Review Archives - Page 3 of 4

A Review of the Top Three MLM News Articles

Multi-level marketing – commonly known as MLM – is constantly changing. It is adapting to a world on online sales and the Internet, making it easier for direct sellers to get the word out about their products and business.

It allows them an almost free way to advertise and it provides current information on trends, tips, tricks, and techniques that people in the business use to make their business a success. MLM news is just as important for businesses as anything else because it is here that you will find out about legislation changes, business problems, and new start-up companies.

Three of the best MLM news articles dealing with direct selling issues. One set of articles, ‘The Ten Big Lies of Multi-Level Marketing’, is a detailed series explaining how the business model of most MLM companies is flawed. These articles were originally hosted on the website Pyramid Scheme Alert.org, a site dedicated to helping people recognize organizations that are running illegal schemes and other direct selling information.

Unfortunately, this series of articles do not seem to be available unless they are in the archives. If that is the case, there is no search capability and you will have to spend the time to find them. There is also a great deal of information on that website and it is worth your time to peruse what is there.

The second article of the best MLM news is one that is hosted on Quatloos. Entitled ‘Federal Trade Commission’s “Bottom Line About Multi-Level Marketing Plans”‘, this article covers everything you need to know about spotting a bogus selling plan and how to stay away from it. It provides a nice list of facts and points to watch out for when you are researching the company or companies you are interested in getting involved with.

Keep in mind that it takes work to build any business, including a direct marking one, and that anyone promising you that you’ll be on the road to riches when you get your start-up kit really has no idea what they are talking about. The article strongly advises that you research the company thoroughly.

And lastly, another article hosted by Quatloos that focuses on MLM news is the ‘IRS Agent Pleads Guilty in The Tax People Case’. This news write up discusses the case of Thomas Steelman, Sr., a former IRS agent who promoted a bogus direct selling company called The Tax People. Supposedly this company was fabricating home based business deductions in a tax pyramid scheme. In a four year period, Steelman defrauded people out of $100 million dollars.

This is the kind of information anyone that is involved with a direct selling operation needs to keep on top of. By reading MLM news, marketers and customers alike will know which companies are in trouble, which companies are legitimate, and which ones to completely steer clear of. No matter what type of business you are involved in, it is always advisable to do your homework and research everything and anything you can.

Also, remember to be honest in your advertising and marketing. If you fell a product you are selling isn’t working as well as the main company says, do the right thing and warn your customers about it instead of leading them astray. That road leads to many problems.

A Review of Governance In Uganda: How Do We Move From Here?

Uganda’s political parties are important platforms for generating ideas from ordinary citizens and developing programs to mitigate them, through advocacy, legislative, legal, economic, and political means. They all matter in championing good governance in Uganda. However, for successful operations, exhibition of internal good governance practices is key. Leaders of political parties are servants of the members and citizens at large. Any shortfall in how best they have resolved to serve members and Ugandans implies collapse of the covenant that binds them with the people the look to serve. Of course, the consequences are severe and leaders of political parties pay heavily, either in a short run or long run.

The country has evolved to a level, where stakeholders in development take parallel paths, unwilling to compromise, and insensitive of the wishes of the people they lead.‎ This is not a new phenomena. The difference between the actions then and now are boldness and lack of remorse like gods of life, who control whatever consequences that comes with their actions.

The country has come a long way to where it is now. The country was found without strong control systems to guide leadership. The country was at stake, without direction‎, and a known future. At that time the country was experiencing the worst levels of economic and political crises in the history, largely self-propagated by elites of the day. This was a period of time stretching from Amin era (1971 to 1979), shortly after his fall (1979 to 1980), and in the early 1980s. From the same elites, more organised ones, enforcement of order and peace in a Uganda was done, which majority citizens yearned for, celebrate, took pride in, and worked hard to support for the country to prosper. The country has since 1986 been run on bases of ideological sanity, discipline of men and women in the forces, and elective offices, where citizens contest for the highest offices in the land, and elect leaders of their choice, only until concerns about increased foreign interests in governance distorted trust in countries own products of the struggle -democratic governance and rule of law. Otherwise, the country was liberated from lawlessness, political decay, and collapsed economy, to one of the fast developing economies it will in the region. This changed as priorities changed to invest in security more as ‘basis of good governance’ rather than in improving the quality of life of Ugandans as best measure of stability. However, looking back from where the country was in the 1980s to, moreso, around 2011, a lot of pride was felt by majority of Ugandans, appreciative of the instrumental leadership of the National Resistance Movement and Army. Even leaders across the political spectrum were proud and found a great foundation to build on towards a greater Uganda.

The National Resistance Movement leadership is undisputed at offering the most impacting leadership on country’s development since independence. However, time has come for us to reflect on ourselves as leaders and determine how much effort and influence on citizens we still having in terms of reducing inequalities, alleviating poverty, eliminating corruption, and saving collapsing business‎ of indigenous Ugandans, and recovering weak institutions of government. Also, we need to ask ourselves as leaders if, individually, there is any value added for our respective roles in the last 10 years, or if new values and leaders can be found to accelerate growth and development of the country. And, if not, what succession plan do we have in place for peaceful transition from less effective leaders to more visionary and results-centered one?

