So I’ve been doing some reading about blogs, and how they are ultimately a reflection of the person maintaining them. I realized that mine have been a little impersonal. I really haven’t put a lot of myself out there for people to know.
So this will make up for that previous lack. Be forewarned, it’s not a 100% happy tale.
In the beginning of my network marketing career (Okay, it’s been only about 8 months.) my intent was simple. I wanted to be able to make enough money to be home when my kids left for school and when they arrived home. Seems simple enough, right? The reality is a bit more complex. My reasons for wanting this business to succeed are extreme.

In 2002 my wife, Lynn, and I were blessed to adopt a beautiful newborn boy. (We aren’t the youngest parents in the world. I am now 52, and Lynn’s 43.) Robbie is an amazing personality, full of life and waking up happy every morning. He’s also devilishly handsome and charming and at age five has the girls eating out of his hand.
When he was 14 days old we learned that he is deaf. There was the initial denial and shock, and then some sadness at “what he’ll miss”, but he seemed to be doing fine. We later learned that he has some residual hearing in his right ear and that with the latest and greatest hearing aids he can distinguish a lot of speech.
He’s learning to talk now, but has recently stated his perceptions of his own limitations by telling us that he can’t take a ski lesson because he can’t talk. It was sad to hear, but he didn’t have any sadness – it was just a statement of fact, and some concern about how a specific thing would be accomplished. When we told him that one of us would be there to help him talk, he was fine.

Fifteen months after Rob was born, in July of 2003, we received a call from the adoption agency. Robbie had a new, full-biological sibling. A tiny baby girl. Less than two and a half pounds tiny. She spent 84 days in the neonatal intensive care unity, endured heart surgery and a necrotizing bowel infection, addiction to Fentanyl and morphine, but came home with us. She was a struggle, going through a lot of pain and withdrawal, sleeping fitfully, and mostly scaring the heck out of us.
How were we going to deal with a deaf son and this super-preemie who all the doctors predicted was going to be a lot of work? I don’t know. Some times you don’t have a choice. You deal with it. People have dealt with lots worse.

So we got to deal with worse. In late 2005, after going from doctor to doctor to doctor to try to get some resolution to severe lower abdominal pain, Lynn was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. After radiation and chemo, she had surgery. The surgery revealed cancer in a large number of surrounding lymph nodes. Subsequent PET and CAT scans showed that she had metastases in her liver and elsewhere. The diagnosis was terminal. The medical professionals gave her 6-20 months.
The good part is that she’s already lived beyond that. She is relatively healthy by cancer-standards, getting out for a few hours of skiing or fly fishing once in a while, and still able to enjoy the kids. Her only outwardly visible sigh of disease is that she requires a lot more sleep and doesn’t have her old stamina.
Lynn is considered “permanently disabled” and her cancer is still terminal. We are happy that she’ll get through the holidays without starting chemo, but no one knows what the future will bring. Her drive and focus are to be there as much as possible for the kids, and to have as positive an influence on their life as possible.

So that is just about all of the stuff going on in my life. I maintain a full-time job as a project manager while I try to grow my network marketing business. Remember, that goal is to be able to afford to be home when the kids leave for school and when they get home from school! I also think that I’ll need to be ready as a sign language interpreter for Rob at a moment’s notice. How’s that for a “Why” I’m in the business?




I’m posting this to my blogs. My other one is www.MyPotentialNow.com

If you’d like to see more about my business, check out www.earnafreevacation.com

Forward this to friends if you like. I’m not looking for charity. I believe in my network marketing business and love to help others be successful in it. There’s plenty of success to go around. If you get a chance to come to my blogs and comment on this, I’d love to hear from you.

Making the world a better place, One smile at a time

Joe Laberge

How Soon Is Now?

Where do you want to be five years from now? Have you ever asked that question and had someone look at you like you have two heads? (I apologize if I have offended any of the bi-cranial in the audience.)

"Five years," they say. "I can't tell you where I'll be in five WEEKS!" Yep, heard it myself. Heck, I even used to say it. But here's the big non-secret: It doesn't matter whether you plan it or not, five years from now is coming!

