Why do some people fail in this industry, while others succeed to levels that most people only dream about. You have many people who live their dream lives with the income that they make from this industry, many have even attained millionaire status just simply working the system while others never sponsor more than 1 representative or customer.
On the surface the reason may seem very obvious. They quit, or they didn’t plug in, or maybe they didn’t participate. These are not the reasons though, but rather the symptoms of the reason.
The reason for this though, really is very simple. The difference between the two cases is simply a difference in the core desires of the individual. On one hand you have an individual that their core desire or their passion is to be successful and boss free. They don’t care what it takes, how long it takes they are going to be successful. It’s really not a question of if, it’s just a question of when.
Others simply don’t have the desire at a level to push them to accomplish their goals through their new business. When you come right down to it, in their mind they didn’t really purchase a business they purchased hope, mainly to quiet that part of them that keeps nagging them to make changes in their life.
Once they buy the business, and they don't make $1,000 in the first week, they can then justify their fear of change with the "logic" that it just "didn't work", and that they knew it was a scam to begin with... This is especially true with opportunity seekers.
Let me ask you a question. If you are in a business are you investing your money and your time to make yourself better equipped to succeed in that business. Are you just willing to give it a shot for a month or so, or are you willing to stick it out even through hard times, rather than suffer defeat. Basically do you approach your business with the attitude that you are going to succeed no matter how long it takes or what monetary sacrifices you might have to make.
If this is your attitude then I know of a business that it really won’t take all that long before you can see great success, if it’s not you attitude though I would advise that you just keep working for somebody else, not because you can not make it, but rather because you will not make it.
I’ve talked to people that say, “Some people just don’t have what it takes.” On one hand I would disagree with them. Anybody can be successful in their own business. It just takes work and a willingness to stick with it long enough to see the fruit of your work. If you plant a field full of vegetables and then give up and move because you can’t see where it has accomplished anything, you have not only lost the investment, and the time spent in work, but also the fruits of your labor that you would have benefited from if you had only stuck around.
Many people, as a matter of fact I would say most people that get into their own businesses, invest money to start a business. Maybe it really takes off immediately, but sometimes it doesn’t. They work at it, they talk to others about it, but nobody seems to be buying anything. Maybe for a whole month, they don’t make a sale. And they get discouraged and quit. What they don’t look at is that all those people they talked to that month, they’ve been planting seeds. Not only would they have benefited from the people that would have been customers if they had only kept on, but the ones that were not interested would have one day had a need that they could have filled, and if they had only still been working at it, guess who they would have come to.
Like I said though on one hand I disagree with the notion that “some people just don’t have what it takes,” but on the other hand I’ve got to agree with them. What they lack though is not the skills, those can be learned. It’s not the money, that can be earned. Really what some people lack that they need to succeed, is simply the drive and passion to succeed that is needed to push them to success and keep them going in the bad times leading up to that success.
I would like to say one last thing before I sign off. Maybe you are reading this today and you are just ready to quit whatever business you have gotten into. Now I don't know what you might be doing, but before you just write it off as a scam, look first at your product. Is it a good product that there is a real demand for? Look at others in the same business. Are they making money. If the product is a good one, and others are making a good living selling it, then it isn't a scam. I'm not saying that the problem isn't that you haven't worked hard at making it. But I would like you to consider something before you just quit, and cut your losses.
There are some people who can start a business and make $1,000 the first week, without even seeming to have to try. There are others who have to work hard to get a business off the ground. Most businesses take a lot of work getting established, but if you stick with it until it is established you've got it made after that. And if you think about anything that you've done in your life, remember that with most, you have to be bad at it before you get good at it.
I've worked in offices with groups of others who were also self employed, and I've been part of other groups that maybe didn't meet in an office every day, but were all also business owners. It has been my experience that the ones that fail, generally do so for one of two reasons.
Most of them just simply did not have the self motivation to work if somebody else wasn't looking over their shoulder. They would do their business full time, but they wouldn't get up and come to work until about noon, then they needed to leave around 2:00 for this or that. And of course when they didn't make it, "it was because that business was a scam." The business wasn't a scam, they were just lazy.
I hate to say it, but I have seen others who worked hard, and still failed at their business. Some of them would even do all right for a couple months then after 2 bad months they would get discouraged and quit. I've done it myself once or twice. I would honestly say though that if they had kept it up, I really believe that they would have ended up hugely successful. They had the work ethic, all they really needed was time to see the fruit of their labor, and also, just to get the experience needed to get good at it.
