Top 10 Characteristics of Success
Filed under: building your business, entrepereneurs, learning network marketing, network marketing
At MM5, the MasterMind Event #5 in Houston, Ken Dunn (www.kendunn.com) spoke of how he researched successful people whom he greatly admired. He included Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, John F. Kennedy, Bill Gates, and many others. He concluded that these successful people all shared 10 identical characteristics. He reasoned that if you apply those 10 characteristics to yourself, then you could be successful at network marketing.
- Rely heavily on mentorship. Find someone who has achieved success in your profession. Read everything you can about that person. Establish the relationship. Listen to her advice. Emulate him. Look at the world through the same lens. Be open to having several mentors. Choose mentors that have the same core beliefs as you.
- Incredible communicator. Learn how to get your point across. Practice talking to people. Know when to hit your off switch. Practice listening to people. Practice writing to people. Articulate the nuances of your point. Be clear. Don’t ramble. Listen. Focus. Inject humor.
- Solid self-confidence. Exude confidence. Confidence stems from belief. When prospecting, walk the person through the 5 levels of belief. What’s the #1 belief? Belief in YOU; belief in you as a sponsor. Next, shift to belief in the product, then belief in the profession, then belief in themselves.
More later!
Learn to communicate
Filed under: MLM, building your business, finding new prospects, learning network marketing, network marketing, overcoming fear, perfect business, positive attitude, prospecting, talking with friends
With any business, you have to learn how to communicate with others. If you make fabulous jewelry, you’ll have to wear it all, unless you can tell others all about it.
There are lots of options for getting the word out, and those options exist whether you’re an artisan, a dentist, a massage therapist, a CEO, or a network marketer.
So, if you want to move from the world of employees trading their time for some money, into the world of business owners, where your time and money expand while you sit on a beach, you have to learn to communicate.
Luckily, communication is a learned skill. I know, because I used to be lousy at it. I couldn’t think of what to say after “Hi, I’m Marilyn.” Most of my mind then switched to the theme of “How do I get out of this conversation without mortifying myself.” I was wooden; I was shifty-eyed, I was shallow, I was frozen.
Now, I can pretty much chat away with anyone I choose. It’s pretty cool. And a HUGE relief.
The key is to keep the focus of the conversation on the person to whom you’re speaking. If you can keep a person talking about himself, he will come away from the conversation thinking that you are fascinating. If you can keep a person talking about himself, you will come away knowing whether or not what you have to offer is a good fit for that person. Perfect.
Most of the time, the initial conversation isn’t about your business or product at all. It’s about establishing a connection. Some people only need a slight connection before they’re ready to talk business. Other people need a long long time before they can open their ears.
Follow their lead. If their need is strong, right there on the surface, they’ll bring it up long before you have to pry it out of them. If their need is minimal or doesn’t carry a relationship to what you have to offer, then you don’t need to talk business after all. It’s not the right time yet, or it’s just not for them. Either way, you know where to go, because you’re just following along after them, asking questions that let you know what’s up with THEM.
Practice where it’s easier. Tell the cashier that you like her earrings. See if the conversation has good energy around it. Then be on your way. Ask the couple in front of you in line if they’ve ever eaten here before, what’s their favorite on the menu. See if it goes anywhere. Follow their lead.
Practice every day, in small ways. Then when the right opportunity for a business conversation comes along, you’ll be a well-oiled machine. You’ll be open to the possibilities each person presents to you, and it will all be natural and fun.
If it’s fun, you’ll do it more often. The first dozen might be awkward, but soon you’ll get to the fun level, and then you’ll be on your way. You’ll have crossed another hurdle, and you won’t need to look back.
Hurray for you!
Too busy?
Filed under: MLM, building your business, direct sales, entrepereneurs, learning network marketing, network marketing, perfect business, talking with friends, time management, women entrepreneurs
What are you doing right now, that is going to gain you more time a year from now?
Of course you’re busy; everyone is. Is that ever going to change, given the course you’re on now?
Everyone has 24 hours each and every day. Most people spend all of their time making all of their money. The treadmill loops around and around, and they can never get off.
