Why I never used the Coastal Synergy Group System

I have no dog in this fight at all.

BUT

Ahh Carol, on your website you put down call centers big time, maybe this is a "what goes around comes around"?

One can't act like an injured party if one puts down other groups can they?

I'm just asking.

Those comments about another group on your site (I happen to be involved with) were just as degrading.

Terri

I have now read this string from end to end. You all make some very good points.
I have my own reasons that I moved away from the MAC system. I now offer more value to my associates. I get them set up quickly but most importantly I take great pride and care in designing it to where it works best for them. The New Associate! Remember them? I have no reason to bad mouth any system all have something to offer all cater to someones needs. All I can do is share my experience and help others to create the business that fits them best. I think I have shared that here. My question to this group, and feel free to answer or in Carol Ann's case feel free to message me personally with your response.

Do we not market the same product? As long as we hold true to that I dont think it really matters what we use to market it. I have been saying since the start gang...Follow that voice that's singing your song or something you can dance to. If that's the CSG, The COA, The WB or whatever. Design your business for you. I will be as supportive either way.
It is true that after a year and half, the CSG was finally, not the vehicle for us and we revamped and moved on. If someone comes to me tomorrow and wants to get into Coastal but wants to market it another way than I do. I'm gonna help them get the info they need and work with them anyway. That's why I'm in business. To move people from where they are now to where they want to be. I market the product. Plain and simple! I now work with people in call centers and people who are with all different groups. As I am exposed to new things and new ways of doing things. That gives me a better knowlege base to be able to help more people. Again That's why I'm in this business. We never stop learning even when we are teaching.



Sean Keely

Level 3 Director CV
FTV SE Distributor
Expect Your Success Marketing


PS I take pride in putting my name after every post. I wish every one felt comfortable about doing the same.

This has gotten really hot. But I like hot water. To be honest this thread gives people a true look into all that is available with Coastal. I have to agree alot with Sean. Everyone is their own business owner and can choose the best system for them. But lets call a spade a spade. Most people in business are trying to cut cost and maximize profit. To keep cost lower it makes sense to use a less expensive system if it does the same job. This is why many are against the CSG system. $149.95 is pricey for a marketing system especially if you are just starting. Also the CSG has move away from just marketing Coastal. They have mortgage programs and now market individual vacation vouchers but use the name "Coastal " Synergy Group. This to me seems fishy. I also know or a fact they you can get the same vouchers from the vendor they are using for a fraction of the price. Who is getting the mark-up? The CSG leaders of course. Is this helping members? No its lining their pockets. Have you guys seen the new CEM lead pages. The ones with Nitsa Nakos on them. I wonder is there is a kick back there as well. I would say yes. I got a call earlier this week from a CSG former member that has personal ties to some of the vendors. They told me that the CSG makes about $150 of the $350 on the lead packages. Now I cannot personally confirm this but with Nitsa on their page it makes you wonder.

The CSG has created an amazing marketing plan and personally it sickens me that I was part of their group and have brought people into their fold. I know for a fact that Al Romine is not a big fan of Nitsa as he personally told me that. As marketers they have done a good job marketing themselves. Now as a business owner I can respect them being in business for themselves but some of their tactics border on questionable. Another case and point is the activation fee or their CSG MAC system. $99 is outrageous. Lets look at the merchant account. They have a sign up fee for that as well. I received another personal call from a former CSG member that got a call from an affiliate of Card Services that told them they could sign up for the merchant account and everyone they refer they could get that activation fee as an affiliate fee for themselves. Why was that never told to the members. Maybe again the CSG is pocketing the fee. So as we say they are nickel and diming their members here is why. Again I understand why they do it. Its to make money and any business owner should be trying to make money. But again where is the sharing of the wealth to help people move from their present situation to a better one?

The CSG has played their hand out. If the CSG is pushing their system so heavily why do so many of their leaders have their own marketing pages? Ive personally seen sites from Dave Heidel, Jerry Myers and now Carol Ann Martin. Now I have my own site as well so im not knocking them for doing their own thing but if the leaders are not pushing the CSG site as their main avenue where is the duplication? It makes you stop and think.

