e.e. cummings
]]>And then it happened: The management of the group came to the conclusion that what Freedom builders promised and what they delivered was not on par. An ugly divorce ensued and our group was cast adrift with certain restrictions which were spelled out in the separation agreement between the Los Angeles group and the Atlanta home office.
The L A group was not permitted to use the Chipmunk and Antelope in the presentation and the whole “concept” had to be changed.
We became just another “chamber of Commerce” with educational meetings and periodic exposure to “guest” speakers. Once a week we met at a very nice place and had coffee and sweets and spent time recruiting more people to join the group. It became a poor substitute for what was hoped for. And the result:…..
After two and one half years the group was liquidated and the Leaders went back to their occupation of choice – mortgage markets and real estate.
We all know what the mortgage and the real estate markets are experiencing now.
It did not have to end this way. It could have been different. Let me give you a scenario:
LINC-L A joined the American Loyalty Card (ALC) system about a year before the end came. LINC had 1000 card to give out to its members. Doing so would have LINKED all of the members to each other THROUGH a third party and with LINC being the main central linkage.
Linking all the different business members to LINC via ALC would have created a mall without walls. Everyone would have had access to everyone else through the internet and everyone would have become a profit sharing partner with everyone else within the network of LINC.
For whatever reason Dorothy and co. decided to sit on the cards and do nothing. When the end came LINC was left with 1000 card which were useless to them; and all of the members were left outside he system and “… good luck to all.”
I am writing this blog for a reason. If you are reading this then you know that you are visiting my website which has several purposes. The main purpose is to recreate the ultimate market place for all. Each and everyone of us has a business. Each and everyone of us is out there working hard to get “…one more client.” Each and every one of us is hoping that the next client will be that client that can create the next link to that great and wonderful group of customers which will put us all in that economic secure place that all of us are working towards.
Well, maybe that is all there is. Maybe that is all that our mental ability will permit us to envision. Maybe our imagination is so limited that any other way of doing it is beyond our ability to grasp.
Maybe not.
Maybe it is time to think outside the box. Maybe it is time to forget the three most dangerous words in the English language: “I Know That.”
Every time someone says “I Know That” the door to his or her brain closes and no new information can be accepted. No new concept processed and no new ideas formed. The words “…I Know That.” are the ultimate door closer to everything.
Can you imagine contacting all of your past clients and sending them to everyone you use for services in your own personal life?
Now turn it around: Can you imagine belonging to a group of individual businesses who do the same.
Now imagine two more possibilities:
Can you imagine making money from the money that all of your clients are spending with everyone else?
Can you imagine paying your friends a finders fee every time their clients come and send money with you?
We have the technology and we have the system. What is missing is the group of business people who are smart enough to “get it”.
I don’t know if this kind of group even exists. I thought that LINC was it. It was not.
I am not looking to set up an MLM. I don’t believe they work. Here is why MLMs do not work.
But there is a way to take the concept and make it work.
Not vertically but horizontally;
Assuming that anyone else will do your work for you won’t do. You do your work and let the podiatrist do his. And let the Proctologist do his. The trick is to let every business person do his or her work. But let all these nice people become part of your family of business owners.
Ask yourself this: How long will the Frame shop stay out of the system if he becomes aware that his customers are also spending money with you; and that if he were part of the system he could earn a percentage of what his customers are spending with you?
Other Question:
Do you really think that your customers are only spending money with you?
How much more are your customers spending with other merchants?
Are your customers shopping (spending money) with you every day?
Are your customers spending money somewhere every day?
Are you getting paid (anything) when your customers are shopping elsewhere?
If any of this makes any sense to you, or if you have some ideas that can further the concept of “working together” instead of cutting each other’s throats then feel free to comment below or click on contact me and call me.
]]>I remember my wife turning on the radio and hearing the news that Bobby was killed. Her first reaction was a cry. A cry of pain and dispair. Her first word were: “…they are going to kill them all.”
Well, “they” tried. And by the time “they” were finished all of the voices of reason were silenced and we were left with President Nixon. What followed was a 40 year period of darkness with an eight years window of sunshine (the Clinton years) and by the time Obama arrived on the scene we are in the worst economic sistuation since the great depression. The reputation and stature of the United State in the world is at an all time low. The Dollar is no longer respected and the price of everything is going out of site. and why?
Because we have a president and an adiministration that is following an old French monarch’s declaration: “…apre moi le deluge.” which loosely translates as:”…what happens after I am gone - who cares.”
The World oil barons are smiling all the way to the bank. Mr. Bush (our president) who was very unsuccessfull in his business life sure made up for it as the president. What ever losses he generated in the oil industry while in private business - he sure made it up to them by now. When he leave office he will never be wanting for “thank you”s from the industry that he and his father have served for oh so many years.
And what is driving the economy into the ground? The rising oil prices.
And what is driving the oil price? the ability of large money people to SPECULATE in the futures.
And what is permitting the SPECULATORS to play this game? The low margin requirements.
And what can be done to bring the prices down?
Do the same thing that the SEC does when the market is out of ballance - increase margin requirements;
And are they going to do it? No way. That might bring prices down and that might ballance the books in favor of the “great unwashed” and that is unacceptable to the powers up there.