At the moment, we see a change of mandate from a pro-people to a cluster of groups of ‘governments’ that are constantly conflicting and stalling development programmes and service delivery, or simply determined to undermine central government’s efforts to operate effectively all-together. The atmosphere has not only hindered work and development, but given rise to worst forms of corruption in terms of nepotism, siphoning of public funds, and bribery to gain office or favour, yet these elements are almost unstoppable. The government of the day turns out to be toxic and an enemy of democracy. This means that political parties and alternative leadership will be no more in Uganda. As a consequence, this erodes same achievements Ugandans died for and labored to gain for over 40 years.
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Still, it is Ugandans with keys to save the country from the sharp downturn and pending destruction of the very beautiful country – Uganda. The future of the country is taking the path of its predecessors -Uganda Peoples’ Congress and Democratic Party, which at their peak, lost democratic values and took a crashing dive into the ground. This will potentially mark the demise of the ruling party, which its leaders are reluctant to see. Fortunately, the ball is still in hands of the same leaders, who sacrificed tens of thousands of lives to dethrone ideologically corrupt governments, have all resources at their disposal to ensure that the worst does not happen to the governing political party, our people, and achievements from the same mistakes of oldest political parties and their leaders. Every election should be able to each us one or two things, especially understanding the wishes of the people and humility in service.

The country must confront new challenges with new solutions and drivers of the change Ugandans want to see. We can not afford rely on old ideas and rhetoric that have proved worthless in the previous 2 decades. It is impossible and experience has showed this dilemma. We have to own up the dilemma and take responsibility over where we want our political parties and country to be. We cannot keep resisting good change, good proposals, and cries of Ugandans dying from preventable diseases, poverty, and starvation, simply because they painfully remind political parties and leaders about how miserably they failed. At the end of the day, it is the people of Uganda, who always suffer because of corruption, election violence, poverty, inequalities, and marginalisation. We need to reform our political parties, return them to members and reflect wishes of citizens, whose membership and vote justifies their existence. We need to identify mistakes and consistently replace actors responsible. Above all, we may have to reconsider the 10 point programme and implement it without deviation. It is still a solid programme, which does not require alterations and challenging to implement. It was well intentioned and purposed, born out of consensus between patriotic Ugandans. The historical challenges since independence were taken care of by the same document -the 10 point programme. Indeed, reconsidering implementation of same document is direct remedy of current socioeconomic and political issues the country is facing. It will reduce tensions within political parties and among Ugandans. We do not have to look any further than his document. The agenda that came after it have proved worthless to Ugandans.

Also, it is important that we look beyond ourselves when discussing matters of national concern. The cries of the ordinary citizens are what should concern us most. The greatest mistake today is the use personal interests to influence national policies instead of participatory democracy and civic roles and actions put together. If we continue taking a parallel line with the people, the citizens of this beautiful country, we risk throwing it into the undesirable past, where leadership and grievances are met by violence and deaths. Surely, this is not what we need to see happen, well-knowing what they mean to us as leaders and the people we claim to lead.

We need to ‎address urgently the greed and violent attitudes mong ourselves. This politics of elimination is unsustainable as much as the consequences to such barbaric tendencies. After all, the life of the human terminators of life too comes to an end, either through revenge or natural death.

Therefore, it is pertinent for leaders and political parties to open up to the inevitable change that keep knocking on our doors: changing greed and violent attitudes, restoration of the rule of law, responsive leadership, and work towards transparent elections and accountable leadership. It is the wish of all Ugandans that political parties and leaders offer the much-needed change that nearly 1 million people died in vain for, a pro-people leadership, an accountable leadership, a leadership by consensus, guided by a citizen’s constitution, and a leadership that protects rather than kill or steal from Ugandans.

Book Review – Amrita Suresh’s "When a Lawyer Falls in Love"

Amrita Suresh’s “When a Lawyer falls in Love” is an exquisite piece of hilarious fiction that reflects originality in experience, and truthfulness in expression, to unravel the intricacies that lie beneath human thought and action.

The writer seems to make capturous use of the layering technique, where-in the mind’s eye and maturity coincide with the layers of meaning to be expressed. On the visible layer, it is legal campus life, with law graduates-in-pairs are fixed in a ‘to be or not to be situation,’ with only one couple actually witnessing a real-life wedding, when Jaishree turns Jaishree Bose and ravishingly presents the charms of a Hindu married lady.

The writer quite graphically presents this “For the first time in her life perhaps, Jaishree Subramanian decided to openly assert herself in college. She came for the Farewell wearing sindoor and a mangalsutra. Even some of the guys in the class actually felt their jaws fall to the ground. Even some of the lecturers were shocked. Yet it was the final send off and Jaishree didn’t want to do any more hiding”.

The writer presents truthfully the concerns of man for woman’s love. Men as children are blessed by the comforts and warmth of the mother’s lap, and later in youth shown to be lost in gauging woman’s beauty, “Ankur remembered well, the first time his lawyer brain got enmeshed in Sonali’s freshly shampooed hair s she swayed with the gay abandon of a seventeen year old, during the Fresher’s party.”

A woman appears man’s sole concern for all generations to come. She becomes his breath and mind, the lone purpose in life, making life itself worth living. “She is actually the reason behind him actually maintaining a rank in class and not selling his law text books to a recycling unit, which Ankur every other day was tempted to do. Sonali Shah, in a word was his life”.

It is action that is celebrated over thought, with Souvik being declared a man of action and Jaishree garlanding him for a whole life ahead. Jaishree wants Souvik to take the first step, giving expression to the Indianness in an Indian lady allowing her to-be-partner to take the first step, inspite of being doubly sure of her boldness to do on her own. At the lake-side finally Jaishree gives Souvik the strength to spell out, before which he confirms

“Will you swim with me?” and then poses the question, a question that jittered the whole of man’s world, for the excitement or depression that follows, with her reply. Souvik pulls himself together, symbolically presented as “adjust his pants in an effort to kneel sit” and then Souvik quietly asks “the most beautiful girl in the world, will you marry me?”

If thesis is love at first sight, antithesis is coming close to one’s partner, but it is synthesis which as a marriage bonds couples for a life of joy and happiness. All the young legal couples, are shown rather anxiously graduating from thesis to antithesis and later to synthesis. If Jaishree and Souvik have been blessed to achieve synthesis, though “Ankur drove the nervous groom to his final”, Ankur is still to graduate, and the writer leaves it open for the readers to decide. Ankur, it appears still seems confused to choose between marriage as “Bossed over for the rest of his life” or “Sonali meanwhile, had different plans up her pretty sleeve. Having known her for over half a decade, Ankur have known.”

