If that is so, then what is the best compensation plan available? There may be many companies that are very successful but unfortunately, there is no perfect plan, but there are some proven characteristics of some successful plans.

1. Able to attract as many participants as possible.

New recruits must easily see the money in the plan to attract them into the business in addition to anything else. This can be done by placing incentives on getting new participants. Early rewards should be built into the plan especially for the new recruit as most new recruits lost interest in their first 60 days because they simply lose confidence in succeeding long term.

Rewarding them as early as possible keeps their interest and excitement. As they reach their initial goal, it builds up confidence that they can achieve their future dreams which builds the initial skills required to eventually succeed.

2. Retain the highest number of distributors as possible.

As a distributor begin to recruit others and work the plan, they are building an ‘equity investment’ in their downline network. They will continue to build the business if the people in their network continue to work and build the business. Distributors who build an organization network are far more likely to continue to be active than those who do not.

Most companies now use “Auto Ship” programs to build repeat business. This will help to retain people by helping them to receive significant reward for the repeat sales so that they will have the time and attention with their new recruits and help them with their new found opportunities, making it worth their while to make their decision and to get started.

3. Make the highest percentage amount from the products at the earliest point of time, preferably within the first month.

Have a motivating wholesale/retail commission. Fast start bonus are gaining popularity as the first month sales are normally paid mostly to the person who signs up a new recruit with auto-ship. Have reasonable product retail price for the distributors to sell it to end consumers. Do not inflate the price of the products in order to give more incentive to the distributors as it can be difficult for them to retail the products.

Retailing products based on the hope of future rewards will never result in movement of product to retail consumers. Companies that do this always fail. Proper retailing moves the product from distributor to end user in volumes justified by natural consumption.

4. Low monthly maintenance.

Incentives must exist to motivate and reward distributors who build the business. High monthly maintenance can suppress a distributor performance to build depth as he is needed to maintain his own sales or the sales of his personal groups. Unilevel plans tend to have omitted this heavy maintenance.

Low monthly maintenance provides incentives which reward those who build depth. Remember, you want to build leaders not sales people. A good plan will become successful if everyone just buys every month for their own consumption rather then just a handful of super sales people.

5. Encourage team depth building.

Build depth provides stability and long term residual income otherwise the distributors will not be able to stay long in the organization. Building depth also encourages people to train others to recruit and duplicate the same process. Successful distributors learn and use the power of duplication.

Plans that encourage building depth rather than building wide are getting very common. Incentives are placed on group activities, Group Volume incentives usually rewards the whole line rather than rewarding an individual as in building wide.

6. Create strong desire to share the program with others.

A reasonable percentages compensation plan pay-outs. Plans of 40% to 50% of a real dollar value (difference between the point use to calculate the plan and the price of products) usually develop compelling urge to share the plan with others. Company paying less will have a hard time recruiting and keeping distributors for this is a competitive weakness present in their plan.

Many plans are designed by MLM professionals and are too complicated for an ordinary person to understand and to explain it to others. Plans should be simple and easy to be explained as people can understand and learn them quickly to make their first recruits. The more complex the plan, the fewer people it will motivate. The plan needs to excite a distributor first, before it can make him move.

“The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.” – Jean Giraudoux, French diplomat, dramatist, & novelist (1882 – 1944)

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The Characteristics Of A Successful MLM Compensation Plan

The good news is that a recession is not a depression. It’s unlikely that we will ever go through something like the Great Depression again. However, it’s quite possible that this will not be our last recession. To be successful, you need to become informed about what a recession is and what steps you can take to thrive in the midst of one.

Jack Canfield, too, knows about decisive action. He’s famous for his rags-to-riches story of how he committed to contacting five people a day to promote his book, Chicken Soup for the Soul. The key to his success was his commitment to action. Not just any old action, mind you. Aligned, well-thought-out, purposeful action. Jack knew he had a monumental task in front of him: promoting an unknown book by an unknown author. Each day he took action to increase name recognition, forge connections, and build sales.

Five Simple Steps for Thriving through a Recession, Jack Canfield Style

1. Get back to basics
2. Clean up your act
3. Focus on your connections and relationships
4. Be smart with your money
5. Step back

Continue reading the full article ….

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How to Thrive Through This Recession

Unemployment rose from 5.2 percent to 7.8 percent. But now it looks as if the 1981-82 downturn is the better comparison which lasted 16 months, had several quarters where the economy shrank 3 percent more, and unemployment rise as high as 10.8 percent. So what about this recession of 2008-2009?

There have been two quarters so far during the recession where the economy has gotten smaller, each time by less than 1 percent. Those days are over, currently forecasting a 4 percent decline in real GDP in the fourth quarter, placing it among the worst quarters for economic growth in the postwar period. The first three months of next year could be just as bad. And even once the economy begins to grow again, the overhang from the credit crisis will probably crimp significant growth until 2010.

