WE = U+I

Praxis and New Entrepreneur

2012-02-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

Every year, the Milken Institute does a study to see which cities are the best in terms of employment, housing, and business growth. For the past years, Silicon Valley was among the top ten “best places to work” in the USA. Here is the latest new statistics … Silicon Valley is not shown.

Best-Performing Cities 2010: The 2011 top 10 performers (with 2010 rankings) of the 200 largest metros:
Leaders in this year's index, which ranks U.S. metros based on their ability to create and sustain jobs, are cities that most benefited from renewed investment in business equipment; have diversified technology bases, which also drive growth in business and professional services; are exposed to America's booming energy sector; and are home to a large military presence. (study done by the Milken Institute www.milkeninstitute.org )
1. San Antonio, TX (14)
2. El Paso, TX (9)
3. Fort Collins- Loveland, CO (50)
4. Austin-Round Rock, TX (2)
5. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX (1)
6. Salt Lake City, UT (49)
7. Anchorage, AK (8)
8. Huntsville, AL (3)
9. Provo-Orem, UT (25)
10. Kennewick-Richland-Pasco WA (5)

The Best Performing Cities index includes both long-term (five years) and short-term (one year) measurements of employment and salary growth. There are also four measurements of technology output growth, which are included because of technology's crucial role in creating good jobs and driving regional economies.

The index ranks 379 metropolitan areas, grouped into large (population of more than 200,000) and small (population of less than 200,000) metros.

Why is not Silicon Valley among the top ten “best places to work” in the USA? I suspect two elements: a new praxis (developing a good business habits) and a new entrepreneurism.

1. Since the sixties by the Silicon Valley (when I came) had one business praxis. The first praxis was that the business end goal, or intention, was revealed at the beginning. This praxis one was “always starting with the end.” To do things, every day, that moves you for your objective. The first praxis could describe a simple picture.

For example in the first praxis, the famous Mona Lisa is seen as her “smile.” We see Mona Lisa’s smile, the whole background basic is apparently before Mona Lisa … only the picture is her smile. The first praxis has a ethical supplication, to always the fulfillment with the end the starting end point … not the second praxis.

On 9-11-2001, Silicon Valley started the second praxis, integrating with the first praxis. (The first praxis is alive today.) The second praxis has the constant awareness, what happening to changes which were to not work on the first praxis. The second praxis being covert acting to anticipate the un-expectable that would not work with the one praxis. The first praxis could not fill the economic which followed the 9-11.

The second praxis is the definition, the “overview” picture. The frame surround is the completion of the picture. Second praxis is not a simple picture like Mona Lisa, but an complicated canvas with every inch is incorporated, even the frame.

I chose the “Forest The Eyes” to understand the second praxis. Bev Doolittle is an artist of the camouflage. Her paintings, inherent the effective, has a double meaning. (http://www.bevdoolittle.nt)

Look at the picture and what is the first thing to see?

“Forest The Eyes” is drawing into a mountain man with two horse. One horse is riding, and a horse is a pack, in the middle center of the picture. When you first view is the man and two horses (like Mona Lisa’s smile) using the first praxis. “Forest The Eyes” has the obvious … at first seeing.

As you view Bev’s picture, you will find the faces on the forest, which an addition to the rider and horses. The at least twenty human faces hiding about the trees, rocks, and inside the snow. (If you use a small video phone, copy you look with a standard computer screen, http://www.symbiosis4u.us/images/ForestHasEyes.jpg )

Bev painting is not a picture of a mountain man with two horses. This painting is an covert, foreshowed, a new look at seeing on the forest. The picture is a example of the second praxis.

Silicon Valley to will have to learn second praxis, and also the new entrepreneurism, to become by the “ten of America’s cities.”

2. The Silicon Valley is always has been the entrepreneur. The market place is … not the entrepreneur of the 1960’s … a new entrepreneurism in the 21st century. The new entrepreneurism is work more like a family, not job people wanted to have to make a paycheck. The new entrepreneurism is another employee, not a person with a number or job. Richard Branson (including Virgin Air and about 400 over business) is the entrepreneur as paramount of the new entrepreneurism.

Branson watch three questions for the “Advice to New Entrepreneur” (a 4 minute video).
1. What is a business … not it is money.
2. How does Branson running for the 400 companies.
3. If Branson died, if he died the companies would also?
http://www.symbiosis4u.us/FLV/Branson.htm

Next have listen (40 minutes) to Branson, when three Piranha entrepreneurs asks difficult questions. (More is too long listen for a email, so I left a link which the MP3 will down load for your iPod, or CD to listen while at the car.) http://www.symbiosis4u.us/FLV/Branson.htm

Branson’s answers may be a prologue of the second praxis, and in the new 21st business … of the second decade of the second millennium.

In years the Silicon Valley, we can linked against to the “Ten Cities Of The USA,” … when we have learned at the last second praxis and entrepreneurism.

Be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise,
Tom Van Drielen
Symbiosis Enterprises
Box 18907
San Jose, Ca. 95118
http://www.symbiosis4u.us
Home Office 408-723-4777
Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/tvandrielen

Try a RedOx machine for a full month and experience the benefits of drinking triple conditioned water … before you pay any money. RedOx (say Red Ox) machines triple condition water which flushes environmental toxins out of the body, gently diminishes acid reflux, while supporting the immune system with massive amounts of free radical zapping hydroxyl ions.

Which paradigm for success do you still believe?

2011-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Our culture has had two paradigms for success ... for over one hundred years.

1. The first paradigm defines individual success and began before the Civil War.

“Go to school, get a good education, get a good job, work real hard, and retire to a rocking chair on your front porch or go fishing six days a week.”

2. The second paradigm relates to business success and has two parts.

a. The oldest part of this paradigm began before the Civil War when the steam engine, the cotton gin, and telegraph began to change how people lived. Since farming was becoming mechanized, fewer people could work on farms. Consequently, parents had to teach their children a new paradigm for successful self-employment (farmers were self-employed) in the industrial age. The new paradigm became, “build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Understanding soil and seasons was replaced with creativity and invention.
b. In the last few decades, due to reduced profits from inflation and offshore competition, a new paradigm gained popularity, “profit, profit, profit.” The paradigm of profit justifies any action, whether legal but not ethical, or ethical but not moral, or moral but not sustainable.

The first paradigm, “go to school,” is not a pleasant subject among those who have paid dearly for their own college education (as I have) . My personal library indicates that education is, and always will be important.

However when 50% of college graduates cannot find work in their chosen field, perhaps we need to consider a new paradigm. In the next decade, the “go to school” paradigm is going to be severely challenged because China currently has more students that graduate with honors … than we have students that graduate. Still not convinced? Consider a real life application of this antiquated paradigm.

According to current labor department statistics, if an unemployed person only has a high school diploma, standing in the unemployment line will average three months. If a suddenly unemployed person has a Bachelors degree, then re-employment will be delayed about six months. If an unemployed person has a Masters, then the wait would be about one year. When a person with a PhD gets laid off, it takes an average of two years for re-employment.

Now, I know all the reasons for getting a higher degree: more pay, more respect, more benefits, etc. I won’t argue with any of those honorable and well earned rewards. The flaw is this: the “go to school” paradigm does not include the potential for a two year stint of unemployment. Here’s reality.

When a PhD has been unemployed for two years (which is the average)
credit cards are maxed out in order to maintain the lifestyle of a PhD
the PhD’s home has become REO (Real Estate Owned by the bank)
any cars that were not fully paid for are being driven by someone else
student loans continue accruing interest
and the probability of divorce increases exponentially.

How does the “go to school” paradigm teach the proud possessor of a PhD how to survive such devastation?

Now, I am not saying to throw away your PhD, or withdraw your candidacy for a PhD. What I am saying is the “go to school” paradigm for success, which has a PhD as the apex, is outdated and does not work well in our current (and future) economy.

Allow me to offer my guesstimate (educated guess) regarding the new paradigm for success (particularly for the Y generation and the millennials). Here it is:

Find what you are passionate about, then create multiple streams of income by expertly doing what you really enjoy doing.

Using this paradigm, a person who loved folk dancing could study for a PhD in ancient therapeutic dance (for example). With the knowledge acquired, the person would then create two or more streams of income in the field for which he is passionate … and has a PhD.

Should one income stream evaporate (perhaps the loss of a professorship due to college budget cuts), the PhD could shift to the second stream (consulting, writing a book, guest lecturer, or part time business). Long term unemployment would be improbable because he/she would always have a back up income to cover contingencies … of course a little rainy day money would also be nice.

Doing what you love (passion) is gaining popularity, however it is conflict with the second paradigm of business, but not the first paradigm. If business is focused on “building a better mouse trap,” then inventor-ship would be encouraged. After all, there will always a bigger, better, faster, and more effective gizmo for which the world is waiting with bated breath.

In contrast, a business primarily focused on “profit, profit, profit,” would not allow employees (not even a PhD) to create a secondary income stream because the business “buys” (W2 income) the prescribed work plus the creative effort of employees (usually part of the employment contract).

Suppose the PhD invents something, while not at work, which blossoms into a secondary income. The PhD’s employer will typically claim the invention as theirs, particularly if the invention is in the field of knowledge for which the PhD is employed. The “profit, profit, profit” paradigm is in conflict with “do what you love.”

Fortunately, the “profit, profit, profit” paradigm is also changing. The new paradigm appears to be “people, planet, profit.” If “profit, profit, profit” resulted in the abuse of people (80% of employees are dissatisfied with their job), the planet (our garbage overfloweth), then a balancing paradigm would put profit at the bottom of the totem pole of values. Instead of profit justifying the mal-treatment of employees, vendors, customers, local habitat, and the planet, the new paradigm of “people, planet, profit is gaining momentum. Even the EPA is getting in on this transition of paradigms.

Recently the EPA created the “Seal of Environmental Design” which clearly reflects the new “People, Planet, Profit” paradigm. To earn the Seal of Environmental Design a company has to show that they treat their employees fairly, with manufacturing procedures that are people and planet friendly (even suppliers are included). Additionally, the company must show that they do not injure the habitat surrounding their facilities (perhaps even reclaiming damaged habitat resulting from someone else’s mistreatment of Mother Earth).

To my knowledge, only one company has earned the Environmental Design award. The same company is the only American company to receive the United Nations Environmental Award (in the 1980’s). The same company introduced biodegradable cleaners (in the 1960’s) when people did not know what the word biodegradable meant. If you want people and planet safe cleaning products for your business or home, may I suggest you check out the Legacy of Clean product line from the fifty year old company that set impeccable standards before there were any standards … Amway-Global.

Be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise,
Tom Van Drielen

Home Office 408-723-4777
Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/tvandrielen

Symbiosis Enterprises
Box 18907
San Jose, Ca. 95118
http://www.symbiosis4u.us

Try a RedOx machine for a full month and experience the benefits of drinking triple conditioned water … before you pay any money. RedOx (say Red Ox) machines triple condition water which flushes environmental toxins out of the body, gently diminishes acid reflux, while supporting the immune system with massive amounts of free radical zapping hydroxyl ions.

The Four Phases Of Learning

2011-07-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

There is an old adage that says, “If you continue doing what you have always done, you will continue getting what you have always gotten.” Today, if you continue to do what you have always done, you may not get what you have always gotten. That which was true may not be true any longer in our modern world of change, change, change.

Change is the standard of business. Bill Gates said that we should expect more change in the next decade than used to occur in a half century. Because of the rapidity of change, the most expensive sentence in business is probably: “We have always done it that way."

While you may have never heard anyone say those exact words, consider the opposite. Have you ever heard, “How do we do what we don’t know how to do ... and may not even want to do?”

We have always done what we do, the way we do it, because “that way” worked well enough, and often enough, to go through the process of creating a habit.

We have all conditioned ourselves to automatically do some things one way … whether using a mouse with the right hand ... or stepping on the brake with the left foot ... or simply the way we tie our shoestrings. These are examples of habits that we formed to make life easier. Many habits serve us well, while others … well, you know what it is like to break a bad habit.

Since habits are learned behaviors, not instinctive reactions, how do you learn other ways? Is it easier to replace a bad habit or implant a good habit? How do we learn to do things differently from the way we have always done things? How do we stop doing what we do, the way we have always done it? Should we?

Habits, like addictions, frequently have a negative connotation. Yet habits per se are not necessarily bad. Without habits, things that were difficult to learn would remain difficult to do.

Think back to when you were learning to drive a car. Can you remember when you could not automatically signal for a left turn, look over your shoulder without drifting out of your lane, while holding a coffee cup of hot coffee in your right hand, without skipping a beat in the pattern of a conversation on a cell phone, or the pattern of traffic, and ... all at the same time?

The next time you put on a pair of shoes with laces, try to tie the knot quickly and easily … after reversing which lace you put on top of the other? Sounds simple, doesn’t it? We don’t think about things like tying shoe laces because we formed habits to make such repetitive actions almost automatic. We do certain things a certain way, because that way has previously worked well, because we don’t have to think about how to do it, because … why should we try a different way that may not work as easily?