I hope this sheds some light on things and I have a good handle on all of this as I was once a member of the CSG board of directors. The term of a director is 18 months and after 16 months I quit as I couldnt take the madness anymore. I know personally of the integrity of some of the leaders. As not to slander anyone I wont mention the name but ill give you a scenario. My wife and I were featured in the May 2006 HBC magazine. In the post office where we mail out orders for our packages we also cash money orders from orders we receive as well. Well as we were cashing money orders from a premier sale we gave our article to the clerk as they asked how and why we got money like this. We explained what we do and the clerk began to check Coastal out. They called the coop number in the mag and were contacted by the leader in question. As this leader who I served on the the board with was told by the clerk they got the mag personally from us and read our story the leader proceeded to tell the clerk they knew us personally. Now if this had happened to me id have told the clerk to contact the person in the mag after I edified them. No the leader proceeded to try and close the deal. As I brought this up to the CSG co-founders they told me that we sounded desparate for bringing this up. Huh? Desparate? If one of your your so called leaders you work with tried to steal a sale from you how can you trust this group. I was also told by another leader who was personally sponsored by the leader in question that the same had happened to them on numerous occasions. Talk about integrity huh. If the leaders of an organization act in this manner why would anyone want to be a part of them.

So when I "thrash" the CSG its with good reason. This is one of many incidents that have happened to me and guess what I was a CSG board of director. If they would do it to me what would they do to other. Again where is the integrity.

I apologize for the length of my post but this info needs to be told.

Adam

Hi Terri,

I promised I wouldn't continue in this thread, but I did want to thank you for pointing out the link I had on my site.

The link is gone. I take responsibility. I will walk my talk.

And thanks for checking out my site.

Sean - you are right on. Just because I belong to the CSG, it doesn't mean that I consider myself or my group limited to any one marketing plan as many people want to infer about the CSG as a whole. I love the sites for the information they provide and the training & support that I can duplicate with my team.

The way I look at the CSG sites and all replicated sites offered by the "official" COA Network and Vacation Power, for instance, is that they are a second step. They are meant for people to see after they have been captured. This works very well with purchased leads.

I have my own lead capture pages and I'm coaching my team as well as any other Coastal rep who wants it how to use internet marketing to do their own "capturing" as opposed to using a lead company to do the work - like the official Coastal Board of Directors approved vendor - Cutting Edge Media.

My coaching program will initially cover how to get free exposure using blogs, ezines, articles, forums, press releases, social networking such as MySpace & YouTube.

The advanced portion of the coaching (only available to my team) will cover how to create a lead capture page, understanding web site design and keyword placement, how to use search engine pay per click if desired, and how to "work" a campaign to build momentum and exposure.

You can get more information by going to my blog and clicking on the internet marketing topic or scrolling down the posts. The blog is [Link removed - Admin]

Have a great day everyone!

Thank you CarolAnn for removing that link , groups and call centers serve a purpose, they are a vehicle to assist Coastal Vacation business owners to be able to succeed in their businesses.

As Directors and business owners along with the BOD we are a unique group in that the way CV is setup from a business standpoint there are no CEO's, no rules or regs to stifle our creativity or the way we conduct our businesses.

Yet we all are a self governing body which when one succeeds in this business we all succeed. Coastal vacations membership is what we offer our clients while the groups we belong to are a vehicle to assist our prospects with training and support.

Would we all agree on that?

The Coastal vacations family is a group in ourselves in that we have Directors who are Pharmacists, Travel agents, Accountants, Flight attendants, Realtors, Mom's, Dad's, etc, some of us are more experienced in marketing and advertising some of us aren't, but we are all here because we personally beleive in the membership and the Coastal vacations package therefore we don't have to "sell" prospects on Coastal folks see the value in the package and the outstanding ability to earn more than or as much as the Professionals who leave their jobs as Pharmacists, Accts etc. and come on board with our Coastal group membership and because we are over 100,000 strong we get the best deals in travel.
So CarolAnn may I ask you just to clarify what you are saying, are you saying that CSG is now a fulfillment center themselves? And are selling the certificates such as the one you mentioned? And also, what do you mean CSG is offering certificates cheaper?