Planning for retirement, planning to pay for your children's' education, planning to buy a home, planning to drive to work. You can ignore the future if you want, but the future doesn't care; it's coming anyway.

If you want to have three million dollars in the bank in 2010, you need to be putting aside way more than $20,000.00 per month starting now. That's one way to plan, but it scares the living daylights out of most people, so they do nothing. And you know what? That three million never shows up.

Here's a much better idea. DO SOMETHING NOW! You may not make $25,000 this month, but if you don't do something toward your goals you'll never get there.

Make a plan for today. Just today. Just the next hour, even. Just right now. Now is the only moment you have, but how you use this now will make a difference in how you feel in the next moments. What you do in the now will make a difference in what you are able to do in the next moments.

What was that excuse? You're too old? Nonsense. You have just enough experience to get it right. You're too young? Nonsense. You have enthusiasm and vigor. Not enough time? Everybody has the same 168 hours each week, the same 24 hours in a day. Time is not the issue. Doing things is the issue.

Do it now! What have you got to lose? You might possibly regret doing something. You will definitely regret doing nothing! And remember, an object in motion tends to remain in motion, so overcome your inertia and get moving.

Five years from now is now a couple of minutes nearer.

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http://www.EarnAFreeVacation.com
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10 Weeks to Network Marketing Success


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Where Does 'Moral Law' Fit Into MLM?

C. S. Lewis, the renowned Oxford scholar and author (Think Chronicles of Narnia in addition to many scholarly works.) wrote of The Moral Law. He described it as the aspect of being human that makes us jump into a raging river to save a drowning toddler, even if our own life might be endangered.

It seems that as humans we are hard-wired to help others. Unless we suffer from sociopathic tendencies, we can't do otherwise.

In this holiday season, with its suggestion of giving and charity, that helping characteristic is even more pronounced. Charities report most of their donations are received this time of year.

In our Network Marketing businesses we are given an endless stream of opportunities to help others. When you think about it, if we don't help others, our own business will stagnate and die. What a great deal! We get to share 'enlightened benevolence.' We get rewarded for our helping others succeed.

There is a flaw in this whole scheme, though. There are always people who want way more help than others. These squeaky wheels seem incapable of helping themselves. They expect that you, as their sponsor, are going to build their business for them.

It is a hard reality that you cannot possibly help these people. If you focus on them, you won't have enough left to give to the people who will grow their businesses and themselves.

The airline attendants always tell you to put on your own oxygen mask first, and then help others. This is good life advice, good business advice. Take care of your business first, and that will allow you to take care of others.
This time of year we all tend to try to pack in too much. Too much activity, too much family, too much food. It is vital for us to take the time to reflect on our lives and business, and to make smart choices. Give yourself a rest. Breathe deeply. Help where you can but know when to say no.

Your business is worth it. You are worth it.





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http://www.EarnAFreeVacation.com
______________________________________________________ http://joelaberge.GetNetMLMProfits.com
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The Noble Quest – Metaphor for MLM?

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to conviction of honor and good sense."
Sir Winston Churchill

Sometimes the best way to get a point across is to tell a story. You've already heard this story. It has taken shape in every culture and every language. It has become its own genre. It is the Noble Quest.

Our hero or heroine takes on the task of seeking a specific goal – a golden fleece, holy grail, goose that lays the golden eggs, fair maiden held captive in a tower… You get the picture.

The Iliad, The Odyssey, Jack and the Beanstalk, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Othello, The Sound of Music, just about every Disney movie ever made. The heroic Noble Quest.

Our protagonist is beset by a seemingly endless array of obstacles and challenges. Ogres, dragons, intergalactic distances, demons, desert sands, wide oceans and tall mountains stand in the way.

When we pick up a book like this, or sit down to such a movie, we expect our hero or heroine to prevail. By the end of the story our quest will be completed and the people involved will have undergone profound personal change, emerging nobler and stronger for the experience.

Of course these stories are metaphorical. Our lives are quests in their own right. The things we want are achieved through effort. Hard work, sacrifice, fear – these are the things that stand between us and our goals.

