I don’t need to add anything – he says it just fine. Enjoy!

Create your own . . . → Read More: Get Lucky]]>

Today’s article comes courtesy of Grant Cardone – supersales trainer extraordinaire.  Being a sales trainer, he is talking about sales in particular, but obviously, his advice applies just as well to network marketing as it does to any other area of life.

I don’t need to add anything – he says it just fine. Enjoy!

Create your own luck.

Because the truth is, luck isn’t something that someone hands over to you. It’s something that you create for yourself. It’s something that’s created by those who make the sacrifice of putting their nose to the grindstone and working hard at their craft, relationship or hobby.

Only YOU can increase your luck. Here’s how:

1. Focus on Opportunity

Lucky people see all situations – even problems and complaints – as opportunities. Many people might perceive these situations as unlucky, but you have to see it as an opportunity to progress. Every problem, complaint, and difficult moment is a chance to become successful at what you want to do.

2. Persist Until You Are Successful

This quality is necessary to make any dream a reality. If you want to increase your chances of getting lucky, you have to keep putting yourself out there until you become lucky. You can’t expect to do something once and get lucky. You have to keep doing it over and over again until you overcome all the odds.

3. Take Risks

No one gets lucky without taking risks. If you don’t ever put yourself out there, how do you even expect yourself to get lucky? It’s impossible. Put your foot out, step forward, and take the risk to achieve the kind of luck you want to get. Remember, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

The bottom line is, you can’t get very far by only relying on luck. You have to rely on yourself to create your own opportunities and to create your own success. Only then will you be lucky.

by Grant Cardone; follow him at @GrantCardone or www.GrantCardone.com

What  do you want to be lucky at? Find something you love to do, focus on it, persist against any and all obstacles, take risks; and you will find your luck.

Till next time,

Alan

The following article comes from a recent issue of a newsletter that I receive. Contact info is below the . . . → Read More: The Steve Martin Method of Dominating Your Field]]>

This guy has a way with subject lines. This was the title of the email that arrived in my Inbox. I’m thinking – what does Steve Martin have to do with success in business. Little did I know!

The following article comes from a recent issue of a newsletter that I receive. Contact info is below the article.  Enjoy!

by Pat Clouden

Steve Martin is one of the most famous comedians of the 20^th century, and many “modern” devices that young people think are so novel actually have their roots in Martin’s work. Martin is a highly accomplished stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and musician…

…but how did he do it?

In his memoirs, Born Standing Up, Martin wanted to share his insights on how he achieved his success, not just what he achieved. His advice is inspiring, spot-on, and applicable to any activity or field. I want to share the essence of what I’m going to call the “Steve Martin Method for Dominating Your Field” with you here.

When people ask Martin what his secret to success in the entertainment industry, his answer usually disappoints. It’s one, unsexy line and it’s very simple. Here’s what he tells them:

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

Before you dismiss this as clichéd, let it sink in because it captures the essence of success in any area of your life.

While his “secret” might seem daunting, it can actually be invigorating. It simplifies the quest for success, which is often made to look very complex and overwhelming.

What Martin is saying is forget the secret backdoors, the gimmicks and tricks, the frustration of feeling like you’re missing some mystical element, and focus on just one thing: Become really damn good at something. Become extraordinary at it. Better than everyone you know. So good that people couldn’t help but be amazed.

If you do this, you’ve almost guaranteed your success (the rest is all too easy, especially in this age of instant, worldwide communication channels).

Martin had two other powerful pieces of advice that will help you apply his one-step-to-success.

Tip #1: Innovate, Don’t Just Work

Going through the motions to “put in your time” isn’t enough to become outstanding. You need a restless desire to figure out new, better ways to do things. You can’t be afraid to experiment and learn from the successes and failures.

Don’t be content with just following the crowd. Take the time to understand the principles and laws of the activity and look to others to see what they do well and what they don’t, and then dream up new ways to mix, match, stretch, and augment these things into something new and better.

Tip #2: One Focus, One Goal

Martin said he owes his success to his diligence in one field at a time until he had mastered it. He resisted the urge to branch off into other, new types of work or projects.

