Just because you are searching for an internet home business, doesn't mean that you will find the right one. However, there is a right one and in many cases, the perfect home based business is found in Network Marketing.
December 28, 2008 ( PowerHomeBiz ) - South Carolina, USA -- How many people looking for an Internet home based business find their perfect match? Sadly, not many do. That is such a shame. Just because you are searching for an internet home business, doesn't mean that you will find the right one. However, there is a right one and in many cases, the perfect home based business is found in Network Marketing.
These are tough economic times and more often than not, the decision to start a home based business is not based on the desire to "make a few extra bucks" but instead is driven by the utter need to create a whole new income for the family. As such, the business you become a part of must be first rate-you simply are not in a position to fail.
The fact that you can actually work from home and make a full time income is incredible. Incredible or not, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people doing it right now. In fact, the Internet has many advantages over starting a "brick and mortar" business.
Consider these:
1. Always Open For Business: To start, the Internet is working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means you are always open for business. As a result, you can be building your business and generating an income while sleeping. You can wake up in the morning with more clients than when you went to bed last night!
2. Business Partners: Although you can sell products on the Internet, more importantly, you can find business partners there as well. In fact, it is far more profitable to find business partners than it is to sell products retail. Retail sales add to your income, business partners multiply your income. There is a big difference between adding and multiplying.
3. Cost: Let's not forget the cost. Like many, I've put hundreds of thousands of dollars into great businesses only to see them fail and lose all my money, or to see them simply limp along generating no return on my money at all. Now compare that with the cost of starting a MLM business. Generally you can get up and running with only a few hundred dollars in cost. This is simply incredible-in your own business for less than a thousand dollars? Yes.
4. What To Sell?: Information is a great product to sell. Inexpensive information products provide the education that solves problems for people. This is always in demand. And what is the number one type information people are interested in? It is how to make money using the Internet. This fits perfectly with your MLM business because it puts you in a position to educate people on how to make money doing just what you are doing. This results in additional business partners.
5. Traffic: To make money with an Internet-based MLM business you will have to learn to drive traffic to your web page or landing page. How much traffic? You will be a resounding success if you attract as little as 5 - 8 new people a day.
The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't have to have 100 or more visitors a day with an express interest in what you are doing to be a success. In fact in the early days a small number is better than a large number. You need time to learn how to work with your prospects. A modest interest in your business gives you the time to grow. Have you heard the phrase "earn while you learn"? Well that is exactly what you are doing: 1) Spend time with your prospects, 2) convert them to clients, and then 3) coach them to success. That is your agenda for success.
6. The Coach: Now what is the single most important element in making money in a MLM business? It is your coach and his plan for success. The question is simply this: can you reproduce this plan? If the plan is reproducible and you have a coach that will take you step by step through it, then, like your coach, you too will succeed. And this is a fascinating element in Network Marketing, if you are not a success, then neither is your mentor. It is simply in his/her best interest to help you achieve your dreams. By doing so, your mentor is able to achieve his/hers as well. In fact, it is the only way he can do so.
7. You The Person: Keep in mind this important point in your Internet business, it is not easy for people to see you and talk to you. But they need to do that to get comfortable with the idea of partnering with you in your business. So, tell them a lot about yourself. Show them pictures. Add videos. Call them and chat; yes just chat, don't try to sell them anything. Give them an opportunity to get to know and like you. People want to be in business with friendly, honest and knowledgeable people. Be that person.
In summary, an Internet home business is an excellent way to make money, lots of it. Although there are many different ways to make money on the Internet, Network Marketing may be the best of them all.
Resource Information
Author: Ralph E. Bass, Jr.
Ralph Bass is an owner, with his wife, of Digital Transcription Inc. They are also part owners with their son in Kessick.com, a company that designs, sells and installs wine cellars. They are both deeply interested in MLM and in the power of the Internet to build a Network Marketing business. He and his wife have been married for 46 years; they have 5 children and 17 grandchildren.
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Ecclesiastes 3 9-13
- 9. What does the worker gain from his toil?
- 10.I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
- 11.He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
- 12. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
- 13. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Beating a bad economy -- from home
StartupNation's Home-Based 100
While corporate America suffers, the best home-built businesses thrive. StartupNation's Home-Based 100 winners demonstrate the keys to success: Ingenuity and passion.
The 2008 StartupNation Home-Based 100 list is now in, and one thing is clear: Starting and running a business from home is more mainstream than ever.
The number of contestants in the Home-Based 100 tripled, numbering in the thousands. Votes in support of those businesses increased tenfold, up to a quarter of a million.
Part of that is because our list is becoming better known, of course. But it's also a sign that what home businesses do is of immense interest to more and more Americans, as the do-it-yourself boom expands.
- Slide show: StartupNation's Home-Based 100
Indeed, more than half of all U.S. businesses are now run from kitchen tables, extra bedrooms, basements and garages. Home-based businesses make a $530 billion contribution to the nation's economy each year.
And for many Americans, starting up at home has become a necessity. What appeared to be simply another economic downturn a year ago, when we compiled the first Home-Based 100, has devolved into a far more dire situation. Major economic giants, including Lehman Bros. (LEHMQ, news, msgs), American International Group (AIG, news, msgs) and General Motors (GM, news, msgs), have shown their vulnerability. As corporate titans lay people off by the thousands, many Americans are being forced to find new ways to make a living.
Their criteria? Inexpensive to start. Immediate results.
Enter home-based businesses. Running your own show from home typically requires little more than a skill set and a passion. It has become the stepping-off point for many a newbie entrepreneur.
A recent Wells Fargo study indicated that the average amount of capital required to start a business is approximately $10,000. When you consider that that statistic includes capital-intensive, brick-and-mortar startups, you realize that some home-based businesses can be started on a few hundred dollars.
Just look at 2008 honoree Britt Taylor, who began marketing swords and related merchandise online about two years ago. He threw a few hundred dollars at Google AdWords and has since grown his home-based business to a monthly gross of $30,000, half of which he pockets as profit.
Once again this year, we ranked Home-Based 100 competitors in 10 categories ranging from the serious, such as Best Financial Performers, Recession Busters and Most Innovative, to lighthearted, like Most Slacker-Friendly and Wackiest. The contest has produced a wide-ranging list of entrepreneurs turning their passions into profits -- and here's hoping it inspires a few of you to do the same.
Easier to start every day
Greasing the skids for home-based startups are key solutions that bring home operations to life. Take Home-Based 100 sponsors Microsoft Office Live Small Business and FedEx Office, for example. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.) They offer free Web site templates and efficient printing and shipping services, respectively, that are optimized for home businesses, and they're among the many companies that have realized the appeal and opportunity the home-based market represents.Outsourcing plays a role, too, in the growth of home businesses. The ability to outsource certain tasks is simpler than ever. Web design, payroll, accounting services and contract manufacturing, for example, are all available to the at-homer. In many cases, there's another home-based venture that can supply them.
Video on MSN Money
Big battles for small businessesSmall businesses are getting hit especially hard during this economic downturn.
New this year was the priority placed on social media by home-based businesses and their audiences. For the first time, the sense of isolation at home has given way to immense connectivity through online networking.
We've noticed this trend in the blogosphere, which has been lit up with references and links to the StartupNation Home-Based 100, as well as social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon, which have driven immense amounts of traffic to contestants' profiles during the competition. This is testimony to the swelling current of conversation that home-based business owners participate in online and the networking and marketing benefits they gain as a result.
You'll see great examples of how home-based entrepreneurs leverage social media by visiting the Highest Vote Getters for 2008.
Continued: A boom among boomers
A boom among boomers
In terms of who is being drawn to home-based business, it's a mix of men and women, young and old. But one group that seems particularly drawn to starting up is the baby-boom generation, as indicated by a huge spike in boomer entries to the Home-Based 100 this year. This group is clearly leveraging skills accumulated during corporate careers and previous entrepreneurial adventures. They're realizing that they can no longer count on long-term corporate careers.Adding additional impetus, boomers have watched their retirement savings wither with Wall Street, forcing them to figure out ways to replenish their coffers. That helps make the income generated from a home-based business -- whether primary or supplemental -- incredibly appealing to boomers.
For those who are still skeptical about the capacity of a home-based business to generate meaningful income, look no further than the winner of the 2008 Home-Based 100 Best Financial Performers category: a Berkeley, Calif., company called Fetch! Pet Care, which has seen revenue more than double in 2008, to more than $9 million.
Let's talk about passion
But as compelling as the income may be, the winners of the Home-Based 100 confirm again this year that at the center of every home-based business is one driving force: passion.The opportunity to do what you love, to have proximity to family and pets and the comforts of home while conducting meaningful work, still plays the starring role. Running a business built around a passion adds meaning and direction in life, a welcome antidote to these confusing and disenfranchising times.
For some, this passion is expressed by going green. Fun Photo Guys, the winner in the Greenest category, offering eco-friendly photography services, is a shining example. Kevin Slovick and his partner at the photo business use every extra hour to promote green business practices. He uses his business to influence other business owners and in so doing is creating a better world for the next generation.
One of our Recession Busters honorees has also infused her work with a mission. Karen Conroy created Fundraising for a Cause, which sells cancer-awareness items in bulk so they can be resold at higher prices and the profits then donated to cancer research. It's proving to be far more effective than sticking a hat out for donations.
