Mike Larsen

I was working on an assembly line in a hydraulics factory when I first heard about network marketing. That was fifteen years ago and at the time, I wasn't making enough to make ends meet. The prospect of being able to have a residual income instead of working by the hour appealed to me. Like any business that you can start, it wasn't exactly an overnight success. Any business takes time and effort to make it work – but over time I became successful in the industry.

Network marketing helped to shape my life and my career. I lost both my parents at a young age – my mom when I was 11 and my dad when I was 14 years old. While nothing can replace the loss of family, I found that network marketing provides mentoring and support to help guide you to achieve your goals. That upline support is critical to your success. The skills I learned through my experience in the industry also helped me be more successful in my career – securing a sales position with a prominent company – something I don't think I could have done without the communication skills and confidence I gained from network marketing.

While I knew that the industry was right, I had to find the right company and I started looking around. In the meantime I was getting calls from people about "juice" companies – but they all sounded the same. Basically they were concentrated fruit juices and there wasn't much that distinguished one from another. Then I heard about Waiora and how it has an exclusive, proprietary product – Natural Cellular Defense.

While I signed up right away, my daughter was born around that time and I didn't get started until about five months later. I used that time to learn about the company and its founders, Eddie Stone and Stan Cherelstein. I was impressed by their track record of success in the industry as so many companies that start up fail within their first year. These guys have the experience to make it happen. The leadership was also a standout – with Dave Jordan, Korey Johnson and John Haremza.

I still work my full-time job and do Waiora on the side. It's no secret what you have to do – you have to be willing to do five percent more than anyone else. I used to play a lot of softball in the summer – over a hundred games - but I quit so that I could focus on Waiora. You have to decide what's important. I also cut out TV time – if you asked me what's happened on TV in the past six months I couldn't tell you. Sometimes it’s a struggle to balance my schedule but I know that by making the time sacrifice now, I'll have the time freedom I want in the future. I want to be there for my kids and watch them grow up.

While I'm working my Waiora business, I make sure to treat it like a business. For the first time, I opened a business checking account so I can manage my Waiora income better. And over the past year, I've probably reinvested about 90 percent of my check back into the business. Look at any other business and you'll see they spend a lot on advertising. With Waiora, you can do that for far less. If your business budget allows for 100 dollars a month - take that and share 10 bottles of Essential Daily Nutrients or the Superior Fiber Blend packets or the magazines. It's so important to keep your pipeline full of people because prospecting is the lifeblood of this industry. I do that through tools – whether it’s an audio CD or the Your Business At Home magazine, or sometimes through products. Then I follow up with a three-way phone call. I'm thankful for everyone on the team that I work with and the great relationships and support they provide, including Dale Hammerschmidt, Walter Jordan and Harold Bergquist.

Most families have to work two jobs, needing two incomes just to get by. For us, instead of getting a second job, we started a home-based business with Waiora. Before, we never went on trips as a family – and in just the past year with Waiora we've been to Las Vegas, Orlando and New York City – with two of those trips paid for by the company. Our boys loved New York and can't wait to go back one day. Waiora has helped us to have the extras in life that we want but can't get through just having a job.