What Dreams Are Made of...

"The biggest mistake people make in life is not making a living at doing what they most enjoy."
- Malcolm S. Forbes

"When you cease to dream you cease to live."
- Malcolm S. Forbes

"Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be."
- Malcolm S. Forbes

"Nothing happens until something moves."
- Albert Einstein

"We can have anything we want in life if we're willing to
help enough other people get what they want."
- Zig Ziglar

"Dream as if you'll live forever,
live as if you'll die today."
- James Dean

"Believe in your dreams and they may come true; believe in yourself and they will come true."
- unknown

"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe,
it can achieve."
- W. Clement Stone

"As a man thinks in his heart,
so is he."
- Proverbs 23:7

The Greatest Dinner Party Ever

A couple thousand years ago, one man shared something with a few of his friends. What he shared was more than a single dream or vision. He freely shared the Truth of all life. What was that Truth? That He, Himself, was:

The Way,

The Truth, and

The Life.

In fact, he did much more than just talk about it. He proved it. For his last dinner he served bread to represent his body, and wine to represent his blood. Then the very next day, his body was broken and his blood spilled out to profoundly change the world forever.

Some said he was a liar, a deceiver or con man. Others said he was a lunatic, crazy, or possessed by the devil. Finally, others said he was who he claimed to be. Lord of all creation, made flesh to become a sacrifice for all humanity because he loved us so much.

Which is he? Lord, Liar, or Lunatic? Each of us at some point in our lives must face this question and decide for ourselves.

If he were a liar, the friends that he shared the Truth with would have realized it was not the truth. The story would have ended. If he were a lunatic, we would have the same result.

The only explanation for what we have today is that he demonstrated who he was by raising himself from the dead, thereby proving that he is Lord over all death and life.

Each one of his followers present at that last dinner party became believers in this Truth. They openly shared the Truth even in the face of death and persecution. The dinner party grew in number and continues to this day. Every day millions of believers break the bread and drink the wine to remember his sacrifice for us.

What does this have to do with the Systems Approach to Marketing? Only that it is the most significant and profound example of massive numbers coming together with a shared belief spread entirely by word-of-mouth.

Call it network marketing, direct sales, affiliate marketing, viral marketing…whatever. I don’t care. It still boils down to people becoming a part of something, and then sharing it with others.

God Bless You,
Scott

PS. If you are wondering who is this person I am speaking of, then please drop an email to: scott [at] thedragonfly.ws

What’s It All About, Alfie?

If you’ve been reading along with me on this blog, you are hopefully beginning to see that the entire effort is guided toward a passionate vision.

This vision is detailed in the first posts about my purpose in life, to “Love God and love my neighbor.” If this is not clear, then please consider going back and reading all the posts in chronological order from the first through the last post (back to front).

My desire is to help people realize their dreams by sharing their dreams with others. In fact, the nature of this vision REQUIRES sharing it with others. You must GIVE IT AWAY in order to GET IT YOURSELF.

A seminar I attended this past spring used this terminology, “When other people get that you got it, you get it.” This means that first you must have a clear understanding of your own vision, desire or dream. Your dream must then be shared with other people. When they understand your dream and become a part of it, your dream takes on life and becomes fulfilled.

It is unrealistic to expect every person you share your dream with to understand and become a part of it. My hope and prayer is that you are the type of person who will openly consider my vision, make it a part of your own vision, and join me in bringing it to fruition.

The Dragonfly Project is to be a practical application of this dream. Using the incredible power of the Internet as a tool for sharing your ideas, you can build a collective body of “believers” who share a common vision.

I invite you to join me on this adventure and prove just how simple this can be.

Catch the Vision,
Scott

Leverage and Automation

In the previous post we looked at inputs, processes and outputs for arranging a dinner party. Now let's get an understanding of what Leverage and Automation can do for your party.

But first, understand this key principle:

Every output becomes the input for another process.
When we looked at "inviting guests" as a process, we saw that it required paper, envelopes, ink and stamps. The desired result was guests for the party. The "output" of inviting guests became "input" for the party. Throw in some groceries and a little work and you have yourself a dinner party.


Now let's automate the invitation process using a computer, the internet, and email. By doing so, we have eliminated the ink, paper, envelopes and stamps. Simple enough, right?

What's leverage? Suppose you would like to have 20 people attend your dinner party. But you are new to town and have only made four new friends. So you ask each of your four friends to also invite four of their friends so you can meet them at the dinner party. You decide to use automation to send these invitations because you want the process to be as easy as possible. You do not want to burden your friends with the need for ink, paper, envelopes, or stamps.

To make this even easier on your four friends, along with your invitation you include a sample email they can use to tell their friends about the party. If everyone receives the information, is available for the party, and willing to attend you will have 20 guests at the party.

How you draw this model depends on if you are looking at the invitations or the guests. The invitations are going one way, the guests are going to the party. Here's the picture:



This very model is used every day in marketing. Business people using referral marketing often offer a discount or rebate if you refer customers to their business. Affiliate Marketing programs usually offer you a direct share of the sales when you promote the business.

One apartment complex I lived in several years ago offered me a $100 discount on my rent for referring new tenants to the complex. I probably could have lived rent free if I had spent enough time promoting the apartments.

