zoegetics:the pitfalls of network marketing.

So I've officially been a "network marketer" for right at 6 months now.I thought running a gym was an experience in human psychology ,little did I know that nothing will prepare ya for how people 'are" until you become involved with multi-level marketing.This post is going to be dedicated to some of my experiences with how people are..

There have been many types of people/personalities I've come across since doing this and it's no wonder so few people are actually successful at network marketing.To be successful you really have to have thick skin.I'm learning to have it but it certainly does take it's toll.

The first type of people I'll describe are those that express interest to me about becoming a part of my networking business,zoegetics.They've either read something I wrote here or know me personally and know that I've made a little money doing what I'm doing.They will typically contact me asking a bit about what zoegetics is.Most of the time I suggest meeting in person so I can tell them all about it so they will understand it inside and out.I really want people to know what they're getting into before signing on the dotted line.AFirst step in this process is trying to set up a face to face meeting with them so I can explain everything there is to know about zoegetics.I really want people to understand what it's all about so they too can be succesful at it.I always volunteer to go to them so I can make it as convenient as possible.All they have to do is sit and listen for 20 minutes.For some reason almost everyone that has asked me about zoegetics has yet to be able to take the "time" to sit down and learn what it's all about.It finally get's to the point where I quit trying to set something up simply because I don't want to feel like I'm badgering them.What I hate about that is wondering if they might still be interested.It really sucks not knowing.Not sure why someone can't simply say "I've changed my mind."Instead they ignore your calls or won't respond back to emails.If you are reading this and happen to be one of these people,how bout doing us all a favor and just say you aren't interested.It really won't hurt my feelings one bit.

The next type of person is one that actually sits down and listens to the presentation,totally get it, and are super excited.Before making the commitment they have to go home and discuss it with a spouse.This is typically a female.I have no problem at all with you going home to talk about it.The thing that sucks about this is that you go home,try to explain something that you only learned about 20 minutes ago ,and really know nothing about, and your husband/wife shoots the idea down.I'll usually give the person some sort of literature or a dvd to take home so they can share it with their spouse.When someone calls me back saying the spouse isn't into it I'll ask"well, did ya have a chance to show them the dvd ?"The answer almost all of the time is "no."They'll say the spouse wouldn't even look at the information.That's a helluva way to make a decision about something now isn't it?You have no idea what you aren't interested in ,you just know you want no part of it.

I'll continue this post at a later date with some of my other experiences.As for me,I'm trying to keep my chin up and not let what others do get me down.I have to admit that it is one tough road to hoe.The possibilities that come with network marketing are phenomenal and I just can't see why more people won't take the time to appreciate that fact.

Lots of catching up to do....

Once again,my lack of post aren't reflecting a lack of stuff to talk about.Not sure why I've been neglecting my blog as of late.One reason may be because I've become addicted to facebook.Really easy to keep friends up to date on stuff I've been doing.Even better is that I can typically keep them up to date in one sentence or less LOL

Anyway.....guess I'll start way back at the last of April/first of May and the cohutta 100.As I had mentioned in my last post I had hopes/illusions of grandeur of finishing in 9;30 hours or at the very worst under 10 hours.didn't happen.I did beat last years time by 15 minutes or so but still bonked hard at the end.I did manage to "last" a bit longer than last year.Instead of bonking 70 miles in I felt good up until around 85 miles or so.Just can't get my nutrition dialed in I guess.To this day the cohutta is the toughest thing I've ever done.


Me at the finish.Have never been so happy(well since last year anyway) to be off my $%^&#@ bike


Next up was the fort yargo 12 hour race.Really wasn't sure how this was going to go seeing since it was scheduled for the following week end.Long story short.My legs and me felt awesome.It rained like a mofo.I finished 4th.I really feel like if it wouldn't have rained I would have been top 3.The rain made the course treacherous(to say the least)Between chain suck and the absolute wrong tires it was taking me forever to do a lap.Wish I would have been keeping up with my standings.In the end I was only 10 minutes out of 3rd place.

Me all finished up.Muddy mess to say the least.



Next up was the Georgia state single speed championship race.Hadn't really planned on doing this race but seeing since I had nothing else scheduled and have never raced this race(always had something else on the schedule) I decided to give it a shot and make the drive up to Athens.

