Network Marketing - Change is the key!

It is normal to be uncomfortable with change. Most of us like our comfort zone, and we get nervous when we have to leave it. But unless we do something different, leave our comfort zone, nothing different will happen. We want things to change, more money, lose weight, better job, better relationship, but we don't make any changes to make it happen. Change is scary for most, and sometimes we just don't know what change, to adjust... but doing the same thing is not going to get the result you want.

     I found that baby steps, "the slight edge" is the best way to go      when you are wanting to make a change but not sure of                yourself. If you go for completely rearranging your life, you      are more likely to not be able to keep it up. Small changes made and kept for 30 days will form a new habit and from that new habit you will find other things to change, one at a time, and 6 months later you will be surprised at how much you have changed, and how many changes you have kept!

That is not to say that if you make the change and 30 days later you see that it was not what you wanted, after all you can adjust, the theme here is change, review the change, and adjust if necessary, and do it over and over again until you get what you want.

Is it slow? Not at all... because the changes you make are more permanent and lasting. So the changes stick. Don't spend a month trying to decide to change... change one thing and evaluate the results, ten adjust, and repeat the process.  If you spend too long thinking about it,
nothing will change.

Network Marketing - There are plenty of prospects out there for us all!

I recently had a comment from a friend on my facebook page asking me to not post comments about my company on her page, since she is a friend my posts will appear on her page automatically.  I am still a bit of a novice at Facebook but this was a little surprising.  She was obviously feeling a bit threatened that her contacts would come to me and she would lose them.

When I first started doing MLM I also felt this way.  I felt like I had to guard my prospects from being "stolen" from some other entity. Luckily I have grown to understand that no one can "steal" my prospects, if they go to someone else they weren't mine to begin with!  This is actually a salesman mentality.  And network marketing isn't a sales business, it is a relationship business. So my contacts that have come to have a relationship with me will choose me all else being equal because we have cultivated the friendship and collaborated together to find what works best for them.

The big guys, the real great mentors in this business all give their information and help for free. I know because I have met several of them and they truly do want to give what they can to the people they are helping because they know it will come back to them in spades.  From a philosophy standpoint, I have always believed you get what you give, basically if you give of yourself, you will prosper and there will be friends there for you when you need it, because you have been a friend to someone else.

So as you work on your business, remember that we are cultivating friends and colleagues, not "marks".  I remember being told by one of my sponsors from a company a long time ago that when I talk to someone to think of them as dollar bills because that is what they are worth to you.... wow, what a way to treat someone!  No wonder I couldn't do anything with that company!  The golden rule is the way to grow both yourself and your business, so just think how would you like to be treated if you were in the other persons shoes, and you will find like minded people to join you and you will prosper!

Network Marketing - Success or Failure, whose fault is it?

I get many different kinds of ideas and pictures on my face book page as many people do, and once in a while I find a really good idea, not new one mind you but something said in such a way that it sparks a recognition, and seems to be sent to me as reminder to help me in what ever I am working on at the time.  The sender has no idea they are sending me a much needed nudge, but I do believe that we all get what we need when we need it, we just sometimes don't pay enough attention to notice it.  

This time I noticed and this is what I saw.

I have been feeling a bit inadequate lately. I am taking care of my aged mother, working a close to full time job, working on a vitamin and nutrition business, and working my crafts and artwork when I can. Yet all I do, never seems to be enough for everyone and I have been feeling 'not good enough' at my many hats.  It has been pointed out to me by many people that I am doing the best I can, and trying to be everything to everybody is plain impossible. I know it in my head but my heart has not been agreeing! The 'shoulds' have been taking over!

When I read this it was perfectly clear to me that I was thinking only of me, not of other people... even though I FELT I was somewhat of a saint and must the able to provide for everyone and if they didn't get what they needed or didn't succeed at whatever I was helping them with, I was inadequate... WRONG!  I am human.. and as this saying says, what other people do even with your help is what they want to do. You are not responsible for anyone else's success. You are responsible for being the best you can be, and that is enough. It is enough for God, so it is enough for you. NO ONE WILL FAIL BECAUSE OF YOUR EFFORTS, NOR WILL THEY SUCCEED. They will do what they do because of themselves.

Wow, does that take the load off or what!  I know, easy to say, not so easy to feel, especially if you are coming from a negative feeling, guilt maybe or fear...?

