Network Marketing - Are We Still a Land of Opportunity?

I just happened to hear a blurb on tv that a couple of our politicians were questioning the ability of people that have less than ideal situations growing up to rise above their beginnings and make a life for themselves. Our country has been called the 'land of opportunity' ever since I can remember. It was more important what you did with what you had than where you started from. The journey was the thing and the prize was getting there and starting your next great journey!

It would be a sad place to be if you were destined to be what you started with. I was not impoverished or terribly mistreated as a child but I still struggle with a lot of things internally. I have an internal 'life should be fair' monitor and even though I know that a lot of time it doesn't look that way I believe it usually is. We make choices every day that determine our outcome later in life, most are small things but they all add up to what we have and where we are now.  I always loved seeing the stories where someone gets to do a 'do-over' and see if they can make a better outcome if they just did or said something different. We can' t do that in real life but if we just paused for a second to consider what we are about to do or say, it could make the biggest difference down the road.

I believe this IS the land of opportunity, we have the ability to make great changes in small ways.  One kind word to someone that is not being considerate could make his or her change their attitude just enough to not say the next cross word to someone that is at the end of their rope, and instead of a fight they can do the same to calm someone else, and the chain reaction would continue to be positive, not negative.  Just one kind word can really make a difference to someone ready to take a desperate act. If the right words would have reached that horribly disturbed boy that killed all those kids at Sandy Hook, would they still be here?  I don't know but isn't it worth the effort to choose being kind over being right? We know what happens when you leave someone alone that is unhappy, never is the outcome good. Isn't it worth the chance to make the effort to let then know as soon as you notice them that they have options other than striking with in thier pain  before they reach that horrible end?

I know it is idealist thinking. So I am an idealist. I think that anyone can change their life for the good, and network marketing is the one place where anyone can make it with a little effort and the right support system to aid them. I used Mentoring for Free, because of the personal developement attached but you can use whatever resource you find to help you. But you need help and support to make it. A good idea can either die without ever getting off the ground, or can be improved on and be brought to the world to make a great change, maybe all someone needs is a little encouragement to believe they can do it! Just one kind word can turn a decision to do good or bad.

As a network marketer you have a tool that can really change lives, but you do it by making relationships. Your 'prospect' most likely needs to believe he or she can do it! Most of us are greatly lacking the belief in ourselves more than anything, so that once the excitement wears down and we are met with obstacles we have the belief in ourselves to continue. Many people stop just short of the gold, if we just would have gone one to dig a few more feet, we would have found what we were looking for. If we don't every quit we will get there.

So help someone to believe in themselves and you will have a star. They will go on and you will both prosper. Remember Zig Zigler's famous quote, 'If you help other get what they want, you will get what you want'. It is true, the way to pay your bills or get that trip you want to win is to help someone else to do the same, your problems will disappear along with the people you help.The land of opportunity is here, and it lives in you and me, in our willingness to help and support each other.

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 - 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!


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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!

Network Marketing, connecting with leads - Button, Button, Who's got the Button!

  Ever hear the saying, they pressed my buttons?  I hear it all the time.  Someone says something that just rubs you the wrong way, and you react.  Sometimes it is a well meaning family member or a friend, sometimes it is a potential client that is suspicious or challenging, but either way it interferes with our getting our point across.  Let's face it, if someone is challenging your business as many do because it is an mlm, they are looking for a reaction and you are giving them what they want which is affirmation that they are right about you or you would be able to defend the point, and it would not get to you.

My family is like most of yours.  Yes, I am doing another mlm and I have failed in the past but I am not now, however we all know it takes some time to grow a business.  It isn't like a regular job where you work so many hours and get so much money  for the time.  At first you don't see much obvious gain, but if you are doing it right, getting educated and growing personally with it, you will see a difference first in you, then in your pocketbook.

In the past the dreaded, "but are you making any money!" comment used to really get me going.  I always thought it was just them, but if I really believed in what I was doing and growing with my business, why would that bother me so much?  I would either get up and leave in a huff thinking why can't they support me or give them a smart answer back that didn't help either of us.  If you want to get rid of that reaction, you can!  Here are some suggestions that work.

1.  I have heard it said, network marketing is a pay plan with a personal development program built in. Because you are working in a business that depends on your ability to foster positive relationships, you need to work on YOU just as much as you do on everything else.  As you improve yourself, you will find those comments don't give you the same knee jerk reaction as they used to.

2. Put yourself in their place.  For example, my parents like many others went through the depression. Unless your family is one of the lucky wealthy ones that kept their money intact, they know what it is like to be poor, to have to be careful just to make sure they got the basics, food, shelter, ect. So when they someone they care about spending on something with no VISIBLE return, they worry and their doubts come out in questions that may sound like they have little faith in you.  They are coming from negative emotions. You have to keep your answers coming from the positive emotions.  You have to be able to not take their doubts personally. You can make a great difference in their feelings of insecurity by just staying positive yourself, they will feel your confidence and it will actually make them feel better and they will be more positive too!