In closing, I would just like to say that both these situations again come back to what is your core desire. How important is it to you that you succeed at this. If success is a priority, then don't quit.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
I Am One Blessed Individual
You know, I am one blessed individual. Sometimes, I’ll start feeling a little down about this situation or that, nothing really all that important. It may just be the fact that it seem to always be raining around here. A fact about myself, I hate rain. I know that it is needed in the worst way. I love drinking water. And if you look at the picture on my website it is also evident that I do enjoy eating more than occasionally, but I must say it’s a good thing that I’m not God. We would probably all starve to death or if it did rain in your area you would know that you were not in my presence.
But anyway I’ve just been thinking today about really when looked at objectively, what a wonderful life I do have. I’m married to my dream girl. I met her about 10 years ago and I was smitten at first sight. I still remember walking into Hardees and there she was in her Hardees uniform sitting there behind the drink fountains taking her break. It took me over 6 months to finally work up the nerve to ask her out, but now here I am married to her for the last 8 years, and loving every minute of it.
This last December, God blessed us with a sweet little girl. If I didn’t believe in love at first sight before, I do now. I think it took all of 2 seconds for her to completely capture my heart. Really I’ve just got to tell you that she is the prettiest, and sweetest baby in the world. Really, I’m not a bit prejudice either.
But seriously I’ve got a great family. I’ve even got great in-laws. That’s different isn’t it. At a time when so many people are unemployed, I’m able to make a living. I know that when talking about being thankful it is almost cliché to always mention your health, but you know I know of someone that a week ago they felt great and this last week they found out that they only have a few weeks left to live. I must say that I really am thankful for my health. And I am thankful that even if I were to find out that I was going to die within a short time, I’ve lived a wonderful life and my eternity has been already taken care of.
Alex Hartline
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
But anyway I’ve just been thinking today about really when looked at objectively, what a wonderful life I do have. I’m married to my dream girl. I met her about 10 years ago and I was smitten at first sight. I still remember walking into Hardees and there she was in her Hardees uniform sitting there behind the drink fountains taking her break. It took me over 6 months to finally work up the nerve to ask her out, but now here I am married to her for the last 8 years, and loving every minute of it.
This last December, God blessed us with a sweet little girl. If I didn’t believe in love at first sight before, I do now. I think it took all of 2 seconds for her to completely capture my heart. Really I’ve just got to tell you that she is the prettiest, and sweetest baby in the world. Really, I’m not a bit prejudice either.
But seriously I’ve got a great family. I’ve even got great in-laws. That’s different isn’t it. At a time when so many people are unemployed, I’m able to make a living. I know that when talking about being thankful it is almost cliché to always mention your health, but you know I know of someone that a week ago they felt great and this last week they found out that they only have a few weeks left to live. I must say that I really am thankful for my health. And I am thankful that even if I were to find out that I was going to die within a short time, I’ve lived a wonderful life and my eternity has been already taken care of.
Alex Hartline
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Problems I see with Promises of Universal Health Care
You know, it always amazes me the promises that politicians make when they are campaigning. I’ll sit there and think do they really think that anybody believes this garbage? I mean, much of it defies common sense. The only thing that really amazes me more than the fact that they seem to think we’re stupid enough to swallow their fairy tales is the number of people that do end up believing every word of it.
During campaigns of the past we’ve been told that everybody in the US was going to be provided with health coverage, no matter your health status. And where yes, where this was going to add billions of people who’s health cost would be added to the government burden, it wasn’t going to cost the average American anything. There would be no hike in taxes except on the top 1% and everything was just going to be great. Oh yeah, and although the service was FREE there would be no rationing. Sure it hasn’t ever worked that way for any other country but we’re going to be different.
Now, they are finally trying to push this “promised” bill through and we start seeing this for what it really is. We see that they are proposing two things.
First, every American will be forced to own Insurance or will be fined a large amount of money at the end of the year when you do your taxes. It really won’t matter if you only make $500 a week and your monthly bills run right at $2,000 a month. If you don’t get that $300-$800 a month insurance policy you will be fined several thousand at the end of the year. (I guess they did refrain from calling it a tax hike, but it sure sounds like one to me.)
The Second thing that we’re looking at is something that will be needed for Universal Health Care, although again I’ll remind you that we were promised it wouldn’t be needed. But somehow people believed the promise of no extra taxation. This was all going to be FREE. But they are saying that the only way this will supposedly work is extreme tax hikes for two years up front, before the system starts. Then within five years the goal is to have everybody on this system.
Now, as I mentioned in another earlier article, I’ve sold insurance before. Yes, it is true that I didn’t work in the corporate offices, but I would like to believe that I am aware of some things in the workings of insurance that some may not be aware of. These things are some of the reasons even beyond just common sense that tell me that Free Health Coverage even by the government without any extra taxes is just not going to be possible.
