If you haven’t visited the Club Asteria website in awhile, I suggest you check it out!

We recently did a redesign to the site based on our member feedback – and also because it’s always good to change things up a bit. You’ll notice that the navigation has been improved, and our drop down menus are easier to navigate.

In addition, we have made areas that are popular with Club Asteria members easier to access, and the new organization makes it easier to find exactly what you need to succeed in your business!

The change to the website required a great deal of effort from everyone involved, along with some late nights. In the end, we were very pleased with our efforts, and judging on the feedback we’ve received, that hard work is paying off.

Changing things in your business – or even in your daily routine – requires a lot of work and effort, but change can be very good.

First, changing how your conduct business allows you to take a different look at what’s going on. You may even identify some routines and processes that could be improved. The result is a faster, smarter business that achieves milestones and produces profits.

Another place to change is your product mix, evaluate the sales of your inventory and look to bring in fresh items that attract customer attention. Remember to pair traditional sellers with new products, so one helps the other.

Change can be a scary proposition, but there are plenty of places in the Club Asteria family of websites where you can read about other members’ experiences with change:

• *  Our forum page
• *  The Club Asteria Facebook page
• *  Asteria Connect
• *  Empower Now

There’s no rule that states the changes you make must entail gigantic steps away from your normal operating procedures – instead look to make smaller changes that improve a part of your business.

Wrapping up, a key point to remember is that change requires time, and waiting for something to change requires patience. Map out your changes, and then set an expected time period – this way you won’t be discouraged if things don’t immediately work out.

For more information about this blog post, or to check out the new look on the Club Asteria website, visit us on the Internet!

The goal of Club Asteria is to help our members find financial freedom by taking advantage of the many resources, products and services that we make available at affordable prices.

We realize that running a small business in these trying economic times can be challenging – the competition is fierce and many people are keeping a tighter hold on their money than ever before!

Hard work has always been one of our mottos at Club Asteria, but there are other aspects to the entire picture that we have to recognize, in order for that hard work to pay off in the end.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind when you’re working towards a goal.

Look Back, Look Forward

This might sound like common sense, but many people don’t realize that to see how far they’ve gone, they need to look back. Every day, you’ve made an accomplishment that’s propelled you forward – no matter how small or insignificant it seems, what you’ve done has set you up for where you’re going!

Don’t Be Scared to Dare

Business leaders will tell you that they had plenty of false starts before they found the right project that led to their success. So don’t be afraid to take a chance, that’s the only way you’re going to succeed! Trying new things or strategies can pay off, it’s just a matter of believing in yourself.

Make Amazing Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes, right? When you do something wrong, take the opportunity to learn from it, and you’ll benefit in many ways. Keep a journal and write down what went wrong and how you learned. Remember this, if you’re not making mistakes you’re not trying hard enough.

Look Outside Yourself

Everyone faces the hazard of getting tunnel vision – becoming so engrossed in our own lives that we never look around and observe others. There’s a whole world out there, and it’s full of lessons and information just waiting for you to notice. When we learn from others, we grow and thrive.

Never Stop Learning

As we age, it’s common to think that we’re done learning about life and how the world works. But that’s just not true! There is always something new to learn, and that information could make a big difference in your life. And when you share new information with someone else, you’re helping make the world a better place.

The road of life isn’t always easy, and there’s no guarantee that everyone gets what they want, but as long as you remain open to the people and world around you, the experiences and knowledge you gain will outweigh the negative experiences.

Club Asteria has been adding a variety of new products, tools and resources to all of our sites in the past several months. Hopefully you’ve been able to test some of these out and decide which ones will make the most impact.

I’m sure that during your testing and trials, you may have noticed that some of the products or resources weren’t good fits for your business. Once you identified that, you moved on to the next project.

Identifying strengths and weaknesses of products and resources is vital to the growth of your business. You don’t want to waste time on a product that doesn’t fit the needs of your audience, do you?

We spend a great amount of time judging the positives and negatives of the world we inhabit, but what about ourselves?

Locating and identifying your weaknesses, and strengths, is a vital exercise. Acknowledging what you do well, and what you don’t do well, makes your business stronger, especially if you’re leading people.