Wouldn't that than be a conflict of interest to attempt to sell Coastal and sell the certificates yourself acting as a fulfillment center? In other words if I were buying the membership from you and than you were to say BUT I can also sell you some of the certs cheaper I would wonder about the integrity of what you were really selling me.

Interesting.

Please explain.

I don't want to make false assumptions here.

Thank you

Terri

Hi Terri,

I just removed from my post the discussion about certs as I thought that was being discussed here - but it wasn't.

But to answer your question - the CSG has partnered with Get Up & Go - a vendor that is not currently in the Coastal package, to offer a separate income stream for members to market certificates individually for business to business and fundraising.

You can check out this new program, etc. at www.csgmarketplace.com

I had Get Up & Go send me a price sheet and what I discovered was that if you were to buy certificates from this vendor, they would be double the price that the CSG is offering them. The CSG has negotiated a volume discount apparently so that if you offer these certificates to a nonprofit or business owner, the profit margin is retained by the director.

Now, based on the conversation I had with the rep from Get Up & Go, these certificates are not based on breakage, the person can book their dates online, and the properties are of high quality, so that when you offer this certificate as an auction item in a fundraiser or you offer this as a solution to a business owner, you can feel confident that the end consumer is going to have a good experience.

This addition to the CSG marketing tools is similiar to Funtime Vacations, which I know many Coastal Vacations reps are part of. The difference is that the vendors offered by the CSG are not in the Coastal package, and are therefore not in conflict with Coastal Vacations. Funtime vacations is a vendor that has in the past been a major provider of certificates in the Coastal package - so I would think that offering certs from Funtime would be more of a conflict than the certs being offered by the CSG.

Maybe someone in FunTime & Coastal could comment on that as I am not a member of FunTime and haven't researched it...

Thanks again, I appreciate the explanation, it avoids any misunderstandings about the comment. Brings it all out in the open.

The vendor you mentioned was in the CV package very recently.
Of course as Stephanie said, Coastal is a dynamic package which means it's a changing pkg and better vendors are added all the time to the benefit of the CV members.


Terri

Quoting: CSGLeaderI had Get Up & Go send me a price sheet and what I discovered was that if you were to buy certificates from this vendor, they would be double the price that the CSG is offering them. The CSG has negotiated a volume discount apparently so that if you offer these certificates to a nonprofit or business owner, the profit margin is retained by the director.

Someone wasnt being up front with you Carol Ann. I have the PDF Catalogue for "Get UP And Go" And to buy those certs you simply become a distributor. They are currently looking for people all over the USA. The certs are less expensive that way. Being from Canada I cannot become a GEAG Distributor. One of my team has become one though and I can assure you that she is not paying as much as you for the certs. Nor will I through buying from her.


I hope this clears some things up.



Sean Keely
Level 3 Director
FTV SE Distributor
Expect Your Success Marketing

We could all go on and on about opinions and facts about what the CSG is or WAS.

When I posted this thread it was important to me to share WHY I never used the CSG system as the CSG recommends. The people in the CSG who had success were putting in 6-8+ hours a day calling Cutting Edge Media Leads and I know MANY were investing over $2000 per month for those leads.

I've had a phone glued to my ear and what generally happens is your ear falls off and you look for new options....Ok, seriously!! Leads can be GREAT and can really stink...and they are seasonal - Some seasons are better than others. We've seen this when companies like Cutting Edge Media and NewEngland Marketing were not able to fill orders for leads. It's NOT SO fun and Very Expensive.

Leads are THE BEST option because you get a quantity of leads for 1 price, BUT your challenge is that you've GOT to have more leads than you can possible call and you've got to do it for an affordable price. A lead is a lead is a lead, but ONLY if the lead is of decent quality and few directors have tried over 25 lead vendors as I have. I've posted on another thread what make a decent lead, so I won't go into it again.

FOLKS....I've studied vacation certificates. You've got to buy them in quantity and NONE OF US really need them for our business. If you want them, ok....but GO DIRECT. SOMEONE'S going to pay for the cost of administration - and it's you!