This indecision in Ankur is carved into Ankur’s words to Sonali “a woman’s love should never be trusted…since it has no empirical evidence to support it” and Sonali retorting “You ought to find yourself a guy then…” leaving “Ankur turn to be slightly ruffled” and this kit-pit appears to continue for long self-hurdling in escalation towards Synthesis. Indeed, the writer couldn’t have drawn a better comparison between the two young legal couples, Jaishrees and Sonalis.

The thesis of ‘graveyard’ love of Vyas, and his lover-girl Caroline’s desperation to reach out to him, rather begins with an ending note. The first chapter announces the death of love even before life actually took birth. This is rather humorously presented, with the criminology Professor Prakash questioning Vyas in the dark of the night “So you have already made plans of meeting in your after life.” He continues to faithfully laugh away at the youthful passion rather misplaced “I must say the stress levels of students has seeped through their heads. Imagine hanging out at a graveyard!”

The writer reflects on accepted belief, that life is full of suffering. As one grows older there is a realization of pain constant due to illness or disease. All make efforts at every age possible to be without pain, and to make fellow humans become free of pain. If we could choose to be without pain we certainly would. Souvik’s desperation to give relief to his ailing mother, through his marriage with Jayashree seems to be a cure from all illness that torments her.

By presenting Jaishree to Bose’s house-hold, Souvik considers giving it a new lease of life. He faithfully tries to return the care and happiness blessed on him by his mother all through. Jaishree for Souvik is the “Nibbanam paramam sukham”, meaning “Nirvana is the highest happiness” and Jaishree is sure to deliver this to her just kidney-transplanted mother-in-law. The announcement in the hospital “A match has been found” awakens Souvik to the realization that Jaishree’s coming to the hospital and later into his life will bring fresh rays of hope “Jaishree had come visiting for the fourth consecutive time.”

With her care and respect for elders Jaishree “touched the old man’s feet and vanished from the room” leaving Souvik to re-affirm himself of how much his mother needs Jaishree, with thoughts of “Jaishree was truly the sunshine of his life” occupying his mind, totally. Even before this, he firmly announces his wedlock with Jaishree, even if it meant upsetting his plans to go abroad. “Ma will approve of Jaishree…I know it.”

Astrology and obsession of common human lives to know what is in store for them in the future is very well captured all through the novel. The Leo Sonali sounds very assertive when she lectures her way through the importance of astrology. It really bugs her when Caroline rather sarcastically points out “it doesn’t make much sense, does it?…But how can one’s future depend on the movement of some star and moon and other such crap?” She starts “Astrology is based on bio-rhythmic cyles…Positive energy and Negative energy…has to come back to you.”

By saying that “everything depends on everything else” she confirms that it is focus that is really missing in many human lives, with every scope to create or negate one’s life, she says “the cosmic force has ordained, that if a person genuinely wants to make amends, circumstances are arranged to provide for evolution of the soul.” Change and diversion has to be met with consistency and focus.

Sonali wants Caroline-like beings to realize this fast, she says “The human body, as also the world, is in a constant state of flux. Therefore astrology in its truest form, involves going deep within through meditation, to uncover the answers that the soul already knows.” Finally there is a message for all “astrology is all about bringing out the best in a person. Since one’s future or career depends on doing something one is inherently good at. After all, most catastrophes are caused due to human failings.” This hints at the catastrophe of the love life of Caroline, to leave Vyas as cheated and wreaked, and also to lead a life in an alien land self-imprisoned in a self-imposed heartless marriage in times to come.

Astrology is also employed as an avenue to announce the ‘iceberg’ in us all. Caroline’s rather practical approach towards life, her deserting of Vyas for her Dubai cousin is very well prophesied through the medium of astrology. Sonali notes, “You can try doing some business of your own, working under someone won’t suit you…If you run a business it will be successful, since you have rather shrewd business skills.” Bringing the ‘profit motive’ into human lives and relationships is sure to make one materialistic and inhuman, finally to be isolated from people, near and dear, and Caroline is sure to meet her fate.

Sonali’s rather frustrated flirtation with Rohit, and his gross misbehavior, much to the anxiety and anger of helpless Ankur evokes neither laughter nor sorrow. The writer means to convey that, every individual is a slave of circumstances, which bury us many a time, before we are actually buried. It is not whether Sonali’s self-interests have served her internship, but what happens along the way is the causing of intense pain and anxiety in her undecided lover.

Starting from the day when “Sonali called Rohit to come sit next to her…For Ankur, the line between normal and abnormal had begun to blur. He could still be abnormally obsessed with feelings he had for the Sonali he once knew…A Paradox. That’s just what love was.” No doubt the middle classed Sonali might also have been carried away by the “farm house” charms of Rohit, where all play “Let’ play spin the bottle” game, prophesying Sonali’s life is sure to spin from Rohit to Ankur again.

The writer weaves the comic and hilarious intricately into the thick of the plot. Ankur questioning Vyas, as Vyas is busy searching for a gift amongst darkness ridden graves in the first chapter “What did she gift you…a space in this grave yard?” Pavan’s ambassador car which breaksdown at the slightest of movements appears to be a perpetual source of humour.

“The car groaning was under understandable, but the collective groans of the lawyers as they tumbled out of the car, was something that even the best mechanics couldn’t rectify.” Vyas’s annoyance on finding that Caroline has been moving closer to her cousin from Dubai evokes more humor than pity in the readers towards him.

