Multi-Level Marketing Is True Financial Freedom

Multi-Level Marketing Is True Financial Freedom

Article by Sam Crowley

Multi-Level Marketing Is True Financial Freedom

Say the term MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) to anyone who has been involved with the industry and you are certain to get a reaction.

MLM is the process organizations use to get their product into the marketplace. Rather than hiring a sales force and all the “stuff” that goes along with corporate America, MLM companies have independent contractors market their products directly. These organizations choose to give the reps the money it saves by not incurring the costs that go along with all that “stuff.”

It is actually a very generous compensation for those people willing to stick it out for the long haul. That is the key. Many people go to an “event” that a friend or acquaintance invited them to. They get all hyped up about buying a Mercedes and vacationing year round, but lose sight of the work that goes into the dream.

There is no such thing as get- rich-quick. In order to be successful at MLM or any business for that matter, you need to be diligent and have a positive attitude.

People will also use the word “pyramid” when talking about MLM. They mainly say this because most of the compensation plans look like a pyramid. MLM’s are not pyramid schemes because pyramid schemes are illegal and have no product associated with them. The irony to this is that the biggest looking pyramid is corporate America. You have the CEO at the top of the pyramid, a number of vice-presidents, middle management, sales reps all the way down to the janitor. Nobody is allowed to make more than the person above them.

In the MLM world, the janitors can make more than the CEO. But because their Uncle Bob and Aunt Susie failed in MLM, they think it doesn’t work.

How many people have been downsized or had their job shipped out to another country? How many times have you heard of someone receiving a promotion and another person was more qualified for that promotion? Corporate politics are cruel. Corporations care about the bottom line and little else (Do we need to mention Enron at this point?)

The beauty of MLM is that you are in charge of the rest of your life. You will get out of it exactly what you put into it. Most of the people I know that are free have been freed by MLM. I don’t mean people who make millions and still have to go to work. I mean people who do what they want, when they want and with whom they want.

If you focus on a 2-5 year plan with MLM or any home business the odds of your success are great. If you want to really motivate yourself not to end up like 95% of Americans at age 65 ask yourself this question everyday: “What will happen if I do not succeed?” The fear of failure will move you to do great things.MLM can be the vehicle you use to vacation, see your children more, tithe to your church more and raise your quality of life.

In short, MLM can mean true financial freedom.

Visit my website at www.collect7keveryday.com to see why I left my job after 15 years. I chose freedom over security.

About the Author

Sam Crowley is a top Motivational Speaker with a no-nonsense approach to creating champions.

Characteristics Of An Internet Child Predator

Characteristics Of An Internet Child Predator

Article by Wendy McLellan MA, LCDPII

Millions of children and teens are on the Internet everyday. They surf web pages, get their email and chat with their friends. Most parents believe this is harmless, except that our kids are being targeted everyday by predators on the Internet.

Let’s explore some of the characteristics of a child predator. The average child predator is male and over the age of 25. He could be considered “the guy down the street who kept to himself”. The loner type, very few friends and typically not married. A child predator most often has limited social skills, but a propensity to engage in conversation with an adolescent or child. This individual will tend to become shy with adults of his own age. He tends to seek out jobs that allow him to work around children, such as a baseball or basketball coach, Boy Scout leader, janitor or teacher at the school.

Child predators usually see nothing wrong with their behavior. Child predators come from all walks of life, some are rich, some are poor, some are educated and some are not. They usually have a sexually abusive or violent background histories. Child predators will “target” numerous children at one time. Their words are cunning and they take their time to “groom” their victims. “Grooming” is done by showering their victims with gifts, signs of affection and anything else they can, in order to build trust and a relationship with potential victims. Once trust is built, blackmail and guilt are sometimes used to get the child to succumb to their demands.

The Child Internet predator will utilize any or all of these techniques online. They will often times mask their age and state that they are around the same age as your child. They will stalk the Internet sites that most children and teens regularly visit. Hiding behind their computer screen, waiting patiently and then attacking their prey, our children.

How can you tell if your child is at risk? Your child may turn off the computer suddenly when you enter the room. Your child may be receiving gifts from others that you do not know. They may become more secretive about what they are doing online and usually spend more than an hour a day on the Internet. You may see long distance phone numbers that you do not recognize or they may receive phone calls from people that you are not familiar with. These are all signs that your child may be at risk.

As a parent, what can you do? One of the best ways to keep your child safe online is to create open dialogue with your child and to set clear rules regarding computer and Internet usage. You will also need to understand what your child is doing online. Learning more about how your child uses the Internet and whom they talk to in emails and instant message chat rooms can do this. You may also consider utilizing Internet monitoring tools to keep tabs on your child’s activity. One organization that has combined both parental monitoring tools and tools to translate the litany of instant message acronyms is Safe Computer Kids. They have recently launched their website at www.safecomputerkids.com. You can contact them at 866-846-6464 or email them at info@safecomputerkids.com.

