Don Wilson: Ronald Reagan Great Moments In Freedom

Don Wilson: Days that changed history

Don Wilson: “America is approaching July 4th, freedom and independence celebrations. Ronald Reagan contributed to cause of freedom. The elections of 1980 and 1984 changed the free world. These are moments to remember.”

1980 - Republican Ronald Reagan won the White House, defeating then President Jimmy Carter. Reagan became the 40th President of the U.S., winning by a landslide (525 electoral votes to 40).

1984 - Reagan did it again, defeating Democrat challenger, Walter Mondale in a landslide. Reagan won 49 states, while Mondale managed to carry only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

For the first time in 193 years, the New York Stock Exchange opened on a presidential election day. The Dow jumped 15 points that day, proving it was a good business decision to open.

Don Wilson and Nancy Wilson are members of IBOAI

Business Owner Trade Association Facts:

IBOAI, the official trade association of Quixtar IBO’s, serves and protects the business interests of independent business owners in America and Canada. Association leadership includes Greg Duncan, Don Wilson, Billy Florence, Jody Victor.

Billy Florence leads DCI International, owns Florence Enterprises, and www.e-quadnews.com.

Fred Harteis owns Harties International.

Don Wilson leads Legacy Business Group.

Ron Puryear WWDB and Greg Duncan lead WWDB World Wide Dream Builders.

Keywords: Billy Florence, Don Wilson, Greg Duncan, Fred Harteis, Jody Victor Ron Puryear, Quixtar MLM

© 2006 electronic reprint permission provided to Billy Florence Team blog by esource business news.

Billy Florence - 7 Baby Steps for Great Finances by Dave Ramsey

I often share my belief that the best way to financial freedom is to build a business of your own. But I also believe in being smart in how you manage your money. Dave Ramsey has some great teaching on money management. Below are his 7 Baby Steps. I believe everyone should have a plan for what they do with their money.

Billy Florence: The 7 Baby Steps

$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund

Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball

Three to six months of expenses in savings

Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement

College funding for children

Pay off home early

Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

Source: DaveRamsey.com

Billy Florence Finances On The Web:

http://billyflorence.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/3/2/1815930.html

http://billyflorence.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/20/1990193.html

About Billy Florence and Peggy Florence

Billy and Peggy Florence are members of IBOAI. The official trade association of Quixtar IBO’s serves and protects the business interests of independent business owners. Leadership team includes Greg Duncan, Don Wilson, Billy Florence, and Jody Victor.

Billy Florence leads Team Dream Chasers International (DC International) Organization. Billy Florence founded Equad News. It provides news, opinion, and motivational editorials.

Key words: Billy Florence, Jody Victor, Billy Florence leadership, Rich Florence, Peggy Florence

© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence Team blog.

Billy Florence Team - Meet Generation Wireless

Certain birthdays mark special life changes. A birthday could mean becoming school age, driving age, dating age or voting age. Thirteen has become the ‘cellphone of my own’ age. Just 12 percent of kids ages 8-12 have a wireless phone, but that jumps dramatically at age 13. Nearly half of young teens, ages 13-15, have a wireless phone number of their own. That number jumps to 68 percent for the 16-17 age group. The phone may be traveling with the new teen, but the phone bill is still going to mom and dad. Parents pick their children’s wireless service bills in over two-thirds of the cases.

Meet The W Generation

This wireless generation, born ten years after the first U.S. cell phone service went live (1983), has been mobile and internet connected since birth. They were born in the same year the first major Web browser debuted in 1983. They have no memory of life prior to the World Wide Web.
The number one thing teens use phone for is a mini communications and entertainment device. They use it for talk, text messages, playing games, taking photos, and buying ringtones.

How Much Time Teen Users Spend With The Cellphone

The average teen is spending 777 minutes - the equivalent of nearly two school days per month - using their cellphone. Teens are twice as likely as the general population to play games on a cellphone, use a cellphone to vote in TV or radio polls, or purchase ringtones. All this cellphone time brings issues and opportunities that didn’t exist ten years ago. The key opportunity is content. The key issue is safety.