On being advised to stop her from doing so, he complains his lost case “she says I am being stupid.” Legally Ankur is the most eligible bachelor to suit Sonali. But he is not sure of his singing abilities, rather humoursly he says “forget courtship, if he ever sang to his girl during their honeymoon, she’d make the lawyer himself draft divorce papers.”

Even little happenings and the fall-out can evoke laughter, this is what the writer aims to prove when Ankur’s teeth-focus is elaborated. Ankur “took good care of, it was teeth.

Infact as a six year old Ankur remembered holding a solemn burial ceremony each time he lost one of his milk teeth. A welcome party would follow, with the first traces of his new tooth. That’s why probably his teeth served him well, accentuating the smile on his chubby face.”

At the VJ hunt the comic is compounded by Ankur’s spontaneous replies triggered off by his “art of sounding intelligent while speaking nonsense.” For the female judge’s question “If you are invited for a pool party and you arrive wearing your swimming trunks only to realize it is a billiards game in progress, how would you react and why?” Ankur ventures further to erupt the party to cheers saying “I will pretend like it is my normal outfit… after all presence of mind is what counts the most in life.” The expected crowds’ cheers may be due to Ankur’s pool party outfit like mind, which exposes him dumb, or may be his outfitting to pose smart that ends in an expose of ignorance. Whatever, the end-result is rib-tickling laughter.

Pavan is a world apart. He is typically different from his fellow legal graduates. In one way he is ahead of the generations with whom he shares the same classroom. His humoruous narrative is sure to split all to laughter. “There was this one time when I was seated at a fancy restaurant next to a girl who ordered ‘fresh salted crabs,’ I was accompanying my dad for a business do and this girl was probably his boss’s daughter. Yet she was just so hot!! When her crab arrived, I thought I was being very smart when I said, “Wow! Even the crab still has his yes… probably he wanted to watch you all through dinner! That was it! The girl got delusional! She actually felt the crab was looking at her and probably that’s why she simply refused to look at both the crab and me…!!”

The man and woman relations in the Indian context are to be dominantly decided by the society. The young legal graduates naturally question this state of affairs. They look for an air of change, with Sonali laughingly says “After all a guy and girl alone on a terrace at dusk, is never a good sign!” The system of arranged marriage is debated “the most annoying thing about arranged marriages, thought Jaishree, everybody knew the precise reason for which everybody else was here, yet there was a forced facade of casualness.”

All through the novel, the writer’s concerns for trust in man-woman relations and for creation of a healthy and positive thinking in the tradition bound Indian society are expressive and evident. Before you convince your elders and society, convince yourself first. This is what the author seems to convey to the rather displaced-minded youth who wish to love, and marry the person of their choice. Many youngsters cannot do this, the resultant is failure in love and of marriage.

The secret to love’s marriage success is very well unraveled. If one partner fails, other should stand rescue by offering a helping hand, this is what sustains love, this is what sustains marriage, and this between couples is a blessing for children to have a happy and congenial home environment.

When Jayashree is confused about a marriage proposal, Souvik comes to her mental rescue says supportingly “Listen, I am not going to let them happen…you somehow put off the engagement for a year… we are getting married the first thing after college” that is it, she gets the focus, the inner strength to counter argue her father saying “Appa, I don’t want to get married now!” Finally the couples’ strength to stand together survives their relationship, and become one forever and ever. When your thought is right, you action is sure to yield the result.

Uniquely, this young writer presents the essential harmony of the mundane and metaphysical, by condemning all intellectual pride says, “Since those who make predictions, begin to believe they are celestial bodies themselves, given the amount of reverence they get. They forget that they are mere post men and that the letter has been drafted by the Highest Power there is. The very Power which has created the mosquito as also the mighty mountains.”

Amrita Suresh employs an idiom which is evidently expressive of her thoughts and beliefs. In addition to strict adherence with the common everyday expression of young legal graduates, she leaves no stone unturned in inventing altogether a new phraseology. This is clearly seen in the description of the Dean’s presentation, “IT’S LEGAL of course ‘kick start’ ed with a lengthy formal speech by the Dean, which the collective crowds wanted to ‘kick stop’…”

If the College Festival at AIU heralds the celebration of final year’s legal graduates’ college life, Bhoomika’s arrival brings in a wiff of fresh air, for the new graduates to start afresh as legal professionals. Bhoomika rather in a ridiculing tone of male’s ego says “A bulb is easy to fix… A male ego isn’t.” This leaves to the readers thought, that the legal graduates are sure to carry forward with unquestionable pride their irrational and age-old legal practices, giving no scope for creativity or modesty.

The writer sums-up the message even before eight chapters are still to be read, by saying “Ankur would be the best man. The legal and practical aspects that were tickling the lawyer’s conscience could be dealt with later.” The message is loud and clear. If life is an opportunity to better one’s self, indecision hurdles the process, overcoming which by focus and good efforts means happiness all the way.

Aim International – A Third Party Review

Aim International is a MLM company that believes that optimal health is reached through a healthy life style and their whole food concentrates and supplements. The goal of the company is to improve the lives of people both through the free enterprise system and through the quality health products they carry. As I researched this company I saw excellent products and a very workable MLM system.

The Aim Company of Nampa, Idaho was founded by Dennis Itami in 1982 shortly there after Ron Wright joined him as a co-owner. This company started in the U.S. but by 1987 opened it’s doors in Canada thus starting the international growth which has now spread to New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with over 100,000 members worldwide. Aim International has been recognised as one of Idaho’s top 75 private companies, was one of Wealth Building Magazines top 20 companies, and has also been featured in Money Makers Monthly.

Aim International had started with BarleyLife – the original green juice and has now expanded with a variety of powders, capsules, juices, and personal care products. They have single products for the customer who is looking for a specific nutritional ingredient and Aim also has put together targeted groupings of their products to help combat health problems. Specific areas of health such as weight management, digestive health, and cardiovascular health they have a list of primary products and then they have a list of complementary products.

