Introduction
Generally speaking, the last five years saw the greatest number of mergers & acquisitions and an exciting time of economic boom and prosperity. From my experience, University students and graduates were virtually guaranteed employment – in a boom market you could perform average, but achieve exceptional results. It was a great time for many of us – especially for people like me with degrees in commerce (finance) and law, the sky was the limit. The property market kept rising, finance was cheap, and starting pay packages generous.
However, we find ourselves now in a ‘Global Financial Crisis’. What some may call a “market adjustment” is in reality a sorry state of affairs where employment is difficult to find and money is scarce. Peers in previously high-paying banking jobs suffer the consequences of ‘clever’ financing and are now redundant. University graduates now question their future, and households hit with the sudden reality of mortgages, unemployment and high debt arrangements hang tight and pray that things get better. What this means is now you have to perform exceptionally, to achieve average results.
Our experiences may differ, but you don’t have to be me to look outside and know that things are tough. More importantly, you’ll find a lot of people looking for a better way of life.
Although the economy may improve, I think people all too soon forget the hardship they suffer from a lack of preventative action. I also think now, more than ever, it’s important for people to proactively take charge of their lives.
What we’re going to explore here is the shift in labour market sentiment, and how we can navigate ourselves away from doom and gloom to live a better way of life.
A better way of life?
I was raised in a middle class family, my father ran a small business working 4am – 9pm at the Newsagency, and we all worked there as kids. I was always told to live a better life – to study hard, get a law degree and get a job in a large law firm – so we didn’t have to work as hard as our parents. And I did. Only thing is, when I got there I was working just as hard.
It’s a well known phrase “I worked really hard to win the rat race, and I turned around and realised I was living like a rat”. Doing the same thing day after day, expecting things to change for the better, but not really changing anything you really do. The rat race is clichéd, but it describes a situation of monotony, hard work, and vulnerability to external forces. You could be fantastic at your job day today, but as soon as there is a restructure or financial crisis (of which neither are your fault) (I hope) you’ll lose it. Stress and time away from family also makes this situation undesirable.
Conventional thinking – what’s wrong with it?
It’s hard to escape the rat race, because conventional thinking doesn’t allow for it. Conventional thinking suggests that you have to work hard until you can retire, and let your superannuation and pension look after you (I put a bullet through this view as soon as the GFC put a bullet through my superannuation). And as I’m writing this at the present, I’m travelling through Canada. The last two headlines I glanced concerned the sad situation of retirees and pensioners who will lose approximately 40% of their retirement following a forced bankruptcy of the pension plan by the bankrupt holding company in the US.
With Super, households are being told “look at the long term, things always get better”; but in my opinion, and in John Maynard Keynes’ opinion, “in the long term, we’re all dead”. Conventional thinking told us the only way to make money is to trade hours for money. If you think about it, even if you made $200 p/hour, there are only 24 hours a day, it would take you a long time to hit $1m.
Also that the formula is: High School + University + Degree + Job = Success. I think many people can testify that that was a lie. Otherwise there would be a lot more financially successful, truly free, individuals from university every year. Finally, conventional thinking has led us all to believe that there were only two, possibly three, ways to get rich: win the lotto, inherit it, or make it big in Hollywood.
So it’s hard, because escaping the situation we find ourselves in requires us to educate ourselves outside of conventional thinking. We all come from different walks of life, different standards of education, but if we all agree that there’s a better way of life and the only thing that’s holding us back is knowing ‘how’, then it’s a start. It also requires us to stop looking at external forces to make our lives better, rather, to look at how we can change ourselves and our thinking to achieve a change.
So in the current climate, it becomes clear that job’s are no longer guaranteed for life. But while there are no longer jobs for life, thankfully, there are businesses for life. There has been a notable shift in market sentiment from employment to free enterprise. Free enterprise is a great opportunity for people to be in control of their own lives – you’ll never fire yourself – and your boss cares about you as much as you do.
But conventional free enterprise has had its age-old drawbacks. They require large start-up capital, a minimum three years to profitability and Return on Investment (ROI), debt and financing, and they too require a large dedication of time – with no real guarantee of success. A lot of people also don’t know how to start one. It’s no wonder that ordinary persons are too risk averse to opt for this option, unless there was no other choice.
We already know that to escape the rat race, we must educate ourselves beyond conventional means.
Observing innovative business models and new generation businesses
People have taken a real turn to finding creative ways to make money in new-gen business. Some include e-commerce, affiliate marketing and other ways to make a quick grab at cash. Although traditional thinking has its problems, I still subscribe to the following principles: a business backed by real assets, creating real value to peoples’ lives by meeting a real demand and offering a real solution, and that nothing worthwhile comes easy, even if there’s a simple way to make money it will still require effort.
