My Pet Peeve

Like nearly everyone, I hate spam. According to an online article 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Email Spam Worldwide, “Roughly 130 billion spam emails are sent, worldwide, per day, accounting for roughly 70% of global emailing activity.” www.perimetec.com/7-Things-You-Didnt-Know-About-Email-Spam-Worldwide.php  What bothers me even more though are the many “facts” on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, social and network marketing sites and the like, or sent by email, where the poster just copied it from somewhere else without ever researching the supposed facts. In fact many are untrue or only partially true. We have all seen them. How about the one about why weddings are often held in June. The post states that is because people in centuries past didn’t bathe more than once a year, so they were married just past bath time. Oh yes, and the bride carries a bouquet to mask their odor. People pass on these posts, not realizing that not only did people bathe “way back then,” but they even had public bath houses. I saw one yesterday about how many mass murders were prevented by people who were carrying guns and stopped the shooters. I was curious about that, so I researched it, and although I only found information about a few of the ten or so incidents related in the post, in each situation, the description provided was either totally untrue or only partially true. During the United States General Election, emails and social networking sites were full of outrageous untrue stories about what one candidate or the other did. Unfortunately, people believe what they want to believe. So, the stories were reposted repeatedly and sent via email to everyone on their contact lists. I primarily rely on  snopes.com to determine the veracity of a post or email. Until I’ve checked it out myself, I will not forward “urban myths.” I’ve even seen outrageous posts that have “I checked this out myself on snopes.com” at the end. When I personally check it out though, around 90% of those posts turn out to be untrue. Millions – perhaps even billions of “normal” spam email is every month. In fact, only a very small percentage of email is NOT spam. According to an article published by the Information Security Office at the University of Texas at El Paso ( admin.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=64462 ), in the month of July 2012,”7,973,389 email messages. 6,476,110 of these messages were identified as Spam by our filters, 18,270 as Suspected Spam, and 391,374 as Marketing - Total of 6,494,380 (81.4%) Spam.” Imagine for a moment how much faster the Internet would be if these millions upon millions of spam were not sent. Imagine if you opened your email, and everything in your inbox was something you wanted or expected to be there. How much time would you be saving if you didn’t have to delete all that spam? How much more trustworthy would you find Facebook, et al if people did not share and pass along lies, half-truths and exaggerations without first verifying them? I love having email and the various forums and social networking sites. I do wish though that I didn’t have to filter all the spam (my email system does a lot of it) and read posts with a skeptical eye and research them to see if they are true. Would you join me in NOT forwarding emails and posts unless you are certain that the facts are true? ******************************* To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit joinxpresshealthcare.com . You can work from home and earn residual income. To learn how to Save Money on Your Health and Dental Costs AND Save on Hearing, Vision, Prescriptions, Roadside Assistance, Lifelock™ and much more, please visit  ibourl.net/XpressSavings (NOT insurance)

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

I lived in southern California most of my life.  For the last 18 years, I’ve lived in southeast Arizona.  Both areas have mild weather, with few extremes.  Neither State has high humidity and little to no snow (except in the mountains).  Where I am in Arizona, it is nothing like Phoenix where summers are 100 to 120 degrees for weeks on end.

As my husband and I left home today for our daily walk at our local mall, and the cold air struck me.  It was the first time since February that I felt a real chill.  My car thermometer said it was 34 degrees, near freezing.  Because we seldom have extreme cold, I don’t have cold-weather attire.  This morning I was wearing jeans, a short sleeve blouse, a denim jacket and tennis shoes. I was shivering.  Tomorrow, I’ll wear my leather jacket, which is a little warmer than denim.

I have never understood how people tolerate living in extreme hot or extreme cold.  Although I would never choose to live anywhere that has snow storms and below zero temperatures, I can understand how wearing proper winter attire could make it tolerable.

On the other hand, I don’t see how people can endure living in punishing heat.  You can only remove so many clothes without being totally immodest.  In the Middle East, people wear thawbs and other “robe-like” garments to protect them from the sun and provide ventilation.  When it is 120 degrees, it seems to me that their thawbs cannot possibly keep them any cooler.  But then, I’ve never worn one.

Last year a record was broken in my city with the coldest day in the history of the area.  I had an appointment that day, so I had to go outside.  It was 8 degrees and windy.  My face hurt from the cold.  Remember, I do not own winter clothing.

The hottest temperature I was ever in was 117 degrees.  Before I went outside, knowing it was horribly hot I had to prepare my mind for the blast of hot air.

