If you look at the power of using network marketing as a business model, it comes essentially from the basis of leverage.   It doesn’t matter if you are amazingly talented or get paid a huge per hour salary – there are still just so many hours in the day and you will only reach maximum productivity and profitablity if you learn to leverage your time, and benefit from other people’s efforts.

How do you effect that leverage?  In a number of ways that might surprise you – especially with the technology to which you most likely have access.   The fact that I can be on the beach at my favorite resort, and you can be reading my blog somewhere else in the world is a good example of how I can leverage my time and not be sharing your physical presence in order to bring value to you or teach you important lessons about building a business using a network marketing business model.

It is no longer necessary to build a business where the employees work hard to benefit the owners and stockholders; everyone has the same opportunity to succeed and invest only a fraction of the time and money of a frachise or bricks and mortar store.  Leverage happens naturally because you have a vested interest in mentoring and training others to succeed… leverage happens when you choose to receive 5 percent of the work effort of 100 people over 100 percent of the effort of one person.

• Leverage happens because your income is never dependent upon one person; your income is never significantly impacted because one person takes a long vacation, becomes ill or decides to retire. 
• Leverage happens as many frustrated professionals, overwhelmed by the lack of balance in their lives, decide to leave corporate responsibilities to pursue and live a different lifestyle – with you as their mentor! 
• Leverage happens… with a small network marketing organization created over time, through which you can ultimately produce the equivalant of working 24/7 putting in only a fraction of individual effort.

[caption id="attachment_691" align="alignright" width="125" caption="Leverage... the power of doubling"][/caption]

• Leverage happens… from geometric growth and the power of one.   My grandfather amazed me at age four with the math concept of doubling your money every day for 30 days.  He sat me down after breakfast and, having started with a penny – he added the second penny the next day… then four… then eight… quitting at the end of the week, having laid $128 out on the table and having some discussion with me that by the end of the month, if I was able to continue that doubling, I would have saved over $5 million.  Seemed unfathomable to me then… and I still have to do an Excel spreadsheet to validate the concept; a concept that is at the heart of network marketing. 

Does that seem strange?  Let’s look at it this way… if I teach you – I have doubled; if we each mentor another person, we have doubled again.  And the process continues naturally, and easily – producing results beyond your belief.

Leverage happens only when you use the process of building people, bringing them to their highest potential; it does not happen when the process is manipulated by working with people who look for the easy money and are not willing to build a successful business themselves.

Leverage.. is it worth the risk?

Are you intrigued by the potential of leveraging your time, talent, money and skills?  Check out my Income Opportunity Marketplace where you will find a plethora of information that will help you decide if this is a business model for you, a directory of the many opportunities possible in network marketing, and resources to help you with managing your business – using best business practices.

I have been posting to my social media throughout the month of September – National Disaster Preparedness Month, and want to segue into the fact that the second week in October is supported by National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) and Council of Better Business Bureaus for National Protect Your Identity Week (PYIW), October 17-23, 2010.  The most natural thing for me to do in this, my last post about National Disaster Preparedness Month is to discuss how these emergency situations impact protecting your identity and to invite you to watch for great posts about Identity Theft during October.

The news continues to cover flooding throughout the U.S., together with intermittent hits about fires, tornados, hurricanes and even a few man-made disasters here and there.  There is little doubt that every disaster is frightening, and puts our lives in a state of chaos, thus my continuing focus on whether you are prepared… for the unexpected!  The same energies and actions you put into creating a disaster plan, will serve double-duty in avoiding possible identity theft during a disaster.

Managing Vital Documents during a Disaster…

The best evacuation plan calls for your gathering, in advance, all vital documents, storing them in a safe place, in a storage unit that is readily available and easy to transport.   I believe in the PortaVault; it is perfect for managing all of your vital documents  – and especially so in the case of an emergency. Aside from all the obvious documents you need to protect, make sure you have included the following items you may not otherwise have considered:

• Birth certificates for each family member
• A current photograph of each family member
• Driver’s licenses
• Social Security cards for each family member
• Death certificates
• Insurance papers, wills, deeds, property records, and photos or video of personal belongings
• Other vital documents for each family member, such as immigration papers, marriage licenses
• Financial account information that might be needed in an emergency
• Brief medical histories including medical equipment/supply need including style/serial numbers, all prescriptions and dosages for each family member.
• Copy of medical insurance cards.

