True IBO Stories

The inspiring story of David and Jules Dornan

Got four minutes? That's all it takes to view the inspiring story of Amway Global Independent Business Owners and Founders Emeralds David and Jules Dornan. David and Jules are the son and daughter-in-law of Founders Crown Ambassadors Jim and Nancy Dornan, and they are being featured as part of the Inspirational Entrepreneurs Video Series on Forbes.com

One might think that David would have naturally followed in his parents' footsteps, but he went to college, graduated with honors, and then embarked on a successful real estate career. Jules was working as a software trainer.  

Why would David quit his successful career to becoome an IBO? What passion has the business allowed Jules to pursue? Well, you're just gonna have to watch the video!

There were thousands of stories in the Windy City. Here are seven.

One of the most rewarding things about my job is the opportunity to be with IBOs. Listen to what's on their mind. Write down their suggestions. Help them solve problems. Hear their inspiring stories. Find out how to help them succeed.

So I was thrilled to work the "Amway One By One Campaign for Children" booth at this past weekend's National Spotlight event, outside Chicago in Rosemont, Ill. My role was to explain Amway's charitable efforts and remind IBOs and guests about the Corporation's advertising and sponsoring initiatives, but the reporter in me just had to ask: "So - why are you here, and what's your story?"

And they obliged. IBOs like Ricardo and Marleni Valle, who flew in from Charlotte, N.C. with their teenage daughter Sarani. "We're pushing for Platinum by the end of the year," Ricardo explained. "We're here for the product knowledge and training, and we'll be taking this information to our downline."

Vijay and Beena Sharma drove in from Bloomington, Ind. They've been in the business for 10 months, when Beena finally succumbed to two years of pressure from a friend. Her goals are clear: to raise money to help find jobs for unemployed and underemployed youth in India, and to help in a massive tree-planting effort there. "I am building my dream," she said.

Zach Nold of Chicago has only been an IBO for two weeks, but he's highly motivated to succeed. "I had good experiences with other MLMs, but I like Amway because it has a stronger breadth of products." Zach said he intends to build his business with "integrity, honesty, and fun."

Then there's Denise Niedzolkowski, of Oak Park Heights, Minn., whose parents were distributors and who was "overwhelmed by the way Amway helps IBOs become successful." And Marco Vianello of Miami, who is staying with an uncle in Evergreen Park, Ill., as he tries to build a second group in Chicagoland. And Bob and Joann Weaver, of Goshen, Ind., she an IBO for 46 years, he, for 20. They attended all three days of Spotlight because they wanted to take all of the training courses.

I am awed and amazed at these and many other stories I hear. But I saved one of the best for last. You know those ads you see in newspapers? The ones that say, "Make money! Work from home!"? LaVone Luther answered one of those - 52 years ago - for a company they had never heard of, called "Nutrilite." She and husband Dean liked what they saw, and signed up as Nutrilite distributors. Two years later, the Luthers, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, joined Amway upon its creation in 1959.

Their fondest memory? Driving to Ada to visit the service station where co-founders Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel had set up shop. They chatted with Rich as he leaned over a bathtub while mixing a batch of L.O.C. Multipurpose Cleaner with a canoe paddle.

 

 

IBOs rave about National Spotlight - watch this video!

The Amway Global business is on a roll. Breakthrough products, product line extensions, and comprehensive retail support are helping more and more IBOs prosper in their independent businesses.  

National Spotlight is a great way to see first-hand all the exciting business changes taking place. The last two events of the year will be held in New York City (Jacob Javits Center, Sept. 3-5) and Chicago (Stephens Convention Center, Sept. 10-12).

These events are free, so bring your friends, family, guests, and prospects to taste, touch, and feel some of the world's most sought-after products and brands. You'll leave with new information, insights, and techniques that are sure to re-energize your business. But don't take our word for it. Watch this video of interviews from the Baltimore Spotlight Expo, and listen to enthusiastic IBOs sing the praises of this very cool event.

To register, log on to AmwayGlobal.com > Manage My Business > Future Success > National Spotlight

If the video doesn't appear in your browser, click here to view it

When bad things happen to good Samaritans, turn to L.O.C.

"Oo-oo, that smell.

Can't you smell that smell?"

 -- "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

There's a swamp that borders the Amway Global headquarters. It (the swamp) is home to a number of animals, including turtles, who cross the road to, oh, I don't know, look for food, lay eggs, whatever it is that turtles do on the other side of the road.

