A Book of Business: From Wall Street Banker to Network Marketer

By Karl Thompson

The author chronicles his journey from Wall Street banker to network marketer. He has street credentials given his Wall Street experience and the global network marketing business that he and his wife have built. He draws compelling parallels between both industries.

He discusses the term a book of business, which is common on Wall Street and is becoming popular in network marketing. He articulates that it consists of a list of clients, with whom strong relationships have been cultivated and who generate repeat cash flow.

This book is timely given the focus on subscribers in network marketing and the emergence of network-based business models as platforms for everyone to create value. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to develop a greater appreciation for the business world, for network marketing, and for the factors that they must consider as they contemplate starting their own business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524576165

Karl Thompson

Karl Thompson is a former Wall Street banker who is on a mission of purpose. He has an extensive business background as a banker, entrepreneur and consultant in marketing, finance and advisory services that is based on over 35 years of experience. Karl Thompson believes God is the author of our lives. He and his wife, Angela, own a successful global marketing company that spans many countries with thousands of distributors. He is a husband and father, with three children. Email him at [e-mail]

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Karl Thompson.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017900458

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-7615-8

                Softcover        978-1-5245-7614-1

                eBook             978-1-5245-7616-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/18/2017

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 All the Way Up: My S Curve

2 Wall Street: Enriching Experiences, Need Is Good

3 Network Marketing: Sharing Stories, Want Is Better

4 A Picture of Performance and a Platform for Progress

5 The Talent Has Been Passed to a New Generation

6 The Great Recession Triggers a Run from Homes

7 The Middle Class Is Caught in the Middle

8 From Great Recession to Great Resurgence

9 Our True Capital Is Human

10 Bank on Your Model of Business

11 It Is Time to Reconsider How We View Time

12 Selecting a Business Model or Platform

13 Traditional Theories of the Firm Are No Longer Firm

14 Disrupt to Connect: The Biggest Opportunity

15 An Option to Take Stock of Network Marketing

16 The Sheer Power of the Network Marketing Platform

17 The Compelling Cycle of Feedback

18 Negotiating the Curve

19 Circles of Influence

20 A Dollar of Sales Can Stretch Only So Far

21 It Is About Vision and Peripheral Vision

22 From Economic Circle to Economic Cycle

23 What Are We Doing Differently This Time Around?

24 Income and Wealth Gaps Will Continue to Exist

25 Millennials: The Generation for the Future

26 Wonder Women: A History of Birthing New Generations

27 Industry Outlook: Look Out!

28 Kiss: Keep It Simple with Stories and Execute with Expertise

29 I’ll Take You There: Let’s Do It Right Now! Keep Walking!

About the Author

"A Book of Business has street credentials. I have known its author, Karl Thompson, for close to 30 years. He successfully draws from his extensive Wall Street and international finance experience, as well as his entrepreneurial success. Networking businesses have been profitable enterprises for close to 80 years, but rarely have they been comprehensively reviewed in business or academic journals. This book hits the mark."

—Herman (Terry) Prescott, Assistant Provost for Academic Administration, University of the District of Columbia

"The benefit and impact of this captivating A Book of Business is not in just reading it, but in studying and applying its principles, which speaks to the reader in every page of every well thought out chapter.

Mr. Thompson expertly and seamlessly interweaves the past, the present and the future. This book contains nugget after nugget and principle after principle of success. It is a must read for any serious entrepreneur, especially for those who have chosen the platform of Network Marketing, like me, to build a successful long term subscriber based business, generating residual income.

The book is not a point of arrival but a journey, as the author also continues to use the principles and practices in his own journey to building wealth. Karl brings dedication, intelligence and passion to all that he does and is, whether as entrepreneur, husband, father, brother, author, mentor or coach.

I have been fortunate to be coached by Karl, whose commitment, enthusiasm and gentle, yet no nonsense approach, as a business coach has been instrumental in keeping me focused and grounded. I have been able to achieve some of my life long desires and qualified for a number of rewards in this business because of his focused attention and guidance.

He is a firm believer that all of our past experiences have prepared us for this industry. I have never had a coach or mentor with his sincerity and humility, which has made it easy for me to humble myself to be guided on a path of success in this industry and in life."

—Muriel Lezama, Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, University of the West Indies; entrepreneur; business consultant and network marketing professional

I have known Karl for over 20 years. I understand what is involved in making the courageous and bold moves that we must make at times in our lives. Karl has demonstrated this courage many times. I have enjoyed a career in engineering, finance, investment banking and entrepreneurship and I understand the tremendous effort that he has put into this comprehensive book on his unfolding journey of entrepreneurship. He is focused, intelligent and caring and I am proud to call him my friend.

—Courtney Jackson, entrepreneur, friend

"I met Karl while pursuing my dreams as an entrepreneur in a traditional business model. I have been a sole proprietor, small business owner and franchise owner. I have experienced the challenges of owning a business. These included under-capitalization, massive debt burden and increasing competition. As a business consultant, Karl laid out a game plan for my information technology business.

