Clift Notes is moving...

This is to inform you that I am moving my Clift Notes blog to another location.

I know, I know...I should be able to easily transfer all the subscriptions over to the new format, however, after spending the better part of the afternoon in unsuccessful attempts, I have decided to throw myself upon your mercy and request that you simply go to the new location and re-subscribe.

You can subscribe to receive my future posts either by email or RSS. In fact there's a new one just waiting to be read right now!

Click HERE to go to the new website and re-subscribe.

Thanks!

Dennis

Square One?...Bring it on!

I just read a wonderful post on Seth Godin's blog in which he talked about people avoiding having to go "all the way back to square one" when they find out they've been moving in the wrong direction...an excellent post.

I mention this because I see this occurring in Nu Skin every day--especially among people who've worked the business in the past. In fact, I spoke to a wonderful couple just this morning who were making over $30,000 a month at one time in Nu Skin years ago. Over the last 15 years they've seen their business shrink to where they finally just gave up and let their Executive status slip.

I told them about ageLOC and the unique window of opportunity that I see opening up once again at NuSkin...and their response was, "...it sounds fantastic, but we just don't want to have to start from scratch, and rebuild it all over again."

My response to them was, "why not?...I'm starting over again!" And that is truly what it feels like. In the 23 years I've been in the business, I've gone "back to square one" many, many times.

As Seth said in his recent post,

"Hey, if you're lost, if you've gone down the wrong road, it doesn't make sense to speed up and keep racing down the wrong road. Instead, the smart thing is to go back to the last spot you were in where you had a chance to find the right road and start from there."

How EXACTLY does it work?

Here's my PowerPoint presentation of the SIMPLE $100 duplication model that I introduced at this last weekend's Nu Leadership Network conference in Provo, Utah.

Let me know what you think!

Nu Skin...another look inside.

One non profit foundation that you may not have heard of is the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation. EB is an inherited, genetic condition that causes blisters in the skin, that can cover up to 75% of the body.

Since the mid 1990s, Nu skin Enterprises has contributed more than $15 million for research to end this condition.

Many companies have charitable giving in their corporate plan, but few give directly to causes that directly relate to their product.

Nu Skin does.

Very Cool...

Beyond what is comfortable

Progress is made by doing what you have not done before. To truly grow stronger, you must step beyond what is comfortable and familiar.

Just outside your door is a whole wonderful world of new possibilities. And with those new possibilities come new and difficult challenges.

Go ahead, and have the courage to open that door and to step outside your comfort zone. For though the challenges are many, the rewards are more valuable than you can imagine. You are designed and equipped and intended for great things. You are flexible and adaptable and creative and intelligent enough to successfully handle whatever you encounter.

Beyond the comfort of what you already know, you'll find the wonder and magnificence of all you can become.

Go explore and fulfill the very best possibilities.

-- Ralph Marston

Thinking about possibilities...and impossibilities.

Roger Bannister breaking the "impossible" 4-minute mile barrier in 1954.

"Be careful about trusting intuition, but be more careful not to bend to the majority for whom 'impossible' is a comforting excuse for inaction."
Tim Ferriss

Here's to a good report!

A few days ago the officers at NUS gave their quarterly earnings call to the shareholders to report on the fiscal activities of the company. I strongly suggest that you take 10 minutes and read the entire transcript of the recent earnings call. Besides updating stockholders on our record earnings as a company, Truman Hunt (our CEO) gave an eloquent presentation of the future...and what WE CAN EXPECT to see.

I felt like standing up and cheering them on!

Here are a few quotes (among MANY) that jumped out at me!

As you'll recall for the past 18 months or so, we've been talking about wanting to stake our competitive proposition on the principle of being the company that attacks the sources of aging and not just the signs of aging, which was where we feel our competitors are.

We want to cut through all of the noise in the clutter in our product categories with a competitive message with a difference and more compelling than what anyone else is offering.

So going forward, we want to distinguish our products by formulating them to ensure that they are supporting, the healthy functioning of particular setsof genes or super markers that we've labeled as new gene clusters. These are the genes that we believe are most responsible for helping us, helping keep us as youthful as possible.

So, in the next few years, you're going to hear a lot more about the impact of nutrition and skincare products on genetic expression. This is the future of our product categories and we're pleased to have a significant head start on the competition in this regard.

So, the three core components, the cleanser, toner, the day cream and the night cream will be offered for a price in the $100 range with the future serum,the mother of all serums being added on top of that and approximately be the $150 range.

What will it take?

Zacks is one of the top research investment companies which makes daily suggestions and expert stock analysis. In yesterday's report they gave Nu Skin (NUS) a very favorable recommendation. While it is becoming increasingly clear to me that Nu Skin is gaining momentum among forecasters and business analysts...a question still remains.

What will it take to get massive amounts of "average people" out there to sit up and take notice? (That's a rhetorical question requiring an answer.)

In my opinion it will take more than favorable stock reports and praise from business analysts...it will take a grassroots-movement of thousands of next-door neighbors, part-time clerks, teachers, realtors, students, salesmen, homemakers, computer geeks, and musicians who are joined by a common desire to make money.

How do we reach these hordes of prospects with our message? (Another rhetorical question requiring an answer.)

Simple answer: We have to show them how they can make money through our program.