When my friend T. and I were driving to lunch one day last week, we saw a big turtle lumbering across the road. Knowing that the turtle was one car away from being turned into turtle soup, I braked hard, pushed in my emergency flashers, and scurried out of the car to rescue the turtle.

As I approached it, I was surprised to see that it didn't draw its head into its foot-long shell. I grabbed it by the side and picked it up. Then, it extended his head toward me and -- like a snake striking at its prey -- SNAPPED!  I screamed like a sissy. My life flashed before my eyes. Quickly, I extended my arms, and did SNAP! kind of a half-walk, half-run SNAP! as I made my way SNAP! to the field where the turtle was headed. I deposited the turtle on the ground, and ran back to the car, but as soon as I got in, T. screamed, "Oh, gawd! What a horrible smell! You stink! Get out!"

I noticed my fingers were wet, so I pulled some tissues out of the Meadowbrook cube box (71-4045) I keep in the car, and wiped at my fingers furiously. Meanwhile, T. is yelling "Rotting corpse! Rotting corpse!" I then asked Ms. Overreaction to get some L.O.C. Towelettes (E-3897) from my glove compartment. She handed me two or three. I cleaned my hands, the steering wheel, and the stick shift. And like that -- snap! -- the smell was gone. I informed Ms. O that she could breathe again. "Well, THAT was pleasant," she said.

When I got back to the office, I Googled "turtles." What I saved from death or dismemberment was the common snapping turtle, or chelydra serpentina (12-2095), so named for its snake-like neck and head. Further research revealed that the offensive smell was musk that the unappreciative reptile secreted onto my fingers.

This is yet another reason for never going anywhere without L.O.C. Towelettes. Because you never know when you're going to have spills, stains, or get musked by a snapping turtle.

Our anti-social media Memorial Day vacation

This weekend, the only kind of tweeting going on in the Katsarelas family will be of the avian variety.

Cuz we're going up north for Memorial Day. (Michiganders refer to any place at least 75 miles north of where they live to be "up north.") We're driving four hours to get to Pam's family's cottage. It's a small place on a small lake in an equally small town. (No traffic signals but three stop signs.)

Pam's "granddaddy" built it in the 1940s. (Time out. I'm Greek. We don't have "granddaddys." Or "grammas." We have papous and yayas. There's a papou and yaya on my dad's side, and papou and yaya on my mom's side. As my very Greek mother said when I first told her that Pam's granddaddy built the place: "What kind of name, this granddaddy? Greek girls, they have papous!"

Back to the cottage. Look up "rustic" in the dictionary, and it will say, "See the cottage on Chain Lake." The couches and beds are permanently deflated. The roof has started to dip and groove. The gutters fell off last year. Half the dock is under water. A Cape Cod summer place it is not.

It has no phone. No cable. No cell coverage. No TV. (There was one exception: . Pam said her grandmother brought up a small portable TV in 1981 so she could watch the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. After the broadcast, she turned the TV off, put it in a closet, and took it home at the end of the summer.)

So this weekend, there will be no tweeting. No blogging. No texting. No friending. No IMing.  

The family philosophy is this: Without the distractions of electronic gadgets, the kids will be outside on sunny days, swimming, fishing, or happily running amuck. When it rains, they'll be inside, playing cards or games, or reading. So wholesome. So family-friendly. So ... 1937.

But it agrees with me. We talk. We play. We swim. The cousins hang out all day together. And no one rushes in to check their messages or see who's online or try to catch an episode of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody."   

So Friday through Monday, don't try to contact me. If you want to be my friend, I'll confirm you next week. I'll tweet again next week. My IM response will be far from I.

Because I will be incommunicado. Very, very happily incommunicado.

 

 

Thousands of Amway photos later, and still shooting!

In March of 1965, eggs were 53 cents a dozen. The Beatles' "Eight Days a Week" topped the charts. Lyndon B. Johnson was president, and Ron Gasta took his first picture of Amway co-founders Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel.

Ron and his wife, Sandy, who have been IBOs for 44 years, attended lots of Amway conventions and meetings over the years. And Ron snapped away at every one of them.

He's now amassed a collection of several thousand slides, snapshots, and digital images of Rich and Helen DeVos and Jay and Betty Van Andel; Amway Global President Doug DeVos and Chairman Steve Van Andel; and numerous Amway events.

"Taking pictures is my passion," says Ron, "right next to my wife and Amway."

Ron says he was inspired by a neighbor who worked as a photographer for

a local newspaper and who "taught me the art of cameras and photography." He's been shooting ever since and never leaves their home in Bay City, Michigan, without his camera.