When considering habits, the easiest place to start is by identifying the four phases everyone goes through whenever they create a habit. Those four phases are unconscious/incompetence, conscious/incompetence, conscious/competence, and unconscious/competence.

When we progress through the four phases with a repetitive act, we develop a habit. When we progress through the four phases to enhance a skill or ability, we develop a mastery. The four phases have been part of our learning processes from infancy to fancy degrees.

Both habits and mastery begin in the first phase which I jestingly call oblivion. Oblivion is when you are unconscious and incompetent. You simply do not know that you do not know. One of my mentors calls this phase “the most dangerous place to be” because this is where you can get blind-sided.
The plastics industry was in phase one when they did not know that BPA, the chemical used to make plastic hard, would act like a hormone (xenogen), disrupting the normal maturation process of children. The full consequences of this act of oblivion will not be known for years, perhaps decades.

I am looking for a clinical study on using electrolyzed water to remove xenogens. If you know of such a study, please advise me. I already have a variety of clinical studies that document using electrolyzed water to remove other man made toxins. Xenogens are different because the immune system does not appear to recognize them as abnormal.

When a toddler sticks a bobby pin into an electrical outlet, he is in phase one. Usually, the potentially lethal shock tells the toddler not to do that again. However, my eldest son stuck metal objects in electrical outlets repeatedly. He didn’t cry from pain following such incidents so I could only conclude that his thrill at watching the flash of light exceeded any electrical shock he may have felt. Of course, we soon put safety covers on all the electrical outlets. My toddler son may have been in phase one, but his mother and I were not.

Not all consequences from phase one are dangerous or detrimental. For example, at some point in your life you did not know that helicopters existed. You were in phase one regarding helicopters. You may have been a few months old, or a few years old, before you saw a helicopter. Not knowing that you did not know that helicopters existed had no impact on your life.

However, as soon as you know that helicopters exist, then you progress from phase one to phase two: you know helicopters exist but cannot fly one. We all have many things in phase two that do not create impediments in our lives. For example, I know that Boeing 727s exist because I have take flights in them. However, I do not know how to pilot a 727, nor do I want to learn to do so. I am quite contented to remain in phase two regarding flying airplanes.

I am also in phase two regarding hang gliders. I know about hang gliders but do not know how to fly them. Unlike my phase two perspective on flying a Boeing 727, I sometimes imagine myself soaring silently through the air while hanging below a huge wing. But ... I don’t want to fly a hang glider enough to invest the time and money to learn the skill. I don’t want to transition to phase three with a hang glider.

Phase three is when you know something exists and you can do whatever is involved … but you have to think about each action while you are doing it. If you have to look at the keyboard when you type, you are in phase three. When you drive a different car, you are probably in phase three until you can minimally turn on the windshield wipers, the headlights, and adjust the radio without taking your eyes off the road.

Some people have a phenomenal ability to act in phase three. My late wife’s cousin was twelve years old when he stole an airplane from the San Carlos airport. He flew it around for an hour and then landed it ... to a welcoming committee of police officers. The boy grew up to become a commercial airline pilot ... probably flying Boeing 727s.

In phase three you have studied a foreign language enough that you can communicate readily … but you still think in English and then translate into the foreign language. The language in which you talk to yourself in your head, is your phase four language.

Phase four is mastery, when you can do something without thinking about it. This phase is what James Allen called habit force (here’s a free modernized copy of James Allen’s classic As A Man Thinketh in EZ format (arrow down until you see the title), and modern psychologists call subconscious actions. Psychologists also tell us that more than 95% of our daily activity is accomplished in phase four.

You are in phase four when you leave home in the morning, arrive at work, and have no memory of the journey. You are in phase four when a thought comes to mind and your fingers dance on the keyboard until the thought has become words on the screen.

A person is stuck in phase four whenever they complain, “But we have always done it this way!” In actuality, resistance to change is merely resistance against returning to phase three … where one has to think … in order to develop new phase four skills.

Whenever I sense myself resisting change, I know I have something new to learn because I hear my Dad’s voice telling me “When you stop learning, you start dying.”

Perhaps that’s why I like Spock’s benediction in the old Star Trek series, “Live long and prosper.” To live long and prosper requires continuous learning, developing new skills, exploring new horizons, perhaps even acquiring a new language … even if it is only a phase three language … or spending a Thursday evening at a Denny’s listening to a white haired business man.

Be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise,
Tom Van Drielen

Home of Red Ox machines for triple conditioned water which flushes toxins out of the body, gently reduces systemic acid, while supporting the immune system with massive amounts of free radical zapping electrons.

The Four Freedoms from the Fourth of July, 1776

2011-07-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well, the Fourth of July is right around the corner. July 4 is when we honor those valiant men in 1776 who signed their names to a document that became their death warrants because it had paradigm shattering sentences, such as ...

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Among those inalienable rights, probably the most difficult to define is “liberty.” Because we do not live in a state of tyranny, we Americans tend to take our “liberties” for granted and blur the distinctions between “liberty” and “freedom.”

Consider this. In speaking to someone, if I referred to the Statue of Freedom in New York Harbor, they would not know what I meant. The Grand Lady in New York harbor is not called the Statue of Freedom. She is the Statue of Liberty. Yet, in everyday conversations, we use the words “freedom” and “liberty” interchangeably. There is a subtle difference between the two words that is more than the arrangement of letters of the alphabet.

Freedom is a state in which somebody is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions.

Liberty is a political, social, and economic right that belongs to the citizens of a state or to all people.

As I understand the definitions of these two word, “liberty” is a legal word and “freedom” is an experiential word. “Liberty” is something you protect, while “freedom” is something you garner. “Liberty” is a birth right while “freedom” is to be achieved.

With that distinction also comes a caveat: liberty and freedom cannot be separated. A citizen must have liberty in order to enjoy freedom. A citizen must also have some degree of freedom in order to produce or sustain liberty. We have liberty because of the Declaration of Independence which precipitated the American Revolution, and produced the US Constitution. This year, rather than laud the signers of the Declaration of Independence for their steadfast pursuit of liberty, as is my custom, I want to look at the availability of freedom … today.

In contrast to liberty, freedom is not a legal issue. Freedom is heartfelt sense of satisfaction with the quality of life, and/or the potential of the future. There are many freedoms we have the option to enjoy, or perhaps I should say the option to attempt to enjoy. Among those many freedoms, four stand out as paramount. Upon these four freedoms, the majority of other freedoms depends … perhaps even liberty itself. Those four freedoms are: location, time, finances, and expression.

Location Freedom is the ability to live or travel anywhere in the world (or at least the USA). Few people experience this freedom because we (myself included) have too many honorable commitments that keep us tied to one small piece of this planet. We have a job or business, house payments, college tuition, car payments, utility bills, ad infinitum.

My younger brother savors his location freedom. In the 1960’s he abandoned a full scholarship to UC Berkley and went on a trek around the world. He left San Francisco with ten dollars in his pocket and returned a year later, having visited many countries. Even after he married and had two children, if he and his wife (who shares his penchantment for location freedom) wanted to winter in Mexico, they would not hesitate to hitchhike from Canada to Mexico with their small children. Even today he structures his life so he has location freedom. He lives in the Canadian outback, in a log cabin he build from trees he felled and scrap lumber. He has no car, no electricity, no running water, and no bills. When he wants to go somewhere, he goes. When he comes back, he comes back. Location freedom is high on his value list.

Time Freedom is the ability to choose what you will do next. Time freedom is waking up naturally because you are completely rested not because the alarm clock jangled your nerves. Time freedom is working eighty hours a week because you are captivated with an idea. Time freedom is not working for a year because you just feel like vegetating. Time freedom means you can do whatever you want with your time. Most Americans have limited time freedom because they work door to door.

Working door to door means, in the morning workers go through their front door, then the car door, and then their office door. At the end of their work period, they go through their office door, then the car door, then their front door. Tim Ferris was working “door to door” and decided he wanted more time freedom. Over a period of time, he was able to reduce his work week to four hours, while still holding down the same job. If you haven’t read Tim Ferris’ book The Four Hour Work Week, then you might be missing a little, or a lot, of time freedom.

I wrote the micro-book Corollaries prior to reading Tim Ferris’ book. As a result of Tim’s insights, I have added a tenth corollary to the Information Age. The tenth corollary would be “any job that can be done from home, will be done from home.”

A free copy of Corollaries is half way down the left side of the page of free eBooks at the eBook menu page.

Consider 9-11. Except for face-to-face sales clerks on the lower floors, most workers left home in the morning where they had a computer and a telephone. They traveled into the city, rode up the elevator to their office … where they worked using a computer and a telephone. Now, you can see why I believe the tenth corollary will be working from home … a form of time freedom.

The antithesis of both location freedom and time freedom is a prison inmate. A penitentiary inmate never leaves the walls of his prison, is told what clothes to wear, what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep, when to work, what work to do, and with whom he can hold a conversation or correspond.

Financial Freedom is not about being rich. After all, if you are reading this email, you are already rich compared to the standard of living of over half of the world’s population (the average household in Bangladesh earns $500 a year). Financial freedom is a state of mind in which you no longer worry about money, bills, taxes, etc.

Financial freedom is having your finances so well ordered that you finally discover the reason why you were born. Financial freedom almost forces you to evaluate what you will do with your life now that you no longer have to chase the almighty buck. Financial freedom gives you the resources and the time freedom to make a difference to people and/or the planet.

Donald Trump is rich, but I don’t believe he has financial freedom. Bill Gates is rich, and is discovering financial freedom now that he is managing a foundation to dispose of his wealth. Bill Gates is currently finding answers to the question, “What legacy does Bill Gates want to leave to the next generation?” Such a question is not easy to answer. I am eager to experience the conundrum.

Another of my brothers retired from the Environmental Protection Agency a few years ago. He rattled around the planet for a while, not knowing quite what to do with himself. I think he found his purpose when he found himself in southern Mexico helping people with their English. His federal retirement income provides a bountiful lifestyle in Mexico so he can help people without having to charge them any money. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. I wonder what Donald Trump would think of that kind of life style?

Inner Freedom is the ultimate freedom. Victor Frankl observed and experienced inner freedom while in a concentration camp during the Second World War. In the midst of cruel living conditions, forced labor, and meaningless executions, some people found their inner freedom. In the final analysis, inner freedom is the ability to choose how you will respond to a situation.

Perhaps inner freedom is what caused the signers of the Declaration of Independence to sign on the dotted line. They knew the consequences of signing such a document. They also believed they had a right to choose how they were going to live, even if they had to die in the attempt. Patrick Henry expressed this concept clearly in his “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” speech. Of such beliefs are great nations formed.

Here is a re-enactment of Patrick Henry’s famous speech "Give Me Liberty or give me death" is the fourth item down on the left column.

The Declaration of Independence did not create the environment in which the above four freedoms could flourish. Establishing and sustaining freedom has always been done at the price of soldier’s blood. As a veteran, I see the Fourth of July as a day to honor our servicemen. Toward that purpose, I added a video to my homepage that I call “Tribute.” An old friend of mine, whose only son had just been deployed to Afghanistan, asked me to create this 20 minute video, which he narrated. When he had finished there was not a dry eye in the house, and everyone was on their feet cheering … not for the speaker … not for the video … but for all those who have sacrificed their lives … or been willing to sacrifice their lives … for freedom based on liberty. Place a box of tissues nearby, you will need them.

At the end of the Fourth of July holiday, if the Red Coats didn’t burn your home to the ground, clap you in irons, and put your family in a dungeon, then you will probably be available to attend the Entrepreneurs Club meeting in Milpitas on July 7th. I have been invited back to speak to this very creative group of people, some of whom are looking for venture capital, some for joint venture partners, some are wondering if they will ever find their market niche, and some just wander in out of curiosity. I will be speaking on changes in the market place based on studies by Frank Luntz, Stephen Covey (Junior), the Better Business Bureau, and others. These changes can be boiled down to two principles:

1. We have been taught to focus on “What do I want from the market place?” This is selling.

2. The new focus will be more like “What does the market place want from me?” This is un-selling.

Be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise,
Tom Van Drielen
Home of RedOx (say Red Ox) machines for triple conditioned water which flushes environmental toxins out of the body, gently diminishes acid reflux, while supporting the immune system with massive amounts of free radical zapping hydroxyl ions.

Limiting Beliefs

2011-04-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

Everyone has one or more self-limiting beliefs, even critters like fleas and monkeys. I learned about
fleas first while I was in grammar school and struggling to learn the times tables. I was whining “I’ll never learn these stupid times tables.” In response, my dad asked me a question I have never forgotten, “Is that what you want?” To explain As A Man Thinketh (free eBook) in grammar school language, my dad told me a story about fleas.