The process is simple. Find some time where you can sit alone and not be hassled by the cell phone, computer or laptop. Then be honest with yourself and write down the areas where you excel, and the areas where you’re weak.

Once you’ve established this list, pay attention to your strengths. How are they being used to run your business? Are they being used correctly? For example, say you wrote down “Organized” as a strength. “My office is neat and orderly and my files on the computer are easy to find when a client asks for information.”

Excellent, but are you applying this same strength to other areas like your finances or your ordering process? If not, now is the time to focus on those areas and apply your strength – remember that practice makes perfect! (It also helps you develop your skills to an even higher level!

What about the weaknesses? If you were honest, you probably have a few, and it’s time to get to work on them. In some cases, it might be a lack of knowledge which can be remedied by taking courses. Other weaknesses may not be solved as easily, and if they play a key role in running your business, you may want to hire someone.

For example, say one of your weaknesses is understanding finances and taxes. Instead of educating yourself and purchasing software, you can hire an accountant or book keeper – the cost is set off by the fact that you’ll be able to spend more time growing your business while someone else looks after your financial information

Working on building your strengths, and identifying and correcting your weaknesses, is something corporate and world leaders do constantly. So why shouldn’t you?

Becoming a more rounded individual, and establishing balance translates into a more positive feeling, and that’s always good for business!

Club Asteria’s mission to help people around the world takes on many different appearances.

The participation of our members has allowed us to finance a micro loan and micro credit program that has benefitted thousands of people in underdeveloped countries.

Recently, a small village in eastern Africa was able to take advantage of our micro loan program, and by doing so, they took a gigantic step towards self-sufficiency and a future that was much brighter than its past.

The village had been facing drought conditions for many years, and mismanagement of the land, along with government corruption and a great deal of confusion, had robbed the village of its livelihood – and threatened to turn it into a ghost of its former self.

Approaching Club Asteria, the village elder Addae, applied for a micro loan. The explanation he gave us was startling.

“My village is facing troubled times and without a successful growing season we’ll probably have to uproot and move to another part of the country,” he said. “Many of the younger people are leaving, taking their children with them, and robbing us of an entire generation.”

While he was troubled by the exodus of the younger people, Addae couldn’t blame them. “When you’re unable to feed your children, and you know that there are jobs waiting for you in the cities, it’s almost impossible to stay – plus there’s the promise of an education and modern conveniences waiting in the cities.”

Unfortunately, most of the people who leave for the cities don’t find the dreams they have – instead they’re forced into subpar housing and jobs that are physically demanding and pay very little. In addition, the loss of a new generation puts the very culture of this nation in peril.

A micro loan from our program was approved and Addae received the money he needed. At a village meeting, everyone discussed how best to use these funds – and it was agreed that seeds, animals and equipment should be purchased to bring new life into the fields that had been barren.

The younger people saw that there was hope, and many of them put their plans of moving on hold to help with the planting of the fields. Without having to answer to the government officials, and watch as time-honored planting methods were ignored, the villagers began to see their crops grow and flourish.

The harvest was a success, and in addition to making sure that everyone in the village was fed, the excess was sold and part of the loan was repaid. The remaining profits were invested in a small power plant for the village, and improvements were made to the community well.

Finally, a teacher was hired for the winter months, allowing the children to gain an education without having to leave the village.

“Club Asteria’s program gave my village the hope it needed – and we were able to free ourselves from the constant government intrusion,” said Addae. “Our young people are staying, and telling their friends who moved to the cities to come back, and share in this newfound wealth.”

Cambodia is a place of great beauty and historic significance, and also home to thousands of unexploded land mines that cause untold damage, decades after the war in Southeast Asia.

When you cross over by land from Thailand into Cambodia, you see a row of people with missing limbs, sitting in the dirt. Those that still have hands reach out to you spare change. Those that don’t, simply sit with a bowl in front of them.

Every one has been a victim of land mines. Perhaps they went out into the jungle to pick fruit, or hunt to feed their families. One small step and a life changes forever. There is no rehabilitation, no social safety net. There is no opportunity for prosthetics, and no check from the government. There is just sitting along the border with a bowl in front of them.

A strange thing about the culture of those limbless beggars is that those who have lost the most limbs have more status. A more visible shock engenders a greater amount of spare change.

