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My Path - Has not been an unusual one, I started at the age of 36 having never owned my own computer before, and I was tired of not making enough money to cover my life's issues...
I had a computer savvy friend build me a nice computer for $650. I scraped up from an income tax return, the first income tax return I had received in over 10 years - because even though I paid child support, I couldn't claim that as a deduction on my taxes, and ususally ended up owing the government at the end of each year because I couldn't claim a deduction on my 3 kids... if this is enough of an inside window to my personal situation - we'll move on to the work, and it was just that...
I barely knew how to send an email.
I went online and began to look, and found a lot of stuff I had never heard of before, and first tried online surveys... guess what - I didn't make enough money to fall into any category that qualified me to take any of their surveys, and I didn't see any survey come my way. There was no earnings there. I went back to look for something else online...
See, while I was going through that 10 years with no tax returns - I tried to start several traditional businesses, I have skills in many areas. Demographics was killing me... After taking a college course on owning/operating a small business - which was organized by the state of North Carolina - the state was sponsoring the class to "stimulate" small businesses in our area - during that class I did a "demographic study" of my local area, and discovered that my area had a growth rate of "less than 1% in a 10 year period"... the state of North Carolina, by the by, denied over 30 of the class members state loans to begin our businesses with. The deal was this, the state sponsored the class, with the condition that you attended every night for 3 months, and passed with a B or better, and they GUARANTEED a $25,000. loan to get started with - not one person in our class was approved for that loan...
I knew from the demographic study that I did, that a traditional business didn't stand a chance in the kind of demographic I lived in (so did the state of N.C.) so I went online looking for opportunity outside of our local area since moving away for opportunity was not in my plans... I found a company that was selling a weight loss product with a brand name, I thought - "who can't sell something with a brand name...?" and so I joined.
By fate, twist of luck, or the Lord above smiling on me at the right time - that's when I met Shawn Wheeland.
Shawn was the lead consultant of the company, an outside hired consultant - who had made millions of dollars in network marketing, and in other venues. I was also introduced to Shawn's right hand man, Joe Turney. Joe was in my upline, and worked personally with me in my beginnings... Shawn was very strong in his direction to develop personal and business skills.
I didn't follow direction. "Who can't sell something with a brand name...?" - Me.
I had good business experience under my belt, I went to the training calls and took notes, I didn't think I needed to read the books, I just needed to MAKE MORE MONEY - for the first year I went nowhere barely making 1 sale per month...
After going to a national conference with barely enough money to eat, I decided that I would turn this thing around. I was being taught "belly button-to-belly button" sales - and working in my local area, which was very poor. I continued to work that way, and looked at working on myself and personal skills, and began to read the suggested books...
The first book I read of any significant impact on me was "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz and a whole new world opened up to me - I discovered a great many things in both my surroundings and myself that needed drastic improvement.
I began to make sales...! And continued to read the books, but I couldn't get my small but growing team to read the books... then - the company made a change in the pay plan...
They turned a 9 level millionaire maker pay plan, into a 3 level affiliate program - that costed the same $200. monthly to belong to... Shawn disagreed with the CEO and Vice-President about the changes, he came from the field having built his income from being a rep., and he knew how unfair the change was to the company reps...
They told him to "like it, or lump it"... Shawn called a meeting, and told everyone that he was leaving this company and going to make money somewhere else - and that anyone that wanted to go with him could - and I followed Shawn and Joe. We left that company, and Shawn started his own nutritional company. He already privately owned a services company for marketers that provided voicemail and websites...
I was the 33rd person to enroll into Shawn's company. I still have the id badge :-) That company is still operating today.
I worked personally with Shawn and Joe, my enrollers stayed behind with the original company, and 6 months after starting this new company I had an 11 person team... that was growing because people were interested. I attended another conference, with Jim Rohn and other top coaches as speakers... For my team, we had a few meetings that I hosted, and around the 2 1/2 year mark since starting my business building...
It was November. The year had been tough on the local people, Christmas was coming - and I lost 6 people, half of my team... In December the other 5 left.