Put a dozen or so fleas in pint size mason jar and loosely screw on the standard metal lid. Place the flea filled jar where it is relatively quiet so you can listen. After a few seconds, you will hear a faint “tink, tink, tink” as fleas crash into the metal lid while trying to jump out of the jar, which is perfectly normal (humorous mp3 file).

Then a strange thing happens.

The fleas continue to jump, but they stop hitting the metal lid. The faint “tink, tink, tink” stops. After a few hours with no “tink, tink, tink,” you can take the lid off the jar and the fleas will not jump out. They believe they will hit the lid, so they do not jump high enough to exit the jar … and freedom.

Forty years later, I was attending a marketing seminar for small business owners. The speaker said that natives in the jungle will catch monkeys by putting a banana in a narrow mouth jar. A monkey slips his hand into the jar and grabs the banana. However, with his hand clutching the banana, he cannot pull his hand out of the jar. While the monkey is caught between the quandary of releasing a banana and living in a cage, the natives run up and make the decision for the monkey.

The speaker then compared the monkey to a small business owner who cannot release a failing product or fire an incompetent employee. Both the monkey and the small business owner have the limiting belief that the banana in the jar is the only banana in the world.

I don’t know about you, but I have had unconscious beliefs that caused me to “grasp a banana.” One particular banana was a line of archery products that had been predicted (by a senior VP of the largest arrow manufacturing company in the world), to be revolutionary. With expectations of making really big money, I manufactured and attempted to sell those products for ten years without ever making a profit, not even for a single month. Like the monkey holding onto a banana, I really believed the products I had patented would revolutionize the market.

It took a heart attack to cause me to ask difficult questions regarding business, money, personal fulfillment, etc. Like most survivors of a heart attack, I paused to think about what was really valuable in my life. The archery business was producing no value. It was a banana in a jar. I stopped my archery business as quickly as a thorn deflates a bicycle tire. The reduced stress resulting from deflating the archery business caused me to consider how many other bananas were keeping me captive.

How many of my beliefs were bananas in a jar? How could I determine when a banana that I had in my hand was providing nourishment (empowering belief) or stuck inside a jar (limiting belief)? What is the inherent difference between a beneficial belief (5 minute video) and a limiting belief? How many beliefs are formed so early in life that we feel like the beliefs are part of our individuality?

For example, the meaning of the word “money” is usually formed before the age of six. Consequently, one of the first questions I had to answer was “What is my first memory about money?”

Somewhere in my early childhood, I acquired the idea that money is like a pie that is cut into pieces so everyone who wants some pie can have a piece. The unspoken assumption was that everyone should get an equal piece of the pie because that is how we cut a pie in our family. Therefore, in order for me to get a larger piece of the pie, someone else must get a smaller piece of the pie.

Economists call this theory “scarcity economics.” Scarcity economics is true for finite resources like land, gold, or water. However scarcity economics is a limiting belief when applied to creating new products.

So, how do you make a fixed pie of scarcity economics into an expanding pie?

Bring more value to the right marketplace, at the right time.

Increasing value in the marketplace increases the size of the pie. The larger the pie, the more pie available to others who participate in the same marketplace … including yourself. That is what my archery products were supposed to do; create an expanding pie. However, because I was in the wrong marketplace (California is not big on archery) the business became a banana stuck in a jar.

Perhaps you may be asking "How can I tell if a belief is a limiting?"

This is actually quite easy. Ask yourself these three questions.

1. "Does this belief pull me towards becoming more of the person I want to be?”
2. “Does this belief compel me to do a little more than I am currently able to do?”
3. “Will this belief prevent me from having everything that I want to have?"

It doesn't matter whether a specific belief is called true or false, limiting or enhancing, conscious or unconscious. What matters is whether a specific belief moves you TOWARD or AWAY from what you want? If a belief does not serve you, now is the time to replace it with a belief that does.

To change a limiting belief, consider using empowering questions. Asking empowering questions takes the cajones of a brass monkey because the question plays mind games with your own mind. As you can see from the following examples, an empowering question assumes that you have already accomplished what you desire and you just want to know how it happened.

“How was I able to own a sail boat and spend six months cruising the Greek Islands?”

“What did I do to produce four extra income streams in just one year?”

“How was I able to reduce my body fat to 20%?”

“What skills did I develop that promoted me to VP?”

“What did I change about myself in order to attract my soul mate?”

Limiting beliefs will never give you the life that exists in your dreams because limiting beliefs are like goldfish in a small fishbowl.

A few months ago, Dr. Robert Anthony told a story about a limiting belief. If you move a goldfish from a small fishbowl in your home and take it to a lake, the goldfish will continue to swim in the same small circle? Why? Because he has accepted the limiting belief that if he swims farther, he's going to bump his nose. He's always swam in circles, because it has done always been done that way. Any other way is "impossible."

What would happen to your levels of happiness, health, wealth, and wisdom if you had no limiting beliefs?

The first line of this newsletter states that everyone has one or more self-limiting beliefs. I just realized the sentence assumes a limiting belief about my ability to eliminate limiting beliefs. Unlimiting limiting beliefs can be really sneaky. (23 minute video by Tony Robbins)

Before you check out, check out the next wave of health enhancing products to hit the American market. Go to my home page , click on the picture of the RedOx, and then look at a video “RedOx Water Helps Blood” to learn how water can be more than just water.

May you continue to increase happiness, healthiness, wealthiness, and wisdom, in whichever order you prefer.
Tom Van Drielen

MLK Day, 2011

2011-01-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 17th, is a day of remembrance for Martin Luther King Jr. In years past, I have provided Dr. King’s speeches as my way of honoring his intention. Based on his speeches, I sense that much of what Dr. King strove to achieve has been realized … particularly since a man of African descent has been elected President of the United States.

Therefore, for Martin Luther King Day 2011, I want to take you back in time, to about 100 years before Dr. King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Back to before Abraham Lincoln became President. Back before the Civil War, when there were giants in the land, upon whose shoulders all great reformers have since stood.

One of those shoulders belonged to a slave who called herself “Sojourner Truth.” Listen to a re-enactment of her impromptu two minute speech, and you will see why the day of remembrance for Dr. King should include those upon whose shoulders he stood.

http://www.symbiosis4u.us/Special/SojournerTruth.htm

As this insufferable recession continues, if you know anyone who could use a lift in their finances, send them this email and ask them to click on either “Micro Businesses” or the “Trend-Analysis-Solution” logo on the top left of Sojourner Truth’s webpage. Based on Sojourner’s speech, I think she would be pleased with these new non-discriminatory small business formats.

And remember to check out the REDOX water machines, which are being manufactured right here in Silicon Valley.

Be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise,
Tom Van Drielen

Own A Piece Of Your Own Rock

2010-11-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

Decades ago, my dad told me … when listening to advice … find out if they have accomplished what they suggest … before you follow their advice. (Actually, my dad’s expression was, “Make sure they eat their own cooking.”) Warren Buffet fits my dad’s description.

Warren Buffett’s insights are crystal clear, simple and make sense..... here’s 2 Buffett minutes by motivational speaker Chris Howard (http://symbiosis4u.us/MP3/Audio.htm and click on the top left link).

And, here’s a few of Buffett’s insights that I found particularly useful:

1. If everyone else is doing it, be careful … because even a dead fish can float downstream.

2. Successful investing depends less on the size of your circle of competence, and more on staying away from the perimeter. Stepping over the perimeter of your circle of competence transitions you from investor (business owner) to speculator (gambler).

3. The single biggest cause of the recent meltdown on Wall Street was (and still continues to be) people investing like “day traders.” Too many people assess stock certificates like cards in a hand of poker, rather than proof of ownership for a piece of the business. Without dividend oriented ownership, speculation will always produce gyrations in stock prices.

If you are unfamiliar with Warren Buffett, consider this: In 1979, you could have purchased his stock for $290/share. Today it costs $120,000/share … IF you can find someone willing to sell. You can read more about Buffet’s investing philosophy by reading some of his annual Chairman's Letter to Shareholders. http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html

In terms of business ownership, there are only two ways to own a business. You can either own your own business (http://symbiosis4u.us/MP3/TurnKey.mp3) … or you can own a piece of someone else’s business.

If you own a piece of someone else’s business, you show ownership by supporting the business whose stock you purchased. Consider: if you own stock in Coca-Cola … yet you drink Pepsi-Cola …. you are not a business owner of Coca-Cola stock. You are “day trading” with Coca-Cola stock.

Think about it! If your ONLY monthly income came from your stock in Coca-Cola, would you encourage anyone to buy a soft drink from any other company? A Coca-Cola stock owning evangelist will attempt to get family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers to drink Coca-Cola products. The more people who buy Coca-Cola products, the higher the company profits, the higher your monthly income from dividend checks. Listen to comedian Andy Andrews discussing Coke versus Pepsi. http://symbiosis4u.us/MP3/CokePepsi.mp3

Back in the 1980’s when Lee Iacocca took over Chrysler, the executive parking lot was full of Mercedes, Jaguars, and Porches. Because Chrysler executives were “day trading” with their jobs, Iacocca gave his executives one day to get a Chrysler car, or get a new job.

Note: quality improved dramatically soon after the Chrysler executives had to drive Chrysler cars. They did not want to drive poorly designed and poorly build cars. Iacocca caused Chrysler executives to stop being “day trading” employees and begin functioning like owners. What a pity they did not continue.

Owning a piece of someone else’s business has been one of the primary means of investing for retirement (long term investment as opposed to speculative investment). Many corporations set up 401K accounts (or is it 201K now?) so employees could invest in other businesses.

Question: Did 401Ks become 201Ks because their managers stepped out of their circle of competence and became speculators?

Is that question too harsh? You decide … after you have considered a different kind of comparison.

Since 401Ks began in 1978, tell me any 401K account which has averaged 25% growth from dividends per year, every year?

Can’t think of any? Then consider this easier question.

Since 1978, do you know of any 401K account with a ROI (Return On Investment) of 25% of the monthly contribution … per month … every month?

Yet, such profits are quite common with personal businesses. Unfortunately, few corporations encourage employees to start their own personal businesses.

Caveat: 25% per month is common, but NOT on the aggregate. If a person spends $300 a month on “stuff” from their own business, they can reasonably expect to receive a profit sharing check (like monthly dividends) for about 25% of what they selectively purchased. Currently, in excess of 100,000 items, including from 20% to 80% of “stuff” most families purchase regularly, are available for purchase … with automatic monthly profit sharing.

Based on Warren Buffet’s concepts, augmented with my perceptions, the basic problem with investing by employees is this: other businesses can make money from employees … employees cannot … especially not from themselves.

Allow me to illustrate how pejorative that is for employees.

If Costco were to offer free memberships to employees, which increase Costco profits … most corporations would accept the offer. (Costco is NOT the only membership shopping program http://symbiosis4u.us/Newsletter/Membership.pdf .) But, if Symbiosis Enterprises offers employees 25% profit margins for personal purchases, which also increase my profits, most corporations would not accept.

Is that statement too harsh? You decide after you have reviewed how corporations perceive the abusive (and historically accurate) practices of a classic personal business. http://gr8team-tnt.info/TNT/Ninja.htm

Let me close this newsletter with a question.

If you had a choice between investing $300 every month in your 401K (with whatever return it currently offers), OR re-directing $300 every month (of money you are already spending) in order to receive $75 in profit sharing … which would you choose?

Of course, I won’t explain how a mere $75 a month in profit sharing could fund your $300 a month 401K investment … because … that will be a good subject for a future newsletter.

World Wealth Report

2010-10-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

The 11th annual World Wealth Report (2010) from Capgemini finds there are now 9.5 million High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) in the world, which is up 17% from last year. (A High Net Worth Individual has at least $1 million in all assets, excluding their primary residence.)

Here’s a synopsis of the report:
3.2 million Millionaires in North America
2.9 million Millionaires in Europe
2.3 million Millionaires in Asia

The Capgemini report also indicates the average HNWI increased their net worth by a 21% since the 2009 report. Reports like this makes me wonder what HNWI do that I do not do, because I rarely experience that kind of increase.

Social scientists like Noah St John, marketing gurus like Chris Cardell in Britain, and even NLP experts like Tony Robbins, have studied the mindset and behaviors required to become a HNWI. The following are six characteristics that Chris Cardell consistently finds in nearly all HNWI.

1. HNWI do not have a fixed pie perspective of money (Fixed pie means if one person gets more money, someone else gets proportionately less).

2. HNWI really enjoy their work, which provides them with a keen sense of satisfaction from even the slightest accomplishment. (The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.)

3. HNWI mastered budgeting their money before they became wealthy. HNWI take responsibility for the amount of money they do or do not have. (Wasteful with a little, wasteful with a lot.)

4. HNWI perceive their wealth as a reflection of the value that they bring to the marketplace. (If they want more, they give more value to more people.)