3. Self talk... Autosuggestion, the best way to keep your confidence or to grow your faith so you don't react the same way.  What you say to yourself is important, you have to practice it when you are not confronted with negativity so when it does come, you have thoughts that are positive to replace them with.  Practice and hone your self talk to keep your enthusiasm and confidence up so it doesn't deflate with the first doubting Thomas you come across.

4. Environment... also Autosuggestion.  What others say to you will also effect your faith, your confidence. Surround yourself as much as possible with positive, like minded people. Their positive comments will also give you the positive energy and faith to withstand the doubts of others.

You are in control, you are the captain of your fate, so don't just take what comes.  Make a conscious effort to control what you hear and think.  You will be surprised how little those doubting thomas's are able to push your buttons. They are actually your friends, because they are only pointing out where you need to concentrate your efforts to make yourself into the person you are meant to be!

Home based business success - what is it?

What is success?  We all want to be successful network marketers or home based business owners but many times we don't know what it is!  What do you need to have to consider yourself successful in business and in life? Would it surprise you to know that what you think of success  is not necessarily what others think of as success?  Can you be successful before you reach your goals for your home business or your personal life goals?

First I think of success as reaching my goals in network marketing and in personal growth, but I have short term goals that I reach everyday both in my home based business and my personal life, and embarking on the journey is a successful act by itself! So I am successful everyday. If you think of yourself as not successful until you reach a grand and ultimate goal, you miss all the little triumphs.  The little ones on your way to the really grand ones are just as important, and will serve to feed that grand goal. That is important for you to carry on when the road is a little tougher than usual.  

You have to define that goal for your home based business. Not just 'I want to have a lot of money' but how much money and by when?  How many people will you partner with in your home based business, what kind of people do you want to do business with?  If you don't give the universe that specific information, how can it help you get there? And how will you get there....  what about all the little things you will do everyday and every week, every month to get there?  Not defining this is like going on a trip without a map.  Sometimes it is fun to take time to wander, but if you are going to a convention, don't you want to get there in time for it to start? You can be flexible and you can always adjust the start of your convention so to speak but you need that direction to stay on course or you will find yourself wondering around so much you get nothing done and you never get there.

And what about perception.  You need to know where you are going and know that your path is just that, your path, and just because someone else is doing it different or going for a different goal doesn't make either of you less successful.  Everyone is important, the little jobs are just as important to someone as the big ones. If you take pride in the work you do and do it to your best ability, no matter what it is you are a success.  IF you don't think a simple job can be important to a lot of people, listen to this short story of a bagger in a supermarket.  His success was huge!  Some want to dig ditches, some want to be a doctor. some want a lot of money, some don't, but all are successful.  Being happy for others is just as important as being happy with yourself.

You can't compare yourself with others, everyone grows at different rates.  Some are ready for the grand goal and some aren't. You have to do the work to get there to be ready, so don't rush it. Your path is special and necessary for you. You are perfect just as you are, and you  are where you are supposed to be.   Personal growth is different for each of us and if we compare ourselves with others, we will usually find some we perceive have more of what we want and some less.  Competing with others in the game of life gets us no where.  Complete with ourselves and we will get somewhere. And don't be too hard on yourself, you can't win every race, but you do win every time you get up and race again!  And finally enjoy your journey!  This is your race, your time on this earth to explore and find your way.

 Your goals are important but don't forget to look for those little surprises along the way. You will find successes that you didn't plan for, and sometimes those are even better than the one you were working towards! We are all a work in progress, you don't stop learning and growing just because you reach that goal, you will find as soon as you get there another will take it's place.  So stop and smell the roses!

So success is what we define it as, and it can be as big as making a million dollars to baking a cake.  We decide what it is and how to feel about it... what we can choose our feelings!?  Yes to some extent. We can decide to accept other peoples successes as important and accept our little successes as just as important as our grand and ultimate idea of success.  We can DECIDE to enjoy the journey as much as the destination, and that will make the destination come about even sooner and grander than we imagined.  We can plan to succeed, make that roadmap and make sure to give yourself some playtime.  Look for the little surprises along the way, don't miss the wildflowers along the way to the mountains, they can give as much joy to the journey as the final destination.  Enjoy your life, your journey is special and it was meant to be just like you!

MLM Networking - You need more than knowledge to be successful!

I have been struggling with what to write about for a while. When I was stuck before I would find someone that wrote something that I really like and put it in my words.  Doing that now seems pretty dry and boring, maybe because that is how I have been feeling, a bit dry and boring!  I have been asking why would anyone want to listen to me, much less follow me?  I have had some success but it always goes away, my followers always seem to go away.

It all seems to come down to relationships.  If I write an article or this blog and just borrow other people's ideas, is that interesting to someone else, or more important, will that get someone to get to KNOW ME any better?  People join people, and people follow people, so it stands to reason if there is not a lot of me in what I write, people reading will not feel anything.  If they can't feel anything, why would they want to get to know me better by following me?

So this is what I have come up with.  When you are 'prospecting'... an awful word that we use all the time for looking for PEOPLE to join us, you have to put some of you out there for someone to identify with, so they feel something that will make then want to know more about YOU and what you are doing!  So instead of prospecting, try making FRIENDS. Try saying this is me and this is what I have learned, this is what I can teach you.  This is where I am going and I want to bring you along and learn from you as well.