Along with the supplements and juices Aim International has a personal care line featuring a bath additive Cell Wellness Restorer and a natural line of daily life products of soaps, lotions, and hair care essentials. To pamper, nurture and restore you these fruit scented and natural products are meant to relax you and help with your well rounded healthy life style.

The Aim International business opportunity has 2 options if you want to be an Express Customer you will receive a volume discount 30% higher then wholesale and toll-free ordering with no yearly membership fee. The second option is a Member in which includes wholesale pricing, volume discounts, income opportunity, prize contests, Aim Living Well Magazine, a web site, and a new member kit. The member opportunity has a $20.00 application fee and a yearly renewal fee. Though you could receive a free membership with a $100.00 purchase or a Aim approved starter pack, or an Automatic monthly reorder set up for at least 3 months and over $50.00 per month.

Aim has several different levels, you start as a Wholesale Member, move up to Group Builder, next is Director. Once you have reached the Director level there are several Elite Director levels you can achieve, upon reaching a level you keep that level as long as you pay the yearly renewal fee. How do you reach these levels? Do you know enough people who would purchase your products? Would the people you know be interested in this opportunity? What if there was a way to connect with people who are looking for a home based business opportunity. There are people looking online for a MLM business but how do you connect with the ones who are looking for an Aim International business. There is a way to finding the right fit for your business. To find out more click the link below.

Popeyes – Franchise Review

Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits sometimes also called Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and most commonly known as Popeyes, is a chain of restaurants specializing in fried chicken and fast food. Starting its franchise in 1972, it is owned by AFC Enterprise which is a Georgia based company. Today Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits has a presence in almost 40 states with some 1800 restaurants.

If we go back to their origin and history, we will have to look back to the year 1972, when “Chicken on the run” a quick service chicken restaurant was started by Al Copeland. This restaurant serve mild fried chicken but did not meet with great success, so Copeland decided to serve a little spicier version of his chicken and soon named his restaurant Popeyes.

The first franchise was started in Louisiana. In 1984 Popeyes started spreading globally capturing markets like Canada. In a very short period of time Popeyes opened its 500th restaurant becoming a leader in the industry. Popeyes kept on growing and in the year 1993 AFC took over Popeyes. In 1996 it opened its 1000th restaurant. Popeyes has also been named “Best Fried Chicken” in many local markets.

Franchising is not just about taking royalty or using any developed brand name but it is about joining their business and helping yourself and the franchise grow. An initial Popeyes franchise fee is $ 30,000. And the total investment may rise from $ 695,500 to $ 1,008,500. The term of agreement will have validity period of 20 years.

Of course, when looking to start any business it is important, particularly considering today’s market, that you look for specific ways to cut minimize or reduce overhead and risk. Any business is going to have risk, but it is important to have a full understanding of the amount of investment, start-up cost and “ROI” (Return on Investment).

Most people are not aware that 80% of ALL franchise endeavors fail in the first two to five years leaving large debts looming for years thereafter.

One way and in my opinion the best way to cut overhead, start-up and investment cost is to take advantage of the new age of entrepreneurship and start a business from the comfort of your home. Opportunities have emerged in the online market that are creating millionaires every single day. Learn more about the exciting opportunities tied to a business model that begins profitable by visiting: http://whatsbetterthanafranchise.com.

An Honest, Critical Review of the Dani Johnson Scam

Who is Dani Johnson?

Dani Johnson began her career in the Network Marketing industry as a broke, homeless cocktail waitress with $2.03 to her name. Within her first several hours of starting her new business, she had made several thousand dollars of profit. She made more than $250,000 her first year, and more than $1,000,000 her second year, becoming the #1 international producer in her company.

Since that time, she has founded Call To Freedom International, and travels around the world teaching whoever will listen (or, whoever can afford to listen, as we shall see) her principles of success.

Can She Help Me Succeed?

That depends. You’ve probably visited Dani’s site and seen the impressive array of testimonials from people of all walks of life. Her website boasts well more than 10,000 unique testimonials from people of all over the world. Pretty impressive, to say the least.

My personal experience with Dani Johnson is not that inspiring.

I first ran into Dani’s teaching when I was living in Fairbanks, Alaska. At the time, I was for the first time in my life making a significant income from my company, around $4,000 a month only working about 2 hours a day. My organization was growing by 30-40% a month and I was really enjoying the process.

I came across Dani’s teachings and really believed it would take me to the next level of success, and help my team to experience the success they had been looking for. I bought every single training on her website (quite the pretty penny, but worth the investment, or so I thought)…

I gathered my whole team together and we had a huge house jam-packed full of people listening to ‘Prospect and Close Your Way To Millions’. ALL of them got fired up. (Dani can be pretty darned convincing). I personally invested 3-4 hours a day listening to Dani’s training, thinking I had finally found the ‘Golden Key’.

So What Were The Results?

My income immediately dropped by $1000, that very month, and recruiting almost completely stopped. The funny thing was, nothing in the company had changed and we were more excited than ever. So what did we do?

Instead of dropping Dani Johnson like a bad habit (like we should have), we heard Dani say that we needed to go to a seminar, so a bunch of us flew down from Alaska to L.A. and attended her well known ‘First Steps to Success.’ I personally spent more than $1500 between airfare, lodging, and the outrageously priced tickets, and between my group I think the price we paid was around $15,000.

That month, my income dropped by another $1000. Convinced that I needed to invest in my skills, I went to Dani’s ‘Creating a Dynasty’ and bought her ‘Prospecting and Closing’ classes, spending well over $2500 two months later.

What happened? My income went from $2000 to less than $1000, and from then went down to around $400 before I did what I should have done, and that’s drop Dani’s teachings like a bad habit and do what is proven to work!

So is Dani Johnson a Scam, or what?