I hadn't ridden my single speed in close to a year and have all forgotten how tough it is to acclimate yourself to only one gear.I took it for a ride the Wednesday prior to the race and couldn't believe how much stuff I had to walk.
Long story short is ..sprint races are hard as hell.Heart felt like it was about to explode for an hour straight.There are very few times you can recover while riding a single speed,especially at a place like hawks creek.I did start to feel better after the first lap and settled into a groove of sorts.Stayed in 2nd place most of the race and just couldn't close the gap.Finished 2nd.



Zoegetics update.Been involved for close to 6 months now.Have been learning more about people than anything else.I've come to the conclusion that it's not network marketing that deserves the bad rap but the people that get involved.It's amazing how close the gym business and network marketing resembles each other.What I've noticed both in the gym business AND zoegetics is how little dedication people have in either.They'll pay to join the gym/zoegetics give it a 'try" for a few weeks not get instant gratification and QUIT !!I really don't know how most people even make it through life with such attitudes.

Anyway...I'm still making it work for me and as excited about the possibilities as I was in the beginning.The only way not to make network marketing work for you is by quitting.

The cohutta 100

Well folks,the kidding around is just about over and it's time to do some serious racing.The cohutta 100 is this coming Saturday and then the following weekend is a 12 hour race in Winder,Ga.If everything goes as planned,for both weekends,I will have back to back dirty 100+ mile races.

First order of business is this weekends cohutta 100.Staged in ducktown Tennesse this race is one I did for the first time last year.Even though I had ridden 100 miles on a mountain bike before this was the first point to point 100 miler I had ever competed in.My goal last year was 10 hours.I suffered some serious bonking the last 20 miles and missed my goal by 40 minutes or so.My goal this year is 9.5 hours !!!

I'm really excited this year because I know exactly what to expect.The big lesson learned last year was to not get cocky 80 miles in thinking I had the race whooped simply because I was feeling good.I never imagined only 20 miles could be so tough and i made the mistake of not paying attention to my nutrition.That's when the "bonk" came into play and in all honesty barely felt like I was going to be able to finish.I will not make that same mistake this year.The weather is suppose to be way better this year too.Shouldn't be nearly as wet as last year which will be nice.

In zoegetics news.yep,I'm still at it.have never learned so much about human psychology in my entire life.In the beginning I didn't understand people who weren't interested in even learning about this exciting new opportunity now I don't understand the people who actually get into this thing and do absolutely nothing.I promise to elaborate on this more when I have more time.Kinda sleepy right now.One thing I will say is that if any of you ever hear someone say "yeah,I was in one of those network marketing companies before and it was a big rip off." you can bet your bottom dollar they got in one,kinda tried for a week or two to be "successful" and then gave up.

Anyway,enough about that.headed to bed.

Update.Yeah I know,I'm a slacker

Really haven't much felt like blogging as of late.Writing doesn't really come all that easy to me so unless I have something specific to speak of I usually just let the blogging start to slip.But to be honest,most of the time I just don't feel like doing it :-)

Since we've talked before I haven't been up to all that much.Spent about a week and a half not feeling well.Was off the bike for an entire week and then had to force myself to get back on it.I think I made matters worst by camping and racing right when I first started feeling sick.Just so happened that it got cold and rainy this race weekend which didn't make the situation any better.The race I'm speaking of was the first of 4 races in the dirty spokes endurance series.The dirty spokes series is a 4 race series that ends in October.The first race of the series was a couple weeks ago and was held in Athens,Ga at heritage park.This race is the only 6 hour with the rest being 12 hour races.Needless to say I didn't do very well.I decided to call it quits after only 3 hours of racing.Just wasn't having fun and when it's no fun there's no real reason to continue on.

Last weekend I drove up to Brevard North Carolina to participate in a save the trails ride.Was suppose to be tons of fun since it was being held in one of the most popular mountain bike areas in all the south east.Unfortunately in rained the entire time I was there so I didn't get to do the ride.

My view for 2 days


I did get to sneak in a forest service ride in between down pours.



Zoegetics is still doing really well.Learning a lot about network marketing and even more about people. One of these days when I have about 3 hours I'm going to sit down and write all about it. LOL

Heritage park 6 hour aftermath

Some races just aren't meant to be I guess.My weekend started out with a sore throat on Friday.A sore throat the day before a race is never a good sign.I was really hoping to feel better come race day but the decision to camp Friday night and the fact that it was 40 degrees and a steady wind blowing all night really didn't help much.