How many of you feel good when you can help someone, and are grateful when a FRIEND shows you a kindness or just seems to understand when you are facing a challenge.  If someone is challenged. they generally feel comfort knowing that someone else has been there, and not necessarily want to be helped but just want some understanding at first.  There are self help groups for losing weight, for alcoholics, for almost anything,

For us network marketers that have been through the ringer, our self help group is our mastermind group.  To participate and really get something out of it you have to share some of yourself, something I have a hard time doing.  I have worked in this industry off and on for probably 20 yrs. I have had a little success along the way but never anything really great. I continue to struggle and have been asking why, now that I have a group to help me?

Well, I have not been sharing me. I listen but don't participate and still keep a little of me locked away,  My mastermind group has stuck by me all this time. Mentoring for Free is an amazing group that is always there.  Even when I take a vacation, they are there.  So this is me. I am a struggling network marketer dealing with negativity and looking for ways to combat it both in myself and my family.  I don't have all the answers, but I have information that I can share that can help people.  I have a belief in the system, in the business model.  I know this is the single best way for the average person like me to get more than social security and a gold watch, and be dependent on others for my well being when and if I can't care for myself.  I am scared silly of success, but know if I keep working with these people I will figure out why and be successful in spite of my fear.  I know I have something that is worthwhile that can help people. and I know that I am not the only one that feels this way.  I know that I can't do this alone and I need my friends.  I know I can love my negative friends and still love myself enough to honor my mind by limiting the negative talk that seems to happen around me.  I can say I am not interested in hearing about the awful things someone has done to someone else, I want to hear about ideas, not people.  I want to be inspired and inspiring and only positive thoughts can do that.

I still have some grudges, I still judge on occasion but catch myself much more now than I ever did before.  I am still struggling with my weight and get defensive when I hear other well meaning people tell me what I need to do to lose weight.  They are right, but it hurts to hear it because I know they are right, and I haven't been able to do it. I am still scared... in spite of my fear, I have to do what I know is necessary. I just have to DO IT! (Take a look at the just  'do it' video) I know I have to decide what I am to do with my life and take action to make it happen, in spite of my fears... yes I have more than one!

In spite of me and because of me, I know I will get where I want to go.  My belief may not be strong enough yet, yes I have doubts, but not in the system, in me.  I know using network marketing I will have the financial wealth I want and Mentoring for Free will prepare me for it if I don't give up and I won't...  I will own my life!

Network Marketing Skills - The myth of multi-tasking.... now is the secret to reaching your goals!

Is there such a thing as multi-tasking?  When we say we are doing several things at once, what are we really saying?  Can we physically, mentally do more than one thing  at a time?

If we are truly in the moment, living purposely and in the now... how can your attention be on more than one thing at a time!  You can only think one thing in any given moment, you can string a bunch of different ideas together but you can only have  one thought at one point in time.  The only reality is the instant you are living now, past and future are only memories and projections... they are not real.

This idea that multi-tasking is a myth, something I have been claiming to do all my life, really made me think and in an instant made me free!

I have been saying how I am not good at delayed gratification but really I am very good at it.  I dream of what I want in the future but since I can't have it today I continue to do what little I think I can to enjoy today.  I fondly remember the past and want to keep it alive but don't seem to move on.  The programming that I can only dream and not have any part of it now is still there.

It makes perfect sense.  Living in the now means I do what I can now to live my dreams.  The goals and dreams of the future need to live now in order to have life, we need to enjoy them in the now because now is what is real.

A long time ago I did an outward bound course in the Rocky Mountains.  I was 150 lbs over weight and not in great shape.  I loved to rock climb but only done it on a small scale.  Soon I was carrying the least amount of stuff and last to catch up.  All my energy was focused on right then, putting one foot in front of the other.  I had no money worries, no thoughts of relationships that weren't going the way I wanted them to, just that moment.  I loved every torturous minute of it and never felt more alive as I did on that trip.  I was focused on the now.

As an artist, when I am working and totally absorbed in the project, I am living in that moment.  Working on a project feels just like meditating. Think about the last time you were working on a project or doing something with a loved one and it felt like you and your loved one were the only ones on the planet, you are totally absorbed in the project or the person. Nothing else existed... you were in the now.

Living in the now means enjoying the moment.  Right NOW on this point in time I have all I need and life is perfect.  I can have what I imagine and can enjoy the dream now because if I imagine it now it is real.  It will come true because it exists NOW!

So next time you feel you are not getting what you want fast enough, think about what you are concentrating on. Are you dwelling on what you want from the standpoint of not being able to have it? Or are you celebrating the idea that you are living it, that you are one step closer and enjoying the journey.  Be appreciative of what you have now and look for ways to enjoy the moment. To use an old saying, take time to smell the roses and you will give your dream life and your life will be a dream!

Network Marketing - Why start a home based business? Why not!