As for me and my house, we use our Coastal Vacations Membership certificates - the Official Way, so when someone asks if I use my membership - I can, with integrity say I do!!

Wouldn't that than be a conflict of interest to attempt to sell Coastal and sell the certificates yourself acting as a fulfillment center? In other words if I were buying the membership from you and than you were to say BUT I can also sell you some of the certs cheaper I would wonder about the integrity of what you were really selling me.

Terri asked a great question. The way I see it, it's a conflict of interest and the rumors have been around for a while that the CSG is coming out with their own membership package, but as you look at the picture, HOW could they do it and not lose a good quantity of their membership? I know that the CSG did have a product ready to sell to the CSG several years ago, but they never rolled it out.

I agree with you Terri the direct selling of certificates does make a person wonder about the integrity of what's being sold.

Jay NaPier
Level 3 Director/ Master Trainer
Coastal Vacations

Quoting: luvtravelThe vendor you mentioned was in the CV package very recently.
Of course as Stephanie said, Coastal is a dynamic package which means it's a changing pkg and better vendors are added all the time to the benefit of the CV members.

Thanks for bringing this up Terri. As a GROUP we can all learn from eachother when information is freely shared. When a vendor is taken out of the Coastal membership it's generally because SOMETHING was not working out. A good example would be a vendor who does not ship in a timely manor - and we don't know it, but the board of director does.

Jay NaPier
Level 3 Director/ Master Trainer
Coastal Vacations

Quoting: CSGLeaderYou can check out this new program, etc. at csgmarketplace

Thanks for sharing that here as it will tell the whole story and PROVE those of us who have spoken out about the CSG RIGHT!!

Jay NaPier

"Someone wasnt being up front with you Carol Ann. I have the PDF Catalogue for "Get UP And Go" And to buy those certs you simply become a distributor. They are currently looking for people all over the USA. The certs are less expensive that way. Being from Canada I cannot become a GEAG Distributor. One of my team has become one though and I can assure you that she is not paying as much as you for the certs. Nor will I through buying from her. "

Sean - thanks for the info. I went back again today to Get Up and Go and spoke to them about the distributor and sales commissions programs.

Here is the info - straight from the company:

2 different options - distributor, or sales commission basis.

1. Sales commission basis - you receive 40% of the retail price when you sell (CSG you make 50%)

2. Distributor - You get the certs for 1/4th of the price. You must apply for it, provide a business plan with projected sales (which will be reviewed quickly to see demonstrated results), have at least 4 documented sales people working with you, and be a demonstrated established marketer. It is not as "simple" as just signing up as a distributor - you must apply for it and your application is reviewed in detail.

Now, the CSG has basically applied for the member base as an overall distributor as we have a member base of close to 2,000 and growing so they were definitely interested in partnering with us.

And yes, they are marking up the certs slightly to make it worth their while in terms of managing the distribution of it, but frankly, I don't have a problem with this is they've done all the work to become distributors themselves and I don't mind paying the small mark up if it makes my life easier and saves me time. I definitely don't want to get into shipping certs to sales reps myself.

I also asked them about their relationship with Coastal Vacations. They could find only 2 reps that are associated with Coastal that are distributors. And of those two - none of them have had any sales volume.

Sean - maybe you could email me the PDF document you have. Is it a brochure to become a distributor? What were you referring to?

Quoting: jnapierThanks for sharing that here as it will tell the whole story and PROVE those of us who have spoken out about the CSG RIGHT!!

These are business tools. There is nothing to hide here.

You aren't forced into buying anything. The Coastal Board has many different sales tools available - doesn't mean I'm going to buy them. Haven't really found much value in the sales tools offered by the Board anyway. Maybe that's because they haven't had a website that I could view the tools and order easily online.

But I do find value with some of the tools available through the CSG Marketplace. I'm glad that the CSG has taken the time and effort to provide timely business tools (other than the system) to help people make sales rather than leaving it up to the Director you work with to provide it to you. And I'm willing to pay for that time and effort if it makes me money - which it has.