Some people leverage their time, so that a year from now, they’re not working so hard; five years from now, they’re kicking back; ten years from now they’re sitting pretty.
If you work harder at what you’re already doing in your job, you’re just going to keep working longer and longer hours. Jobs can eat us alive, especially those of us who are motivated to do a GREAT job.
But do the GREAT job for yourself, and for your family, and for your friends. Don’t do it for some corporate board of directors, or the neighborhood hardware store. Do it for yourself and the people who are important in your life.
Network marketing lets you train yourself and learn from your leader, then train and lead others, who then train and lead others, who then train and lead others. The harder you work, the less you have to work next year or the year after that, and that trend just keeps on going.
Network marketing is the PERFECT business for people who are too busy, who have no time. Because it gives you the gift of time. It gives you back your life, so you can spend it with your kids with your wife, with your husband, with your friends.
Hey, I’ve been fired; week 1
Filed under: building your business, dreams into reality, entrepereneurs, learning network marketing, overcoming fear, overcoming obstacles, positive attitude
Many things change when you’ve lost your job. Routine is one of the changes that rears up in front of you immediately. Here it is, Monday morning, and I’m home with no real agenda in front of me. It’s tempting to go back to bed, curl up with a good book or engrossing video, talk to my cat or call a friend and chat for an hour or two. Escape can be very inviting.
But that’s not going to get me where I want to go. Sometimes you have to just give in and indulge your fear, but I’m determined not to let that become a habit. The best antidote for fear and uncertainty is taking action. I’ve generated some very strong leads, and I’m going to follow up on them today, with confidence and genuine friendliness.
The business and products that I have to offer people are the best that I’ve ever found. I’m crazy about my products, and the people who have tried them are now crazy about them, too. My company is headed up by the best business people around, and I love working with them. I have so much to offer people, and I’m using that knowledge to feed my enthusiasm and take charge of my attitude, my world view.
In parallel with this, I’m opening up communication about some consulting work that I can do on the side, a few hours a week, to help pay the bills while my business continues to grow. I know that this will give me some breathing room and help me to feel a bit safer financially.
This is a bit tricky, because it would be easy to spread too thin, putting energy into consulting rather than focusing completely on building my business. But you can’t build a business with confidence if you’re working from a platform of fear. It’s important to make your present reality one that you can live in with an open heart, so that that’s what you show the world, rather than an underlying edge of fear.
To manage both of these endeavors, I’m committing to taking care of MY business FIRST, then turning to the consulting sideline to keep it flowing along. I’m keeping my priorities very clear in my mind and in my heart, so the universe knows how it’s supposed to respond to help me move forward into my new reality.
I’m enjoying the journey, while I move toward my destination.
You want to change the world? Transform yourself.
Filed under: learning network marketing, overcoming fear, overcoming obstacles, perfect business, positive attitude, try try again
- If anyone tells you that starting your own business is easy, you have my permission to laugh out loud. If anyone tells you that you don’t have to work hard, you can hold your stomach and roll on the grass. If anyone tells you that you can pay off your mortgage next month, please, gasp for breath.
But if anyone tells you that the hardest part of succeeding in your own business is working on yourself, please go very still and listen with every fiber of your being. You are talking with someone who has been down that road and grabbed the prize. You have found a leader who can help you succeed.
You should listen very carefully to people who have succeeded. You should ignore the blathering of those who have failed. They’ll only enable you to fail, too.
I’ve worked very hard to succeed at network marketing. Learning to talk with people was pretty fun, because it got easier and easier. Learning to describe our compensation plan was pretty fun, because I love describing how money flows into your bank account. Learning to burbble about our product was fun because I absolutely LOVE our product. All of that was easy.
What was hard, was me. Sometimes I was in a bad mood, and didn’t want to return phone calls. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed, and then sorry for myself, yearning for some time to just stare at the walls. Sometimes it was hard to pick myself up off the floor, because I had battered my self-esteem so thoroughly that I was numb with indecision and fear.
