I receive regular enquiries about which network marketing opportunities I work with, as well as approaches to join other opportunities, both from companies, from established leaders and from hopeful part-timers. So let me spell out my standard responses to these situations for you.

1. Which companies do I work with?

This is not an appropriate place for me to be talking about the companies I choose to work with as an active leader and distributor.

Yes, I’m an active network marketer.

I find it difficult to know exactly how people feel or what’s happening out there in the field without being there personally

That’s my personal view only. Others may not feel the same. That’s fine — it’s not a question of which is right or wrong, better or worse, etc. It’s what works best for me, that’s all.

If you really want to know which companies I work with, you need to go to my private MLM web site at http://johncounsel.net. But please understand a few important details first…

• I only work with companies whose owners and senior management teams are known to me personally, and whom I trust implicitly.
• I prefer working with Australian-owned companies because of Australia’s strict corporate governance laws, which apply world-wide for all Australian companies — not just MLM. If an Australian company misbehaves in another country, it faces hefty penalties at home in Australia — including serious jail time for offending executives. This helps to keep them honest. (Important note: a foreign-owned company doing business in Australia does NOT have the same obligation in its dealings outside Australia.)
• If I discover a problem with integrity, or ignorance of — or non-compliance with — Fourth Generation™ principles and practices, I raise the issue with company senior management and try to rectify the potential threat to the company’s continuing success. If this fails, I resign and notify my existing downline members of my actions and the reasons for them.

Bottom Line: I’m extremely selective about which companies I work with and I stay alert and vigilant about company compliance and integrity. As always, an ounce of prevention is much better than a ton of cure.

2. How do I respond to prospecting approaches?

You should understand that I won’t and can’t be bought, either by offers of money or preferential treatment. Trying to appeal to the Five Standard Emotional Appeals of FIRST Generation network marketing is the fastest way to terminate a discussion. For your information, here are those Five Standard Emotional Appeals, so you know what to avoid…

• Greed
• Laziness
• Ignorance
• Fear of Loss
• Gullibility (or Stupidity, if you know better)

I’ve refused offers from companies and team leaders in the past amounting to six figure inducements and offers of preferential treatment. (None of those offers started with a 1, either.)

Why?

Because if they’ll do secret deals with me, they’ll do secret deals with others. That automatically shows me that they can’t be trusted. They’re FIRST Generation in their values and standards. I won’t align myself, my reputation and professional standing with them as a matter of principle.

If you can’t see the benefits of this uncompromising stance for YOU, there’s not a lot of point trying to approach me. And if you can’t see the inherent quality and integrity of the opportunities I embrace and recommend, personally, then there’s no point asking me about them, either.

If you think I’ll be open to an approach from you, please understand that it’s almost 100% certain that I’ve already looked carefully at that opportunity and declined to get involved. Approaches typically begin arriving more than a year before launch, either from companies or from their top pre-launch leaders.

Does that mean you’ve made a risky or poor choice?

Not at all. I deliberately limit the number of businesses I work with because it makes no sense to work with more than one or two at a time. There are lots of worthwhile opportunities out there. But some are much better than others, and some have much better long-term prospects. They tend to be my personal choices.

You should join a company for your own reasons, not anyone else’s.

(By the way, if it makes you feel any better, it’s very unlikely that you’ve even heard of my primary network marketing company. NO hype, “buzz” or “spin” are needed to promote it. Distributors make much more money, in a lot less time, with far fewer people. It’s a genuine Fourth Generation™ business system.)