Monthly Archives: December 2009

December 30, 2009

The Real Truth About Network Marketing-It Ain’t Easy

Hard Work
Image by Christolakis via Flickr

As we head into a new year many of you are thinking about what to do next, how to make the extra income that you need to pay the bills, go on vacation, pay for your child’s school trip or football dues. Many of you reading this are already aware of network marketing and have been working hard to be successful at it. Some of you have been in network marketing and quit because it just wasn’t for you (your words not mine). And then there are those of you who have no clue what network marketing is and assume that the nice gentleman who just left you a message is a telemarketer and works for some large corporation that pays him by the hour.

Network Marketing (the Denise Lee definition)

Network marketing is a business model based on the tell-a-friend concept of marketing. A company has a product or service to sell and instead of spending millions on Super Bowl commercials or glossy magazine ads, they enlist people like you and I to spread the word about their product. We are paid a percentage of the sale price for our services. We go out and find customers by calling leads, advertising online and offline, and marketing via Twitter, FaceBook and other “social media” avenues.

The second (and honestly probably the most important) part of network marketing is building your team. The idea here is that instead of you personally going out and selling a million dollars worth of product, you build a team of ten or ten thousand; this makes achieving that million dollars in sales for the company a whole lot easier and then the company rewards you by paying you a percentage of your teams’ sales too.

Well that all sounds pretty darn pedestrian and maybe you still can’t see why anyone would want to do MLM instead of a job. The third and most exciting component of network marketing is residual income. There is usually a monthly fee or minimum auto ship requirement that each person on your team must fulfill to remain active. One part of your residual income is the percentage that you get from this monthly payment. The other part comes from your customers who are also paying a monthly fee for your services or are on auto ship with your products.

Between selling, recruiting and residual income you can see how/why there are people making anywhere from 500 to 50K plus dollars a month just doing network marketing. No wonder network marketers are so damn passionate about what they do. Husbands buy wives their dream homes and wives have been known to bring husbands home for good!

Network Marketing – The Good , The Bad & The Downright Ugly

The truth about network marketing is that (even for people who have spent years being successful in sales) it just ain’t all that easy. Network marketing is a huge paradigm shift because if you act like an Encyclopedia salesman and bully, cajole, or force people into buying your product or joining your business – the next month, poof, they are gone and so is any possibility of earning residual income from them.

This is a true people business and you have to provide value to your team members and customers in so many ways – from having a viable product that does what it says to providing training and support to your team. Network marketing is all about faith and if you don’t believe in yourself, your company, or the product and service you market – then you will FAIL.

I’ll cover more about the bad and the downright in part two (you know I hate posts that go past 500 words LOL) but as the New Year approaches and you start thinking about getting into network marketing (or getting out of network marketing) remember this it may not be EASY, but if you are consistent, persistent and downright tenacious – it is most certainly WORTH IT.

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December 22, 2009

Part Two: Applying The Four Agreements to Your Business & Life

Presents under the tree, courtesy of my residual income check

Merry Christmas To You & Yours!

In my last post I discussed two of Don Miguel Ruiz’s “The Four Agreements” and how they can be applied to your life and business.  I was not surprised by some of the responses to my last post since at one point or another,  we all have trouble getting out of ourselves and interacting “correctly” with others. The first two agreements tell us that our work is always with ourselves in that we have to be impeccable with our word & we must not take what others do personally – remember you aren’t the center of the universe and everything is not about you.

Don’t Make Assumptions

Making assumptions wouldn’t be so bad if you acknowledged that “yes, I am making an assumption which may be an incorrect reading of this person or situation”; that never happens, you and I make assumptions every day, believing that each assumption is the truth.  And because we approach people and things in this way, we create drama out of nothingness.

One of the incorrect assumptions one can make in the weight loss business is that if you hand someone your business card, you’re insinuating that they’re fat and need your product. So you assume that it would be insulting to even approach people and you just keep it to yourself.  How much money can you make doing that?

Consider if you will the state of matrimony, starry eyed brides and grooms make a big assumption – they each assume that the other holds the exact same views that they do!  This leads to many problems down the road because each assumes that the other should know what they want, what they are thinking from one moment to the next, what their expectations are! The road to divorce is paved with incorrect assumptions; the road to a long and happy marriage is paved with incorrect assumptions which were then clarified because one or the other of you asks a question such as “Do you mind if I play poker with the guys every other Friday night?”. In some relationships it may be assumed that if there was a poker or girls nite out before,  then marriage won’t interfere with that. hmmm.

“Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.”

Always Do Your Best

“Your best is going to change from moment to moment, it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”

To live a happy, healthy, and  productive life you must always do your best.  Doing your best puts you on the up side of your  slight edge and keeps you moving forward in a positive direction.  Face it you aren’t always going to remember to be impeccable with your word – your sister will call and you will suddenly find yourself gossiping about your brother’s new girlfriend or you and a co-worker may engage in a water-cooler talk about a fellow employee.  Sometimes when you are in the middle of a sales or prospecting call you will forget that it’s not about you, you will take something personally, and then you will find yourself unable or unwilling to do another call. And yes of course you will make assumptions – you’ll assume that someone is unapproachable when they aren’t, or that your new husband’s parents don’t like you, or that someone is flirting with your girl, when in reality  they are just being nice.

Christmas is a bad time for a lot of people. I have never understood this. Why are you stressed? Do you tense up just thinking about Christmas dinner? Are you approaching the season with joyful anticipation or intense  trepidation?

Relax, be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions about the presents that you give  or the presents that you receive, just enjoy the season and do the best that you can at all of these things.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all!