I was in Mississippi during the summer one year.  I walked out of my hotel room, and my glasses steamed up!  It was so humid; I could almost grab a handful of the air.

I’ve heard people say that they “get used to it,” both hot and cold.  If you live in extreme heat, I guess you learn to do your chores very early in the morning or late at night.  OK, so you can adjust your lifestyle, but your body cannot adjust to temperature, can it?

In the United States, there are few areas that do not experience very high temperatures, high humidity and/or freezing winters.  Since millions of people live in those areas, I imagine that for most, they’ve never experienced mild weather year round.  If that is all they ever know, are they simply mentally “used to it?”

I would be interested in feedback from those of you who live in areas with very hot summers, humidity and freezing winters.  How do you deal with it?

*******************************

To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit http://joinxpresshealthcare.com

To learn how to Reduce Your Health and Dental Costs AND save on Hearing, Vision, Roadside Assistance and much more, please visit http://ibourl.net/XpressSavings   (NOT insurance)

Expose Yourself!

Network marketing recruiting is a skill.  Anyone with the desire and dedication can learn this skill, even master it.  Are you prepared to improve your recruiting efforts producing the results you’ve been seeking?  Do you want to be a team leader?  Are you ready to begin harvesting the rewards of your time and effort? 

Your websites and training can help you reach your goals, but when it comes right down to it, only YOU can perform the work it will take.  There are qualifications required to recruit team members, lead a team and build a successful business.           

·        Among those skills is passion for your company, your products and your business opportunity.  If you don’t truly believe it, you can’t sell it.

·        Along with passion, a positive attitude is a must.  Both passion and a positive attitude are contagious.  Your prospects recognize these qualities, and oftentimes want what you have.

·        Persistence is necessary.  Whatever challenges arise, recruiting leaders persevere, finding solutions to problems and moving on.

·        Patience is huge with any network marketing company.  If you have reasonable expectations about how much you will earn and in what period of time you’ll earn it, you will not get discouraged.  Work your business as hard as you can, and in time, you’ll be earning money – possibly very good money.

We’ve all seen promotions on television for the Army, Navy or Air Force trying to recruit people into the military to serve their country.  In exchange for their service, they are offered benefits like a free college degree and world travel.

Those of us in network marketing are basically doing a similar thing.  We are marketing to people who want to start a home-based business and have the desire and willingness to make that happen.

Like the Army, your goal is to promote & publicize what you have to offer, in our case a business opportunity. You must introduce the potential benefits and advantages of joining your company and your team in particular.  Using flyers, brochures, business cards, online ads and forums, get the word out; hang your “open for business” sign anywhere you possibly can.  Your main job as a recruiter is to expose your prospects to your opportunity.  To do this, you want to drive people to your website using every means you can imagine.  You website should provide the information they need to determine whether or not your company is right for them  Once they have reviewed your site, you can answer their questions.  If people go to your website first, it will be unnecessary to do a full presentation to prospects.  Let them learn primarily from your website.

The name of the game is exposure.  Expose yourself!  In network marketing recruiting, the more people see you, the more likely it is that they will join your team.

Explore all the methods in which you can promote the business opportunity and get as much exposure as you can. You can use online and off-line techniques. Off-line you can advertise with flyers, brochures and business cards or by joining groups of like-minded people.

I highly encourage networkers to use social media marketing.  It is an extremely effective platform to advertise a network marketing opportunity.  Forums and blogs are not a quick way to build a team, but they are among the best.  

Many people call blogs, social and network marketing relationship building.  The idea is to build relationships with others who participate in these mediums.  Let them know about you, but not by promoting your business. Gain one another’s trust. Once you get to know each other, oftentimes your newly acquired internet friends begin asking questions about your business or product.  If you help these new internet associates to promote their business, they likely will do the same for you. 

You can also create and post videos on YouTube and other video sites to attract those looking for a business by driving them to your opportunity websites.

There are thousands of people searching for just the right opportunity.  If you want many of those people to join your team, you must let them know who you are and that you are seeking team members.  The best way to do so is by exposing yourself!

*******************************

To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit http://joinxpresshealthcare.com

To learn how to Reduce Your Health and Dental Costs AND save on Hearing, Vision, Roadside Assistance and much more, please visit http://ibourl.net/XpressSavings   (NOT insurance)

Where is the Network Marketing Mecca

I was on another forum today and saw that someone was taking a survey about where most network marketers live.  This particular poster’s business is in party plans, and she has far more people working with her in the northern part of the United States that other regions.