After 2 1/2 years of working and building, hardship, and switching company's (while working a 2nd shift job, and taking care of the children who now lived with me) - I lost my whole team in 2 months time.
Yeah... I've been there.
The local demographics killed my networking team, we had a 40% unemployment rate locally, and the work that was available in the area was scarce for many people. The team struggled not only because they failed to train themselves, but due to local economy as well, and so they quit.
I pressed on...
In my first year, expenses were killing me, (especially the phone) so I changed to much less expensive services and cut costs wherever I could in developing my business...
Still reading the books - becoming better online - and working with Joe and Shawn almost daily... I was making sales, but not enough to cover costs, and no team was developing... I knew the problems, and I needed to fix them if I was to succeed (local demographics). I went online to learn more about internet marketing, keywords, SEO, classified advertising - all that I could get my hands on... with the intention to get outside of my local demographics to make sales using the internet.
Lot's of inquiries came in - but no team building was happening...
Joe retired. He actually retired from network marketing - I've seen it personally, it is real, it can be done.
I was very sad to see Joe go, and at the same time very happy for him... we had been taught Wealth Creation also by Shawn, and Joe had reinvested his networking earnings well - and was ready to move into the "Investor Set"...
Shawn was a very good, but very busy coach. Joe was awesome, some of the cornerstones of my business building that are proving successful today - I learned from Joe. Shawn once said that he saw coaches of lesser talent than Joe - earning $500. an hour for their consultations.
Shawn did things in groups, he always had a group training coferencing call weekly, and was busy working individually with selected people. I wasn't one of them, since I had no team and wasn't seen as a performer. I missed 1 conference because of funding, and Shawn stopped returning calls to me. One of his business rules was to only work with the people that attended the conferences. If you didn't go to the conferences, for whatever reason, he did not work with you.
Then again... Fate, Luck, or act of God... Shawn recommended to the company to get the Magnetic Sponsoring course...
I went through that course, and it was excellent. I set out within 2 months of beginning to study it - to place ads online... and I was invited to join DirectMatches...
I looked at DirectMatches hard for 5 days... along with all my other training at the now 3 1/2 year mark (at that time) - the magnetic course was still fresh in my mind, and the course stated that if you wanted to make money online then you needed three things...
1. You had to target a large demographic group, preferrably marketers - because marketer demographics were constantly growing, and they were a group that was willing to pay for products and services to build their business.
2. You had to have something affordable. $50. or less in cost.
3. There had to be at least a 50% commission payscale or better. ( I knew from my training with Shawn, that residual is better than commission "asset income vs. liability income" ruled - and that commission pay is a liability pay)
After taking the magnetic course, I realized why Shawn had his privately owned services company, that provided tools for marketers.
So I join DirectMatches, and I'm sitting there for 5 days as a free member looking at it...
It was everything the magnetic course said you needed to make money online. With the added bonus of a high paying residual. After figuring out what Shawn's services company was all about (marketing to marketers), through reading the magnetic course, I had wondered if there were services companies that I could own...
So, here it was... a company that provided marketers with a needed service - in place and fully hosted for you, in a hot and rising trend, under $50. a month in cost, with 50% commissions AND a residual that built to $576,000. yearly as a bonus in the pay that magnetic suggested was required for earnings. ( An asset business is based on residuals )
I upgraded 2 years ago in DirectMatches, and got started...
The first month, I enrolled 70 people with the reply marketing method, I followed the training I received from Shawn and Joe, and my new enrollers advice to do reply marketing for best results - in building my DirectMatches business, and began to develop trainings and direction for my growing team to follow... I had enough upgrades in the first month to make a profit (the first month in profit with any business after 3 1/2 years of trying). I also had a growing team with questions, and worked 60 hours each week at my job on 2nd shift, plus took care of the kids. At the end of my first month I'm sitting there thinking...
"This isn't going to work. You are trying to do 3 businesses here, 2 of them are costing you $300. monthly combined and never made a profit... one you have made an easy profit in 1 month, and only costs $30... Then also 1 of them is "labor intensive"... You can't spread yourself so thinly with such little available time..."