Although there are many people who claim to benefit from her teachings, I certainly was not one of them. I invested 1000’s of hours of listening, called more than 5000 leads, and spent more than $5000 of hard earned cash flying all over the USA and buying trainings that completely destroyed my business. When I called and asked for a refund, (politely), they declined. I certainly feel I was scammed.

However, the good news is, when I learned about ‘Attraction Marketing’, my business started exploding faster than it ever had in the past, and now I am recruiting more people than I can handle, or could ever imagine…

Conclusion

If you are thinking of investing serious money in Dani Johnson’s material, just remember that when you sponsor a distributor, you have a responsibility to help them be successful as fast as possible, and that most of them are not expecting, (nor do they want), to fly all over the country paying their child’s college savings to go learn something that only works for sales superheroes. Any good, legitimate MLM organization should provide this training to their people, free of charge, with the understanding that if you benefit, they benefit.

That’s how this business is supposed to be, people helping people, building each other’s dreams through service, leadership, mutual prosperity and integrity.

If you want to spend $25,000 a year on training, learn from Dani Johnson. If you want to live a life of prosperity, learn Attraction Marketing. You decide.

Aloha,

and God Bless.

HP EliteBook 745 G4 Review: A Business Notebook With Fast Charging Battery and AMD PRO Processor

If you want a cost-efficient business laptop that will help you unleash your full potential, then look no further than the HP EliteBook 745 G4. It’s incredibly thin and fully featured with USB-C, enterprise docking capabilities, 500GB hard drive, AMD Radeon R5, a powerful processor, and more. The notebook is designed to boost your performance and help you achieve enhanced productivity.

This model has a 14-inch screen size which is available as both a non-touch and touch display. The base option is an HD SVA anti-glare LED-backlit display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 and camera. There are a variety of connectivity features such as a DisplaPort and VGA.

The computer operates with a 65-W Smart AC power supply adapter and a three-cell Li-ion 51-Wh battery, which can last for up to 11 hours per charge. Thanks to HP Fast Charging technology, the battery is fully recharged in hardly any time at all. The EliteBook is ENERGY STAR certified and very energy-efficient.

For file and data storage, a 500GB internal SATA hard drive (7400-RPM) is equipped. The expansion slots include 1SD and 1 external micro SIM, which support SD, SDXC, and SDHC memory card readers. External I/O ports allow you to not only connect accessories and other devices to the HP EliteBook 745 G4, they also allow you to charge those devices. These ports include two USB 3.0 (one for charging) and one USB Type-C. You also get a microphone and headphone combo port.

The webcam is 720p HD and the keyboard is spill-resistant and backlit. The pointing device is a touchpad featuring an on / off button, two pick buttons, and support for two-way scrolling and various gestures.

HP EliteBook 745 G4 Processor and Connectivity

The processor that comes with the 745 G4 is an AMD PRO A8 APU (9600B) starting at 1.6GHz and up to 3GHz. It’s a quad-core processor with 2MB cache, and works together with Radeon R5 graphics to provide you with all of the power and performance you need. The 4GB DDR4 1866-SDRAM memory provides sufficient speed. There are 2 SODIMM memory slots, so add some more if you need it.

This notebook can connect to public and home wireless networks via 802.11 ac (2×2) Wi-Fi technology. The Gigabit Ethernet LAN jack can be utilized for an even more reliable and fast internet connection. Bluetooth 4.2 is also included.

Overall, the HP EliteBook 745 G4 is a good notebook that offers a lot of value for its price. It’s definitely worth having for business users. However, it works just as great as a personal notebook if you want to use it for entertainment.

Save on this laptop, workstations, printers, accessories, etc… when you use HP promo codes. You can’t go wrong when you shop online for computer deals. Just click on the HP EliteBook 745 G4 coupon you want to use, or enter the promo code into the online order form and you’re ready to go.

An Honest and Critical Primerica Review (Don’t Join Before Reading!)

An Objective Primerica Review From An Industry Expert

Primerica (formerly known as PFS/ALW) is a financial services company that uses a Multilevel Marketing model. For more than three decades, Primerica has been able to produce many, many 6-figure a year earners. In the 1st quarter of 2010, they officially parted ways with long-time parent company, Citigroup, and went public. Currently, the sales force is made up of 100,000 licensed reps. Primerica is a legitimate business opportunity and has maintained a good rating with the Better Business Bureau.

With that said, there are pros and cons to the Primerica Business Opportunity. In this objective review, I’ll go into the pros and cons of the Primerica Opportunity and give you details you probably don’t know about yet.

First, I’ll start with the Pros…

1. Primerica provides a unique opportunity for someone who has NO experience in financial services to come on-board and get licensed and trained on the basics of life insurance, mutual funds, variable annuities and mortgages.

2. Primerica allows people to come on-board part-time, which is RARE in the financial services field. This is a great feature because reps aren’t under the pressure to produce because they still have income from their full time jobs.

3. With the Primerica model, unlike other MLM opportunities, someone who just wants to market financial products can make a decent income via sales commissions.

4. Primerica offers a lot of support to it’s reps… mainly because reps have access to physical offices run by local RVPs.

5. As stated earlier, Primerica has one of the best track records the network marketing industry. Currently, there’s about 65 leaders in the US and Canada that make $1 million or more in income annually.

Now, let’s give you the Cons:

1. The product training is basic, which is sad for some clients that are being serviced by new reps. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t want my kid’s education funds, my retirement accounts and, especially, my life insurance accounts handled by someone that’s been licensed for 30 days and has no experience in truly offering financial advice.

2. Primerica pays a much LOWER commission to reps when compared to what they can make if they were an independent financial services rep.

3. You are a CAPTIVE agent at Primerica. This means you are able to sell Primerica products ONLY. While only offering Primerica products may not be a bad, as a financial rep, you have a responsibility to your clients to shop for the best possible products for them. While shopping around is a regular practice by independent reps, it is strictly forbidden at Primerica.

