Strategies for Building and Retaining a Productive Multilevel Marketing Downline

Most multilevel marketers lose money and quit within the first year of operations because of a lack of effective strategies for building and retaining a productive downline. The purpose of this multiple case study was to apply Cantillon\u27s entrepreneurship theory to explore strategies used by 3 multilevel marketers from 3 different multilevel marketing companies with operations based in New York. Participant selection was purposeful and based on the number of years the participants had been in multilevel marketing and their generated income. Data collection occurred through semistructured interviews with open-ended questions of the participants and a review of company training documents and videos. Data from the interviews and training were examined, and key ideas were documented and analyzed using a 6-step data analysis process, including listing and grouping the collected data, considering all data before reducing or eliminating any, grouping the data by research questions, formulating the data into themes, documenting the experience, and presenting the data findings. Three themes emerged from the data: entrepreneurial mindset, strong leadership and support, and training and development. Adopting strategies described in this study may contribute to social change by increasing the success rate among multilevel marketers, thus reducing unemployment, resulting in more taxable income and increased tax revenue, and producing a positive effect on the economy in New York area

Playing-related musculoskeletal problems in children learning instrumental music: prevalence and associated potential risk factors

731 child instrumentalists were surveyed to establish the 1) prevalence and location of PRMP, and 2) independent association of potential risk factors with PRMP. 67% reported lifetime prevalence of PRMP, 56% monthly PRMP and 30% were unable to play the instrument as usual. The hands and neck were the most commonly reported PRMP locations. Individual factors and music-related factors were significantly associated with PRMP. Understanding potential risk factors will guide intervention initiatives for young instrumentalists

Playing-related Musculoskeletal Problems in Children Learning Instrumental Music: The Association Between Problem Location and Gender, Age, and Music Exposure Factors

Purpose: Playing-related musculoskeletal problems (PRMP) are common in adult musicians, and risk factors include gender, music exposure, and particularly instrument type. Emerging evidence suggests PRMP are common in children and adolescents and that risk factors may be similar. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of PRMP, both symptoms and disorders, and PRMP location in children and adolescents as well as the associations with gender, age, and music exposure factors such as type and number of instruments and playing time. Methods: This study surveyed 731 children (460 females), aged 7 to 17 years, studying instrumental music in government schools in Perth, Australia. Lifetime and monthly symptoms, monthly disorders (inability to play an instrument as usual), and PRMP location were examined. Chi-squared analyses were used to evaluate associations between gender, age, music exposure, and PRMP outcomes. Logistic regression evaluated the independent association of these potential risk factors with PRMP prevalence and location.Results: Sixty-seven percent of students reported PRMP symptoms at some point, 56% reported them within the last month, and 30% reported an inability to play as usual within the last month. After adjustment for gender and age, the type of instrument played (upper and lower strings, woodwind, and brass) was significantly associated with all PRMP (p<0.005) and playing three instruments was protective against monthly symptoms (OR 0.43, p=0.05). The right (24%) and left (23%) hand/elbow and neck (16%) were the most commonly reported PRMP locations, with females affected significantly more than males Prevalence of PRMP increased with age for neck (p<0.001), mid-back (p=0.007), low back (p<0.001), right hand/elbow (p=0.008), and mouth (p=0.011). PRMP prevalence for the left hand/elbow and right and left shoulders demonstrated high rates across all childhood ages. Odds ratios for the risk of PRMP in different locations varied by instrument played. Conclusions: The high prevalence and location of PRMP are important issues for child and adolescent instrumentalists. Gender, age, and music exposure are associated with PRMP risk and need to be addressed to ensure musicians' personal well-being and musical longevity

Soreness during non-music activities is associated with playing-related musculoskeletal problems: an observational study of 731 child and adolescent intrumentalists