5. Nearly all HNWI experience a sense of purposefulness, or fulfillment, when pursuing their chosen entrepreneurial path. Consequently, they really believe that entrepreneurship is the most rewarding path to freedom from money constraints. (One definition of success is “To become a person who is able to do, and have, what they want, when they want it.” Mother Teresa had very little personal money, yet most HNWI would consider her a successful entrepreneur, and a sterling example of creating something using personal purposefulness.

6. Accumulating high net worth is a science that has be studied extensively, and an art that can be learned and mastered. Virtually every HNWI in every study expressed appreciation to one or more mentors who coached them (in person or through books). (Here’s an example of the results of decades of study. www.symbiosis4u.us/Temp/TFPPW.html You can download the MP3 or watch the video.)

I would add one more quality to Chris’ list: persistence. My current mentor (whom I have not equaled yet) gave me the phrase “I will until I did.” I like the way Samantha Bennett expressed it.

IN PRAISE OF THE CAPABLE

And as you stand there
On time and
Appropriately clad for the event
With a high-fiber bar in your bag
And extra pens
Let us take this moment to applaud you.

You, the prepared.
You, the accomplished.
You, the bills-paid-on-time and the-taxes-done-in-March.

You, who always returns the shopping cart.
You, who never throws a tantrum.

While the moody, the irresponsible, the near-hysterical and the rude seem to get
All the attention
Let us now praise you.

Just because everyone always expects you
To do well
Does not make it any less remarkable
That you always do so well.

So thank you.

For picking up the slack
For not imposing
For being so kind
And mannerly
And attending to all those pesky details.

Thank you for your consideration
Your generosity
For always remembering and never forgetting:

That a job well done is its own reward
That the opportunity to help someone else is a gift
That the complainers, the cry-babies, the drama queens, the never-use-a-turn-signals, the forgetful, the self-involved, the choleric, the phlegmatic and the your-rules-don't-apply-to-me-types

Need you to rebel against in order to look like rebels.

(You provide the lines - for without the lines, what would they color outside of?)

So take a minute
To pat yourself on the back
And say, "Job well done."
And as you consider someday
Showing up stoned
Or unprepared
Or not at all

And as you imagine someday being imperious
Or demanding
Or the one with the temper

Hear the unspoken "thank you" from a
Grateful nation that is a
Better, smarter, calmer, easier, friendlier and more organized place
Thanks to you
And your dogged diligence.

You are beautiful.
You are precious to us.

You are the hand that calms the water, the wheel that never squeaks, the one we all rely on
And while you probably would have remembered to send a thank-you note,
We forgot.

And just because everyone always expects you
To do well
Does not make it any less remarkable
That you always do so well.

And I would tell you to take the afternoon for yourself
Or sleep in tomorrow
But I'm pretty sure you already have plans.

So just take this very moment right now
To appreciate you
And all that you have done and done well
Even by your own high standards.

And remember:
You are beautiful.

And just because everyone always expects you to
Do well
Does not make it any less amazing, delightful or delicious that

You always do so well.

© Samantha Bennett 2009 http://theorganizedartistcompany.com/

Pennies On The Railroad Track

2010-09-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

My dad worked for the railroad, so we lived in railroad towns. As most kids who lived in railroad towns, we all knew the effect that a speeding locomotive had on a penny that was left on the tracks. The penny would be flattened paper thin while the engineer driving the locomotive had no idea he had just distorted Abraham Lincoln’s head.

While one penny set on a railroad track would have no effect on the speed of a train, a few million pennies would. With that thought in mind, read the following, sent to me by a business associate with a very unusual grandmother. (Note: I added links to clarify some things he wrote.)

Hi Tom,
I was in Lowes the other day to pick up a new faucet for the kitchen sink. Since I was there anyway, I thought I would look at the attachments for garden hoses. They were all made in China.

The next day I was in Ace Hardware to pick up some pipe sealant (which I forgot while at Lowes) and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in USA .

Which made me start thinking, and probably explains why I was so impressed with my 84 year old grandmother’s email. Here’s what she wrote.

“My great grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is marked “Made in Mexico” now. I do not buy it any more.
“My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico ... so I have
switched to Crest. It’s getting to where I have to read the labels on everything.

“Why just this past weekend I was at Kroger. I had a small shopping list (don’t need a lot at my age) which included 60 W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand, which I normally buy, was an off-brand labeled "Everyday Value."

“I picked up both packages of bulbs, put on my fine print reading glasses, and compared the labels. They appeared the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand, which I would expect for an American company like GE. But then I got a real surprise. The GE light bulbs were made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - in Cleveland, Ohio, in the good ole USA.

“So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets. Yep, you guessed it, bounce cost more money and is made in Canada. The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA!
“I was tired after shopping, but I did one load of laundry anyway (it is true that old people don’t have the stamina we used to … but we do have fond memories of when we could …). The USA made dryer sheets performed just like the Canadian Bounce I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

“I learned something that day. (Anybody who tells you that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, has never been old.) I had to discard the myth that American products I used for years … are still being made in America. Yet, equally good products are still being made in America. However, you have to read the labels.

“Here’s a challenge to my five children, fourteen grandchildren, and three great grand children. Start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see if you can find some that are made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

“As for me, I am embarrassed because I should have started doing this decades ago. But, even at 84 and living on a fixed income, it is not too late to help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the good ole USA.”

Apparently this Texas acorn (me) did not fall far from the ancestral Oak tree (my grandmother) because I have been financially supporting American workers for nearly two decades by buying almost all my household “stuff” from one American based manufacturing and distribution company. The fifty year old company has over 21 Private Label brands, making up over 450+ consumable products, covering most of my daily needs, all in one place, on line, with cost effective shipping charges (free with orders of $75 or more).

And, as if that were not enough, they are also the only American company to receive the coveted United Nations Environmental Award. This is one American company that has never put profit ahead of the environment or ethics. (In the past decade, at least twenty distributors, each with a six figure income, have been expelled for questionable ethics.)

Not only am I buying quality products made in American, but I have also been creating a small supplementary income stream for myself (as a financial planner, I encourage my clients to create an assortment of income streams). Like thousands of other hard working Americans who have discovered what every store owner has always known: repetitive consumption creates repetitive income. (http://gr8team-tnt.info/TNT/Residual.htm )

Just out of curiosity, how much of your disposable income (what is left after paying taxes, housing, and transportation) did you spent on “repetitive consumption” last year, causing a secondary income stream for someone else?

According to the last census, the average American household has $750 a month, or $9,000 a year, of disposable income. Suppose the average family could get back just 10% of the money they spend, would $900 be of any benefit to anyone you know?
( http://symbiosis4u.us/Info/Basics.htm )

Because numbers are important to a financial planner like me, I have to clarify that the average family who shops were I shop, only spends between $300 and $400 a month on selective quality products. Last year, the average family received an average secondary income stream of $1,380, which is actually closer to a 25% return of the money they spent.

Unlike most American companies who only share profits with stock holders (if the company even makes a profit), for five decades this company has been sharing their profits with those of us that shop and share the concept! Last year, this fifty year old company showed a 15% increase in sales … in the midst of a recession ( http://gr8team-tnt.info/TNT/AGnews.htm ). Makes one wonder if our penny wise and dollar foolish shopping habits could be a factor in sustaining the recession?

I close with this thought. “A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.”

See you soon,
Michael

If the economy is like a powerful locomotive speeding down the railroad tracks toward some indistinct future, and my buying power is like a penny on the tracks, then my penny will not have any effect on that speeding train.

However, if the fifty million Americans who are currently unemployed, or under employed, or struggling to recover from a bout with unemployment … if just those fifty million Americans would place their pennies on the tracks … it just might be enough to slow down the train … at least until the other two hundred and fifty million Americans realize how valuable their pennies are. Like pennies on a railroad track, we can choose to support America, one penny at a time.

Next time you reach in your pocket for a penny, may the penny remind you to be one of the new breed of Americans who evaluates both the “out of pocket” pennies AND “out of country” production. When counting pennies, remember to financially choose you, your family and friends, at the same time!

Can our nation’s economy be revived … One Penny At A Time … around such mundane things as: Tooth Paste, Cookies, Detergents, Lipstick, Coffee, Peanut Butter, or Whatever… with a penny from one American … paid to another American … for a quality product … made with pride … in America.

If so, then you will say, like Paul Harvey said for years, “Now you know the rest of the story.” http://gr8team-tnt.info/TNT/PaulHarvey.htm

Four Boons Of The Marketplace

2010-08-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, the AARP asked some attorneys if they would offer basic services to needy retirees at $30 an hour. Everyone of them said “NO, NO, NO!”
But then the AARP had a brilliant idea: They asked the same lawyers if they would offer their services to needy retirees for free. Overwhelmingly, they said yes.
How could $00 per hour be more attractive than $30 an hour?

The original offer seemed insulting, a request for legal services at below-market wages. But when the request was reframed as volunteer work -- and therefore meaningful -- most were happy to oblige … because they enjoyed their work. Those who said “No,” the second time, probably looked at their work in terms of money, with a minimal sense of satisfaction or enjoyment.

The lawyers who said “NO” had not learned that whatever you do for a living should be a natural outlet for your energy and enthusiasm. What could be more copacetic than to love what you do and feel that it matters? Connie Podesta only needed two minutes to explain the concept. www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/Podesta-2Questions.htm

Look around you. You'll probably find that the happiest, most engaged individuals are those who are deeply involved in their work, passionate about their community service (or both), even if their time is unpaid.

Why is that true?

Have you ever heard the concept: The highest reward for your work is not what you get, but who you become. Watch Jim Rohn explain this concept in five minutes. www.symbiosis4u.us/Temp/JimRohn-MarketplaceValue.htm

“Hogwash,” you say, “give me the money!”

Well … if earning money is the sole purpose for work … then you may be using the dictionary’s second definition of the marketplace.

mar•ket•place [mahr-kit-pleys] –noun
1. an open area in a town where a market is held.
2. the commercial world; the realm of business, trade, and economics.
3. any sphere considered as a place where ideas, thoughts, artistic creations, etc., compete for recognition.

However, there are three definitions of the word “marketplace.” The third definition does not use any terms for money, and refers to rewards other than money. By combining the second and third definitions, you discover there are …

Four Boons From The Marketplace

1. The Boon of Financial Freedom
Wages, salaries, and commissions yield paychecks. For most Americans, the marketplace is simply a source for paychecks. Earning a living, which is trading time/skill for money, is the most well known boon of the marketplace. If you were born and raised in America, you think of the marketplace primarily in terms of a paycheck for services rendered, not the vehicle which made America the Land of Opportunity. Listen to Nido Qubein explain why Foreign born Americans think differently. http://www.symbiosis4u.us/Temp/NidoQubein.htm

Ben Franklin, the kite flying author and statesman from Colonial Days, once said “There can be no freedom, of any kind, without financial freedom.” Now, I don’t think Ben defined financial freedom as extreme wealth … like diamond lane commuting to work in a chauffeured Rolls Royce … in order to have any other kinds of freedom.

No, I think Ben Franklin defined financial freedom in terms of having the ability to put food in your tummy, a roof over your head, a fire in your hearth, and … a warm winter coat would be nice during a white Philadelphia Christmas.

However, because humans have a natural propensity to want more (greed), there is a dark side to the Boon of Financial Freedom.

Beware of “FINANCIAL FREEDOM HYPE” in the marketplace.

Hype appeals to a person’s imagination, triggered by a perceived pleasure or benefit. Perceived pleasures such as: not having to look at the price tag on the sleeve of the silk suit, or the sticker attached to the window of the new car, or writing one check to pay for your dream home. Imagine taking your wife on a Caribbean vacation … in your own private jet … to your own private Caribbean island (Richard Branson did). Such pleasures really do exist … in rarified air, indeed.

Do some people really achieve those levels of financial freedom? Of course … but only after they provided an equal or greater value to the marketplace (Richard Branson did). In the meantime, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is … but not always. Sometimes an unexpected shift in the marketplace results in unexpected opportunity. The winds of change frequently precede the windfalls of financial freedom. When considering something new, or something old that is changing, do your due diligence … particularly to market share and corporate longevity. The marketplace may grind out the truth slowly, but it grinds very fine, and rarely forgives purposeful deception.

2. The Boon Of Inner Freedom
The freedom to be yourself and share what you know and love with the world. Les Brown, the famous motivational speaker, once made the comment, “The two most important days in your life are: the day you are born, and the day you realize WHY you were born.”

Have you ever asked yourself why were you born to your parents, in your locale, with your language, and your cultural precepts? What is the purpose for your unique finger print? What is the imprint you are to leave on this world? How about taking a simple Imagineering exercise?

Suppose you were given a six months sabbatical from work. You would receive full pay to cover your ongoing living expenses like mortgage, car payments, insurance, etc. You would also receive an additional full paycheck to cover your sabbatical expenses.

Now, think about this … really think about this …

What would you do? ______________
Where would you go? _______________
Who would go with you? _______________
What would you learn? _______________
Who would you want to meet? _________________
How soon would you start your great adventure? ______________
What significant act of human kindness would you bestow? ________
What legacy would you leave for future generations? ______________

Would you return from that sabbatical, the same person who left?