4. As a marketer, you’ll lose around eighty percent of your incoming recruits due to the licensing exams. The company stats indicate that ONLY about 20% of incoming reps pass their life insurance exams. So what happens to the left over 80%? Well, they basically end up quitting the business.Imagine working your butt off to build a team that was recruiting 100 new reps monthly. Now, think about this, 80 out of those 100 were people that you couldn’t even build a business with because they couldn’t pass the licensing process.

5. This is a important part of the comp plan that isn’t shown in the presentation – When you get promoted to RVP, you give your best one or two legs to your upline RVP. This is know as the “replacement or ownership exchange”. Imagine, busting your butt to hit the top position, then giving up your BEST leaders, and starting the building process over… Only this time around, as a Regional Vice President, you have office expenses to think about. By the way, Primerica requires it’s RVPs to be full-time and forbids them from making money elsewhere. This is extremely important to know if you are seriously considering the Primerica Business Opportunity.Why? Because if you wish to build multiple streams of income, you won’t be able to once you go RVP.

In closing, Primerica is a real business opportunity where someone can come on-board and learn financial services and how to build an MLM business. Just make sure you do your research on the products and compensation plan so you know exactly what you’re walking into.

So… Should You Join?

If you’re looking for a business that doesn’t require HOURS of financial product training, the probability that you’ll lose a ton of people during the licensing exams and the fact that you have to give your upline your best leaders, then Primerica is definitely not for you.

However, if you like the idea of recruiting agents (and you’re OK with a super-high attrition ratio) and building your agency with the opportunity to qualify to open up your own Primerica office, then Primerica may be an opportunity you should explore.

HP ProBook 650 G3 Review – A Must-Have Business Notebook With Security and Collaboration Features

This is a good choice of a business notebook with its smooth system performance, easy deployment, and security features. You can count on getting the most from your investment with the HP ProBook 650 G3, as its configurations support all of today’s technological requirements. It can be described as a 15.6-inch mid-range business laptop.

The 15.6-inch display has anti-glare and LED-backlit technology. The base / cheapest configuration option has a display resolution of 1366 x 768, but you can opt for a better one if you choose a different configuration. It also comes with a 720p HD camera for video-chatting. The stereo speakers and microphone are integrated.

Even at peak performance, the notebook does not overheat. All of the components stay relatively low, no matter what kinds of tasks you have running. The premium keyboard is designed to be spill-resistant and easy to care for. The touchpad has an on / off button and supports two-way scrolling, two-finger zooming, tapping, and a variety of other gestures.

The overall design of the HP ProBook 650 G3 is nice, and it has a starting weight of 5.1-lbs, making it an average-sized business notebook. With special security features such as HP BIOSphere, you have everything you need to prevent downtime and data breaches. Theft prevention is provided with TPM 2.0 technology, HP Fingerprint Sensor, Password Manager, and the lock slot, although the lock itself is sold separately.

HP ProBook 650 G3 Specifications

The base model comes with the following:

• Dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (7th generation) 2.5 Ghz / up to 3.1 Ghz with turbo boost

• 2 SODIMM memory slots / one occupied with 4GB DDR4 2133 SDRAM

• 128 GB SSD drive M.2 SATA TLC

• Intel HD integrated graphics (620)

• DVD-writer optical drive

• Windows 10 Pro OS 64

There are options to go with a more powerful processor and expand the memory if you require more.

It comes with everything you need for collaboration, no matter where you take the laptop to: HP Audio Boost, Noise Cancellation Software, Skype, 720p webcam, etc. The three-cell, 48-WH Li-Ion prismatic battery has a long life and can run for several hours. The power supply is provided via a 65-W Smart AC adapter.

You get the newest dual-band wireless AC (2×2) technology combined with Bluetooth 4.2 for networking. The laptop offers support for SD, SDXC, and SDHC card reading. Connectivity is simple thanks to the 2 USB 3.0 (one for charging) ports, 1 Type-C USB port, DIsplayPort, VGA port, and more.

Overall, the HP ProBook 650 G3 is a great choice for any professional or business user who wants an affordable notebook.

HP offers notebooks and tablets to suit the need of any business user. The ProBook series definitely features some of the best notebooks – and they are all affordable thanks to HP discount offers. Get yourself a HP ProBook 650 G3 coupon and get started with your order.

"Switch How to Change Things When Change is Hard" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath Business Book Review

Business mavens, Brothers Heath released their new book, entitled, “Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard,” (Broadway, 2010), in February. The authors address change at the individual, organizational, and societal level. Change involves the brain’s emotional and rational side. The Heath brothers identify the overpowering emotional element as the Elephant. The rational, decision-making component is secondary and sits atop the Elephant as the Rider. When conflict between the two exists, the Rider is inherently the underdog. To make lasting change, the Elephant and Rider need to unite. Also key is having clear direction. Following is an example from each of the nine principles contained within the triad to accomplish long-term change. It’s noteworthy that the change framework benefits anyone without a vast amount of authority or resources.

DIRECT THE RIDER-Analytical, Rational Thinking.

Find the Bright Spots. In 1990 an international organization that helps needy children accepted a Vietnamese government invitation to decrease malnutrition. They earned six months to make a difference. The short timeline negated ending poverty, purifying water and building sanitation systems to address starvation. Organizers traveled to a rural village and met with mothers. Despite widespread malnutrition, some children were thriving. Why? The team searched for bright spots-successful efforts worth emulating. They discovered bright spot moms fed their children four times a day (easier on kids’ digestive systems), vs. the standard two. Another finding among several was that bright spot moms added shrimp and crab from the rice paddies into their kids meals. Cooking classes originated with bright spot moms teaching other mothers how to prepare healthy meals for their children. The mothers already had the emotional component (Elephant) – natural concern for their kids. They needed direction (Rider) not motivation. Six months later, 65 percent of the village kids were better nourished and stayed that way.