Lime, Network Marketing and Agel Enterprises
That’s what got me taking a look at Lime, and more specifically, Agel Enterprises and Network Marketing. Now you may not get involved in the same things I did, that’s not what this article is about, but I do encourage you to look at the profession and to at least evaluate the same opportunity I did in Agel.
I wanted to create options for myself, because I know that a problem today may not be a problem if you knew about it a year ago. I saw the power in creating leveraged and residual income, income that was outside the reach of external forces and that could supplement and complement and already existing income. The power of diversifying income is the power of having a Plan B, when others had ‘A’ plan that failed. Finally, I was looking for a way to escape the rat race. Freedom from the rate race is the freedom to be in control of your life. The ability to choose. I was also smart enough to know that if I don’t look, I would never find.
So when I took a look into the profession, I realised that there’s a lot of uneducated skepticism about network marketing. ‘Uneducated’ because it’s unfounded skepticism based on a superficial understanding of the business model. To be fair, I used to be very skeptical about it too. So I’ve said it, and I’ve had it said to me: “Network marketing, it’s not another one of those is it?”, “It’s a pyramid, isn’t it?” and “No thanks, I’d rather stick to investing in stocks and bonds” (although the person who said this has personally never bought a bond in his life, and only ever sat and thought about purchasing stocks).
To be fair – there have been undesirable instances in the profession where people have been done-in by unethical and dubious practices. But that’s not new – it happens all the time, in every industry. The legal profession for one is not a saint – there have been numerous cases of overcharging, theft and unethical practices there. Neither is the banking profession! (TN: I’ve never known a Network Marketing company to cause a financial crisis, yet people still have more confidence in banks?) Letting bad rumours or exceptions cloud your business judgment, or the fear of being ripped off deter you from looking at something better, I think you’ll find yourself walking blind.
Having taught finance at the University of New South Wales, and with an academic background, there was no way I was going to stop looking there. I took a look into what other people say about network marketing, and I discovered that the following companies own network marketing/direct selling companies: Warren Buffet, Virgin, Remington Industries, Sara Lee and Time Warner. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company now owns three network marketing companies. Buffet has been quoted saying “dollar for dollar, it’s the best investment I’ve ever made”. Fortune magazine quotes that the industry “is the best kept secret in the business world”. A recent BRW front-page titled “DIRECT SELLING IS BOOMING IN AUSTRALIA – How do you get a cut of the $1.2 billion industry?”
Most importantly, Roberty Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad states that the industry “gives people the opportunity with very low risk and very low financial commitment to build their own income-generating asset and acquire great wealth”. Which is very powerful – because all my life I’ve been taught, and have taught, that low risk = low returns, and high risk = high returns. It’s a very powerful statement to make. Also, it suggests that I can generate wealth without relying on my acting skills, buying my ‘random pick’ Lotto ticket every week, or hoping there’s a rich relative I don’t know about that loves me enough to leave me everything. There’s hope yet.
For me, why did I get involved with the company I did?
What I discovered since then, is that with Agel and the current business model there exists a real vehicle for change and one which does allow you to escape the rat race. How? Firstly, there’s an offer to create a quick ROI and a realistic, two year plan (if done properly) to develop a significant second income or complete financial freedom. Secondly, there are large tax benefits to running your own business. It is said that the wealthy make tax work for them, and others work to pay off tax. There’s a different to expenditure you make on top of tax, and expenditure you make that reduces tax. Thirdly, there is a minimum investment for an unlimited income potential, which I discussed above, is a very power statement to make. Finally, it’s a way to develop residual income – which pays you month after month whether you work or not.
Perhaps of more importance is that Agel is the most ethical company I know of – the business, which is used to drive the AgelCares Foundation has done amazing things to make a positive difference in the world. If I had to say what I believe it’s about – it’s really about people who want a change for themselves, to create a positive change for others worldwide. It’s about people who want to be successful, and take that success to significance.
Let’s wrap up:
The world is changing, and with it so must our way of life. In a time of uncertainty, what we realise is that there is a real need to create options – and that conventional thinking leaves us with few. The rat race breeds really fast rats. Average Joe really knows nothing about effective business models. We don’t need to win the Lotto to be rich. If we don’t look, we don’t find.
For those of use who get it, for those of us who a looking, there should be nothing holding us back from finding a better way of life.
Andrew Low
This blog can be treated as a general invitation. I'd like to invite you all to help create a new perception, a new reality for this planet where peace and prosperity is possible in this life-time. Both for you and others. 