I will relate this to business, all of us have had that person we sponsor that we have such hopes for and want to help so bad, we try to do it all for them, and then blame ourselves when they do nothing and quit, sometimes blaming us in the process. But some people are still learning, not everyone is ready to succeed. We have to be ready for success, and I believe  that as we grow personally, we will grow financially as well. They weren't ready, or they would have done it in spite of anything we do, because no one succeeds because of us or fails because of us, it is because of themselves. So if you find yourself looking at yourself in the critical light, think about this quote. You are a perfect creation of God, and you are on a never ending and exciting journey, and you will get there as long as you keep working at it. Just be responsible for your success and the people you are helping will be responsible for theirs.  I believe in you, and ME!

network marketing - Policies and procedurs... why is it important?

As a Network Marketer building a buisness, I have several ads out in some of the social networks looking for people that are interested in educating themselves about the great industry we are working in. Periodiacally I get calls from someone trying to recruit me into thier business. They almost always tell me how successful they are and that they can train me to be successful too.  Sometimes I listen but always tell them up front that I am not a prospect. some don't believe me and still try, mostly the 'red' personalities.  

Just a few days ago I got one of these calls, and it struck me that even though this person was one of the successful ones, he admitted he didn't understand why Mentoring for Free would train people for free. He continued to tell me that if I sign up with him I would get the benefit of his training and experience. It all sounded very exciting and site he took me to looked nice, but when I asked him for the the policies and procedures he said he was surprised that I asked and admitted he hadn't read them himself!

To his credit he did direct me to a link, and I read them.  This is his contract, this document tells him what he can and can't do to build his business, and in that 30 min of time that we talked, I saw that he had violated the policies and procedures at least twice.  He did a quick overview of the binary pay plan, something I know will not pay me for all the volume my organization generates, so I don't get paid for all of my work, and left out the fact that I can never retire, because his CONTRACT says he must have so many customers and so many new people sponsored EVERY MONTH to earn a check.  This I found out just by reading something he should have known before he even talked to me.

I write this because I have heard from several people that did just what this person is doing, they built a big organization, made a nice income, only to have the company come back to them AFTER they are getting a decent size check and take it away because they violated the policies and procedures, and they did it because they DIDN'T READ THEM! 

So please, know what you are getting into.  READ your contract, you would want to know what is expected of you if you were applying for a job, know what the company rules are before you build it. Save yourself failure and frustration by being educated, know what to look for and what to avoid so you stay successful!

Listen to this training call, no one will recruit you, but it will educate you on knowing what is legal and what is not. I invite you to be my guest... call me or email me Sat. 2/2/2013 before 10:30 est 

and I will get you on the call. 

ECUCATE YOURSELF... the truth will set you free!  LITERALLY!

Network Marketing - Low Cost, No Cost Prospecting Ideas

Everywhere you go, you see ads for someone wanting to help you get leads... for a price, and then you don't know what you are going to get.  Thing is, you can generate your own leads/ prospects better and cheaper than any company ever could. After all, you know what kind of person you want to work with and what you have to offer, and remember, people join people, not companies.

That's right, rule number one, people you meet may be asking how to make money on line, but the final decision is based on the prospect thinking "can I do this and can you show me how".  If they like and believe you can help them, they will be the best prospect for you, and that only happens if you start a relationship with them, something that doesn't happen with an ad or website.

You are creating a warm market, you are making friends. One way to make them is to ask for advice, that's right, ask what they think about something, preferably about your business.  Everyone likes to talk and most like to talk about what they know, so getting an opinion is a great icebreaker.

Idea 1:  How about making up several difference business cards, each one featuring a benefit you offer. Ask your possible prospect what do you like better and show him maybe 3 different cards. He is sure to tell you what he thinks and while he is looking at them just might ask for more information. Now you have a prospect and he came to you... zero rejection!

Idea 2:  How about making up a quiz, everyone likes to test their knowledge and if you do one for network marketing, you will attract people that already have an interest or they probably wouldn't take the quiz. When you make up answers do multple choice so they can choose and make some of the answers fun, like Who makes the best network marketers.... A. houswives,  B. businessmen,   C. comedians   When you give them the answer you can explain why that is the best answer, but don't give it to them right away.  If you are posting it online, give them their score as a percentage of right answers with some fun  facts or something that will make them smile. Everyone is more open when they are smiling, it is much easier to get someone to listen to you in this frame of mind. Then ask for contact info with the answers, they will most likely wnat to talk to you anyway and give it to you. This can work at a fair or convention, you can even have a contest for product for the highest grade!