Cyber Safety

Although purchased for safety, the wireless world opens your child to new risks. They can become predator’s prey and middle school cyber bullies. Cyber-bullying, also called online social cruelty or electronic bullying, in the form of text messages, emails, photos, and website postings, can go school-wide in minutes and global in days. Before the birthday phone is unwrapped, the first number dialed, or text message sent, you need to clearly communicate with your teen what your families’ online and cellphone behavior code will be.

Cyber Safety Tips

1. Clearly spell out what behaviors are unacceptable.
2. Explain the penalties your child will face for breaking the family online behavior code.
3. Monitor your child’s cellphone activities.
4. Talk regularly with your child about on-line activities he or she is involved in.
5. Consider installing filtering and blocking software.
6. Teach your teen to keep all information safe including passwords, email, names, cellphone numbers, and family information.
7. Posting profiles and photos on the web can put your child at risk.
8. Understand clearly that proactive parents are the best deterrent.

Sources: Kamaron Institute, American Demographics

© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence Team blog.

Billy Florence - The 30 Second Rule

Learning to work with people and make people feel valued is an important part of building teams. One of the best ways to help people feel great is to practice John Maxwell's 30 Second Rule.

In his book 25 Ways To Win With People he teaches the 30 Second Rule. He says to encourage a person within the first 30 seconds of a conversation. This is great advice.

Here are a few tips given in the book to help us practice this:

Forget About:

Searching for ways to make yourself look good.Instead, search for ways to make others look good.

Ask:

What positive, encouraging thing can I say to each person I will see today?

Do It:

Give everyone you meet the Triple-A Treatment - attention, affirmation, and appreciation.

Remember:

Within the first thirty seconds of a conversation, say something encouraging.

I suggest you read the complete chapter on the 30 Second Rule in the book 25 Ways To Win With People. It is truly a great way to help us "win with people."

© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence – Team blog.

Woodward - Leadership Equals Greater Responsibility

Orrin Woodward recently shared some great information on his Team Orrin Woodward blog about leadership. So many people believe that leadership has great privileges but the truth is that leadership brings responsibility.

Orrin Woodward Leadership Highlights

A guiding principle that Orrin Woodward has instilled within his organization is that with greater leadership roles come greater responsibility, not more perks and special treatment. This is hard for some people in today’s society to understand. Many feel that once they reach a certain position within the a company, achieve a certain rank in the military, or in the case of many of some of our political leaders...get elected to office...that they now have special perks and privileges that allow them to roam free unchained by the laws and regulations of the common man.

Look at the Hollywood elite that seem to live above the law endlessly getting a slap on the wrist for things that the common citizen would do jail time over. Some of our politicians think they can break the law, take bribes, and operate totally independent of the judicial system with impunity. It has become so reckless on both sides of the aisle in congress that many are now saying we need a good house cleaning from top to bottom for both parties. With the recent arrests and investigations of Congressman Duke Cunningham of California and Congressman Jefferson from Louisiana we are seeing the very abuses of power in our nation’s capital that a few years ago we witnessed in some of the board rooms of major companies like Enron, Global Crossing, and Arther Anderson.

Americans have become disenfranchised with their leaders and heroes because of this behavior.

Read more on Orrin Woodward's Team blog:

http://team_orrin_woodward.typepad.com/orrin_woodward/2006/06/index.html#entry-10951304

Team DCI: Internet Sales Set Records

Americans spent over $30 billion during the holiday season; up 30 percent from previous holiday. The winners in the online product popularity contest, with double to triple digit year-over-year growth, were Apparel, Computer Hardware, and Consumer Electronics. Online sales exceeded even the most optimistic forecasters.

Apparel/Clothing, Computer Hardware/Peripherals and Consumer Electronics Captured the most online holiday dollars this year, showing double to triple-digit year-over-year growth; record high in shoppers choosing to buy online vs. other channels.
Books ($3 billion) and toys/video games ($2.3 billion) rounded out the top five categories. Books definitely had a better story to tell than toys. The books category jumped 66 percent in revenue from last year, compared to toys/video games, which fell nine percent from the last holiday season.

Reasons: Primary drivers of e-commerce holiday growth were convenience, product selection, and lower prices. Free-shipping with purchase limits jump started online shopping and higher gas prices focused consumers on fewer trips. 2005 brought the still often awkward pricing comparison engines like shopzilla and shop.org into the consumer awareness. Offerings by search giants Yahoo! and Google increased the shopping convenience for first time web purchasers. Each provided resources for people interested in researching and comparing product features, shopping locations, and prices.

