May 1999
Upline Times - Coy Barefoot
News bytes in this edition of Upline Times:
- The E-commerce Way
- Franchising 101
- Working Women Have Come a Long Way
- Get Your Motor Running
- Gray and Health-Conscious
- Gen-X Update
Flash! Flash! From this month's Hot Topic File comes early word of what could turn out to be the Networking News Story of the Decade. . . .
Here they come. The Amway Corporation, the world's oldest and most successful Network Marketing company, is racing down the Information Super-Highway at top speed.
On March 3, Amway's corporate brass officially announced their plans to launch Quixtar (pronounced Quick Star), a "new business model developed specifically for the Internet." The mega e-commerce site, complete with a click-shop virtual version of Amway's massive product line, has the potential to be the largest on-line shopping mall in Internet history. Quixtar will officially open for business on September 1, 1999.
Covering all of North America, Quixtar will provide unparalleled Internet shopping for Amway distributors and non-distributors alike. It will make available on-line hundreds of traditional Amway products-- which include personal care, health and beauty, cleaning and home care, as well as an array of grocery items-- plus thousands of additional products provided by recently signed merchant vendors.
Aggressively stepping up its presence in the realm of e-commerce, the Microsoft Corporation has been confirmed as Amway's key development partner in the enterprise. The Microsoft/Amway cyberspace alliance not only spells success, but heralds the beginning of a new era in the Network Marketing industry.
Richard Poe, author of the best-selling Wave 3 books and the soon-to-be-released Wave 4: Network Marketing in the 21st Century, points to Amway's virtual plans on the Net and sees the future.
"Quixtar.com exemplifies the Wave 4 revolution in many respects," Poe said in a recent interview. "Network Marketing is evolving into the distribution freeway that will be used by everyone else in corporate America to move products and services. Amway clearly leads the field in this, and is continuing to lead the way with Quixtar by establishing such an overwhelming presence on the Internet. The fact that so many companies are eager to do business with Amway is a direct reflection of the growing power of Network Marketing-- which only gets stronger as e-commerce becomes more viable."
So it's good news for Amway, for Microsoft, and for everyone involved in Network Marketing. Networking is the future, ladies and gentleman. And you are right there-- right place, right time.
For more information about Amway's Quixtar and what this might mean for the Network Marketing industry, pick up the May issue of Network Marketing Lifestyles magazine.
"In the 1850s, a network of salesmen paid the Singer Sewing Machine Co. for the right to sell the newly patented machines in specific regions. The franchise system, adopted by the auto and oil industries early in the century and popularized by the fast-food industry after World War II, today cuts across more than 70 industry categories. There are nearly 3,000 franchise chains in the U.S. with 600,000 units, which ring up almost $1 trillion a year, or 41% of all retail sales."
(Time magazine, December 7, 1998)
| Working Women Have Come a Long Way
Working women of America certainly have come a long way. At the turn of the century, "most of the 21% of white women who were employed found themselves confined mainly to textile and garment factories; almost all of the 41% of black women who had jobs were agricultural laborers or servants." Today, 49% of the "professional, managerial and administrative work force" is made up of working women. And 86% of all Fortune 500 companies have at least one woman on their boards. But it is in the realm of small business ownership that women are making the greatest strides forward. "In the U.S. nearly as many people work for women-owned businesses as are employed by Fortune 500 companies worldwide." Able to call their own shots, without the glass ceiling over their heads, women are rushing to own their own businesses like never before. That is why Network Marketing is so appealing: A minimal investment with tremendous support, and women can build huge businesses right out of the home. Who said women can't have it all? Think again.
(Source: Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst, as excerpted in Time, December 7, 1998) |
Here's an idea: After you've built your Networking empire, reward your top leaders by taking them on a once-in-a-lifetime motorcycle trip through the Alps.
BMW and Edelweiss Bike Travel will fly you and your guests first class to Munich, Germany, where you will each be outfitted with professional riding gear and a new high-tech K1200LT motorbike. A BMW executive will personally guide you and your team on an exclusive two-week tour of the European Alps. At night you will enjoy luxury accommodations in the finest castle-hotels on the continent. And when you get home, a brand new BMW K1200LT will be waiting for you in your driveway.
Price per person for the entire luxury package: $42,195. Dream big!
(Source: Robb Report magazine, December 1998)
A recent survey of more than 3,330 seniors 65-years or older found that 64% spend an average of $10 a week on vitamins; 46% use health-related telephone services; and only 7% use a large, discount pharmacy to fill their prescriptions.
(SOURCE: Age Wave Health Services' Senior Health Beacon)
The most entrepreneurial generation in American history may have another reason to take a look at a Network Marketing opportunity: Debt.
According to an annual survey by PSI Global Fund, while Generation X (the 46 million Americans born between 1965 and 1978) "represent 18% of all credit card holders, they account for 25% of the industry's outstanding debt. A Gen-Xers' average unpaid monthly balance is $3,128, which is 28% higher than the $2,438 average for all credit card users."
(Source: American Demographics magazine, November 1998)
Sixty one million mothers now work outside the home. -- NBC News, March 1999
Reprinted with permission from Upline, Upline Times - May 1999, 888-UPLINE-1, http://www.upline.com