There are many more, if you have something you would like to add, please comment below and let us see what you are doing. There are as many ways to find people and get them to open up and talk as there are people, so don't  think of yourself as a salesman, think of yourself as a good will ambassador. You will have much more fun, meet some super people and have much more success.

Network Marketing - Knowledge is important, but Specialized Knowledge is essential!

One of the things we need to succeed in network marketing is knowledge, not just any knowledge, but specialized knowledge. We need to know how to do a business that is not like any other. Just like a surgeon needs to know a special kind of medicine, we need to acquire a special kind of business knowledge.
In the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, one of the principles he talks about is specialized knowledge. We need this education and need to apply it with emotion and desire. Dry knowledge without application will not make us successful. It needs to be applied with emotion, with a burning desire and with the support of a mastermind group.

I recently attended a seminar for my company. What a way to get the specialized knowledge you need to succeed! It was a gathering in essence of some of my mastermind group. When you meet with like minded, positive people and come together to learn and exchange information, there is a natural energy that really charges you, and you are bound to leave with a burning desire to apply the knowledge learned. Attending your company's functions is a really good way to acquire this knowledge and in a fun way you also get that burning desire and emotion to make you want to apply what you learned when you get back to working your business.

So become a student of the industry. Learn all you can and never think you know it all. There is a multitude of knowledge out there and all of it helps you get better at what you do. Success comes from work but from working smart not hard. Be coachable, find a mentor, a mastermind group and an organization with integrity that puts the distributors first and attend as many meetings as you can. Don't spend all your money on books and training, you should be getting that mostly for free. If they are making the money by having you buy books and tapes and training manuals, you need to find another mastermind group and another company. Most of the best training is free or nearly free, just be a critical thinker and don't blindly accept all you see and hear. Knowledge will get you there and your good instincts will keep you on track.

See you at the top.  We are all winners, you have left the mundane and ordinary because you are seeking something better. You can own your life, just don't give up!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One good source for knowledge for anyone in any company is Big Al seminars. Check out his schedule for a seminar near you!  Here is the link to his schedule... http://www.fortunenow.com/public/department33.cfm   Let me know if you want to attend, I can get you in for free!

Optimized MLM Leads - The best way to find them and keep them!

Lead generation can be a real bear!  When asking people what their biggest struggles are, they almost always say finding people to talk to, finding MLM LEADS. 

Generating leads should be easy, and fun!  If you are struggling, you are not working smart, you are working hard. .

There are many ways to generate MLM leads. You can generate them offline, the old fashioned way or you can generate them online, the easy and fun way.

Generating MLM leads offline is,the old way to get them, it is hard and filled with rejection. These leads are found by:

• Making a list, friends and family, very much not targeted and a warm market.
• talking to people on the street, people you meet at the grocery store, the laundry mat, anywere else you go as you run your errands through out the day, a very cold market!
• buying leads, mostly scams and working hard and making money for the lead generation company, many times the same people that recruited you in the first place to that great MLM!
• buying booth at trade shows and flea markets, can be really expensive, again a COLD market and not targeted at all.
• postcards and other direct mail. Really expensive and really random, not targeted.

While these strategies have worked in the past by a select few, they don't work well for the majority of the people that get into network marketing.  If it did, the dropout rate wouldn't be at 90% on an average!  Truth is most of us just don't have that salesman talent to convince someone that network marketing is the way to go to make money working from home, and then to 'sell' them on our particular company.  Most of us also don't have the ability to keep doing that so that as our 'sold' leads drop out because they can't do this, we can replace them with new associates.  The old way of selling your leads on your opportunity will not give most of us the success we are looking for.

Using the 'age way' of generating leads online is the way to go. It eliminates most of the problems you have doing it the old way, if you do it properly.

A modern MLM company needs to use the internet, it is the level playing field for all of us to find TARGETED OPTIMIZED LEADS for our organizations.  This way we make our own warm market, and ensure that we are talking to people that are already interested in Network Marketing, and already wanting to talk to us about what we are doing.  Remember that network marketing is a relationship business, not a sales business. Don't try to sell your leads like they were marks, make them your friends.  Give them reasons to like and trust you, and them tell them what your are doing. but always with their best interests in mind. Zig Ziggler's famous quote, "if you help enough people to get what they want, you will get what you want" is especially true in this business.

