October 1999
Reviews and Recommends
Wave Four By Richard Poe
I have very little to say about this book: It is absolutely fabulous. From start to finish, the writing is impeccable and a joy to read; the content is carefully researched, powerfully delivered, and deftly structured; the message couldn't be stronger or more supportive of Network Marketing. Any industry would be fortunate to have such an exceptional writer as an advocate. Wave 4 will delight you and dramatically increase your sponsoring success if you share it with others. If you haven't read it yet, you must, immediately. Thanks, Richard, for this immense contribution!
- UO
You can order Wave 4 online!
The New Entrepreneurs By Rene Reid Yarnell, M.A.
Long-time Upline readers won't need the basic pro-Networking arguments of Rene Reid Yarnell's newest book, but they will surely enjoy the view from the top of the industry. The New Entrepreneurs often reads like a chat between you and Rene, and between Rene and her many friends in the industry - many of whom will likely be equally familiar to you. It is almost secondary that the book happens to cover all the fundamentals along the way.
The New Entrepreneurs combines the classic progression from job-slave to would-be entrepreneur to Networker with stories to back up every point. Don't be fooled by the well-worn concepts of chapter titles like You Might Consider Starting Your Own Business and Residual Income and Time Freedom through Network Marketing. Yarnell cites plenty of statistics and reports, liberally mixed with personal illustrations and even a multiple choice test. Not all the stories are of Networkers, either. Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame), Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, and Bill Gates have their places, too.
For your legal eagle prospects, flip to the section on successful-lawyer Jonell Black, whose thriving practice was rewarding but not fulfilling. Black was so impressed by the nutritional products provided by a friend that she requested information on the opportunity. She now delights in being able to "help so many people expand their consciousness and enhance their standard of living."
Other professionals, like Jonell Black, are out there waiting for the right time, opportunity, and sponsor. They may not find you, so you have to reach them. Yarnell wants us all to realize this and start capitalizing on it.
In addition to the natural human interest of each anecdote, Yarnell uses her stories to lighten the mood of her thesis: The traditional American workplace is in crisis, and only entrepreneurs will survive. Without the tales of success, satisfaction, and personal development through Network Marketing, The New Entrepreneurs would get a bit grim in its discussions of layoffs and the high cost of non-networking business ventures. Instead, there is an uplifting example from every walk of life, just to prove, once again, that Network Marketing truly equalizes the opportunity for people of any race, age, or gender.
Even if you no longer need an industry why-to, your prospects probably do - I think you'll enjoy spending a little time with Rene Yarnell in the pages of The New Entrepreneurs.
- TH
Network Your Way to Millions By Russ Paley
I've just read Network Your Way to Millions by Russ Paley for the second time, and I am in awe over how much good information it contains. I confess that for a moment I was tempted to begin this review by calling it the Think and Grow Rich of Network Marketing, but that would be a mistake. T&GR, as many readers know, is the best-selling business book of all time - and continues to be the bible of entrepreneurship for countless achievers after more than half a century. Network Your Way to Millions(NYWTM) has what it takes to be the bible of MLM, but it is no Think and Grow Rich. The first big difference is that author Napoleon Hill - although a gifted writer and synthesizer of entrepreneurial wisdom - died a financial failure. This won't happen to Paley, who made $4 million as a distributor while still in his twenties, and now, at 30, is assured of a lifetime income. Another major difference is that T&GR was written to be a motivational tour de force, a book without nuts and bolts business details aimed at psyching you up into a white hot passion for success. NYWTM takes the opposite approach. It tells you exactly how to do the business at every step along the way. Strangely enough, this pragmatic approach, coupled with the author's common sense and credibility, makes Paley even more motivating - and more satisfying to read - than Hill. NYWTM offers the highest form of motivation because it is based on realistic expectations. Word for word, it is a more useful book than Hill's.
In reading this book, two things become quickly evident. First, Russ Paley himself is a very smart businessperson. Second, you don't have to be a gifted businessperson yourself to succeed in MLM - provided you follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before you.
Paley has packed this book with the accumulated and tested wisdom of the industry, and, more specifically, the ideas that have worked for him. The book has no hot new theories intended to wow the reader, and not much in the way of grand generalizations. It keeps its nose to the grindstone, telling what works. Everything is presented from the standpoint of building a sound, enduring organization and an income stream that will last a lifetime.
When Paley describes a technique or approach - working a trade show, building on the internet, or advertising, to name a few - he spells out exactly what problems and opportunities you can expect and notes the method's advantages and disadvantages. Paley has a sort of mother-hen-type genius for zeroing in on potential missteps and pushing you back on track. For example, we get some savvy advice on the use of compliments, then a warning about the dangers of flattery.
Paley is masterful on detail, as well - he tells how to create the image of an "overflow crowd," notes when you should raise your voice a notch to emphasize that you are serious, and explains what you have to do to get a specific tax write-off. (The six-page appendix on tax saving tips for home-based businesses from CPA Randy Fischel is reason enough for some people to buy the book.)
You'll find in this book virtually every explanation or argument you will ever need to make on behalf of Network Marketing. It even includes a dialogue aimed at helping someone go about the delicate task of calling on a friend with whom he once lost money in a home-based business. Paley also has a keen sense of how to win the confidence of the highly successful.
If I were choosing a Network Marketing mentor and coach for someone I truly cared about - my children or other family members, for example - this book would lead me to choose Russ Paley. He is tough-minded, ethical, and smart. I also suspect he would at times be impatient, demanding, and brusque - but he would help his downline create long-range, lasting success. Come to think of it, that's exactly what he has done.
- Scott DeGarmo
Reprinted with permission from Upline, Reviews - October 1999, 888-UPLINE-1, http://www.upline.com
