DavidAnderson/MLM Heart of a Servant

While wrapping up Part 1 of this particular post, I was expressing to you that as I seek to make sense of the significant areas of interest currently reigning in my life, the common thread seems to be about leadership. You heard about my hands on business opportunity.  You also heard about the virtual and brave new world of Online Marketing.   And finally you learned of my Mentoring and facilitative role as a Life Groups (AKA Small Groups) Pastor.

It is my desire as I move forward in my sharing with you to begin to weave these different aspects of my life together.  I will be sharing about a Christian’s point of view on business, money, success, competition, leadership and other related topics.

I will also be sharing with you about how new online technologies and strategies will grow and benefit not only my hands on business opportunity, but also how they will benefit what I am trying to accomplish as I lead and grow a Life Groups Ministry.

Finally, my hands on business opportunity happens to be a MLM (Multi-level Marketing) opportunity.  It will be another one of my distinct goals to discuss what I will call ‘Christian’ aspects of MLM.  I will also be discussing how MLM and basic marketing principles can benefit and spill into my Ministry endeavors.

So as I begin to reveal to you my thoughts from these different vantage points, you will know where I am coming from and why.  It seems as though the common thread within each of these is tied to leadership, but my truer passion is communication.  With that being said, communicating with leaders about leadership will really make my heart and mind race and roar.

This is going to be fun!

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In my recent blog ‘My Commitment To You’ I shared with you much of who I am and what I stand for and what I am attempting to accomplish here online.  So let me expand on some of that at this time.

I gave you kind of a shotgun look at my life and interests. Let me reel it in a little bit more for you.  More specifically  these days I am wrestling with three areas of professional interest that are all growing and present in my life as we speak.  It is my goal to not be a divided person, but to make sense of why each one is in my life and to begin to literally weave them together for the greater benefit of each other through each other.

If you check out my links on this Blog site, you will learn more about two of these interests.  I will now elaborate more on them as well as the third one.  I recently discovered a business opportunity that was too significant for me to ignore. My life was already too full by many or most standards when I learned of this opportunity.  However, I determined that it was one that I simply could not let pass me by.  I have no regrets and am looking forward to continuing to grow it and to receive the benefits that it will provide for me and my family.

Since starting my involvement with this particular venture, I have also discovered a whole new world.  It is called Online Marketing. I recognize its significance, relevance and power.  I was drawn in though a compelling and proven portal of training and support that is teaching me every single step that is to be taken in order to succeed in this new arena of business.  I am learning voraciously and beginning to see it as a tool to grow me as a person and to benefit my other existing endeavors.

The third major interest actually was present before the other two.  I am referring to Life Group development and Mentoring through my local Church. I am not on staff, but have been tasked with the privilege of growing this vital ministry at our up and coming Church.

So here’s the deal. I see this blog site as an opportunity to draw them all together.  As I reflect on my life and strengths and what I have to contribute, I keep getting brought back to leadership.  My nature, my mindset, my habits and experiences have always shown me that for whatever reason, like it or not, I am repeatedly drawn into places and positions of authority.

I am very comfortable being the one with the vision, being the one who pushes the envelope, being the one who gets things started and being the one who drives them home to completion.  I love to encourage and to inspire.  I love to influence and impact people and situations.   On this note, I have to stop for now but will pick up from here in my next blog post.

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As I enter the new arena of online marketing and branding I wish to proceed with caution.  I find myself re-inventing myself, but online. I am being encouraged to establish myself as an expert (or go to person) for whatever niche or need to which I am trying to appeal.  I am totally OK with this and certainly understand the usefulness and necessity of doing so if I am going to succeed in the emerging business culture that is growing on the Internet.

As far as which niche or need I will cater to, more will be revealed as time goes on.  However, I felt that I wanted to set a few things straight before I got too far along on this particular journey. I will share with you that I am very involved in multiple ventures and I am looking forward to utilizing this blog site and others to help me make sense of how they all fit together.

Let me break down briefly what I am referring to. First and foremost I am a Christian of over 25 years.  It is of utmost importance to me that I honor and serve God in anything that I choose to do.  Secondly, I am a husband and father. So I wish to only be involved with interests and activities that will serve and benefit my family and our future.   With that being established, I will share with you that I am also a songwriter of 25 yrs. and have written nearly 400 songs.  I am currently involved in producing a CD of 12 original songs and was just featured on another CD project called ‘Modern Day Psalms’ produced by my good friend Justin Havu (of  BeyondBlue) [For info on the music of myself and Justin, please go to www.myspace.com/davidandersongodsongs.]

Furthermore I have been heavily involved in small groups and Men’s ministries over the last 13 years as a leader and/or Pastor. These ministries have included:  Promise Keepers,  Prison Ministry at the Concord State Prison, and small group leadership at four different Churches.   For eight of the last ten years I served as the head Pastor over two area Churches.  I am currently the Life Groups Pastor of my home church The Journey Church/NH.

As an artist, I have drawn portraits of people, pets and places professionally for over 25 years.  I studied at five different colleges over the years, ultimately getting my Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at the Univ. of Southern Me.

Finally, I will point to the business arena. Over the last 23 years, I have been tremendously involved in personal development and motivational speaking and teaching.  I have invested endless hours into books, tapes, CD’s, weekend seminars, Webinars, Mentoring (on both sides of that equation), writing, counseling, and soul searching.  I am currently involved in my third traditional MLM business.  I am also recieving cutting edge online training and support. I have been a certified and fully Licensed Insurance sales person at two different times.  I am currently the sales arm of a Fire Protection company (having added over 400 new accounts to their business over the last 3 years.)