Our Most Innovative winner, Lee Lonzo and his Kick-Off Program, has followed his passion, too. He's helping freshmen transition into high school more smoothly, a time when statistics show they're vulnerable to dropping out. He's helped more than 100,000 students already.
Also, you'll get a kick out of America's Wackiest and Most Slacker-Friendly home-based businesses.
The startup world shows no signs of slowing down. Whether people join to combat a tough economy, as an alternative to the corporate life or to simply follow their passions, startups are alive and well. Unlike many of the big enterprises out there today, a great number of home-based ventures are still open for business and truly thriving.
This article was reported and written by Rich Sloan for StartupNation.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Network marketing business is one of the most satisfying home based business
December 23, 2008 - 10:11am |
author: fairyjadoo
The network marketing industry has been around now for more than 50 years. It is just simply a direct sale, which is just one of the methods of marketing products and services. In many countries, network marketing is regulated by The Direct Selling Association. It is not same like a scam, scheme, pyramid or ponzi industry.
Network marketing, also called Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) is a rational way of getting product directly to the consumer, and a legitimate way for those doing the marketing to get paid. It is one of the simplest ways to earn an extra income.
Network marketing is also one of the most rewarding home based business opportunities today. The opportunity for success, happiness, wealth and freedom in the foreseeable future is overwhelming. After 50 years the process has evolved and now the new technologies have unlocked the doors to a simpler business model that allows modern communication and e-commerce systems to do a lot of the work for the businessperson. However, even tough network marketing is simple but not necessarily easy.
Network marketing is when you actually recruit other salespeople into an organization or that person becomes your ‘down line’ to sell products. You as well as the recruits get paid on the amount of sales made. The products involved can be anything from physical products such as nutritional products and sports equipments to services such as legal consultant.
The magic happens when you get the snowball effect, and others recruit people too. You can then end up with a large group, so lots of your product is sold.
Nowadays, you generally do not have to handle the product yourself as it can go straight to the customer if you wish. Even better are digital products and online services where there is no delivery is needed at all. The customer gets their products instantly which are very important in this age of instant gratification.
Not to focus only on the negative aspects, however, it is a fact that 95% of newbie who join a network marketing business is doomed to failure. Why is that so? The reasons are they think it is an easy way to becoming rich.
Network marketing is just a simple concept but it is not easy. Those people join a company because they were told that was so easy if you know how to break the ice. To set up, run and maintain the network marketing business definitely consumes lots of your time, hard work, patience, spirit and discipline. However, most people are not ready into the network marketing.
Network marketing business is not easy and lazy methods to start up your own home based business. You will not succeed if you do not have large investment in yourself and your selling. You just can’t be a successful network marketing salesperson with an initial investment of only a few hundreds dollars.
So, what should you do in order to be successful on network marketing business. As we mentioned before, it is not easy but remember it is not impossible too. Do not bother about what you always heard or read except if it makes you aware of the attraction marketing laws and teach you on how to build up your business relationship and branding yourself.
The old methods such as call anyone whom you know, conduct parties or events by inviting your relatives, neighbors, and even co workers, send promotion emails from the list that you bought in bulk are no longer work. You need to know the art of attracting people and this is when it comes the hardest part as you need to develop your skills and keep on practicing. It takes lots of efforts and time.
When you start jump in to network marketing you need to plan such as with whom you want to work with and how your business should look like. A skill is needed to apply strategies that could bring in the people that you are looking for. Sometimes, you do not have to look for them as those people may find you. Then, you can start to build up relationships.
Then this is how attraction marketing laws come to play. In order to attract people to work together with you and buy products from you have to build a strong relationship. You tell them and make them know what is exactly they need and assist them to build and achieve it. Present yourself as nice as possible and gain their trust and make them want you as their leader.
People look for value and whether you can offer value to them for what they need. If you do have, most probably they will listen to you. When you gain more reputation and people are talking about you, people will find you. Therefore, you do not have to go out in order to find prospects anymore.
When these people calling and want to meet you, it is because they are interested to what you have to offer. Then the selling part becoming lesser and easier, as you just need to give further information for something that they already want. So, all you need to do is just close the sale at that moment.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Fortune Hi Tech Marketing - Is It For You?
By jaycep651974
If you have been approached by someone who wants you to join Fortune Hi Tech Marketing (also known as FHTM), there are some important points to consider before signing the dotted line:
1. Who you join under is extremely important. FHTM is a multi level marketing program where your success is determined by your efforts and the efforts of those in your downline whether or not you personally recruited them. At the beginning, your UPLINE is critically important because those will be the people you will need to get yourself trained and get the information you need. Since part of their success will be due to your success, you want to be sure that the person you join under is someone you can work with and can provide you the tools, time and motivation you need.
2. Money can be made in this business in a multitude of ways. You can determine how you want to run your business regardless of how the other members of your upline or downline are running their business. But for ultimate success, aligning with people who share your basic work ethics, styles and commitment levels is beneficial.
3. This program originated in Lexington, Kentucky. There are significantly more agents in Kentucky than in other parts of the country, or world for that matter since FHTM reaches across our borders. FHTM members number less than 100,000. Compare that to Mary Kaye Cosmetics whose representatives exceed 1 million. You haven’t missed the boat. Plenty of opportunities are available.
4. Don’t join FHTM until you are ready to commit to action. While the initial investment in joining the organization is manageable for many people at $299, there are certain milestones that must be achieved before making any money. There is a 60 day window to satisfy the first level requirements. FHTM in many respects sells and promotes customer loyalty to many widely recognized national companies. Everyone who signs on with FHTM should expect and be prepared to be their own first customer.
If you have been hurt by MLM’s (multi-level marketing) in the past, it is worth your time to give FHTM a look. Perhaps your dissatisfaction with MLM’s was because the people you joined with didn’t share your point of view or you really didn’t ask the questions you needed to ask. If you are new to MLMs, this could be the opportunity you are looking for.
This article is the property of barbarakelian.com and you may freely publish it on a website as long as it is not modified in any way.
To ask specific questions, contact Barb Arakelian at barbarakelian@yahoo.com or visit barbarakelian.com.
If you have been approached by someone who wants you to join Fortune Hi Tech Marketing (also known as FHTM), there are some important points to consider before signing the dotted line:
1. Who you join under is extremely important. FHTM is a multi level marketing program where your success is determined by your efforts and the efforts of those in your downline whether or not you personally recruited them. At the beginning, your UPLINE is critically important because those will be the people you will need to get yourself trained and get the information you need. Since part of their success will be due to your success, you want to be sure that the person you join under is someone you can work with and can provide you the tools, time and motivation you need.
2. Money can be made in this business in a multitude of ways. You can determine how you want to run your business regardless of how the other members of your upline or downline are running their business. But for ultimate success, aligning with people who share your basic work ethics, styles and commitment levels is beneficial.
3. This program originated in Lexington, Kentucky. There are significantly more agents in Kentucky than in other parts of the country, or world for that matter since FHTM reaches across our borders. FHTM members number less than 100,000. Compare that to Mary Kaye Cosmetics whose representatives exceed 1 million. You haven’t missed the boat. Plenty of opportunities are available.
4. Don’t join FHTM until you are ready to commit to action. While the initial investment in joining the organization is manageable for many people at $299, there are certain milestones that must be achieved before making any money. There is a 60 day window to satisfy the first level requirements. FHTM in many respects sells and promotes customer loyalty to many widely recognized national companies. Everyone who signs on with FHTM should expect and be prepared to be their own first customer.
If you have been hurt by MLM’s (multi-level marketing) in the past, it is worth your time to give FHTM a look. Perhaps your dissatisfaction with MLM’s was because the people you joined with didn’t share your point of view or you really didn’t ask the questions you needed to ask. If you are new to MLMs, this could be the opportunity you are looking for.
This article is the property of barbarakelian.com and you may freely publish it on a website as long as it is not modified in any way.
To ask specific questions, contact Barb Arakelian at barbarakelian@yahoo.com or visit barbarakelian.com.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Elton Beard: What is Residual Income All About?
December 6, 2008 by Eldon Beard
Yesterday, we discussed “linear income“. We talked about some of the long term disadvantages of relying solely on this type of income.
Today, let’s talk about the type of income that a network marketing or MLM business provides - “residual income”. You’ve heard this term often if you’ve been looking at opportunities, because residual income is one of the big benefits of this business.
Residual income is money you earn over and over from completing one job or task. Here is a contrast between linear income and residual income.
Let’s say I write an ebook called “How to Train Your Cat to Obey Commands”. Yeah right. Anyway, I write the ebook and package it up ready to download.
Scenario #1 - I have been hired to write the ebook by an online publisher. The publisher pays me $1000 when I complete the project. That is linear income. I earn it one time for writing the ebook, and move on to another project.
Scenario #2 - I write the ebook and put up a web page to promote it. I do some advertising and set up some affiliate sellers. Every time someone buys a copy of my ebook, I make a net profit of $20. This happens every time someone purchases my ebook, for as long as I choose to sell it. Once I have written the ebook and set it up for sale, it makes money for me while I move on to other things. This is residual income.
See the difference?
Linear income = one project, task, or block of time for your efforts in exchange for a set amount of pay. You never get paid again for that project, task, or block of your time.
Residual income = one project, task, or block of time for your efforts that pays you over and over.