Finding leads online doesn't mean paying for them, it means attracting them to you.  Here are a few ways you can do this:

•  The social networks, a great place to let everyone know what you are doing and invite them to check out what you have to offer.  For the most part it is free advertising, and a great way to make friends first.
• Safelists.  A great way to share your company with like minded people. 
• Articles and blogs. There are many free places that you can post articles. Blogs are just a string of articles and ideas in one place. You can pay for a self hosted blog or use on like this, both will help to get the word out and show others what you can do for them.
• Traffic exchanges are also a free way to advertise. They take more time than some and it really is a matter of getting your ad or webpage out there consistently so people seeing it will start to find it familiar and stop to see what it is.
• Commenting on other peoples articles and blogs. One of the most important things you need to do is brand your self, get your name out there so people relate you with an authority on network marketing. Your comments can create links that will help the articles and blogs you write get noticed and the people you comment on will appreciate it and many times comment on your articles as well. This give you a more favorable rating and gets your pages found much easier.  More exposure, more interested people in what you are doing. You will be recognized and more sought out by OPTIMEZED TARGETED LEADS.

These are just a few of the ways you can make your search for like minded people much easier and more fun. It is a great way to expand and give you a never ending stream of targeted leads to talk to. The way to the steady walk away income is to find associates that will stay and grow with you.  The more you retain, the easier your task will be and the more successful you will be in making network marketing work.  The old way is out, the new way is in and working. Try it, you will like it!

NOTE:   Finding a system to help you and give you guidence will be a great asset.  Find a mastermind group that can help show you the pitfalls and keep you from making the same mistakes they have will be a great help as well.  There are many such groups out there and most will want you to pay for the information.  While it is information you need, it need not cost you.  I found a group called Mentoring for Free that teaches you jus thow to do it and it is totally free. They will coach you and help you to weed out the expensive methods and how to apply the free ones so that you get all you can out of your efforts. They are teaching me to work smart, not hard, and I am having fun?  Want proof, the people I am working with have a retention rate of  65% up to even 90% by one mentor, that is opposed to the 10% the industry averages. They must be doing something right! .

MLM Work From Home - Avoid the pitfalls to be a success at MLM network marketing

You have a business opportunity and boy are you excited!  You dream of all the great things that will happen when you are successful with your MLM work from home opportunity and you are up and positive and eager to get going.  So you start talking to people.

Pitfall #1      Your sponsor tells you to make a list of everyone you have ever known, family, friends, the mailman, your pastor, and anyone else you know by name.  You are excited and think all these people, including your closest friends will want to be in it with you. You are doing them a favor by inviting them in to this mlm opportunity with you.   After all you are going to be rich and you want to take your family and best friends with you.  But somehow they all one by one aren't interested, and some are actually offended you even asked!  What happened?  They have no interest in network marketing MLM.  Some even laugh, to some it is a pyramid scheme, some just don't want to work, and many don't want their own business!  DON'T BOTHER FAMILY AND FRIENDS WITH THIS NEW BUSINESS, WAIT TILL YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL, THEN LET THEM ASK YOU WHAT YOU ARE DOING.  Now you have a receptive audience to talk to.  Don't try to sell apples to someone that hates them and prefers oranges.  Don't take it personally, they just don't get it yet, and may never get it.  Don't get stuck on them.

Pitfall #2      You've used your friends and family up, no one left to talk to, but you are still all excited. You need leads!  You are going to be just like that person they told you about that replaced their income in 3 months and quit the job and took off for an island vacation in the Caribean for a couple of months.  Your sponsor or your company has leads for sale, the better they are the more expensive they are, some are opportunity seekers that inquired about your company, these are gold!  For the company and your sponsor that is.  What you don't know is they are making more money from the sale of leads than from network marketing.  If the leads are so great, why don't they use them themselves?  You are your best lead source.   There are many  free or nearly free sources for leads that are optimized and targeted for a MLM work at home business.  You need a lead generation system that you control and can use to find and keep track of people that want to talk to you about MLM.  DON'T BUY LEADS!  They do not work.

Ptfall #3      So now what.  You aren't quite as excited, you have been told no many times, and yes very few sometimes not at all. How do you keep that enthusiasum going?  This is where alot of people quit before they even get started.  Get hooked up with a mastermind group.  What is that?  It is a group of like minded people, not necessarily in your company, but interested and successful in the MLM work from home industry.  Find a mentor, someone that has your best interests at heart, ABOVE THEIRS!  Getting hooked up with a group like this will hold you up through the difficult times when things just aren't going the way you want them to.  You can't build a MLM business all by yourself. DON'T TRY TO DO THIS BUSINESS ON YOUR OWN.  Take advantage of others experience and learn from thier mistakes!  Become a student of the industry  Take the time to build it strong, and build it once, build it right. Build it for your children and your children's children.  It is a great business, and you can do it with the right tools and encouragement.

