Networking With The SDI Industry

By Tom J Kennedy

It's 2014 and as an active usuryfree creative networking within the usuryfree community currency movement, I am now set to network with SDI (Self Directed Income) entrepreneurs who are active in the SDI industry – otherwise referred to as (a) multi-level marketing or (b) network marketing.

We-the-people are making conscious decisions about how we create our earnings and how we spend our money. Given `golden handshakes, being laid off or just plain fired and bingo - we-the-people need to be open to pulling silver linings out of dark clouds. Opportunity is knocking and doors are opening within both the usuryfree community currency movement as well as the SDI industry and deeper desperation is motivating more and more people to listen, learn and take action.

We know orthodox economics is in peril when unemployment approaches double digits. Ask the Argentines! I remember in the early 1980's when `usury' rates were 20%+ and I was actively recruiting local businesses in the Ottawa area to join the local LETSystem. Countless owners of small to medium-sized businesses would say: "It's a great idea, but come back when you have 1000+ members on your database."

Without a doubt, that minority group within we-the-people who understood the `power and potential' of creating and spending our own private, `usuryfree,' currency were slightly ahead of our time. Now as we progress into the 21 st Century, alternative economics seems ready to blossom.

There is not only an economic benefit but also a social benefit to bartering and trading with like-minded people within our respective communities. Likewise, there is economic and social benefit as well as the bonus of personal growth and development derived from success as an SDI entrepreneur.

When twinned, the usuryfree community currency movement and the SDI industry offer unlimited promise as we-the-people know in our hearts that if we envision different economic results we must willfully choose to `re-educate' ourselves so that we really understand how the design flaw of `usury' enslaves us and creates poverty, scarcity and lack.

Additionally, we-the-people must understand how seeking to become `usuryfree' in 2014 liberates us from economic bondage forever if we commit ourselves to creating and spending our own `usuryfree' time currency. The act of creating and spending our own `usuryfree' time currency seems foreign to us until we-the-people experience the feeling of empowerism when we sign our own name on an I.O.U. note.

The reality of empowering ourselves by establishing our own retail/wholesale enterprise in our own name is a distant thought for most employees until we `re-educate' ourselves to think like an SDI entrepreneur. The possibilities are limitless now that home-based enterprises (SDI enterprises are the most common home-based enterprises with approximately 3.5+ million in Canada) are easy to start-up given reduced transaction costs and the ease of modern technology.


Both the usuryfree community currency movement and the SDI industry have evolved similarly during the latter half of the 20th Century. Let's first track the evolution of the usuryfree community currency movement. Barter and trading was well established in the early years of the 20th Century in rural Canada. It blossomed during the Great Depression of the 1930's and even made inroads in smaller urban communities. Informal barter and trading remained a key component of rural economics throughout the 20th entire Century.

During the deep recession of the early 1980's when `usury' rates spiralled to double digits, engineers were motivated to explore and evaluate alternative economic systems with a goal to create an improved design that implementing a `usuryfree' computer software.

Michael Linton, (Courtenay, B.C.) and John C. Turmel (Ottawa, Ontario) were two engineers who were working on creating opensource software to facilitate record-keeping of we-the-people in local communities who were unemployed BUT ready and willing to use our talents, skills and/or services to serve others.


They were (are) clear-thinking engineers with revolutionary ideas for modern economics. Their combined research and resources created and launched the `usuryfree' LETS software on the local, national and international market simultaneously. The invention of the `usuryfree," LETS software permitted we-the people to experience the reality of creating and spending our own `usuryfree' community currency.


By the 90's, LETSystems had spread to help we-the-people create abundance and prosperity in local communities all over the world. As we progress into this 21st Century, various hybrids of the original LETS model have surfaced and paper notes are now commonly used by participants within the usuryfree community currency movement.

After the economic collapse of the orthodox, 'usury-based' money system in Argentina in the fall of 2001, millions of Argentines wisely chose to create and spend their own `usuryfree' community currency commonly called `creditos.' Argentines continue to exchange `usuryfree creditos' to acquire goods and/or services for themselves and their families and/or businesses.

In this 21st Century, countless websites have appeared which are espousing brilliant ideas about how we-the-people can engage successfully in `usuryfree' economic alternative concepts that will complement our failing `usury-based,' orthodox economics.

Additionally, numerous software engineers are busy adding `bells and whistles' to the opensource, `usuryfree,' LETS software so that it can facilitate trades/exchanges among we-the-people in local communities as well as within the national and global markets.

Now, let's track the evolution and progress of the SDI industry which has its roots in the 1940's. Nutrilite, a health and wellness company was one of the leading pioneers of this new and innovative marketing concept which was commonly called 'multi-level marketing.'

Later in the 201'' Century, the name evolved to network marketing. After establishing how closely language is associated with image and perception, leaders in the SDI industry coined the new acronym, SDI (Self Directed Income) industry to more aptly describe the network marketing industry in its purest form. The term `SDI industry' refers as well, to other home-based businesses and/or small to medium-sized community businesses which focus on contracting others as independent business persons rather than employing them, as was commonplace in the 201" Century.