In addition to the wounded beggars at the border, homeless children roam the streets in Poipet, begging for food and money or picking up the occasional odd job. Often they fall victim to unscrupulous people who take advantage of them. There was one young boy who used black humor to get enough food for him and his friends when I was there.

He came up to me, his arm obviously withdrawn under his shirt to make it look like he had a missing limb. Smiling and in broken English, he said to me, “Please Missus, may I have some money for food? Look at me, I don’t have an arm!” Then his friend came over and pulled his arm out of his shirt playfully, and said, “No, no! Look, he has arm! Give me money instead!”

We all laughed and continued on with this strange game and I rewarded them both with some coins, and then they ran off to the satay vendor down the path for something to eat.

It doesn’t take much to turn the corner in a place like this. With a small amount of money—at least what is a small amount to us—those who would be homeless could make a living for themselves.

I saw rays of hope in the desperation that day. I met women at the bazaar who sold clothing and home-made crafts. I met young men who had purchased motorbikes and offered short-distance rides and delivery services for people in town.

I was able to strike up a conversation with a young lady running a small booth at the bazaar. She was selling handcrafted items carved out of coconut shells, and I looked over and saw her husband doing the carving. Both of his legs were missing and he sat on a small wooden platform. “He used to sit at the border,” she told me, “after the land mine accident.”

These are the people that Club Asteria can help.  A microloan of a few hundred dollars gave her enough capital to rent the booth and acquire initial stock, and soon after, her husband discovered his own talent for carving these delightful items.

Their new micro-loan-funded business had made all the difference—and today they have a clean home, and she confided in me that she plans to surprise her husband with a store-bought wheelchair that will allow them to get around more easily.

Club Asteria supports micro-credit programs to make success stories like this all over the world. It doesn’t take a lot of money to make a huge difference in somebody’s life, and we encourage you to support our efforts to help people like the folks I met in Cambodia have the lives they deserve.

“Heaven never helps the man who will not act”

The quote is from an ancient philosopher, Sophocles, but it still has meaning and impact in today’s world – and also in regard to Club Asteria.

We’ve experienced monumental growth over the last year, and as we’ve gone through this positive experience, we’ve learned valuable lessons. In addition, we’ve also been able to increase our offerings, gain access to new resources and improve the lives of our members, their families and friends.

One of the changes that we wanted to talk about is the Network Director status. Over time, this position has become incredibly powerful and much sought after by Club Asteria members.

To begin, we have announced that starting on August 1, no one will be able to purchase Asterios. Instead, members will earn these, which in turn enhances the opportunity for everyone to achieve the position of Network Director and start to earn additional revenue.

The elimination of being able to purchase Asterios elevates the Network Director position, and guarantees that the leaders in our organization earned their spot through hard work, dedication, and the willingness to help others, not just themselves.

Please note that existing Network Directors will continue to enjoy their honored position with enhanced value of their Asterios and additional income opportunities as well as discounted purchasing opportunities available only to Network Directors.

There are other changes coming in the next several weeks and months – for starters Club Asteria members will have new opportunities to purchase products and services that we’ll be offering, including technology-related items like tablets and computers.

Besides purchasing these items, you’ll also be able to sell them online and in the traditional retail sense, which will open up an entirely new income stream – and a world of opportunity!

Club Asteria is committed to raising the world’s standard of living through entrepreneurship, and raising everyone’s vision to recognize others in need and helping people all over the world that are in dire circumstances.

Stay tuned and continue to keep checking the Club Asteria website and when you sign in, be sure to read the latest News stories that have been posted.

As always, be sure to spread the word to your family, friends and business associates about the many benefits of our organization – that way you’ll be helping yourself, and all of the members of our community!

In today’s world, there are literally millions of organizations and business people who are ready to sell their product or service to you. All of them claim to work and produce immediate results with little effort – but as the old saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”

Club Asteria has been working extremely hard to spread our message to the people of the world. We feel that by providing resources, tools and services to our members, we’re making a difference. Using these tools, our members have been able to create new income streams and improve their lives and the community they live in.

We realize that there are a variety of different choices a person can make when looking to improve their life. That’s why we recently opened up a new website that allows our members to review Club Asteria – no marketing spin here, just the comments and observations of real people.