Let me tell you some cold hard facts. The cost of health care, notice I didn’t say Health Insurance, but health care costs go up right at about 20% a year on average. That is fact one. Fact two, even with the extremely high cost of health insurance, and the fact that they will only insure healthy individuals, they really only make a profit off of 3% of those premiums. Can you imagine how high the premiums would be if they took anybody, regardless of health?
But here is my point. The government is always talking about health care reform. Really all they want to reform is the insurance side of the matter which honestly is not where the problem is even at. Consider for a minute if the government decides to take control of providing your insurance needs. If profit is taken completely out of the picture, cost would only go down 3%, and that’s if the unhealthy were still not covered. When you figure them in it prices will go way higher than now. But even if that were not true, what about the fact that health care cost still goes up an average of 20% a year. That tells me that not only will there be a substantial tax hike starting two years before we get the benefits but the government is going to need to increase the money coming in to pay for these benefits at least about 20% a year.
In conclusion, there are things that could improve the cost of health care in America. But the problem is not on the insurance side of the issue. The problem is with the actual health care cost going up every year and this is being caused by trial lawyers who encourage people to sue providers for every imagined wrong. I can see going after a doctor for blatant malpractice, but when he/she is trying their best, but the result isn’t what is wanted, we need to remember that they are called doctor, not God.
Of course when lawmakers are asked to do something about this problem they refuse. Why, I don’t know. But I wouldn’t doubt that a look at where some of their campaign contributions come from might not give interesting results.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
During campaigns of the past we’ve been told that everybody in the US was going to be provided with health coverage, no matter your health status. And where yes, where this was going to add billions of people who’s health cost would be added to the government burden, it wasn’t going to cost the average American anything. There would be no hike in taxes except on the top 1% and everything was just going to be great. Oh yeah, and although the service was FREE there would be no rationing. Sure it hasn’t ever worked that way for any other country but we’re going to be different.
Now, they are finally trying to push this “promised” bill through and we start seeing this for what it really is. We see that they are proposing two things.
First, every American will be forced to own Insurance or will be fined a large amount of money at the end of the year when you do your taxes. It really won’t matter if you only make $500 a week and your monthly bills run right at $2,000 a month. If you don’t get that $300-$800 a month insurance policy you will be fined several thousand at the end of the year. (I guess they did refrain from calling it a tax hike, but it sure sounds like one to me.)
The Second thing that we’re looking at is something that will be needed for Universal Health Care, although again I’ll remind you that we were promised it wouldn’t be needed. But somehow people believed the promise of no extra taxation. This was all going to be FREE. But they are saying that the only way this will supposedly work is extreme tax hikes for two years up front, before the system starts. Then within five years the goal is to have everybody on this system.
Now, as I mentioned in another earlier article, I’ve sold insurance before. Yes, it is true that I didn’t work in the corporate offices, but I would like to believe that I am aware of some things in the workings of insurance that some may not be aware of. These things are some of the reasons even beyond just common sense that tell me that Free Health Coverage even by the government without any extra taxes is just not going to be possible.
Let me tell you some cold hard facts. The cost of health care, notice I didn’t say Health Insurance, but health care costs go up right at about 20% a year on average. That is fact one. Fact two, even with the extremely high cost of health insurance, and the fact that they will only insure healthy individuals, they really only make a profit off of 3% of those premiums. Can you imagine how high the premiums would be if they took anybody, regardless of health?
But here is my point. The government is always talking about health care reform. Really all they want to reform is the insurance side of the matter which honestly is not where the problem is even at. Consider for a minute if the government decides to take control of providing your insurance needs. If profit is taken completely out of the picture, cost would only go down 3%, and that’s if the unhealthy were still not covered. When you figure them in it prices will go way higher than now. But even if that were not true, what about the fact that health care cost still goes up an average of 20% a year. That tells me that not only will there be a substantial tax hike starting two years before we get the benefits but the government is going to need to increase the money coming in to pay for these benefits at least about 20% a year.
In conclusion, there are things that could improve the cost of health care in America. But the problem is not on the insurance side of the issue. The problem is with the actual health care cost going up every year and this is being caused by trial lawyers who encourage people to sue providers for every imagined wrong. I can see going after a doctor for blatant malpractice, but when he/she is trying their best, but the result isn’t what is wanted, we need to remember that they are called doctor, not God.
Of course when lawmakers are asked to do something about this problem they refuse. Why, I don’t know. But I wouldn’t doubt that a look at where some of their campaign contributions come from might not give interesting results.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Government Gold - Is History Repeating Itself?
I came across something today that seemed familiar and at the same time very suspicious. Most everybody reading this is probably aware of this particular piece of history but for the sake of anybody that is not aware of this I’m going to go over it anyway before I mention the interesting news that I received today.
