Defcon 1 Direct Selling

Introduction Living the Nightmare Dream…

The car was a ’71 Plymouth Satellite, a pretty sweet ride when it first rolled off the assembly line in Detroit. I managed to buy it in 1979 for $1,500, because my mom co-signed the note and I arranged to finance it over three years. But by the time I was driving it to opportunity meetings in 1980, it already qualified as a broke-mobile.

I always parked in the back reaches of the hotel parking lot or by the loading dock. I would be meeting prospects at the meetings to show them how they could “live the dream,” and I didn’t want them to realize they probably had more money than I did.

But here’s the craziest part of all that. If you had asked me then whether I would be releasing a book in 2020, distilling the secrets of my success and leadership in Direct Selling, I would have said, “Of course.”

Probably not what you thought I was going to say. And if you did hear my answer back then, you probably would have thought I was irrational, foolish, and naive. And you’d have been right.

And That’s Why I Can Actually Write This Book

And that’s why you can read it with confidence, knowing it can help you be irrational, foolish, and naive too. Irrational, foolish, and naive enough to live your dreams. Because the number of rational, wise, and skeptical people in the world who are living their dreams would probably fit in a subway car.

My story really is one of those romantic, “rags to riches” tales that we all love to hear. A kid who was expelled ...