Ron and Sandy are such a presence at Amway events that when Rich attends, he invites them to sit in the front row. Two years ago at the "Connections" event in Grand Rapids, Doug spotted the Gastas sitting in their customary front row. He called for the house lights and introduced them to the applauding crowd of 10,000 IBOs.

"That was quite an honor for us," remembers Ron.

I asked Sandy what it's like to be married for 46 years to a guy who admits he's "addicted" to photography. She related a story about a canoeing trip many years ago. Sandy lost her balance and fell into the river. "Ron would only grab me with one hand because he was clutching his camera in the other," she says.

"I didn't know who to save!" Ron quips. But over the years, Ron knew enough to save all of his Rich and Jay photos, some of which are shared below.

To learn more about Ron and Sandy, check out Beth Dorman's post, "A visit from Mr. Soap and Mrs. Clean," on her Inside Amway Global blog.

Here are some photos Ron and Sandy shared with us. 

 

 

Update on our speedy 75-year-old IBO

A few weeks ago, I posted about Bill Wright, a 75-year-old IBO from Massachusetts.  "Dr." Bill, an avid consumer of all things NUTRILITE®, is a track and field star, participating in events around the country. He's so fast, in fact, that he's only a few hundredths of a second off the world record time (in his age group) for the 100 meters.

Dr. Bill was all set to compete in last weekend's Penn Relays, the first and oldest relay track meet in the United States that takes place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. But I received the following email from Dr. Bill over the weekend:

"You may already know that I was not a participant (in the Penn Relays). I  have  been  in  the  hospital  three  times  during  the  past  four weeks.  I had fluid in my lungs. Working out was an impossibility. 

"Up until  the  last  few  days,  and  after  many  tests and  a  stress  test,  the  final  decision  was  my  doctor's.  On  Thursday (April 23), he  said  that  he  couldn't  say  that it  was  OK  for  me  to  compete.

"I was still planning, but did listen to him.  It  was  a  great  disappointment,  having  qualified  months  ago  to  participate. I  will  be  back  to  my  workouts  very  soon. Can't keep me down."

Dr. Bill, we're still rooting for you, whether you're on the track or the road to recovery. Best wishes!

 

The cost of bad customer service

I'm hoppin' mad! Miffed, in fact. I'm so angry that I could kick a dog!

(All right. Take it easy. All I'm saying it that there are some instances when it's OK to kick a dog. Picture a panic-stricken 10-year-old boy in a striped, short-sleeved shirt, blue dungarees, and white gym shoes - think "Opie" with glasses. Now imagine that kid being chased on his bike by Günter, the yapping white toy poodle owned by Mr. and Mrs. Dubenstahl. It's in precisely these kinds of instances when it's permissible - nay, encouraged - to pedal furiously with one foot while leaving the other free to kick wildly at Günter. And for the record, my PF Flyer never made contact with Günter's hind quarters, or any other quarters, for that matter.)

The source of my anger? A couple of months ago, our email service went down. Not our internet access; just email. So I called our cable company's customer service department, which has always been responsive, polite, and patient. Over the course of the next several days, the company assured me they were working on the problem. Finally, after two weeks, the service was restored. I called to find out how much of a credit we'd be getting. The customer service rep told me that since it was "only" our email service, and not our internet access, they'd credit me 12 cents a day, or $1.68.

I became so furious I could kick a ... well, you know. And knowing I wouldn't get anywhere with a customer service rep, I wrote a snail-mail letter to corporate headquarters. I explained the situation, told them that we were long-time customers (12 years), and complained that $1.68 - for the interrupted service and our inconvenience - wasn't going to cut it. I expressed our incredulity by enclosing a check for $1.68, telling them they could keep their money.  

So I waited for a response. And I waited. One week. Two weeks. A month goes by. Not only did I never get a response, this weekend, I noticed they cashed my check!

We've had nothing but the best experience with this company. This one error of omission, this one failure to respond to our letter, has eroded our confidence and trust that this company has earned over the past 12 years.

I know that not all customer service departments are created equal. I look in awe at the customer support department at Amway Global. I know many of the people over there. They're all about customer service. They wouldn't dream of not responding to a customer's letter. (Nor would they have cashed that check!) But I expected some response.

You may have read about (or viewed) the recent incident in which a Domino's employee did disgusting things to a pizza while another employee taped him. (The employees were fired.) It would be unfortunate if Domino's takes a long-term reputation hit because of what two stupid people did. I don't blame Domino's for what happened, and if we patronized Domino's, we'd keep buying pizzas.