The weather forecast didn't seem too promising either.Temps were predicted to stay in the mid 40's with a 60% chance of rain.The cold was there but fortunately it never rained.I've figured out if you really(REALLY) don't want it to rain then hope it does rain.Works every time.The rain stayed away the entirety of the race.Humid and cold has to be the worst though.That had to be the coldest 45 degrees I've ever been in.

Didn't sleep too well Friday night which was unusual since I drank about a half bottle of NyQuil before going to bed.Would sleep in 2 hour increments it seemed.Woke up around 7 am to the sound of racers arriving at the venue.Had some major chest congestion,and a mild headache, but other than that didn't really feel all that bad.

Not really sure of the number of racers at the start but it seemed like there were maybe 150 or so.I'm guessing the chance of rain kept many at home.Before I knew it we were lined up and ready to go.I got a good start and went into the woods 1/3rd of the way from the front of the pack.I thought I was feeling pretty good considering the fast start.

A mile in and we came to a complete stop.Bottle neck going over some roots stopped everyone in their tracks.No biggie since I was expecting this to happen anyway.Was kinda nice having a chance to catch a breather so no complaints here.My first lap I felt like I had never ridden a bike before.I fell not one,not twice but five times.Heritage park has tons of roots and with the little bit of rain the night before the roots were slick as ice.Amazing how fast you'd get body slammed into the ground if you didn't hit one of these roots at the perfect angle.

Long story short(since I'm tired of typing already) is that I just never felt good.I was hoping after my first lap that I would start getting a 'second wind" but after my 3rd lap I realized that just wasn't going to happen.When racing becomes a miserable experience then it's time to pack it in and live to race another day.I decided to call it quits after 3 laps (27 miles).I usually feel kinda bad when a bail early on a race but this time I had no regrets.I couldn't wait to get home.

new personal best

Finished with a time of 4 hours and 16 minutes which is a new personal best for me at the snake creek time trial.Less than 2 minutes out of 3rd place in the overall.

Will write more when I get the time.

Still alive??Yes I am :-)

Lack of post typically means I haven't had much to blog about.Life the last few weeks have been pretty much the "same ol' same ol'".Trying to ride when I can,working,and trying to keep the bills paid in this economy has pretty much been the gist of my life as of late.Every time I think I've seen the worst from the economy it seems to get a little bit worst.Being a business owner I am seeing first hand just how bad it's getting.I use top be a news "hound" but these day's I hate even turning on the television.Talk about "gloom and doom". Geesh.I wonder how much more antidepressants are being bought lately?Maybe that would be something goo d to invest in these days??

This coming weekend is the grand final' of the snake creek time trial series.Since I totally sucked last month I am hoping this final attempt will go off without any problems.I've been trying to make sure I am a bit better physically prepared than I was last month paying extra special attention to my nutrition and flexibility.My best time this year has been 4 hours 33 minutes.I would really love to be closer to 4 hours this time.Everything,and I mean EVERYTHING,has to go perfect for that to happen.

Zoegetics is still cruising along quite nicely.I am so thankful that I jumped on that opportunity when it presented itself.

That's it for now.Catch y'all later

Just have to laugh

Since I became involved with zoegetics,and have been posting updates on my blog,I can't believe how my visitor count has shot up.Of course most of the visitors are being directed to my site because they are googling "zoegetics."I guess now that the word has got out about this new company there are a bunch of people looking for information.Although most of the search words are simply "zoegetics" it makes me laugh to see what some of these people are typing into the search bar in their search for zoegetics information.Here are a few examples.

Zoegetics scam (atlanta ,ga)

ZOEGETICS SCAM (gray,ga)

pyramid sceme warner robins, ga (macon,ga)

zoe life, pyramid scheme (macon,ga)

is zoegetics a good pyramid scheme (athens,ga)

zoelife pyramid scheme (reston,virgina)

My favorite inquiry is the one where someone is wondering if zoegeics is a "good" pyramid scheme LOL

OK...for you folks out there who have been so preconditioned to think that there is no other way to make money other than reporting to your job,clocking in,working for 8 hours,clocking out and then getting a paycheck on Friday,I'm here to tell you.Zoegetics is a REAL company.Zoegetics has REAL products.The ONLY difference between zoegetics and any of the retail establishments that you love to frequent is that they pay distributors instead of advertisers.Why is that so hard for some people to comprehend?