Thinking of starting your own home based business, or joining a mlm?  You timing couldn't be better! History has shown that when the economy is reported to be less than perfect, people start looking outside the box to supplement their income. It is true that all we hear about is how bad the economy is but if you continue to do the same thing as you have been doing, nothing will change.  They say the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect your circumstances to change.  So if you keep doing what you have been doing and not seen any change, you need to do something different, like starting your own home based business!

I know what you are thinking... isn't this the worst possible time to start a new business or join some network marketing business, after all everyone is struggling. Who is going to want to invest in a business or buy from you? If you are thinking about a change BECAUSE of this, chances are other people are too. More people are using the internet to do business and online sales are increasing. Truth is, any time is the best time to start a network marketing business and times of economic stress are even better.  The best time to invest in yourself and a business is now, and now is the time to make yourself financially free!

Some facts about network marketing.....

Many network marketing businesses require small investments compared to the traditional brick and mortar businesses. A traditional business venture is many times out of the average working mans reach.  Many home based network marketing opportunities are well within most peoples budgets.

While you must invest time and work the business, you can run a home based business on a part time basis and still make it a success. It requires little space and can be run from home, no fancy outside office space required. The traditional business usually also requires you to be tied down to a specific schedule and to be there on a full time basis. If your doors are shut you make no money, with an online business your doors can be open while you are somewhere else doing something else!

Listen to this short video about why this is the best time for women to start a home based business!

Traditional business is dependent on local needs, but an Internet business is global.  If your town is not doing well, chances are another place is doing better and you can market your product there, as well as hundreds or thousands of places more!  Your reach is everywhere and anybody.

Think about it, you have been working for someone else making them wealthy for years, sometimes decades. Isn't it time you did the same for yourself?  You have been networking ever since you were old enough to talk and tell friend about the newest best movie or pair of jeans you just bought, and not been reimbursed for the endorsement!  Isn't it about time you got paid for recommending a great product you found useful?  That is network marketing!

And finally, one of the best reasons for starting a home based business is all of the people you can help.  Many are in the same or worse shape as you are, and learning to lead them to a better place as you learn to get there yourself is the best pay of all!

So make a change, and make yourself financially free. It isn't get rich quick, but is is work that is fun and lucrative, and anyone can do it.  So join the ranks of the entrepreneur. You will find it rewarding both financially and personally.

MLM Networking - A personal development program with a pay plan built in!

The best definition of a network marketing business is that it is a personal development program with a built in pay plan!  Without the personal development,  most of us can keep a business prospering and growing much less build it in the first place.  If you don't grow into the responsible leader you need to be when success finds you, you will not keep it!

Think about it, when you were a kid, learning to ride a bike, you had to learn judgement as well as the mechanics of steering and balancing on the bike. You didn't just get on and ride first thing. And when you had that down your parents probably had rules, no riding in the street when you were really young, because your judgement was not up to your skills, you couldn't judge how to safely ride with the possible traffic that could come your way. They kept you on less busy streets at first, until they were sure you knew to look both ways before crossing and you were better at judging what kind of terrain you could handle without losing control. You didn't throw off  the training wheels and venture out onto a well traveled road!  Your pay plan then was the added Independence as you matured and learned how to handle the bike!

So don't forget the important homework:

•   Read uplifting, self development books like Napoleon Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich",  "The strangest secret" by Earl Nightingale Conant, or "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"  by Stephen Covey (personal effectiveness).  
•    Find a mastermind group to keep you focused.  The more time you spend around the people you want to become the better off you are.  
•    Write down your goals and update them regularly.  Put pictures up to keep them foremost in your thoughts and keep your energy up.  
•    Develop a self talk to teach your ego, your subconscious mind what you want it to work on.  The old saying 'garbage in, garbage out!'  If you want the good stuff, you have to feed good stuff to your brain. 
•    Take your advice from experts, be a critical thinker and check out the people you are getting advice from.   If you are working on growing a business, you want to make sure the people that you are getting the advice from someone that has been there, not just someone that wants your money! Make sure the mentors you are listening to have done the same things you are about to do.  You want to use them as an example, so make sure they are someone you want to follow.

So enjoy the ride!  This adventure should be fun as well as profitable.  If you aren't having fun you are doing it wrong.  The person you become is just as valuable as the business you will grow.  You can reinvent yourself, the old saying 'this is the first day of the rest of your life" is really true! Past is gone and today you have a clean slate, network marketing is probably the only business model that allows you to reinvent yourself while you make money and learn to grow a business.  So work on yourself first and the business will grow right along with you!

What do you need to do to be successful in an MLM?

Hundreds of people try to build a successful network marketing business, and fail.  Why do some make it and some not? Maybe we need to understand what the MLM business is BEFORE we go and sign up with some network marketing company.  You need to have a clear understanding of what you need to build a successful MLM from the beginning.

MLM, Multilevel marketing started with Mytinger’s and Casselberry’s new marketing plan for the Nutrilite company circa 1945. These guys developed a three-pronged approach... Use the products, share the products, and sponsor the folks who like the products.