This is why people are so attracted to network marketing and MLM as a home based business. Activities you do today can pay you continuously into the future. In my network marketing business, I make money every month from the efforts of people I sponsored three or four years ago. It’s a great deal!
If you’d like to learn more about how network marketing and MLM work, here is a free movie that explains the concept well. It takes a few minutes to view, but is well worth your time.
Hi, my name is Eldon Beard. After years of seeing all the hype and misinformation used to promote network marketing and MLM, I created "Network Marketing Now" to present a balanced and professional approach to success in our industry. I hope you will find information and tips here that are helpful to you.I have my own successful network marketing business, and would enjoy working with you. Whether you're happy in your current business, or looking for a new business, I'm here to help. Your feedback and suggestions are always appreciated! You can learn more about me here.
Yesterday, we discussed “linear income“. We talked about some of the long term disadvantages of relying solely on this type of income.
Today, let’s talk about the type of income that a network marketing or MLM business provides - “residual income”. You’ve heard this term often if you’ve been looking at opportunities, because residual income is one of the big benefits of this business.
Residual income is money you earn over and over from completing one job or task. Here is a contrast between linear income and residual income.
Let’s say I write an ebook called “How to Train Your Cat to Obey Commands”. Yeah right. Anyway, I write the ebook and package it up ready to download.
Scenario #1 - I have been hired to write the ebook by an online publisher. The publisher pays me $1000 when I complete the project. That is linear income. I earn it one time for writing the ebook, and move on to another project.
Scenario #2 - I write the ebook and put up a web page to promote it. I do some advertising and set up some affiliate sellers. Every time someone buys a copy of my ebook, I make a net profit of $20. This happens every time someone purchases my ebook, for as long as I choose to sell it. Once I have written the ebook and set it up for sale, it makes money for me while I move on to other things. This is residual income.
See the difference?
Linear income = one project, task, or block of time for your efforts in exchange for a set amount of pay. You never get paid again for that project, task, or block of your time.
Residual income = one project, task, or block of time for your efforts that pays you over and over.
This is why people are so attracted to network marketing and MLM as a home based business. Activities you do today can pay you continuously into the future. In my network marketing business, I make money every month from the efforts of people I sponsored three or four years ago. It’s a great deal!
If you’d like to learn more about how network marketing and MLM work, here is a free movie that explains the concept well. It takes a few minutes to view, but is well worth your time.
Hi, my name is Eldon Beard. After years of seeing all the hype and misinformation used to promote network marketing and MLM, I created "Network Marketing Now" to present a balanced and professional approach to success in our industry. I hope you will find information and tips here that are helpful to you.I have my own successful network marketing business, and would enjoy working with you. Whether you're happy in your current business, or looking for a new business, I'm here to help. Your feedback and suggestions are always appreciated! You can learn more about me here.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Employers shedding jobs as recession deepens
WASHINGTON – With the economy sinking faster, employers are giving more Americans dreaded pink slips right before the holidays.
The Labor Department releases a new report Friday that's expected to show the employment market deteriorated in November at an alarming clip as the deepening recession engulfed the country.
After bolting to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October, the unemployment rate likely climbed to 6.8 percent last month, according to economists' forecasts. If they are right, that would mark the worst showing in 15 years.
Skittish employers, which have slashed 1.2 million jobs this year alone, probably axed another 320,000 last month, economists forecast. If that estimate is correct, it would represent the deepest cut to monthly payrolls since October 2001, when the economy was suffering through a recession following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Employers are slashing costs to the bone as they try to cope with sagging appetites from customers in the United States as well as in other countries, which are struggling with their own economic troubles.
The carnage — including the worst financial crisis since the 1930s — is hitting a wide range of companies.
Just in recent days, household names like AT&T Inc., DuPont, JPMorgan Chase & Co., as well as jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., and mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. announced layoffs.
Fighting for their survival, the chiefs of Chrysler LLC, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. will return Friday to Capitol Hill to make a pitch to lawmakers for the second straight day for as much as $34 billion in emergency aid.
Worn-out consumers battered by job losses, shrinking nest eggs and tanking home values have retrenched, throwing the economy into a tailspin. As the unemployment rate continues to move higher, consumers will burrow further, dragging the economy down even more, a vicious circle that Washington policymakers are trying to break.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected ratchet down a key interest rate — now near a historic low of 1 percent — by as much as a half-percentage point on Dec. 16 in a bid to breath life into the moribund economy. Bernanke is exploring other economic revival options and wants the government to step up efforts to curb home foreclosures.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the overseer of a $700 billion financial bailout program, is weighing new initiatives, too, even as his remaining days in office are numbered.
President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20, has called for a massive economic recovery bill to generate 2.5 million jobs over his first two years in office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has vowed to have a package ready on Inauguration Day for Obama's signature. The measure, which could total $500 billion, would bankroll big public works projects to create jobs, provide aid to states to help with Medicaid costs and provide money toward renewable energy development.
The United States tipped into recession last December, a panel of experts declared earlier this week, confirming what many Americans already thought.
At 12 months and counting, the recession is longer than the 10-month average length of recessions since World War II. The record for the longest recession in the postwar period is 16 months, which was reached in the 1973-75 and 1981-82 downturns. The current recession might end up matching that or setting a record in terms of duration, analysts say.
The 1981-82 recession was the worst in terms of unemployment since the Great Depression. The jobless rate rose as high as 10.8 percent in late 1982, just as the recession ended, before inching down.
Given the current woes, the jobless rate could rise to as high as 8.5 percent by the end of next year, some analysts predict. Projections, however, have to be taken with a grain of salt because all of the uncertainties plaguing the economy. Still, the unemployment rate often peaks after a recession has ended. That's because companies are reluctant to ramp up hiring until they feel certain the recovery has staying power.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Traits of Highly Successful People
Hi Detroit (And Beyond),
I was in a seminar last night and was inspired by quite a few people who I ran across. It was interesting because the folks (as I saw them) who seemed to be most successful in life, or were clearly headed in that direction seem to have some common characteristics. Now, this is not an all inclusive list and all successful people have do not have ALL of these characteristics. I was just inspired to look into this, check out what others had to say, reflect upon it and found the following:
They have a Dream, a Plan and they ACT:
Ask someone what they want their life to look like. I am betting that a lot of people you encounter will come up with some version of "I don't know". Successful people people may be specific and say something like "I want to retire at age xxxx and be making xxxx dollars so that I can enjoy life, visit my kids while they are in college and be able to take a couple great vacations per year".
Now that they have a dream, they put together a plan to get where they want to go.
Then...........they act decisively on the plan!!!
They have a curiosity to learn and grow:
Simply put, they know that they do not know all of the answers. They are aware that once you stop learning and being willing to learn, your growth stops - INSTANTLY. People who seek knowledge discover new ways of thinking that lead to new ways of doing things.
They network
In this world, no one gets anywhere by themselves. Corporate CEO's and Successful entrepreneurs all had some help and guidance to get where they are. They also are willing to provide help and guidance to others, who in turn can contribute to their growth in well. In teaching and guiding, you also learn.
They are also willing and open to asking for and receiving help.
They are also willing and open to asking for and receiving help.
They are creative.
They look at situations and always ask is this the best way of doing things. Then they work to create new ways, approaches and mindsets to succeed.
They are Self Reliant
This is perhaps the most important. The most successful people take their future into their own hands and are responsible for the outcomes.
They Don't live in the past
They realize that it is Today's challenge that matters. Not yesterdays success or failure. If you live in yesterday, you are not living in TODAY. It is not what you DID that matters. What you DID got you where you are. It is how are you going to get from where you ARE to where you want to go that matters.
They are Passionate and have Faith and have FUN
Finally, successful people are passionate about life. They are passionate about the life they are living and want to live. They have faith in themselves and and look forward to meeting the challenges and having fun getting there.
Successful people DO stop and smell the roses.
Successful people DO stop and smell the roses.
Some more good reading on this subject:
http://www.icbs.com/Kb/inspiration/kb_top-10-traits-of-highly-successful-people.htm
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/11680
http://ezinearticles.com/?Characteristics-of-Successful-People&id=26819
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol53/traits.htm
Friday, November 28, 2008
Who is going to bail YOU out?
Hi Detroit (And Beyond)
What do we know?
Me: I am choosing to create my own future and to help other people create theirs.
That's it!
An open question to all of you folks who happen to come across my spot
Please send me an e-mail, you can post as well (At least I think that feature works here).
What do we know?
- We know that the economy is terrible and will not be good for some time.
- We are pretty sure that the way that Americans live and work that are going to change and perhaps permanently.
- We know that massive layoffs are happening and will continue to happen going into 2009 and beyond.
Me: I am choosing to create my own future and to help other people create theirs.
That's it!
An open question to all of you folks who happen to come across my spot
Please send me an e-mail, you can post as well (At least I think that feature works here).