This leads to the final point I want to make with this post. Word-of-Mouth Advertising is an extremely powerful way to build a business. When your customers realize that you sincerely provide what is in their best interest, they will readily spread the word.

Fundamentals of a System

By now you have heard me say several times that every system has three common elements: 1. an input, 2. a process, and 3. an output. This very simple fundamental is sometimes hard to grasp. But I want to be sure that you understand how you can use this model to view anything in life.





This simple model is seen everywhere in nature. It is the "cause and effect" in our lives. For example, photosynthesis is a process in plants that converts the sun's energy into oxygen. The inputs to the system include water, carbon dioxide, nutrients from the soil and sunlight. The outputs include glucose and oxygen.

Let's look at another example. Say you want to have a dinner party. You sit down to plan the party and the first thing you do is make a list of people you want to invite and a dinner menu. Why? Because people and food are the basic ingredients for a dinner party.

How you invite guests and prepare the dinner is the process of pulling it all together. So you put together a process to accomplish your goal.

Step 1: Send out invitations.
Step 2: Clean the house.
Step 3: Go to the grocery store.
Step 4: Prepare the meal.
Step 5: Greet your guests.
Step 6: Serve the meal.
Step 7: Have fun.

We have now built a model and defined our system like this:

1. Input: Guests and Food.
2. Process: 7 Steps to a Successful Dinner Party.
3. Output: Dinner Party and Fun.

Is this the only way to define the system? No. You have the freedom to define your system in any way that makes sense and is easiest to follow. However, when you look closely at the steps in the process, each step is in itself another system of inputs, processes and outputs.

Let me repeat that. Each step, action or function in a process is also another process in itself.

For you, going to the grocery store is a simple step. But someone else may need to look at this as a more defined process.

Step 1: Find my car keys.
Step 2: Get in the car.
Step 3: Turn the car on.
Step 4: Drive to the store.
Step 5: Turn the car off.
Step 6: Go in the store.
Step 7: Do the shopping.
Step 8: Load the food in the car.
Step 9: Get in the car.
Step 10: Turn the car on.
Step 11: Drive home.
Step 12: Turn the car off.
Step 13: Get out of the car.
Step 14: Take the food in the house.

I am sure you can think of many more steps you can add. By now you're saying, "Stop. Stop. I get it!"

This level of detail is actually what design engineers do in order to look holistically at the big picture. The more a project or process is defined, the clearer the picture becomes.




By looking at each step in a process as yet another process, you will see everything that is truly required. There will be fewer surprises. Now we can see that a dinner party requires more than simply guests and food. It also requires a car, gasoline, money to purchase the food, etc.

What is the process for sending out invitations? Think about it. Now you know you need envelopes, paper, a pen with ink, and stamps. Don't forget the gasoline for the car if you plan on mailing the invitations at the post office.

Now look more closely at the total output from the party. Is it just a dinner and fun? No. You also have a mess to clean up, garbage at the curb, wastewater down the sink, carbon dioxide emissions from your car, and a used up ink pen from all the invitations you sent, just to name a few.

What do dinner parties have to do with Marketing? Nothing directly (unless you are using the party to market yourself or your products and services). This example is simply a way of viewing things that you can apply to marketing.

The Systems Approach to Marketing allows you to look at various processes available to build an efficient system that leverages your resources of time and money for maximum results. Start thinking in terms of inputs, processes and outputs. And stay tuned for exciting tools coming your way.

Dragonfly Project Update

The Dragonfly Project

Some of my readers have been asking about The Dragonfly Project and what it is. Is it really possible to build a Network Marketing organization without bugging family and friends, cold calling, or going in debt buying leads and advertising the business?

The answer is a resounding YES! And The Dragonfly Project is going to show you exactly how, using easy to understand, step by step processes. These processes fit together strategically into a cradle-to-grave system that will take you where you want to go. A profitable business from day 1.

This is a big order. But it should be. Dreams should be big. Visions are often very large and seemingly impossible to achieve. But then, any vision worth having is BIG.

Here is the VISION for The Dragonfly Project:

"Anyone who has the desire to experience financial freedom by becoming an entrepreneur will learn how to be a successful small business owner and be able to teach others how to do the same. No one will be left behind. If they truly have the desire to learn and apply these strategic principles, success is guaranteed."

Sound simple? Yes. Easy? No.

The system will involve:

• No group meetings
• No cold calling
• No spending money on questionable opportunity leads
• No Google AdWords or AdSense
• No selling on eBay
• No out-of-pocket expenses for advertising or promotions
• No previous knowledge of Internet Marketing or Network Marketing

The model in this project is being built using the Systems Approach. It will be completely generic to any network marketing or affiliate program you may already be involved in. By eliminating the road blocks common to most network marketing organizations, this will be a truly duplicatable system. The system will require little or even zero investment of your hard-earned cash. All you will need is a computer with access to the Internet coupled with a desire and willingness to succeed.

The Dragonfly Project will be released right here on Blogger by January 1, 2007. It will pull back the curtain and reveal the wizard. No tricks, no magic, no secrets. Just plain good sense.

Keep a close watch here for the release of

The Dragonfly Project

Let the Dragonfly show you that it does not take a ‘guru’ or a genie in a bottle to build a huge marketing team.

All the best,
Scott Douglas