As a counselor for more than sixteen years, working with adolescents, adults and families, I have yet to meet a sexual offender who has been completely cured with treatment and have all too often seen the devastating results of their actions.

About the Author

Wendy McLellan is a licensed mental health and substance abuse counselor, with more than sixteen years of experience. She has recently devoted time to the efforts of http://www.safecomputerkids.com in their goal to provide parental internet safety tools and resources to the public.

Ski Colrado-Aspen and Snowmass-Now and Then

Ski Colrado-Aspen and Snowmass-Now and Then

Article by David

Ski Colorado article series

Today, Aspen Colorado and the adjacent Snowmass ski resorts are legendary, both for their incomparable snow and for the apres-ski that the quaint town of Aspen has to offer. Home to such legendary celebrities as Jack Nicholson, Don Henley, Goldie Hawn, and Mariah Carey, as well as the late John Denver, Aspen’s beginnings were far more humble. Aspen Colorado lodging was not always a ski-in / ski-out condo.

Founded in Ute Indian Territory in 1879, just a few years after Colorado became a state, the town was originally called Ute City. A rich silver mine formed along the Roaring Fork River was the original reason for its existence. It would be renamed Aspen in 1880, a year after its founding, in honor of the many Aspen trees that cover its breathtaking mountains. Though Aspen is now home to 5700 people, back in 1893, and the mine’s prosperity had that number up to some 12,000 residents. Just a little over a decade after the mining claim was made, it had banks, a hospital, two theatres, and an opera house. In that short time, Aspen even boasted electric lights! But nothing lasts forever. In the same year, the silver buying came to a sudden halt when the government repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. By 1930, there were only 705 residents remaining in the beautiful town.

But all was not lost. In that same 1930, investors would decide to convert Aspen into a ski Colorado resort. Though World War Two would cause a temporary setback, it would seem Aspen’s position as a legendary ski Colorado resort was predestined.

In the 1940′s, Friedl Pfeifer, who had trained for mountain combat in the Aspen area, teamed up with Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, who were established industrialists of the time. In 1946, they formed the Aspen Skiing Corporation, and Aspen began its rapid rise to notoriety. By 1950, Aspen hosted the FIS World Championships. Adding the additional ski areas of Buttermilk and the Aspen Highlands in 1958, as well as Snowmass only ten years later, it seems this lowly silver town’s aspiration was unstoppable as the top ski Colorado destination.

In the growth that ensued, Aspen would come to be home of the Aspen Music Festival, which was the first of what would become many music festivals across the country. It would eventually become home to Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies as well. Other institutes and ecological concerns were soon to follow. Those drawn to Aspen’s beauty and earthy lifestyle would come to base their corporations in the town they came to call home.

In the 1970′s, one could find people with a PhD working as janitors, simply because they had become enamoured of the beauty and the brilliant, eclectic personalities which live in this extraordinary town. Musicians, painters, and artists of all kind gathered there, and still flock to the town by the scores, though it has now become far too expensive for most to live in unless they’re at least moderately successful.

John Denver had no small part in making it a household name, having penned, recorded and released “Aspenglow” and constantly talking of his love for his Rocky Mountain paradise found there in another of his songs, “Starwood in Aspen,” (named after the gated subdivision where he lived. Throughout his career until his untimely death in 1997, John Denver championed environmental concerns, while drawing attention on Aspen and all of Colorado.

From Ute City to Aspen, from silver mine to an internationally renowned ski resort for the jet-setters, rich and famous, Aspen remains a quaint town and place of unsurpassed year-round beauty. The tapestry of namesake trees that carpet the mountains in the fall is breathtaking, and the winter skiing and Aspen Colorado lodging rivals that found anywhere in the world.

© 2006 David Evarts, RightNow Communications, Inc.

About the Author

David Evarts has extensive experience with web promotion and link development SEO. This article is part of the Ski Colorado Travel Destinations series. Visit Netrafic.com for more information.

“Grandpa, there ain’t no such thing as black Indians!”

“Grandpa, there ain’t no such thing as black Indians!”

Article by Ivory Simone

My grandfather was a quiet man. He had a gentle way about him. Whenever I visited him, he’d greet me by calling out my nickname, “Champ!” A sharecropper turned janitor, my grandfather was a common laborer most of his life. In his old age, poor circulation in his extremities resulted in the amputation of both his legs below the knees. Wheelchair bound and dependent on others for his care, “Papa”, as we called him, still retained his stature and authority as the family patriarch. When he spoke, everyone listened.

I loved hearing Papa tell stories about his life. There was something about his way of speaking that felt like home to me. As I write this essay, I hear Papa’s slow, southern drawl and broken English, tickling my ears. The vivid word pictures he painted made the past come alive and ZIP! Off we’d go, traveling through time to the places his mind recreated.