If you are like most people, you won’t answer any of those questions.

Because … you know it will never happen.
Because … you don’t know anyone for whom it has happened.
Because … you don’t have the time to even consider such frivolity.
Because … you may fail.
Because … fill in the blank ________________.

Few people ever find out why they were born because the demands of earning a living takes all their time and energy (the first Boon of the Marketplace). They miss the Marketplace Boon of Inner Freedom unless … they find a job with a company that encourages them to “be all that you can be” and … gives them six month with double pay to discover “all that they can be.”

3. The Boon Of Location Freedom
Prior to the abolition of slavery 150 years ago, the overt difference between a slave and a free man was the ability to leave one place and go to another … without anyone’s permission. A slave and a free man might both work as farmers, tilling similar fields, live in similar housing, eat similar food, and utter profanities at similar mules … except … when a drought came … or locusts ate the crop … the free man could go where the opportunity for a better life was … better. The slave could not. The free man could exercise the Marketplace Boon of Location Freedom. The slave could not.

When I ask people the “Sabbatical Question” above, about 80% define a desire for some kind of travel or adventure. Their faces glow when describing walking through the vineyards of Tuscany, getting lost in the Louvre, feeding the poor in Calcutta, climbing to base camp at Mount Everest, hot air ballooning over the Serengeti, or … quite rarely … simply waking in the morning without an alarm clock and commuting twenty feet to work while sipping that first cup of marvelous coffee … the Marketplace Boon of Location Freedom includes working from home.

I have enjoyed the Boon of Location Freedom for five years. Don’t ask me to give up my twenty foot commute … unless I can take my camper out in the wilderness and work sitting atop a boulder with all of creation stretched out before my wondering eyes.

There’s an aspect of Location Freedom you may not like. Every day, millions of people get up in the morning and leave their homes where they have … a computer and a telephone. Then they drive to work where they have … a computer and a telephone. On September 11th, 2001 … some of them did not come home. Does that put Location Freedom into perspective?

4. The Boon Of Time Freedom
Time is an unusual Boon, and probably the most difficult Boon to acquire. To me, the ultimate expression of the Time Freedom boon is … no alarm clock. I wanted, and really enjoy Time Freedom by sleeping until I wake up. In contrast, my mother-in-law did not want Time Freedom … at first.

My mother-in-law worked as a school teacher for forty five years. She wasn’t eager to quit working because she did not know what to do with her day if she was not going to work. She finally retired because her retirement income exceeded her employment income. She would lose money by continuing to work.

After she had been retired six months, I asked her if she was bored with retirement. Her answer, “My life is so busy that I don’t know how I ever found time to go to work.” She embellished that comment with, “Hours in life are like closets in a home. It doesn’t matter how many empty hours or how many empty closets you have … something will fill them.”

So the Boon of Time Freedom is not about having nothing to do. It has everything to do with the OPTION of having nothing to do.

As you review each of the boons, you discover each of the four Boons of the Marketplace gives you … options. Based on my fifty years experience in the marketplace, the first thing you need in order to enjoy more options is ... more sources of income. If you only have a job, with no secondary income stream, you have no options ... even if you own the business ... as I did.

To learn about options, ask to attend a webinar or conference call. Just pop me an email and I will send you details. tomv@symbiosis4u.us Then it is up to you to determine if what you learn is what the marketplace wants. If the marketplace does not want what you have to offer, well ... that's why unemployment lines exist.

Have a great day in the marketplace, I will.

But, but, but .. is crippling our economy.

2010-06-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Suppose we were sitting down at Startled Bucks having a cup of coffee. Between sips of coffee, imagine I casually ask, “Would your life would be easier if you had two streams of income: a primary income from your current work and a secondary income from a part time business of your choosing?” You would probably answer “YES.”

And … if you are like most people … following that clear “YES” would be a litany of handicaps, any one of which would cripple a potential secondary income stream:

BUT … I don’t have time.

BUT … I don’t know how.

BUT … I don’t have the money.

But … But … But … is crippling our economy.

Why?

Because of a thing called the "velocity of money."

“Velocity of money” represents how much money is in circulation and how fast it circulates. The more money and the faster it moves … the stronger the economy.

For example, businesses circulate money by spending money to make money, then they spend more money to make more money. The more money they make, and the more money they spend, the higher the velocity of their money. (Much of the money circulating is employee income. However, employee income is not spent in order to create more income … except for some part time business owners who buy products for their personal use from their own businesses.)

Many of these “velocity of money” producing businesses are part time businesses … without employees. In fact, as much as 25% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, which is one measurement of the velocity of money, is produced by businesses without employees.

Part time businesses without employees
are the most economical to fund,
the fastest to start,
and the easiest to operate.

Hence, the key to economic recovery begins with part time no-employee businesses … started before the end of ...(now)?

Millions of dollars can be produced and spent by these small businesses. Those millions, though small compared to the GDP, could create a “velocity of money” in homes across America. The “velocity of money” at the household level has the potential of igniting the velocity of money at the corporate levels.

But, but, but, but …

I know, I know, half of Americans think they are too broke to do anything, and the other half are afraid to spend what little money they do have. In such an adverse climate, how could thousands of new small businesses get started?

Easily, because …

Uncle Sam pays for the start-up costs and the ongoing operating costs. It's called an "Ethical Bribe," and here's how it works…
Three steps can stimulate the economy.
1) You intend to start and run a part time no-employees business (2 to 10 hours a week).
2) You intend to ultimately make a profit (few businesses make a profit in the first couple of years).
3) You intend to keep simplified business records. (I run my part time home based business using a Visa card and Outlook Calendar. The Visa card automatically records and itemizes my business expenses and Outlook calendar documents my business activity.)

To paraphrase any knowledgeable tax attorney or CPA, If you start a no-employees business with the intent to make a profit (IRS code simply says “make a profit,” not how much profit), the IRS will cut your taxes by $2,000 or more every year, starting RIGHT NOW. (Email me and ask for a free copy of the NFIB home business tax reduction check list so you can get an idea of the variety of tax advantages available for a home based business.)

Caveat: No business, or any kind, should be started just to reduce taxes. That is tax evasion. However, it is completely legal to start a business and use the good tax laws to assist your fledgling business. Sanford Botkin, and other tax attorneys, create tax training programs about specific IRS laws … laws which can be confirmed by reading them at www.irs.gov . To my knowledge, ALL of the tax code is available online. The challenge is finding the right code, which is why we need the experts like Sanford Botkin.

Furthermore, if you are an employee, the IRS will let you collect part of your additional Tax Refund every couple of weeks, all year long – you do NOT have to wait until April 15 of next year.

HOW DOES THAT WORK?

Simply ask, and I send you a one page business expense tax deduction guide from the National Federation Of Independent Businesses (NFIB), plus a one page check list of items most home based businesses deduct as business expenses (employees don’t pay taxes on money that is invested to start or run their own part time no-employees business). After you get your copy of the check list, notice that most of the items on the list are also items that employees already have (cars, cell phones, computers, DSL, etc).

Note: Your privacy is required by law and my personal ethics. After you print a copy of the document I send, you then fill in the check list with a pen or pencil from the privacy of your home. I have no way of knowing what you put on your personal list. That list is for your eyes only. After filling in the blanks, add up all of your personal use items that can be converted to business expenses. If the total is greater than $2,000 a year, then we should schedule some time to discuss how to increase the velocity of your money.

If your annual estimated tax deductions from the check list exceed the average cost of running a home based business, then your first supplementary income stream will be subsidized by the IRS … to the tune of thousands of dollars (there really are good tax laws).

Example: A fifty year old home based business (1 of the 4 which I recommend) averages less than $100 a month to operate so if your estimated tax deductions are $6,000 a year, then a part time business (2 to 10 hours a week) puts $4,800 spendable cash in your pocket.

WHAT ARE THE 7 BIGGEST TAX BREAKS?
Out of the hundreds of business tax advantages passed by congress, and part of the IRS code, for home-based businesses, here are the TOP SEVEN:
1. Home Office Deduction (this even lets you write-off your RENT!)
2. Business-Use of Personal Vehicles (this may be your BIGGEST deduction)
3. ALL out-of-pocket Health and Medical Costs (for the whole family!)
4. Hiring your own Children (as young as 7 years old, up to $5,700/child!)
5. Combining Business with Pleasure while on Trips (vacations just became deductible!)
6. Meals and Entertainment (this deduction is bigger than ever, and totally safe!)
7. Depreciating home furniture & furnishings used part-time for business.

After totaling your anticipated tax advantages, and picking out a home based business (I recommend only about four out of a possible 1,500), you can visit your payroll office to fill out a short form called a W-4. For each $4,000 of potential business tax deductions, you can increase your exemptions on the W-4 by one exemption. Each exemption puts an extra $300 per month in your take home pay – beginning with your very next paycheck!!!

That's like putting $75 extra cash in your pocket every week – week after week after week! That's just from tax savings not even counting the secondary income stream that will result from running a part time no-employees business with the intent to make a profit!

Note: a home based no-employees business is not designed to create wealth, just a nice secondary income stream for a minimal amount of work. If you want to get wealthy without any work, may I remind you of a statement attributed to Leonardo de Vinci, “He who would be rich in a day, will be hung in a year.”

Carefully choose the company from which you will create your secondary income stream. As of today, an aggregate of about 1,500 companies offer low cost start up businesses. Within five years, 1,450 of the current aggregate will be out of business either because they are underfunded or do not have a “purple cow” product.

May I suggest you consider the oldest direct sales business (50 years old) with the oldest product supplier (150 years old). Longevity is a pretty good indicator that a company is running the right business, with the right products, in the right way. If you would like to know more about this most venerable company, just ask … I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I know I was.

Remember: Small Business has always been the backbone of the American economy, so it is the rapid expansion potential of Small Home Businesses that has the greatest potential to return America to Growth and Prosperity.

From a semi-retired business man’s perspective, the next two years will be fascinating.

Kitty Hawk and the Internet

2010-05-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

Most grammar school kids know the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright … the first human beings to fly in a motorized machine. But did they ever heard about Dr. Samuel Langley?

In 1896 the Wright Brothers, and Dr. Langley were engaged in a fierce competition to see who would be first to conquer the skies. Langley was favored.

Langley was a distinguished scholar and secretary of the Smithsonian Institute. He had already achieved an impressive unmanned flight using a steam powered engine launched from atop a houseboat in the Potomac River. Langley had raised $100,000 in funding with which to build an extraordinary radial-cylinder internal combustion engine that would produce an astonishing 52 horsepower … powerful enough for manned flight.

The Wright Brothers, by contrast were un-credentialed tinkerers, confident that the secret to success lay in their ability to control the aircraft … once they got it in flight. They practiced with inexpensive gliders. The brothers suffered a multitude of minor cuts and bruises following each attempt at flight. But each successive crash brought the two brothers closer to aerial finesse by using the prevailing winds, rather than creating a wind with rapid motorized acceleration.

Then, on October 7, 1903, it looked like the brother's had lost. Langley's plane, which could go from a dead stop to the 60 mph flying speed in only 70 feet, began its first flight with a man at the controls. The forces from the intense acceleration ripped off a wing in very first attempt to take off.

Two months later, Langley had rebuilt the plane (with the last of his investment capital). On December 9, 1903, during the second attempt at launch, the acceleration forces collapsed a wing and the tail, which brought the ill-fated flight to a dramatic end at the bottom of the Potomac River.

Just days after Langley's spectacular failure, a sturdy, well designed craft, powered by a tiny eight horse power engine, costing about $1,000, struggled into the air at Kitty Hawk, defining for all time the moment when humankind … became masters of the skies.

Were the Wright Brothers just “lucky?” Listen to Jim Collins define luck and then make up your own mind. www.symbiosis4u.us/Podcasts/WhatAboutLuck.mp3

In the early 1900’s, America exploded with creative energy and vitality … because early entrepreneurs had thrown the first set of doors wide open … to explosive growth.

In 1994 (when the internet was opened up to commerce), the second set of doors to explosive growth were flung wide open. Those doors to explosive growth are even more wide open now than they were in 1994 … as it were 1903 again and man is testing a new set of wings. But this time, the little guy tip toeing through those wide open doors, is not flying solo. The little guy, ready to fly through those doors, is 300 million strong. The little guy is the American consumer.

The first time that idea crossed my desktop, it was an outlandish concept … until I looked through the doors that are flung wide open. Stay with me while we take a peek through those wide open doors at the changes in our economic system (all economic systems include manufacturers, distributors, and consumers). See for yourself whether this outlandish concept becomes somewhat rational? Here come the numbers!

