This is why people have to be at World Conference. It makes a difference. And this is why you should get one more person there. The people who are not coming are the ones that need to be there the most!

Keep Growing,

JR Ridinger

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From: Lynn  To: James Ridinger Subject: Tying the Knot for that Magical Moment

Hi JR. I know you are extremely busy right now with finalizing the details for Miami, but I wanted to share this story with you because I know it will help you when you are on stage. You need to know that we hear what you say and we use it, especially when times get tough.

I want to give you a quick background that let up to our Magical Moment.

I was like every other American who was in the work force in the late 1980's. I had my company pension taken away and replaced by a 401K program. So like everyone else I started to invest part of my weekly paycheck into this so called "retirement" program. I worked full time as a computer programmer for the next 17 years and never missed contributing to my 401k. My husband was also doing the same with his job in law enforcement.

When Feb. of 2001 rolled around, my husband retired from the NY State Police. Serving for 20 years in law enforcement took a toll on our family at this point. I no longer had a husband, or a friend, nor did my 2 children have a Dad they could rely on. The job had stripped him of his compassion and zest for life from dealing with all the nasty people in the area. Our decision for his retirement was primarily based on the size of our current retirement portfolio, which was in excess of $400,000.00 from the last 17 years of contribution and growth. Well, this is where the first knot was tied. When September 11th hit and the stock market crashed we lost 3/4 of our retirement. Like so many others, all of our hopes and dreams for this savings were shattered. At that time our children were 10 and 12 years of age and the hopes of paying for their college were just stripped from us and the thoughts of retirement were now gone.

So we did like everyone else did, we started working more and harder to rebuild. A good friend of ours since high school was a financial investor with a prominent company here in the Buffalo, NY area so we turned to him for advice and a strategy for rebuilding what we had left, and a strategy to do it in 10 years when our son would be graduating from college. It had been our goal since our children were born to be able to pay for their college. Our goal was to help them start their life out debt free after they went to college. Our financial advisor suggested we look at putting what we had left into CD's and he would help us with that since we knew nothing about it. In our despair and hopelessness at this point we agreed to let him control this for us.

Fast forward to 2008.  In January of 2008 I was introduced to the Market America opportunity after being a customer first. My daughter and I were very sick and very overweight. We hired Ryan Ebling as our personal trainer. He started us on our "Lifestyle Change" through TLS and we were so successful it landed us the opportunity to be on stage, me in Greensboro in 2008, and Patti in Miami in 2010. We were also given the opportunity to share our story through the TLS/TLS Shape-up testimonial DVD's. It did not take me long to see that Market America could be one of the vehicles to help us rebuild the college fund (and eventually our retirement fund) along with the investing that our Financial advisor was doing.

It was in 2008 when the second knot was tied. When the recession hit and the stock market once again crashed, our financial portfolio plummeted again. At this point I was determined to make Market America work. Our team grew and I began to deposit my commission checks in a separate bank account for the college fund. Every penny I earned from Market America when into this fund.

Finally, it was in the fall of 2010 when our lives crumbled. We had just come to find out that our "good" friend from high school, our "financial advisor" whom we trusted with all of our money had just been arrested for Investment FRAUD.  ALL of our life savings were GONE. He had never invested anything for us, it was all just paper. Needless to say we fell into such a dark deep depression that I wasn't sure if I could even tie that knot a third time. I went to N/E Regional convention that year and bought one of the t-shirts you signed saying "I believe in you" and the verbiage on the front said "Better Days are Ahead of you" and on the back it said "Leave your worst days behind you", well that was all I needed, for some unknown reason, a power greater than myself led me to buy that t-shirt.

I came home from this training, still in a depressed state and still somewhat hopeless so for the next 6 months I engulfed myself with Market America audios. We soon realized we were able to handle this crisis differently, all because of your audios. You see we began to program ourselves to be a hopeless success. We did not give up at this point, once again we "Got up to win the Race!" We tied the knot at the end or our rope and continued on. I know in my deepest heart that if I did not have the audio that you created that talked about "Belief" and the 7 words that Winston Churchill gave at his speech, "Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, GIVE UP!" and tying the knot at the end of your rope because things will change and that "Better Days are Ahead", I would have never gotten to this magical moment.

So now for the magical moment !

Our son left Buffalo NY in 2007 to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah. When I read my goal statement every day during this darkest time in our lives, I was envisioning us giving our son the money to pay off his college loans on the day he graduated. Every penny from Market America income was going to allow us to do this. However, going into the end of 2011 we knew that we were not going to make that goal, and that was ok because we have learned that goals are meant to be monitored, adjusted, and controlled. Instead of waiting until he graduated in May of 2012 to give him the money that we had accumulated thus far, we decided to give it to him as a Christmas present when he returned home to see his family. If only you could have seen the look on his face when he opened his present and found a deposit slip totaling $24,703.00. He looked up at us and said, "Is this a joke?" and we said it is no joke son, we are so proud of you and we know God has great plans for you and it is our goal for you to start his path for you without any worry of debt. (one moment while I get a Kleenex..... ok I can continue :-)    Well, my son got up and gave each of us the biggest Hug and Thank you that I can EVER remember getting. (ooops need a Kleenex again .. ok this is an emotional story for me). By the end of the week, before he returned to Salt Lake City Utah, we had gone onto the Federal Loans web site and paid off 1/3 of his college loans. Imagine the enormous relief he felt and he looked at us in amazement that we were able to do this even after EVERYTHING that had happened to us in the last 10 years.

You see it is because we tied that knot, we got up each time we fell, and we won the race to our MAGICAL MOMENT !

Thank you JR, Loren, and the corporate team for this magical moment. And I hope you will have had time to read this before Miami so that when you get up on stage you will know in your hearts that it is all worth it. We need you and you need us. Together we will change the world, one magical moment at a time. We will see you at the TOP. Stay Focused and Stay the Course!

Your friend and entrepreneur,

Lynn