Dan Jensen

I still remember the phone call; it was March 5, 2009 around 10 AM. I had just left a local chamber meeting where I had been networking, trying to get a feel for the local corporate job market. I had recently closed my travel business due to the economy. Although I thought I could have ridden out the current economic condition by finding a way to reinvent the business, everything changed when my wife lost her six-figure income job; a so called safe and secure Healthcare position. Then came the phone call from my doctor... the test had come back positive, I had Prostate Cancer. Fortunately I was already prepared for a positive test. You see I had inside help, a wonderful lady who just happens to be a RN (Registered Nurse) and my better half.

Kathy, my wife, did most of the research and then I read up on what she had given me. After discussing the possible treatments, it was decided that removing my prostate was the best choice in my case. In a way I now see the Lord’s guidance as we went through the whole process. First, I was at peace with whatever was ahead of us, although Kathy did enough worrying for both of us put together. Second, when we decided I would have least invasive surgery called a Robotic Prostatectomy, we found that the world's preeminent surgeon in this field was based right here in Central Florida where we live. In fact the day we went in for my consultation our world- renowned surgeon, Dr. Vipul Patel, had just finished a long distance phone consultation with the Prime Minister of Israel. Needless to say I had the procedure in May. It has now been over a year and my test results continue to show that the surgery removed all of the cancer.

I bring this part of my life to light because this was a turning point for me and my family. The day I told my wife I had cancer my voice trembled for the first time. I never thought it would happen to me. Some may see it as luck but I again see God watching over me, because the only reason I found out I had Prostate Cancer was that I finally stopped putting off applying for life insurance. I had incurred debt through several business ventures and wanted to make sure that that debt did not become a burden to the family if I died. I was approved, but the rate tripled and I knew something was wrong with me. After receiving a copy of my labwork, which was what they based the rate increase from, my blood work showed an elevated PSA, indicating possible Prostate Cancer. I went to the doctor, had a biopsy and the test came back positive. Even though I could not get additional life insurance, we were very thankful that the cancer was found early. However, in the meantime I knew I had left my family exposed financially. With the economy in the toilet and job prospects non-existent, I was pulling my hair out over our financial dilemma. Then one meeting changed my outlook and I knew I was on the road to success.

For a number of years I had dabbled in network marketing with a couple of different companies. The trouble was I never made any money in fact I lost money. It was not because the opportunities were bad, rather it was that I stunk at following directions. As the song goes, “I DID IT MY WAY” and fell flat on my face. Of course it was never my fault. But as I found out life changes. So I sought out a friend's advice, who I knew to be very successful in the network marketing world. After doing some soul-searching and realizing that my past failures in network marketing were on my shoulders, I came to the conclusion that if I was to take back control of my family’s financial future, network marketing was the answer.

Now it would be great to say that my business took off, but that was not the case. In the beginning I was instructed to build the business the traditional way and that is what I did; I made my list, checked it twice, bought leads, followed up with prospects, ran around malls, went to networking groups and events...you get the picture. Guess what, I did not recruit a single person. I was broke and going nowhere. Fortunately I had in the past read The Seven Great Lies of Network Marketing and The Renegade Network Marketer by Ann Sieg. I went back and read through them again and came to the conclusion that the only way to build a successful home based business was to build it online.

It was full speed ahead. I began to invest in my education, after all this was new territory for me. Business has not busted out yet as my learning curve has been a bit more challenging then I at first expected. However, when you have quality educators such as Mike Dillard, Ann Sieg, Jonathan Budd, Ty Tribble, Mike Klingler and Jason Better to name a few, how can one fail?

One final thought, if you are experiencing struggles financially, with your health, in your network marketing business or something else, remember what a famous basketball coach, Jimmy Valvano, said just months before he lost his battle to cancer, “Don’t give up…don’t ever give up”. See you at the top!