I found that interesting, because the vast majority of my team lives in the Eastern Time Zone of the USA.  I also have several team members in California and a very few scattered throughout the Central Time Zone.  Besides me, no one on my entire team lives in the Mountain Time Zone or any western States besides California. 

My company operates solely in the USA, so I cannot compare which countries are most involved in network marketing.  I would guess that the USA is among the top, if not number one on that list.

I remember reading a while back that the most network marketers in the United States live in California, New York, Florida and Texas.  There was one other State (it was a top 5 list), but I’m sorry to say I can’t remember which it was.

So, I am curious now.  I would love if anyone who reads this post would respond by saying where they live in the world or in what State in the United States.  I think the responses might be interesting. 

*******************************

To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit http://joinxpresshealthcare.com

To learn how to Reduce Your Health and Dental Costs AND save on Hearing, Vision, Roadside Assistance and much more, please visit http://ibourl.net/XpressSavings   (NOT insurance) 

Do You Miss Snail Mail?

Until the last few years, my mail box was full of envelopes six days a week.  Around the holidays, it sometimes nearly overflowed with the addition of Christmas cards.

Now don’t laugh at us, but both my husband and I looked forward to picking up our mail each day.  It was fun to see what surprises we would find.  Of course, more often than not, until about five years ago, it was mostly bills. 

Now I rarely receive bills by mail since everything is either directly debited or I pay online.  From now until Christmas thoughj, we will have more mail than usual and enjoy receiving – and sending – holiday greetings.

When we pick up our mail these days, it is more advertisements than anything else.  Unless we’re expecting a package, there are rarely surprises in the mail. 

Fortunately, I also rarely receive credit card “approvals” anymore.  With the advent of Identity Theft Protection, we have been removed from virtually all the credit card mailing lists. 

There are far more features included with ID Theft Protection, and for that I am grateful.  ID Theft is such a huge and ever-growing crime, that tens of thousands of people are victimized every year.  Many people believe that if they have no credit cards, they cannot become victims of ID theft. They are very wrong!  Thieves these days have gone so far as to steal people’s health insurance records and receive medical treatment under their victims’ name!

A thief can contact your utility companies and change your address.  They then receive service at a different address under YOUR name!  Many utility companies have tightened their security making it more difficult for this to happen, but it is far from foolproof.

Thieves can also apply for credit cards in your name and destroy your credit.  Do not believe that they cannot do so because they need your social security number.  We have all provided our SSN in so many places that most thieves know exactly how to access your number.

Back to receiving mail… If you are still receiving bills and pay checks through the mail, you are at greater risk of being victimized.  Mail boxes are the quickest and easiest way for thieves to steal your identity.  The flimsy locks on some mail boxes are no challenge to them. 

You can protect your identity with a variety of ID Theft Protection programs, the best of which is LifeLock™.  You have probably seen the LifeLock™ TV commercials.  My company, Xpress Healthcare offers LifeLock™ for $19.95 per month PER FAMILY!  Their WalletLock™ feature assists you in the event your wallet is lost or stolen. They even have a $1 million service guarantee that if one of their members is victimized because of failure of their service, they will help you fix it at their expense up to $1 million!

Here’s some great news! When you join LifeLock™ through Xpress Healthcare, you will also receive Roadside Assistance for all family vehicles and all family members, Pet Care discounts and Legal Service savings.  Pretty great for less than $20 a month!  For details, please visit http://ibourl.net/EverydaySavings.

Now, it is time to go check my mail to see if more Christmas cards have arrived!

*******************************

To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit http://joinxpresshealthcare.com

To learn how to Reduce Your Health and Dental Costs AND save on Hearing, Vision, Roadside Assistance and much more, please visit http://ibourl.net/XpressSavings   (NOT insurance)

Holidays of My Childhood

My mother came from a large family.  She was one of nine children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. Every one of those seven siblings had children of their own.  My mother was “the baby” of the family and was ten years younger than the next youngest.  Most of my cousins were close to my age.

When my family got together for holidays, it was a nice size crowd, often around 40 people. We celebrated holidays that fell during the summer at a park with lots of space and room to play, “pot luck” meals, softball games and lots of love.

When I was very young, I remember that one of my aunts hosted the Thanksgiving dinner.  We had huge portions of all the traditional Thanksgiving foods.  For a few years, my grandmother hosted it, and in later years, one of my cousins took it over.  We ate too much, visited and laughed a lot.