The CSG has every right to sell products. They are a business and thats what businesses do. It just seems that the focus is on selling these products to its members as opposed to the focus being on selling Coastal packages to the public. Years ago I was part of a major MLM that did alot of the same. The focus became on going to the events and the selling of tapes and books and not the business of selling our kits or showing our plan. Unfortunately this seems to be the focus of the CSG these days. I know of leaders that do not do any personal training of their teams anymore. It all about getting them to an event where they can buy the personal coaching of the leaders that are brought in. Now the CSG doesnt pay these leaders to come speak but rather they give them an opportunity to sell their products. Again this is all well and good but the focus should be on selling the Coastal package and not these outside products. SO much is put on personal development and that your bank account is directly proportional to your development. Well lets take a successful person we all know. Donald Trump. Well his bank account has nothing to do with his personal development. His attitude borders on being a jerk but his business thrives. You know why its because his products have value. Its not about Trump as a person but rather his products. Maybe if the focus was placed back on selling coastal packages as opposed to "in my opinion" nickel and diming its members people would be more successful. There are too many people in Coastal that have no idea how to market the product much less what the product is. I talk to many of them everyday. Its a shame. But you know what these people have the greatest personal development libraries ive ever seen. It doesnt make sense. Lets start teaching our teammates how to sell and stop selling so many "in my opinion" frivilous things to them.

By the way CSGleader I would love to see your response to many of the points I brought up about the actions of CSG leaders as we both served on the same board with them. I know that this might put you in a difficult situation but as you came in here as a CSG Leader you knew it might lead to that. If you decline to answer any of the questions I can respect that but I challenge you to be a leader and not a follower and answer them. I also challenge any other CSG Leaders to comment as well.

Adam

When it comes to investing in training I suggest that EVERYONE use caution. MUCH of what you hear from amateur trainers comes from Published Trainers and been re-cooked.

A buddy of mine in Coastal recently went to a free T Harv Ecker training and say the exact same points and examples as made in a CSG paid event.

I'm very excited about Pat Mesiti speaking at the September 7 & 8th Official Coastal Vacations training event. Pat has been called the Anthony Robbins of Australia - I've seen Pat twice this year and saw Tony Robbins ounce last year and ounce this year - I can tell you...Pat is AWSOME!!! And you don't want to miss the Nashville event in September.

Jay NaPier
Level 3 Director/ Master Trainer
Coastal Vacations

Quoting: ateamfuntimerBy the way CSGleader I would love to see your response to many of the points I brought up about the actions of CSG leaders as we both served on the same board with them. I know that this might put you in a difficult situation but as you came in here as a CSG Leader you knew it might lead to that. If you decline to answer any of the questions I can respect that but I challenge you to be a leader and not a follower and answer them. I also challenge any other CSG Leaders to comment as well.

Adam,

As I have maintained throughout this thread, I will not engage in mudslinging, bashing, or spreading rumours about any one person, group, or team.

It's unfortunate that you personally have attracted to you situations that you are not happy with. But we know that if we are following the principles of the secret, that we are 100% responsibile for the situations we experience. And if we are experiencing negative situations, then we HAVE to look at ourselves to see what part we played in it. As I've said earlier - your experiences are your reality. I have nothing to do with your reality so I can't comment on it nor will I judge it.

Everyone in the CSG has the same opportunity as I did - to develop as a leader and eventually a lifestyle coach through the leadership development program. The volunteer leadership program allows people who want to grow themselves and their teams a structure to do that - getting exposure doing things that leaders should be doing with their our own teams anyway - training, coaching, leading, being an ambassador for the product and the team in which we are associated with.

As far as the CSG becoming a personal development organization - absolutely. That is the mission of the CSG - to provide training and personal development opportunities for everyone. Yes - they have developed their own tools and coaches to provide these tools to people who obviously want what they roll out. And if I can access a coach specific to my own company, than that's even better.

Personal development is an essential part of network marketing. It is not everything, but is a HUGE part. So many people come into network marketing and fail because of their paycheck mindset. It takes tremendous courage and constant maintenance to survive in this jungle - and mindset is critical to success. Otherwise there wouldn't be such a high attrition rate in this industry regardless of how well the company provides tools and training.

