Hi Winston, You liked my joke? Wanna hear another one? Only kidding! You say: ================== "I pick (e) become a lone wolf and tell people up-front all the bits that the big-pins want you to shut up about?" ================== That's OK if you have those qualities but what about those who don't? Where does that leave them? They have only 4 options. You then asked: =================== "And I say that based on thinking that when you talk about big-pins you are talking about upline. For that is generally the problem area in any legitimate MLM in my experience." =================== That is EXACTLY who I am talking about - big-pins, king-pins, big-daddy, numero-uno, Diamond Jim, Brown Paper Dan (well, maybe not him - but you get the idea). By the way, some of those big pins in a certain MLM starting with "A" did get hanged, or hung out to dry. They lost their distributorships. But worse than that, they lost their credibility. Winston, you spoke of ethics and I'm glad you did. Linda talks about that a lot too. You see, when a person has ethics others know that they can be trusted. A business built on trust can survive. One built on chicanery will not. That business has to continually go out into the marketplace looking for new suckers - I mean, customers. A trustworthy business turns customers into clients. There is a BIG difference. Oh-oh. I feel a huge rant coming on about customer service. In Australia it is virtually non-existent. I'll quit now. Gary Simpson

You are so right Gary, In fact yesterday I posted a thread for Laughter being the best medicine. Maybe you seen it, ------------------------ WHO said Laughter IS the Best Medicine? To view the complete thread and reply, please visit: http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShowPost.aspx?PostID=220843 ------------------------ ================================ Might make my so-called former "grenades" seem like popcorn. ================================ What could possibly be going on down under to cause such a thing??? Especially your grenades! Ok then, I will through two grenades myself. Really, Gary, I wonder if you would have all this scepticism if you had been one of those who made money with an MLM, I have, thousands. I think this is a key though that seperates MLMs from traditional business. The ratio of those that make money to those that attempt to make money is lower in MLMs than traditional businesses. Would you agree? ==================== programmes (programs - for our US friends - OK, I'll stop that now) ==================== You Aussies and the English you sprang from just do not know when too many letters is too many letters do you, LOL. ==================== So, if you find yourself in an MLM that seems to twist and turn the more you investigate it ... ==================== MLMs do not have a monopoly here. Really sounds like a bureaucracy. Look out if the government ever embraces MLMs ... too horrible to think about! In answer to your question, (g) Go inactive hoping for improvement, watching, listening, throwing grenades with Gary David Black

================= A business built on trust can survive. One built on chicanery will not. That business has to continually go out into the marketplace looking for new suckers - I mean, customers. A trustworthy business turns customers into clients. There is a BIG difference. ================= That's an important aspect you bring up Gary. Most times business owners (MLM or Traditionl) spend all their time out looking for new customers. There's nothing wrong with that, you always need to find new ones. Attrition dictates that we have to do that. The one area they completely overlook however and give little credence to is existing customers. They don't realize just how valuable they are. I read in an article a while back that Marketing Experts predict that you can generate over 50% of your income just by maintaining 5% of your current customer base. 50%! They also estimate that it cost 1/5th the cost to elicit a sale from an existing customer than it does to acquire a new one. Yet, business owners spend most of their time trying to acquire new ones and ignore their existing customers to a large degree. Go figure! LOL

PS: It is one of my great ambitions in life to finally remember how to spell "throw" all the time, LOL

(More medicine) The recent hurricane and gasoline issues helped prove existence of a new element. In early October [2005] a major research institution announced discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Government." Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton like particles called peons. Since Gv has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Gv causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second! Gv has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Gv is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass. When catalyzed with money, Gv becomes Administratium (Am) - an element which radiates just as much energy as Gv since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.