During the Great Depression, one of the policies that was passed under Roosevelt was the confiscating of all the gold in the country by the government. The only gold that was allowed to be kept was collectable coins, which interestingly enough was what Roosevelt himself had invested much money in as had many of his friends. When this policy passed everybody had 30 days to turn it in and after that point if you were caught with gold, it was considered contraband. And you could get in some serious trouble for owning it.
Now fast forward to today. Today I was talking with a broker who works for a very large gold brokerage. As we talked about different forms of gold that you can buy, such as bullion, collectable coins, international gold coins, US government gold coins, and so on, the topic of conversation gradually moved to how much money that some people put into gold investments.
He happened to mention that many of the law-makers in Washington invest huge amounts of money in gold. That in itself didn’t surprise me, but one thing that he did mention that I found very interesting was that, in the last several month, he said, they have been avoiding bullion like it was the plague. As a matter of fact the ones who had invested much in gold bullion had sold it and were now buying, you guessed it, collectable coins.
Does this mean anything? I don’t know. I mean, hey, we all know that the government would never take advantage of us, right? (In case you're wondering, no I haven't lost my mind. Sometimes I can be slightly sarcastic.) But when looking at history, and the fact that since we have printed out such huge amounts of our money, it has resulted in loss of value of the dollar, I sure do find it interesting. It kind of makes you wonder if the government is looking to once again collect it’s citizens gold, while keeping the loophole of collectable coins open.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
During the Great Depression, one of the policies that was passed under Roosevelt was the confiscating of all the gold in the country by the government. The only gold that was allowed to be kept was collectable coins, which interestingly enough was what Roosevelt himself had invested much money in as had many of his friends. When this policy passed everybody had 30 days to turn it in and after that point if you were caught with gold, it was considered contraband. And you could get in some serious trouble for owning it.
Now fast forward to today. Today I was talking with a broker who works for a very large gold brokerage. As we talked about different forms of gold that you can buy, such as bullion, collectable coins, international gold coins, US government gold coins, and so on, the topic of conversation gradually moved to how much money that some people put into gold investments.
He happened to mention that many of the law-makers in Washington invest huge amounts of money in gold. That in itself didn’t surprise me, but one thing that he did mention that I found very interesting was that, in the last several month, he said, they have been avoiding bullion like it was the plague. As a matter of fact the ones who had invested much in gold bullion had sold it and were now buying, you guessed it, collectable coins.
Does this mean anything? I don’t know. I mean, hey, we all know that the government would never take advantage of us, right? (In case you're wondering, no I haven't lost my mind. Sometimes I can be slightly sarcastic.) But when looking at history, and the fact that since we have printed out such huge amounts of our money, it has resulted in loss of value of the dollar, I sure do find it interesting. It kind of makes you wonder if the government is looking to once again collect it’s citizens gold, while keeping the loophole of collectable coins open.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Are They Looking To Start A Business Or A Hobby?
You know it always amazes me at how many people say that they wish they could go into business for themselves, and yet when the opportunity arises they balk at investing a hundred dollars in themselves. I always tend to wonder if they actually want to own a business or do they just want a hobby that might make a little money on the side.
I have personally owned 4 different businesses at different times, with different levels of success each time. I had one that I had to invest about $300 with marginal success. On another I invested $5,000 up front and paid about $2,500 a week and just about lost my shirt. On still another I paid $9,000 up front with about $4,500 a week in payments and expenses with great success.
One thing that I can say about each of these is that:
#1 They instilled in me a love of the freedom of being self employed and,
#2 I wouldn’t change my decision to do even the one that failed big time, due to the fact that I learned from the experience and on my next business had more success than I’ve ever experienced at any other time.
The amounts that I invested in these businesses might seem like a lot to some people but in reality it really isn’t much when you look at the fact that you’re talking about starting a business. There are some businesses that it would cost much more to start and maintain and then there are others that do not require near the investment but do require more work to get up and running.
One of these is the business that I’m doing now. It requires only $150 to get started and then $100 a month to maintain. The great thing that I’ve found with this business is although it starts out slower than my other business, there is no ceiling to the income that you can earn with it. It builds up residually so you might start out only making around $500 a month but by the end of the year be bringing in over $1,000 a week with just consistent work. And then in another year you could be making $10,000 a month. The reason it works like this is that you get paid on the business you do over and over every month so every piece of business you do just adds with everything you’ve already done in previous weeks, months, and years.
I mean I don’t know about you but even starting out if you pay out $100 a month but make $500 that’s a 500% gain on your investment, and even that is not half bad. When you take into account the residual income it is unbelievably great.