According to economist Paul Zane Pilzers’ book Unlimited Wealth, when the Wright Brothers caught air at Kitty Hawk in 1903, for every $100 they spent as consumers, the manufacturer would get $80, while $20 went to distribution (getting the product from the manufacturer to the consumer). The manufacturing entrepreneur’s mantra was, and still is, “build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Listen to a 1 minute commentary by Paul Pilzer on the “Good Old Days”. www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/PilzerChange121.mp3

By the 1950’s, industrial technology had improved manufacturing so 50% of the consumer dollar went to the manufacturer and 50% to the distribution system. With 50% of the consumer dollar, stores sprouted up like mushrooms in Alice’s Wonderland. The mantra of retail outlets became, and still is, “location, location, location.”

By the second millennium, the distribution system had expanded to give the consumer greater convenience (3 Safeway stores are within one mile of my home), while manufacturing had contracted (gone offshore). In our modern world, 20% (or less) of the consumer dollar goes to the manufacturer. 80% of the consumer dollar is spent on getting the product from the manufacturer to the consumer.

We have shifted back to a 1903 economic base … IN REVERSE.

The Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Issac Singer, and others made their fortunes by focusing on manufacturing. I wonder why none of these men focused on distribution? Was it that “movers” (distribution) received only 20% of every consumer dollar, while “makers” (manufacturers) received 80%?

If the great entrepreneurs of the past century were alive today, do you think they would go into manufacturing? Or would they see that the internet allows manufacturers to sell direct to consumers (the beginning of the end for the majority of brick and mortar retailers). Do you think those early entrepreneurs would focus on ways to “build a better mouse trap” or eliminate the dependence on “location, location, location?”

The early entrepreneurs went where the money was … then. They would still go where the money is … now … not where it had been.

Why? Because the money is in distribution now. Crunch these numbers.

Our current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $14 Trillion. 28% of that money is government spending (new stats aren’t out for Obama yet). 22% of GDP money is corporate spending. That leaves 50% ($7 Trillion) as consumer spending. 80% of that $7 Trillion is the price our distribution system extracts from consumers in order to move products from the manufacturer to the consumer. 80% of $7 Trillion is $5.6 Trillion. $5.6 Trillion is a very wide open door.

If you spend $1,000 a month in stores. Only $200 is the actual cost to make whatever it was that you bought. You are paying $800 for convenience. How much convenience will you give up in order to get most of that $800 back?

If manufacturers’ mantra is “build a better mouse trap,” and distributions’ mantra is “location, location, location,” what is the new mantra? Michael Dell identified it in 1999 when he addressed the Economics Club of Detroit. The new mantra is “community, community, community.” More on that in a future newsletter.

Here’s the Million Dollar Questions for you to ponder. When manufacturers sell direct to consumers … who gets the $5.6 Trillion that had been trapped by the distribution system? How will you gain access to that money? Watch this eight minute video to consider one possibility. www.symbiosis4u.us/Special/HouseGold.htm
The next decade will be fascinating.

Beware the coming TAX tsunami.

2010-04-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Mid April, 2010

Thought this might be of value to you.

Last week the House Ways and Means Committee released the list of the $670.341 billion in tax increases that have already been signed into law, equating to a staggering $2,100 per year in additional federal taxes for every man, woman, and child in America.

Here is a link to the complete list of taxes that have already been signed into law. Courtesy of Congressman John Carter from Round Rock, Texas.

Yesterday I received an email from a friend, financial planner, and small business owner he studies trends in order to counsel his clients on legal and ethical means for increasing cash flow and reducing taxes.

Here’s what he wrote:

“As a licensed financial planner for 24 years (during which I also built 3 successful businesses which I run from home. I know you do a lot better financially when you pay less taxes. The new tax increases will definitely reduce the financial resources of your family, and by default, the country as a whole.

"In spite of your soon to shrink paycheck due to tax increases, I know that you can increase your spendable income by making more money while simultaneously reducing your tax burden. I have been doing this, and helping others do the same, for 24 years.

"To implement better revenue and tax strategies in your home, you need to know about the three trends that impact every employee and small business owner: the rapid growth of the internet, which produces both changes in distribution, and changes in franchising. The combination of these three trends will be the biggest change in business since the invention of the internal combustion engine. And, unlike the cost of an internal combustion engine, tapping into these three trends can be implemented for about the price of a few tanks of gas.

"If you were my financial planning client, I use the following rule of thumb which is based on the Rule Of 72 (Google this rule to learn more). The typical middle income family in the USA (about $50,000 of household income) can anticipate from $3,000 to $6,000 of additional spendable income, in the first full year, from the combination of increased income and reduced taxes … which should compensate for any loss of buying power due to the new tax increases."
Be Healthy & Prosper,
M. Johnson

Here’s what to do next:

For a mere 45 minutes, on most Mondays, beginning at 7:30 pm, you can get a unique overview (with a different speaker every week), of what many small business owners are calling … “The biggest change in business since the invention of the internal combustion engine.”

Go to www.importantlink.com and get your login number for the next weekly webinar, or write down the conference call telephone number if you just want to listen autonomously.

Nothing is for sale.

If you wish, you can register for the webinar using your own name … or even the name of your favorite IRS agent.

Note: webinars provide a basic overview based on the experience of the speaker. A specific webinar cannot answer all your questions because every household is different. However, after a few weeks, you will have learned a variety of ways from which you can pick and choose,one or more means to increase your family’s lifestyle.

Worst case scenario is comparable to buying a membership to Costco and then not go shopping at Costco.

Why people rob banks.

2010-02-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

On October 12, 2006, a 20-year-old woman entered a bank in Washington, D.C. She patiently waited her turn in line and then stepped up to the next available teller window. While she calmly spoke on her cell phone, she persuaded the teller into giving her $14,000 in cold, hard cash.

She believed thathaving the cold, hard cash in her hand made it HER money. Her beliefs about money would have prevented her from understanding what Leonardo Di Vinci meant when he said, “A man who would be rich in a day, will be hung in a year.”

Shortly after her capture, the woman reportedly gave a tearful apology to the bank teller she robbed, but that didn't stop her from being sentenced to twelve years in prison for her crime.

Think about it. Can you fathom working twelve years to earn $14,000.00, which is slightly more than $100.00 a month? Robbing banks is obviously not an efficient way to earn a living. Since that is true, then why do criminals continue to rob banks?

Because they believe that's where the money is … and if they can grab the money, the money will be theirs.
That may have been true a century ago. But banks are not where the money is now.

So where is the money now?

Paul Pilzer PhD, economic advisor to two presidential cabinets, multi-millionaire, and best selling author of many books, commented in his book “Unlimited Wealth” that our nation has a gross domestic product (all the money earned in the nation) of about $14 Trillion. About 60% of that $14 Trillion is the result of “casual” consumer spending (what is left after paying income taxes and housing), which is about $8.4 Trillion. Since $8.4 Trillion of “casual” consumer dollar goes through the distribution system (getting “stuff” to where the consumer can buy it), and the distribution system’s inefficiency takes 80% of the consumers “casual” money, then about $6.5 Trillion are being siphoned off through the distribution system.

$6.5 Trillion is a lot of money, isn’t it. Can you even imagine that much money? I can’t.

And here’s the really weird part. Bank robbers don’t even attempt to rob this money. They can’t because the money is not just “sitting in piles” in a bank vault. The money is more like a fast moving river of money. Distribution money is not static, it is dynamic.

Distribution money never stays in the same place, it keeps moving. Distribution system money is like a river … you can never step into the same water twice.

Perhaps that explains why criminals rob banks instead of the distribution system. Banks have a pile of money that can be picked up and moved. Distribution money can only be re-directed, much like a river can be redirected by digging irrigation ditches which channel the water to where the water can cause things to grow.

Since distribution money is “cash flow”, not the cold, hard cash that bank robbers like, a person, who wants to grow financially, could ask themselves …

How can a person create some “cash flow” from distribution money?

If you think back to my previous newsletter, I explained that the internet positions manufacturers to sell directly to the consumer. This has never been possible on a large scale at any time in history. Consequently, the distribution system, as we know it, will experience a dramatic change in the next decade.

Per Paul Pilzer’s book “The Next Millionaires”, our anachronistic distribution system is going to become the source of the money for the greatest re-distribution of wealth this nation has ever seen. Dr. Pilzer actually projects that the re-directed flow of distribution money will create ten million new millionaires in the next ten years. That’s 2,740 people a DAY, EVERY DAY, FOR TEN YEARS becoming millionaires. (Drop me an email and ask for Pilzer's ten million millionaires audio.)

Dr. Pilzer’s concepts require some explanation.

For over one hundred years, our distribution system has minimally consisted of manufacturers, regional wholesalers, area wholesalers, retail outlets, and consumers.

In 1962, Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, looked at this distribution system and thought, “If I can just eliminate one of those links in the distribution chain, I will be able to reduce costs to my customers.” The rest is history. Last year, Wal-Mart did $350 Billion in sales from a highly diversified product line.

In 1984, while still a college student living in a dormitory, Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, looked at the bloated distribution system and asked, “What if I could eliminate ALL of the distribution system and sell direct to the consumer?” Twenty years later, Michael Dell had a personal net worth of about $15 Billion from selling just computers and peripherals.

In 2000, Michael Dell spoke at the Detroit Economics Club. In his famous “Three Cs” speech, he said that any business has to have three components to be successful: content, commerce, and community.

Content refers to a product or a service which is intended to be sold. Content can be anything: an e-book, some music, a new car, a house, or a pair of shoes.

Commerce is the ability to receive payment for the product or service and get the product or service to the customer. Commerce can be driving to the local Shopping Mall in your car or clicking on Pay Pal at EBay with shipping via UPS.

Community is a group of people who want to buy the product or service. According to Michael Dell, between “community”, “content”, and “commerce” … community is the most difficult to create … especially online. There is very little loyalty online.

A brick and mortar store services the “community” of people who live within five miles of the store. The three most important elements for a conventional store are “location, location, location.”

The internet has NO LOCATION. A person will “switch” location from San Jose to Florida with a twitch of their index finger. The three most important elements for internet stores are “community, community, community”.

Suppose a store near your home offers a “widget” for $100.00. A store ten miles away offers the same “widget” for $95.00. Would you drive twenty miles, round trip, to save $5.00? Probably not.

If you were shopping for the same “widget” online and found one in California for $100.00 with free shipping, and also one in Florida for $95.00 with free shipping, which would you choose? Probably the one from Florida.

This shift in shopping attitude is causing a crack in the nation’s anachronistic distribution system. That crack is like a small fracture in a dam that holds back a large river … a large river of money … $6.5 trillion of distribution money.

Distribution money is beginning to leak out of that crack faster and faster every day. We are witnessing the early stages of the re-distribution of $6.5 trillion by those who are capturing the early trickles with buckets while digging ditches to re-direct the steadily increasing flow of all that money … into their own lives and the lives of people who understand and take action.

My company teaches people how to capture distribution money with a cup, then a bucket, and then digging ditches to capture an even greater flow. Of course, we don’t call it “digging ditches”, we call it building communities … communities of shoppers.

To build communities, we use a new business model (FTC approved) called “team building”. Team building is what Michael Dell referred to as “building a community”. Team building is organizing individuals, and small groups, into co-ops of consumers … which compound their buying power.

One consumer can easily catch a cup full of distribution money every month.

A co-op of a hundred consumers can catch a few gallons of money every month.

A co-op of a thousand consumers can create a significant stream of money flowing from the distribution system into the bank accounts of those who dug the ditches.

How is it working?

To answer that question, we need some comparisons. For example …

It took Wal-Mart, building brick and mortar stores, 40 YEARS to produce $100 million in sales in one single year.

It took Amazon, selling only online, 4 YEARS to produce $100 million in sales in one single year.

It took a co-op of 500 nation wide stores selling online (for which my company is a registered marketing agent) … 100 DAYS to produce $100 million in sales ... because small companies nation wide (like mine) built communities offline.

Last year this co-op moved over $1 BILLION in sales. Now that is not a lot compared with Wal-Mart’s $350 BILLION in sales. However, the co-op paid out over $300 MILLION to the consumers who created the volume in the first place. Wal-Mart paid out ZERO. http://www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/ZipNada.mp3

So, what are you thinking?

Perhaps you imagine yourself holding a cup under a leak in the distribution system and filling that cup with your own money? After all, your money created some of the money flowing through the river of distribution system money. Since it is YOUR MONEY that’s in the river of distribution money, and your money that is leaking out of the distribution system, then doesn’t it make sense to make money with your money? We can show you how to do that in a couple of hours.

Perhaps you see yourself with a bucket in each hand, gleefully scooping up bucket after bucket of distribution money. We can teach you how to do that too, but it will take a couple of hours a week for a few months.

An entrepreneurial minded person may easily imagine digging a ditch that overflows with distribution money. However, like most significant achievements, including becoming one of those ten million new millionaires, irrigation ditches filled with money will take time.

A person could be wondering, “How much money does a cup hold?” That depends on who is holding the cup. People have different incomes, buy different things, have different budgets, with different skills, different motivations and ... different sized cups.