Saturday, November 22, 2008
76% of American Middle Class Households Not Financially Secure According to New Report
PRESS RELEASE
Last update: 7:00 a.m. EST Nov. 21, 2008
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/76-American-Middle-Class-Households/story.aspx?guid={C0808DCD-0DB1-4276-8AEA-7068652279AB}
NEW YORK, Nov 21, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- 4 Million Middle Class Families Saw Economic Decline from 2000-2006; 23 Million Economically Insecure
Last update: 7:00 a.m. EST Nov. 21, 2008
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/76-American-Middle-Class-Households/story.aspx?guid={C0808DCD-0DB1-4276-8AEA-7068652279AB}
NEW YORK, Nov 21, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- 4 Million Middle Class Families Saw Economic Decline from 2000-2006; 23 Million Economically Insecure
As the economy continues to reel, a new report finds that 4 million American households lost economic security between 2000 and 2006, and that a majority of America's middle class households are either borderline or at high risk of falling out of the middle class altogether. The new report, "From Middle to Shaky Ground: The Economic Decline of America's Middle Class, 2000-2006" was published today by the policy center Demos and the Institute for Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University.
"From Middle to Shaky Ground" is based on the Middle Class Security Index, co-developed by Demos and IASP/Brandeis, which uses government data and measures the financial security of the middle class by rating household stability across five core economic factors: assets, educational achievement, housing costs, budget and healthcare. Based on how a family ranked in each of these factors, they were defined as financially "secure," "borderline" or "at risk". In addition to the report, Demos and IASP/Brandeis have published an "Economic Security Scorecard" that the average family can use to measure where they fall on the Middle Class Security Index.
"The increases we're witnessing in housing costs and the number of families who lack health insurance, coupled with the extreme volatility of the average household's savings, show that a large percentage of America's middle class are not well equipped to weather this current economic storm," said Jennifer Wheary, one of the report's co-authors and a Senior Fellow at Demos.
"From Middle to Shaky Ground" shows some worrying trends in America's households, including:
--The median financial assets held by middle-class families declined by 22 percent. This means that for every dollar in median assets that middle-class families held in 2000, they held just 78 cents in 2006. These figures do not include home equity and therefore do not reflect additional losses families may have experienced due to a decline in their home values.
--Monthly housing expenses for the middle class rose by 9 percent. As a result, the percentage of middle-class families who match the Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition of "housing burdened" rose from 31 percent in 2000 to 37 percent in 2006.
--The number of middle-class families in which at least one member lacks health insurance grew from 18 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2006.
"Declines such as these in any one area are alarming," said Tom Shapiro, Professor of Law and Director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis. "Bad news across a range of areas supporting financial stability means the middle class is confronting its greatest challenge since the Great Depression."
This is the third report in a series based on the Middle Class Security Index. The first examined the overall economic security of the middle class, the second focused on African-American and Latino households. To download the report, the household financial security scorecard or the factsheet, visit www.demos.org. To order a hard copy or to arrange an interview with one of the authors, please see contact information.
For More Information: Tim Rusch, Demos, trusch@demos.org, (212) 389-1407
SOURCE Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action
http://www.demos.org
Monday, November 17, 2008
Eldon Beard: What Comes to Mind Right Away When I Say “Network Marketing” or “MLM”?
November 16, 2008 by Eldon Beard
What is the first thing that people think of when you mention the word “network marketing” or “MLM”? My suspicion is that many still think of this business in terms of “the way it used to be”.
To illustrate, let’s take a look at my first experience with MLM and network marketing. I believe that many others have been introduced to the business in this way.
A few years ago I had a job selling welding supplies to local industries. One of my co-workers was a really nice, outgoing guy who never met a stranger.
Not long after I started working with him, he began to drop hints about a “side business” he was developing. He implied it was a big deal, but offered no details.
A few weeks later, we met for lunch. He openly discussed a “consumer products business” he was involved in, and invited me to attend a presentation where I could learn more about it. When I asked for more information (such as the name of the company), he cleverly dodged the question and urged me to attend the meeting.
I felt some reservations about the deal, but I attended the meeting because he was my friend and I had come to respect his opinions on things.
At the meeting, everything looked really intriguing. The first presentation was a video of Tom Landry (legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys) talking about this type of business and how wonderful it was. Instant credibility, I thought. Later on, after a lot of hype and vague references to such things as “working directly with Fortune 500 companies”, the veil came down.
This was…. Amway!
Not knowing any better at the time, I decided to give it a spin and signed up.
Then I found out what I would be asked to do. None of this was revealed prior to signing up.
- recruit people blindly by getting them to presentations, while artfully dodging any questions they asked in advance
- conduct in-home opportunity meetings virtually every night (if I wanted to be successful)
- put Amway first in my life (even before family) for 3-5 years, and enjoy the rewards later
- dump all friends and shun all relatives who were negative about “the business”
I could go on, but you get the idea. Kind of a cult-like atmosphere. This is the picture that many people have when you mention “MLM” or “network marketing”, because they either had an experience like this or heard from someone who did. To be fair, Amway was not the only opportunity whose distributors had this attitude, they were just the most prominent and well-known.
Thankfully, today, there is a new attitude in the network marketing and MLM industry. Thanks in large part to the Internet, it is now possible to build a strong and lasting income in network marketing from the comfort of your home, without old fashioned hotel and in-home meetings. Without having to hassle your friends and relatives (unless you just want to). Without being deceitful and manipulating others. You can attract prospects to you, and work with people who are ready to do something. No more chasing people who just aren’t interested in a home business.
The opportunity to build a real income with a network marketing or MLM business has never been greater than it is today. If you’re interested in starting a profitable home based business with minimal up-front cost, this just might be what you’re looking for.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Work From Home Advice: What Kind of Work From Home Job Are You Looking For?
Work From Home Advice: What Kind of Work From Home Job Are You Looking For?
Diana Donnelly
November 10, 2008
More and more people need work from home advice. In the current economy many people are losing their jobs and struggling to make a living. The desire to find a work from home job to add another source of income or a new job to replace the career they are unhappy with has become a job in itself.
If you are searching for a work from home job, be careful as there are so many scams on the internet and finding a telecommute job or building a home-based business is not an easy task. It's going to be important to figure out exactly what you want to do when you decide to start searching the internet for legitimate work from home jobs.
If you want to work for an employer you need to look on job sites such as monster or careerbuilder. If that doesn't work try to focus on searching google for the exact type of position you desire. Millions of people are searching and think, I am good at typing and clerical work and I can easily find a job doing this for an employer. Finding a job in this area is extremely hard to find. Also, another area people think about when searching for a work at home job is stuffing envelopes or craft assembly. Most of those types of jobs are scams. I am not saying you can't find a legitimate one but for the most part you will find these sites asking you to pay money for something. My work from home advice is to search carefully if you are looking in those areas.
There are other areas that you can consider in a work from home job. Many people who enjoy talking on the phone can become a customer service representative. Companies like alpineaccess.com, hire customer service reps to work at home.
If you really want to work at home my work from home advice would be to find something that interests you and start your own home business. This is easier said then done because the majority of people looking for work from home jobs are looking for the quick fix or fast money. Yes, if you do find a job where you can work for someone else you can get a paycheck to generate income and you will start to see money coming in. It is different if you start your own business.
When you start your own business or work for yourself as an independent contractor you will need to have some money to invest. The amount needed would be dependent on the type of business you want to build. Think about the traditional business, in most cases you would have to purchase inventory and find a site and then spend money on marketing. This can be costly.
If you have a skill to market, such as writing you can be an independent contractor for a company that hires writers. The company posts work from employers and then others bid on the work posted. The money for the job itself can be placed in an escrow account so that once the job is completed and all parties are happy with the work the money is paid out to the contracted writer.
Another way to start working for yourself is to find a multi level marketing company (MLM)that would market products that interest you. Usually there is a low cost to join an MLM. A cost to get a company website and the the cost to buy the product you will market. This makes sense because you need to know all about the product you market and hopefully after using the product you find you like the product. Another benefit of a network marketing company is that you have the support of your upline (the people you joined under) to guide you to become more successful in marketing the product. There are usually conference calls discussing how other members are successful. In good MLM companies you will have the opportunity to speak directly with the person who signed you up as a member and get advice when you need it.
Building your own website and marketing products for others is also a good way to make a living online. There are many affiliate companies that let you market their products and pay you a commission. This is an easy concept but will take work because as with the typical brick and mortar business grows from customers so does the internet business. If you build a website or blog you will need to spend many hours working on your site so that you can attract customers (traffic) to your site so that you can sell whatever you are marketing.
I have been working from home for a long time and my advice is to find something you are passionate about and then work toward achieving your goal. I found that by combining many of the areas I have covered, earning a little bit from each area has helped me to grow.
If you are searching for a work from home job, be careful as there are so many scams on the internet and finding a telecommute job or building a home-based business is not an easy task. It's going to be important to figure out exactly what you want to do when you decide to start searching the internet for legitimate work from home jobs.
If you want to work for an employer you need to look on job sites such as monster or careerbuilder. If that doesn't work try to focus on searching google for the exact type of position you desire. Millions of people are searching and think, I am good at typing and clerical work and I can easily find a job doing this for an employer. Finding a job in this area is extremely hard to find. Also, another area people think about when searching for a work at home job is stuffing envelopes or craft assembly. Most of those types of jobs are scams. I am not saying you can't find a legitimate one but for the most part you will find these sites asking you to pay money for something. My work from home advice is to search carefully if you are looking in those areas.
There are other areas that you can consider in a work from home job. Many people who enjoy talking on the phone can become a customer service representative. Companies like alpineaccess.com, hire customer service reps to work at home.