And so along the way, I learned to treat myself as well as I treat other people. I started asking myself, would I ever say that to someone else? Maybe I should take that back, and then forgive myself for even saying it.
I learned to let myself stare at the wall, when that’s all I could do. That wasn’t too hard. What was harder was not beating myself up for wasting time staring at the wall. If that was what I needed, then that is what I would give myself.
I learned to recognize that I’m a very hard worker, and that I work better if I’m filled with joy. I learned to focus on the joy, and consistently turn away from the ickies. I went on an icky fast. And just like any determined fasting effort, the ickies started to drop away. Then I learned how to not put them back on. I am icky-slim. I move through the world, icky-free.
Every once in a while, I’ll pick up an icky and give it a try. You know what? It tastes icky now. I have the ability to choose between joy and icky, and I’ve learned that joy tastes way better. I’ve learned to discern the difference.
So I have succeeded at network marketing. I make all the money that I want, that I need. That’s nice.
I have succeeded at network marketing. I am joyful; I laugh easily, from the heart; I smile at everyone, and they smile back, brightly. I am transformed.
That’s more than nice. That’s wondrous.
You want to change the world? Transform yourself.
In at the beginning
Filed under: MLM, building your business, direct sales, earn money from home, learning network marketing, make money online, network marketing, perfect business, timing
Do you have to get in at the beginning???
NO!!!
Amway and Mary Kay are still producing millionaires, and look how long they’ve been around?
I got in on the ground floor of one company and no one, NO ONE helped me build my downline.
The important thing is to get in early on the TREND. How early join the company isn’t the issue.
The concept of “get in early” applies to the investment industry. There, you want to buy stock or property before it comes to other people’s attention, and then sell when everyone else is talking about it and trying to get a piece of the action.
In network marketing, it’s important to pay attention to the trends. Take the wellness industry; baby boomers are just now starting to feel their age, and looking around for ways to feel young, to stay young, so they can continue their active lifestyle. If you wait another 30 years, funeral homes and cemetery plots will be the hot commodity.
I mean, look at real estate. Thirty years ago, the baby boomers were starting their careers and looking around to settle down and raise their families. Thirty years ago, I bought a 3-bedroom condo for $29,000. Five years later, I sold it for $79,000. My initial investment was $2,000. My monthly overhead was $300. My friends gave me a LOT of grief over that one, because they couldn’t imagine paying $300 a month for housing.
Do you think that you could invest $2,000 today and make $50,000 in five years, in real estate? You know why not? The boomers already own their houses. They’ve moved on.
Get in on the trend. Stay ahead of the boomers, and you’ll ride the wave, all the way home.
Pyramid scheme? Nope! How do you KNOW?
Filed under: MLM, building your business, direct sales, earn money from home, earn money online, learning network marketing, make money online, network marketing, perfect business, women entrepreneurs
Network marketing companies simply offer effective management.
In every corporate business, the guys at the top earn the vast majority of the money. The executive assistant NEVER makes more money than the executive. Middle management NEVER make more money than upper management. The worker bees NEVER make more money than the guys at the top of the heap.
In network marketing, every person has the potential to earn scads more than the people above them.
Each person earns money based on his or her ABILITY, rather than where they’re placed in the company. I make quite a bit more money than quite a few people in my upline. I’m paid according to my ability, my enthusiasm, my belief in what I’m doing. It doesn’t matter one whit that I joined months and months after other people. I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.
Let’s face it, every business is a pyramid. One person can’t do everything, once the business starts to grow, so you always hire others to help with the work. A child care center doesn’t have one adult and 88 children. Not a successful (or legal) one anyway. A successful child-care center with 88 children would have administrators, teachers, interns, volunteers, and usually one or two people making sure it all hangs together. It’s a pyramid of responsibility; it’s a pyramid of pay scale.
The same applies to hospitals, dentist offices, Microsoft, golf courses.
The only ones calling names are the people who expected it to work without effort, wanted someone else to do it for them, or just, quite simply, gave up.
There are a LOT of people out there who are making it work just fine. And they’re making it work because they’re able to teach others how to make it work.