But I'm done with this cable company. As I shop the competition, I've been sure to tell friends and family how this company screwed up.

Because Hell hath no fury like a customer scorned.

   

11 tips for your next Washcation

My upline, Beth Dornan, who writes Amway Global Insider, posted yesterday about her family's recent "moochcation," which she defined as taking mini vacations by staying with friends and family.

Well, our family just returned from six days in Washington, D.C. So in the spirit of Beth's 10 simple rules for successful moochcationing, here are my top 11 tips for Washcationing:  

1. Don't go during Spring Break. There are, like, 50 million kids on Spring Break at the same time. Twenty-five million go to Florida, 24,999,998 go to Washington, and the rest take a moochcation.

2. Don't try to see every museum or monument. Way too many. You'll wind up rushing from one to the next without spending sufficient time in any. Make a list of everything you want to see, then lop off the bottom third. 

3. You can get advance tickets for many museums or sites. Do this six months before your trip. We write our congressman for White House tickets, and we got right in. We failed to email the National Archives ahead of time, and waited in line for two hours for tickets. 

4. Learn the Metro as soon as you get there. It's cheap, it's easy, and, to one member of our family, it was the best part of D.C.

5. Meals turned out to be the costliest part of our Washcation. But if you don't mind Chinese, the least expensive and best meals were in Chinatown. One restaurant was offering dinner specials for $7.99. Feeding a family of four for $32 (minus tip) was the deal of the century. There's a Metro stop in Chinatown, so getting there is easy-peezy. 

6. Slather petroleum jelly on the pole of your bird feeder to thwart those pesky squirrels. This has nothing to do with Washcationing, but it's good advice I think you should have.

7. Before you spend money to see the Ford Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated, you should know that it's not original. They gutted the theater after he was killed, then rebuilt it. So when the tour guide pointed and said, "President Lincoln was in that balcony when he was shot," what he meant to say was, "President Lincoln was in a balcony that looked just like that one when he was shot." More impressive is the house across the street where he died a few hours later.

8. Kids are adorable. (We're going to keep ours.) But Washcationing makes 'em liars. Almost every afternoon, they'd start saying, in the moaniest and whiniest of voices: "We're really tirrrred. Can we go now?" But as soon as we got to the hotel, clothes went a flyin' as the kids rushed into their swimming suits and ran off to the pool. 

9. The Metro goes to Arlington National Cemetery. From there you can walk to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Bring a box of tissues.

10. When you go to the Air and Space Museum, see "To Fly," an awesome, beautiful, 30-minute movie that's been playing there for since at least 1980, when I saw it last.

11. If you run into two guys named Weasel and Donnie, you don't know us.

Pinching pennies by getting more out of our Amway products

I love bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. Bubbles in the kitchen sink. Bubbles in the washing machine. Bubbles in a bucket. I don't take bubble baths. (Really. I don't.) But if I did, you can bet I'd be soaking in a sea of froth.

(If my wife were reading this, she'd be saying, "Bubbles? Seriously? You're writing about bubbles? You should be writing about your true love: scented candles. The kind that float. And please stop saying, ‘They soothe my inner beast.' It's weird. And you're scaring the children.")

Whatever. But here's my point: My affinity for bubbles can only mean one thing: I use too much of our Amway products.

Thing is, I know better. I know our products are super concentrated, and that a little bit goes a long way. That's why many of our home products are less-expensive, on a per-use basis, than our competitors.  But I can't help it.  

I squirt too much and over-powder.

A few years ago, we sold fragranced Dish Drops liquid in a squeeze bottle. I kept one of those bottles, which I refill and keep on our kitchen counter. When I do dishes, I start filling the sink with hot water. I'll grab the bottle, turn it upside down, and give it a good, long squeeeeeeeeeeeeze - as long as it would take you sing, "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale."

You know much Dish Drops you're supposed to use? A quarter capful per liter. That's two tablespoons per gallon. I easily squirt twice that much.

When I do the wash, I'll typically use two scoops of Bioquest. Bioquest doesn't bubble much. But I figure two scoops is twice the cleaning power of one

The recommended usage of L.O.C. is one ounce (two tablespoons) per gallon. Not in Nick's buckets. If I'm washing cars or cleaning floors, I pouuuuuuuur (as long as it would take you to sing, "Who can turn the world on with her smile?"), then add water for lots of suds.