The truly unbelievable part about this is, that when you come across somebody else who is looking at what you do, and they are interested in doing this themselves because they see the success you are having with it. You tell them about the opportunity and they are even more interested, then you tell them that it requires an investment of $150, and they balk.
I don’t know, maybe they got business opportunity mixed up with an employment opportunity. They are not exactly the same thing. This is a business that you own, it’s not free.
The funny thing is that these same people wouldn’t hesitate to encourage their children to spend and go into debt for 15,000 a year to go to an university so that they could have a chance of being amoung the less than 20% that actually get a job making a portion of the money that could be made in this business. It doesn’t even matter that with that degree, whether or not they even get that job, is not up to anything that they do. Somebody that you don’t even know decides if you get that job. If you do, they decide how much you will make, when you will work, and if you will ever advance up the ladder.
So I don’t know, I guess I could see where paying $150 might be considered a lot to pay for a hobby, but it will always blow my mind that some people view it as too much for a business that provides a good living and at the same time provides financial freedom.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
I have personally owned 4 different businesses at different times, with different levels of success each time. I had one that I had to invest about $300 with marginal success. On another I invested $5,000 up front and paid about $2,500 a week and just about lost my shirt. On still another I paid $9,000 up front with about $4,500 a week in payments and expenses with great success.
One thing that I can say about each of these is that:
#1 They instilled in me a love of the freedom of being self employed and,
#2 I wouldn’t change my decision to do even the one that failed big time, due to the fact that I learned from the experience and on my next business had more success than I’ve ever experienced at any other time.
The amounts that I invested in these businesses might seem like a lot to some people but in reality it really isn’t much when you look at the fact that you’re talking about starting a business. There are some businesses that it would cost much more to start and maintain and then there are others that do not require near the investment but do require more work to get up and running.
One of these is the business that I’m doing now. It requires only $150 to get started and then $100 a month to maintain. The great thing that I’ve found with this business is although it starts out slower than my other business, there is no ceiling to the income that you can earn with it. It builds up residually so you might start out only making around $500 a month but by the end of the year be bringing in over $1,000 a week with just consistent work. And then in another year you could be making $10,000 a month. The reason it works like this is that you get paid on the business you do over and over every month so every piece of business you do just adds with everything you’ve already done in previous weeks, months, and years.
I mean I don’t know about you but even starting out if you pay out $100 a month but make $500 that’s a 500% gain on your investment, and even that is not half bad. When you take into account the residual income it is unbelievably great.
The truly unbelievable part about this is, that when you come across somebody else who is looking at what you do, and they are interested in doing this themselves because they see the success you are having with it. You tell them about the opportunity and they are even more interested, then you tell them that it requires an investment of $150, and they balk.
I don’t know, maybe they got business opportunity mixed up with an employment opportunity. They are not exactly the same thing. This is a business that you own, it’s not free.
The funny thing is that these same people wouldn’t hesitate to encourage their children to spend and go into debt for 15,000 a year to go to an university so that they could have a chance of being amoung the less than 20% that actually get a job making a portion of the money that could be made in this business. It doesn’t even matter that with that degree, whether or not they even get that job, is not up to anything that they do. Somebody that you don’t even know decides if you get that job. If you do, they decide how much you will make, when you will work, and if you will ever advance up the ladder.
So I don’t know, I guess I could see where paying $150 might be considered a lot to pay for a hobby, but it will always blow my mind that some people view it as too much for a business that provides a good living and at the same time provides financial freedom.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Is Higher Education Overrated?
I’m writing this article today not so much about the value of gaining knowledge through education but rather the perceived benefit of education in being successful making a living. There is no denying the fact that many people do go on to universities and earn a degree allowing them to get a decent job working in the field of their choice. But the question I’d like to look at today is, is this the rule or the exception.
I remember during the earlier years of life right up through my early 20s, I was always told that if you wanted to make a good living you needed to do good in school so that you would be able to go to college and get a degree.
I didn't do great in school but I did good enough I guess and went onto college and then two different universities. I received a degree in computer information systems, and for the next two years worked in sock mills under the management of others who were at times former classmates who had dropped out of high school and had been working their way "up the ladder" while I earned my degree. After two years, I was wanting to get married but couldn't afford to even move out on my own much less try to support a wife so I decided to get a CDL license and drive a truck.
So, what's my point. I've got friends who even now are paying right around $1,000 a month, trying to earn a degree that will hopefully allow them to get a great job paying a whopping $30,000 a year fresh out of college. I've talked with others who know some that are paying half again as much and still coming out of the universities with close to 6 digits in debt. And the sad truth of the matter is that most of them are having the same experience that I had.I was reading an article the other day. It told of how 80% of last years graduates are living with their parents due to the fact that if they are able to find work at all, many of them are delivering pizzas or working at jobs paying little above minimum wage.