For illustration, suppose a person is married with one child and earns the average W-2 income for Silicon Valley of $67,000.00 a year per family. Their cup would probably catch between $4,000.00 to $8,000.00 a year. You can learn more by reading my free mini-e-book http://www.symbiosis4u.us/Newsletter/AccidentalBusiness.pdf

Does that give you an idea of how much distribution money a cup can hold?

Now, here comes the mind boggling part. Sit back in your chair and take your hand off the mouse because this is too good to be true.

Guess how much my company would charge* to teach a person how to fill up a cup with distribution money?

Nothing. Zip. Nada. Squat.

My company was formed as an Information Age business. In the Information Age, information is free. The free information causes changes which produce cash flow. The cash flow causes more free information to flow, which causes more cash flow.

Surely you can imagine a few drops becoming a trickle, then a rivulet, then a small stream, then a small river, then a large river of distribution money … flowing to the vast sea of consumers. And the first step is filling up your own cup.

Got a cup?

Rainy Day Savings - Rained Out

2009-03-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Historically, recessions have come and gone.

I, personally, have experienced at least ten recessions in my short seven decades of life. Some recessions lasted just a few months, others went on for years. One recession resulted in a 25% unemployment rate where I was living. I gained different economic insights from each of those recessions.

The value of a recession is what a person learns, or what a person becomes, as a result of the recession.

Those who comfortably weathered recessions in the past had one thing in common … they had cash savings, sometimes called “rainy day” money. In order to save “rainy day” money, they had to spend less than they earned. In order to make the sacrifices necessary to save money, they had to believe in saving money. Today, too many people, particularly analytical engineering types like me, have lost faith in saving money. Our reasons for not saving money … are quite logical.

If we put money in a saving account, our money grows slower than inflation, so we wind up losing money, not making money.

If we put it in the stock market … well we know what happens to stock markets. In my dictionary, the definition of “speculation” is on the same page with “gambling,” and Las Vegas is an alternate spelling for Wall Street.

Logically, we all sense that something about the economy is not working the way it should. Don’t you agree that … that which did work … no longer works … at least not to the same degree?

Our logical minds complain that we should have been able to build a “rainy day” reserve using savings accounts and stock market investments. Unfortunately, saving accounts and stock markets are not working the way they have done in the past.

Stock markets and savings accounts used to work in the Industrial Age because they were economic tools of the Industrial Age. They are not working now because we have transitioned into the Information Age (or at least we have stuck the tip of our toe into that vast ocean). Because of the Information Age, the economy has changed.

We need economic tools that reflect our new economic conditions.

Rather than growing savings accounts by not spending money, we need to learn to create secondary income streams using time and money we are already spending. Secondary income streams function similar to the “script” programs that schools have been using for decades. In “script” programs, profits from sales are returned to a school. In “secondary income stream” programs, profits from sales are returned to the individual.

Could “secondary income streams” be the new “rainy day” money to replace the “rainy day” money that dried up due to inflation and economic changes? You decide. You can read the first two chapters on my eBook on this subject by clicking on this link www.symbiosis4u.us/eBooks/EntrepreneurDNA-2EZ.pdf (The first two chapters should only take about twenty minutes if you read 400 words per minute.)

Rather than speculating in the stock market, should we consider learning how to make money from the “back side” of the stock market? Perhaps we should learn more about producing dividend like income based on actual product volume for a group of companies rather than analyzing the speculative value of a stock portfolio for the same group of companies.

The “Back Side” of the stock market is similar to the way Warren Buffet invests. Warren Buffet doesn’t buy stock, he buys companies. He is not concerned with the increase in stock prices so much as the long term dividends (profits) produced by the companies he purchases. For example, he bought Mrs. Fields’ Cookies stock (all of it) in order to make money in the form of dividends, not increased stock prices. While we do not have Warren Buffet’s buying power, we can benefit from a similar process. That process is what I call the “Back Side” of the stock market.

On April 2nd, I will be speaking on how to make money from the “Back Side Of The Stock Market.” Stay tuned for more information as April 2nd gets closer.

Recessions come and recessions go. At least, that is what has always happened in the last century. Will that be what happens in this century? I don’t know. I do know that every recession has caused some changes, in some areas of the country, that became permanent. What will be the permanent changes resulting from this recession?

The answer to that question will make some people wealthy … and others paupers.

How will you benefit from this recession?

2009-01-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

Turn on the radio or TV, pick up a newspaper or a magazine, all you see is doom and gloom … bail out, recession, bankruptcy, mergers … nothing but doom and gloom.

Yet the talking heads that rattle incessantly about all the problems never discuss the “source” of their stress inducing information. Who tells the commentators what to say? Where do they get those facts they disperse into the ether with such alacrity?

Economists.

Economists are a strange breed of intellectuals. They arrange huge numbers called statistics to explain a concept and then create definitions to explain what the statistics just explained. I am not convinced that economics should be considered a science. Consider this.

Economists assume that what has happened in the past will continue into the future. To economists, the forces that existed last year are the only forces which can effect our future.

Isn’t that rather like purposefully creating a future we do not want?

New forces, unknown forces, creative forces, are not part of the equation because new, unknown, or creative forces are part of the future, not the past. With such a pessimistic attitude, it is no wonder that the study of economics has been called the “Dismal Science.”

Economics should be simple.

Consider the definition of a recession.

To an economist, a recession is when the Gross Domestic Product, which is a measure of the nation’s productivity, declines for two quarters in a row. Unfortunately for the economists, that information is not available until at least a month AFTERWARDS. Therefore, economists only work with the PAST, not the future, and … not even the present.

A recession can be over and the economists, and therefore the talking heads, will not know about it. We (as a nation, not we, as meaning you and I) may no longer be in a recession, but the economists will not know it for weeks or months.

So why do we listen to the talking heads telling us what the economists are saying happened in the past? Does it really make sense to create a state of emotional depression, which reduces productivity, which reduces profits, which produces a recession, which produces pink slips? Surely there has to be an easier way for the common man to interpret economics than what the talking heads say.

Cubicle economics use different metrics.

According to “cubicle economics,” a recession is when the person in the next cubicle gets a pink slip. A depression is when you get a pink slip.

When the person in the next cubicle gets a pink slip, you know there is a recession now, not next month. In contrast, when the vacant cubicle becomes inhabited by a new worker bee, then the recession is over (particularly for the new worker bee). Cubicle economics are simple but do not include elements of the future, only the present.

Functional economics should be both simple and include an element of the unknown, or the future, otherwise all we get is more of the past. We cannot create a functional future by only using facts from the past or focusing only on those things that are happening now.

So, how do we bring the future into our economic model?

Wouldn’t an economic model make more sense if it were to integrate current trends that are not being effected by the bail outs, bankruptcies, and other interruptions to the functioning of a normal market place?

For example, how do the economists factor in the growth of the internet into their statements of doom and gloom? My new eBook, “Entrepreneurial DNA” addresses some of these issues, and has some rather unusual conclusions … conclusions you will not hear the talking heads discussing. Why? Because the talking heads are just mouthing what economists say and economists only look at the past. Economists do not factor in potential mitigating factors that are in nascent stages of development … like the growth of the internet.

Listen to ex-banker and global business strategist Frank Feather describe future oriented economics. www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/Webolution.mp3

If economists only look at the static economic past, who looks at the economic potential of the future?

Entrepreneurs.

Most people think of an entrepreneur as the “start a business on a shoe string” kind of person. My think tank humorously refers to an entrepreneur as a person who finds a pile of horse manure and immediately begins looking for the pony that made the mess. My think tank, all of whom are entrepreneurs, know that being an entrepreneur is not determined by historical facts as much as by an optimistic predisposition to take action in order to create a more desirable future.

In the introduction to my new eBook, “Entrepreneurial DNA,” I define an entrepreneur as any person who takes action today to purposefully cause changes in the future. Rather than look at the past, as the talking heads would want us to do, entrepreneurs use the past and present to make meaningful changes to the future.

Here’s the fascinating part. Based on my think tank’s definition, everyone is, to varying degrees, an entrepreneur. In fact, the first chapter of “Entrepreneurial DNA” defines why you really are an entrepreneur, even if you work as an employee and have never started a business.

While everyone is an entrepreneur because everyone is capable of creating a new future, few do so. This dearth of action is partially due to the doom and gloom from the talking heads, but mostly due to a lack of training, direction, and purpose. Our schools did not teach us how to think like entrepreneurs.

How does a person who doesn’t believe they are an entrepreneur find out what would be an appropriate venue for them to pursue? How does a person awaken their entrepreneurial spirit?

All it takes are two pieces of paper and a pencil. That’s what the first chapter of Entrepreneurial DNA is all about … really high tech stuff like paper and pencil. The second chapter defines how to evaluate an entrepreneurial opportunity.

The first two chapters, over fifty pages, of Entrepreneurial DNA are free for you to read. (This eBook is in the EZ format so you use the page up and page down keys on your keyboard to change pages like reading a book.) Just click here and go to the download page. www.symbiosis4u.us/eBooks/DNA.htm

Will sluggish economy impact your economy?

2008-11-30T22:44:00.000-08:00

Most people know that buying repossessed “REO” property from a bank is a good financial move. After all, the real estate market will rebound someday. When it does, the person who bought “sub-value” homes will make a fortune.

If only ...

If only … many businesses weren’t surviving from invoice to invoice, just as many employees are living from paycheck to paycheck.

If only … there was enough financial cushion to survive a month’s loss of income, let alone invest a few month’s profit in real estate or the deflated stock market.

If only … I had a little more money.

During a recent session with my think tank, a visitor asked one of the most difficult questions they have ever fielded. “Is it possible to profit from the current sluggish economy, without the cash reserves to buy real estate or stock?”

The answer is YES.

However, the full answer is a little more complicated than that one syllable affirmation. Here’s the bullet points they suggested.

1. Don’t scoff at a mere $100.00 a month.

2. A little improvement can save the day.

3. Lots of little bits can make a lot.

4. Secondary economies are resilient and tax advantaged.

To see the “blood and guts” behind these bullet points, go to www.symbiosis4u.us/Newsletter/UncommonCommonSenseEZ.pdf (An EZ.pdf file has been reformatted for easier reading on your computer screen. No more scrolling down and losing your place in the text. EZ lets you turn pages like in a book.)

Since each small business, each family, indeed each individual will perceive and respond to “Uncommon Common Sense” differently, the following ideas were suggested for specific groups of people.

A young couple, struggling to survive in Silicon Valley will understand this scenario. www.symbiosis4u.us/Newsletter/AccidentalBusiness.pdf

If you know anyone with an Adjustable Rate Mortgage, ask them to review this www.symbiosis4u.us/Newsletter/ARMsolution.pdf as a potential solution.

If you are mostly curious, but without any specific distress that needs resolution, may I invite you to one of our webinars? On most Mondays beginning at 7:30 pm PST, my marketing team hosts a webinar. You have to be registered (no charge) to attend. Nothing is for sale. Not political. Not presenting just one business or product. Each week a different person explains their understanding of how a little rudder can turn a big ship. To sign up for this webinar, go to www.importantlink.com

As you review this concept, you can easily imagine an employee’s ship is like a water ski boat. These speedy little boats can move quickly, make changes rapidly, so picking up a few hundred dollars a month EXTRA … becomes just a slight adjustment the compass that guides their economic map.

Continuing the analogy, a small business could be likened to a cabin cruiser with live aboard facilities. Improving the economy for a small business is a little more complicated, but still achievable … once you have learned the basics for ski boats.

Big businesses, like big ships, are even more difficult to turn. Therefore, if the ship of your economy has “Titanic” written on the side …

Is TRUST alive and well in your business?

2008-10-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

A recent BBB-Gallop poll indicates a 24% decrease in trust of business during the past year. This was before the current financial crisis. Steven Cole, President and CEO, National Council of Better Business Bureaus, asserts, “The continuing decline of consumer trust is just not sustainable for businesses, but, interestingly, the issue highlights a clear opportunity for competitive advantage among businesses that embrace consumer demand for trust in the marketplace.”

That term, “competitive advantage”, caused me to start this newsletter with the intent of using the BBB study as a reason for you to buy business relationship enhancing gift albums from me. As I started writing, I realized that there is much more on the table than just making a sale. The ramifications of the BBB study are staggering.

Speculation is rampant about the cause, or causes, of this rather dramatic decline. Economists blame the sky rocketing cost of gasoline as the straw that broke the camel’s back. Democrats blame the Republicans, and vice versa. However, confidence extends beyond specific businesses to business in general.

Even the Girl Scout who knocks on your door to sell Girl Scout cookies has to overcome the public’s loss of confidence in eating high fat, high sugar foods.

Jason McClain, founder of Evolutionary Sales in San Francisco, would probably use self esteem to explain how to interpret the BBB study. www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/SelfEsteem.mp3

Perhaps Seth Godin, former VP at Yahoo, would identify a loss of consumer confidence as a reaction to an inundation of sales messages. www.symbiosis4u.us/Newsletter/ManipulatorsBySeth Godin.pdf

Because my previous business was repeatedly impacted by outsourcing, I assumed the primary cause would be loss of jobs, and/or loss of job security, due to off shore competition.