A professional network marketer working an network marketing business understands that the components of a successful mlm business are:

 1.  A self-development program (with a pay plan attached)

 2.  It is a relationship not a selling business.

 3  There is a product referral program, a sponsoring program.

 4. You must participate in an auto ship program.

 5.  You use the products yourself.               

You need to be active in all five of these areas to be successful.  If you are struggling, find a mentor and be accountable for doing what is needed to get what you want from your mlm. If that isn't your sponsor then find someone else that will be.   A mentor can be your lifeline to being accountable and to making sure you stay on track.  They should not be charging, there are too many out there that will help you for free.  Mentors can be the one thing that makes the difference.

MLM Networking - Inspiration and positive progaming is the key!

Most of us approach MLM network marketing from a traditional business point of view.  We focus on working the traditional way, from the outside... but to work smart means to work from the inside out!  We can do the mechanics, talk to potential clients, send out advertisements, and keep our books, but that isn't all you need to do to be successful. Ask yourself why do some do better than others when they are both doing the exact same thing with the exact same tools?  Why do some make it and some not, given the same opportunity and tools?  It is because of the work they do on the inside, it is because one group works on themselves and the other doesn't.

To be really successful is not supposed to be so hard!  The shortcut is sometimes called spiritual marketing. It is believing and really being emotionally in tune with yourself.  Some also call it attraction marketing.  You believe the tools will work, and you are ready to act when opportunity shows up.  The money, the clients, whatever you need to make it in what ever you are doing is there waiting for you to let it come to you, you just have to know how to attract it and be comfortable with your success enough to embrace it.

Consider this quote from Joe Vatali's book on 'Spiritual Marketing"...

“Spirit is substance which forms itself according to your demands, and must have a pattern from which to work.  A pan of dough is as willing to be formed into bread as biscuit. It makes as little difference to Spirit what we demand.”
--  Frances Larimer Warner,
Our Invisible Supply: Part One, 1907

There is a lot of opinions on what to do to make yourself successful in business, but if you are successful in your personal life, you can't help to be successful in business.  If  you plant corn and Larkspur next to each other, both will grow. The soil will treat each one the same, even though one is healthy and the other is poison.  Your mind is the same, it doesn't discriminate between negative and positive, it will consider them both the same way, unless you actively take part in what is going in to your mind. Make more positive things go in and you will see and feel the difference.

There are many things you can to to tip the balance to positive. Consider these actions and see if you are doing them.

     • Reading....  it seems like all the people I have met that are wealthy spend some time every day reading, not romance novels but uplifting, self improvement books.
     • Mastermind group... they have a group of like minded people they can go to to brainstorm ideas. Some like in Napoleon Hill's book 'Think and Grow Rich" can be imagined, figures from history or your life that you admire and respect, or people that are real that you get together with on a regular basis to help inspire each other, not necessarily in the same business but with the same mindset.
     • Your are being programmed whether you are aware of it or not... Control the programming.  Stay away from people who want to steal your dreams.  Don't allow negative people around you as much as you can. Sometimes you can't avoid them, at work or at home, but you can give yourself more positive than negative by refusing delivery, by putting more positive in your head so that the negative won't fit.
     • Make yourself up a positive self talk, one that will take the place of all the negativity that we encounter. Make it easy to remember and repeat it out loud and to yourself whenever you can.  Turn off the radio in the car and listen to your thoughts instead.  Think positive, talk positive and positive things will happen for you.
     • Turn off the news, no violent, negative programs, or better yet no tv.  The news stations are sending you negative programming, gloom and doom, and yet the sky hasn't fallen yet, has it! Give it a try for at least 30 days and you will be amazed.
     • Seek out positive videos and audios, put them on your mp3 player and instead of looking at magazines and their ads, listen to them while you wait at the doctors or when picking up your kids, anywhere you have to wait and be idle. Turn off the radio and listen to your mind instead.  You will be surprised what you hear. Fill you head with positive possibilities and watch them come to you!
     • Helping others will always help you as well. Remember Zig Ziggler's quote,"If you help others get what they want, then you will get what you want".  Running your business without an agenda, that is with the thought in mind that you are going to help someone without expecting anything in return, will have a great positive effect on your business. Do this and you will be surprised how much of it will come back to you.  Think of it this way, when you give to anyone or anything, you are giving to the universe, and the universe will give back to you.

These are just a few things that you can put into practice that will make a difference. Give yourself  30 days, invest in yourself and you will not be sorry. You will be a superstar and when your success happens, you will be ready to embrace it!

Home Business MLM - What does it take to be successful? What questions should you be asking?

  You want to make extra money, and you hear the buzz about home business MLM and wonder if it is for you?  What do you have to do to make money?  So much information out there, how do you know what to believe and what to look for in a company?

I bet you have asked yourself all these questions and more. There are so many choices it can be hard to choose what to do.  Think about it, if you are going to open a hardware store. would you not want to investigate how to run the store?  Would you find out what you have to invest and what your chances for success are before you buy the store?

It is the same with starting a home business MLM.  There are hundreds even thousands of companies out there to choose from and you need to get some education before you invest in one.  Yes, it is an investment just like any other business.  If someone is telling you can make money without investing in the business, they are a scam.  By the same token, you shouldn't have to put up thousands of dollars up front just to join.  There are plenty of opportunities out there where you can start at minimal cost if you need to.  Most legitimate companies offer several ways to join and make money. Here are some tips to keep you from losing instead of making money.