I had discovered that low cost businesses were a much easier sell, that it was easier to make 10 - $30. sales, than it was to make 1 - $300. sale, and that marketers were definitely the demographic group to focus on for building business from home...
I weighed out my options, and it was obvios that I should ditch the 2 opportunities that never paid, and build on the one that was in profit easily just on commissions... and build a team there.
Then - hitting me like a truck, these thought's came in... "What will Shawn think...?" "What will my family think...?"
"Where do my loyalties lay...?"
I though of Joe, and his retirement. How he had left to live his dream of being an investor, and a lifestyle funded by asset income with plenty of time for his family, and money to enjoy that time with...
That's also, where my loyalties lay.
With my family, to provide them with a better life, and to live my dream, of reaching the investor set. I dropped the other 2 opportunities, and focused on building a DirectMatches business.
It had all of the magnetic training criteria - plus the bonus of residual pay - and I could FINALLY get outside of my demographic area effectively for earnings, in a "non- labor intensive" electronic service company - via using the internet.
I was in profit in my first month on commissions, in profit in my second month on commissions, the residual checks began to come in the beginning of my 3rd month - and I've not looked back since. During that first 3 months, I developed a relationship with Bill Weber, and Howard Winwood, both well known at DirectMatches - and top performers in social/business networking. I began to apply what they had to teach me about social networking...
During those first 3 months, I noticed much training about business building and team leading was lacking in the company trainings - and so I developed my own team training with the experience gained from Shawn and Joe, Bill and Howard, and my own "trials and tribulations" experienced in the field. The team training has expanded and grown through these last 2 years and is now duplicating very well, it is highly successful, and working well for everyone that follows the directions.
I quit my job after working for 11 1/2 months - as a DirectMatches Executive.
At the time of this writing, I have just celebrated my first full year without a job. Recently passing also, the 2 year anniversary date with DirectMatches in early Sept. of 2008.
I have a downline below me of 20,000 people - for now...
I'm working to develop some outstanding leaders in our team - and that is going well. I have actually had to fight with myself about a "fear of success" within - and won. I have developed further skills as needed in public speaking, email marketing, and leadership, and discovered that you never put down the books... every rung going up the ladder of success, every step up that you take, carries with it new responsibilities and tasks.
UPDATE: On November 28th of 2008, there was a new notice in our back offices at DirectMatches...
In order for representatives to earn a check (after 1 year as a representative) you must have a minimum personal volume in sales of $10. every 30 days...
This entire website has been dedicated towards helping you to identify which companies to work with, which one's actually deliver financial freedom, and which one's do not - Asset and Liability businesses are not so far apart, but have a tremendous difference in "end goal results"...
When I first joined DirectMatches, there was no "personal volume" qualifyer. Any business that uses a personal volume qualifyer does 2 things and has 1 end result... it forces you to keep working (or no check is made), it forces you to buy extra product - in order to "qualify yourself"... and it develops in the company pay plan "breakage" - which is money not paid (due to not qualifying) that is rolled back into company accounts. The fact that you must keep working to qualify for your check - makes a liability business. Creating breakage in a pay plan, which is 4 years old, which totally screws the people who built the company - makes the corporate office business planning look intentionally ______ (you fill in the blank).
To the best of my knowledge, DirectMatches is the only electronic services company on the internet that forces their reps to meet a monthly personal volume qualification. This is totally unfair, and unnecessary for the company to do to create greater earnings. Honestly, there was enough breakage in the pay plan to make the company a ton of extra income to begin with - before the "qualifyer" was put into place.
What makes matters worse is the way the company imposes this pay plan "condition" to it's members... info about the "qualifying" is very hard to find on the website, and the new member isn't informed of this "condition" until they reach 1 year in their membership.
That's right - your 1 Year Anniversary Present from DirectMatches is a threat on your check.
