Shane & Dana Douglas

There’s a small town in Idaho call Priest River with a population of about 1,600. Wherever you go, people are likely to know your name and what you do. It’s a great place to raise your children, but as many people who grew up in a small town know can tell you, it’s not really a hub for great business opportunities.

That is, unless you can create a great business from home. From this tiny rural community, Shane Douglas has developed a home-business empire with profits that rival bigger, city-based companies. While you could easily run into Shane watching his son or daughter’s basketball game on a weekday afternoon, you’d probably never guess he is also running a global business that currently operates in 19 countries-and continues to earn money as Shane spends his afternoon cheering on the kids from the sidelines.

As an independent associate with ACN, Shane provides access to an array of services, like cell phone, video phone, VoIP, home phone, and Internet, through a team of distributors worldwide. He makes income every time a customer in his organization pays one of their service bills, though it doesn’t cost anything extra for the customers to use the services through Shane. “We offer wireless phone service through every major carrier,” he explains. “If you want Verizon service, you can have it. I make a residual income every time someone pays their cell phone bill-that’s pretty powerful. You don’t do anything differently, you just sign up through ACN without any added expense to the customer.” They can even access customer service directly through the carrier, so Shane doesn’t spend all day fielding customer inquiries.

Shane has always been an entrepreneur at heart, but ACN is the only opportunity he’s found that allows him the time freedom to enjoy the income he makes. “Before network marketing, I came from a traditional business background,” he explains. “I owned two appliance stores and a construction company. I made plenty of money but I was ‘time broke.’ In traditional business, you can be your own boss, but you’re going to be the most overworked, underpaid employee there is. Hobbies aren’t an option.”

Tired of putting all his time and energy into his traditional business, Shane looked to network marketing for a way out and eventually found ACN. “With ACN, I saw a way to leverage my time and earn a residual income. Network marketing lets me make more money doing less work. I have the ability to generate a residual income through every communications bill you have, on a monthly basis,” he says.

While his business is in the technology industry, Shane stresses it doesn’t require him to be tech-savvy to run a successful business with ACN. “You don’t have to have technological skills to be involved in the technology industry. If you did, I couldn’t do it. The company does all the technological work for you,” he explains. ACN provides new distributors with the tools and support they need to get their businesses off the ground, and all the material is available online 24 hours a day.

ACN’s service products are state-of-the-art, including their brand new video phone service, which Shane says will skyrocket over the next few years: “All the studies say it will replace phone service as we know it in the next two to three years. Think about it-video phone allows you to see the other person you are talking to anywhere in the country. How many parents send their children off to college every year and would love to see them every day? With this service, it’s possible. This service brings together families that live thousands of miles apart.”

Shane’s average day is spent working with other members of his team and helping them to become just as successful as he has been with the business. He is also able to build his team with like-minded people, which means he’s working only with individuals he knows have the drive and desire to succeed.

“I have the ability to work with just the people I want to work with. A lot of the people I work with now, I just show them exactly what I did in my business,” he says, explaining it’s not about recruitment, but building relationships with the people he already works with. “We work with fewer people for a longer amount of time. It takes less people to make more money with this business.” That allows Shane to focus on helping others in his group grow their businesses through personal development.

“The best part is being able to see people succeed, when they reach that pinnacle of earning more money than they ever thought was possible,” Shane says. “You’re changing people’s lives. That becomes more important than the money, because the money is still coming every month.”

The ACN model also allows him to be more flexible with his time, something he’s happy to take full advantage of while raising his two children, 15-year-old Tyler and 12-year-old Karly. “I’m able to go out to watch their sporting events or school functions, and I’m often the only father out there in the middle of the day-all of the other fathers are working traditional jobs. I know the other fathers want to be there, but their jobs just don’t allow it,” Shane explains. “It would be weird for [my kids] not to see me there.”

Shane knows his business has had a powerful-and positive-impact on the kids and is proud they are empowered to take control of their own futures, “My kids have only ever really seen me be a business owner. They see there’s opportunity to do what they want to do; they’re not in an employee-mindset. They know they will have the power to make decisions-but the money I make is what provides those choices,” he says.

His residual income also makes it possible for Shane’s wife, Dana, to be fully involved in the community, in addition to their children’s lives at home. “She’s a stay-at-home mom and loves it,” he says. “Dana gets to really interact with the children. She’s very involved with the community and the school system; she’s the head of every sports club or PTO group-she’s busier that I am, I think.”

Being able to provide for his family and still be around to enjoy life with them encourages Shane to share ACN with others. “Technology changes every day, so there are always additional opportunities in this industry,” he says. “Our business model isn’t about selling-it’s a personal development program that pays you. Each year, I like to pick a person or two I can work directly with and help change their lives.”