Who Will Raise Your Kids Since It Won’t Be You?

Child play

I can only imagine the guilt and pain that comes every day a mother or sometimes a father drops their young children at a daycare facility where people they barely know care for their off spring. People that seldom have more than a high school education, and seldom have much life experience beyond high school because day care workers tend to be young. The times when the young ones cling to their mommy and/or daddy and plead “Do you have to work today?” has to be one of the most heart retching experience any parent must face. This is hard and made harder by the knowledge it’s not necessary if the parent makes the right decisions and displays courage. Our experience with AdvoCare has presented to me lots of examples of parents who no longer have both parents working out of the home and entrusting the raising of their kids to some other mostly unknown persons.

Paques01

The importance of being present for your kids is one my wife and I learned early on. And I’m proud to say our kids saw virtually no time in daycare. Being there for your kids is a gift to them you can never give at a later time. That’s why it’s called a “present”. My beautiful wife and I have raised three kids. Though using the past-tense is a little premature since 1) Our youngest is just now entering high school, and 2) Do you ever finish raising your kids? But we have “raised” our kids past the age of any needed daycare. I’m proud of the decisions we made to sacrifice the extra income and status that could have come from working outside the home and leaving the responsibility of raising children to those whose values may not be ours.

Let’s start by stating what must be said. I am sympathetic to the argument that parents only do this because they must. I’m sympathetic not because the statement is true but because it is so common and thought to be true and too many people have fallen into the false belief that no options exist to allow for reasonable, mature adults to bypass the daycare lie and spend the necessary 10-18 years giving of themselves the most valuable community gesture they can. All of society benefits from a well-raised child. And every study over many years and common sense shows that kids raised with at least one parent in the home are far better adjusted and far less likely to travel down dark paths as they grow into adulthood. And such kids are far more likely to be successful as adults and possess the positive values instilled by parents who were present.

LYS87girls

And to the hyperventilating Liberal haters out there who will falsely claim I’m just advocating a 1950s society where the little woman is the care taker of the kids and subservient to the husband I say quite loudly SHUT UP. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. In my house it was me who was home with the kids, most of the time. We became parents October 31, 1987 and in the 26 years since my wife has usually worked 40+ hour per week jobs outside the house. I too worked 40+ hours per week, and continue to do so. But I either worked out of the home or in jobs that had me home by early to mid-afternoon before kids returned home from school. For about 2-3 years before my son was old enough we had a Nanny come into our home even though our combined incomes were only middle-class. But even during this time I was still home early in the afternoon before my oldest daughter got home from school. Since opening our audio and video production company Total Broadcasting Service in 2005 we’ve twice tried to bring Mommy home only to find the lost outside income and health benefits she had while working for someone else too much to overcome. The result- I coached my sons and daughters in softball, baseball, soccer, football, and basketball. I, thus, got to know their friends and the Moms and Dads of their friends. I saw to it that they got to their homework after school and that they didn’t come home to an empty house. They were safe and happy.

Your kids deserve the opportunity to be kids. They deserve the opportunity to sleep until they wake, instead of being woke at the crack of dawn, hustled to the car and driven to that house or daycare facility and hurriedly left in the hands of someone who isn’t mom or dad. Wouldn’t your kids eat better when you’re preparing their fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks and parts of meals than day after day of mass-produced mac & cheese? When they fall down and cry wouldn’t their boo-boo be best nurtured by Mom or Dad than by someone who needs to quickly put them down in order to tend to someone else’s child?

And since day care is so darned expensive just how much is gained by parents not being there? According to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) the cost of daycare for infants and toddlers is $300-$1564 per month (and I don’t even want to think about the $300 places. YIKES!). The state of Washington, where I live, is the seventh most expensive state in the U.S. for infant-toddler care at over $10,000 per year. In 2012 the average working woman made only $35,000. So, in a 2-income household the average working woman was leaving care and raising for her youngest kids for an extra $25,000 or less. Probably more like $20,000 when the unnecessary expense of gas and car maintenance and mileage, as well as eating out are subtracted.

Could you work at home part-time, raise your own kids, and make $20,000? With Advocare you definitely can. Again using myself as an example we’re working a plan that will have us earning $12,000 in our first year representing Advocare’s high quality health, nutrition and weight loss products. And we have only been able to devote about 5 hours per week to the effort. Naturally we expect that will grow in year two. Our friends and mentors started with AdvoCare almost four years ago and worked it on a more full-time basis and earned $60,000 their first year, and over $166,000 in their third. Could you raise your kids on $60,000 per year? How about $166k? And consider this, are you in a job where you could realistically expect to grow your income to $60k annually in 3 years? How about $166k? Most people will say no.

