A Day of Backstroking.

I was talking to someone last night, whose opinion I truly value. The gist of the conversation was that I might be too long winded. These last 2 weeks have been pretty in-depth and I know time is valuable to all of us. Anyway, I think some changes in format are in order. Say, Monday and Thursday the information will be "On Youngevity." The other three days we all want to hear from you. I say "we" because, even though this is technically my blog, if you can't take ownership also, no one will have a reason to visit this but me. We want to hear from “you.” I hope you are here and care enough to take your time and speak your mind.

I would like to steer the conversation to a topic, if that's ok. So, the question for today is: What do you do for a living and how is this economy effecting your employment and your industry?

If you want to remain anonymous that’s ok, but my hope is we will all get to know each other. My other hope is that you will have fun and invite like-minded people to chime in also. I am about Youngevity but of course it isn’t required that you be in Youngevity to get something out of this blog. Another thing that would be great is pertinent testimonials on the current health and business topics. You need to give your name and contact information on those, so we meet the FDA and FTC rules on testimonials.

Have a great day! Wes

How Are You Handling The New Economy?

I got an Email today from a friend and distributor. She was feeling badly because her boss informed her, with a note on her desk while she was out to lunch, that her salary was being cut $700 a month and she was going from 2 weeks to 1 week vacation. This blows me away. I know that it is happening all over the country. People are being whipped by a system that treats them like collateral damage. Every day we get up and find that gas has gone up or the war is up or down or the real estate market is tumbling or that Wall Street has lost a giant or another bank has fallen. What can we do?

I believe that huge portions of our problems are created by our information systems. We have news shows that are on the air every morning from 1 to 4 hours telling us just how bad things are. They are scrambling for sensational items to report. They piece together groups of experts to tell us what we think and then they carefully guide them with the questions they ask so it comes out the way they want. Keep tally and see if one group or another according to them doesn’t cause everything. We, as the informed public, are informed just the way they would have us be informed. Being so informed, we go out and act as we should act when we know the sky is falling, the banks are failing, the stock market is crashing and whatever else is pertinent that day is happening. Why a bank fails, why the stock market crashes and why gas is expensive is not controlled by just poor markets and bad management. Mass hysteria and low confidence are huge factors in what happens to any market. If people, like turtles, pull in their heads and stop purchasing to prepare for the oncoming bad forecast it controls sales, which chops revenue and the company fails.

All of these bad issues have good sides for some people. The petroleum industry marks billions in profits. The real estate investors that have cash buy at huge discounts. The professional stock players made millions when the market went down 780 in one day and back up 3 or 400 the next day. The ones that are suckered into bad investments and sell at the bottom lose. The kids that wanted a house just like or better than mom and dad’s bought short-term fixed financing with long-term ratchets that only go up and they lost. We as a country are losing because of speculation, interest debt and greed.

I believe that we should pay off our debt and pay cash for what we can. I also believe that in this day and age everyone should have a back door. You need some accumulated funds for emergencies, you need a mortgage you can afford, we need to live within our means and pay for what we purchase, we need to get the best job we can and I believe everyone should have a work from home business. What? Who pays the most taxes? For sure it is W2 employees. Business owners work on after-tax dollars and employees work on pre-tax dollars. Ask your accountant, which is better. As an employee you can’t write off $.48 cents every mile you drive on a business errand. Think about it, if you are an employee next time you go for a drive watch your odometer and throw a dollar out the window every two miles you drive. That really adds onto your gas mileage. You control your work from home business. You decide what products you think are bulletproof in a poor economy. You decide how strong the mother company is and whether the owners have integrity and financial backing that will weather storms. I believe in Youngevity! I believe in the Wallach family and I know that what they have done by creating a huge product base is the best strategy for this market. People, even when they are concerned, still need makeup and vitamins and homeopathics for health issues they have. We use them up every month and replace them, which gives us and others an income. We have the best products and even in a crazy market, people need what we have and they need a great business for a parachute. See you soon Wes