Many people try to make money. However, goods exchanged for labor always have limitations and are unstable. In his book “Rich Dad’s 21st Century Business,” world-renowned best-selling author ‘Robert Kiyosaki’ proposed an alternative, which is network marketing business. The author introduced the core values of network marketing and expressed that no matter how difficult the economic situation is, real businessmen discover abundant economic opportunities and run their own businesses.

▲ First Korea / Chairman Lee Dae-gyu

Why First Korea?

On February 16, First Korea held its grand opening ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of the Dragon City Hotel in Yongsan, Seoul, with more than 500 members in attendance. The official event, which took place just over a month after the company began full-scale operations in January, attracted attention as the fastest mover of any new network marketing company in Korea. The event, which was held under the slogan, “The secret to your beautiful future is here,” was attended by Chairman Lee Dae-gyu and CEO Kim Kyu-seop, as well as the main pillars of the business, Representative Yoo Jang-chun, Representative Bae Jin-man, Representative Yang Jae-min, Representative Lee Sung-gung, Representative Jeong Chang-yoon, Representative Jung Chang-yoon, and Representative Park Man-ho. At the event, CEO Kim Kyu-seop shared his vision for the business, outlining plans for 2024 and announcing new product launches. Kim said “We will hold a Success Academy for Bronze to Ruby members in March, a Leadership Academy for Diamond members in April, a cosmetics launch in May, an overseas leadership promotion in June, and our first convention on 30 August at Incheon INSPIRE Entertainment Resort. I am confident that the convention will be attended by 10 or 20 times more people than the 500 people who attended the opening today. For all of our future promotions, we will listen to the opinions of our operators to select the most suitable ones.” Chairman Lee Dae-gyu said “Our skincare brand LEVMER, which will launch in May, is a product that will give wings to our business. We are meticulously preparing for the launch. We also have introduced five products based on Meloxira, a single-celled organism that belongs to the diatom family of microalgae isolated from Jeju lava seawater. Meloxira is a diatom with an unusual cell wall structure and is known to contain rich nutrients, as well as seven non-silicon minerals, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, chlorophyll, and fucoxanthin.”

Partners and sponsors

Representative Yang Jae-min said “To do well in business, you need attitude, positivity, eagerness, mental and hard work, which are the success factors in network marketing. Education is also important, and you need to have a system to boost your energy.” Representative Bae Jin-man said “Facial expression, confidence and time management are the skills of success and we must be grateful to everyone.” Representative Yoo Jang-chun said “Sharing a lot of rejection and seeing organizations grow and break has taught me how to succeed. If you ask me how to succeed, I would say that you have to be a leader, you have to show leadership, and most importantly, you have to be the hero and you have to be the success.” The ceremony also included the recognition of new positions. It was eye-catching to see so many new hires within a month of opening for business. Representative Bae Jin-man who earned Red Diamond said “I am lucky, delighted, and miraculously blessed to have found First Korea. I will never forget how grateful I am to our partner representatives for sharing the difficult decisions and choices with me.” Representative Yoo Jang-chun who earned Crown said “I’ve never been one to shout my title challenge. But I have a new goal: to become a Crown Royal. I’m going to work with everyone to get to Crown Royal.”

Respect!

First Korea was founded on October 20, 2023, signed a contract with the Korea Special Sales Financial Cooperation Association on December 1, and registered as a network marketing company No. 942 to Seoul Metropolitan City on December 5. First Korea, which sells cosmetics and health foods, has established a vision of “The First” (toward the best value), “The Only” (a unique opportunity to change lives), and “The Best” (promising the best partnership), and is creating a new twist on traditional network marketing. First Korea’s founding chairman, Lee Dae-gyu, is a mythical figure in the Korean and international network marketing industry. He said “I wanted to change the paradigm of network marketing by ditching the old way of thinking and replacing it with respect and service to one another. I wanted to learn from the successful role models around me and drive to the day when everyone is first.” First Korea is a company that Lee has built with a solid team of leaders who have been nurtured by his thousands of experiences and know-how to succeed. They have analyzed current retail consumption trends, selected products with excellent consumer and business performance, and validated manuals to maximize delivery. They complemented and maximized all the existing network marketing advantages and disadvantages, designed a compensation plan optimized for the field, created a solid system for company management and brand marketing with the best team of experts in each field, and created the best training system to accelerate business replication and expansion. Lee said “I didn’t start this business to sell things. I wanted to create a healthy lifestyle, share dreams and goals with my partners, and share wealth-building techniques. I believe that growing a distribution company requires a well organized system of sponsors and partners. To provide a wider range of opportunities for First Korea distributors, the compensation plan will include a matrix structure in addition to the binary base structure, promising to give everyone a fair chance.” One of First Korea’s strengths is that its leaders are young, active entrepreneurs in their 30s, which makes for a progressive, sophisticated business. As a result, young entrepreneurs are flocking to the company, and the dynamic and energetic vibe is likely to have a significant sales impact going forward.

First for first!

There is a saying, “If you want to be rich, stand in line next to the rich.” Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com and one of the originators of Ethernet, defined the value of a network as an equation. He derived that the economic value (V) of a network is proportional to the square of the number of network users (N). It’s not just the product that has power. The real power is in the network. The best strategy for getting rich, he said, is to learn how to build a network that is strong, developable, and ever-growing. This is because the value of a network grows exponentially as the number of users increases. That’s why he emphasizes learning the business of building a lasting, growable network with the most power. Lee shared the birth and history of First Korea, the importance of relationships with partners and sponsors, and his mid- to long-term vision. He always humbly expressed his determination to listen to the voices of business owners and play on the front lines. He showed his desire to make First Korea a top company for 10, 30, and 100 years, just as he was a top networker himself. “I will meticulously review and simulate the smallest details. I will lead First Korea to solve existing problems with concrete plans and sustainable alternatives, not vague hopes and short-term gains for the hundreds of thousands of networkers and millions of consumers that keep our industry alive. First Korea’s leadership is a horizontal relationship. It is cooperation, not competition, diversity, not homogenization, and teamwork, not dogmatism. Through this, we will create overwhelming results. I want to build a company that is respectful and non-authoritarian, not just high in revenue. I will lead the way in creating a great culture of empowering each other until the day First does First.”