Being Jewish, we celebrated Chanukah.  During my childhood, my mother usually hosted a Chanukah party.  She had a wooden Star of David that stood about five feet tall.  Because of its proximity on the calendar to Christmas, the star became “Americanized” and was covered with foil, garland and blue lights.  It was beautiful. 

Chanukah is eight nights long, and children received eight small gifts, one on each night.  This too was an American tradition, because gifts were not part of the original celebration of Chanukah.  At our party each year, the children received gifts from all our aunts and uncles too.  My siblings and I took turns lighting the menorah (Chanukah candelabra) and saying the prayer that goes with the lighting ceremony every night of the holiday.  On the night of our family party, one of our cousins would light the candles.

When we were very young, my siblings and cousins and I would always put on a show when the family got together.  We would sing and dance for the adults, and everyone would applaud at what must have been terrible performances.  It all just added to the fun and celebration. 

When I became an adult, I began hosting our Chanukah party at my home.  I inherited my mother’s Star of David to decorate for our family party.  We had so much food!  Potato Latkes (pancakes) are the traditional dish served at Chanukah, but we also had Lokshen Kugel (noodle pudding) and myriad other dishes my cousins and aunts brought to the party.  Whether my mother or I hosted, we had at least 25 people in attendance and enjoyed being together.

Although Christmas was not “our” holiday, the family did get together on Christmas at one of my aunt’s homes on that day.  My aunt had what she called a “Chanukah bush,” which was basically a fake white Christmas tree with blue lights. We had no gifts, but we always had tons of food and laughter and fun to go with it.

My parents, aunts and uncles and one of my sisters are gone now.  I live 600 miles away from my family, so my husband and I have no family with whom to celebrate the holidays.

I read about and hear many people talk about how they dread getting together with their families for holidays.  They talk about disagreements and hostility between family members, and I find that very sad. 

I cherish the wonderful memories of holidays gone by, and I miss my family terribly at this time of year.  My wish for everyone is that they will appreciate their family while they have them.  Choose your “battles” carefully so you don’t feel guilty when they are gone.

*******************************

To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit http://joinxpresshealthcare.com

To learn how to Reduce Your Health and Dental Costs AND save on Hearing, Vision, Roadside Assistance and much more, please visit http://ibourl.net/XpressSavings   (NOT insurance)

Reflecting on 2012

As we approach the end of another year, it is a good time to reflect on our accomplishments and think about what we might have done better.

My year has been a mixture of both good and bad experiences, but the good far outweighed the bad.  I doubled my Xpress Healthcare business income over last year.  I didn’t get into the business expecting to earn a six-figure income my first year or two.  Since I was realistic, I wasn't discouraged.  I still love the company, my team, our products and the business opportunity. 

I was unable to visit my family in California as much as I would have liked, but I spoke to everyone frequently to stay in touch.  A dear friend, what we in Arizona call a “snow bird,” returned to her home in Kansas.  Due to age and poor health, she likely will not be returning to Arizona.  I miss the lunches we enjoyed together and the laughter.

I was disappointed that our house was for sale for a year and didn’t sell.  We will be putting it back on the market in January since houses are beginning to sell again.  Whenever we do sell it, we plan to move to California to be with our family.

I became very close with a few of my Xpress team members who have become friends, not just business partners.  Work certainly is more fun when you’re sharing it with friends.  I became better acquainted with our founders, working closely with them in the middle of the year and contributing to some great improvements in the company.

Looking forward, my husband and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary on New Year’s Day.  Two weeks later, we plan a trip to California to visit family.  I am eagerly awaiting the trip.

As my Xpress business continues to grow, I am excited to see how some of the stars in my team will grow and develop their businesses; and I am looking forward to bringing new business partners onboard and helping them to build their own Xpress businesses as well.

I am always happy to help more people save money with the various healthcare, dental and other savings programs Xpress Healthcare offers.

My husband and I are “seniors” now, but we are blessed since we have no major health issues.  We’ll continue to eat a healthy diet (at least most of the time) and walk 30 minutes five days a week to maintain our health.

As you reflect upon 2012 and look forward to 2013, I hope that all of you have wonderful memories and few worries.  May we all enjoy a healthy, profitable and wonderful new year.

*******************************

To learn about Julie Klein and the Xpress Healthcare Business Opportunity, please visit http://joinxpresshealthcare.com

To learn how to Reduce Your Health and Dental Costs AND save on Hearing, Vision, Roadside Assistance and much more, please visit http://ibourl.net/XpressSavings   (NOT insurance)