Not sure if any of you out there have noticed but our economy is going to shit.People are losing their jobs every day.Unemployment is at an all time high.To me it's a no brainer to think that if I need to buy something why not buy it from myself and make a little money in the process?I don't know anyone out there that couldn't stand to make even a little bit of extra money.

Zoegetics has been a godsend to me.Being a business owner I have seen my business fall off dramatically over the last few months.My new year resolution was to figure out a way to start making some extra money.The last few months,prior to joining the zoegetic team, I've had to dip into savings to pay my bills.I am so thankful to have become a part of this company.The only regret I have is that I didn't hear about it 2 months earlier.

Remember a few post ago when I mentioned I came in second in the contest zoegetics was having?Someone sent me a picture of the stage presentation.This was taken at the national kick off in Atlanta a few weeks ago.Thats me on the right(green shirt) and Jay Vaughn president and co founder of zoegetics on the left.Gawd I look like a dork :-)



In other news LOL..Had a great week on the bike.The weather in these parts has been really mild and with the exception of some high winds,the days have been really nice.
Took my trusty cannondale rush to the shop on Monday to have the front wheel rebuilt.Was hoping to have it back by this weekend but it's looking like mid week before I'll have it back.Not a big deal since it was rainy today anyway.

Speaking of rainy days.Not sure what got into me today but I did absolutely nothing.Didn't wake up until about 10.I did manage to finish up a load of laundry and after eating breakfast i retreated to the couch where I stayed the remainder of the day.I think I napped not once but twice LOL.I guess I'll have to make up for my laziness tomorrow and get in twice the miles.

Guess that's it for now.My new friend Alesia has been commenting that I need to update my blog so here it is Alesia :-)Enjoy ;-)

Snake creek time trial #2 aftermath

Yesterday was not a good day to be on a bike ,for me, at all.Funny how some days you can be on top of your game while other days things just totally suck.Well yesterday things just sucked.Not sure why.I felt good,the weather was better than last months round,but everything that could go wrong did go wrong.You know you're in for a bad day when not 2 miles into the race you miss a turn and end up having to backtrack a couple miles.Luckily a gate made it obvious that me and about 10 others had made a wrong turn.You would think after as many of these things I have done in the past that I would have noticed the missed turn.Nope,I just followed the group not thinking a thing of it.I was noticing a few things that didn't looked right but never even realized we were going the wrong way until one of the lead women started heading back my way yelling(at the top of her lungs) "MOTHER F'r over and over again.That made me laugh.

So once we got back on course I tried to put the miscue behind me and just go about my business at hand.We still had a long way to go so that 5 minute detour certainly wasn't the end of the world.Funny how something like that gets in your head though.

The first 7-8 miles of this thing is always the hardest for me.It seems to take me forever to warm up.For the most part,this 7 miles is nothing but a gradual climb.Once I get finished with the first section I always feel like I've settled down and I can just fall into my own rhythm.Not today though.Today I felt like I just could not catch my breath.Even on the few sections that I can typically get my heart rate down nothing was happening.My heart rate was staying pegged.My low back was killing me too.The low back is always an issue but today it seemed way worst.
Not only was I feeling terrible but 3 miles into this thing I hit something and broke a spoke then 5 miles in I make myself endo and bash my knee up pretty good.Today is just not my day.

So in a nut shell I'm feeling like i haven't ridden a bike in 2 years,my front wheel has a broke spoke(wasn't sure if that thing was about to taco at any minute or not)and my knee is killing me from the crash.I'm not even 7 miles into this thing yet.I want my mommy LOL

Anyway,to make a long story short,things never did get better.I reached the half way point 20 minutes behind my normal time and decided to call it a day.Out of 4 years of doing this race I have never not finished.Today I just didn't have the mental toughness to continue on.

Didn't take any pictures but did get a couple videos.

This is of one of my two falls.This isn't the one I hurt my knee on but one after that fall.

snake creek fall from mark d on Vimeo.

This one of the final descent.

snake creek from mark d on Vimeo.

Zoegetics signs up it's first celebrity

Dan Reeves,former head coach of The Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons and super bowl champion, has just signed up to be part of zoegetics.We wish him well in his new endeavor and want to say thanks for having faith in this new company.

Late edit.....had 153 hits on my site today from google and the search word "zoegetics".Lots of curious people out there all of a sudden.Good for me :-)

Keep those emails coming .If ya want to know about this company first hand then just shoot me an email at markd33@alltel.net