In today’s age of never-ending distractions and possibilities, it can feel a bit counter-intuitive to sharpen your ambitions to a razor’s edge, but it’s actually the most effective way I know to dominate in any activity. Martin was right when he said that if you don’t align your entire life with one, singular quest for greatness, you’ll dilute your focus and drive to a point where becoming extraordinary is not possible.

So, if you want to become a true leader in your field, forget about comparing yourself to others and looking for consolation. Instead, ask yourself this question:

“Am I so good that I can’t be ignored?”

If your honest answer is “no,” then you’ve taken your first step to achieving greatness because now you know what needs to happen. Start applying the Steve Martin Method and one day, you’ll realize that you’re at the top of your industry.

See you next week,

Pat

Accelerated Training Solutions

http://www.accelerateyourtraining.com/

800-809-0487
601 Cleveland Street, Suite 220, Clearwater FL  33755

“This might sound easy, but commitment is more than just a word. Commitment is an action towards success.

“Most people assume that they first have to figure everything out and only then will they commit. The issue . . . → Read More: Commitment]]>

This is from an email newsletter that I get, I loved this one so much that I wanted to share it:

“This might sound easy, but commitment is more than just a word. Commitment is an action towards success.

“Most people assume that they first have to figure everything out and only then will they commit. The issue is they then never seem to get around to it. Even if they figure it out and are ready to commit, that original opportunity then no longer exists or someone else has already taken claim to it.

“Committing first means getting 100 percent behind whatever it is you are committing to before you figure out every detail. Sure it may be risky to commit first and then, turnaround to figure the rest out later, but it is my absolute belief that creativity and problem solving are stimulated only after a person fully commits. Preparation, details, and training are still critical, but the challenges you face in life will require you to act before you determine how to make everything turn out right.

“Remember, it‘s not necessarily the smartest and brightest who win in the game of life but rather those who can commit the most passionately to their cause.”

Grant   © Copyright Grant Cardone

Another Look at Commitment

“But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

from The Scottish Himalaya Expedition by W. H. Murray, 1951

So…

Are you committed?

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true?

Till next time!

Alan

Have you ever wondered how to ask someone to look at your business, . . . → Read More: Training That Makes Sense]]>

If you’ve been around the block a few times in network marketing, you’ve probably realized that most training in network marketing consists of personal anecdotes, “run the numbers,” success stories of how others did it, hoopla, rah-rah and motivation; but darn little real training.

Have you ever wondered how to ask someone to look at your business, or even whether you should invite them to look at your business, or how to start a conversation?

Have you ever decided that there must be something wrong with you because you see others having success, but you’re not? Have you ever wanted to scream in frustration because no matter how many trainings, calls, meetings you attend it just isn’t happening for you?

Tim Sales has a course that he has written that answers all of these questions and much, much more. This is the first training that I can honestly say: “YOU NEED THIS.” Unless you’re already making more money than you can ever possibly spend, this can improve your game. Check it out at Professional Inviter.

Here’s Tim in an excerpt from the introduction:

Inviting Basics – Introduction

“Hello, Network Marketing Professional. My name is Tim Sales. My purpose and intention with this training pack is to teach you the skills or increase your skills at inviting people to look at your network marketing business.

…

“Inviting is the ability to ask someone to do something. You invite someone to go to dinner, you invite someone to play golf, and you invite someone to look at some information. This training package specifically addresses you inviting someone to look at your network marketing business.

…

“There is nothing more important in network marketing than inviting. See, if you can invite well, you can put your prospect in front of good presenters and good presentation tools (like videos, audios, websites – things like that). But if you can’t invite well, you’ll have a tough time in network marketing. So the information in this training pack is critical to your success.”

Take Your Skills To The Next Level

Since starting this course, I am having more fun than I thought possible in network marketing. I’ve always read and heard that if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong. Well, I was doing it wrong. Tim shows you how to do it right!

Go to this link: Professional Inviter. Really, you need this.

Quote

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.”  – Mohandas Gandhi

What’s the shortest path between two points? A straight line, right? Wrong. While that might be true in theory, it’s never true in reality. And reality is where you and I . . . → Read More: Course Correction]]>

Because I think it is such a valuable lesson, I share with you today an excerpt from Jeff Olson’s book, The Slight Edge:

What’s the shortest path between two points? A straight line, right? Wrong. While that might be true in theory, it’s never true in reality. And reality is where you and I live – and where we succeed or fail.

