We hear about big bonus checks and highly profitable retail achievements in EcoQuest, but what's wrong with $750? If large numbers of our people were able to earn $750 checks it would be fantastic for hundreds of people. This is a sensible and healthy level for a Smart Returns worker to shoot for.

Is a superstar’s income also possible? Of course, but the $750 per month people are your building blocks. Get multiple legs to this level and the sky is the limit. Eight legs would be 1,000 people!

Smart Returns will "feed" the other divisions of EcoQuest...

Some of your people will work the technology side of EcoQuest. I recall the days when I had only 125 people. My first Manager check was well above $10,000 for the month. The checks went up from there because I found other leaders who were willing to follow in my footsteps. Each person had his or her own personal style... and the variety was pretty amazing! However, the structure of the Clendenin plan, the Brodine plan, the Clements plan, the Perry plan, the Hodges plan, the Sisco plan, the Ryan plan and the Baker plan was patterned after what I was showing them.

I can be enthusiastic about Smart Returns without resorting to unrealistic numbers. I have no problem with the way it is explained on the video. For an overview, the 4x4x4x4 example is simple and exciting. But when we get face-to-face with real people we do not want to go over the top in any way. A good "starter goal" for a serious person is to get at least 125 active Smart Returns people by June 2008 -- when we have our convention in Kansas City.

When I show someone the bonus calculator I advise them to never use a recruiting multiplier greater than 2 except for their personal recruiting. Some people will recruit way more than 2, but the calculator works on averages. Two is a big number when it comes to averages. That’s why I lowered the numbers from 2 to 1.6 and 1.4 and 1.1 in my example. A person can get rich based on these numbers.

If you want to earn bigger checks, change your personal recruiting to a higher number. With 30 personal recruits your Dealer count becomes 469.24. The projected consumables bonus check jumps to $4,223 per month. This is without counting any business from the technology side. This is based on zero selling.

How long will this take? Well, in my start-up months I got to 30 personal recruits after 7 or 8 months. My personal recruiting pace was about one new Dealer on the dotted line each week. I kept up this pace for 19 months. Some weeks were zero and some were two or three. You know how that works.

Go to the calculator and do the examples I have covered. Then do one more example. Change your personal recruits to 60. All your numbers will double (if you are checking the math, remember that your group will double but you won’t personally double). The number of participants goes to 937.48. The monthly bonus goes to $8,437, which annualizes to $101,244.

Don't promise anyone that their check will come out exactly as projected. The real world is not an Excel spread sheet.  But I’ll tell you this:

“A person who brings over 900 active people into EcoQuest

deserves to make $100,000 or more per year.

That person will probably will make more.”

With a downline of over 900 active people you will probably have a couple of commercial dealers. More than two will have attended the Commercial Training; but I’m saying you will have two who are writing business! A huge number of people will be selling air units, buying Success Packs, and promoting LaundryPure and other products. You will probably have someone who is shipping a lot of product overseas.

I wrote an elaborate goal plan in 1995 and worked it to a tee. It was based on the situation I saw then. This plan is based on the situation I see now.

7. Develop a routine for introducing your Smart Returns recruits to the other divisions of EcoQuest. This will involve at least one postal mailing, emails on a regular basis, phone contact, conference calls, use of company programs, meetings and a lot of “sorting” (identifying the leaders at all levels within your organization). I predict that 20% of your people will cross over to the technology side of EcoQuest. The number could even be higher.

8. Attrition must be dealt with. There are two sides to the attrition formula. Try to stay ahead of it through continued personal recruiting and healthy multilevel growth. Second, do everything you can to keep your people from dropping out. Work on both sides of this equation. The company plays a key role in the attrition equation.

9. Constantly screen your people to identify the leaders. Screen all levels and work directly with the good ones. My definition of a leader is:

10. Make a list of cities and regions around the US and make a point of expanding your influence geographically. Geographical expansion is very important.

11. Teach your ambitious people to establish their own identity. Do not hand them off to other EcoQuest leaders for free training. I believe in cross-pollination, but not in taking advantage of the generosity of other leaders. Farming someone out to another group actually hurts the new person and the other group, too.

12. Have a very clear "width" goal...and it should be at least 8 legs wide. To get 8 wide you will may have to start legs (the “double it” principle).

13. Work in depth with your legs. Unfortunately, not all legs can be developed in depth...even with a good effort. That’s why a goal planner has to anticipate working with 16 legs to get 8 that are legitimate. The minimum requirement to make your plan work properly is to have at least 4 serious leaders in each legitimate leg. You may have to personally recruit 200 people to get 16 working legs…and then you may end up with only 8 that can be developed in depth. It would be nice to get 16 legitimate legs from just 60 recruits, but a determined person will never quit no matter how many are needed.

14. I hope you will also feel motivated to contribute to EcoQuest at large. The starting point for making a national contribution is to make good on your own goals. Later, there will be other opportunities to help.

15. The follow-on work will take several years. The point of building a group properly (wide enough; deep enough; and based on sound principles) is to get it strong enough where it will function properly by itself, but that never happens overnight.