Same thing with Body Series liquid hand soap. One pump? Not me. Try three or four.

There's no time like the present to make a resolution. So I've resolved to start following use instructions. A quick squeeze. Less L.O.C. One pump. And I'll ask the family to do the same. It's not like we'll be saving a bundle. It's not like we can retire early. Maybe over the course of the year, we can save a few bucks.

Perhaps even enough to buy a scented candle. You know - the kind that float.

See 75-year-old IBO. See IBO run. See IBO run really, really fast.

"I'm strong, I'm fast, and I'll take anyone down!"

Any way you look at it, them's fightin' words. But you'd never expect to hear them from Bill Wright. No. Not Dr. Bill. Not this soft-spoken IBO with the easy laugh.

However, Dr. Bill (he has a PhD) is a fierce competitor when the talk turns to track. The 100 meters is his specialty. This guy's so fast, in fact, that his best time is only .03 seconds off the world record for his age group of 13.66 seconds.

Big deal, you're probably thinking. People can run that in less than 10 seconds. Others might beg to differ. The thing is, he has a pacemaker. And remember: the guy's 75. 

"I've been running all my life - but not from the police," joked Dr. Bill, who lives in Haverhill, Massachusetts, with his wife,  Anna Mae. "Run, run, run! That's what I do."

Dr. Bill got into the business back in 1973 for a familiar reason: to make more money.

"We had three small children, and I promised them that I would pay for their college education," he recalls. "But I was lying to them because I had no money." He was introduced to Amway by a cousin, and he and Anna Mae joined. And yes: With the extra money they earned in their Amway business, they put all three kids through college.

Dr. Bill's a retired college professor. So now he does what you'd expect most retired 75-year-old guys to do: He eats his oatmeal, takes his Double X, then heads to the local track and works out for a few hours. Chances are, he's busting out of the starting blocks while the rest of us are bleary eyed, dragging, and groping for that first cup of coffee. He participates in eight or nine track meets each year. In addition to the 100 meters, also runs the 60 meters, and competes in the triple jump and long jump.

For Dr. Bill, the best preparation is practice, practice, practice. But he admits that Double X "gives me that extra boost!"

"But it's not just Double X, man!" he exclaims. And then he recites the different products he takes daily: Glucosamine-7, Protein Powder, Heart Health, Cal Mag D, and Saw Palmetto and Nettle Root.

"Hey, ever heard of Nutrilite?" he quips.

Dr. Bill says he has lots of retail customers who love the Nutrilite product line. "I'm getting calls all the time: 'I want to order this' or "Give me another order of that.' "  He says this customer demand is based on the "power" of the Nutrilite brand.

What he's gearing up for is the Penn Relays, the first and oldest relay track meet in the United States, that takes place in late April. Dr. Bill will be the guy in the green shorts, with "Nutrilite" emblazoned on his green jersey. It's at this event, at the University of Pennsylvania, where he plans to capture the gold medal in his age-group, and eclipse the record for the 100 meters.

The Penn Relays attracts the top track talent in the world. But these world-class athletes have nothing on our guy - Dr. Bill Wright, the 75-year-old IBO with a pacemaker -- who, we think, will grab that Pennsylvania gold.  

Paul Harvey, former Amway spokesman and distributor, dead at 90

Paul Harvey, whose radio commentaries and homespun take on the news captivated millions of Americans for nearly 60 years, died Saturday. He was 90.

Harvey personalized his version of the news with his distinctive voice and cadence, extended pauses for effect, and folksy observations of average Americans. And he began by exclaiming, "Hello, Americans! This is Paul Harvey! Stand by for news!"

Harvey was an Amway distributor in the late 1960s. For short while, Amway sponsored his radio program. Harvey left his greatest mark with a three-minute speech delivered at the 1968 Amway International Convention entitled "I Am Amway."  It begins:

I was born in a basement in 1959. The Golden Rule is my birth certificate. ...

I am the spirit of French fur traders and the voyageurs, the Americans crossing the continent in covered wagons.I'm the spirit of the Forty Niners. I'm the combinedenthusiasm of a New Orleans Mardi Gras and a Calgary stampede. ...

You can look at me and see the glory of the past, the growth of the present, the promise of the future. I have been a dreamer, a builder. I have worked hard to create a success story that men said could not be done. Yes, these are the things I am. I was born in freedom, and, God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days. ...

I ... am ... Amway.

Listen to the complete speech by clicking here:

http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=792639&song=I+Am+Amway

Once you're on that page, follow the directions to listen to or download the mp3.