    •  Get some education.  There are plenty of places that will make you pay for the information but it is readily available for free.  A group called Mentoring for Free will help you to learn the ropes. They have helped many people to be successful in a home business MLM.  Read and think about what you read, take a look at the source of the article or website. Does this person want you to buy his cd that will tell you just what to do... and has he or she built a MLM business, or do they make their money selling the cd's and workshops?  A very good question!

   •  Make sure they have a legitimate product.  If the only money made comes from sponsoring someone, it is not legal.  You may be able to make money for a while, but sooner or later the government will shut it down and you run the risk of  going to jail.  YES JAIL!   Gifting programs are never legal no matter what they say.  If you give money to someone, that is fine, but if you expect and/or get money back as a result, it is illegal.  RUN, DON"T WALK AWAY!

   •  The product needs to be value priced, that is it should be something you would buy even if there were no business attached to it. If you are paying a hundreds of dollars for a product you can get for a few dollars anywhere else, how can you make money from the product? If the company can't make money from selling the product, your only customers will be the people you sponsor.  Check on ebay and or Craigs list, see what it costs there. If you can get it for pennies on the dollar compared to the MLM companies price, you will have a problem.  Would you be a customer if you weren't supposed to make money from this company?  Money needs to come from products, not from someone signing up.  Retail sales will give you a good foundation and this will make residual income, one of the really great perks that only home based MLM businesses can offer.  Customers and business partners alike will purchase over and over, this will build a stable business for you.

   •  Don't fall into the easy money trap.  Lots of offers out them appeal to the person that want instant gratification.  Join this company, we will build your down line for you!  No product to sell, no recruiting, make money the easy way!   So where does the money come from if no one is selling a product, no one is paying to sign up, and no one is recruiting a down line?  What good does it do you to have a hundred people that have signed up for your 'free' mall if no one buys anything. (and few do since it is easier to go straight to the stores website and buy there)  And when they do you make so little that to have any income at all, you have to have hundred of people buying at the same time to get a check.

   •  Most of the MLM's that fail do so in the first 3 years.  According to MLM Watchdog,  Less than a year old the survival rate is less than 10%.  One year to two the survival rate is 30%.  Year two to three the rate is 50%.  Over three years the survival rate jumps up to over 70%.  If  a company is new, a 'ground floor' opportunity, it hasn't proved itself in the market yet.  You run the very real risk of building an income that will be pulled out from under you and not be the company you can literally retire from and keep your checks coming.  You want the company to have time to work the bugs out before you invest your time and money into it.

   •  Who are the founders, the people running the show.  Do they have a track record in the industry... have they started other companies and every couple of years fold up and start new?  Have they EVER built an MLM business down line and worked a network marketing business before, or did they just want to jump on the bandwagon and make themselves a quick buck.  Even someone who it sincere, without the experience in MLM.  Find ceo's with integrity and experience.

   •  Expect to invest some time working the business.  You should be able to make money working part time, an hour or two a day.  Granted the more hours you put in the faster your business will grow but most people that do this are starting part time while working their full time job.  Anyone that tells you you can just sponsor 1 or 2 people then sit back and wait for the profits are just in it for the sign up, they are recruiting and once you sign up, you will never get help from them again and you will do just that, wait for the money that never comes.  A true opportunity will require a sustained effort at first. The idea is to work in the beginning building a solid foundation so that once you build it big enough, you can walk away and still make money.  In this day of pensions going broke, a solid built MLM business can be your retirement and your legacy, something you can pass off to your kids and they to their kids.

These are just a few of the considerations that you need to think about.  Getting that education will show you just what you need to watch out for.  Find a mentor and a mastermind group of like minded people to talk with and learn from.  They have been there already and you can learn from their mistakes.  Don't buy leads or invest without doing the homework.  Operating a home based MLM business is the greatest adventure and the best chance for most of us to be financially free.  The personal growth and the camaraderie you get from joining with the right group of like minded people all working towards the same goal is the biggest rush you can ever have.   I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  You can be successful with the right tools and the right support. I believe in you!

MLM Networking - How to make your business from home flourish and last

MLM Networking is a fun and lucrative way to make money from home, and anyone can be successful in it once you understand how it works. It is one of the only business models where everyone is on a level playing field, doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers, housewives, even students all start in the same place, learning the same principals and with the same chances of success.

Consider this quote...

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
                                             - Anais Nin

What a great idea! Just think, network marketing is a relationship business and each person you sponsor in your business is a new world (their own business center), yet part of the group ( part of your group volume so part of your business)! If you think of it without the money, they really are adding a whole new world to yours, expanding your universe in ways you can't yet see. What a great present... If you think of it like this, you really do take yourself out of the equation and will be able to help them more effectively.

So want to see your business really shine, want to have a retention rate of 50% or more... don't sponsor people, make friends, find out how to help them, and in doing that you will be helping yourself.

