Of which Generation are you a member? By Paul Morris

Of which Generation are you a member?

And the generation of which you must become a member!

How you market your product or service depends on the generation of that person to whom you are marketing.

However, equally important is what generation YOU are!

Just make sure YOU are an “Entreprennial”. A what? We will cover that at the end of this article.

Being an owner of a Network Marketing company, I have been forced to study all of the various generations and their characteristics in order to know the best way to market to them. As you may know there are certain age groups that have been given generational labels.

Those born between 1925 and 1945 have been labeled the Silent Generation. The generation prior to the silent generation was called the Greatest Generation by famous Broadcaster, Tom Brokaw.

Those born between 1946 and 1964 are known as the “Baby Boomer” Generation, and those born between 1965 and 1979 are called “Generation X” or the “Baby Busters”.

Originally the next generation following Generation X, was Generation Y, also called the “Millennials” but many of the actual Millennials did not Identify with a lot of the published characteristics so they created a new designation for those caught in the middle.

So, although the “Millennials” are considered to be those born between 1980 and 1994, they have created a new label of “Xennials” to encompass those born between 1975 and 1985. The unique thing about Xennials is they had analog childhoods and digital adulthoods having to learn how to bridge the gap.

The up and coming generation that is producing consumers coming of age and representing purchasing power are the “Gen Z” or “iGen”, Generation born between 1995 and 2012.

Note: Each author on this subject has variations of the exact beginning and ending years, except that they all agree on the baby boomer generation.

So, what determines the moniker that each generation is labeled with? Is it a specific number of years? No. It depends on what was happening in the world when that generation was born.

It has more to do with manual work versus automated, or robotic. Analog versus digital. Offline versus online. Cocooning versus interactive. Disconnected or connected. Country at war or at peace. Made in the USA versus outsourced. Did you “roll up” your car window or did you hold down a button, or just press a button once and it continued to open automatically? Did you crank the Victrola and listen to the mechanically produced sound from needle in the track of the 78 RPM record through a large horn, or did you place a stylus on the 33 1/3 rpm record and listen to analog electronically produced music? Or did you listen to music played from a roll of ¼” metallic coated mylar tape? Or maybe you listened to an 8-track tape cartridge. But many of you do not even know what I am talking about since you grew up in the digital age of CD’s and then I-Pods and MP3 players.

Early Baby Boomers had no television and when they finally got one it was black and white and received only three channels during the afternoon and early evening.

Todays children are growing up in homes with LED or OLED TV’s in every room of the house with 250 to 500 channels from which to choose 24 hours a day.

I had to turn a crank on my telephone, which was an oak box on the wall and holding an ear piece against my ear lean forward and speak into a microphone when the operator answered and verbally give her the three to five-digit number I was calling. Maybe you grew up “dialing” the number you were calling, and others reading this pressed the numbered button on your digital Dialpad. And now this generation simply says, “Call Heidi” and Heidi answers her cell phone. All of these are factors that shape each generation’s world view and cause them to think the way they think and act the way the act.

The subtleties of character for each generation are far too great for this article so I highly recommend googling (something Baby Boomer’s never did growing up. They had to go to the local library.

{LOL) the various generations and learning about each one. However, if you are in doubt, you can simply ask your prospect how they prefer to get their information delivered to them, some may say “Mail it to me.” Others will say email it to me, while others say, “Send me a private Facebook Message, and yet others will say, TEXT ME!” So, in general you can email baby boomers and text millennials, but to be sure of their preference, simply ask.

Xennials are great prospects as they are not as cynical or depressed as the GenXer’s or overly optimistic like the Millennials; they are a perfect balance.

Millennials’ are great prospects as they experienced the largest economic crash since the great depression in 2008 and saw their parent’s jobs disappear and are open to having their own ONLINE business and they are all connected to one another via social media.

Baby boomers are still great prospects as many of them have a great work ethic that many of the recent generation do not have and are now retired or will be retiring soon and will still have spending power and the time to build a business and the incentive as many of them realize they have a lot of good years left in them and not enough money to enjoy life like they would like to. Many Baby Boomers, through job changes, mergers, acquisitions and company bankruptcies have lost their pensions and do not want to settle for just their social security check.

But enough of all the various labels of which you have no control over. Let’s look at YOUR GENERATION. And I am talking about a new definition of a generation of which you can become a participant because it does not matter when you were born or your age today, It is based on YOUR MINDSET.

Choose to be an “Entreprennial”.

An “Entreprennial” is a person who has chosen to be an entrepreneur regardless the period in which they were born.

Entreprennials’ span all generations and embrace all cultures, races and creeds.

I have officially coined this expression to describe the perpetual or “Perennial” “Entrepreneur”. Entrepreneur + Perennial = “Entreprennial”

If someone asks, “Are you a Millennial?” You say, “No, I am an Entreprennial?” “What’ that?” You answer, “I am a perennial entrepreneur!” In the world of gardening, annual plants die and need to be replaced every year, (we all have a few distributors like that), yet perennial plants keep on growing and produce every year, after year.

So, choose to be an “Entreprennial”. Learn your audience, tailor your presentations to each generation and keep on producing year after year and you will have become a successful “Entreprennial!”

The middle class is vanishing and soon we will have those who are very successful and those who are broke and looking for a handout.

Helping others become “Entreprennials” through Network Marketing can bridge the generation gaps, erase cultural differences that are dividing our nation and pull our country back together by getting as many as possible on to the same team with the same dream of success and financial independence.

Start sharing your business with a passion like there is no tomorrow. The future of our country may depend on it.

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Paul Morris

Paul Morris is a top network marketer and trainer who has been building marketing organizations for the last 50 years. He is known as the mentor’s mentor. He is a former Amway Executive Diamond and has been #1 in the nation with several network marketing companies. Paul has used the principles taught in this lesson to build several organizations to in excess of fifty and one hundred thousand distributors. One organization was approaching one half million distributor/customers. Paul has held monthly volumes in his downline organization alone in excess of 15 million dollars per month. Many people ‘practice what they preach,’ but it is said of Paul, that Paul ‘preaches what he practices’ and has practiced his entire life. Paul can be reached at 954 818-0665 or via email at paulmorrisfl@yahoo.com or www.healthandwealthwithpaul.comPaul’s hobby is growing organic vegetables in his own back yard. He encourages people to “grow what they eat and eat what they grow.”On the social/spiritual side of life Paul has spent much of his free time in Scouting, Jail and Prison Ministry and other outreach ministries. He is happily married and the father of three children and has seven grandchildren. Whether it is a group of 14 in a living room or a crowd of 14,000 in an auditorium, Paul is sure to have them laughing, crying, and ultimately motivated and inspired to become all of that which they are capable of becoming. Paul’s philosophy is that success in this industry is not measured by the dollars you earned but rather by the lives you have touched and influenced in a positive way.