Multi Level Marketing

I have recently had someone try to recruit me to work for Primerica. If you are not familiar with them, they sell life insurance, mortgages, and retirement investments to mostly middle class people. They are a sub-division of Citigroup. The only sub-division that is making money and not taking from the government bailout funds. Their claim is that they help people out by finding better investment options than the ones they already have. I mean, if you take someone who is already investing, but allow them to get more for the same amount of money they already spend, that is helping right? What if you get them better for less money, and educate them on saving and /or investing some of the extra? That is really helping. Now Primerica only sells one option. That would be a strike against them. One can’t provide better every time with only one option.

Here is the kicker. They are structured as a multi level marketing company. On one hand, you can make a lot of money in a MLM if you are willing to work harder than the average person and put in the time it takes to reach the right levels. This money can be acquired faster than the normal route to millions take. Even if you only make $100-$200k a year you still get it quicker than with less overall effort than normal. Besides, that is good money even if you have to put in a lot of overtime for it. The down side is the first year or two is a grind with low pay for the effort. For starters you are commission only as far as pay goes. This is not easy when you have bills to pay and mouths to feed. For this reason, one usually finds young people doing MLM mostly. The business model is dependent on new recruits. Constant new recruits. I would venture to say that 90% of the work is done by new people who don’t last very long at all. These new recruits can cost somewhere between $1000-$1500 to recruit and train. Then they quit mostly before their training is done. Also, if the business model had its way, their would be no one left to recruit or sell to in a few years. Reality is not that way. There are way too many people in the world, and way too few that want to work this model. As a result, an MLM business continues to hire week in and week out. So much that the job description becomes more about selling the job and training than it is about selling the product.

I didn’t take the job. I have worked for Kirby the last two years (I don’t work for them now). I know what it takes, and don’t want to do it. I also know what it pays, and have seen the proof. If you stick it out, you will bank for your efforts. In many ways this type of business is similar to a cult. That is right, a cult. From the way they recruit right down to the sales rallies and company payed vacations. They are elusive and mysterious when they hire. The very nature of the job isolates you from friends and family. Those sales rallies and payed vacations keep you in their “bubble”. Plus all of the work is to benefit the people on top. If you prove yourself and stick it out, you can be on top, but most people don’t make it.

Does this make it immoral? I don’t think so. They do put off telling you what is going on until you are giving it a try. Most people find this offensive. It is, however, very common in our world. Not just by cults/religion, MLM, and gangs. Most of the people who have profited from these businesses got recruited the same way. They would have never done it if they were told up front what really was going on. These same people are grateful that they were “duped” into it. if you have what it takes, and get very rich from it, would you really complain after the fact? As long as 70% or more of the products are sold to non-representitives of the company, then it is not a pyramid scheme. So it is a legitimate business, and if you are willing to do what it takes, you can have what they promised.

The next big problem is it is a sales job. Most people don’t feel they are good at sales. These companies do have a system though. If you follow their system, you don’t have to be good at sales. The law of averages kick in and you can’t help but sell. You will still get way more NO’s than YES’, but it will average out to enough sales to get payed. When you get to the right level, it will pay well. That does not mean that some people will not be able to do it. There are a lot of people who can’t do most things. Such is life. The average person, however, can do it.

I would love to hear your feed back and experiences when it comes to multi level marketing. If your intent is to just bash MLM and the people who do it simply because you don’t like the business model, then don’t bother. However if you would like to discuss the business model as a whole, or perhaps ways to improve it, by all means do so. The same goes for Pro MLM people. don’t jump down the throats of people who don’t like them. I’m looking for and educated debate, not a yelling match.

Bones of the Hand

To start with our study of the anatomy pertaining to the muscles, I will begin with the most important part to a massage therapist. Not so much for their clients, but rather for themselves. That would be the hand. That is right as you work on your clients day in and day out, this one part of you will be constantly torn down.

Since the muscles attach to the bones, we will learn the bones of the hand first. Remember. In proper health the bones are aligned so that gravity can find its way down through the skeletal structure to the ground. If the bones are not properly aligned then the muscles will build up the fibrous tissues and fascia until they are mostly straps holding the body onto the frame. This causes degeneration of the muscles, tendons, cartilage, and the bones themselves. all causing pain for the client.

The hand is contrived of three groups of bones, the carpals; the metacarpals; and the phalanges. The word carpal comes from the latin word carpus, meaning wrist. There are eight pebble like bones aligned in two rows of four. Each articulates with each other except for the pisiform which sits atop of the triquetral bone. Going from the articulation with the radius to those articulating with the metacarpals, we have the scaphoid bone, the lunate bone, the triquetral bone, and the pisiform bone in the proximal row. In the distal row we find the trapezium bone, the trapezoid bone, the capitate bone, and the hamate bone.

Scaphoid means “resembling a boat” from the greek words skaphe and skaphos, meaning boat. Lunate means crescent-shaped like the half moon from the latin word luna, meaning moon. Triquetral means three cornered. Pisiform means “shaped like a pea” from the latin word pisum and the word -form. Trapezium means a shape having four sides, none of which are parallel, from the greek word trapezion. Trapezoid is a four-sided figure with two sides parallel. Capitate means head from the latin word caput. Last is hamate meaning hooked or “having a hook” from the latin word hamatus. The hook being a sesmoid bone, or boney petrution, named hamalus.