If you really want to work at home my work from home advice would be to find something that interests you and start your own home business. This is easier said then done because the majority of people looking for work from home jobs are looking for the quick fix or fast money. Yes, if you do find a job where you can work for someone else you can get a paycheck to generate income and you will start to see money coming in. It is different if you start your own business.
When you start your own business or work for yourself as an independent contractor you will need to have some money to invest. The amount needed would be dependent on the type of business you want to build. Think about the traditional business, in most cases you would have to purchase inventory and find a site and then spend money on marketing. This can be costly.
If you have a skill to market, such as writing you can be an independent contractor for a company that hires writers. The company posts work from employers and then others bid on the work posted. The money for the job itself can be placed in an escrow account so that once the job is completed and all parties are happy with the work the money is paid out to the contracted writer.
Another way to start working for yourself is to find a multi level marketing company (MLM)that would market products that interest you. Usually there is a low cost to join an MLM. A cost to get a company website and the the cost to buy the product you will market. This makes sense because you need to know all about the product you market and hopefully after using the product you find you like the product. Another benefit of a network marketing company is that you have the support of your upline (the people you joined under) to guide you to become more successful in marketing the product. There are usually conference calls discussing how other members are successful. In good MLM companies you will have the opportunity to speak directly with the person who signed you up as a member and get advice when you need it.
Building your own website and marketing products for others is also a good way to make a living online. There are many affiliate companies that let you market their products and pay you a commission. This is an easy concept but will take work because as with the typical brick and mortar business grows from customers so does the internet business. If you build a website or blog you will need to spend many hours working on your site so that you can attract customers (traffic) to your site so that you can sell whatever you are marketing.
I have been working from home for a long time and my advice is to find something you are passionate about and then work toward achieving your goal. I found that by combining many of the areas I have covered, earning a little bit from each area has helped me to grow.
Diana Donnelly
Diana Donnelly has been working from home since 1998. She has her own corporation that handles mortgage processing for various companies and is owner and webmaster of her site www.workfromhomeadvice4you.com includes advice for anyone who is looking to find work from home. If you are looking for a real work at home job or considering a multi level marketing business this site will offer you invaluable information.
She is also the owner of a blog offering information on maintaining a healthy lifestyle a site that provides her with additional income through the promotion of her network marketing business in the growing Wellness Industry.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Network Marketing Business - Why Get Rich Quick Doesn't Work In Mlm
November 9, 2008
Having a get rich quick mentality is a short cut to failure in network marketing. Unless you have an army of hungry prospects under your mind control who will sign up underneath you at your command then forget it. This is a long term growth business and that's the way it should be.But that's not to say you cannot still build a business quickly. There was a time when 2-5 years was the suggested length it usually would take the average distributor to go from start up to reaching their first major level but the truth is, with the internet in play today, this time has been cut dramatically.
The reason internet network marketing is so powerful is because of it's ability to target prospects from all over the world and at all hours of the day. The internet is a 24/7 365 day a year broadcast channel and never stops and neither will your marketing efforts.
Network Marketing Failure Rate
In this article, we want to highlight the attrition rate within the industry but also a way to help you avoid being one of the statistics. First thing you need to do is develop the right mindset.
Long term mindset + consistent effort = success…
What the majority do when they join a network marketing business is become blinded by the enormous inc0me p0tential and yes, it’s definitely available to them. In fact, network marketing is still way and above the best way there is for the average person to create wealth from a standing start.
If you’ve been to an opportunity meeting then it’s only when the presenters start to spin the circles that the interest is really tweaked. That’s fine and will get a prospect interested but reality dictates that there must also be a balance.
In other words, the prospect needs to understand that sort of income level won’t happen overnight but it will happen if you use the equation we highlighted above…
Long term mindset + consistent effort = success…
So the first thing you must do is make a commitment to do more and pay more now. Do more being making that long term commitment and spending time in your business and pay more being investing not only in yourself but more importantly, your prospects.
When things appear like they are not happening early in proceedings don’t react by getting discouraged and doing less. Maintain your effort and even increase it because what you sow now will come back to pay you big time later down the track.
Trust me… Long term mindset + consistent effort = success… is so simple in it’s application that many lose sight of it. But when attacked with ferocity and commitment it’s one of the most powerful ways of creating long lasting wealth with your at home based business.
Launching Your Mompreneur Business
These tips will help you determine just what type of business to start and offer a few "first steps" to get you going.
If you're ready to take the leap and become a mompreneur, your next step is to figure out just what type of business would be right for you. And I'd bet big money that many of you are looking for something you can run from home.
The desire to work from home certainly isn't a new one. For years, parenting magazines have had back pages filled with ads for various medical-billing, stuffing-envelope and cold-calling types of jobs. And if that didn't appeal to you, you could consider watching other people's children. (That way, your work included your little ones at home with you.) Today, there are more opportunities than ever for running a business from home.
One thing to keep in mind, when searching for the best business idea for you, is to decide just what type of childcare you'll have for your children at home. Some of you will want to be the primary caregiver and have a career that can be done on the fringe hours of the day when your kids are sleeping, napping or playing independently. Others would prefer to hire a nanny or babysitter to watch your kids while you work full time from home. Decide what you want before ever looking for a business idea--that way, you'll know how much time you'll have to devote to the business before you get started.
Once you've decided which option you'll choose, start by taking a long, hard look at your current skills and think about your present or past jobs. Many moms decide to do the same kind of work they've done in the past but on their own as a business owner. Of course, some careers are easier to turn into businesses than others, including accounting and bookkeeping, writing or editing, working as a travel agent, and graphic design.
Not all of you will be able to--or even want to--turn a past job into a business. But with a little creativity and brainstorming, you'll be able to come up with an idea that suits you. And be sure to remember this: No matter what type of business you decide to start, make sure you have a passion for it, as it will undoubtedly become a big part of your life as you travel the road to business success.
To help you get started, here are a few different ways moms can create their own business ventures:
Starting From Scratch
So you have an amazing business idea you want to start from scratch? That's great--some of the best business ideas and inventions have come from moms! Before you go any further, first do your research. Get online and try to find out what product or service comes close to what you want to do. Ideally, you'll want a niche, something that's special and unique. But even if you find that your product or service is already out there, see how you can improve on it or make it a little more unique. You'll need to find a catchy name, create a business strategy and will probably need some funds to finance it. Starting a business from scratch is the riskiest scenario, but it also carries the greatest excitement and unlimited potential.
Online Businesses
Do you have a business idea you feel could be done entirely online? Never before has there been as much entrepreneurial opportunity thanks to the availability of the internet. There are so many women turning their passions into online businesses. The startup costs are relatively low, and the hours are what you make of them. My caution here is that thousands upon thousands of moms try this, so you really need to have a great idea and be strongly committed to making it work. For instance, while virtually anyone can make money auctioning their stuff on eBay, to move from eBay hobbyist to eBay business owner takes hard work and planning.
Network Marketing Opportunities
If your primary desire is to work from home and spend your days with your kids, you might want to consider one of the hundreds of network marketing opportunities that exist. With nearly $20 billion in annual sales being generated from these types of business, it's no wonder they've become one of the most popular choices for moms who want to work from home. Whether you want to sell scrapbook supplies, cookware, toys or health and beauty products, there are countless companies that have capitalized on the desire of moms to earn money and work from home.
Be careful though: I know many moms who spend most of their profits on their inventory or the products themselves because they love them! I'm guessing that if success were gauged on personal profits, not many could call themselves successful. But if you feel this is a good model for you, make sure you love and believe in the product and are committed to making it work. Each company has different levels of investment, returns and commitment, so do your research and make sure it feels right to you and will fit in with your family goals. And understand that the sales won't just materialize, no matter how good the product is. For instance, will you be comfortable "selling" while on play dates with your kids and giving up family nights to host parties? If so, then this might be the right choice for you.
Business Opportunities
A business opportunity exists where a third party (the seller) sells or leases to you products, equipment, supplies or services to enable you to start your own business. Business opportunity programs can include vending machine routes, distributorships and multilevel marketing arrangements. Before investing, consider what type of business opportunity is best suited to your own particular experience, skills and interests. The financial investment and workload for these types of businesses tend to be higher than that of network marketing opportunities; however, the revenue may be more as well.
If you're thinking about getting involved with either a network marketing firm or a business opportunity venture, my advice to you is to exercise caution.
Unfortunately, there are many companies out there ready to take advantage of desperate moms who want to be home with their families. Before buying in to any business, however small, check it out. First off, check out any possible complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Also, check references. Speak to real people who are doing it and make sure they're really making money. Be skeptical of any company that says you can make lots of money in little time. And be sure to find out about the company. How long have they been doing this? How stable are they? What will they do to support you? The Federal Trade Commission offers a great deal of information to protect you from scams. Also check out www.fraud.org.
Steps To Get Started
Once you've decided on a business idea, these few "next steps" will get you moving in the right direction:
Create a business plan. After you've done your research about the business you're planning to launch, create a business plan for yourself. It doesn't have to be the formal kind you'd show to a bank, but it should outline what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. How much money do you have to invest and how much do you expect to make and by when? How are you going to market your business? When are you planning on working? For some, this task is already enough to make you want to throw in the towel. Don't! It's not as bad as you'd expect. If you can't get through this, you'll have trouble getting through your own business.