Gift Card: National Retail Federation reports that shoppers bought $18.5 billion in gift cards during November and December. Ease of redemption, adjustable gift card balance, easy online use, and increased card marketing contributed to growth in gift card giving. Gift card redemption accounted to the retail flurries into last month. After Christmas sales were the perfect incentive to move card recipients into shopping action.

Customer Satisfaction Down: A site’s total shopping experience must meet or exceed consumer expectations. According to ForSee and FGI, most of the online top 40 retail websites under delivered on customer’s expectations, as measured by an average satisfaction decrease of four percent. The online stores scoring the highest during the holidays were: Netflix (84%) Amazon (82%) LLBean (80) and QVC (80). One reason for mismatch on expectations and reality was the number of first time internet shoppers. Any site not delivering a totally intuitive and one click shopping experience was likely to disappoint the first time shopper.

+ eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs, Nielsen/NetRatings and Harris Interactive

© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence Team blog.

Billy Florence - Be Willing To Change

Change is not easy. We all can get in a certain "comfort zone." But in order to grow and get different results in our life, we have to be willing to change. It doesn't mean it will be easy but if we want better results, we must change. I love the saying, "If you want to change some things in your life, you have to change some things in your life."


Billy Florence - A Favorite on Change

"Change is very hard and we change only when the pain of same is greater than the pain of change."-Dave Ramsey


© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence Team blog.

Billy Florence - New Retirement Study

I often share information and stats about retirement. There are too many Americans who are not prepared for it. It is important to save more for retirement. But our TEAM helps people to also start a business of their own. Taking control of your financial future and building a business of your own could be one of the best decesions you ever make. We do believe strongly in being wise and saving money as well as building a business that can give you long term income even after you "retire" from your job.

Billy Florence - New Retirement Study

A new retirement risk index released Tuesday estimates that 43 percent of working-age households are not likely to have enough retirement income to replicate their current standard of living.

The Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College created the index and defines "at risk" to mean those households projected to fall at least 10 percent short of their income target in retirement.

The organization assumed a base target of 73 percent of one's pre-retirement income for all households. In other words, a household with $100,000 in annual income before retirement should be able to generate $73,000 from all sources, including savings, Social Security and pensions. Targets, however, vary according to marital status, gender and income.

Read the complete study at CNNMoney.com:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/06/retirement/risk_index/index.htm

More from Billy Florence on Retirement:

http://billyflorence.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/9/1950527.html
http://billyflorence.typepad.com/quixtar/2006/03/billy_florence__2.html
http://billyflorence.mindsay.com/?date=2006-05-27

© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence Team blog.

Billy Florence: A Strong Finisher

Lou Holz teaches us that it’s always too soon to quit. Second half offers us the opportunity to walk away ‘a champion’. Be a strong finisher. - Billy Florence

Billy Florence: Leadership is Influence

"How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser." - Lou Holz

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." – Lou Holz

Billy Florence and Peggy Florence are members of IBOAI


Trade Association Facts:

IBOAI, the official trade association of Quixtar Ibo’s, serves and protects the business interests of independent business owners. Association leadership includes Greg Duncan, Don Wilson, Billy Florence, and Jody Victor.


DIAMOND INFORMATION

Billy Florence owns Florence Enterprises and leads DCI International. Fred Harteis owns Harties International. Don Wilson leads Legacy Business Group.

Ron Puryear WWDB and Greg Duncan lead WWDB World Wide Dream Builders.

© 2006 electronic reprint permission provided to Billy Florence blog by esource business news.

Billy Florence - Learn From Failure

It is an important fact to learn that everyone goes through failure. When you see great leaders or people who have achieved great success, you can know for sure that they experienced failure in their life. So we all fail. But the real question is do we learn from our failures? These are some great quotes on failure.

Billy Florence - Failure Favorites

"He is foolish to blame the sea who is shipwrecked twice." - Publilius Syrus

"Learn to see in another’s calamity the ills that you should avoid." - Thomas Jefferson

"Remember, you only have to succeed the last time." - Brian Tracy

© 2006 Florence News reprint permission to Billy Florence Team blog.