From the Coal Mines to the Gold Mines

From the Coal Mines to the Gold Mines!!!

I have been using the term Coal mines to Gold mines to describe my life over the last decade as this is exactly what the direct sales industry has done for me. I want to start with my early days and bring you up to speed with my life now. I also want to make you understand why I had such a passion for changing the quality of my life.

Through this I hope to share my background and what I have learned working in the networking industry. The good, the bad and the ugly. I have seen it all. Trust me. All successful entrepreneurs have. Nothing happens over night.

I was married at a very young age. I was holding my first child in my arms at the age of 20. On June 12^th of that same year, I was going underground for the first time. I had never been in an underground mine in my life. I had no idea what to expect.

I started in the coal mines to make some big money and get full medical benefits as I now had a new baby and a wife to take care of. The drive each day was 65 miles one way. I remember after making a few drives over the mountain and back I felt it would not be the coal mine that killed me, it would be the drive.

Well back to the coal mine. It was dark but I can’t say it was really scary. I mean, there was much more room that I had envisioned. The roof was about 7 to 8 feet in most places and about 20 to 25 feet from side to side. So I was ok with it. Good money, great benefits and I worked with some of the best guys you will ever meet. We were all family. It was like a brother hood if you will. We all looked out for each other.

After a few years at the mine a few of us decided to get our insurance licience and start selling life insurance through A. L. Williams. This was in later 1980 and 81. I went from house to house and sold a couple policies but never made any money to speak of. It was a great experience and looking back at it and always get a grin as I can just see myself and my little briefcase knocking on doors.

On December 20^th 1984 on our way to work we heard on the radio that our sister mine Wilberg, had a mine fire the night before and we were not to report to work that day. The Wilberg mine was 90 feet below our mine. The really bad news was that there were 27 miners that were not accounted for.

We went home and later got a call asking us to help fight the underground fire. Close your eyes and visualize a place called hell in your mind and this is exactly what it looked like. We were building stoppings (walls) to keep the fire at bay. When we would almost get it built, the heat from the fire would make the cinderblocks crumble and break and down she went. We would then start to build another one in its place. To look into the fire was unlike anything you can imagine. Hot yes. But powerful and eerie. Knowing that we still had 26 union brothers and one union sister behind the fire kept all of us hopping as fast as we could to hold off the fire while rescue teams went in to hopefully rescue those trapped miners.

We spent a shift building stoppings and then went outside to get some food and rest. One of the members of our mine rescue team came and asked Greg and I if we would go in on a mine rescue team? Greg and I were both mine rescue certified but it had been a while since we were trained. But how can you say no right. We felt it was our duty and it was. So they told us we would be going underground with the rescue team at 8 pm that evening. They told us that some bodies had been found but not everyone was accounted for.

We got in the back of a pick up and away we went underground. A few minutes later we were at the fresh air base and getting geared up with a self contained breathing apparatus good for 4 hours of oxygen. There were five or six of us on the team and we were joined together by a rope with a distance of about 5 feet between each of us.

We headed into the bad air and smoke for several hundred feet. We came to a man door, opened it and there laid 8 dead coalminers. It was shocking to say the least. Our mission on this trip was to go all the way into the section (About 3000 feet) where the mining had been taking place, look for one miner that had not been located, then to identify each body on the way out by the Social security located on their mine belts.

When we reached the final man door on the way out, another mine rescue team had place the first body in a bag and we then brought it out to the fresh air base. Man, what an experience this was. I was 28 at the time and had never seen anything like this and still have not to this day thank God.

The mine fire got completely out of hand the following day and everyone was called off the hill and away from the mine because they thought it was going to blow up. So we had to leave all bodies there. They were not recovered for over a year later when the fire was finally out and the air inside the mine was suitable to breath.

After this disaster I started to think of other options to make a living. But I had a good paying job, was getting a lot of overtime and job security. What else was I suppose to do? The area I live in had nothing as far as a high paying job. So I continued as a robot for another 15 years. Get up, go to work, and come home. Eat, visit with the kids and a little television. Off to bed and same thing the next day. And so on and so on.