Have you driven on any roads lately that are perfectly straight? Even when you’re on one of those interstates that seems like a long straight line to forever, do you hold the steering wheel perfectly still? Or do you move it back and forth, constantly correcting the direction the car is headed? That constant moving of the steering wheel is so familiar, it’s second nature, and you probably never think about it. But if you decided to hold the wheel rigidly in place, you’d be off the road, probably in less than a minute.

And in case you think that’s just a matter of engineering, or of imperfections in the road’s surface, this next example may come as a bit of a shock:

On its way to the moon, the miracle of modern engineering that is an Apollo rocket is actually on course only two or three percent of the time; for at least ninety-seven percent of the time it takes to get from the Earth to the moon, it’s off course. In a journey of nearly a quarter of a million miles, the vehicle is on track for only 7,500 miles … or to put it another way, for every half-hour the ship is in flight, it is on course for less than sixty seconds!

And it gets to the moon?! How is that possible?

Because modern space travel is a masterful example of the Slight Edge in action.

If this machine, one of the most sophisticated, expensive and finely calibrated pieces of technology ever devised was correcting its own off-course errors twenty-nine minutes out of every thirty, is it reasonable to expect that you could do better than that? And even if you were able to match the rocket’s degree of accuracy, you’d still be perfectly on target, on track and on course no more than ten days per year!

For anyone who lacks a grasp of the Slight Edge, being off course is something to be avoided at all costs. After all, if you’re off course, you’re failing, right? But those who understand the Slight Edge embrace Thomas Watson’s philosophy about failure. Here is a more extended version of what he said:

“Would you like me to give you the formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure … You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all … You can be discouraged by failure – or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success. On the other side of failure.”   – Thomas J. Watson, Sr.

(end of excerpt)

It’s Important

This is not a perfect universe, nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”  – Michael Jordan

So, if something doesn’t go quite the way you planned, or you haven’t signed anyone up in weeks, or your last order got mixed up, or you have heard your comp plan explained 14 times and you still don’t get it, or your sponsor and his sponsor both just quit, don’t give up!!

“What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.”  – Mary Pickford

“Some people use failure as an excuse to give up, to become bitter, or cynical. Other people look at failure as an opportunity to revisit past decisions and to devise new strategies.”  - Catherine Pulsifer, from Do Not Be Discouraged

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. – John Quincy Adams

Increase Your Chances

To learn more about how network marketing enhances your chances to succeed, check out Brilliant Compensation.

To learn how picking a company correctly increases your odds of success, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter.

For those of you who weren’t here last week, I made a comment comparing the network you’re building in your business to real estate. My exact comment was: “Think of it like real estate. Once your network reaches a certain size, that network becomes an asset that continues to generate income whether . . . → Read More: Rooms For Rent]]>

What?

For those of you who weren’t here last week, I made a comment comparing the network you’re building in your business to real estate. My exact comment was: “Think of it like real estate. Once your network reaches a certain size, that network becomes an asset that continues to generate income whether you work or not.” (For the whole article, you can go to Don’t Trash Network Marketing.)

I realized on further pondering that that is actually a very apt analogy. Plus it capitalizes on a very similar analogy made by Tim Sales in his amazing video Brilliant Compensation.

Why Real Estate?

Real estate investors look for properties that can return a positive cash flow, whether it’s a house, an apartment, commercial or industrial properties.

Do you think that real estate investors think that 100% of their properties are going to be fully rented and paid every month? Whether it’s waiting for the right tenant to arrive, remodeling before the tenant moves in, having to deal with a tenant that’s not paying, or whatever, they know that there is a certain amount of time with any property where that property is not generating any income.

The commonest solution is to have enough properties so that if some of them are not generating any cash flow, the other properties keep the cash flow happening.

And?

So if you’re building a network marketing business, the people you recruit are your “properties.” They are what are going to build your cash flow.

Do you think that all of your “properties” are going to produce sales and recruits every day, every week, every month? They’re not, so what should be your solution? More “property,” i.e. more people in your network.