Question: Is exposure to non-music-related activities associated with playing-related musculoskeletal problems in young instrumentalists? Is non-music-activity-related soreness associated with playing-related musculoskeletal problems in this group of instrumentalists? Design: Observational study using a questionnaire and physical measures. Participants: 859 instrumentalists aged 7 to 17 years from the School of Instrumental Music program. Results: Of the 731 respondents who completed the questionnaire adequately, 412 (56%) experienced instrument-playing problems; 219 (30%) had symptoms severe enough to interfere with normal playing. Children commonly reported moderate exposure to non-music-related activities, such as watching television (61%), vigorous physical activity (57%), writing (51%) and computer use (45%). Greater exposure to any non-music activity was not associated with playing problems, with odds ratios ranging from 1.01 (95% CI 0.7 to 1.5) for watching television to 2.08 (95% CI 0.5 to 3.3) for intensive hand activities. Four hundred and seventy eight (65%) children reported soreness related to non-music activities, such as vigorous physical activity (52%), writing (40%), computer use (28%), intensive hand activities (22%), electronic game use (17%) and watching television (15%). Non-music-activity-related soreness was significantly associated with instrument playing problems, adjusting for gender and age, with odds ratios ranging from 2.6 (95% CI 1.7 to 3.9) for soreness whilst watching television, to 4.3 (95% CI 2.6 to 7.1) for soreness during intensive hand activities.Conclusion: Non-music-activity-related soreness co-occurs significantly with playing problems in young instrumentalists. The finding of significant co-occurrence of music and non-music-related soreness in respondents in this study suggests that intervention targets for young instrumentalists could include risk factors previously identified in the general child and adolescent population, as well as music-specific risk factors. This is an important consideration for the assessment and management of the musculoskeletal health of young musicians

Delivering Preventive Health Care Information to More versus Less Health-Oriented Consumers: A Comparative Demographic Analysis

Preventive health care (PHC) is the awareness and efforts a person undertakes to enhance and preserve physical, mental, and emotional health for today and future. Although PHC information is widely available, people are not utilizing the information to improve their health. We examine PHC information sources utilized by persons who are more health-oriented vs. less health-oriented. The less health-oriented individuals were identified as: low educational attainment, low income, men, younger age, unmarried, and non-White. A factor analysis produced three primary sources of PHC information sources: print, institutional, and electronic and audio-visual delivery systems. An ANOVA compared how more health-oriented individuals differed from less health-oriented individuals regarding the importance of PHC information sources. As expected, men and unmarried individuals placed less importance on PHC sources information. Younger individuals placed greater importance on institutional and electronic sources of PHC information. Furthermore, non-Whites considered institutional sources of PHC to be more important than Whites, and those without college degrees considered print sources to be more important than those with college degree. There were no differences among income groups

An Attitudinal Analysis of Preventive Health Care Information Users: With Insights from Social Media

As the U.S. health care system continues to restructure itself, an increased emphasis on preventive health care will be a very important component. It is vital that preventive health care information (PHCI) be readily accessible and applied. This research explores the impact of social media as a source for accessing PHCI. Specifically, it examines how individuals rate active vs. passive internet delivery systems (IDS) to gather PHCI. Results of the study indicated that online health forums (active IDS) were the most popular source of PHCI, whereas Facebook and Twitter were most unpopular. On the whole, accessing PHCI via active IDS was strongly linked with those that were PHC oriented, and may become an important source of choice for PHCI

The Role of Social Media and Social Networking as Marketing Delivery Systems for Preventive Health Care Information

The use of social media and social networking (SM&N) is prevalent in health care. Through social media, individuals can access information to enhance their overall health and well-being. Given that prevention is crucial to a long healthy life, as well as restraining escalating health care costs, this study offers insights into the types of social media and networking platforms that health care consumers consider most important, especially with regard to obtaining Preventive Health Care Information (PHCI). Further, it goes on to identify the demographics of persons who consider social media and social networking platforms as most important. This research used an online survey that yielded a sample of 930, whose demographics were comparable to the U.S. population. The results indicated the most important SM&N platforms were traditional digital sources such as WebMD, Wiki’s, and internet search browsers such as Google. Also, prestigious hospitals, such as John Hopkins, MD Anderson, Cleveland Clinic and public health websites were important delivery systems for PHCI. Lastly, social media platforms like Facebook are increasing in importance, while YouTube is used more often by health consumers. Demographically SM&N was most important for (1) those whose employers offered health promotion or wellness programs, (2) those employed part-time, (3) younger health consumers mostly in the 19-24 age group, (4) African-Americans, and (5) single people who have never been married. The next generation of health consumers are expected to make greater use of SM&N platforms to secure their PHCI