Network marketing is a great business but so many treat it like a sales business, and once someone is sold, they become a customer, a number. Make sure you aren't selling, develop relationships instead.

I have heard the saying 'a stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet', think of your leads the same way. Find people with something in common, that being the desire to start a home business, and ideally someone wanting to do network marketing. They are your optimized targeted leads. They will become your best friends.

If you utilize this philosophy, you will successful in more ways than one. You will be a great leader, and a great friend.  You will be financially free and a role model for your children, you will truly own your life.

MLM Work From Home - Network Marketing instead of a second job

The biggest challenge in working a MLM business from home for me is being able to devote a block of time without interruptions to concentrate on my business.  Working from home has a unique set of challenges.  Family and friends sometimes don't seem to treat this as a real 'job' and your time is fair game.  They will interrupt you while working at home where they wouldn't dream of disturbing you if you were in another place working for someone else.  You have to make them understand and be determined to make this time as important to you and everyone else as it would be if you were going off to work.  After all you are working for yourself, isn't your business worth as much as someone esle's business?   Maybe more?

Working an MLM business can provide much more financial security than any other kind of job or brick and mortar business in a much shorter time, if it is worked correctly.  Luck has nothing to do with it, knowledge does. Make yourself a student of the industry. If you wanted to be a brain surgeon, wouldn't you go to school to learn the trade?  Even McDonalds has it's Hamburger University!

MLM is a business that can be marketed in several ways.  The old model says make a list of friends and family and get as many people in your living room or a hotel room as you can.  Talk to your warm market, and go back in your memory and look up as many people as you can to fill those rooms.  How many of you have tried this, only to have friends and family reject and sometimes laugh at your efforts, until you quit out of frustration. These days we have the Internet and if you learn how to use it, it can be a great source of finding optimized targeted leads that already want to work an MLM business.

There are many strategies both online and offline that will allow us to work from home and make the dream come true.  When you start your MLM don't just concentrate on the company and its products. Think about the  marketing system you will use because the process you apply for attracting and enrolling future partners needs to allow your personality to come out and be duplicatable for your clients joining you in your business. There are many different ways, and they are forever changing and evolving, so you will never run out of ways to advertise online. These new and improved strategies have only just started and will continue to generate fortunes for people that can understand and are able to use the power of the Internet.

What happens invariably with offline strategies is that unless you are a heavy hitter with a great influential circle, you will struggle with the friends and family because when you have exhausted your circle of friends and acquaintances, which for 90% of people out there is very limited, you are left with a cold market.  You first have to convince most of these people that a home business is a good idea, and then sell them on MLM.  No wonder it is called a cold market! What happens most with this kind of lead source is you have to have thousands of them to find one, and spend hundreds of dollars doing it.  A very expensive way to find people to talk to.

A good marketing system be easily duplicated and easy to implement. It should be inexpensive or free and give you a way to track your results.  It should be one that finds people that ALREADY WANT TO DO MLM.  It should make them want to talk to you. This in my book, is a whole lot better and easier than the old fashioned way of trying to convince others that don't have a clue about what we are trying to do!

 A Note:  Mentoring for Free is a free service that will help you learn how to advertize and find the system that fits you. Some MLM's have something already in place talored to the company, sometimes they will work well for you.  At Mentoring for Free there are experiences network marketers volunteering their time to help you out, and show you how to do things without getting caught spending money on worthless lead sources, and show you how to find your own optimized, targeted leads.  

Optimized MLM Leads - Don't get scamed buying leads!

Optimized MLM leads are leads that have shown interest in what you are doing, in Network Marketing they would have expressed interest in making money from home. The more specific the interest the better the online mlm lead. There are lead companies galore that will tell you they generate the best leads, that the people they are selling you are hot on the trail of building a network marketing business and prove it by making you pay top dollar for them. But what are you really getting?

They are giving you garbage and building their lists at the same time. Buying mlm leads from most of them means you will end up on someone else's list and if you call the leads, provided they give you real phone numbers, you will find them very neutral at best to ice cold and uninterested. Buying leads is a scam and totally unnecessary. You can find your own mlm opportunity leads at little or no expense and they WILL BE OPTIMIZED and TARGETED for your business!

First to get your own targeted optimized leads, you need to brand yourself. Put your name out there by starting a blog and learn to write your own articles. There are lots of free places to do this, and when you are more skilled you can get a self hosted site. Google likes Blogger and that is a good place to start. (I don't get anything from saying this!) Just put in a search for articles and blogs and you will see many results, find one that suits you. There are also many places that can give you good advice on how to write them.  You should write about something you are passionate about, use your knowledge to create something of value for the reader so they return to you. You are the expert.

My good friend and mentor Michael Dlouhy, author of "Success in 10 Steps"  is an expert on generating targeted mlm leads. Listen to what he has to say about buying leads...

You will need links to your articles, blogs and websites. Backlinks are important and easy to do. Get your self on facebook, linkedIn, twitter and any other social network you can find. You can use a multiple posting program like Onlywire to post to all of them at once. You don't have to write a book, just what you are thinking, a great saying you came across, good advice from someone (make sure you credit anyone quoted) or a thought for the day that would be uplifting and positive. All of this will help you to be branded, to get your name out there and support your blogs, articles and websites.