 

 

  

Is what you do rocket science? It is for this award-winning IBO

Be sure to congratulate Satish Reddy the next time you see him. Don't know who he is? He's the guy with the Silver Snoopy lapel pin.

Satish, a Founders Emerald from Houston, was recently awarded the Silver Snoopy Award from NASA for two significant achievements as chief engineer of a design and analysis group at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. The highly coveted award is presented by astronauts for saving their spacecraft, mission or life.

The first achievement was for his efforts after loose foam damaged the protective tiles on the underside of the Space Shuttle Endeavour during its Aug. 8, 2007 launch. Satish and his team worked day and night to determine the extent of the damage, and evaluate whether it would jeopardize the lives of the crew. On Aug. 21, 2007, Endeavour and its crew of seven landed safely. The NASA citation stated that it was Satish's efforts that contributed to the safe return of the Space Shuttle.

                                                                         

The second was for resolving design deficiencies in the television cameras on board space shuttles that monitor spacewalks. 

Satish received his award during a ceremony last December attended by nearly 400 co-workers, plus his wife, Sreelatha; their 11-year-old daughter, Ravali; and their 4-month-old son, Rohun. In addition to a plaque, he received the Silver Snoopy lapel pin (above), which actually flew on a space shuttle mission.  

Ironically, said Satish, it was his Amway Global independent business and the upline organization's leadership training program that prepared him well for his work in the space program.

 "I used to be a nerd, sitting at a computer and working on math problems," he said. "But this business taught me leadership skills. It taught me not to be afraid, work with people, build teams, and to take risks."

During his five-year tenure in the space program, Satish has been promoted four times. "I think the reason I do well at work is because of what I learned in this business," he said.

And despite his serious responsibilities at work, he's able to find time to build the business and be with his family. "My commute is 90 minutes each way. I'm always on the phone, taking care of my downline and my international businesses," he said. "The rest of my time is spent with my family."

  

Nearly 400 people attended the awards ceremony. From left to right: NASA Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger; NASA Astronaut Ellen S. Baker, M.D.; Satish and Sreelatha's daughter, Ravali, 11; Sreelatha Reddy, M.D.; their son,  Rohun, 4 months old; Satish; and Wayne Hale, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator and formerly the Space Shuttle Program Manager.

 

Dreaming big? This IBO wrote the book on it.

So ... what's your dream?

No, not the one about forgetting your locker combination or showing up at a business meeting in your pajamas. Not that kind of dream. We're talking instead about the big dream, the life dream, the dream you can recite to someone at a moment's notice and in 30 seconds or less.

Paul Swets knows a little bit about the big dream. After all, he wrote the book on it. Literally.

Paul Swets, a PhD and IBO from Memphis, Tennessee, saw the boundless opportunities of establishing a dream - and the dire consequences of not having one. So teaming up with another writer, he authored Dreaming Big (Authentic Publishing, 2007), which takes readers through a 31-day personal growth journey to discovering, redefining, and living their dream.

"There is tremendous power in a clear dream," he said. "When we have clarified our dream and written it down," Paul told me, "it's very motivating and energizing."

The book even carries an endorsement from co-founder Rich DeVos, who wrote, "Knowing a little about ‘dreaming big,' I have never seen such an organized approach to following your heart and your life dream. Dreaming Big can help lift individuals and organizations out of mediocrity."

Paul met Rich many years ago in Florida. His parents attended the same church as Rich and Helen. Once, when he was visiting his parents, Paul accompanied his parents to church, and introduced himself to Rich. At the time, Paul was working on his first book (The Art of Talking So That People Will Listen), and asked Rich to review the manuscript. Rich not only read it but endorsed it, explained Paul, "and we stayed in touch over the years."

Paul also co-authored with his teenage son, The Art of Talking With Your Teenager.

Paul became active in the business last year, although his wife, Janiece, has been building the business for several years.

"I love the business and everything about it," he said, "and we love being able to make a difference in people's lives."

The opportunity and the recession

Yesterday, I spoke to an IBO in Wisconsin who was telling me about a couple he just sponsored. They were worried about the economy and the stability of their jobs. They saw Amway Global as a way to supplement their income, with the comfort to know that if there's a job loss in the family, they'd have their Amway business.

Which got me thinking: Is there anyone out there who has joined the business specifically because of the uncertainty in the economy? AND -- are you making money? Have you sponsored anyone who's lost their job? I'd love to hear from you!

Regards,

Nick Katsarelas, Editor