Get a business license. Do you need one? That will depend on your city and the business you're planning to start. Play it safe and go to your county clerk's office to find out the requirements for your city. And don't be intimidated: They're there to help you and want to see small businesses flourish in their city.
Get a seller's permit. How do you know if need one? If you plan on selling goods and your state has a sales tax, you need one. An exception to the rule is if you work with a direct marketer who handles the taxes on their side. You may be able to get a seller's permit in the same office you got your business license from. Most cities have their own websites with addresses and phone numbers to the appropriate offices.
Find out if you need a zoning permit. Depending on the type of business you're running out of your house, there could be zoning restrictions for your area. Again, check with your city's business office to find out more.
Obtain a tax ID number. If you're a sole proprietor, you can use your Social Security number. But if you incorporate or have employees, you'll need to obtain a federal tax ID number.
File a dba. If you're creating your own company, you'll need to file a dba (doing business as). To check if a name is already trademarked, do a search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.
Find a mentor. Mompreneurs are passionate about helping each other succeed. Find a mompreneur who's been successful and who'll share her experiences with you. Then stay focused on your journey and you'll likely be the next to have a successful story.
Lisa Druxman is Entrepreneur.com's "Mompreneur" columnist and the founder and CEO of fitness franchise, Stroller Strides. Druxman is also a nationally recognized speaker and author, and is considered an expert in the field of fitness, particularly pre- and postnatal fitness.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wealthy mindset subject of seminar
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Millionaire Mind event expected to attract hundreds to Cobo for tips on peak potential.
Maureen McDonald / Special to The Detroit News
DETROIT -- More than 700 people are expected to fill the riverfront ballroom of Cobo Center this weekend when Doug Nelson leads a highly energized group in dances, pledges, games and visualizations to make money through the Millionaire Mind Intensive formula.
"Becoming wealthy is not about big cars," laughs Nelson, 38, who lives in Dallas and teaches Millionaire Mind workshops around the world for the Vancouver-based Peak Potentials Training Inc., and drives a Corvette. "It's about being ready to accept life on its terms. Chances are it's going to rain someday; having an ark already built is a good idea."
What changes for people?
"I literally walked out the door with greater focus and clarity for how to take our business to the next level in order to live with purpose, passion and prosperity," said Jill Jordan, co-owner of Smart Women's Coaching in Farmington Hills, who attended twice before.
Here are a few answers from Nelson on the economy and increasing wealth:
Q . Detroit has an image of an auto industry is in turmoil, growing job cuts and city scandals. How can you turn this image around?
A . The people in Detroit are harder on themselves than the rest of the country. Many cities are affected by problems with dwindling manufacturing jobs. Other towns booted out their mayors. Tough situations, not positive situations, capture the national attention. Remember, Detroit could become the world leader for building automobiles with alternative energy.
Q . Do you see the nation's economy situation as cyclical?
A . Yes. After every major recession and depression comes expansion. It goes up and down with frequency. This economy will turn around. Before then, set the stage for capitalizing on the turnaround. How you educate yourself now will determine what happens. Detroiters have an opportunity to lead the country in a different, a positive direction.
Q . How do people cope with the sky-falling bad news?
A . You ought to be out there selling umbrellas to protect people from falling shards of sky. Look up. Everything is on sale right now. Buy foreclosed houses or cheap stock. Rockefeller made millions during the Depression. Rich people look for opportunities this situation left behind.
Q . What do you call a financial blueprint?
A . T. Harv Eker, founder of this work and author of "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind," found people's beliefs, habits and traits, confidence levels had direct impact on their ability to produce and maintain money. Eker identified exercises to uncover individual beliefs and declarations you recite every day to shift your mind into the game of wealth.
Q . What do I do with this blueprint?
A . I've come very close to dying in a natural gas accident in 2003. If I learned anything, it was the gift of life. I don't sweat the small stuff. I know I can generate money. If I share any lesson, it is to tell people to write down their goals and set up an action plan. Do what engages their hearts. Now is the time. In three or four years, tops, the economy will rebound.
Maureen McDonald is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.
Millionaire Mind event expected to attract hundreds to Cobo for tips on peak potential.
Maureen McDonald / Special to The Detroit News
DETROIT -- More than 700 people are expected to fill the riverfront ballroom of Cobo Center this weekend when Doug Nelson leads a highly energized group in dances, pledges, games and visualizations to make money through the Millionaire Mind Intensive formula.
"Becoming wealthy is not about big cars," laughs Nelson, 38, who lives in Dallas and teaches Millionaire Mind workshops around the world for the Vancouver-based Peak Potentials Training Inc., and drives a Corvette. "It's about being ready to accept life on its terms. Chances are it's going to rain someday; having an ark already built is a good idea."
What changes for people?
"I literally walked out the door with greater focus and clarity for how to take our business to the next level in order to live with purpose, passion and prosperity," said Jill Jordan, co-owner of Smart Women's Coaching in Farmington Hills, who attended twice before.
Here are a few answers from Nelson on the economy and increasing wealth:
Q . Detroit has an image of an auto industry is in turmoil, growing job cuts and city scandals. How can you turn this image around?
A . The people in Detroit are harder on themselves than the rest of the country. Many cities are affected by problems with dwindling manufacturing jobs. Other towns booted out their mayors. Tough situations, not positive situations, capture the national attention. Remember, Detroit could become the world leader for building automobiles with alternative energy.
Q . Do you see the nation's economy situation as cyclical?
A . Yes. After every major recession and depression comes expansion. It goes up and down with frequency. This economy will turn around. Before then, set the stage for capitalizing on the turnaround. How you educate yourself now will determine what happens. Detroiters have an opportunity to lead the country in a different, a positive direction.
Q . How do people cope with the sky-falling bad news?
A . You ought to be out there selling umbrellas to protect people from falling shards of sky. Look up. Everything is on sale right now. Buy foreclosed houses or cheap stock. Rockefeller made millions during the Depression. Rich people look for opportunities this situation left behind.
Q . What do you call a financial blueprint?
A . T. Harv Eker, founder of this work and author of "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind," found people's beliefs, habits and traits, confidence levels had direct impact on their ability to produce and maintain money. Eker identified exercises to uncover individual beliefs and declarations you recite every day to shift your mind into the game of wealth.
Q . What do I do with this blueprint?
A . I've come very close to dying in a natural gas accident in 2003. If I learned anything, it was the gift of life. I don't sweat the small stuff. I know I can generate money. If I share any lesson, it is to tell people to write down their goals and set up an action plan. Do what engages their hearts. Now is the time. In three or four years, tops, the economy will rebound.
Maureen McDonald is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Jimmy Williams: How To Make Money During A Recession
How To Make Money During A Recession
Jimmy Williams
October 27, 2008
The status of the economy can change drastically and quite unpredictably. At one time, stocks may be up, fuel prices are stable, and the cost of food is manageable, and a day later, the prices of stocks tumble, the cost of gas skyrockets, and food has become unaffordable. Such a scenario would be termed as an economic recession.
Though not permanent, an economic recession does have impacts in society, some of these effects are good while some are bad. Generally, in terms of work, the employment rate may go down. At this time, it is not exactly easy to find a job, since most companies are taking precautions about expenses. So how to make money during a recession?
But did you know that you can earn money even during a recession? Why waste your time in search of unavailable job openings when you can generate income for yourself with the help of the internet? The answer lies in internet marketing, a strategy that has provided benefits for millions of people around the world.
There are many disciplines that fall under internet marketing, and they all have the potential to generate you income, and you can also do so when you work from home. It does not take extensive computer experience or even a degree in programming to be able to reap the rewards of an effective internet marketing strategy.
Basically, internet marketing makes it possible for products and services to be advertised, seen by potential buyers, and purchased, and everything is done online. Through a well designed and effective website, and with network marketing techniques, you can easily reach a large number of people and make sales. Here are just some examples of ways by which internet and network marketing can make money for you, even during a recession.
Content is valuable across the web, as this determines if a certain website is relevant, informative, and is authoritative on a subject matter. This is why expert writing services are very much in demand. Article marketing involves the creation and selling of content specifically written for specialized niches or sites. You can make money by providing article writing services, or you can compose articles in a niche that you are adept in, and sell them online.
Aside from article marketing, another powerful strategy that helps generate income for work at home businessmen is affiliate marketing. Think of it as becoming a salesman for a specific product, and you come up with our own methods to be convincing and to encourage others to buy from you. Your rewards are determined based on how many you can sell.
In the realm of network marketing, product sellers seek the assistance of affiliates, who are just like online salesmen. Products that are sold in this way can be software, website memberships, e-books, and tons more. Affiliates put up ads and content on their own websites, contact as many people as possible through email, forums, blogs, and the like, and get them to buy the said product. Affiliates are then paid a generous commission for every successful sale they make.
As you can see, internet marketing gives you possibilities to work with. If you are resourceful and willing to exert the extra effort, you can make money even during the most trying times in an economic recession.
Though not permanent, an economic recession does have impacts in society, some of these effects are good while some are bad. Generally, in terms of work, the employment rate may go down. At this time, it is not exactly easy to find a job, since most companies are taking precautions about expenses. So how to make money during a recession?
But did you know that you can earn money even during a recession? Why waste your time in search of unavailable job openings when you can generate income for yourself with the help of the internet? The answer lies in internet marketing, a strategy that has provided benefits for millions of people around the world.