The Co-Founders of the Synergy Group came to Coastal over four years ago because they knew Coastal was a cash machine and they had been in many network marketing companies prior to Coastal. They were all also orphans - meaning their Coastal Directors bailed.

They recognized that one of the most essential pieces missing in most network marketing was that most of the time your success was directly related to the person you worked with. If the person you joined with bailed, you were left in the cold. And no other team would want to take you on because there was no financial gain for the person taking you on as an orphan - especially in Coastal.

The CSG has done something in the industry that is visionary and radical - to provide a training and support organization that gives every person in the CSG a support network and a source of training and development that is standardized, systemized, and duplicable - and available no matter what team you belong to.

And, yes - they have many products and services available in addition to the basic system to develop yourself if you choose.

There are many coaches and trainers in this industry that do nothing but market their personal development coaching. And they are making millions doing it as obviously people want it - people like Ellie Drake, Jerry Clark, Jeffrey Combs, Doug Firebaugh, Todd Falcone. But you know what, if I can access millionaire producers such as Nitsa Nakos that are within Coastal Vacations for outside coaching - that's who I want to coach with - if I CHOOSE.

As far as other leaders in the CSG commenting - I don't know if they will or not - but most likely not. Do you know why that is?

Because they will not lower themselves to engaging in negativity in any way, shape, or form, as they recognize that this activity in these forums does nothing but create negativity and confusion as a whole for Coastal Vacations.

I came back into this thread to provide complete & accurate info on some of the points made in here. But I really gotta go and focus on my team. This is such an energy and time waster its just unbelievable!

Not to mention that at this very moment I am posting from my summer cabin that my family and I are enjoying for the entire month of July - thanks to the lifestyle & freedom that I have been able to create through the CSG and Coastal Vacations. I just don't want to continue to have this negative energy enter this peaceful, beautiful space I am in right now.

As much as I am wishing I hadn't started in the first place, I'm glad to have made a presence here to express what I've expressed - knowing that I was walking into a snake pit and that I was probably going to get some personal attacks made on my own character - but I was willing to do it.

As I said - I respect everyone in here as fellow Coastal Directors. You are entitled to your opinion, your experiences, your success.

And I will say it again - focus on yourselves, your team, promoting what specific contributions you all make to the Coastal Vacations marketplace. Live and let live. What you think you are doing by providing a "public service" to others - creating verbal diarreah for people to listen to - does nothing for all of us in Coastal Vacations.

I can guarantee that all of us in Coastal Vacations will benefit so much more if you could just realize and practice the idea that we are all ONE in the biggest grandest scheme of things. What we think we are doing to others - we are really doing to ourselves.

Namaste
(Ancient Sanskrit Blessing - I honor the spirit in you which is also in me)

Carol Ann

Carol Ann,

I want to tell you I have seen your ad and like it very much and I have read what you have said here. I have questions like everyone but don't know where to begin only having been doing this since May 11, 2007 I like the Namaste in you. I have questions as to CSG because I just left there because I had a director whom I could not go anywhere with for several reasons and I wonder why all the bashing in here, it is not necessary at all.
It is suppose to be a place to help one another is that correct. Please send me a personal note if you wish. I am so confused with what I am reading in these forum posting.

Barb

Quoting: jnapierWhen it comes to investing in training I suggest that EVERYONE use caution. MUCH of what you hear from amateur trainers comes from Published Trainers and been re-cooked.

Jay,

One of the props I have to give you is that you are very savvy internet marketer. That's for sure. In fact, when I have met you at several of the Coastal & CSG events, I purposely sought you out to pick your brain about what you do that has made you so successful as I respect your experience and expertise.

That's what I love so much about live events - to have that kind of opportunity to receive - be coachable - and learn from others who are willing to freely share their knowledge and expertise.

I remember when I met you at the Coastal event in September of 2006, you were applying for the CSG Leadership team, and that you were very interested in the Leadership development program as it provided a pathway to develop yourself as a motivational speaker and trainer - which I understand you have a desire to do at some point.

How's that coming along by the way?

It was also great to have you as a fellow participant in Gabrielle Whitney's Leadership Development paid coaching program sponsored by the CSG when we were both applying for the CSG Leadership team.