All of this has been said to help you understand that as I move forward in “branding myself” or “reinventing ” myself, that I will make every effort to stay true to who I am. And now you know who I am.  It will be my personal challenge over the next few blogs to help you see how I plan to pull together many of these aspects of who I am and to stay true to that.  I plan to actually benefit and grow these various parts of my life BY weaving them together.  I am not interested in BEING somebody over HERE and BEING somebody else over THERE.

It is my goal and desire to be consistent in my character and beliefs and priorities regardless of what I am doing and who I am trying to impress. Please check back for further developments, as I share with you where this is all going.

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I’ve always thought it was interesting and amazing how we are very naturally and intuitively drawn to particular people and incidences and ideas that have a way of reaching out and grabbing us. These become bench marks and molders of who we are and what we ultimately become.

Well, one of those ideas and incidences for me was when I was about 15 years old.  I was a Boy Scout in Sanford, Me.  Somehow in one of our discussions or readings came forth a single thought that not only never went away, but was used to grow and mold a heartset and a mindset that has been etched deeply into who I am and how I operate.

This idea was stated as follows, “A candle loses no light by lighting another flame.  And the world will become a much  brighter place.”

If you are on fire, that’s awesome.  Now what?  How can your flicker of a flame grow to a fury? By setting something (someone) else on fire. Now together there is more heat, more light, more power, more potential.  What if you each set something (someone) else on fire?  Now the fire is spreading.  As this fire grows, it literally becomes a force to reckon with.  You, as the originator had the choice to remain a flicker or to pass on the flame and to grow to an inferno.

Also early on when you are a single candle with a single little flicker of a flame, it is easy for your fire to go out. If someone throws a little cold water on you, if someone smothers you, if someone pinches your wick, if someone ‘blows’ you away, your flame may struggle and fade away.  However, if you had previously shared your light with another candle, you may find that the favor would be returned to you.  This other candle could in turn RE-light you.  Together you are once again a force on the move.

The world is a dark, cold and lonely place.  It needs more light.  It needs more warmth. If you are a candle on fire, it is definitely time to touch another candle and to pass the flame.  You will NOT lose any light in doing so.  And YOUR world will become a much brighter place.

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Why is it that somehow MLM has become a four-lettered word in some circles? It seems to have become synonymous with “SCAM”. Yes, there are businesses and entities that use the multi-level marketing (to be referred to as “MLM” moving forward) business model for less than honorable intentions. But there are businesses of every design and origin that could be accused of the same thing. Much like there is nothing inherently wrong or evil about money or a knife. However, either one in the hand of a criminal minded person can be used for bad. Equally, either one in the hand of a talented and loving person can be used for good.

I wish to address a common MISCONCEPTION about MLM. That the “Pyramid” structure of MLM makes it a Scam.

Let’s talk for a moment about business “pyramids”. I find it amazing that as soon as many people pick up on the ever-expanding nature and the various ‘levels’ of infrastructure that develop as a MLM business grows, they immediately leap to the word “Pyramid”. In the same micro-second, their mind leaps also to “Pyramid Scam”. And whether they verbalize the word “scam” or not, it is obvious that is what they are thinking.

I believe that whenever people are conversing, the one who is asking the questions is in control. So when this phenomenon occurs in front of me, I begin to ask questions. I do so to force the ‘observant’ to verbalize WHY he/she feels the way he/she does. Here’s what I have found. Most people who make these “pyramid scam” comments have NO IDEA what they are actually saying. They are almost always parroting something that they heard somebody else say in the past and they want to sound intelligent regarding something about which they know nothing. So I ask them, “Yeah, you’re right. That IS a pyramid. Is there something ‘wrong’ with that?” Now allow me to have a little bit of fun as I try to share with you what typically happens next.

Usually the conversation goes kind of like this: “Well, yeah. That’s a lot like Amway, isn’t it?” To which I would say, “YES. Very much so. Is there something ‘wrong’ with that?” “Well, unless you got in at the right time, you’ll never make any money. Only the guy at the top makes any money in those things!” I say, “Oh really, that’s not cool. Why is that?” And so on. As the conversation continues, it almost always comes out that this self-proclaimed expert on pyramid scams has never been personally involved in a MLM business, but has a brother-in-law who “lost his shirt” in one. Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Have you ever stopped to realize that nearly every business and functioning organization of people are set up as “pyramids”? There’s always someone at the ‘top’ of the infrastructure. This person is usually surrounded by a relatively small group of people that he/she probably personally selected (ie. CFO’s, VP’s, upper management, etc.). Each of these ‘top’ leaders also has a team of people surrounding them that they probably personally selected (hired). This model repeats throughout the organization down to the mangers, supervisors, team leaders, group leaders, project managers, trainers, and every variety of entry level worker.

In THAT business model truly the guy at the top is making all the money. By the way, 95 times out of 100, this is exactly the model in which my pyramid expert is making his/her living. In this ‘traditional’ pyramid model, what are the odds of the ‘little guy’ entering this model ever attaining the highest level in that company? Exactly, slim to none. What are the odds of him ever receiving the education and support necessary to be able to accomplish what the ‘top guy’ is able to accomplish? The same, right? The portal of entry into this model is very broad. People enter on the bottom level by the hundreds or even the thousands. However, in MLM you are hand selected by someone who thought enough of you to actually believe that you have what it takes to go to the top of his organization. He is also saying that he is willing to partner with you and to invest his life and time and knowledge into you!

The moment you invite even one person into your MLM business you are instantly at the TOP of YOUR organization. If you outperform your sponsor or upline (sure they will make some money from your efforts), but you are actually able to make MORE MONEY than them.

Let’s be honest by the way, if my upline didn’t make money off of MY efforts, I would be VERY concerned. Because I would have to wonder if I will make any money off of the efforts of the people below me.

If MLM has become a four-lettered word, let me propose that it is, “GOLD.”

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