Years later we became network marketing business partners. This is the best business decision I ever made after 32 years of my working life and it was meant to be when Karl and I reconnected. Today I am a full time network marketing professional.

In the wider world, professionals and parents alike are now looking to navigate around the traditional businesses and are embracing the era of interconnectivity of networks.

This will take vision, entrepreneurial fortitude and most of all, the willingness to go with the flow of an advancing and ever changing world. The immediate and urgent objective for baby boomers is to collapse timeframes.

A Book of Business is a compelling read for those seeking to exit the paradigm of the old thinking. His inaugural publication is the true documentation of a young baby boomer who is navigating the streets of a changing world and will allow any reader to join this unfolding journey and avoid my potholes. See you on the other side and see you at the top!"

—Anna Kay Lee, serial entrepreneur and network marketing professional

Tradition leads us to believe that at 80 years old there is not much that we can do with the rest of our lives but rest and make ends meet until we meet our end. Well, network marketing has debunked that myth. I have been able to start my own business. I have customers. My constant activity and the relationships that I have developed have enabled me to develop a very positive outlook despite the personal health challenges that I am overcoming. I am grateful to Karl for giving me a new lease on life! I am going all the way up!

—Kathlyn Chan Wing, network marketer and forever young

Dedicated to all seven billion of us, there is a business inside each of us.

Acknowledgements

Many of us have God-given talents, and I am grateful for those that were vested and invested in me. I have been blessed to receive more than my fair share. I have been fortunate to meet people along my journey who have helped me along the way. All of us are knitted together in the fabric of life. We have a particular circle of influence that we are destined to impact. So too are we part of someone’s circle of influence.

Thank God for my wife, Angie, who has stood with me for over thirty years. She has been part of so many memories and lived through most of my life experiences with me.

My children, Gina, Jayda, and Jordan are truly special. They inspire me to keep growing and believing because they are too, and they represent the future.

My parents, all four of them, Glenna, Bebsie, Ernie, and Muriel, simply hard workers, courageous, and visionary. Their legacy will live forever.

My brothers, Howard and Peter, who have strong backbones and have stood shoulder to shoulder with me on my journey.

People whose vision is counterintuitive and flies in the face of conventional mindsets, and their bet-on-their-vision of the future bugs out some, encompasses those with an edge to win, and creates drama for all as they are chief among those who are shaking up the marketplace

There are so many who deserve credit for being an integral part of shaping my life and the lessons that I am learning. Particularly our team of network marketers. They are too numerous to mention, but they know who they are.

Introduction

A model for what is possible

I have always loved models. Whether it was building a model airplane as a child or creating financial models while doing my MBA or corporate spreadsheets on Wall Street. So it was natural to be intrigued when I was first introduced to the network marketing business model. I decided to take it for a test drive rather than acquiesce to the just-say-no approach of some of my friends who decided to skip it because they were skeptics. This test drive, which is still in progress, has already confirmed that the business model is the key to my future, and I have decided to become a model for what is possible by modeling other successful business people in the industry by building a book of business.

Life does not come with an instruction book—I am doing it so you can too

Many models come with an instruction book. However, life does not, particularly when it comes to creating a book of business in this business called life. This book is for us; it is not just about if I can do it, then you can do it too. Many books on achievement are usually written after whoever is doing it, has done it, and the environment in which it was done has changed from what existed when that person was doing it. So if one that is doing it engages others to do it while they are doing it and the current environment is conducive to doing it, then they can do it together and achieve it together. Then the conversation shifts from if I can do it, you can do it too to one where we are doing it and anyone can join us in doing it so that all of us, as a team, who are doing it can benefit from getting it done together. I thought I would get your mind going before you read any further about it!

Success is based on how we process and act on information

The extent to which we succeed is usually based on how we process, and act on, information that we receive. How we process the information herein can determine whether or not we will win the war that involves developing the mindset and skill set to effectively respond to the challenges that inevitably come our way. In fact, you may have already won, and you can now set your mind to wrapping up the battles that are left. Either way, there is work to do; there is business to be done.

Our business should involve improving the community

One aspect of that work, or business, involves improving the community in which we live by improving our way of living. In figuring out better ways to meet our collective needs and wants, the rewards we reap, the income we earn, and the wealth we accrue are tangible measures of how well we perform that role.

Differences in income and wealth have existed from ancient times

Speaking of rewards, there are significant differences in income and wealth across the world today. This phenomenon is not new. It has existed since ancient times. Various attempts have been made to explain these differences based on a range of factors which include, but are not limited to, intelligence, politics, geography, conquest and confiscation by nations, production advantages, culture, natural resources, and education. Moreover, the format of these differences has changed over time. Some countries, and their citizens, that were once immensely wealthy are now some of the relatively poorest, like Spain in Europe. The West has long surpassed the once-mighty Middle East and Africa. Britain, which was essentially a landmass, landed itself at the front of