There are many disciplines that fall under internet marketing, and they all have the potential to generate you income, and you can also do so when you work from home. It does not take extensive computer experience or even a degree in programming to be able to reap the rewards of an effective internet marketing strategy.
Basically, internet marketing makes it possible for products and services to be advertised, seen by potential buyers, and purchased, and everything is done online. Through a well designed and effective website, and with network marketing techniques, you can easily reach a large number of people and make sales. Here are just some examples of ways by which internet and network marketing can make money for you, even during a recession.
Content is valuable across the web, as this determines if a certain website is relevant, informative, and is authoritative on a subject matter. This is why expert writing services are very much in demand. Article marketing involves the creation and selling of content specifically written for specialized niches or sites. You can make money by providing article writing services, or you can compose articles in a niche that you are adept in, and sell them online.
Aside from article marketing, another powerful strategy that helps generate income for work at home businessmen is affiliate marketing. Think of it as becoming a salesman for a specific product, and you come up with our own methods to be convincing and to encourage others to buy from you. Your rewards are determined based on how many you can sell.
In the realm of network marketing, product sellers seek the assistance of affiliates, who are just like online salesmen. Products that are sold in this way can be software, website memberships, e-books, and tons more. Affiliates put up ads and content on their own websites, contact as many people as possible through email, forums, blogs, and the like, and get them to buy the said product. Affiliates are then paid a generous commission for every successful sale they make.
As you can see, internet marketing gives you possibilities to work with. If you are resourceful and willing to exert the extra effort, you can make money even during the most trying times in an economic recession.
Jimmy Williams
Jimmy Williams is one the internet's leading marketers, coach and mentor. He is famous for his unique ability to uncover new and innovative ways to harness the power of the internet.
Jimmy has long been known for his passion for learning and coaching. Jimmy learned in the early days of his career from some of the top trainers in internet marketing. Over the years, he has developed his instincts for a simple yet powerful marketing system based on his unique style and posture, which has been continuously refined over the years.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Home Based Business - Choose the Right Home Business Today is Guaranteed Financial Freedom Tomorrow By Cindy Floyd
Are you feeling comfortable in your job today with all the economic uncertainty? Are you tossing around the idea of a home based business or joining a network marketing company but are worried about the reputation of the industry?
Well let me tell you something; you really need to get over that. If you do your research you will find that many larger well known companies like Avon, Shaklee, NaturesOwn are all network marketing companies with very successful track records and many people respectfully making good yearly incomes.
How do you define a network marketing company?
In its simplest terms you have a product or service to sell, you contract with distributors to sell the product or service and give them a percentage based on their efforts. This is no different than the sales department of a large pharmaceutical company, or a manufacture like Xerox?
Most people get nervous because of a few highly publicized bad apples in the industry that took peoples money and never provided a legitimate product or service, absconded with the money and everyone was left high and dry. I guess we might say the same thing today about our mortgage lenders, who make loans to people knowing they could not pay them back and they walked off with commissions and large bonuses. Every business opportunity will or can produce bad apples, and none should be judged based on the ugly few.
The network marketing model is still a fantastic business model to provide you with a steady income stream especially in these slow economic times. If you spend some time doing your due diligence to find the right home business opportunity, you will reap huge dividends in the end.
How do you pick the right network marketing company?
The number one key is to know how long the company has been in business. If they are less than one year old you might want to wait. However, others will tell you if it's the right product it's best to get in on the ground floor. And financially that would be correct. You have to make that call based on the product or service.
Number two is the product something everyone wants or will use? Knowing that your product is in high demand will ensure longevity of the company. What industry is it in? Is it an industry that has a strong customer base and will allow you to produce niche products in the future? And don't worry about how much competition there is in the market, the more the merrier.
Last but certainly not least, what does the pay plan look like. Not all pay plans are made equally. Make sure you understand the plan thoroughly; many people are disillusioned after they spend money and time recruiting and selling to end up with pennies. That's a sure way to give up on the business opportunity and call the industry a scam.
So you shouldn't shy away from the network marketing industry. The model is sound and now is one of the best times to start your own home based business.
Much of your home business success is based on your marketing skills. If you would like to learn more about how you can become a successful online business entrepreneur visit my blog at http://www.BuildingOnlineBusinessSuccess.com
If you're tired of your nine to five and want to make real money on the internet without any previous experience, visit this my website for all the details http://www.WealthDiscoveryPortfolio.com
Cindy Floyd
Network Marketing Entrepreneur
303-429-6333
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cindy_Floyd
Well let me tell you something; you really need to get over that. If you do your research you will find that many larger well known companies like Avon, Shaklee, NaturesOwn are all network marketing companies with very successful track records and many people respectfully making good yearly incomes.
How do you define a network marketing company?
In its simplest terms you have a product or service to sell, you contract with distributors to sell the product or service and give them a percentage based on their efforts. This is no different than the sales department of a large pharmaceutical company, or a manufacture like Xerox?
Most people get nervous because of a few highly publicized bad apples in the industry that took peoples money and never provided a legitimate product or service, absconded with the money and everyone was left high and dry. I guess we might say the same thing today about our mortgage lenders, who make loans to people knowing they could not pay them back and they walked off with commissions and large bonuses. Every business opportunity will or can produce bad apples, and none should be judged based on the ugly few.
The network marketing model is still a fantastic business model to provide you with a steady income stream especially in these slow economic times. If you spend some time doing your due diligence to find the right home business opportunity, you will reap huge dividends in the end.
How do you pick the right network marketing company?
The number one key is to know how long the company has been in business. If they are less than one year old you might want to wait. However, others will tell you if it's the right product it's best to get in on the ground floor. And financially that would be correct. You have to make that call based on the product or service.
Number two is the product something everyone wants or will use? Knowing that your product is in high demand will ensure longevity of the company. What industry is it in? Is it an industry that has a strong customer base and will allow you to produce niche products in the future? And don't worry about how much competition there is in the market, the more the merrier.
Last but certainly not least, what does the pay plan look like. Not all pay plans are made equally. Make sure you understand the plan thoroughly; many people are disillusioned after they spend money and time recruiting and selling to end up with pennies. That's a sure way to give up on the business opportunity and call the industry a scam.
So you shouldn't shy away from the network marketing industry. The model is sound and now is one of the best times to start your own home based business.
Much of your home business success is based on your marketing skills. If you would like to learn more about how you can become a successful online business entrepreneur visit my blog at http://www.BuildingOnlineBusinessSuccess.com
If you're tired of your nine to five and want to make real money on the internet without any previous experience, visit this my website for all the details http://www.WealthDiscoveryPortfolio.com
Cindy Floyd
Network Marketing Entrepreneur
303-429-6333
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cindy_Floyd
Yellowbook Teams With Web.com to Offer Websites to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
UNIONDALE, N.Y. and JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 14, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yellowbook and Web.com announced today that they have entered into an agreement pursuant to which Web.com will create customized stand-alone websites for Yellowbook's advertising customers.
About Yellowbook
Since 1930, Yellowbook has focused on a simple goal -- connecting consumers with local businesses. Today, Yellowbook is a national leader in local search and advertiser content, managing a comprehensive online and print product portfolio that provides users easy access to local business information and advertisers a single source for cost effective media programs. The Yellowbook Network, anchored by yellowbook.com, reaches millions of users via computers, mobile devices, organic web searches and the company's network of partner sites, and has been recognized as the fastest growing internet property (comScore, April 2008). WebReach, Yellowbook's fully managed search engine advertising program, places customers' advertising on the major internet search engines. In print, Yellowbook delivers nearly 1,000 directory editions in 48 states plus the District of Columbia. For more information visit, yellowbook.com.
About Web.com
Web.com (Nasdaq:WWWW) is a leading provider of online marketing for small businesses. Web.com offers a full range of online services, including Internet marketing and advertising, local search, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, lead generation, home contractor specific leads, website design and publishing, and shopping cart solutions, meeting the needs of small businesses anywhere along their lifecycle. Web.com is currently incorporated in Delaware as Website Pros, Inc. and is doing business as Web.com. For more information on the company, please visit http://www.web.
