As a bank president I teach how to replace my six figure income with six figure residual income by following a five step plan I developed within a very simple business model. This remarkable journey has changed my life. I am not the person I was three years ago, not even close. I now define success and freedom in a new way. As a professional, successful in another career, I chose to become a part of the growing network of independent distributors. And while each person's story is written differently, many careers begin at a time when they are deliberately headed down other paths. I spent years in my chosen field climbing what I thought was the ladder of success rung by rung.

So why did I already successful in an advanced career with realized personal and professional success leave the corporate world to become a network marketer? What was it about this amazing opportunity that made me want to leave the familiar path I knew and begin traveling in a new direction?

I believe there are several factors about network marketing that captured my attention – and – imagination – then made me a committed member of my organization.

As a banker I had spent my career helping people. I liked the thought of helping people grow strong financially. I felt I was partnering with them in their quest for success and directed them to the best of my ability. I feel as though financial worries are a great source of stress in people's lives. During the banking years I guided people away from network marketing because I did not see how they could make it work. Now I spend my time and new found energy helping people understand the value of building a leveraged source of income. There are basically four ways to earn: a job – pay stops when you do, own a conventional business – high risk, long hours, and high failure rate, investment – good way but we need money to invest and most people do not have extra income (I teach it as a secondary source after network marketing income begins to flow.),or building a legacy with life long freedom enjoying the benefits of residual income.

Personally this journey has provided independence – I work my own hours, making my own schedule. This gives me the personal freedom to spend in areas of my life that I choose. As I write this, my husband and I are on an Alaska cruise with our six grandchildren. Without the income I have been able to generate we could not have enjoyed these special times, building lifelong memories for them and for us.

I derive satisfaction from my association with a company that recognizes the importance of contributing to our global community. I treasure my ability to partner with others to help those in need. People working together truly can change the world.

Enriching also to me is our increased personal capacity to give back. God has richly blessed my husband and me and we have a deep desire to share resources within our community helping to build it strong. We had given some land for a new YMCA. Feasibility studies said concluded we could only raise about 4 million but we raised about 8.2 million which was still a bit short of the goal to include a child care center our community so badly needed. My network marketing earnings allowed us to contribute an extra 100k toward the project and we were able to complete the center. Before we opened we were at capacity with 90 children and we have a growing waiting list. We were also able to give a lead gift of the needed amount for a down payment on a building for a women's resources in an adjacent community. This allowed them the ability to provide educational programs and safe homes for victims of domestic violence. We have been able to give beyond tithing, often with matching pledges to encourage others to give as well.

I live now more and more in a state of gratitude and love and my life is enhanced every time I have an opportunity to mentor and teach. We all like to feel that we carry valuable knowledge and experience that we can pass along to others. We respect the teacher, aspire to become the teacher. Being a network marketing distributor is precisely that. As part of a team of network marketers, I don't have to worry about competing with someone for my financial future and employment security. I am my competition. I am the one challenging me to excel, to strive for more, and I know that others in the organization want me to succeed because they too believe in abundance. Like the great game of baseball, we know it as well as network marketing requires teams made up of many players of different skills and talents, all working towards the same goal of a championship. We each have our talents and skills and we all have the opportunity to achieve greatness, to hit home runs and be stars, to be recognized for what we as individuals can accomplish. And we do best; we achieve most, when the players work together as part of a strong team.

So here we stand in today with network marketing growing exponentially throughout the world. We are joined each and every day by those who want something more for themselves and their families. They want something more for their communities. And while we may each have started our lives heading down different paths, we now walk the same path, sharing the same hopes and wishes - a desire for personal success and security. American writer Henry David Thoreau once wrote that “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost…Now put foundations under them.” That foundation – strong and secure – is my network marketing business, and I am proud to be a part of it.