So what would you say?, What do you think the top benefits of being involved in our marketing business model would be? After being involved in this industry for about 15 years and watching people come and go, fail and succeed, grow and develop I came to this conclusion.

The three greatest benefits of Network Marketing are (1) The personal growth and development you must experience in order to become financially successful. (2) The relationships and the friendships you develop (3) The lifestyle and potential to create wealth the residual income opportunity provides. Now 10 years later I have not seen, experienced or heard anything that would change the opinion I developed after my first 15 years.

In my opinion these are the Top 3 benefits of our industry and in the order of priority. With many MLM companies, there is a 4th benefit that is number 1 for a great many distributors and that is the benefit of better health.

So we not only have the opportunity to share a way of life where people can grow personally, create meaningful relationships and create wealth, but also better health in the process. It is hard to understand why something so awesome is so misunderstood by many. Just remember, "When it becomes obvious to the masses, the opportunity will be gone".

Let's take a closer look at the Top 3 benefits.

#3 The lifestyle and potential to create wealth the residual income opportunity provides you.

In the past I have done an entire training program on this subject titled "Straight talk to Network Marketers regarding Wealth" I obviously can't discuss the entire training here, but let me share with you a few of the highlights.

Until you are in a situation, where you don't need your commission check to live comfortably, YOU HAVE NOT MADE IT! This is the best piece of advice I can give you. This industry is notorious & full of people that were earning $40,000 a year, who start making $10,000 a month and SPENDING $12,000.00.

I can not tell you how many people I personally know who made millions of dollars in our industry and eventually filed bankruptcy. Ladies and gentleman, this is sad, very sad.

I have tried to communicate to people "Don't buy a Mercedes until you have bought a duplex!" What am I really saying? Every network marketer goes through a "toys stage", unfortunately some STAY in the "Toys" stage.

Go buy a nice car, take your family to Hawaii, or your spouse on a cruise. When we started making big money, we did all of that. I bought a couple of Dodge Vipers, flew my family 1st Class to Hawaii for 10 days, and Stephanie and I went on cruise to Bermuda.

We had the private plain, Limousines, and took 5 vacations a year. I stayed in the "Toys" stage too long, please learn from my mistakes. I bought rental property and made other good investments, but I should have done a lot more, a lot quicker.

Read "Rich Dad - Poor Dad" and FOLLOW THE ADVICE IN THAT AWESOME BOOK! Your ultimate goal should be to learn how to use your residual incomes streams to invest in Cash Flow generating assets.

You ultimately want to get in a situation where you have enough income coming in from your investments to live comfortably.

The steps are simple: Step 1 Get out of debt, everything but your home Step 2 Go through a toys stage, but not for too long Step 3 Pay off your home Step 4 Invest in Cash flow Generating Assets Step 5 Once you have enough cash flow coming in each month to live Comfortably from your assets then you can move back into a toys or travel stage for as long as you choose.

Don't fall into the trap that so many network marketers have over the years. Be prepared now and make good decisions about your future and follow through with those decisions when the cash flows to you.

#2 The relationships and friendships you develop

Being involved in this industry exposes you to the worst and the best of people. Ego and greed have destroyed more network marketing companies and organization than any other emotions.

I have always said, "There is no end to what a group of like minded people can accomplish, when no one cares, who gets the credit" The challenge, is most people DO CARE who gets the credit.

Our industry is basically made up of 2 kinds of people that others "perceive to be leaders" The first group is those who are interested in developing a following, I call it the heard mentality. I don't consider these people leaders at all, but 90% of the industry does.

Then second type are the only true leaders as far as I am concerned and those are people who are interested in developing leaders. We truly are in the "leadership development" business. Systems and programs are duplicatable, personality is not.

You should always be careful who you are following and where they are taking you. So many times "perceived leaders" get in a toys stage and stay there too long. Then something blows up with the company and they are forced to jump ship to a new home. Many times they make special deals and choose opportunities that benefit them, but not there organization.

I am always shocked at how people BLINDLY FOLLOW those they "perceive" to be leaders. It is hard to say how many times I have asked myself over the years, "don't those people own a calculator?"

People follow those they perceive to be leaders, right, wrong, good, bad. So leadership should never be a position you take for granted. You must always make decisions that are in the best interest of the "Team" not just your personal situation.

