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UPC Newsletters>
The Next Millionaires
October 17, 2005
The Next Millionaires
[This article is adapted from Paul Zane Pilzer’s new book,
The Next Millionaires.
In 1989, at the beginning of the worst period of economic
decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s, most
experts were predicting decades of economic gloom. The most
popular book in the U.S. was titled The Great Depression of
1990. That year, at the lowest point of this recession, I
wrote a book titled Unlimited Wealth that predicted exactly
the opposite: that we were headed into an era of
unprecedented growth and opportunity, and that those who
embraced this stood to profit enormously.
Few in the financial and business community gave the book
much credence—until its forecasts began proving accurate.
But there were those who were quick to grasp its
significance, like the late Sam Walton, who got the message
loud and clear and immediately responded to it. Among that
perceptive vanguard was the direct selling community.
At the time, I was not aware of the direct selling
business. But they sought me out, telling me excitedly that
my theories and explanations bore out their experience and
validated the direct selling model. Intrigued, I continued
meeting and interacting with more and more members of the
direct selling community. Over the past fifteen years, I
have come to know hundreds of direct selling professionals
and have had the opportunity to see how they work.
What these experiences have shown me is that direct selling
provides an unparalleled opportunity for millions of people
to take responsibility for their own economic wellness,
create long-term financial stability and even realize
significant wealth, while enriching the lives of untold
numbers of others.
And this has far greater significance today than ever
before. Because what happened in 1990 is happening again
today—only to a vastly greater degree!
The Impact of 9/11
From 1991 to 2001, the world economy doubled in size,
enjoying the highest growth rates ever recorded with the
lowest interest rates and low inflation.
In the United States, household wealth tripled, growing
from $13 trillion in 1991 to more than $40 trillion in
2001. Over the same ten years, the number of U.S.
millionaires doubled, jumping from 3.6 million in 1991 to
7.2 million in 2001.
Then everything changed on September 11, 2001. As the
towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down before
our eyes, something else came crashing down along with
them. Millions of people lost faith in their economic
future.
Since 9/11, millions of people and businesses have begun to
accept that their temporary economic situation could be
permanent. This acceptance is the greatest threat to our
future way of life-even greater than the physical threat
caused by the heinous acts of those responsible for 9/11.
For just “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” in
today's modern economy, “as a people think about their
economy so is it.”
What most people don’t realize is that our economy is
already surging ahead. In the third quarter of 2001, our
Gross Domestic Product declined by 0.2 percent, and
everyone screamed “Recession!” But the following quarter,
GDP grew again—in fact, by ten times the amount of the
decline! Our GDP has risen in every single quarter since.
Our economy quickly regained its headlong rush into this
new era of increased wealth and prosperity that had begun
in 1990. By 2004, even the Dow Jones—the widely regarded
and tracked stock market index—had fully recovered.
The direct selling community is in a unique position to
bring about a shift in people’s awareness—because direct
sellers are in an extraordinarily good position to take
advantage of the next great boom that we have already
entered.
The Next Millionaires
After the crash of 2001, many people felt they missed their
chance to be part of the boom of the 1990s. Yet, in the
four years following 9/11, U.S. household wealth has
increased by an incredible $8 trillion to $48 trillion—an
additional 20 percent! As of this writing, census figures
are not yet compiled to verify this figure, but I would
project conservatively that in the same period, we added at
least another one million new millionaires.
And that millionaire population explosion is still
happening.
Today, the U.S. and the world economy look almost identical
to how they looked in 1991, except that there are more
opportunities for entrepreneurs due to recent changes in
taxation and technology. Based on this history and current
conditions, I forecast that U.S. household wealth will
again double to $100 trillion by 2016—and that over the
same ten years, the exploding U.S. economy will create at
least ten million new millionaires.
For those of you in the direct selling industry, this is
incredibly good news. Why? Because a significant good
number of those new ten million millionaires are the people
who are entering your businesses at this very moment.
Direct Selling Will Create Many of the Next Ten Million
Millionaires
Today, the direct selling industry is poised to become the
distribution method of choice for all new products and
services. This is true for a host of reasons, many of which
I explain in my book, The Next Millionaires. Here are just
three of those factors:
INTELLECTUAL DISTRIBUTION In the boom of the 1990s, many
fortunes were made in distribution: the Wal-Marts, Targets
and Costcos. Today that opportunity has largely come and
gone. The fortunes to be made in the years ahead will be
predominately not in physical distribution, but in
intellectual distribution: educating consumers about
products and services that will improve their lives—but
that they don’t yet know exist.
This is the #1 business opportunity for those who want to
create new wealth. It is where a great number of the next
millionaires are coming from. And the single most effective
medium we have today for fulfilling that vital need is the
person-to-person methodology of direct selling.
Direct selling is the perfect intellectual distribution
business for today’s and tomorrow’s economy.
AGE OF THE ENTREPRENEUR We’re at the beginning of a
home-based business boom. The U.S. Small Business
Administration reports that small businesses now account
for about one half the country’s total output and employ
about half the private-sector work force—and more than half
of those are home-based businesses.
In the past, it was risky going into business for yourself;
corporate employees had better pension and health benefits.
Not any more. Recent changes in tax law have leveled the
playing field—if anything, actually tilting it toward the
individual entrepreneur! Congress has responded to a shift
in values: people today want to work from home. Now, they
can.
The best opportunities today lie in working for oneself as
a home-based entrepreneur. Direct selling offers the most
practical context for doing so, for the largest number of
people.
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF HIGHER VALUES In the new economy,
the sheer quantity of compensation is no longer enough.
People today also demand a better quality of compensation.
We don’t simply want money, we want lifestyle. Today’s
workers understand that it doesn’t matter how much money
you earn if you never get to see your spouse or children,
or if you sacrifice your health for your work.
This is a demand that didn't exist in the past. During the
Industrial Age, the question “Are you truly happy with your
life?” would have been greeted by most as self-indulgent
nonsense. “Happy?! What a question! I’m making money and
surviving.”
Today we want more. Our economy and living standards have
grown to the point where we not only expect to make a
living, we also expect to have the best possible experience
living that life. We don’t want to have to sacrifice family
for work, or vice versa.
The typical direct seller’s benefit statement— “You work
when you want, how you want, and with whom you
want”—combined with the very real value of a business based
on helping others succeed, creates a uniquely attractive
package to the twenty-first century business person. And I
see a more seamless weaving together of work and family in
direct selling than in any other sector of the economy.
When you go out into the world and successfully earn money,
you are helping other people, adding value to society, and
contributing to the betterment of the world. That, to me,
is serving God: doing the best job you can at serving more
of God’s children—other people. I know of no business that
exemplifies this principle as well as direct selling.
Direct selling offers vast numbers a better, more
satisfying quality of life than any other profession.
Spread the Good News
Of all the entrepreneurial opportunities available today,
direct selling is now emerging as one of the most
important. Direct selling companies are in alignment with
today’s most vital economic trends, and because of this,
they are perfectly positioned to create many of the
decade’s next ten million millionaires.
I believe this is the single most important message you can
be promoting to the public at large today.
Paul Zane Pilzer is a world-renowned economist,
multi-millionaire entrepreneur, college professor and
author of five best-selling books. To learn more about Paul
Zane Pilzer, please visit his Web site at
www.PaulZanePilzer.com.
Thought you would find this interesting.
Stephania Potter, Stockholder / Owner 
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