If any of you are at all familiar with the Futures Markets you know that the old CEA (Commodity Exchange Authority) made it illegal to trade options on commodities that are monopolized by ANY PARTY ANYWHERE. It was banned because options could give a small group of speculators to control the price of any commodity.
The possible result:
Raise the margin requirements; Lots of small speculators bail out due to Margin calls; prices drop like a rock; the cartel makes less money.
In the open market the consumers are using less due to high prices;
The Cartel makes less money so …
They have to bring the prices down and sell more to make money.
But…
The Bush administration will not do that since they do not care about us, the little folk.
More later
I am a democrat and a Democrat. I am a liberal person and a Liberal as defined by the Republicans. I love this country for one thing: the ability to descent from the poplular view points even if I am the only one who thinks this way.
When I came to this country the Warren court was in Washington and I thought:”…this is what the democratic system is all about. If stupid people can’t govern themselves inteligently, then at least they can count on smart, inteligent, and compassionate individuals to do the thinking for them. What a wonderful system that provides a mechanism to govern inteligently during times when people do not use their heads or their hearts.
If one takes the time to check one would see that this country does not use their constitutional right to vote. We consider a 30% (thirty per cent) participation acceptable. That means that we are governed by 15% plus one.
15% of the population chooses and decides what our lives are going to be all about for the next four to …… number of years. if the wrong person appoints heartless individuals to the Supreme Court then for as long as these people live and serve, we would be served by heartless people.
If Selfish individuals run our country and represent the few who helped put them in office then most of us get to suffer the consequenses for a very long time. We get to pay the bills many years after those individuals have left office and have gone back to their ranch in Texas.
Yesterday we witnessed, once more, the short coming of our system. Take Florida as an example: The Republican Legislature decides to move the Primary up so that they can be in the forefront of the primary system. The Democrats in Florida, being the minority, and having to choose between voting for Election Reform along with the Republicans - or going on record as having voted agains the reforming of the system in Florida - and we all know how well the Florida system can be manipulated - and watch the Republicans pass it anyway since they have the Majority.
Now comes the National Democratic Commity (DNC) and informs the Florida Democrats that if they hold their primary early they will not be seated.
Then the DNC goes through this unbelievable waste of time on Saturday 05/31/2008 and decides to permit the Florida delegation to be seated (What an embarassment if there are all these empty seats at the convention) but in their unbelievable wisdom (LOL) they permit the Florida delegates only half a vote instead of a full vote.
The Michigan story is even more disturbing:
The DNC permits the delegation to be seated (again, to avoid the embarassment of empty seats in the area where the Michigan delegation is assigned to be seated) and apportions the delegated on a percentage basis to persons for whom the “uncommitted” did not vote. What kind of an absurd action; I did not hear any discussion on the possibility that a percentage of the “uncommitted” may have been Clinton voters. That some people choose to be undeclared for personal or business reasons. I can emagine deviding the uncommitted delegates on a percentage basis by calculating the percentage of the declared as compared to the total, then the undeclared as a percentage of the total and then deviding the uncommitted, undeclared delegated on that basis and awarding the delegates. But to say that “…it can be assumed that the undeclared are Obama voters” is making an assumption that can not be substantiated.
So much for smart people doing the thinking for us.
Finally: if things continue in this manner for the next 6 months then Mr. McCain will be moving into the White House while the democrats, in their incredible short sitedness will be arguing about who should be the nominee.
I am not sure why Senator Obama could not have suggested that Senator Clinton get it for the next eight years and then Senator Obama take the White house for the subsequent eight years; That would have given the country 16 years of Democratice Government with little competition. But That would have been the “smart” thing to do, and we never do the “smart” thing.
JR
Over the next few days, weeks or months I will share with the world some of my thoughts about Commodity trading; Investment programs and Investment advisory services
If you have any specific interest or question, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to respond in a timely fashion. If you don’t - you must be older and wiser than I am and maybe you can help me learn more.
So I thought that once I reach a certain age I should be wiser, smarter and more well informed; then I look around and see that not much has changed. And I think to yourself: “… where have I heard this before?” And it comes back to you. A very bright person by the name of Akiba (in the first cetury AD) said that there is nothing new under the sun. And I think to yourself “… with all the new gadgets that we live with, and all the communication devices that we use, and all the transportation modes that we have access to - What has really changed? Do we get along better? Do we communicate with each other more comfortably? Do we have more tollerance for each other? Look around and tell me that we do.
I was born half way around the world and traveled the distance. Lived in several countries and learned to speak several languages. Started several businesses and got through the expected types of formal education; and what have I learned?
So much for moving ahead and evolving. The more time passes the more things seems the same. So we can put a gatdget on Mars. How does that change our life on earth? How does it help the people in Burma, or China, or Tibet? People still look at each other and react to what they perceive the differences are rather than the things we have in common. We can’t seem to get past the fact that we are all mortal, all bleed and all have feelings for our children. We seem to need to find the differences so that we can find reasons to argue, fight and hate.
So sad.
JR.
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