Everybody likes to read success stories. Especially stories about a person who rose from a virtual nobody, having no skills and little going for them, to become a giant in the network marketing industry.

A lot of folks have the dream of starting a small business, like an e-commerce business and then see that e-business become a major network marketing opportunity.

It really doesn't take a genius to accomplish a winning opportunity, but it does take goal setting, persistence, and the ability to overcome adversity.

Dexter Yager is a true rags to riches success story. Right now, he is not only one of the most successful people in network marketing, but perhaps the one who has given his parent company, Amway, one of the best track records in the industry.

Yager started his career in the small town of Rome, New York, as a beer salesman. Most of the folks in that town were broke, lived paycheck to paycheck, and had no hope of ever getting out of their daily rut at the local mill.

Yager says of those early days, "We didn't know anybody who had big dreams, or at least, talked about them."

When he would talk about his dreams for the future, his friends would ridicule him. Yager had little education, no money, and didn't know a thing about business.

They would tell him, "Who do you think you are? You're never going to to make it."

Dexter said this was one of the toughest obstacles he ever had to face. "The fear of becoming a failure in front of your family and friends," he says, "is a negative force that outweighs people's concerns about their own family's future."

The second adversity Yager had to overcome was the fact that he stuttered so badly it took him 4 hours to give a normal 2 hour presentation.

It would have been easy to just give up. But neither one of these obstacles prevented Yager from whole-heartedly going after the goals he had set.

But it wasn't easy. Just starting out, he was still working his day job. Then at night, Yager would go out making presentations, often arriving back home very late.

This was an added burden on his wife, who was trying to raise 7 small children at the time and was used to a husband who came home every night after work.

Dexter Yager first set a small goal for himself. When he met that goal, a larger one was set. After every goal was met, he would keep setting bigger and bigger goals.

He believes, "The most important thing in

Another key to his success was that Yager was always reading positive material, or listening to motivational tapes.

Keeping his mind in a positive mode, allowed him to eventually develop a tremendous training system that helped Dexter immensely to build perhaps the largest downline in MLM history.

Dexter loves people and loves to see them succeed. "My expertise is loving the people and caring about them. I teach people to take responsibility for themselves and I empower them to stretch, to reach beyond where they thought they could go."

He goes on to say, "Success is not luck, nor is it a gift. Here's how I define success: work plus failure. We have failed more times than anyone else I know. One hundred percent of the people who are willing to keep working and keep failing make it."

"People should look at their own businesses the way they look at their kids. Remember when a toddler first starts to walk? They take those first wobbly steps and then, splat! They fall on their behinds. Do we run to those kids and say, why don't you just stop trying to walk. No! We know they will eventually learn to do it right. Now, as grownups, do we remember all those falls? No: we just walk."

"Success doesn't just happen. You reap what you sow - and you always have a choice in what you sow."

"Success is a struggle. I've heard people say, this can't be of God - God would have made it easier! They should take a look through the Old Testament! Every prophet in the Bible struggled."

"In a race, the obvious winner should be the one with the longest legs - but it's not. Most often, the winner is the one who beats the odds. When a winner makes a decision, the facts don't count. The past doesn't count. The odds don't count. The only thing that counts is the winner's decision."

"The first step in your success is to change your thinking. Change it from a failure mentality to a winning mentality. When you change your thinking, you change your life."

Wise words from one of the most respected men in network marketing.

Dave Cole
Editor/Publisher
Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours Copyright © 2001

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