CONTACT: MWW Group for Yellowbook
Louise Thach
201-964-2463
Web.com
Peter Delgrosso
904-680-6696
pdelgrosso@web.com
Monday, October 13, 2008
Slipping standard of living squeezes middle class
BY JOHN GALLAGHER Ron and Laurie Kopack are educated, hard-working suburban Detroit homeowners who, by American middle-class standards, should have earned comfortable family evenings, a little peace of mind and a few luxuries. Instead, they are struggling. Ron, an electrician, spent most of his summer living in a tent city while doing flood repairs in Iowa because he couldn't find work at home. Laurie, who just got a bachelor's degree but is paid only $15 per hour, faces $30,000 in student debt and a teenager coming of age with his dad often gone. "The whole American dream, that's a snow job," Laurie says. "I mean, who tried to sell us that? Is that to keep us good consumers?" Without question, the U.S. economy is an engine of prosperity that produces comfort and wealth admired worldwide. But the Kopacks' plight illustrates an uneasy truth for millions today: Our middle-class standard of living, a seemingly unstoppable vehicle that has carried generations from dirt-floor cabins to manicured suburban subdivisions, has sputtered and stalled. This is a long-term shift, under way long before this year's financial crisis made the economy the key issue in the presidential campaign. The common link is debt. It's swallowing family budgets, with the average household now owing more than $110,000 while saving only about $400 a year. Much of this decade's middle-class spending -- critical to the nation's economic growth -- has been fueled by borrowing. But forces other than debt are pulling down the standard of living. Increased borrowing has helped mask the fact that middle-class household incomes have stagnated for years as expenses rise from cradle to grave. Health care, college education, food and energy costs have risen far more rapidly than inflation. Retirement is riskier: One study -- done before the latest stock market dive stripped $2 trillion from retirement plans -- suggests eight in 10 workers face a lower living standard in retirement. So it is that in El Paso, Texas, Ivonne Moreno, 37, a single mother of two teens, crosses the border to Mexico to find cheaper doctors and medicines because she can't afford U.S. health care. In Tampa, Dalia Pereira, 59, a veteran ticket agent with Northwest Airlines, says cutbacks by the airline have reduced her pay to what agents made in 1996. And in rural Iowa, Scott Davis, 33, and his wife have become a three-income family -- she's a teacher while he farms and runs a trucking business -- yet they pinch pennies at the grocer, limit trips to town, eat out less and worry more. The implosion of major Wall Street firms has pushed the economy to the top of the news in recent weeks. But Wall Street isn't feeling any pain today that middle-income families haven't been struggling with for years. Americans' incomes were losing ground to inflation even in 2002-04, when the national economy was booming, gasoline was selling for $1.50 a gallon and subprime mortgages weren't yet a problem. With gas prices at record levels this year and families burdened with rising debt and falling home prices, the likelihood of Americans seeing their incomes keep pace with inflation grows less and less. Even so, many have faith in the economy's resilience. Certainly, the United States remains a wealthy country, the fruit of decades of innovation and hard work. Productivity, or output per worker per hour, has risen steadily for generations, thanks to new technology and higher education levels. For this reason, Dana Johnson, chief economist with Dallas-based Comerica Inc., says the free market will correct itself as it has in the past. "At the end of the day, we have an incredibly productive economy that's going to continue to get even more productive and evolve in reaction to the changing relative price of things," he says. "The idea that you would look to the future with the idea that standards of living in the United States are generally going to be lower is absurd to me." Others argue that unemployment and inflation remain modest by historical standards. But Jared Bernstein, an economist with the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Economic Policy Institute, says almost none of the new wealth created by rising productivity of recent years has made its way to the middle class -- the broad swath of U.S. households generally described as those making around $40,000 to $100,000 a year, although no official definition exists. Productivity has risen 20% since 2000, he notes, while working families' incomes lost ground to inflation in five of the past seven years. "What's really been violated here is that the bakers themselves, who have been baking a better pie, are ending up with smaller slices," Bernstein says. "We're not talking about the Great Depression," he adds. "We're not talking about massive homelessness. We're not even talking about huge losses. We are talking about stagnation, and we're also talking about inequality." Charles Ballard, an economist at Michigan State University, agrees that prosperity gains have gone mostly to those at the top. "This is a rising tide that has lifted about a quarter of the boats a lot, a quarter of the boats some, and the other half of the boats has essentially not been lifted at all," he says. Rising prices, debt Middle- and working-class Americans' standard of living has been buffeted by the disappearance of manufacturing jobs in states like Michigan, by aggressive marketing of consumer debt and by household incomes' failure since the late 1990s to keep up with inflation. From 1999 through mid-2008, the price of milk has risen 35%, ground beef 54%, eggs 128% and gasoline 244%, government data show. Yet middle-income Americans saw their yearly household incomes fall by $408 during that period when adjusted for inflation, the Census Bureau reports. Over that time, Americans turned more and more to credit. Credit card and other consumer debt, not counting the dramatic growth in mortgages, has soared 150% since 1994, more than four times faster than inflation, according to Federal Reserve Board data. The increasingly easy availability of credit to fuel consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy, has been important to growth as real income has stagnated. Consumers aren't hapless victims in the explosion of debt; not only rising costs, but also their expectations for how they should live have led them to take on debt -- for necessities and luxuries from cars to college educations, vacations and more. Most families are getting by -- even if the value of their home has fallen or a secure retirement program has been converted to a voluntary plan that is exposed to stock market swings. Still, economic worry and discontent has taken center stage as the country heads into the home stretch of the presidential campaign. Rising living standards are part of the American story. Over the past century, the steady growth created the middle class, defused economic unrest and helped the nation absorb millions of working-class and immigrant families into the mainstream. Against this backdrop, Jacob Hacker, a political scientist at the University of California at Berkeley who studies the risks facing Americans, says he sees a broad decline in the economic security of most Americans. "The unemployment rate or the inflation rate doesn't capture the degree to which people are at risk of losing their home, or see their finances crumbling, or the risk of high health costs without insurance coverage, or the risk of retiring without adequate income," he says. On the road For Ron and Laurie Kopack of Oak Park and millions like them, what philosopher and economist Adam Smith called the invisible hand -- the knack of free markets to reward effort and innovation -- has become an invisible fist, pummeling even those who show old-fashioned American grit. Certainly Ron, 53, is used to working hard. A unionized electrician who helped build the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills and the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport, he has spent several months on the road this year, first in West Virginia and more recently in Iowa, seeking the jobs he cannot find at home. In Iowa, he worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, repairing flood damage at a Cargill grain plant in Cedar Rapids. Living in a small tent in a campground filled with itinerant electricians and other tradespeople, Ron says life on the road makes sense only when a job is big enough to pay lots of overtime. When the overtime runs out, he and the other nomads move on. In the meantime, his life, once focused on family and friends in Michigan, has shrunk to encompass little beyond long days of work and phone calls home. "I get back to the tent, by the time I eat and shower and maybe drink a beer, it's time to crash," Ron said this summer in Iowa. "Maybe I'll read for a half an hour. And then up at 3:30 or 4 in the morning. It's not the type of life I consistently want to do for a long time." Yet despite such effort, Ron, and Laurie, 50, a secretary at a college in Detroit, have been unable to put away savings toward retirement. They don't know how they'll pay for their son Leo's college tuition in a few years, particularly after going in debt for Laurie's recent college education. "We're not financial planners," Laurie says, sitting in the living room of the family's bungalow. "We haven't done everything right. But we certainly don't live extravagantly. Our vacations have been camping trips. ... I'm not begging on the corner. It hasn't come to that. We're just doing what it takes to get by. But it's not good, and it's not normal." It is startling for families like the Kopacks how different their lives feel from their upbringing. Laurie's father, a plumber, raised six children on one income while Laurie's mother stayed home with the children. Their family lived in a suburban waterfront house on popular Lake St. Clair and still managed to save money long-term. That secure, slowly improving family lifestyle, once so common as to virtually define America, has become increasingly hard to find in a world of rising prices, risky employment and rocketing debt. "There's no way we could afford that today," Laurie says. "Things have changed radically." Canary in a coal mine Michigan is a good place to help bring this story into focus, and not just because families like the Kopacks abound here. Michigan is the nation's economic story writ large: The state gave birth to the American middle class in the early years of the 20th Century, as rising productivity in the new auto industry boosted incomes for millions of working families. Today, though, Michigan's pain is a portent for what the rest of the nation might soon be feeling. Layoffs are rising as national unemployment is at the highest level in five years. High gas prices have crimped travel plans, with the Federal Highway Administration reporting that Americans have driven 53.2 billion miles less from last November through June than during the same period the year before. These economic pressures, known to Michigan families for years, are increasing elsewhere. And, as a result, Americans everywhere are dialing down their lifestyles in ways large and small. They are giving up vacations and putting off trips to the dentist. They're dropping out of health clubs. They're packing their lunch instead of buying it, taking in roommates to share living expenses. Some of the adjustments, like Ron Kopack's summer in a tent city, run counter to what most Americans think of as their promised standard of living. In Oregon City, Ore., landscaper Gordon Westfall, 39, still walks with a limp two years after an accident mangled his foot because he and his wife, April, could not afford health insurance. Like Ron Kopack's months-long exile from home in search of work, Gordon Westfall's limp doesn't show up in the nation's economic statistics. But it says a lot about how Americans live today. Political scientist Hacker, in his book "The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Inequality and the Decline of the American Dream," wrote that the American dream itself is at risk. "It is a fixed American belief that people who work hard, make good choices and do right by their families can buy themselves permanent membership in the middle class," he says. "The rising tide of economic risk swamps these expectations." Trying times Some ideas to help working families might emerge from this year's presidential campaign. Repeated campaign trips to Michigan by Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain demonstrate that, if nothing else, the nation is focusing on economic issues. But in the meantime, Laurie Kopack expects Ron to spend many more months on the road. Ron is slowly moving up the list of unionized electricians on a job-call list in the Detroit area. Several hundred names remain on the list ahead of him. When he moved into his tent city in Iowa, Ron met other electricians from Michigan, and he and a few of the men bought a refrigerator and installed it in their campground. But they had to padlock it when they were away so others didn't steal their food. For Laurie, the image of itinerant workers living in tents reminds her of photos of Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camps. She says the late songwriter Woody Guthrie, who put the Great Depression to song, should come back to write an anthem for today's struggling families. "These are historical times, I'm afraid," Laurie says. And she gives a small, mirthless laugh. Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.
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