On one such occasion, Papa spoke fondly about the good times he had at his grandfather’s home as a boy.

“My grandpa was a black Injun. He came out of slavery when he just a boy,” he said casually.

I stared at Papa in utter disbelief.”Grandpa, there ain’t no such thing as black Indians!” I exclaimed.

Papa was quiet for a few seconds. He seemed to be thinking hard–studying the matter so to speak. I was confident that my grandfather was mistaken. After all, I reasoned, his 3rd grade, basic education was no match for my thoroughly modern 6th grade education. “Sho there was black Injuns, Champ,” Papa finally said, “I growed up with ‘em.”

“You’re either black or you’re Indian,” I insisted, “You can’t be both. Besides, if they existed, how come we haven’t learned about them in school?”

“Well. I don’t rightly know why they don’t teach it to you in school” he replied,” I just knows there was black Injuns,”

Papa continued with his story and nothing more was said about black Indians. My curiosity, however, had been aroused and I was determined to find out more about them. Some months later I mentioned Papa’s comments to my maternal, great grandmother, “Ma Dear”, who was a minister and a no nonsense kinda woman. If anyone could set the record straight about my grandfather’s family tree, it was her.

“Well, your grandpa’s peoples was black Injuns,” she confirmed, “They was more Injun than black. That’s why I didn’t want my daughter marrying into your grandpa’s family. His peoples had strange ways. They was hard on their women; over worked them and wore them out having too many babies.”

So there it was–I had been wrong. At twelve years old, I learned an important lesson, history is written by the powerful not the conquered. The missing chapters in American History about black Indians is one of many examples of how the richness and diversity of the black experience is left out of most history books.

One of the reasons I included a storyline about black Indians in my novel, “Havasu Means Blue Water”, was to pay tribute to my grandfather and his people–my people. I guess if we want our stories told, we have to be willing to write them ourselves.

About the Author

Author Ivory Simone’s first book is a suspenseful, riveting tale about murder, love and redemption. The e-book version is available at http://www.shoetreepublishers.com. The print version will be out in Spring 2007.

The Internet and Child Predators

The Internet and Child Predators

Article by Mike Batta

The internet is the new “hangout” for children and teenagers today. Millions each day are on line, surfing, emailing, talking in chat groups or IMing their friends each day. All of these activities seem harmless enough, but parents need to be aware that predators are watching their children on the net.There is a recognized profile of a child predator. Most are male, single, over 25 and usually very quiet. They come from just about every walk of life, can be rich or poor, highly educated or uneducated. Frequently, when one is exposed, neighbors are shocked to learn that this shy fellow in their midsts was stalking children online. They usually have few friends because they are not able to socialize normally with people their own ages. They are very skilled, however, in getting to know teens and children. They frequently seek out jobs where they can be around children a great deal, such as a sports coach, youth leader, teacher or school janitor.

A child predator will not think that what he is doing is wrong. Very frequently, they themselves have a history of being sexually abused or come from a violent background. A typical child predator will usually target a number of children at the same time. When a child is targeted, the predator will start a process referred to as “grooming” the child. This means that the predator will soften the child’s feeling toward him by flattering him, buying him presents or giving affection. They are very deft in recognizing how to approach a given child by quickly learning what the child is in need of: ego-boosting, physical affection or gifts. They build trust gradually, and then once the trust is gained, use other means such as guilt or blackmail to get the victim to do as he wishes.

The internet child predator has the same profile, and now he has the anonymity of the world wide web to hide behind. They will pretend to be the same age as the child they have targeted and stalk the sites that they know children like to visit.

There are ways in which a parent can spot if his child is at risk of becoming a victim of an online predator. If your child suddenly turns the computer off when you come into the room, or is very secretative about what he or she is doing online, you have cause for concern. If you notice that your child has new clothes or other items that you did not buy, he or she may be getting gifts. If you child spends an inordinate amount of time on the internet, or if you see phone calls to and from numbers you don’t recognize, your child may be putting him or herself at risk with a predator.

How can you, as a parent keep your child safe when he or she is online? One of the best defenses is open and honest communication with your child. Let them know there are predators out there. The next step is to limit and monitor use of the computer and the internet. YOu have to know what sites your child is visiting, who he or she is talking to in chat rooms, and who he or she is sending and receiving emails to. It will also help to understand the shorthand kids use on the internet so you can see what they are talking about. Monitoring tools exist that can keep track of your child’s computer use. An excellent organization that offers monitoring tools as well as translations for “internet speak”, the acronyms kids use on the computer is Safe Computer Kids.

About the Author

MJ Batta writes on various aspects of MySpace Dangers and manages the website SpyOnYourKids.Net