To tell the truth, most of the really successful people that I know either didn’t even attend a university or college, or they have been successful in a field totally removed from the field of their degree. Personally, in hindsight, I wish I had taken the money I spent on education and had used it to get set up in my own business years earlier. I believe it would have been a better investment.
I remember during the earlier years of life right up through my early 20s, I was always told that if you wanted to make a good living you needed to do good in school so that you would be able to go to college and get a degree.
I didn't do great in school but I did good enough I guess and went onto college and then two different universities. I received a degree in computer information systems, and for the next two years worked in sock mills under the management of others who were at times former classmates who had dropped out of high school and had been working their way "up the ladder" while I earned my degree. After two years, I was wanting to get married but couldn't afford to even move out on my own much less try to support a wife so I decided to get a CDL license and drive a truck.
So, what's my point. I've got friends who even now are paying right around $1,000 a month, trying to earn a degree that will hopefully allow them to get a great job paying a whopping $30,000 a year fresh out of college. I've talked with others who know some that are paying half again as much and still coming out of the universities with close to 6 digits in debt. And the sad truth of the matter is that most of them are having the same experience that I had.I was reading an article the other day. It told of how 80% of last years graduates are living with their parents due to the fact that if they are able to find work at all, many of them are delivering pizzas or working at jobs paying little above minimum wage.
To tell the truth, most of the really successful people that I know either didn’t even attend a university or college, or they have been successful in a field totally removed from the field of their degree. Personally, in hindsight, I wish I had taken the money I spent on education and had used it to get set up in my own business years earlier. I believe it would have been a better investment.
A Comparison of Health Insurance to Health Discount Benefits
I would like to say first off that I am a big believer in Insurance. I've been licensed by the state I live in to sell Life and Health and have been an agent for two different very large Insurance Companies. I could mention the names of these companies and everybody reading this would recognize them but for legal reasons I'll leave that off.
Having sold Insurance I have not only heard the horror stories but have also met the people that they have happened to. So as I said before, I am a big believer in Insurance.
My reason for writing this article today is that many people have no idea that there is an alternative or if they are aware of it they don’t really know any details about it or if it compares favorably to health insurance.
The name of this alternative is Health Discount Benefits and today I am going to compare it to Health Insurance side by side so that others can make an educated decision.
First off when you start shopping for Health Insurance you will find that the prices tend to range anywhere from $300 to $800 a month. The price depends some on the company but mostly it is determined by the size of your Deductible, the percentage paid after the deductible has been met, and the max out of pocket per year before the insurance pay’s the balance of the bill. There are also other factors you might want to check such as is maternity covered (this usually adds about $100 $120 a month) or even if some illnesses like cancer are covered. You wouldn’t think this would be an issue but you might be surprised.
Let’s say you decide on a lower priced policy costing around $300 a month. This will have probably at least a $5,000 deductible with you paying 20% to 50% until the Maximum out of pocket has been met. At that point the insurance will pay everything left.
Now before you are covered you have to underwritten. The job of the underwriters is to determine what the chances are that you will actually have to use this policy. Really you might think of insurance as a gamble which you are betting that you will use it and the insurance company is betting that you won’t. Let’s face it, most healthy individuals aren’t going to experience any catastrophic illnesses until after age 65 at which time you are covered by Medicare instead of the Insurance company. There is a chance of a serious accident which is why there is a whole section on the applications about dangerous hobbies and traffic citations. Basically if you are not in good health or they can see reason to believe that you are likely to have a serious accident they will not underwrite the policy or they limit coverage on that policy to not include certain cases.
Don't get me wrong, I know that this sounds very criticle toward the health insurance industry. Even though I sell the competing product, I've got to in all fairness mention that even with these precautions, most health insurance companies only make a profit off about 3% of the premiums. So really they have to work this way in order to stay in business. And let's face it, if there were no profits, there wouldn't be anybody offering the service.
Let’s say though that you are underwritten and that you have an accident the very first year of coverage. At $300 a month your out of pocket cost that year before the insurance kicks in is $3,600 for the premiums plus $5,000 deductible for a total of $8,600. At this point you will only have to pay the 20% to 50% until the maximum out of pocket is paid.
Now what about the Health Discount Benefits. This is a industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. There are several companies providing this benefit, but I know personally about one called Ameriplan which is the largest company providing this benefit so I will use their premiums for examples.
With this benefit you get coverage on Physician Care, Hospital Advocacy, Dental, Vision, Chiropractic, and Prescription. These benefits literally cover everything even procedures that are considered cosmetic. The Vision plan even covers designer sunglasses and Lasic Eye Surgery. And the price for this plan is $39.95 a month.