Script the Critical Moves. Doctors studied a case history of a patient with chronic arthritic hip pain. Their options were to perform drastic hip replacement surgery or administer a single untried medication. They chose the drug 47 percent vs. doing hip surgery. Another doctor set studied a similar case history with two untried drugs presented as a choice. Here, only 28 percent of the doctors chose one of the prescriptions. The remainder selected hip surgery. The study results display decision paralysis. Too many choices tax the Rider’s strength; and it will always revert to the status quo. Change creates uncertainty and ambiguity. Any successful change requires translation of ambiguous goals into concrete behaviors. Script the critical moves (not every move but key moves). In the above studies, the critical directive to “Use invasive options only as a last resort” would have resulted in more physicians choosing the drug option. Clarity dissolves the Rider’s resistance.

Point to the Destination. In the mid 1980s a popular investment firm’s research department ranked an embarrassing fifteenth in its ability to generate revenue for banks. Top executives recruited a new leader who became both GM and coach. He announced that he expected analysts to initiate at least 125 client conversations a month. He promoted a team environment; requiring analysts to cite colleagues’ work at least twice during presentations. He also declared that the firm would crack the premiere investment magazine’s Top 5. He not only scripted the critical moves (make 125 calls, cite colleagues’ work); he also created a destination postcard- a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows what could be possible. In three short years the firm leapfrogged from fifteenth to first place. When you describe a compelling destination you decrease the Rider’s ability to get lost in analysis paralysis.

MOTIVATE THE ELEPHANT-Emotional, Instinctive.

Find the Feeling. In the late 1970s, a state’s Department of Youth Services (DYS), an agency that focuses on delinquent kids; overhauled its operations. Nonprofits including group homes and halfway houses replaced youth prisons. The head of accounting for DYS ruled his division with an iron fist, earning the title of Attila the Accountant. Expense reports submitted with a single mistake like a date omission or miscalculated subtotal were returned to the offending nonprofit for corrections. The organizations operated on a shoestring budget and delayed payments jeopardized their ability to service kids. Frustrated, Attila’s colleagues invited him on a field trip to visit some participating nonprofits. He witnessed firsthand their operational and financial challenges; and returned to the office a changed man. He was still authoritarian but less nitpicky about expense report submissions, allowing the nonprofits to receive their payments faster.

Shrink the Change. A local car wash ran a promotion using loyalty cards. One customer group received an 8-stamp card, earning a free car wash once filled. Another customer set received a 10-stamp card, with 2 stamps already completed, advancing them 20 percent towards their goal. Several months later, only 19 percent of the 8-stamp customers had earned a free car wash, vs. 34 percent of the head-start group, which also earned their free car wash faster. The authors state that people find it more motivating to be partially finished with a long-term goal than to be at the starting gate of a shorter one. How could you rally your family, coworkers, community, etc. to achieve a long-term goal by highlighting what’s already been accomplished towards its completion? To motivate an uninspired Elephant, shrink the change.

Grow Your People. In 1977 the St. Lucia parrot faced extinction. Island natives undervalued the bird, some even eating it as a delicacy. No clear economic case for saving the parrot existed. Conservationists knew an analytical case for protecting the bird would fail. Instead, they implemented an emotional appeal. Their goal was to convince St. Lucians that they were the kind of people who protected their own. They wanted St. Lucians to swell with pride over their exclusive island species. The St. Lucia Parrot Campaign included T-shirts, bumper stickers and locally recorded songs about the parrot. The animal became part of the natives’ national identity. In 2008, conservationists noted that no St. Lucian had been caught shooting the parrot in fifteen years, resurrecting the species from extinction.

SHAPE THE PATH-Provide Clear Direction.

Tweak the Environment. The airline industry abides by the “sterile cockpit” rule. Anytime a plane is below 10,000 feet, either ascending or descending (the most accident-prone times), no conversation other than flight-related is permitted. At 11,000 feet the crew can talk freely. An IT group adopted the sterile cockpit tenet to advance an important software development project. They aimed to reduce new product development time from three years to nine months. They established “quiet hours” Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings before noon. It gave coders a sterile cockpit, allowing them to concentrate on complex bits of code without being interrupted. Ultimately, the group achieved their nine-month development goal. What looks like a people problem is often a situational challenge. People have a systematic tendency to ignore situational forces that shape other people’s behavior. Simple tweaks of the path can produce dramatic behavioral changes.

Build Habits. One of the subtle ways our environment influences us is by reinforcing (or deterring) our habits. Habits are important because they’re behavioral autopilot. They allow good actions to happen “free” without taxing the Rider’s self-control, which is exhaustive. To change yourself or others you need to change habits. Forming a habit involves both environmental and mental influences. “Action triggers” are effective in motivating action. They preload a decision and are most useful in difficult situations when the Rider’s self-control is strained. Action triggers create “instant habits.”

Rally the Herd. A hotel manager tested a new sign in the hotel bathrooms. It simply stated “the majority of guests at the hotel reuse their towels at least once during their stay.” Guests who got the sign were 26 percent more likely to reuse their towels. They took cues from the herd. In ambiguous situations we all look to others for cues about how to behave. Change situations often involve ambiguity along with their inherent unfamiliarity. To change things, you must pay attention to social signals. They can either guarantee a change effort or doom it. Lead an Elephant on an unfamiliar path and it’s likely to follow the herd.

The authors acknowledge that change isn’t always easy. When change works it tends to follow a pattern. People will change with clear direction, ample motivation, and a supportive environment. The Rider, Elephant and Path need to align in support of the switch. Visit the authors at http://www.heathbrothers.com.