Note:  Listed items found at:  http://www.idtheftcenter.org

Evacuation…

The potential for identity theft during a disaster is increased.  Thieves are much more likely to loot vehicles – the more prudent course of action is to use the shoulder strap of the PortaVault, keeping the documents on your person, while still being able to move about, and locking them in the car only after you have completed your evacuation and are going to be with/in your vehicle.

Should you be required to stay in a shelter, it is again the best step to keep the PortaVault physically on your body at all times.  The container, which looks much like a book bag will be less likely to draw attention, or to be considered to contain the valuable items it does, but you certainly don’ t want to increase the risk of losing the very documents that will help you work with insurance companies and other disaster services. 

Digitally Stored Information…

If a great deal of your personal information is on your computer, and taking a laptop or removing a hard drive is difficult or time consuming, you might want to consider purchasing a small external hard drive to which you back up periodically, and placing that in your PortaVault as a part of your evacuation process.  A laptop or computer can be replaced; your data cannot.

The side of a disaster, outside the realm of your control, that you might not think about while rebounding to any disaster, is the personal data that is stored by businesses with whom you conduct business.  Once the crisis has been diminished and you are able to contact these companies, determine whether any of your identification records have been jeopardized, and if so, what steps you must take to minimize potential identity theft.

Note:   any solution offered by Vital Enterprises, LLC should not be used in lieu of legal advice.

If you have interest in either of these serious life-considerations, please visit my website, Vital Enterprises, LLC, where you will find rich and plentiful resources about both Disaster Preparedness and Identity Theft

I love what I do!  Being a Destination Weddings and Honeymoons Specialist allows me to help make a couple’s wedding and honeymoon one of those occasions they remenber… for a myriad of wonderful reasons!  I have always loved to travel; feel it is a vital essential in life, but is, unfortunately, not enjoyed by many people because they don’t know what is affordably available to them. 

Choosing the right honeymoon destination is important to any couple… the budget has to be just right, the activities must be something that appeal to both partners, and the romance has to be built into the travel plans.  This means that either the bride and groom have to put a lot of time and effort into planning their honeymoon travel – or engage the services of a professional who specializes in that very thing.

Often, the honeymoon destination is chosen based on what has been trendy and heavily marketed; however, this changes with some frequency and yesterday’s news is not necessarily today’s reality.  A specialist will be knowledgeable about these changing trends and tapped into the travel industry resources… guiding a couple with information such as the fact that Jamaica has exciting nightlife where Italy is for the chic and sophisticated.  For the couple who doesn’t want “trendy” the specialist will also be in the know about unique and unusual cruise, tour and travel packages that might be equally appealing.  There is no honeymoon standard that says you and your mate can’t go on a cruise to Alaska… a safari in Kenya… or even exploring the pyramids in Egypt!

The choices really are endless and the joy you put into the planning and into your actual honeymoon travel time should be endless as well.  I would love to help you discover WHICH of the many possibilities is the right one to start your new life together.  You can see a little bit about how I do this by visiting the Honeymoon and Wedding Resources page on my website.  Remember, I love what I do… and as a new bride – you get to take advantage of that!

Jan Vitale… creating beautiful wedding and honeymoon memories – one bride at a time.

Vital Enterprises, LLC

Are You Prepared… for the Unexpected?

Unless you are tucked away in some obscure mountain cabin or isolated on an island, it is next to impossible to disconnect yourself completely from the news.  In which case, it is equally next to impossible to not be aware of the disasters that seem to be happening in increasing numbers.  I did a Google search this morning, looking for disasters in the news, and found over 1200 news items.  I did that same search and asked for any information about disasters in general, and was offered up a generous serving of about 2,770,000 results.  The fact that September is Disaster Preparedness month may have something to do with the influx of items in the news… or it may be that people are finally getting realistic about the fact that the time to prepare for disasters is NOW!

