To be nobody
but yourself
in a world which
is doing its best
night and day
to make you
like everybody else
means to fight
the hardest battle
which any human being
can fight;
and never stop fighting.
e.e. cummings
To avoid risk do nothing
(But even then you can’t be sure)
Risk is what life is all about
And business too.
A risk is an opportunity.
Even Failure is an opportunity to risk again
But with more experience.
Greetings former LINC L A partners,
I am writing this for all of you who may have had high hopes in the concept of LINC but ended up disappointed in the outcome. I know I was.
Let’s see – what did I expect and what did we get?
When I joined “Freedom Builders” I heard the song of the muse. The right things were said and the right ideas expressed. One for all and all for one. We work together and we succeed together. We help each other and we all make money. We get our goal met and our customers get the best deal available. What a fine and noble idea. What a good business concept!!!
Remember the Chipmunk? Remember the Antelope? Remember the wonderful comparison between the Chipmunk hunter and the Antelope Eater.
That was so beautifully graphic and so “on target.”
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.