With all of that said, network marketing allows you to develop more deep and meaningful relationships than any business I know. If done correctly with the right mind set and your priorities in the right place, it is awesome. Other than the ministry I can think of no other profession that allows you to deeply touch your fellow human beings like our industry.

Understand, it is different on the outside looking in, than it is on the inside looking out. The masses still don't get it, and probably never will. We have to accept that, but be thankful that we know the truth.

A couple of weeks ago I was notified that a guy that was in my downline for almost 6 years had died. He was only 51 years old. For several days I found myself going back in time to the first time we ever met at an opportunity overview in Raleigh, North Carolina, to his struggles, and success.

I remembered him proposing to his wife and one of our National Conferences, and he and his wife enjoying a company paid exotic vacation in Aruba and on and on.

Even though I hadn't personally spoken with him in a couple of years, his death, took something from my life, just as the good times and struggles together had given to my life.

In this industry, you will experience many more joys, because your life will be connected with so many people. On the flip side, you will experience a few more pains, for the same reason.

People give us life. When it is all said and done the only thing that really is going to matter is how many people's life we had the opportunity to touch in a positive way.

This industry brings out the best and worst in people. There really is no time for ego's, jealousy, inferiority complexes & gossip. There are too many people that need encouragement and recognition and for us to believe in them.

After the conference I received an email from one of our top distributors, the way they ended it says it all. "Friends for Life" that is what this industry offers.

#1 The personal growth and development you MUST Experience to become financially successful

Very few people can enter this industry and build their income to $10,000 per month without going through some major paridgm changes and personal growth first.

If they can, I promise you this, THEY AREN'T DUPLICATABLE.

You cannot build this business with the skills and attitudes you entered it with. The first major observation you will discover is PEOPLE LIE, the second major observation is THE WORK ETHIC FOR MOST PEOPLE STINKS.

The world is full of people that want to get rich sitting on the couch. The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary!

This industry offers you a huge world of personal growth and development that you can tap into, that prior, most of us didn't even know existed. It has been reported that more self made millionaires attribute a portion of their success to "Think & Grow Rich" more than any other book." Most of you have read this book, if you haven't you should.

I read it once a year, every summer and have for the past 10+ years. Do you realize if it weren't for this industry you may have never discovered the book "Think & Grow Rich" or ever heard speakers like, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Les Brown, Denis Waitley or Brian Tracy?

The network marketing industry gives you the opportunity to become a NO LIMIT PERSON and tap the true God given talents and skills within yourself.

The challenge is to control your thinking, by controlling your self-talk and stay focused on WHAT YOU WANT, and don't waste any mental thought on that which you don't want! 97% of the things people worry about NEVER HAPPEN anyway!

Understand, your company is going to screw up from time to time. Nobody at your corporate office is perfect. Decisions are going to be made that you don't agree with. Things are going to happen that you wish didn't. Ladies and Gentleman, THIS IS LIFE, THIS IS BUSINESS!

If you let yourself you can stay in a place of stagnation.

This business gives you the opportunity to develop the success skills and talents that will make you successful in any endeavor, in any marketing system you choose.

PLEASE RE-READ THE ABOVE STATEMENT. This is the #1 benefit of this business, if you are not experiencing it, is your own fault.

You only have to ask yourself a couple of important questions.

1) Do you believe in your product? 2) Do you believe that your corporate leadership has a long- term game plan for this company? 3) Do you believe that if corporate makes a major blunder, they will do their best to fix it?

Now if you answered Yes to all 3 of the questions above you need to focus on your why, and not look back. You cannot stop and analyze your business everyday, you cannot stop and analyze what the home office is, or is not doing daily.

You have to put your blinders on and charge full steam ahead toward your reasons and desires. If something comes up that isn't 100% the way you feel it should be, send an email, let your feelings be known and then MOVE FORWARD.

No Limit, high performance people don't allow themselves to become mentally misdirected for any length of time, not even a few hours, much less days or weeks.

Do you get this?

This industry gives each of us the opportunity to learn how to perform consistently at high levels.

The number one secret of high performance people is they answer the hard questions first:

1) Do you believe in your product 2) Do you believe that your corporate leadership has a long-term game plan for this company? 3) Do you believe that if corporate makes a major blunder, they will do their best to fix it?

Once YOU ANSWER these 3 critically important questions, you must never allow doubt to enter your mind, and be the most productive you possibly can be each day.

Appreciate the 4 benefits of our industry, and take advantage of all of them to their fullest potential.