Communities respond to the need…

I recently participated in a Disaster Preparedness program organized by the Mayor of Gilbert, Arizona.  Not only was it well organized, the event was well attended, which indicates that this thriving community is interested in helping people learn to take action to protect themselves and their valuables – before disaster strikes.  Those who attended the event now know and can appreciate the coordinated efforts of law enforcement, emergency medial responders, utility providers, area communication and other services who will be prepared to respond to any future disaster.  If your town or city has not held such an “awareness” event, are you personally ready to respond appropriately to a potential disaster?

Check any newspaper story, or listen again to news feed about a recent disaster, and you will be able to quickly determine whether people were prepared to react to the disaster in such a way that there was a difference between safety and injury; a difference between life and death.  Do you know what the ultimate disaster would be for your community?  Would it be an environmental disaster, such as an earthquake? Or is your geographic location one that would include hurricanes and flooding? Would you know what local agency would be considered the “first line of defense” for any particular disaster?  Where would you turn for help?

Personal responsibilities…

Despite what is being made available at a community level, it is what you do within your own family unit that is even more critical.  Being prepared for a disaster includes planning how you will take care of any elderly or disabled family members and what kind of communication network you establish so you are aware of the safety and location of each family member.  It calls for ensuring the availability of home safety and emergency medical supplies and easy to transport food and water.  It requires that you have the right information and tools that will protect your safety during a disaster.  When it comes to any kind of disaster, today’s news and yesterday’s history tell us… it is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.  We need to be prepared because disasters always strike quickly… and without warning.

I have been in the insurance industry of over 30 years and have seen first hand the results of not being prepared – from not having managed secure access to your vital documents to not having a fire evacuation plan, and a myriad of profoundly sad “endings” that being prepared would have prevented.  Viewing these events has made me passionate about participating in increasing the awareness of disaster preparedness and providing resources to allow for being prepared.  If you are looking for one resource where you can find vital information, you are encouraged to visit Vital Enterprises, LLC – new items are being added frequently and consistently.  If you are not prepared for disaster… would a good time to start be NOW?

What is YOUR passion?

Have you ever really stopped to think about WHY you want to travel to a particular place?  Did you see a picture that just caught your breath?  Did a friend come back from a vacation and make you feel literally compelled to have the same wonderful experience?  Did you read a book as a child and have never been able to still the curiousity? 

I have a really good friend who has a rather unique combination of reasons for wanting to visit Greece.   I thought I would share those with you, since the Tour I am planning for May, 2011 is to Greece.  My friend loves people, and whether from books, movies or music, she has a picture of what the people in Greece are like, and she wants to experience that!  She feels they are open, and loving and embrace life with the utmost of passion – how else will she know for sure, unless she goes there and mingles with them? 

She also loves music and from everything she has heard of the music, the Greeks like their lively, passionate and full-of-life.  History tells us that the music of Greece was inseparable from its poetry and dancing – causing one to conjur up visions of powerful scenes from Zorba the Greek. 

A touch of history…

Very few countries in the world offer a history more interesting than Greece – a history that left touches of the British and the Turks… the Crusaders and the Venetians.  Ancient ruins tell many stories and those who come to visit find the cities, the architecture, the beaches… each casting powerful spells on visitors who may come looking for the Temple of Apollo in Bassai, or the Archaeological Museum in Delos. Delphi draws those who want to experience the Sanctuary of Apollo Theatre, while Epano Egnlianos promises the treat of the Palace of Nestor. Freedom Square is located in Kos and the Acropolis in Lindos… just two of a myriad of historical locations that bring many visitors to Greece.

The beaches – the beautiful beaches…

Skiathos is one of the more popular beaches in Greece – often seen amazingly packed with sun seekers and world travelers.  Skiathos makes claim to over 65 beaches, even though many of them are not even large enough to realistically qualify as a beach.  Many of the beaches offer fine golden sand, clear water and a character of their own – a few of which include nudist priveleges!

If you are looking for something with a little more local charm, the beach of choice would probably be Skopelos.  Unfortunately, that quiet charm is given in exchange for less tourists, beaches, restaurants, activities, etc.

There, you have it!   Three reasons to visit Greece… what are yours?   I would love to see those reasons shared in my comments section.   And, if Greece is the country you would like to visit – check in often for more tidbits, trivia and beautiful pictures.