Find one of them. Find someone who has been successful, and get them to teach you.
It’s not a pyramid SCHEME! It’s simply effective management.
Create colleagues rather than competition
Filed under: MLM, building your business, direct sales, earn money from home, earn money online, leadership, learning network marketing, make money online, network marketing
Part of the magic of network marketing is that, as your business grows, you gain colleagues, not competitors.
As you train people to succeed, they become clones of you, out there being in more places than you could ever cover on your own. They don’t break away and steal your customers. They don’t set up shop across town and use the skills that you taught them to whittle away your bottom line. They stand with you, shoulder to shoulder, and become your greatest asset.
Everyone wins.
They say that it’s lonely at the top.
Not if you take everyone with you!
Do it yourself, or pay the man?
Filed under: MLM, direct sales, earn money from home, earn money online, entrepereneurs, learning network marketing, make money online, network marketing, overcoming obstacles, solving problems, time management
There is so much to do and only so many hours in the day. You’re building a business, probably while working full time at the job you’re trying to escape, raising a family, juggling schedules, caring for aging parents, and having a quiet dinner out, at least once in a while, with your spouse, so you can remember why you’re doing all of this anyway.
Some things you’ll be really, really good at. Other things will be a struggle for you. Avoid the trap of trying to do it all yourself. Otherwise, you’ll eventually run out of time and sanity.
Look for business partners with skills that compliment yours. If you don’t like speaking in front of groups, keep your antennae out for someone who likes being up on stage. If you can’t write, team up with someone who can. Are you super organized? Not everyone is. You can provide this skill to your partners, while they’re up on stage or blogging.
Another option is to hire someone to help you. For a couple of years, I had a personal assistant. She picked up my mail and called catalog companies to get me off their mailing lists. She returned the videos (pre-Netflix). She bought batteries for my watches and kept the refrigerator stocked. She did my laundry and filled out the checks for me to sign for all of the bills I was supposed to keep track of. When I traveled for business, or pleasure, she kept all of these things going in the background, so I came home to a cleared desk, with no backlog.
Heaven.
Then I got laid off, and I couldn’t afford to pay her any longer. But it taught me an important lesson: If someone else took care of the details that didn’t interest me, I could focus on what I loved to do, working on my career.
When I started network marketing, things went along pretty good, but I was starting to get frazzled around the edges because there were too many things to do, and most of them I had to learn first. I was a scientist, with no experience in network marketing. I had to learn everything.
When I turned to social networking, I had to learn Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and blogging and and and. . . the list goes on as far as the eye can see.
I sent out a plea for help, and the perfect person said “I could do that for you!” And she could. She did. She still does. My business has grown fabulously since hiring her, because I can focus my attention on the parts that I’ve learned really well, and that I LOVE to do.
Self reliance is a wondrous thing. Overwhelm is the pits.
Where are you?
What’s the right product for you?
Filed under: MLM, direct sales, earn money from home, earn money online, learning network marketing, network marketing, perfect business, right product
The very core of a successful network marketing business is a product that you believe in, something that people truly want or need. To be sustainable, the product has to be unique and consumable.
Unique means that people have to buy it through you. It can’t be something that they can pick up at Long’s or Safeway. It has to be something that piques their interest, something that they recognize is going to help them in a way that other things haven’t helped them.
Consumable means that your customer uses it up and buys it again next month. If you’re selling aluminum siding, then you’re constantly looking for your next customer, because last week’s customer isn’t going to be buying another set next month.
The right product is in front of the trend. Take the wellness industry. People are disillusioned with our health-care industry and are becoming more and more interested in maintaining their health, improving their health, so they can stay out of the hospital, stay out of their doctor’s office.
A great product is one that will benefit baby boomers. They’re still the biggest consumers around, and if you catch their interest, you will have more customers than Colonel Sanders and Ronald McDonald combined.
Look around. Find something that wows you. I tried 4 different companies, no wait, 5 companies, before I found the one that makes my socks roll up and down.
Find yours, and you’re half way there.
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