Future Choice Introduction
by Scott DeGarmo

I HEARTILY RECOMMEND THIS APTLY TITLED and well-written book to anyone seeking to learn about opportunities in Network Marketing.

I personally learned about the power of Network Marketing somewhat reluctantly. Like so many people, my mind was mainly closed on the subject. Then one of my editors at SUCCESS magazine began urging me to let him do a report for our readers on the topic. I explained to the staffer that, based on what little I knew, I had a hard time believing that Network Marketing could be seen as a serious way of building a business or making a living. “Some of the stories are simply too good to be true,” I said, attempting to close the matter.

As it happened, I was dealing with Senior Editor Richard Poe, who had spent months examining the issue and preparing arguments to present to me and my other editors. In our ensuing editorial meetings, as Poe recounted statistics, case studies and anecdotes, I found myself becoming more receptive to his proposal.

However, some staffers considered the entire subject one to be shunned. As the opposing editors sensed my interest in the topic growing, they called a “time out” so they could gather material to present the opposite point of view. With the help of our researchers and our Nexus on-line service, our offices were soon flooded with Network Marketing articles from the national press. I read stacks of them, noting how public officials and regulators frequently made critical comments about Network Marketing or multi-level marketing, as it is often called.

But what all the previous coverage demonstrated to me was different from what my staff critics had intended. What the articles made clear was that the other side of the story—the positive side—had never been told. Why was this the case? Because the press in general, and the business press in particular, is, by and large, not opportunity-oriented. The journalistic mindset is inclined to be skeptical, critical, doubting, analytical—all important traits, to be sure. But what was needed to see the Network Marketing story was a receptive, entrepreneurial, future-oriented perspective—a mindset that seeks out what is good in an idea. Moreover, I concluded, the positive story was going to be a far more important one in the long run.

The article that was eventually published in SUCCESS magazine was the first fundamentally positive treatment of Network Marketing to appear in a major national publication. We pointed out how Network Marketing has often been wrongly confused with illegal pyramid schemes that convince people they can make money without working. We interviewed a range of experts, including Dr. Srikimar Rao, chairman of the marketing department at Long Island University and a student of MLM companies for nearly two decades. Dr. Rao began studying the field because he was aware that it had been ignored by mainstream researchers. Rao was one of the first academics to realize the enormous power of Network Marketing to create wealth. Our article also demonstrated how Network Marketing was being fueled by a pervasive sense of insecurity, an observation that seems more timely than ever today as we continue to witness tens of thousands of workers losing their jobs. Happily, many of these workers will find financial reward and personal freedom in Network Marketing.

Our conclusion was that Network Marketing is a powerful method of doing business that would grow in importance in the coming decade. The response to our coverage was so overwhelming that we have since made Network Marketing an ongoing part of our editorial coverage. Before the publication of Future Choice, no book for the general public had appeared on the subject. So, the publication of Future Choice was indeed a significant event.

Scott DeGarmo
Editor-in-Chief & Publisher
SUCCESS magazine
May 3, 1993

P.S. Read the 2006 Revised Version of Future Choice and find out if Network Marketing may be your best career move!

© 2006 by Michael S. Clouse. All Rights Reserved.

About the author: In addition to over 50 published articles on the subject of Network Marketing, Michael S. Clouse is the author of numerous books and CD programs on the subject of Network Marketing. An internationally recognized Network Marketing expert, Michael is a well respected business consultant, personal success coach, and a dynamic educational speaker. His weekly newsletter is read by tens of thousands of Network Marketing Professionals around the world.