Why is it that when we sit down to the movie of our own life we are willing to accept that we might not fulfill our quest? Why are we willing to fail?

Pick up your metaphoric sword and shield! Mount your metaphorical steed! Feel the wind in your face and the sun in your eyes and charge off in your quest to reach the unreachable star!

I don't care if it means you make one phone call today. You have the power to do it. And doing it gives you even more power.


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http://www.EarnAFreeVacation.com
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http://joelaberge.GetNetMLMProfits.com
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Law of Averages or Load of Bull?

I was listening to Jim Rohn today, and he made a point that hit me. I’d heard it before, but today there must have been a Velcro patch or something in my brain, and it stuck. There is a lot of potential to this idea, and I thought of a way to put it into action.

Here’s the email I sent to a heap of people. I’d love to hear what you think.



Hi. I hope this finds you well. I have a favor to ask. I’m doing an experiment (actually I have a bet with a co-worker) with what he’s calling the Law of Averages.

Here’s the deal. I started in a home-based business in June. The target is to get to the point where I can do that business full-time and be home with Lynn and the kids without sacrificing food, clothing and shelter. A noble goal and I’ll get there eventually. The business is a cool travel website and is promoted through direct sales and multi-level marketing.

Okay, I know that the second you mention Multi-level marketing people’s eyes glaze over, they think “AHHHH, Amway! Run for your life!” and head for the hills. The good part of all of this is that I’m taking an internet approach to presenting this. I don’t trap people into awkward situations and jam my presentation down their throat until they scream, or anything of the kind. I’ve found a way to do it so that everyone has a chance to just say “no” without any hard feelings or guilt.

Here’s where the Law of Averages discussion comes into play. My friend argues that you can reliably predict that there will always be 2-3 people out of 10 who will watch the presentation and decide that they want to become involved. I counter that such generalizations can only be made about a random population, and that my address book is far from a random sampling.

So I’m making this leap and sending this out to people in my address book. Okay, I have two favors to ask. If this seems way out of line, and you want to delete me from your email life, favor #1 is please forgive me and refrain from mocking. Favor #2 is this: Please pay a visit to my web site at http://www.EarnAFreeVacation.com and watch the presentation there.

If Brent is correct, 2 or 3 out of ten will decide to get involved. If that’s the case, I need the other 7-8! So even if you think it’s crazy, I need the numbers to make the argument. Make sense? Not to me either, but help me out here, okay? When you have some time and can sit in front of your computer, just visit the site, and watch the presentation.
http://www.EarnAFreeVacation.com

And thanks for taking the time to read this far.


So that was it. I am eager to see what sort of response I get, and I’ll post the results here as they come in.




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http://www.EarnAFreeVacation.com

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http://joelaberge.GetNetMLMProfits.com

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When Good Sponsors Go Bad....

So, what do you do when the key people high up in your upline start having "disclosure problems?"

My solution is to maintain my integrity and make sure that all of my dealings with my downline are straightforward and honest.

Perhaps that candor makes for slower growth than the rah-rah hype that passes as enthusiasm, but it makes for a much more stable and productive downline if people have a sense that they are being dealt with honestly. Retention issues become non-issues, as people feel like theyare part of something bigger than themselves. That something is the other human beings in the organzation.

When people know that they can trust you and that you will be there when they need you, they believe that there is hope for them in this business. The may get discouraged as things go more slowly than planned, but they will persevere if they can see that they have company.

Nobody wants to feel like they've made a mistake, and with all the nay-sayers a new rep encounters, hiccups in the organization take on the color of disaster. Stay honest. Stay true to your values and beliefs. Help your people grow, and you will prosper.

http://joelaberge.GetNetMLMProfits.com

Greetings, friends and fellow network marketers.

I invite you to enter into lively debate, ask difficult questions, pose hypothetical situations, and generally help one another to succeed in the big dysfunctional family that is Network Marketing.

I promise candor, sincere belief, and flat-out honesty about things that I find in the real of MLM. I will bring together resources from around the web (and elsewhere) to add value to your blogospheric experience!

To the top!
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http://joelaberge.GetNetMLMProfits.com
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