Choirs, Myths and Ambassadors...

When I was in the Choir in my junior high school, my best friend was Jason Paltrowitz. We had won a trip to go compete in some national championship, so all of us kids from new york city got on a bus and headed down to a town I won't name.

When we met the other kids there, we all introduced ourselves, and said where we were from.

When Jason said "My name is Jason Paltrowitz, and I'm from New York City!"

The kids from this town got all excited. We asked them why:

"Well, Jason.... are you JEWISH?" one kid asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I am" he said, figuring they knew from his last name.

They giggled, and asked quite innocently: "Can we see your horns?"
..........

I was totally aghast. I hadn't even heard that myth before, but I could tell from their faces that they truly and sincerely thought that Jews had horns on their heads.

Like the devil.

They didn't mean anything by it; that's just what they had heard.

I was about to start yelling and screaming and throwing punches, but I was frozen. This was my BEST FRIEND they were talking about.

But then I saw an amazing thing.

Jason just said "Oh, I don't have horns. Jews don't really have horns; that's just a crazy story."

"Oh,... ok" the kids said, disappointed that they weren't going to see a free freakshow.

After that, we all just went out and played "tag" together- and made sure not to yell and mess up our voices!

That day has stuck in my mind forever.

Why am I telling you this story? Well, two reasons:

1- You are in a business that most people don't understand. If they REALLY did, they'd be involved in SOME sort of Network Marketing company somewhere. I am in three myself, but Agel is the only one I build. I believe that in the future, network marketing companies will be as popular as franchises are today.

Our challenge is educating people correctly. Jason just kept his cool, and very calmly explained that crazy horn story. I recently had a guy tell me that he "Wouldn't want to 'DO Neywork Marketing' TO his friends" because network marketing was a scam and shameful (by the way, that same guy said he was willing to "Do it" to strangers). I obviously have no desire to sponsor him, but I did challenge him to get some REAL information on our industry. I should find out if he ever did, or if he just stayed in his ignorance.

2- You are in a business where people from all over the world come together to help each other, and work together despite their perceived differences. I remember at Agel World '07, one of the Leaders in Israel said that his mission with Agel was to bring Peace to the holy land. Wouldn't that be amazing? "Sorry, I know we've been fighting for eons, but we had better figure out how to stop because there's too much money invested here!"

Now THAT is a mission.

So, when you're out building your business, let's remember that what we're doing is EDUCATING people on our industry and our business, and that YOU are the ambassador.

That way, if someone asks to see your horns, maybe you can explain that you don't have any, and that in this business, you're just trying to:

Create Wealth
Have Fun
Help Others