I just completed the 12 lecture course, "The Life and Works of Mark Twain" taught by Dr. Stephen Railton of the University of Virginia. Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens, is a beloved American author and humorist whose stories of young boys finding adventure on the Mississippi shaped many a daydream.

I was surprised to find out that Mark Twain was one of the pioneers of network marketing. Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn " made its author a fortune being sold by what Twain called "subscription agents." He offered commissions to agents who sold the book to their acquantances. Not only did Twain make a great deal of money, his agents made vast sums as it was one of the bestselling books to that date. Twain was also revolutionary in who he recruited to be agents. His focus - those who needed the opportunity. That's right, just like the USANA business, anyone could do it! He offered his opportunity to Civil War veterans out of work and yes, even women! Women working in the 1800's were virtually unheard of, but Mark Twain knew that network marketing was a perfect fit for women. Because of this extraordinary method of distribution his books reached the broadest market of any book prior. He clearly knew his product and its broad appeal:

"My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine -- everybody drinks water." - Mark Twain

Fast forward to the present and what has changed? Well, in those days, the path to the consumer through this method of distribution required the agents to take orders, receive money, and deliver product. Because of innovations such as the Internet and direct-distribution warehousing, we in USANA can deliver high quality products to the consumer base without all those hassles. And like Twain, we are delivering a product with broad appeal.

Mark Twain and Dr. Myron Wentz share one important vision - to deliver their products to the broadest market, using the best method of marketing available. Not a bad couple of fellows to be associated with!

World News - NFL Player Dies in Afghanistan

I think the news that Pat Tillman, formerly of the Cardinals in the NFL dying in Afghanistan is sad. I am however somewhat appalled at all the press it is getting. I am sure that Tillman would agree that the other 700+ soldiers who have died in this conflict are just as worthy of the praise that is being heaped upon him. Yes, it took a lot to walk away from the millions of dollars to follow what he felt was a more important duty and he should be commended for that - doing the duty - not for walking away from the money. Those others that have given the same level of sacrifice should not be viewed any less or receive any less press just because they were not in a position to walk away from large sums of money. I don't think it can be argued that they gave up any less than Tillman.

Here is to ALL those soldiers who gave their lives and ALL those soldiers currently fighting for our country. They have all made the SAME committment.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!
- posted by Chris @ 4:38 PM