Let’s paint an example. Let’s say that, on average, everyone that you recruit, recruits 2 people, period. But out of 10 recruits, 1 of the people goes to town and recruits 1 person every month. To keep the math simple, let’s say the people who recruit 2 do so in their first 2 months. Further, let’s say you are one of the guys/girls who are acquiring 1 “property” per month. Here’s how the numbers of “properties”  might go. 1^st month – 2 (you and your first); 2^nd month – 4 (you and your first plus both of you recruit another); 3^rd month – 8; 4^th month – 14; 5^th month – 22; 6^th month – 32; 7^th month – 44; 8^th month – 58; 9^th month – 74; 10^th month – 92.

After 10 months, you have 92 people in your network of whom exactly one is doing something every month, yourself. But, you had things happening all the time. Every month there were new sales and new recruits. And you had your first “property” that begins generating cash flow every month. At the end of the second 10 months, you’ll have another 184 people plus your 3^rd and 4^th person doing something every month (another for yourself, one for your first every monther) . At the end of the third 10 month period, you’ll gain another 4 people who do something every month (one for you, one for the first guy, and one each for # 3 & 4).

After 30 months, 2 ½ years, you have 8 “properties” generating cash flow every month. Let’s just say for the purposes of the analogy that each “property” generates $100 in cash. Okay, so after 2 ½ years of blood, sweat and tears, you have $800 in cash flow. I can hear you thinking, “oh, wow…”

Bear with me, after another 10 months, at the 40 month mark (3 year and 4 months) you have 16 “properties,” $1600 a month, better, but really, for 3 years of work? Okay, 10 months later, 50 months (4 years, 2 months) you now have 32 “properties” bringing in $3200 per month. Another 10 months (5 years now) and you have 64 “properties” bringing in $6400 a month. 5 years and 10 months, you have 128 “properties” and $12,800 per month. Stop me when you get excited.

Okay, not bad, but 5 years?

All right, name me some other occupation where, with no education in the business at the outset, you can earn this much or more in that time frame and have it turn into residual income to boot.

And who’s to say that you couldn’t double your efforts or increase your effectiveness and do it twice as fast? It has happened.

So, How Many “Properties” Do You Want To Buy?

If you’re considering joining the network marketing industry and haven’t made up your mind yet, check out the video by Tim Sales called Brilliant Compensation.

If you don’t have a company yet, or you’re looking for a better one, check out www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the (free) “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter.

If you already have a company, and need tips and how to’s on marketing, check out John Eberhard’s RealWebMarketing Blog.

Here’s a couple blogs that I like that are specifically on network marketing:

http://www.marcus-baker.com

http://karyrogney.com

Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day weekend! Have a good week.

Quote

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.  – Conrad Hilton

When you sign up to start your new business, you are probably very excited. You’ve got this jazzy new product with which you’re going to take the world by storm. You’re going to make a ton of money, because everyone is going to want this. You start making your . . . → Read More: The Key Challenge]]>

When We First Met

When you sign up to start your new business, you are probably very excited. You’ve got this jazzy new product with which you’re going to take the world by storm. You’re going to make a ton of money, because everyone is going to want this. You start making your list of who you want to show your new business to, you can’t wait to go out and show somebody what you’re all excited about.

The Morning After

So now you’ve made a few presentations and you feel comfortable with giving it and things are really cooking for you and everyone is signing up. Well, okay, some people are signing up. Or maybe… my friend took pity on me and signed up with me after I told him I’d done sixteen presentations and no one had signed up yet. Or worse yet, sixteen presentations and nobody signed up. Could you keep going at that point?

Thomas Edison, according to legend, figured out hundreds of ways to make a light bulb that didn’t work. Ever the optimist, he said he hadn’t failed, he had just eliminated 899 wrong ways of building a light bulb. He carried on and eventually found a way that worked, providing a good source of light and a decent lifespan for the bulb. Where would you have said enough is enough?

Another is an individual who went to work as a salesman for a company, he made presentations every day, but no sales. After a month of no sales, the owner wanted to fire him so he could find a line of work he was more suited to, but he begged the owner to let him continue. To make a long story short, on his 106^th presentation, he made a sale. After that he started making occasional sales, then more sales; after two years he was the best salesman for the company. How long would you have kept going with no sales?