And - it was great to see you at the CSG event in Nashville this year and how you told me personally how wonderful the coaching was from Gabrielle and how you were still seeing the value of it months later.

Obviously you saw at that time the value in the Leadership Development program. And why wouldn't you - if you have a group that has the connections and the momentum and the power to propel you - an amateur in the motivational speaking industry - into the mainstream - where you and many people know is where the action is at because people value it so much and it is so needed - then how awesome is that.

Yes - those of us who strive to a Lifestyle Coach position within the CSG will begin as amateurs - everyone has to start somewhere. Including all the majors - such as Ellie Drake, Jeffrey Combs, Jerry Clark. Even you Jay, would be considered amateur when and if you do break out yourself as a speaker.

It is very inspiring to me to be part of an organization that will allow me to develop myself as a motivation speaker. And I totally support every person who has a desire and a passion to develop themselves and at the same time provide value to the marketplace.

It doesn't concern me if the coaches and trainers that come out of the CSG leadership development program are new to the industry. It just inspires me more to know that if they can do it, so can I.

I have to say that it was very exciting to see my article in Home Business Connection magazine this April, 2007 because of the exposure and experience I have gained in the CSG Leadership program.

And Jay, if you're comments about "amateur" is in any way related to what certain CSG Leaders are or are not making financially, why don't you provide us the personal financial statements of these individual Leaders so we can have credible information and facts.

Hi,
Regarding how well a person does in this business should not be determined by their paycheque but by if they feel they are making what they are putting into it. If I was happy making $3000-$5000 a month part-time as an added income to my existing job, then I would consider myself to be successful.
However if in turn I am able to have all my new team members also make their first two sales and so on, I would believe that I was highly successful in this business because I am duplicating my success and encouraging others to meet their goals.

So if I did 100 sales a month but only 5 of those people ever worked the business, sure I would have some good money but I wouldn't consider myself a good director. I would rather have 5 or 10 sales a month and work closely with my new team on gettting them their two sales.

Just my 2 cents

Judy

Quoting: CSGLeaderI remember when I met you at the Coastal event in September of 2006, you were applying for the CSG Leadership team, and that you were very interested in the Leadership development program as it provided a pathway to develop yourself as a motivational speaker and trainer - which I understand you have a desire to do at some point.

I'm afraid your WRONG Carol Ann! I was not in it to be a trainer, but because so, so many people had come to me - like yourself - wanting to know HOW to build a multiple six figure income, I decided that sharing with a group, which BTW is the impression I was initially given, was a good idea.

In any business agreement everyone must agree or agree to dis-agree. The Missing Link in CSG Training has been Marketing. That's what I was most interested in training on. Teachable and Trainable Marketing Methods that would allow ANYONE to use Low Cost and No Cost marketing to build their business. The CSG is SCREAMING to learn how to market, yet the CSG won't train on that.

When it comes to personal development, I'm a BIG believer - but you've GOT to consider the source. Do they qualify to be my trainer?? I ONLY work with the BEST - This has been how I've worked my business since day 1. When it comes to Personal Development the BEST way to increase your PD is to look for a Book...and it's Dirt Cheap. If you want more specialized training go directly to the source and see what they have available.

What's the vision?? This is a question we should all ask when working with a group. Why? Because your building your business with that group. The CSG used to have a "Each of US needs all of Up" approach --- and I'm not the only one here pointing that out!!

Over the last 8 months that I was an active CSG member it became more obvious to me that the CSG was going in a different direction. The CSG had leaders at the March Official Coastal Event - yet.....No Update!! I waited and waited. I was not able to attend this event as I'd already purchased a ticket to attend another training in Las Angles.

The objective of the Coastal Board of Directors is Unity. This is typically done by freely sharing information available to Coastal Vacations Members and Directors. When the CSG quit freely sharing Official Coastal information - they chose to no longer participate in the Unity.

Several times you've stated that you were not going to post here...yet, you continue to visit.

Please...do us all a favor. I appreciate your stance on the law of attraction, but in reality the CSG has attracted these informative posts.

Best of luck to you.

Jay NaPier