"Master of the Deal: An Entrepreneur's Inside Story: How Paul Pilzer Made Millions Using Network Marketing," by Peg Varone, Success Magazine, June 1997.

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More on
Paul Zane Pilzer:

"Healthy, Wealthy... and Wired," by Lisa Cilva Ward, House of Business Magazine, April 2001.

"Young and Rich: Making a Million by 30," Dallas Life Magazine Dallas Morning News, May 27, 1984.


Zane Publishing/ Amway Catalog of CD-ROMs for Home Use, 1995


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would be a good fit for our distributors and customers," says Bill Gerst, Amway's merchandise manager.  "Many have school-age children."  On March 28, 1996, Amway agreed to carry the CD-ROMs, securing the right to keep selling them if he goes out of business.
     The product was launched the following July with a catalog that included 180 CD-ROMs covering half the curriculum of grades K through 12, including 24 in biology, 42 in history, and 34 in literature.  Each CD-ROM sold for $15.  A "family pack" of 132 was priced at $1,000.  It became the surprise top seller.
     Amway also connected Pilzer with other CD-ROM publishers, including Logos Research Systems, a major religious publisher, and Kaplan Educational Centers, which publishes preparatory material for standardized assessment tests.  Today Zane manufactures those companies' CD-ROMs and distributes them through Amway, paying the companies a royalty on sales.

REACT QUICKLY TO MARKET TRENDS
     Another potential "windfall," in Pilzer's words, arose when major textbook publishers noticed a new trend.  Increasingly, school administrators are allowing teachers to select computer software, rather than buying a bundle of programs for the whole district.  A typical school publisher's sales force of fewer than 500 is hard pressed to reach the country's 2.75 million teachers.  A number of companies, including Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall, decided to allow Amway distributors to sell Zane CD-ROMs directly to teachers and schools.
     The market is young.  Many schoolrooms don't have computers, or they have outdated models without CD-ROM drives.  "Schools are inching forward," says Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers.  "To most of our members, technology still means getting a telephone."
     But it is undeniably a growing market.  To help distributors reach it, Zane put out a school catalog in
 

  January.  Amway distributors pitch teachers on how the CD-ROMs can save time.  With a few points and clicks, a teacher can print instant quizzes.
     In nine months of selling, Amway distributors accounted for a third of Zane's sales.  So far, 100,000 Amway distributors in the United States have bought the CD-ROMs, he estimates, and of those, 30,000 are actively selling them.
     Pilzer says Zane's sales have increased from about $300,000 in 1994 to $6.5 million in 1996.  He estimates that more than 10 million CD-ROMs have been sold to date.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER
     In January Zane was acquired by Zane Interactive Publishing Inc., a public company that had raised capital for an Internet product that never materialized.  A secondary offering planned for the third quarter of 1997 is designed to raise $10 million to build distribution channels, says Pilzer, who now receives a $12,000 monthly salary and owns 19 percent of the company.  He recently left his CEO position to act as publisher and chairman, which gives him more contact with children and teachers.
     "I spend half my week listening to them--reading their letters, calling them up," he says.  "I'm the one who has to ensure that the product works in educating children before it gets into the marketplace."  Last year he became an Amway distributor in the Yagers' and Don Held's downline.  "Many people I meet want to get titles, and the least expensive way is through Amway," he says.
     Pilzer's previous careers have lasted five to seven years.  "I'm two years overtime," he says, "I can honestly say I don't see an end in sight."
     "Everything I've done in life that has been worth doing, I faced rejection in at the outset.  It used to be painful.  Now I revel in it.  It means I'm reaching for the stars.  Go after the thing worth going after--not the things others think you deserve!"
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The Next Millionaires
Explains how you can become of the the ten million new millionaires that will be created between 2006-2016.
 
The New Health Insurance Solution
How to get cheaper, better health insurance from birth to old age without an employer plan.
 
The New
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How to make a fortune in the next trillion dollar industry--preventative medicine and wellness.
   

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God Wants You To Be Rich
Explains how our economic system is based on our biblical heritage, and you can prosper materially and spiritually.

Fountain of Wealth
Award-winning 6 CD (or cassette) audio series explains the new opportunities for  creating wealth in the 21st century.

Other People's Money
Pilzer's first book, exposing the S&L Crisis and the history of savings in America
   
Unlimited Wealth
Pilzer's seminal work explaining how we live in a world of unlimited physical resources because of rapidly advancing technology.
 
The Next Trillion
Why the wellness industry will exceed the $1 trillion health care (sickness) industry in the next ten years
 
Real Estate Review
Collection of articles on the guidelines for success in commercial real estate investments
   
   
The Wellness Revolution
How to make a fortune in the next trillion dollar industry-- preventative medicine and wellness.
     
 
   
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