Pitfall #4     Your company has the greatest products, they are going to cure the world of disease, or replace the utility company at a fraction of the cost, ect...   Every company has great products or they don't stay in business.  You are looking for a way to make money, if you love the product, great!  You can always buy it when you have your business up and growing.  Take a look at the comp plan and the policies and procedures, and know what you have to do to make money.  DON'T  JUMP IN UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT THE OPPORTUNITY IS.  How many people do you need to make 10,000 a month from residual income?  Does the company have a non renewal clause, that is can they cancel your contract and in effect 'fire you' if they want to down the road?  You don't want to build something that can be taken away once you have that walk away income.  Listen to this audio if you want to safegaurd yourself against this ever happening to you.

With the birth of the internet, we have instant information, but we have to pay attention to where the information we find is coming from. There are so many promises made in the name of MLM that it can be hard to seperate the truth from the hype.  Become a student of the industry and find out what you need to know to protect yourself and make the correct decisions to safegaurd your business and future.  If you were buying any other kind of business, you would take the time to investigate the industry, You would talk to people that were successful in what ever you are going into to see just what they had to do to get there. Do the same with your search for and MLM work from home opportuinity.  I found Mentoring for Free. They do just that, mentor for free with no agenda. You need to find a group like this to learn from and lean on.  It takes a mastermind group to be successful with network marketing.  Find your group of like minded people and find what inspires you to keep you going when the going gets tough, learn about the business you are or have entered to avoid the pitfalls and you will succeed in network marketing.

Mastermind Group is the key to success - help working from home!

No one thing survives alone, everyone and everything depends on a support system. For us working a business from home, a mastermind group is the key to success in a home based business.

I have always loved trees, and loved to draw them. Not just any tree but the big gnarly kind, the ones with the big roots and lots of branches. I was looking at this sketch which is like many of my drawings, and the roots and the trunk take up most of the page. they really support the tree.  They really dig down deep in the soil, and the soil gives it the nutrients that it needs to grow tall into the sky.

When I studied art therapy, one of the exercises they taught us to use was to have someone draw a tree, a house and a person. The really fascinating part was that all of these drawings represented the person. They were all a self portrait.  My tree is me, and just like the tree, I reach into my mastermind group for help and support as I build my network marketing business!

One of the things that is necessary to grow a network marketing business or a person, or any home business is a mastermind group. a group of like minded people to help and support you as you learn and grow both financially and personally... kind of like the tree.  A tree alone without soil, without the roots reaching into the soil for what it needs, would not grow very big or very lush..  But look at the tree, the roots, dig down into the soil, just like we need to reach deep for what we need. I get nourishment and positive encouragement from my mastermind group, just as the tree gets nourishment from the soil, and without the soil the tree can not grow big and strong and without a good support system we can not grow either. A good mastermind group will nourish you and give you all the training you need to grow and prosper, just like the rich soil around the tree. Like the tree we have to be smart and humble enough to reach deep into the group, ask for help when we need it and follow the advice given to get what we need to grow. With this in place we will prosper.

No one can survive alone, especially when they are trying to do a network marketing business. Everyone needs a group of like minded people to lean on and learn from, and the group needs you to keep it fresh and learn from as well. For more on how this works, go to mastermind group info.  Somewhere there is a group of people just like you, who have been through the same things you have been through that can show you the way and support your quest to be a better you and be financially free!

A new year is here and I am working on lots of things. This year is going to be focused on finally owning my life! I have been working on mlm companies for many years, switching from company to company when the last one didn't work or get too expensive with little success. But now have found a system called 'Mentoring for Free'! They are making all the difference.

They started out by saying my lack of success was not my fault... WHAT!? All the other companies and sponsors would lay it squarely on my shoulders when I asked why I wasn't prospering like they promised when I joined. Talk to more people, make your list of friends and family and add to it, talk to people at the grocery store, join more lead sources ( this was expensive). Mentoring for Free says, DON'T BOTHER YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.... ? Here are low or no cost stratigies for talking to people already wanting to work a business from home, they already believe in the business model. WOW! What a difference!

Now I spend my time working with people that want to do what I do! I have mentors that take the time to help me find ways that FIT MY PERSONALITY and pocketbook to get my message to quality prospects. I get to help other people do the same, we are a family of like minded people working together to finally own our lives. It is fun and prosperous, and I want to get on the phone, because I am going to talk to people just like me and really make a difference.

To get your free mentor, click here!