Who is Making Lifestyle Changes Due to Preventive Health Care Information? A 10 Year Comparison Study

This paper sought to describe from a set of 6 demographic and 13 lifestyle change variables the person who is significantly and positively impacted by preventive health care information (PHCI). Based on past research, six hypotheses were developed. Three of the six hypotheses were accepted. In addition, there were significant relationships for each of the six demographic variables with at least one of the lifestyle change variables. Those who are seeking and are positively impacted by PHCI are better educated, female, and (depending upon the lifestyle change variable in question) fall into a definite age category. There is partial support that more PHCI-oriented persons are married and have higher income. The most important lifestyle changes emanating from PHCI were “changes in eating habits,” “having periodic physician checkups,” “utilizing nutritional labeling,” and “not smoking.” “Getting regular exercise,” “losing weight,” “consuming less alcohol,” “reducing stress” and “changing sleeping habits,” were associated with the utilization of PHC information, but to a lesser extent

Healthcare Marketing Communication: Media Usage and Psychographic Profiles for Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial Consumers

Abstract Purpose Preventive health care information (PHCI), which functions as a cost-effective or cost-saving means of reducing mortality and improving life quality, also fuels consumer demand for otherwise underutilized preventive medical services, thereby improving profitability for service providers. This study provides healthcare marketing professionals with media usage insights and psychographic profiles useful for developing effective PHCI communication strategies. Design This research is based on questionnaire responses (n = 813). Analysis of the variance (ANOVA) was used to assess and compare the importance consumers assigned to online PHCI sources. Factor analysis was used to determine whether attitude patterns tended to covary. ANOVA was used to compare generations according to five composite factored variables. Findings Institutional websites and internet search engines were among the most important PHCI sources. Millennials assigned significantly greater importance to 20 of the 27 sources. YouTube was the only mainstream social media and networking (SM&N) site to which consumers assigned importance. Five composite factors were identified. Millennials were significantly more likely to report attitudes and behaviors of the “Techy” healthcare consumer (p = 0.000) and “Other-Oriented” healthcare consumer” (p = 0.000). Baby Boomers were significantly more likely to report attitudes and behaviors of the “Responsible” healthcare consumer (p = 0.003) and the “Clinician-Connected” healthcare consumer (p = 0.000). Originality This research offers new insights concerning Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial healthcare consumer use of digital resources to access preventive health care information (PHCI), along with psychographic profiles useful for developing message strategy. Research Implications This study contributes to the body of research concerning health information-seeking behavior (HISB) (Lambert and Loiselle, 2007; Mills and Todorova, 2016). It expands knowledge of online consumer behavior when accessing PHCI and provides psychographic profiles for Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial healthcare consumers. Practical Implications Deeper understanding of consumer attitudes, behaviors, and internet use as related to PHCI has the potential to improve healthcare communications meant to fuel demand for otherwise underutilized preventive health services with the potential to improve provider profitability, positively impact and lengthen consumer lives, bridge gaps in health care access, and reduce reliance on an overtaxed health care system

Preventive Health Care Information Delivery Systems: Is Social Media Relevant?

Preventive Health Care (PHC) is the awareness and efforts a person undertakes to enhance and preserve physical, mental, and emotional health for today and the future. This research examines the importance of online delivery systems as sources of PHC information. It examines how health care consumers respond to various online PHC delivery systems, with a special emphasis on social media (SM). Specifically different demographic groups are compared to determine the importance each group places on various online delivery systems. The results of a survey showed the 35-44 year old group placing the greatest importance of retrieving PHC information online. Older consumers indicated less importance for online delivery systems. Better-educated consumers indicated greater importance for formal online sources of PHC information. Likewise women considered formal sources more important than men. Among ethnic groups, Hispanics considered online sources most important