Here is what happens; you spend a year building a nice check, then you are hit by the qualifyer - you have a nice check so you stay and try to meet the new "conditions"... not everyone will do that - the people that joined you in the first month begin to hit their 1 year mark, find out about the qualifyer, and leave. You have to replace them to keep your check at the same rate. The people that joined in your second month hit their 1 year mark and begin to leave due to the qualifyer. You have to replace them to keep your check at the same rate. The people that joined in your 3rd month hit their 1 year mark and begin to leave due to the qualifyer. You have to replace them to keep your check at the same rate... and it never ends - you are building an eroding downline that loses people faster than you can replace them.
Bad news for you DirectMatches boys - I can no longer ethically endorse DirectMatches as a quality opportunity for people who wish to develop asset income businesses, because it is no longer an asset business. Due to the qualifyer, it is now a liability business. If you don't make a sale every 30 days - you lose your check - and that is NOT asset income. I don't believe in being misleading or unethical for a dollar either, I have to feel good about me when I look in the mirror.
Good news for me - This ain't my first Rodeo. I know what I'm doing in choosing companies and picking apart pay plans. The Magnetic Sponsoring Course strategy is also a real winner. I've been successful in developing nice profits from sales of other services and tools - nice to not have all of your eggs in one basket. The resale of services are the very same things that I use myself for promotions, and after reviewing what was available online in developing long term asset income...
More good news - I have very loyal team members who also noticed what drastic effect that "little" change in the DirectMatches pay plan had, that have decided to follow me into a new opportunity.
At the 6 year mark - in Network Marketing - I am beginning again with a new direction. With many exceptions from where I started; more training & experience = better decisions.
Seeing what services companies (non-labor intensive) online were in formulation, concentration, momentum, and plateau - also eliminating liability businesses, looking for an unlimited payscale with as little breakage as possible - in a viable, expanding, and highly targeted niche market... I found an overlooked gem of opportunity that possessed all of the criteria for my searching, and then to my surprise I found another - and there were many opportunities that did not pass the test, here is what I am building now, and they are quite possibly the best things going on the internet today...
Magnetic Sponsoring is the best business and internet income building information that you can gain - get the Free Video Course, buy the book and become an Affiliate. Follow it's directions and you will do well building a business online. I've taken many similar courses, and this one is the best that I have found online at producing results and being accurate in Marketing and Team Building Strategies.
GDI is an awesome Domain and Web Hosting Service. GDI offers a Domain Name, 10 Page Website or Hosting, and 10 Email Addresses. GDI offers an Unlimited Residual Pay Plan and a 200% Bonus Pool. GDI also offers many marketing tools and training for building your income.
You'll get lots of Marketing Information and Free Resources by visiting my GDI Website http://www.timdreyer.ws
NPN is a great ETools Service. NPN offers Multiple Auto Responders, Splash Page Creator and Hosting, Multiple Lead and Letter Manager, Lead Blaster, EZ Mailer, URL Rotator, Banner Rotator, Ad Tracking, and a Downline Builder that YOU Control. NPN has a fantastic Residual Pay Plan with an added 100% Bonus and Automated Follow Up to help you gain sales. There is Complete Video Training on their services and many Targeted Promotions (ad campaigns) and Advertising Resources accessed through the site.
Believe it or not; the 2 Business Opportunities above cost 35% LESS each month than my Executive Membership did at DirectMatches, and they pay better ;-)
I am already well into profit with my collective offers.
Roll with the changes on your way to the top. I'm not going to let the changes alter my course, I'm ready for them. There are many ways to reach for asset income and develop your financial freedom - and they are free to learn - you will find many of the tools and services I offer useful for your business building and online income earning...
Free Leads & Resources Page
I have more to offer your business building than I can list here - but you can gain many of my links and see what I'm doing daily by connecting with me on Twitter - you can find me there with the username tim_dreyer
Soon I will have many tools, feeds, and blogs lined up with my Twitter account, and followers will automatically get notices of updates on blogs and etc...
No matter the hardship, press on towards your dreams...
Follow the directions in this website - and I'll see you at the top...!
With all my best,
Tim Dreyer
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