The unemployment rate is ramping up sharply, and households are seeing their net financial worth evaporate before their eyes on a daily basis. Economists say that an 8 percent unemployment rate is likely and 10 percent is not out of the question. Even worse, with more people without jobs will make it that much tougher for the housing market to rebound anytime soon.

Since the housing bubble started to unravel, credit card companies have been cutting credit limits and, in some cases, raising interest rates, partly because they fear more consumers will default as financial stress spreads.

Home prices nationally have already fallen more than 20 percent from their 2006 peak, and in certain boom-and-bust states the declines have been even more precipitous. So if you’ve got a stable job, good credit, a down payment, and a strong stomach, there are certainly buying opportunities out there for you.

Unlike in the housing-boom days, borrowers will have to be able to make a sizable down payment to qualify for the lowest mortgage interest rates. So if you’re looking to go bargain hunting in real estate, begin setting aside a little bit of cash each paycheck to put toward a down payment. When you begin to feel better about your job security, you’ll be ready to take the plunge.

From credit cards to clothes, companies are open to making deals as they struggle to keep customers making it more apt to negotiate your rate because they don’t want to lose you. At the markets you can get discount which can lead to a lower price and savings. Paying with cash increases the chances of making a deal because it allows retailers to avoid credit card transaction fees.

It is a time to stop surviving and shift to thriving because you can almost get deals everywhere. It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good, and you need to make the most of the opportunities that are out there.

“It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.” – Harry S Truman 33rd president of US (1884 -1972)

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How Nasty Is This Recession And How It Is Affecting You?

Wishing You A Happy & Prosperous Year Ahead

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival.

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Happy Lunar New Year 2009

Ox Personality
The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm and modest. Like his animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in his work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

The ox person needs peace and quiet to work through his/her ideas, and when he/she has set his/her mind on something it is hard for him/her to be convinced otherwise. The ox person has a very logical mind and is extremely systematic in whatever he/she does, in spite of a total lack of imagination. He/she can be very stubborn, and difficult to dissuade once he/she decides on something. These people speak little, but are intelligent, and when necessary, they are both articulate and eloquent.

The ox person is not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes him/her nervous. The possibility of taking a serious risk could cause the ox person many sleepless nights. These people are truthful and sincere, and the idea of wheeling and dealing in a competitive world is distasteful to them. It would be right to mention that people born in the ox years are rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain. These people are always welcome because of their honesty and patience. They have many friends, who appreciate the fact that the ox people are rather introverted and wary of new trends, although every now and then they can be encouraged to try something new. It is important to remember that the ox people are sociable and relaxed when they feel secure, but occasionally a dark cloud looms over such person and he/she takes on the worries of the world and tries to find solutions.

Full report at http://www.gotohoroscope.com/chinese-zodiac-ox.html

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2009 Year Of The Earth Ox

Hours of happy times with friends and family

Abundant time for relaxation

Prosperity of unlimited wealth

Plenty of love when you need it the most

Youthful excitement at life’s simple pleasures

Nights of restful slumber

Everything you ever wanted

Wishing you well and happy

Years and years of good health

Enjoyment and mirth

Angels to watch you over

Remembrances of all the happy years!

~ Author Unknown

“An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves” – Bill Vaughan

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Happy New Year 2009

More than 400 New Yorkers fell victim to sweepstakes and lottery scams in the first seven months of 2006, with losses ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than $35,000, topping the list was an elderly Kansas man lost over $300,000

While elderly people lost the most money, lottery scams also tricked younger people into believing they had won a large cash prize from a foreign lottery or sweepstakes. In each case, the victims sent money, usually to Canada, thinking they had to pay insurance or taxes before they could collect these bogus prizes.

Scammers have came up with something new; a phony lottery in which “winners” are chosen from among local utility company customers. They send out letter claiming that the recipient has won prize money through a random drawing based on account numbers of local utility customers.

As with many of these scams, a counterfeit check was enclosed for a portion of the “winnings,” and the recipients are urged to keep the prize secret, and to call an enclosed phone number for more details about their winnings.

Anyone who calls the number will likely be instructed to wire money to help process their prize. This is the classic hook of a lottery scam. Anyone who sends money will lose the money they send and will soon learn the check they cashed was phony. Consumers who remember that it is impossible to win a lottery or sweepstakes they didn’t enter are much less likely to get burned.

“I’ve done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not” – Fran Lebowitz

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The Famous Fake Lottery Scam

Sometimes we feel that we have been taken for a ride, paying for something that’s overpriced. What is the fair value of a particular merchandise that we intent to buy? The fair value is exactly the price that you are willing to pay for. Well, if you think that it ’s overpriced you can always choose another of a lower price.

The cost to produce a similar product or to render the same kind services is about the same and should not differ by a big margin and if that the case why is that there is such a vase difference in the pricing? It is because of branding or simply due to greed of businessmen to squeeze more profits out from the consumers.