More complex answer: In my opinion, the prevailing duplication models which rely predominantly on promotional volume to drive growth are faulty at best...and deceptive at worst.

• We MUST present a business strategy and a duplication model that is achievable for the average prospect.


• This model must reflect an understanding not only of our compensation plan, but of the mass market that we are targeting and reaching out to with our opportunity.


• This model must be INCLUSIVE in nature and flexible enough to be worked by every single person who expresses a desire to improve their lives.

To this end, I've been working on a simple duplication model, which I hope to share with you very soon.

In the meantime think about these things...

Do You Realize It Yet????

Dr. Joe Chang (senior scientist at Nu Skin) recently said that anybody with an anti-aging product can claim any benefit they want to claim about their product. It doesn't really have any meaning unless the science behind those product claims has been "peer-reviewed."

Now for those who don't know, a peer-reviewed process on a particular product or discovery does not just mean that the scientists who are behind the information all agree among themselves that it IS what it claims to be...no not at all. In the case of a product discovery for example, a company can present dozens of clinical trials which demonstrate the efficacy of their product, BUT irregardless of how impressive the results of those trials might be, the information is not considered by the scientific community at large to be "acceptable" when it comes to proving claims of a particular manufacturer or group of scientists.

What does a "peer-reviewed study" actually mean?

Specifically...peer-reviewed journals or articles in the world of scientific research means that this material has been critically assessed by independent experts or scholars in the author's field or specialty. Publishers of peer-reviewed (sometimes called scholarly) journals have a process whereby expert reviewers critically evaluate drafts of submitted articles before they are selected to be published. This ensures that the content of peer-reviewed articles is as valid and reliable as possible.

Now you can begin to see the advantage that we as Nu Skin distributors will have when the introduction of the coming AgeLOC products is accompanied by actual peer-reviewed studies!

It is important from a marketing standpoint for us to understand that we are not just going up against other network marketing companies with this discovery. We are going after real market share in the global multi-billion dollar personal care industry--against MAJOR companies that are 10-20 times larger than Nu Skin!

After the convention in October...we will have the proof! No more will we have to rely on questionable photographs or before and after testimonies--we will have peer-reviewed documentation that validates our product claims!!!

I've included an exerpt below from an article I recently read in the Los Angeles Times. Read it carefully and you'll begin to appreciate what the major skin care companies are trying to do to market their products--and the massive competitive advantage that we are about to reveal!

******************************************************

Science (or the appearance of it) sells anti-aging products
By Stacie Stukin July 13, 2009

Anyone who has ever gone to the beauty counter knows the marketplace is crowded. But 10-syllable words, complicated chemical descriptions, clinical studies and laboratory-based phrases can prove an intoxicating, hard-to-resist combination. Estée Lauder, a leader in the anti-aging category, boasts that its Advanced Night Repair, originally introduced in 1982, sold 1,629,199 units around the world in 2008 alone (that's three bottles per minute). The serum has had various incarnations over the years but has always maintained its old-fashioned, brown pharmacy-like bottle, which Elana Drell Szyfer, the company's senior vice president of global marketing, says reinforces the science behind it.

"Right now, the more your product can sound ultra-rocket science, the more attention it's going to get," says Kat Fay, a senior health and beauty analyst at consumer market research firm Mintel International. "Consumers want the chemicals, the clinical studies and the technology because if all we needed or wanted was olive oil and lemon for skin care, we would have been using that years ago."

And to be fair, the theories behind such skin-care technology appear to be valid. "The idea of enhancing gene repair enzymes and skin rejuvenation with peptides isn't far-fetched," says Jenny Kim, associate professor of medicine and dermatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "But until we have peer-reviewed clinical studies on these products, it's hard for even dermatologists to know what works and what doesn't."

Tuesday afternoon...musings...

OK...everybody sing along, "Tue-----sday a-----fternoon,
I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way!"

I just listened to John Sexsmith's 45-minute recording on the latest AgeLOC news! Wow! I thought he did a remarkable job taking TONS of "heady" information about aging, DNA, genetic research and scientific thought and distilling it into bite-sized chunks of information...from which will flow all kinds of unique and creative business presentations. (Thanks for sharing John)

What jumped out at me?

* "We are going to triple our size" Blake Roney
* If we can intervene at the genetic level, we can adjust any irregularities.
* Anybody can make claims...where are you published?
* As we age these "clusters" fade and/or turn off...ageLOC can restore and "reset" these specific genes.
* ...to modulate youth gene clusters for optimal benefits.
* NuSkin has discovered the "Rosetta stone" of aging.
* We will have the technology to be able to define these clusters and whether these genes are "turned on" or "turned off."
* After you stop using AgeLOC, the clusters will start dimming again (in about 20 days).
* We are able to regulate aging at a genetic level and restore those genes to their original state.

Wow...I'm just beginning to see...now I'm on my way!!!!



P.S. Wall Street is also beginning to see...

Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS) Established Trend: 53.8% Move in 95 Days
Jun 29, 2009 (SmarTrend(R) Spotlight via COMTEX) ----SmarTrend's proprietary algorithms detected bullish price action on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS) which generated an Uptrend alert on March 26, 2009 at $10.16.

Since the alert, NUS has trended 53.8% higher as of today's recent price of $15.63.

SmarTrend is actively monitoring Nu Skin Enterprises for any change in trend direction.