The address for this site is http://www.club-asteriareview.com/ and when you visit you’ll be able to read what other people have to say about us!

Below are several samples taken from the site:

“I am Abhishek Pandey from Delhi, India. I am a class 10th exceptionally bright student from DPS, RK PURAM, a truly world class school. My father got an account opened for me in Club-Asteria and I became a Network Director. I started going deep into the website of Club-Asteria. I found it amazing and truly world class. Because of Club-Asteria and my higher studies in US, I will be a better citizen and contribute more and more for the betterment of society.”

“I am full of gratitude and admiration for Andrea Lucas for creating an incredible opportunity like Club-Asteria. I tried some networking businesses like AMWAY with my job but failed to make his mark in any of them. Club-Asteria is the only opportunity that full fills my all dreams. This is one business, which transcends the boundaries of race, color, religion, gender and creed. I want to make difference in peoples life as well as my own life.” Bhupendra Singh Rawat

“I’ve been a Gold Member for only two months. With the extra earnings from Club Asteria from just these two months, I no longer need to teach in the evenings. Instead, I use that time to be with my family – making dinner, sharing stories of each day, laughing and smiling. I am happy because I am now able to give back to my community through donating my time and money to our local temple, which provides programs for the elderly. I also help the many impoverished people in Thailand by donating to the people’s shelters and volunteering my working time to them.” Kijti  Chaiyapundi

Club Asteria has improved the lives of countless people around the world, and you can experience the same level of success, just by joining. Our membership is free to everyone, and by upgrading to Silver or Gold level, you’ll be gaining access to high-level tools and resources that produce fast, effective results.

The Indian subcontinent is an exotic success story, home to some of the largest business process outsourcing companies in the world, some of the best technical colleges in Asia, and at least 69 billionaires. But while business journals hail the success of India Inc., there’s still another story to be told.

Microfinance in India is catching on—there are plenty of people in local villages who want to take advantage of it, and perhaps even more importantly, there are plenty of people in the monied class who are willing to fund it. Microfinance works especially well in India because of the way retail works. Although we always hear of big multinational chains wanting to move into the Indian market, the majority of retail is still informal—that is, most shops are very small, specialized, and run by family members. Unlike in the U.S., where you need an expensive storefront and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of inventory, somebody in India can launch a small, informal retail shop with a relatively small amount of money. That start-up capital can easily be provided with microfinance.

Take the case of a young jewelry maker named Gulab, who has a talent for putting together beautiful necklaces. Never having finished high school, she was sent to work by her parents early on in a bidi factory, rolling the small, hand-rolled cigarettes in a tiny factory for less than a hundred rupees a day, to help support her family. The factory was actually one small room in the upstairs portion of an apartment building in Kolkata, where some twenty young people labored for ten hours a day in the stifling heat, with just one ancient electric fan to cool the entire room.

When the boss wasn’t looking one day, she started folding the cigarette papers into elaborate shapes and chaining them together into necklaces. She was caught, and was beaten for her trouble—but the necklace was a thing of beauty. She had a talent and an eye for design. She never made jewelry out of the cigarette papers again, but whenever she could get her hands on a few beads, she would save them in a tin box, and when it was full, she would beg her mother for a spool of thread, and string them together in wonderful patterns. She always felt good about herself when she would make one of her creations, but nobody, not even her parents, believed she would ever be able to make any money at it. She started to believe that maybe her parents were right, and her destiny was to work in the sweatshop. She was discouraged, but one day she got up enough courage to offer one of her necklaces to a tourist that was wandering through the village, and she was presented with two American dollars—almost a full day’s wages at the bidi factory! She was uneducated, but smart enough to know where her future would be, if only she could get enough money to invest in some beads and a small push cart. When she heard of a microfinance opportunity from some of the village elders, she got some help in applying, and was fortunate enough to be able to make her plea in person and show her talent with some attractive hand-made jewelry. With an initial microfinance investment of 4,500 rupees – about US$100 – she was able to get everything she needed. She was able to pay back the loan in just a few months, and today is enjoying her new life as a jewelry vendor. Now she’s able to help out her whole family, not only by putting some more nutritious food on the table every day, but she’s also training her younger sister to make jewelry, so the cigarette factory is a thing of the past for Gulab and her whole family. And she’s set a new goal for herself—she wants to save up for a motorbike!