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December 18, 2009

Applying The Four Agreements to Your Business & Life

The Four Agreements
Once upon a time I worked for a Fortune 500 company and was very unhappy. You see I was a dedicated worker who put in many hours and got the job done, but all anyone seemed to care about was my attitude!

Listen, I’m West Indian, we are born with attitude, we don’t sugarcoat things – not because we don’t know how to, but because we don’t know why we should lie when the truth is as plain as my very broad nose.

I live in the South and at the time felt unloved and misunderstood by my coworkers and managers; I wanted to be successful in my corporate career because I didn’t know any better. So my sister gave me this book “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz and when I  read it something clicked. I typed up the four agreements and pinned them to the wall of my cubicle where I could see them everyday.

Did I become an overnight success? Did the CEO send me flowers? Did I get a big raise?  No, but that wasn’t the point was it? The point was to feel good about myself and radiate that out to those around me. In this I was successful, because I was able to separate what was about me from what was about them – most of the time.

If you are a network marketer or internet marketer or in direct sales, I believe that The Four Agreements should be a part of your life too.  After all we attract what we are, and if you are a lying, cheating so and so, or are afraid to pick up the phone, or can’t bring yourself to approach anyone about your business because they might say “No”-  well….

Be Impeccable With Your Word

Don Miguel says that by adhering to just this First Agreement you will create “heaven on earth” for yourself.  He also says that your word is the power that you have to create (for better or worse) the events in your life. Impeccable means “not liable to sin or  incapable of sin”. To be impeccable with your word you must “Speak with integrity, say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love “

I think that, for the marketer, being impeccable with your word  could also mean to not make outlandish promises or tell lies about your product, service or business opportunity.  You know things like “make money in your sleep”?

Don’t Take Anything Personally

The Second Agreement was and still is probably the most relevant for me. We are all narcissists to some extent and think everything is about us  and when you get into marketing you really start to take things personally – the person who says that yes they are very interested as they hang up the phone, or the one who lets you get halfway through a 20 minute presentation and then hangs up, or the guy who skips your meeting at the  Starbucks way across town (for which you used up all your gas for the week), or the Purchasing manager who says “I’ll take a look at this and get back to you” – and then doesn’t remember who you are when you follow up!  “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering”

The last two agreements will be discussed in my next post. If you don’t already own this book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book get it now and leave me a comment, let me know what you think!

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December 15, 2009

10 Last Minute Gifts For The Entrepreneur In Your Life

christmas gifts for the entrepreneur

We all know and love someone who is just cut from a different bolt of fabric. That kid we knew who actually found a way to make real money from her lemonade stand or the big picture guy who actually loves talking to everyone he meets about that weight loss product he discovered in college or the grandma who is supplementing her income selling cell phone plans! Having trouble choosing a present for your entrepreneur? Have no fear, I made a list for you:

1. For the newly minted (or firmly established) network marketer in your life , might I suggest the book  Your First Year in Network Marketing: Overcome Your Fears, Experience Success, and Achieve Your Dreams!

2. Entrepreneurs are naturally  motivated people and they stay that way by focusing on personal development,  but they don’t always sit still long enough to read a book. Give them one that they can listen to in the car, on the bus, or wherever they happen to be. Try one of Jim Rohn’s audio books such as his Jim Rohn’s 2004 Weekend Leadership Event or UPDATED Building Your Network Marketing Business 10 Copy CD Pack

3.  For direct sales entrepreneurs (bearing in mind that we are all always selling something) I love Brian Tracy, practical advice delivered in a straightforward way. I  have personally listened to this one about 50 or so times just this year alone The Psychology Of Selling: The Art of Closing Sales

4. Entrepreneurs love books  because they always want to know what the other guy did to be successful! You can’t miss with a good autobiography like who doesn’t want to know how Bill did it (not Clinton, the other one) Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime

5. Network marketers and those in direct sales guys always need fresh blood/ new people to talk to. A leads subscription is a  practical and useful gift that keeps on giving all year long! LeadOverage.com offers packages that start at just $9.99 per month, or check out Freesurveyleads.com for less than $100 you can get 400 leads every Monday morning.

6. If your little entrepreneur is always on the move doing presentations in supermarkets, coffee shops and parking lots then they will absolutely love a mobile internet package. This will allow them to stream video and audio presentations or   go paperless and sign up prospects on the fly by accessing their websites from anywhere. CLEAR offers a great package as do other companies. If you’re interested in Clear call me (814) 422-5327, or see what your local providers are offering this month (here in Atlanta they are all trying to compete with Clear and that’s good for you).

7. The on-the-go marketer needs a way to organize all of their advertising materials (flyers, brochures, postcards, business cards) , I like this Melie Bianco W9-330 Messenger,Blue,one size but am sure you can find something more fitting for your male or female entrepreneur

8. Speaking of advertising, hop on over to vistaprint.com and bag some free business cards, brochures, glossy postcards etc. All you will have to pay is postage!

9. Even entrepreneurs need to relax (I know it’s hard to get them to do it, they are so focused on that goal) at some point. For the gamer in your life might I suggest a gift card from GameFly.com. I got this for my son three years ago and have saved tons on video games, while he has been able to play hundreds of games fo rjust 14.95 per month!

10. This present can serve double duty – your entrepreneur can use it personally or as a give away in their marketing package. Restaurant.com offers discounted restaurant gift certificates – a $25 gift certificate for example for only $2-$4. There are some minimum purchase requirements and restrictions (like it doesn’t cover alcohol) but I use them and love them. They have a special today: GET $25 GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR ONLY $3!
Enter Discount Code: SNOW

Well I could go on and on but I won’t. What would you add to this list?

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