080316 Money For Nothing

I was invited to an interesting luncheon a couple of weeks ago. When the invitation came in the mail it stated that its purpose was to teach people from East Nassau how to get rich off of the internet. East Nassau is the incorporated village formed by the combination of three local hamlets. The total population is listed at 571. As I enjoy a free lunch and can always use an excuse to get out of the house and meet people, I looked over the six different times the presentation was held, picked out one that was convenient to me and called to confirm.

Of course, this had nothing to do with East Nassau, or with me. They had a product to sell and giving away a free meal is a valid way of putting it in front of people. There was a ninety minute presentation before lunch was served which was what they told people up front. What was most interesting to me was how positive the audience was. Now I have sat through dozens of time share presentations and literally hundreds of Amway sales presentations and I have never seen a reaction like the one I saw that day. It was not the product. It was not the presentation. It was definitely the lunch. It was the audience. They were ready and looking for something in a way the citizens of this country have not done in a generation.

There was a ninety minute presentation which all seemed very familiar and formulated. I had heard almost every statement before. It was designed to open my mind to possibilities apart from the mindset that we grow accustomed to in our day to day lives. At the same time, it was meant to build a fellowship between the speaker and the audience. There were only two things that the invited guests actually learned during the ninety minute talk. The first was that if they acted today, they could sign up to attend an all day seminar/advertisement including a hot lunch for only twenty-five dollars. The second was that for less than four thousand dollars, I could have their company help me set up an online presence, pick a product line, promote my wares, arrange warehousing and payment.

They had a hotel conference room abuzz with excitement as the group ate cold, bland turkey sandwiches and thought about handing over thousands of dollars for the opportunity to perhaps find a way to generate an income. Something profound has happened to our collective mindset for people to see themselves stepping out of their comfort zone. While we do not want a world where we are fearful of the future, it is refreshing to see people looking at what they can do to build a life and a future beyond what can be gained from giving themselves over to a job and accepting the limitations a job driven life provides.

The Avery Marketing Group has been allowed to go fairly inactive over the last few years. My biggest role lately has been to bring checks back from the mailbox and taking them to the bank. I have a very comfortable lifestyle which I can continue for the rest of my life and then pass it on to my son without ever working again. The crux of the issue today is: if the public is so actively looking for a vehicle to take them to a better future, can I sit back enjoying my income without sharing the same opportunity with others?

I do not have to procure merchandise for my customers. I do not have to choose what items to sell, test them to assure their quality, source them, inventory them, drop ship them, receive them or distribute them. I did not build the e-commerce site where the merchandise is sold; I do not process orders or take payment. Most importantly, I never gave anyone thousands of dollars. I started my business for fewer than one hundred dollars. I have paid annual fees of less than fifty dollars to keep my business current. To learn what I was doing in a field where I had no experience or training, I associated with others who had or were doing the same thing I was doing. I have spent additional money on audio tapes and training material so that I could learn from these people when they were not available. All together, it was a fraction of what I spent on my college education but with a tremendously greater return.