As I thought about the BBB report, I could see that each of these diverse answers held some element of cause-effect. However, not even the combined answers could encapsulate the whole problem. Something was missing. What did I not see?

I was discussing this issue with my think tank when one of them mentioned that that the BBB report does not refer to the past, but expectations of the future. All of the probable causes which had been postulated, each with some element of validity, were all based on the past, not probable futures.

With this new perspective, I asked myself how a highly regarded futurist would interpret the BBB news?

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock and other best selling books about the near future, in an interview with Wired Magazine said …
“I once had a class of 15-year-old high school kids and I gave them index cards, and I said, ‘Write down seven things that will happen in the future.’

“They said there would be revolutions and presidents would be assassinated, and we would all drown in ecological sludge. A very dramatic series of events. But I noticed that of the 198 items that they handed in, only six used the word ‘I.’ So I gave them another set of cards, and I said, ‘Now I want you to write down seven things that are going to happen to you.’

“Back came, "I will be married when I'm 21,’ ‘I will live in the same neighborhood,’ ‘I will have a dog." And the disjuncture between the world that they were seeing out there and their own presuppositions was amazing.

“We thought about this, and concluded on the basis of just guesswork that the image of reality that they're getting from the media is one of high-speed rapid change, and the image that they're getting in their classrooms is one of no change at all.”

Could this be the main reason for the loss of consumer confidence in business … nothing has changed … past tense? Or is it that consumers, most of whom are employees, do not believe that anything will improve tomorrow or next year … future tense?

We humans are creatures of habit. We predict the near future (next month or next year) based upon what has happened in the near past (last month or last year). When our expectations in the near past were not realized, we do not expect our expectations in the near future to be realized. Hence, no expectations for the future. No confidence in the future.

Since future expectations are typically linked to employment, then a lack of expectations could easily translate into a 24% decrease in trust in business.

Could the BBB study mean that many consumers (employees) feel they are just a number on the company’s employee list … and fear it will change for the worse … by not being listed as an employee at all?

Could we interpret the study to mean that many consumers (employees) feel that their employer controls their lives, and a loss of confidence means they expect their quality of life will be less in the future?

After study, and some really enlightening conversations, I have a different understanding of the BBB study. When you boil all the diverse reasons, past or future, employee or consumer, it comes down to a simple statement. Consumers, employees, voters, and families do not believe that anyone cares.

Consumers don’t believe anyone cares … because nobody can control the rising price of everything … of which gasoline is just the most obvious. No company, no CEO, no HR Manager, not even the President of the United States can give what they do not have … control over inflation.

Employees don’t believe that anyone cares … because there is no job security … because the company cannot see beyond the next year, let alone beyond the next decade. Bill Gates put this concept in a nutshell when he said that Microsoft could become a defunct business within two years of whenever someone comes up with a better operating system, at less price. Because Microsoft is like an apple ripe for picking, not even Microsoft has a vision of the future. No company, no CEO, no HR Manager, not even the Founding Father of Microsoft can give what they do not have … job security.

Voters do not believe anyone cares … because of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. However, Joe Taxpayer believes the Golden Rule has been politically massaged into , “He who has the gold, makes the rules.” Since Joe Taxpayer does not have the gold, he cannot make the rules. Ergo, he chooses to not participate in elections because … neither his vote … nor his life … are significant.

Napoleon once described foot soldiers as “canon fodder” … food for canons. Is it possible that voters feel like they are like disposable assets, nothing more than “canon fodder”?

If the antithesis of “canon fodder” is … significance … then no company, no CEO, no HR Manager, no five star general, (not even the Emperor Napoleon) can give what they do not have … significance.

Or can they?

(Listen to leadership guru Robin Sharma www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/PutPeopleFirst.mp3 )

For millennia, the main source of significance has been in the family unit. Fathers realized significance by providing for their family. Mothers personified significance by raising children to become self-sufficient, caring adults who also sought significance. Grandfathers and grandmothers found significance through wise counseling for the extended family.

Then the Industrial Revolution fractured thousands of years of family unity. The nuclear family almost ceased to exist. Because humans need to feel significant, and because the primary source for feeling significant had nearly disappeared, the nuclear family was gradually replaced with the nuclear work group. The extended family was slowly replaced by the company. The community was sometimes replaced by the large corporation.

Consider the following.

Does not the average employee spend more waking hours with their co-workers than with their family?

Do not co-workers develop bonds of friendship that are frequently closer than bonds with biological siblings?

Do not some managers function as if they were the patriarch of a family, in contrast to those who manage by intimidation?

As you can see from these limited examples, large corporations, companies, and work groups have a significant amount of influence over an employee’s feelings of “significance”.

However, they only have that influence … AFTER they realize that employment means more than just earning a paycheck.

The “significance” an employee feels is directly proportional to the personal recognition they receive from their immediate (or higher) supervisor … not just from the size of their paycheck … nor just how big their office is … nor even the size of the rubber tree plant in the corner. Because significance has its root in the family relationships, then significance is primarily about relationships, not money. Which is best expressed through the old adage …

Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

An employee’s feeling of significance is an emotional state that is developed, not bought or sold.
Only a person who has significance can give it away (you cannot give what you do not have).
Expressed inversely, significance cannot be given by a person who is not significant in the eyes of the intended recipient.

Let me close this newsletter with the question that my research caused me to ask myself …
WHO … HAS TO DO WHAT … IN ORDER TO MAKE ME FEEL SIGNIFICANT?

WHO OR WHAT CONSISITENTLY CAUSES MY TAIL TO WAG?

As I thought about my answers to that question, I realized that one of those people … is you.

I hope you realize that your reply to my newsletter is actually your gift of significance to me.

As a “thank you” for your reply, I will send you a copy of Wallace Wattle’s classic “The Science of Greatness”. I reformatted this 100 year old classic into an easy to read EZ eBook so you can turn pages on your computer screen (or PDA) similar to the way you turn pages in a book. If you don’t have any comments on the BBB article, just send me an email with “great” in the subject line and I will send you the eBook … for free … because you are significant to me.

What is personal franchising?

2008-09-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Lean back in your chair, take your hand off the mouse, and think seriously about this next sentence.

THE INTERNET ALLOWS DIRECT SALES FROM THE MANUFACTURER TO THE CONSUMER.

If that’s true, then why did consumers spend $8.4 Trillion last year at brick and mortar stores? In contrast, only $145 Billion was spent (2007 figures) in click and order stores, which is less than 2% of the total consumer dollars spent.

More confusing facts.

Currently any home that has broadband internet access will watch 25% less television. A manufacturer’s TV advertising budget just lost 25% of its effectiveness. Yet, 25% of consumer spending has not shifted to the internet. Where will the advertising dollar be spent that used to be spent on television?

The internet has already put many newspapers out of business. The printed page is not as efficient as the digital page for current events. As you may have guessed, newspapers earn most of their money by selling advertising. Where is the advertising dollar going that used to go to newspapers?

The typical commuter has a minimum of 200 different radio stations to listen to while driving to or from work. How can a company know which one would be best for their product line? If a company makes the wrong choice, the advertising produces no sales.

Remember Webvan, a local digital grocery store? Before Webvan went belly up, they advertised on a bill board at the intersection of Highway 101 and Highway 17. Perhaps 100,000 people a day passed in front of that bill board … which is why that bill board cost $100,000.00 a month. After one year, Webvan had spent more than a million dollars on advertising with that the one bill board. How much cream cheese and bagels, Oreos and milk, Coke and Pepsi would they have to sell in order for the profits to exceed $1 Million? http://www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/CokePepsi.mp3

Television, newspaper, radio, and bill board advertising are losing effectiveness. Consequently, many companies are asking, “How can we reach new customers and sustain old customers if the type of advertising we have always used is not working?” How can a company advertise without taking any risk?

Personal franchising is the answer.

Personal franchising creates a direct connection between a company with something to sell and consumers who buy.

True story: a few years ago a small company in LA invented a healthy energy drink that actually tasted good. They wanted to market it nationwide.

At that point in time, most people had never heard of an energy drink (other than coffee), let alone tasted one. How could they market a product when people did not have a basic category for the product?

Historically, the default solution would have been a nation wide advertising blitz so people would have a deja –vu moment when they saw a can of this new energy drink in the store. The small company in LA could buy a coast to coast advertising blitz … for a mere $100 Million.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the blitz would work since it would have been almost impossible to target those consumers who already drank energy drinks. Energy drinks did not have a “consumer profile”.

Most products have a clearly defined consumer profile. If you make a fishing rod, you could target fishermen by advertising on fishing shows on TV, in fishing magazines, etc. You would not advertise your new bamboo fly rod in Cosmopolitan or Rolling Stones magazines. If you make a toy for toddlers, you would not advertise in prime time on TV because your target audience would be sound asleep in their cribs. There is a good reason that late night info-mercials do not air on Saturday morning.

Without a consumer profile, how could the energy drink company know if an energy drink consumer ever watched television, read the newspaper, or listened to the radio? How could they create product awareness (advertise) for a consumer they could not identify? Were potential consumers young or old, male or female, rich or poor, athletes or couch potatoes? The company did not know.

What if typical energy drink drinkers used TV only to watch DVD movies, got the latest news online, and listened to CDS during commute, how could a blitz advertising campaign reach them? With regard to energy drinks, there really was no consumer profile, with one exception.

The only exception had been an Austrian company called Red Bull. Red Bull identified their most probable consumer as “party hardy college students”. Red Bull actually created a market, and ultimately a customer base, by giving away their energy drinks at college fraternity parties. Apparently “party hardy college students” liked the idea of being a wide awake drunk all night long. Red Bull could afford to give away massive amounts of samples, because they had already formed a large customer base in Europe. Red Bull was not a startup company when they entered the American market.
Since the small company in LA was a startup company, money was tight. Giving away hundreds of thousands of dollars of sample products to poor college students, who could not afford to buy energy drinks, did not seem like a viable solution. Besides, Red Bull had already cornered the poor college student market, such as it was.

That’s when the small company in LA heard about personal franchising. Personal franchising was as unknown to this small company, as healthy energy drinks were to the general populace. Here’s how the energy drink company used personal franchising in lieu of blitz advertising.

The energy drink company put product pictures, explanations of the ingredients, and the benefits from those ingredients, on the personal franchising company’s website. They did not pay for this advertising immediately. They paid for the advertising AFTER energy drinks were sold. And here is the really mind boggling part … as much as 25% of the advertising paid AFTER the sale, when to the person who made the purchase.

In the first six weeks, the company sold more energy drinks than they had in the previous year. After one year they had become the second largest energy drink in the USA, flashing past Coke and Pepsi energy drinks, while nipping at the heels of Red Bull. Massive growth, in one year, without TV spots, banner ads, bill boards, direct mailings, EBay, radio ads, celebrity endorsements, or Google Adsense ads. http://www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/EnergyDrink.mp3

Did the energy drink company ever discover a consumer profile for energy drink drinkers?

Yes.

The energy drink consumer profile is described as any person who wants to make some money after buying something that makes then feel good ... and makes them healthy.

Which does not make sense because the energy drink consumer profile also describes people who buy computers, books, toys, car parts, ham, Mickey Mouse ears, flowers, landscaping, TVs, and office supplies, just to name a few. Which is why Dell, Barnes and Noble, KB Toys, Kragen Auto, Hickory Farms, Disney, Flora Gift, Landscape USA, IBM (Lenovo), Circuit City, Office Depot, and hundreds more, participate in this “pay for the advertising after the sale” system.

http://www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/dotscam.mp3

So who was buying all those energy drinks?

Grandparents bought the energy drinks so they could play longer and sleep better. Frazzled parents of teenagers bought the energy drinks to compensate for months of long days and short nights. Corporate employees in cubicles guzzled one of the dozen or so flavors of energy drinks to prevent afternoon energy slumps. Athletes drank the energy drinks before a competition (not a stimulant, just adaptogenic herbs and vitamins).

Kids with ADHD bought the energy drinks (actually their parents did http://www.symbiosis4u.us/MP3/ADHD.mp3 ) because they did better in school. People, who had never heard of an energy drink, were buying some just to find out what they were like. Apparently, the only people who did not buy the energy drinks were … poor college students.

Did the energy drink company ever discover a consumer profile for energy drink drinkers?

Yes.

The energy drink consumer profile is described as any person who wants to make some money after buying something.

I wonder if these companies might be envisioning last year’s $8.4 Trillion in consumer spending shifting from brick and mortar stores to this type of click and order, no risk, sales format?

Maybe, only time will tell.

In the meantime, I am not completely satisfied with the energy drink company’s consumer profile. Their answer simply spawned another question.

If you have any insight into a possible solution to this question, I would really appreciate your comments. Here’s the question.

What is the consumer profile for people who want to make some money after buying something?