Greed is wanting more of something than is actually needed and in this case its money. Most people don’t admit that they are greedy with the overwhelming desire to want more money, all they want is to be able to a drive a Beemer, live in a Bungalow, and have enough cash so as not to be stressful financially for the rest of their life.

Many may think that acquiring money is not matter of greed but of necessity to provide food and shelter for the family. So what is greed when money is concern especially in business and to address this issue, a focus on the practical application of business principles versus profit is required.

At what point can you bend your principles in exchange for a profit? What you are going to do will depend on the amount of financial gain that you can get even if it is unethical. Referring back to the Aug’s report by the Singapore’s Straits Times on 218 entrepreneurs who were exposed, are deliberately using questionable degrees obtain from degree mails. This is doing something unethical in exchange for greater fame which will indirectly lead to greater profits.

By doing so, they have completely undermines their reasons for having principles in the first place. The temptation of greed and the motivation of having more money makes these people to bent the rules and doesn’t mind the consequences.

In order not to compromise on your principles, you must lay down your ethics when dealing with money and never let money override your principles in doing business. Think long term rather then just getting rich quick.

Your customers will go to your competitors. Your employees will choose to work for another boss who are more ethical and understanding. Your greed will eventually cause your downfall.

You can have your principles and at the same time make your money. All you need is to maintain a proper perspective regarding making the money and the value of your products or services that you provide to your customers. Your goal should be focus on customers first then the money will come in naturally.

“The discovery of America was the occasion of the greatest outburst of cruelty and reckless greed known in history” – Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924)

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How Far Can A Businessman Go To Satisfy His Greed

The Treasury Department had set aside $250 billion of the program to buy senior preferred shares and warrants in banks, thrifts and other financial institutions.

American International Group’s $40 billion bailout was the biggest TARP investment, and would not come from the $250 billion bank capital program.

The TARP has so far committed the following funding:

AIG – $40 billion

JPMorgan – $25 billion

Citigroup – $25 billion

Wells Fargo – $25 billion

Bank of America – $15 billion

Merrill Lynch – $10 billion

Goldman Sachs – $10 billion

Morgan Stanley – $10 billion

PNC Financial Services – $7.7 billion

Bank of New York Mellon – $3 billion

State Street Corp – $2 billion

Capital One Financial – $3.55 billion

Fifth Third Bancorp – $3.45 billion

Regions Financial – $3.5 billion

SunTrust Banks – $3.5 billion

BB&T Corp – $3.1 billion

KeyCorp – $2.5 billion

Comerica – $2.25 billion

Marshall & Ilsley Corp – $1.7 billion

Northern Trust Corp – $1.5 billion

Huntington Bancshares – $1.4 billion

Zions Bancorp – $1.4 billion

First Horizon National – $866 million

City National Corp – $395 million

Valley National Bancorp – $330 million

UCBH Holdings Inc – $298 million

Umpqua Holdings Corp – $214 million

Washington Federal – $200 million

First Niagara Financial – $186 million

HF Financial Corp – $25 million

Bank of Commerce – $17 million

TOTAL: $203.08 billion

In addition to the $40 billion capital injection into AIG, the Federal Reserve is providing the additional $112.5 billion in separate loans and funds for asset purchases. Aid to the huge insurance company came after counterparties and rating downgrades forced AIG to post large amounts of collateral for its credit derivatives positions.

The remaining $350 billion in TARP funding can be accessed only after the White House formally notifies Congress. U.S. House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank has said that if the initial banks participating in the program do not use the money for lending, Congress could block authorization of the final funding.

“Oh, I don’t blame Congress. If I had $600 billion at my disposal, I’d be irresponsible, too” – Lichty and Wagner

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The US $700 Billion Bailout Plan

Obama crossed the requisite threshold of 270 electoral votes to defeat Republican rival John McCain last night when television networks projected him winning the state of California. He had at least 338 electoral votes to McCain’s 145, according to the Associated Press and television network projections. Six states remained undecided.

His victory, along with his party’s gains in congressional contests, puts Democrats in firm control of the federal government for the first time since the early 1990s. That gives Obama an opportunity to turn his victory into a pivotal moment in the country’s political history.

Obama promise a change in Washington, inspiring millions of new voters and volunteers along the way. He persuaded the electorate that he could best handle the economic crisis facing the country. He raised more money than any presidential candidate in history, overwhelming McCain.

The racial symbolism of Obama’s campaign was never far from the surface. He formally declared his candidacy in February 2007 in Springfield, Illinois, evoking the spirit of Abraham Lincoln and his call for the nation to overcome the divisions of slavery. Obama ended his campaign Monday night with a rally in Manassas, Virginia, the site of two Confederate Civil War victories.

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them” – Adlai E. Stevenson Jr., Speech during 1952 Presidential Campaign, US diplomat & Democratic politician (1900 - 1965)

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Obama Is The First US African-American President