Club Asteria is proud to support microcredit programs the world over. We’re always encouraged when we hear of success stories like this one becoming a reality all over the developing world. Small money can make a big difference—and we at Club Asteria encourage you to support our efforts to help people like Gulab achieve their dreams.

Life in the interiors of India is a difficult one, despite the miracle of the country’s economic resurgence. This has always been the paradox of India’s development that while the cities glittered with their malls and multiplexes, one just had to drive some hundred kilometers into the countryside to see a different picture. Small huts with thatched roofs, a dilapidated school building, flickering lanterns or some electric lamps run with generators and a patina of poverty hovering over everything—it’s not a pretty picture.

It was while I was traveling from Chennai to Madurai that I came across this tiny village. India never ceases to amaze me with the diversity of language and culture in the many regions and the multifaceted lifestyles in every district and state. Tamil Nadu is fairly prosperous, but still has its problems of illiteracy, lack of potable drinking water and low living standards. Women have to walk more than 10 miles every day to get drinking water from the nearest well.

The mooing of cows and the clucking of hens echo through the small streets of this village. In one of the huts lives Ammu and her family; her husband, two small sons and her old parents. Living is hard as her husband Ramanan is a farm laborer without a steady income. He is also an alcoholic drinking away the little that he earns. Ammu weaves baskets but it is a battle for survival that is waged every day in the small family. Much as she wants it, Ammu is unable to send her sons to the local school to get an education. Though she is illiterate, she is bright enough to understand the value of getting an education.

It was the teacher at the local government school who met Ammu and her family and spoke to them about microfinance and how it had helped thousands of poor families to earn more and live a life of dignity and hope. He had seen an advertisement and also met with the representative of a Chennai-based micro lending group. His words revived Ammu’s dream of buying some cows and supplying milk to the government cooperative in the next village. With the teacher’s help, she managed to fill the form and get the loan. With the aid of a microloan of around 20000 Indian Rupees (about $450), Ammu realized her dream.

The 4 cows were tethered in the backyard and within one week, Ammu was well on her way to a better life. She had bought the large aluminum containers at the local market with whatever was left of the money and a bicycle. She learned how to milk the cows from her father and how to ride the bicycle from Ramanan. Filled with hope, she took  the containers with the sweet, fresh milk from her own cows and cycled to the milk collection center every day to sell it. She would then cycle back with the notes rustling inside her small, cloth purse, a sign of better things to come.

Microloans are small loans by Western standards, but are enough to change the lives of many in the poor or developing countries. Ammu’s sons now go to school and her mother has a new pair of spectacles. Her father happily looks after the 4 cows and Ammu has now returned her loan and plans to buy 2 more. The future looks bright and all because of a small amount of money and a dream.

Club Asteria helps the realization of such dreams and brings hope and joy to millions around the world. Join us today and become part of this inspiring effort to help those in need.

Hi, I’m Andrea Lucas, Managing Director of Club-Asteria. Club-Asteria is an online global membership organization that provides education, business opportunities, e-commerce and innovative programs to empower our members.  Please visit our site at www.club-asteria.com to learn about our programs and services and our goals for the future and read about our philanthropic activities in the News.

I have now started the series of blogs so I can share my views and experiences with all of my family and friends and the extended community of people that are interested in global affairs.

Everything in my life that I have lived through – both good and bad, has brought me to this moment in time.  I now have the ability to contribute to some of society’s most critical and pressing issues – the plight of hundreds of millions of people that still live in poverty despite the advances in our social network and technology.  Human beings just like you and I who don’t enjoy the simple advantages of clean drinking water, reliable electricity, adequate shelter, the simplest of health care, food and education.

As I have traveled the world in my position in the financial community I have experienced first- hand this injustice and tragedy of humanity.  My life today is dedicated to not only sharing the plight of these undeserved people of the world but more importantly to serve as a catalyst of change to truly benefit their individual lives.  I hope that you will enjoy reading about my many experiences and the people I meet and can lend support to.

My blogs will touch on a variety of subjects, from e-commerce to financial support to philanthropic assistance to most importantly, education that can benefit each of the individuals and families that we are seeking to help.