And we’ve found the “selling” of Advocare easy. And so will you. It really comes down to using the products. My wife and I lost over 100 pounds combined in 8 months using the 24 Day Challenge and Advocare products thereafter. After using the products, you simply tell people of your experience and encourage them to try them too. How hard is that? What makes it even easier is that Advocare provides you with an incredible training program that should you choose to participate, listen and follow will make success and a good income inevitable. You can do this.

Your kids would want you to. Your kids want you to be healthy and to have the energy and the time to devote to them. And that’s what you want too. Like all things it will require you to try. You must try. If you don’t try you’re guaranteed to fail. Simple.

Call me to learn more: 425-687-0100.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

The Little Engine That Could, Could be You

Cover of "The Little Engine That Could (O...

In recent months I’ve been reminded of a childhood book we all remember, and remember with fondness. The Little Engine That Could is a children’s book, published in 1930 and written by Watty Piper. In recalling this tale I am reminded of a more recent adult self-help book by Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten. Don’t hit, don’t fight, be nice, share, listen to your teacher, etc.

Cover of "All I Really Need to Know I Lea...

And we also learned, or should have learned, to try hard and to help others. Few books teach this lesson with such clarity as this little children’s book. I recommend you click on the link below and refresh your memory of the old story.

Watty Piper’s 1930 “The Little Engine That Could” – Print Magazine.

I continue to represent AdvoCare Health/Nutrition/Weight Loss products while continually saying to myself and my wife, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…” And we’re chugging up that mountain and as in that story we’re slowly going faster and faster.

In the story the toy train‘s engine breaks down and strands the toys and nutritious food intended for the children on the other side of the mountain. The toy clown asks for help to get the train and its toys over the mountain to the children. But nobody will help.

And think about who these big arrogant train engines represent. The Shiny New Engine might be the bank that turns down your home refi. The Big Strong Engine might be your boss that turns down your raise AND asks you to work extra hours away from your kids. The Rusty Old Engine might be your parents who look at your Multi-Level-Marketing or Direct Sales company and say, isn’t that nice while they turn away and provide no referrals, help or encouragement.

The little blue engine is you; anonymously doing your work around the train station. You’re moving train cars from one place to another. You’ve never been over the mountain. But you could…if you tried.

No if you’re going to get that train over the mountain, you’re going to have to do it yourself. We’re going to have to do it ourselves. And…I think I can…I think I can…I think I can. As we chug chug chug along it gets easier. There is no question you, we, can make it up that mountain and get over to the other side to help people who need us. But we can’t do it if we stop; if we give up.

Chug chug chug your way to the top. Then you can coast alllllll the way down the mountain, all the way saying happily, “I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could…”

Robert Fulgham was right.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

The Mistake of Reducing Expenses

English: Ways that Where's George Bills can be...

See if this sounds familiar to you. Your personal or business finances get tight, you have more bills at the end of the month than you have money to pay for them. And what do you do? You decide its time to cut expenses. You try to save money by eliminating unnecessary bills, those things you can cut back on, and those things you can accept in lesser quantities or lesser quality. Pretty soon you find out, it doesn’t work. All you’ve done is lower your standard of living, but months or even years later you’re in the same position that caused your austere spending to begin with; too many bills and not enough money to pay them. This is the trap faced by many in today’s economic world. And unless something changes nothing will change for you and your family. And if you’re the bread-winner in your home its time to recognize an ugly reality…you’re failing your family.

The solution is easier than you think. But if you’re like me you took the austerity road first before realizing what that simple solution is.

Maybe you’ve done some of this:

Cancel all Newspaper and Magazine subscriptions.

Check.

Cut back your TV cable or Dish service; maybe change service providers.

Check.

Reduce your auto insurance coverage…possibly down to the legal limit of only Liability Coverage.

Check.

Refinance your home mortgage to take advantage of near record low-interest rates.

Check.

Stop buying clothes for yourself and for your children, unless absolutely necessary.

Check.

Sell your car and buy an older cheaper one.

Check.

Eliminate vacations.

Check.

Buy store brand grocery items at a discount store.

Check.

Reduce your thermostat to cut back on heating bills.

Check.