The reason that this plan is so affordable is that Ameriplan doesn't have to pay medical cost for the members. Basically, in return for providers agreeing to give these discounts to Ameriplan's members, they are sent patients that they would not have had otherwise. This in turn saves them the cost of having to run expensive ads advertising their services.
As far as underwriting goes there isn’t any. This is guaranteed issue. It covers all preexisting conditions, and there isn’t any waiting period. Since is it a Discount Plan, there isn’t any Deductible and you get discounts up to 80%.
Say you have to go to the hospital, the first year. Your out of pocket cost before you get any benefit is $479.40. The amount owed to the hospital is determined by ability to pay. I’ve found where some people haven’t had to pay anything and others had to pay $1,300 out of a $47,000 hospital bill. You might look here for testimonials of individuals who have used this plan.
So I hope this helps. I personally use the Health Discount Plan. $300 to $800 a month is just more than I really want to pay but at the same time I know that I do need coverage in case of something unexpected happening. If your not covered or you are wondering how you are going to afford the coverage that you currently have, I would encourage you to consider Health Discount Benefits.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Having sold Insurance I have not only heard the horror stories but have also met the people that they have happened to. So as I said before, I am a big believer in Insurance.
My reason for writing this article today is that many people have no idea that there is an alternative or if they are aware of it they don’t really know any details about it or if it compares favorably to health insurance.
The name of this alternative is Health Discount Benefits and today I am going to compare it to Health Insurance side by side so that others can make an educated decision.
First off when you start shopping for Health Insurance you will find that the prices tend to range anywhere from $300 to $800 a month. The price depends some on the company but mostly it is determined by the size of your Deductible, the percentage paid after the deductible has been met, and the max out of pocket per year before the insurance pay’s the balance of the bill. There are also other factors you might want to check such as is maternity covered (this usually adds about $100 $120 a month) or even if some illnesses like cancer are covered. You wouldn’t think this would be an issue but you might be surprised.
Let’s say you decide on a lower priced policy costing around $300 a month. This will have probably at least a $5,000 deductible with you paying 20% to 50% until the Maximum out of pocket has been met. At that point the insurance will pay everything left.
Now before you are covered you have to underwritten. The job of the underwriters is to determine what the chances are that you will actually have to use this policy. Really you might think of insurance as a gamble which you are betting that you will use it and the insurance company is betting that you won’t. Let’s face it, most healthy individuals aren’t going to experience any catastrophic illnesses until after age 65 at which time you are covered by Medicare instead of the Insurance company. There is a chance of a serious accident which is why there is a whole section on the applications about dangerous hobbies and traffic citations. Basically if you are not in good health or they can see reason to believe that you are likely to have a serious accident they will not underwrite the policy or they limit coverage on that policy to not include certain cases.
Don't get me wrong, I know that this sounds very criticle toward the health insurance industry. Even though I sell the competing product, I've got to in all fairness mention that even with these precautions, most health insurance companies only make a profit off about 3% of the premiums. So really they have to work this way in order to stay in business. And let's face it, if there were no profits, there wouldn't be anybody offering the service.
Let’s say though that you are underwritten and that you have an accident the very first year of coverage. At $300 a month your out of pocket cost that year before the insurance kicks in is $3,600 for the premiums plus $5,000 deductible for a total of $8,600. At this point you will only have to pay the 20% to 50% until the maximum out of pocket is paid.
Now what about the Health Discount Benefits. This is a industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. There are several companies providing this benefit, but I know personally about one called Ameriplan which is the largest company providing this benefit so I will use their premiums for examples.
With this benefit you get coverage on Physician Care, Hospital Advocacy, Dental, Vision, Chiropractic, and Prescription. These benefits literally cover everything even procedures that are considered cosmetic. The Vision plan even covers designer sunglasses and Lasic Eye Surgery. And the price for this plan is $39.95 a month.
The reason that this plan is so affordable is that Ameriplan doesn't have to pay medical cost for the members. Basically, in return for providers agreeing to give these discounts to Ameriplan's members, they are sent patients that they would not have had otherwise. This in turn saves them the cost of having to run expensive ads advertising their services.
As far as underwriting goes there isn’t any. This is guaranteed issue. It covers all preexisting conditions, and there isn’t any waiting period. Since is it a Discount Plan, there isn’t any Deductible and you get discounts up to 80%.
Say you have to go to the hospital, the first year. Your out of pocket cost before you get any benefit is $479.40. The amount owed to the hospital is determined by ability to pay. I’ve found where some people haven’t had to pay anything and others had to pay $1,300 out of a $47,000 hospital bill. You might look here for testimonials of individuals who have used this plan.
