to see if it was out-of-whack. As far as I could tell it appeared completely consistent with other "traditional" business models I’d been involved with. The management team was experienced, likeable, dedicated, and sincere. The company even had an impressive philanthropic mission. And compared to others in this market space, this particular product and company appeared to be head-and-shoulders above the competition on every level.

Allen explained that the company was young and that even though it was growing at a rate of 30% per month, it had yet to experience explosive exponential growth which he felt was imminent. He counseled that the sooner I got involved the better off I’d be. 

So in a moment of weakness, which turned out to be a stroke of extreme good fortune, I agreed to become a distributor. The investment risk of $1000 was miniscule compared to any other business I’ve started. And I reasoned that if the worst thing happened, my wife and I would end up a year’s supply of powerful nutrition in our closet and that wasn’t a bad thing at all.

Regarding fun: I soon came to realize that my snobby attitude toward network marketing was stupid. I saw that some products need to be explained and network marketing is the most sensible, efficient, and cost-effective way of teaching the customer. This system of marketing can also be really fun. I’m thoroughly enjoying the collaborative process with Allen and others who have joined us. The team-play is exhilarating. We are training each other and helping each other be successful.

So, if you want to know more about this opportunity and/or if you’d like to sample the product (I can get you a free month’s supply), please send me an e-mail at [email protected]. We can then schedule a phone chat.

In short, the product is great; the opportunity seems huge; and the team-like way we are approaching this makes it easy and fun.

Of course, as always, I wish you effortless success,

Fred