Maybe you haven’t yet achieved a high level of success in network marketing, but you are on a learning path, so be grateful for that.

November is one of my favorite months, primarily because we celebrate Thanksgiving. I have wonderful childhood memories of my family around the dinner table giving thanks for the many blessings. In this article I would like to give thanks for the blessing of network marketing, as it has radically changed my life in so many ways. I was introduced to MLM in 1979 and fell in love with the concept. I had one simple goal, which was to become a millionaire by the time I was thirty. As it happens so often, when you chase money, it runs faster than you can and that was the case with me. In fact, I really didn't make a consistent full-time income in network marketing until 1995.

During the first sixteen years of my network marketing career, I probably did everything wrong that a person could do and so I never did very well financially, but I learned many valuable life lessons and each of my network marketing experiences was better than the last. 1995 was a big year for me, as it was the year I gave my life to God and allowed Him to begin running it. I hadn't done a very good job to that point and so I figured the creator of the universe could do better.

As I learned to be less self-focused, I became more prosperous in my relationships, business, and finances.

That was the turning point for my network marketing career and I will be forever thankful for that life-changing decision. My relationship with God also changed my purpose for being involved in network marketing. I was no longer just focused on the money. Instead, my purpose and goals revolved around helping others. I was no longer looking at the people that joined my network as little money machines that would help me become a millionaire. Rather I saw them as friends I could help.

I also began to see that network marketing was more than a business; it was a life training system.

I'm thankful that I learned so many life lessons from network marketing. I was fairly shy when I joined the industry in 1979 and was deathly afraid of public speaking. However, through my years in network marketing I became progressively more comfortable speaking in front of groups and today I love it and have spoken to groups of over 5,000. My heart is filled with gratitude, as that simple change has drastically altered the course of my life. I'm also thankful for the many friends I've met through network marketing. I literally have friends throughout the world that I never would have met, had it not been for network marketing. I think of people like Sue Seward, George Madiou, Doug Firebaugh, John Milton Fogg, Daren Falter, Mike Dillard, Robert Allen, Denis Waitley, Dallin Larsen, Edward Ling, Michael Clouse, Len Clements, John Kalench, and so many others. Network marketing is an incredible business model. Frankly, I believe it is the ideal business (and wrote a book by that title) and at times can't quite understand why everyone wouldn't want to be involved in this amazing business. I'm thankful for the tremendous tax benefits, business knowledge, travel, conventions, cruises, contests, and more.

Most of all I'm grateful for the life that God has given me through network marketing. Although I'm not a millionaire, I live a life that many people envy. I have total time freedom, which means that I can wake up whenever I want and do whatever I want. If I feel like working, I work and if I feel like playing I play. Due to the residual nature of the income, I'm also able to do many things that others couldn't. Network marketing has allowed me to volunteer my time at church and in my community. It has enabled me to write many new books, including my two newest network marketing books - The Twelve Power Secrets for Network Marketing Success and Breaking Through . . . A Christian's Journey to Network Marketing Success (which I co-wrote with my friend George Madiou). I'm so thankful to network marketing that it has given me the free time to enjoy a fantastic relationship with Karen, my wife, our five children, and five grandchildren. As the kids were growing up, I was often the only father at the school functions, field trips, parent's day and now grandparent's day.

I am truly a blessed man and owe it all to God and network marketing.

This year, as you sit around the table gobbling up mounds of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, think about what you are grateful for. Maybe you haven't yet achieved a high level of success in network marketing, but you are on a learning path, so be grateful for that. Keep learning and growing and one day, you too will live that truly blessed life.