Back in the 1960's we had Amway, Mary Kay and Shaklee as the maturing leaders of the SDI industry. Rich DeVoss and Jay van Andel led the Amway Corporation as it faced challenges in the American court system in the 1970’s. Amway's victories permitted it to blaze a trail for hundreds of other SDI companies to follow.

Mary Kay Ashe motivated thousands of women to become successful SDI entrepreneurs as independent consultants with May Kay Cosmetics.

Dr. Forrest Shaklee established a market in the SDI industry for quality health and wellness products.

By the 1970's the SDI industry was expanding rapidly as true free enterprisers departed ranks with the pioneers and launched competitive companies. The SDI shakedown continued through the 1980's and 1990's and hundreds (perhaps thousands) of smaller SDI companies surfaced and many quickly disappeared.

The SDI companies of this 21st" Century still scramble to rid the industry of greedy charlatans whose evidence of greed created a bad image for this fledgling marketing industry which offers a truly unique, service-oriented style of marketing that can be duplicated by anyone who is teachable.


During the final years of the 20'" Century, the SDI industry went global and too many zealots focused on the emotion of greed, rather than committing to follow through with the personal growth and development required to succeed as an SDI entrepreneur.

Also in the 1990's came the big box stores, while the giant retailers continued to boom along with the expensive main-street franchises. The decade of the 1990's saw a leveling off of the SDI industry as people were making easy money in the Dot Com industry and choosing to spend it lavishly buying merchandise and/or services from giant corporations and/or buying preferred stocks with the seemingly invincible high tech companies.


As we entered this 2I s' Century, the anti-globalization movement targeted the giant, trans-national corporations and focused our attention on their exploitation of the common people in pursuit of profit. About the same, the Dot Com bubble burst and these common people lost trillions of dollars in their sacred stock portfolios.

Investment dealers and stock brokers re-organized and golden handshakes became commonplace with thousands of dedicated staff previously earned their income(s) in the trading and investment banking market.

Coinciding with the Bay Street/Wall Street Bloodbath, early in this 21^st Century, the McDonald's Corporation is experiencing its first decline in its stock since 1965 as it loses the business of children because their parents are choosing to focus on healthier eating habits amid the growing controversy about child obesity rates.

Add on retailer frustration with the ongoing expense of frequent buying clubs and customer fatigue with too many conventional customer loyalty cards and the timing is optimal for clubs or networks of consumers who are ready and willing to spend their money differently by buying products and/or services from local entrepreneurs.

The SDI industry is now reviving itself for second and third stages of growth in this 21st Century as more and more unemployed people search for opportunity as an SDI entrepreneur. The SDI companies are likewise evolving to a point where they are now permitting we-the-people to create and manage our own SDI Portfolios whereby we have monthly earnings from more than one source.

Indeed, the SDI industry is maturing to foster free enterprise and economic freedom for everyone. More details about the history, background and evolution of the SDI industry are posted in this article titled: “Analysis, Projections, Observations & Proposals ForThe SDI Industry.”

When twinned with the usuryfree community currency movement, the SDI industry will lead the way in retail/wholesale marketing of goods and services in this 21st Century. The various usuryfree community currency networks are leading the way by creating online (or otherwise) databases of home-based enterprises (SDI enterprises are invited to participate) and small to medium-sized community businesses.

We-the-people are making a conscious choice to shop within our own loyal networks thereby fostering mutual support and re-building local community. Many members of one usuryfree community currency group are already negotiating informal trades/exchanges with other members from other groups. It is only a matter of time until there will be online trading with our own `usuryfree' time currency an integral component of a larger infrastructure.

The big box stores, giant retailers and huge franchisers are least likely to be open to accepting `usuryfree' time currency as part of any purchase because it is the business owner who understands the `power and potential' of creating and spending our own private currency.

Since home-based enterprises and small to medium-sized community businesses are owned and operated by the entrepreneur/owner, the concept of bartering/trading will be viewed as an advantage to mutually support we-the-people. Indeed, we-the ¬people will create our own reality and our prosperity and abundance will be the real reason to celebrate our economic freedom and/or otherwise.

What can we do NOW? The best plan, immediately acted upon NOW, is better than waiting for the perfect plan at a future date. Since Facebook http://www.facebook.com offers a place for groups or networks to gather and exchange ideas, let’s use that area to gather the SDI entrepreneurs – then we can start the online database designed to serve we-the¬-people.


Let's encourage SDI entrepreneurs in our respective networks to enroll (join) the UsuryFree SDI University. Let’s commit to actively network the information to other SDI entrepreneurs (prospective, novice and seasoned) within our respective circles of influence and encourage them to multiply and duplicate our efforts.

Start compiling your list of ‘offers’ and ‘wants’ and in the not-too-distant future, we will find websites where we can list them

Together, as a collective unit we can eventually have our local databases connected – with 100’s or even 1000’s of local chapters in Canada and beyond our Canadian borders.

In a little while, we can be networked globally and we can indeed `experience usuryfree heaven or “peace and plenty by 2020.”

NOTE: Readers/visitors are invited to enrol (join) the UsuryFree SDI University.