Turn off lights…unplug unused appliances…

Check.

Did you find it’s not enough?

You know why?

It’s not enough because things you don’t have control over but need to spend money on are going up at a faster rate than your income or your austerity measures.

  • Health insurance premiums have climbed already, and will climb even higher when Obamacare takes full effect in 2014. Forbes reported this month that rates in California alone could climb as much as 146%.ObamaCare Bear
  • Increased employee expenses in industry, as a result of increased health-care costs will drive up the cost of manufactured goods.
  • Gas prices are and have been consistently over $3.00 per gallon for the past couple years, and the periodic dips into the $2.00 range and especially the $1.00 range (as happened during the Bush years) are a distant memory. The price of crude oil is over $94-per-barrel. Gas prices are more likely to exceed $4.00-per-gallon and stay there than they are to fall.
  • Trucking is still the primary method of moving food in this country, and the increased gas prices will add to food costs.
  • Mortgage interest rates have been held down by the Federal Reserve’s low or no interest short-term financing for 4-5 years. But this week
    Official portrait of Federal Reserve Chairman ...

    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

    Fed Chair Ben Bernanke suggests that time is coming to an end by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

  • Taxes on the local, state, and Federal levels have all increased in the past year and will only go higher in the next four years. President Obama was re-elected promising to raise taxes.

There is more of course. But the point is you and your family have no choice. These things you will pay for and you will have less to spend on other matters. It’s simple math. Even if you can count on a pay raise, which have been few and far between for most workers in recent years, there is no way any employer is going to keep your compensation increasing fast enough to keep up with these known mandatory expenses and their increases.

If you’re like me. Your austerity efforts have proven worthless. And my wife and I make a good living. For the past 20 years our income has placed us in the upper 5-25% of income earners in this country. And, no; we didn’t make the mistake so many other Americans made and buy too much house. Even with 4 years of declining home values we’ve never been upside-down in our mortgage and have always maintained a healthy level of equity.

But for years I always thought we could simply cut back and get ourselves out of the tight conditions in which we found ourselves. Like so many others. It didn’t work. The solution I finally realized was we need to make more money. We need a Plan B income. And so do you.

Take a look at your situation. Where are you going to be in 2 years? In five years? 10? What is going to happen to make things better?

For too long I fooled myself, and patted myself on my back for making an above-average income and being so much better off than most other people. But most other people live lives of quiet desperation. Most people are a lay-off or a single medical emergency from financial ruin. Does this describe you?

Our solution is already working. After loving the health and nutrition and weight-loss products from Advocare, we decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to represent this fine company and its products and help other people realize the benefits we each realized. Our friends who introduced Advocare to us have been representing the company for less than 4 years and no longer work outside their home. They have a growing income of $25-$30-thousand per month. We are paying off debt and will record our highest family income in close to ten years, thanks in part to AdvoCare.

Cover of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Ri...

Author Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad Poor Dad, calls the business plan used by Advocare “the perfect business plan”.

I let go of all my prejudices and suspicions about direct-selling businesses and realized AdvoCare was different and better. And my family is repeating the benefits.

Be it AdvoCare or some other vehicle, read the writing on the wall. The only way things change for your family finances, is if something changes. A secondary or Plan B income is the only way to thrive in the world of today. If you want to learn more. Contact me. I can help. And would love to help.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

Obesity is a Disease? Only if a lot of Other Human Problems are Disease As Well.

American Medical Association

American Medical Association

The American Medical Association has voted to label obesity as a disease. At its annual meeting in Chicago, Tuesday (June 18, 2013) they issued the following statement:

“RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association recognize obesity as a disease state with multiple pathophysiological aspects requiring a range of interventions to advance obesity treatment and prevention.”

Forbes reporter Bruce Japsen writes that before the voice vote Hershey, PA obstetrician Dr. Virginia Hall said, “insurers can stop ducking their responsibility” in paying for obesity treatments. And therein lies the truth behind this decision. Money. More money will flow into the bloated medical community’s pockets with obesity labelled a disease. In the future you will have those who are diagnosed as obese eligible for counseling and disability payments once they’ve been seen buying more than three Big Macs over a week’s time. Doctors will bill their patient’s insurance coverage for the doctor’s trips to Burger King. Calling such trips patient research into disease prevention.