Next up are the metacarpals. Meta- comes from both the latin and the greek, meaning among or between. The metacarpals have knobby ends with a long and narrow shape. There are two sesmoid bones at the distal end of the metacarpal of the thumb. There are five metacarpals.

There are fourteen phalanges. The word comes from the latin and greek word phalanx meaning “a line of battle”, or “battle array. In latin phalanger means “a bone between two joints of the fingers and toes”. The thumb has two phalanges called the proximal and distal bones. the rest of the fingers have three called the proximal, middle, and distal bones.

The palmar view is when looking at the palm of the hand. As a matter of fact, palmar comes from the latin word palmaris meaning “palm of the hand”. The dorsal view is referring to the back of the hand.

So there you have it, the bones of the hand. Next time I will begin to study the muscles of the hand and what they do. Afterwords I will point out some common problems with the hand and what causes them.

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Anatomy

In order to really take my career seriously, I need to be a cut above. Most massage therapist tend to forget a few of the names given to the muscles they work on. That doesn’t mean they are no good at their craft. If anything, they are better in some ways. Their palpation skills, sensitivity, and ability to get positive results with less effort often surpass massage therapist who are straight out of school. Even though the ‘newbie’ can quote just about every origin, insertion, and action for those muscles as if they were reading it out of the text books.

Nonetheless, to be a leader in one’s field, staying on top of such things goes a long way. That is not to say that forgetting some of the technical terms is going to hinder a successful massage career. However, To be taken serious in the medical field, that will be expected. One would be hard pressed to get a job working with a chiropractor If they do not know the proper medical names and terms.

That being said, I will be going back and teaching myself all the names, origins, insertions, and actions of the muscles in the human body. I welcome you to join me in this journey if you find yourself in a similar predicament. I have the book “Bones and Muscles: An Illustrated Anatomy” by Virginia Cantarella. Any book, I’m sure will be fine, but this is the one I have. I will pick the body apart section by section, and share these sections with you as I study them.

Body Alignment

So, I’ve decided to take massage therapy seriously as a career. I went to school at Denver Career College in Thorton, CO. They certified me on 04-14-2004. Unfortunately, due to recent state registration changes, I have to stop practicing until my registration is approved. Hopefully I will get that in a few weeks. My first job will, no doubt, be in a spa setting. I will need to reacquaint myself with the names and specifics of the anatomy in order to move into a chiropractic type setting. That is not to say I don’t know how to work with the muscles, just the names and such.

I don’t want to work at any job until I am registered with the state. As a result, I’ve taken a job in the Chapel Hills Mall working for a retired chiropractor selling whole body vibration (WBV) machines and Natural Form Beds. What I like most about this job, is I can pick Dr. Smith’s brain for some of his accumulated knowledge. Yesterday I learned in a couple minutes how to read a person’s misalignment by the position of their feet.

Alignment, in my opinion, is the most important part of being a heathy, relatively pain-free person. If the body is out of alignment, then it will effect everything from the ankles to the spine eventually. As gravity comes down through a body out of alignment, It will cause degeneration in the ankles, knees, hips, and the back. You see, gravity is supposed to travel down through the skeletal structure, not the muscles. If the alignment is off, then the muscles will start filling up with more and more with fibers and facia until they become straps, holding the body up.

Even though I look at the feet first, they are not the cause of the problem, but rather a symptom. When it comes to proper posture, the head should reside over the shoulders, which is over the hips, which is over the knees, which is over the ankles. The feet should be almost straight forward. Meaning the toes should be almost directly in front of the heals. The more medial the toes are in position to the heals, the patient has more of an anterior hunch. The more lateral they are in relation to the heals, the more of a posterior arch they will have. If one foot has a larger lateral angle and the other is normal, then they will have an upper body lean the direction of the foot with the toes more laterally placed.

This is hardly a definitive when it comes to analysis, but it provides a starting point. Watching people walk can also give many clues as to their issues needing work. The other great way to find out what ales them, is to simply ask. I know it is cool to be able to analyze them accurately without their knowledge, but the patient is often the best source.

Hello World!

My life has led me down many paths. The only problem with taking the road less travelled by, is the lack of instability. Perhaps it is that I am maturing, but I have begun to have desires of settling down. Living a more stable life that allows me to develop longer lasting endeavors is next for this man.

Even though I wish to live what one might consider a more ‘adult life’, I do not regret the one I have lived thus far. I mean, who can say they have been to the other side of the world dealing in less than legal antiquities, been to the jungles of Nicaragua meeting individuals like Daniel Ortega, or traveling from town to town across 14-15 states, playing cat-and-mouse games with the cops, selling vacuums? These are just a couple of the many exploits I have been involved in.

Now it is time to make a career of helping others heal, build an earthship, and start a side business helping others learn to cook from great chefs. I will be using this blog as a platform to both record my adventures as I partake in these goals, and to share what I have learned. If at any time you want to participate, feel free to say hello. As for now, I’m off to do some research.