Editor’s Note: this article was originally published in the November 2008 issue of LIA Magazine
As I write this, the economy is in a mess. The stock market has lost over 25 percent of its value. Banks are failing left and right. The U.S. Government just passed a $700-billion (with a “B!”) bailout package to try to prevent the nation from crashing into a serious recession if not an out-and-out depression. Corporations are laying off people by the tens of thousands. The housing market has crashed. A huge percentage of homeowners are in default. Those who are not in default have watched their homes lose a substantial percentage of their original value. The Democrats are blaming the Republicans and the Republicans are blaming the Democrats. It’s hard to know who to believe. Even the press has taken sides. There seems to be a liberal press and a conservative press but no accurate press. Credit is tight. Businesses are in trouble. Consumer confidence is at an all time low causing everyone to ask themselves two questions:
- How did this all happen? and
- Will we ever recover?
The first question is a lot easier to answer than the second. It’s been said that people are a lot like sheep. Even though that’s an awful thing to say, it is more true than most people would ever want to admit. I know a little about sheep. We had some sheep on our farm when I was a young boy. It would often be my job to tend them. A sheep has a deep need to be with the other sheep. A single sheep separated from the flock will be frightened out of its mind. If you are herding sheep, the hard part is to get the first one to go where you want it to go. No sheep ever wants to go first. But once you get the first one to come the rest will quickly follow. Each and every one! Because just as badly as not wanting to be the first one to do anything, no sheep ever wants to be left behind.
I see a lot of similarities between some people and sheep, especially in regard to how they make financial decisions. It’s those very similarities that got our economy into so much trouble as a nation.
Remember the .com bubble when everyone was investing in internet companies? Remember when the world finally realized that those companies were all a sham? The weird thing is that for years, even though everyone knew all of the .coms were losing money (the analysts knew it, the experts knew it, the stock brokers knew it, the economists knew it, even the investors knew it) people were still investing like crazy. Why? Simply because everyone else was doing it! And they assumed that everyone else saw something that they themselves did not see.
Investing in those .com companies never made any sense to me. Fortunately, I never invested a penny. My brokers thought I was nuts. They told me I was going to be left behind- that I needed to get in on the ground floor. I’m certain they were using the same pitch on their other clients. And why were they pitching the .com companies? Because all the other brokers were doing it! No one understood the business plans of the .coms. They just feared they would be left out. Six months before the .com bubble burst in late 2000, I explained my concerns in the President’s Message of Leadership in Action. I warned readers about these so called internet companies and advised them to proceed with caution before investing in one of these companies. I do not know how many people listened to me or how many people dumped their stocks before the bubble burst, but I know some did and I have always hoped that many acted. I do not mention this to boast about how right we were on our predictions, I only want to point out that it is better to use common sense than to follow the masses.
Then in September of 2005 I wrote about what was happening in the financial markets. This article ran as the November 2005 President’s Message. Melaleuca Director of Corporate Affairs Cole Clinger and I had met with Senior and Executive Directors earlier in September of 2005 in Baltimore, Atlanta, Tulsa, Dallas, Phoenix, Irvine, and Seattle. We predicted that the housing industry and financial markets were headed into “The Perfect Storm.” We pointed out that as soon as interest rates started increasing, those with variable rates or balloon clauses in their mortgages would not be able to make their home payments, resulting in millions of defaulted mortgages, creating a large number of excess homes on the market, which would destroy the value of homes in the marketplace causing more foreclosures and eventually resulting in bank foreclosures. We predicted that these foreclosures would cause a chain reaction that would rock the nation’s financial institutions and those around the World. The intent of those meetings was to encourage our people to avoid the financial pitfalls that we feared were going to happen to those who had lived beyond their means.
Over the last three months, all of those dire predictions have now come true. What we did not predict is that the government would approve a $700- billion bailout package for the banks and financial institutions. Again, it is not my purpose here to brag about how right we were with our predictions. I only want to point out that if you take a second to look around at what is happening today, you can often figure out what is going to happen tomorrow. With close study and observation, serious analysis, and some common sense, you can make sure that you end up in a much better place than where the masses end up. The only thing that is amazing about this is the fact that the vast majority follow the masses in whatever direction the masses are going and very few study things out for themselves.
Okay, I am finally getting to my point. Let’s take a close look at the current national crisis and use a little common sense as to where it can take us! People are hurting financially, many have lost their retirement savings. Three months ago they were financially secure, now they are in financial ruins. People need money and financial security more than ever and they know they will not get it from their employer!
They are actually looking for us! They just don’t know we are here!!! They will be glad to learn what we have for them! We can show them 23 years of solid growth and prosperity for people who want to own their own businesses. We are financially secure. We have the safest, most effective natural products in the World. A proven business model! No risk! No substantial investment! Everyone can do it.
For many, our message will seem almost too good to be true! A little study, analysis, and common sense will show that Melaleuca really is the answer.
Melaleuca: The Wellness Company®. The World needs us now, more than ever!
Sincerely,

November 2008
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