In this article by NPR “AMA Says It’s Time To Call Obesity A Disease” sociologist Abigail Saguy correctly states “People think that being obese means being sick, and there are some health risks, but risk is not the same thing as illness,”

There is no question obesity in the United States is a problem. Obesity rates have tripled since 1980. 72-million people in the United States were obese in 2010. In 2010 nearly 60% of the entire populace was overweight or obese. But a disease? We have lots of things in this country that are a problem. But is poverty a disease? Is unemployment? Unemployment or underemployment has been at or near 15% for at least four years. Fewer Americans work today than at any time since the 1970s. Should health insurance pick up the tab for that too?

Obviously unemployment and poverty will never be labelled diseases. But if obesity is a disease how about the root causes of obesity? Can procrastination be a insurable disease? How about laziness? Can we receive an insurance check for spending all our waking moments lounging on a couch? It’s important to solve these personal responsibility problems in this country so let’s make sure Obamacare provides coverage for buying Captain Crunch, Fruit Loops, and Cocoa Puffs.

The author 6-19-13 at 205 lbs.

The author 6-19-13 at 205 lbs.

June 18, 2012. 48 years old 241 lbs.

June 18, 2012. 48 years old 241 lbs.

For all the fat people out there, you have my sympathy and empathy. I know its hard to lose weight. Been there, done that. I’m forty-nine years old and have basically spent my adult life obese. Currently I’m 10-15 pounds overweight. Though one year ago I would never have dreamed that I could weigh 205 lbs. as I do now. Given that I was 210 lbs. as a 23 year old, newly married man who was pretty active I thought getting to 210 at my current age, with greater muscle development was extremely ambitious. But thanks to AdvoCare and its 24 Day Challenge I’m down 40 lbs and my wife is down 50 lbs. It cost me a relatively small amount of money. It cost me the pain of changing some long practiced eating habits. And it worked. After losing my Uncle from a heart attack at age 61, my Dad at 64, and my Grandpa at 65 I became scared for my life expectancy. Anyone who is obese should have that fear. Because you will die young. You will not live long while carrying around more than 30 extra pounds. In my case, I love my kids and eagerly await loving grandkids some day. I decided life is too precious to piss it away merely because of bad habits. Habits that can be changed, and replaced with new habits. AdvoCare has shown me that.

So that’s what we’re talking about. Personal responsibility or lack of it determines your physical condition. The AMA is making a money grab and should be recognized for their greed. Grow up America. Take control of your life. Nothing is guaranteed, but if you can change habits, fill your body with proper nutrition like what AdvoCare provided my family, you increase your odds of a longer, healthier, and happier life.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

What is a Pyramid Scheme? Too Many Are Ill Informed.

Call 425-687-0100 if you want realize what I did. BTW- I'm now at 202 lbs.

Call 425-687-0100 if you want to realize what I did. BTW- I’m now at 202 lbs.

When my wife and I made the decision to represent AdvoCare as Distributors we did it because we were so totally impressed with the products and the people representing Advocare. Our friends and AdvoCare mentors are such wonderful and impressive people, which we’ve learned even more so in the nearly one year we have been accepting their teachings and guidance. But one thing they warned us about, and others within the AdvoCare family warned us about has come to pass when I absolutely didn’t think it would. We were warned that a lot of people would outright reject Advocare without ever hearing about it because they were convinced it was a “Pyramid Scheme“. I didn’t think this was such a threat because I didn’t think there were going to be that many people my wife and I encountered who were THAT stupid.

Ok…Ok…that was mean.

Not stupid. How about ignorant?

Better…but still a little too demeaning.

Let’s stick with “ill-informed”.

Anyway, there have been a lot more of those ill-informed people that I ever thought possible.

If you’re one of those stup…errr…ill informed people you probably became that way through absolutely no research done on your part. My guess is you asked someone about Multi-Level Marketing or maybe it was because of you specifically asked someone about AdvoCare and this person being equally stup…errr…ill informed said to you, “I heard its a pyramid scheme” and that was it. You were done with AdvoCare or Multi-Level Marketing completely. You made no effort to learn from someone who knew better, you didn’t even bother to evaluate the intelligence or wisdom or experience of the person who gave you that false information. In all likelihood this person who gave you this bad, incorrect information was not accomplished in any way. But their word became your Bible, on this subject anyway.

It’s amazing how many people take the words and advice of friends and family who have no credentials, no accomplishments, no resume`, education, or bank account in which to measure their advice as worth while. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take friendships from where ever they’re offered. But in the words of Sales Trainer Tom Hopkins, “I won’t take advice from anyone more screwed up than I am”.