Make sure there is a way for readers to leave comments. Getting a conversation going is a great way to keep someone listening and reading. If you are giving them something of value they will want to come back and will want to know more about what you do. Now you have them asking you for information about your business!

Safelists take a little more time but are also effective. They are a way to share by looking at other peoples websites or ads. All are a little different in that some will require you to look at more ads than others but those that are struggling are looking at the ads, you can fly through them to optimize your time. All are free or you can join them, but first try them out for free to see how they work for you. I haven't joined any of them and have success. I track them so I know what I have, and if one is not performing like I want I just replace it with another.

Pay per click can be effective but beware, there is a cost. You will get a first $75 or $100 credit to try it, and by all means take advantage of that but when you start paying you can end up with a large bill if you aren't careful. Get some expert advice before diving in to pay per click so you don't end up emptying your bank account. There you MUST track your results to pay the least amount of money for your leads.

So stop buying mlm leads and start generating your own. There is a ton of information out there. This is called Attraction Marketing and you can do it mostly for free, and get better quality people to talk to as well. If you are looking for a lead generation system to help keep track of them, look into Mentoring for Free. They also have a great library of teaching audios and videos on how to get your own leads.

Be a critical thinker. If you see an opportunity for buying mlm leads, find out something about who is selling them, you may find the very people that are suggesting it are profiting from them as well. Google the name, research the company, and know what you are paying for. You will find it just won't be worth it and you will be happier and a lot less broke if you go get your own targeted mlm leads.

Getting qualified leads for your network marketing business - get a system to help you.

  

Want to be so busy, you
need an extra hand?

  When I ask people what is the biggest  challenge in working their network             marketing business, they almost always say they need to know how to get people to    talk to, and     then what do they say.  This isn't as difficult as it sounds.

  If you are working on your own, no direction, no mentor, and no system for getting   leads you are going to fail.  You need a system to get those qualified leads to talk to   and it needs to provide information and a good auto responder that will make it   sound like you personally sent that message, and a library of responses that are sent   as soon as the client shows interest.

  The best systems will find people that are already interested in network marketing. You don't want to have to convince anyone that the business model is a good one, spend your time with people that are already wanting to find what you have.

First, Promote yourself!  Learn how to brand yourself so when someone sees your name it is one they associate with your business, or with network marketing in general. That way you are looked on as a professional, a real leader.

Use a something free, some free info so when someone comes to you for help, they get something of  VALUE without being asked for money.  People join people and you want them to want to join you in whatever you are doing, because you are successful, and they want to be like you!

If you use these basic guidelines to find a system and a mentor to show you how, you should be looking like the guy in the cartoon, and you will be successful. 

Getting leads for your mlm - Network Marketing is a relationship business, not a sales business

Ever feel like a salesman when you are talking to someone about your network marketing business? BIG MISTAKE! You shouldn't have to sell anyone on network marketing, instead learn to target people that already believe in the business model, and forget being the salesman, be a friend instead. Network marketing is not a sales business, it is a relationship business. No one should be looking at you with this kind of expression if you build the relationship first!

Doing network marketing should be fun!  If you do it right, you will want to get on the phone to call perspective customers and business partners alike, and they will talk to you, because you are giving them a service. You are providing them with information that they want to hear. You are helping them out.

How do you do this?  You set up your advertisements so that those that are wanting help with network marketing will search for you. Use keywords that talk about helping and coaching, targeted leads and finding success in network marketing. Find a system that doesn't use the sales pitch but is designed to teach your people about how to do the business. The quest for knowledge will bring them to you. 

Nobody wants to be sold. Nobody wants to be a 'mark', but everyone wants to make new friends.  And when someone is struggling, they want someone to help them, not sell them. A small change in attitude and agenda will make all the difference in the way you talk to your prospects.  Make it a point to get the money out of the equation, make it about them, not about you. If you can do this, you will find success in more ways than one.

Great quote from Zig Ziggler: Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.

Great quote from Zig Ziggler: Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness. This is Mentoring for Free. 

I have been listening to the audios and free calls for probably a year now, and I can say it has been there when I needed it.  It is uncanny that I hear what I need when I need it.  They are the best support system for anyone doing something that is challenging like building a business from home.  You can pay hundreds of dollars for personal developement courses, but my mentors and this system is there for me at NO CHARGE!  Imagine that, just people with a common bond, a mutual objective helping each other to succeed.  As an artist we can be somewhat in our own world, almost on the fringe of society at times, we are part of a culture all our own.  We try to get people to connect with our art, and as a network marketer I see it much the same, I am trying to get other people to connect with me, so we can together build a business that will set us free!  

Mentoring for Free  tells us that we are perfect just as we are to build a business, and we are announced when we speak on the calls as the 'next brilliant leader'.  Does this not sound like Zig''s quote, someone designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness?  This is you and me, we just have to learn to believe it and step up and shine when the opportunity shows itself!  We must believe it, when we believe it we will live it.