So I hope this helps. I personally use the Health Discount Plan. $300 to $800 a month is just more than I really want to pay but at the same time I know that I do need coverage in case of something unexpected happening. If your not covered or you are wondering how you are going to afford the coverage that you currently have, I would encourage you to consider Health Discount Benefits.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Monday, October 26, 2009
What To Look For In A Home Business
When looking to start a Home Based Business there are several things that you should think about. I mean let's face it. A good salesman can make any business seem like the opportunity of a lifetime. But the question is, is it actually something that you can make money doing or selling.
First, How large is the market for it. If you plan to be successful you must have a large market for whatever product you sell. A good example is the Health Benefits Market. I'm personally familiar with this one because I've sold insurance before and currently have a business selling an affordable alternative. But to the point inbetween 70%-80% of Americans don't have health benefits due mainly to the fact that they are so expensive to get and to maintain. Another right now would probably be something with debt management or credit counseling. But whatever it is you need something that will benefit more than just a select portion of the population.
Second, Do you get paid for every piece of business that you write or do you have to build up to a point where you start to get paid. There are some "business opportunities" that in order for you to get paid you must first work yourself up to a certain level before you start drawing any kind of benefit from it. And even once you get to that level you can loose the pay if anybody in your downline quits until you have replaced them. You want to make sure before jumping in that you get paid for your work. And that just because somebody else decides that your product is not for them, you don't loose the benefits of your work. Also if the pay is commission based you might want to check on if there are chargebacks on commissions paid to you if a client drops out.
Third, If at all possible, to make the best use of your effort you want a business that pays residually as well as initially. This means that if you work hard and do the job right you get paid for it from that point on, over and over. You also want to check on what percentage the initial commission is and what percentage the residual will be. I'm in a business now that pays 30% up front and 30% residually, I've been in businesses before that paid up to 45% up front but then only 2% residually. You want a business that has as high percentage residually as possible since this is what will ultimately determine just how successful you are and how long it takes you to become successful.
If you can find a Home Based Business that does provide a benefit that the majority of people need, pay's you for every piece of work you submit without charge backs for cancellations, and provides a residual income on top, Then at that point you just need to ask yourself if you are willing to do what it takes to make that business grow. There are some great opportunities out there, but no matter how good the opportunity, if your not willing to work for yourself at least as hard as you work for somebody else, YOU WILL FAIL.
So when looking for a business to invest in, ask about these things. Use common sense. And be ready to work hard. I've found in my own life that owning my own business is the hardest work I've done. BUT IT IS DEFINATELY ALSO THE MOST REWARDING!!! http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
First, How large is the market for it. If you plan to be successful you must have a large market for whatever product you sell. A good example is the Health Benefits Market. I'm personally familiar with this one because I've sold insurance before and currently have a business selling an affordable alternative. But to the point inbetween 70%-80% of Americans don't have health benefits due mainly to the fact that they are so expensive to get and to maintain. Another right now would probably be something with debt management or credit counseling. But whatever it is you need something that will benefit more than just a select portion of the population.
Second, Do you get paid for every piece of business that you write or do you have to build up to a point where you start to get paid. There are some "business opportunities" that in order for you to get paid you must first work yourself up to a certain level before you start drawing any kind of benefit from it. And even once you get to that level you can loose the pay if anybody in your downline quits until you have replaced them. You want to make sure before jumping in that you get paid for your work. And that just because somebody else decides that your product is not for them, you don't loose the benefits of your work. Also if the pay is commission based you might want to check on if there are chargebacks on commissions paid to you if a client drops out.
Third, If at all possible, to make the best use of your effort you want a business that pays residually as well as initially. This means that if you work hard and do the job right you get paid for it from that point on, over and over. You also want to check on what percentage the initial commission is and what percentage the residual will be. I'm in a business now that pays 30% up front and 30% residually, I've been in businesses before that paid up to 45% up front but then only 2% residually. You want a business that has as high percentage residually as possible since this is what will ultimately determine just how successful you are and how long it takes you to become successful.
If you can find a Home Based Business that does provide a benefit that the majority of people need, pay's you for every piece of work you submit without charge backs for cancellations, and provides a residual income on top, Then at that point you just need to ask yourself if you are willing to do what it takes to make that business grow. There are some great opportunities out there, but no matter how good the opportunity, if your not willing to work for yourself at least as hard as you work for somebody else, YOU WILL FAIL.
So when looking for a business to invest in, ask about these things. Use common sense. And be ready to work hard. I've found in my own life that owning my own business is the hardest work I've done. BUT IT IS DEFINATELY ALSO THE MOST REWARDING!!! http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
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