You, the ill-informed one, need to know what a pyramid scheme actually is because neither Advocare nor most other multi-level marketing companies are “pyramid schemes” They are closer to what “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki called “the perfect business”.

The definition of “pyramid scheme” from Wikipedia is: pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public.

Bernie Madoff was busted in 2008 for operating the biggest pyramid scheme in U.S. history, totalling $65-billion dollars in fraud. He did it by taking new investors money to pay off earlier investors. And then he kept getting more and more investors, all of them paid off with money that came from newer investors. The obvious end result of this is that eventually Madoff ran out of new investors, and the stock market crash of 2008 painted Madoff into a corner in which he couldn’t escape. Investors kept asking him for their money. He paid out as much as he could, but couldn’t keep up. The dier economy left him fewer and fewer investors and eventually he was caught and arrested, December 11, 2008. Madoff made no investments. He sold no products. He just took from Peter to pay Paul.

Advocare sells products. AdvoCare sells the finest health and nutritional supplements in the world. The company has hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers; most of whom take the products and never work it as a business. And not one AdvoCare Distributor is paid a dime for signing-up another. AdvoCare is a products driven company. And it is a for-profit company. It’s been around for over 20 years and you don’t get to stick around that long by being a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme is not successful in signing up famous national spokespersons like Drew Brees, Jason Whiten, Matt Hasselback, Sam Bradford, Michael W. Smith, Doug Fister, Veronica Campbell-Brown…and so many others. A pyramid scheme doesn’t sponsor NCAA football Bowl games, like the AdvoCare Independence Bowl. A pyramid scheme doesn’t sponsor Nascar races or race cars, like Advocare.

I once had someone actually tell me, regarding multi-level marketing, “I have a problem making money off the labor of others.” I told them of my previous employers. This broadcast sales company had a single owner, a General Manager, and a Sales Manager, in descending order of rank and/or responsibility. Not one of them sold anything to any customer (In truth I think the Sales Manager made a few sales every year…but not much) or made any of our products. They made money off the labors of the Sales Staff. We had a sales staff of between 40-45 people. They sold everything and were paid a wage based on how much they sold. The Sales Manager made a living based on how much the sales staff sold. The General Manager’s salary was raised based on whether the sales staff sold. The owner increased his wealth or earnings based on how much the sales staff sold. Are you beginning to get the picture?

The Classic Business Pyramid

The Classic Business Pyramid

Multi-Level Marketing became tied to the idea of what a Pyramid Scheme was over 20 years ago when the U.S. Justice Department charged Michigan based Amway Corporation with being a “pyramid scheme”. Amway defended itself, and won in court. It isn’t and wasn’t a Pyramid scheme. Unfortunately though for them and other MLM’s the label stuck. Amway was a billion dollar sales company in the U.S. prior to the lawsuit and a damning 60-Minutes tv profile. They have since fell on very hard times and a bad reputation within the United States. But Amway is still one of the top 25 business companies, in revenue, in the country thanks to the fact that the reputation-damaging false charges didn’t diminish Amway’s over-seas sales.

Multi-Level Marketing companies have existed successfully in this country for nearly 150 years. The Fuller Brush Company being one of the first and longest lasting. A couple of others you may have heard about are Avon or Mary Kay Cosmetics, and Tupperware…just to name a few. Multi-Level Marketing simply means you are creating leaders who lead a sales force and get paid according to that sales force’s level of success. But unlike the Classic Business Pyramid as shown in the picture above, the sales force of a well run MLM has its own sales force under them (If they choose to.) The fact is most buyers of Mary Kay Cosmetics never sell Mary Kay Cosmetics. That includes my wife. She’s bought Mary Kay for over 20 years and hasn’t sold a single lipstick container. Nobody accuses Mary Kay of being a Pyramid scheme.

I’ve never sold Amway or any other Multi-Level marketing product/company in my life, either. But all this information is on-line and free to find for anyone who looks.

The fact is name-calling, or demeaning something you don’t know about or understand, by calling it a pyramid scheme is a lot easier than taking the time to learn about it. And that’s why stup…errr…igno…ummm…I mean ill-informed people will continue to believe Advocare and other MLM’s are pyramid schemes. They’re just to lazy to learn the truth.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Go to our website, read our story and try some AdvoCare. You won't regret it.

Go to our website, read our story and try some AdvoCare. You won’t regret it.

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