In my late 30’s I started waking up to the fact that I was still deep in debt and that my retirement at 55 may not be achievable. I was working ungodly hours to pay the bills now and was missing out on so much of my family activities. It was killing me that I could not be there for them but I was the bread winner and they were depending on me.

I got word that our overtime was about to end. Cost of coal was too high and the company had to make cuts and overtime was the first place they looked to achieve this. I had to do something and do it fast.

Overnight I decided to open a body shop. I did this in my 2 car garage in my home. I bought the basic tools and I was in business. I did a few jobs for people I knew and then started to buy cars with salvaged titles and then repairing and reselling. I did ok and made an ok profit. But if you have ever been in the auto body business it is tough and very labor intensive. Remember I was still working as the coal mines. 10 hour shifts and a 3 to 4 hour commute each day. So not a lot of time to run a body and fender business. I would get home at about 3:30 am …get up at 8 am….work on the cars till noon or one and have to pack my lunch and head for work at 2 pm. When I was on day shift it was work as late as possible after getting home then get up at 4 am and head out the door. Again, another great experience.

In 1997 a friend of mine handed me a VHS video tape and asked me to watch it. I took it home and plugged it in. it was only about 10 minutes long but got my attention. It was a guy in a living room with a white board drawing circles and explaining a binary compensation plan that was to make all of us very wealthy. I was stoked. $300 investment and I can get out of the mines and be in charge of my own destiny? I liked the sound of that. So I got started and was now officially enrolled in my first MLM. We were selling pre paid phone cards. A company by the name of Tele sales Inc.

I started passing out videos and speaking to friends and family and pretty soon I had enrolled a few people. I found a real gem. Dave or Oatmeal as he liked to be called (I don’t remember why we called him that and he was later killed in a car accident) was at one of my meetings and he got it. He asked a lot of questions and then he was in. we now had a group of very focused people and soon we were the fastest growing leg in the entire company. I was leaving the mines and doing presentation several nights a week and on weekends driving all over the state holding them in people‘s homes and restaurants or any where we could. I have to say that it was a lot of work but I was having a blast. It was actually working…and working big time. I now had a down line of 10,000 and had done this in six months. I had a $5500 month and was a month away from kissing my job goodbye. I had never made that much money in a month EVER!!! My best year in the mines with lots of overtime was $59,000 in a year. Then the news came that the company had been shut down by the state of Oklahoma’s Attorney General’s office.

This was a big blow to me. As I was so close to getting out of the dungeon. But I guess it was good it happened then instead of after I had quit my job.

So what‘s next for me. You will never guess. My next dance was to be in the “Fuel additive sales business.” That’s right. I had stumbled on to an additive that cut down on build up in the cylinders, burns cleaner and will increase gas mileage. And it even worked on diesels engines. So I got the wheels churning in my head and decided I should get a hold of MSHA (Mine safety and health administration) and see if I could convince them to make it a law that underground coal mines had to use this stuff to clean up underground particulate in the diesel exhaust. I wanted them to test it for themselves. Well, they never took me seriously. They would not even give it a try.

I then found myself going to each large trucking company in Utah trying to sell this stuff to the upper management and maintenance department. Again, I have to laugh when I picture myself with my up graded briefcase loaded with sales material walking into these really big trucking companies trying to sale a pretty pricy additive that would prolong engine life, increase mileage and clean exhaust emissions. I was going to save the entire planet with what I had my hand s on. So guess show much I sold. About 2 or 3 gallons if I remember right. Yep… not very impressive. But I guess I could get some tax write off . wanted to look at it on the bright side.

OK…what next?

In spring of 1999 I got an email that gave a few details on a business opportunity from home. I called an 800 number, then left my name and phone number. The next evening I got the phone call that would prove to change my life forever. More to Follow...

October 22nd 2008

I ended with more to follow but I have to jump in here and what is going on in WMI today!!!

We have had record m2 and m3 sales this week. The word is out on how important this next m2 in November is to each of our WMI Family members. Kip and I promise each of you that you will leave this m2 with your head spinning. Congrats to all of you that have stepped up and look so forward to spending a few days with each of you.

Kip and I have been doing team calls all week with several left to do this week. I am confident those you that are contemplating attending this event will make the decision to join us. Congrats to you too!!!

I will get back to my story soon as things get semi back to normal. See ya next Time. KB