The Key Challenge

The key challenge is remaining consistent in the face of failures, disappointments, and let-downs. Do you want it bad enough to follow through and continue doing the promotional and lead-generating activities that will eventually create the income you dream about.

If you believe in the product and the company, have a big why for doing the business, focus on the main thing and can be consistent about it, you will be a winner.

To find a company and a product you can believe in, go to AlansMLMTips.com.

If you already found a company to work with, find a mentor or an upline who can train you, get trained and be consistent in applying what they teach you.

If you’re already trained, be consistent in applying what you learned. Be consistent in learning more: about the industry, about leadership, about training others, about every facet of this wonderful industry.

Quotes

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.   — Aristotle

Success is all about consistency around the fundamentals.  – Robin Sharma

The secret of success is consistency of purpose.  – Benjamin Disraeli

I listened to a very interesting business briefing over the weekend. Now, before you roll your eyes and go, oh no, not another business briefing, let me explain what I found so interesting about it.

This briefing had all the usual components, what the product is, what the company is and when they started. You can . . . → Read More: Network Marketing And A Mystery]]>

Business Briefing

I listened to a very interesting business briefing over the weekend. Now, before you roll your eyes and go, oh no, not another business briefing, let me explain what I found so interesting about it.

This briefing had all the usual components, what the product is, what the company is and when they started. You can see the five things that every business briefing or opportunity meeting covers on an earlier blog post of mine called Five Things To Evaluate. This briefing had them all.

What was different about it was the fact that this briefing started with the statement that the upline giving the presentation had done some research into why so many people fail at home businesses. This stuck out like a sore thumb for me, this was something I had never heard in a business briefing. In an industry where statistics say that anywhere from 85% on up of all new recruits quit or fail, if someone said they had found a reason for all that quitting or failure, I wanted to know what it was.

I’ve Seen This Before

Now the funny thing about this was it’s something we’ve probably all heard of, participated in and done with our recruits. What was different was the position it was given and the exact wording of it.

I just went to my bookshelf and of the first eight books I picked up, seven of them mentioned it. (The eighth one was more of a motivational book than a book on network marketing.)

What Some Of My Other Mentors Say

A book that I just finished reading put me in the prospect’s shoes and he put this at number three. Most of the seven books I mentioned above put it near the end of the book.

Most of the companies that I’ve observed or participated in personally at least give lip service to it.

So What Is It Already?

After all that buildup, after I tell you you’re probably going to think “that’s it?”

The top reason found for all that failure was training; effective training. Training that gets you the basics of what you need to do quickly and efficiently and gives you a step by step plan of how to do the business with no wasted effort and makes sure that you understand exactly why you’re doing each step.

With new recruits, it’s essential that you help them get some initial success quickly or they’re going to be gone just as quickly.

Why do you think that almost every book on or about network marketing mentions training and encourages you or even implores you to read books, listen to training videos, listen to training audios? Could it be that no one has come up with a simple, workable system that anyone can use and get started with?  Remember that 85% or higher failure or attrition rate?

There are a remarkably few skills that you need to learn to succeed at network marketing, but very few people come into network marketing already knowing them.

What To Do?

You could go hide in a cave or bury your head in the sand, but that won’t bring you the success you want, desire and long for. If you’re here, you’re either already involved with network marketing, are considering getting involved in network marketing or are looking for a better company to work with. (Or maybe you’re a personal friend who likes my writing, that might be possible too…)

If you’re new to the industry and are considering becoming a network marketer, I highly recommend that you go watch the video Brilliant Compensation. This video gives you a fascinating look at why network marketing is such a brilliant home business.

If you’ve decided to become a network marketer and aren’t sure what company  to work with, or are overwhelmed with the choices, or don’t know how to evaluate the differences between different business opportunities, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter. This will give you some great free tips on how to choose a company to work with.

If you’re already with a company and looking for training, there are so many sources of training that it becomes tedious to sort out the good from the bad. In a future post, I’m going to cover some of what I think are the best.

For now, I’m going to sign off. Till next time, make it a great week!

Humor

Sometimes I notice funny email subject lines, I thought this one was great! I received it from Toshiba yesterday.

“Weekend Special: Free Memory and Hard Drive Upgrades – Starting at $399”

How much would it be if they weren’t free?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, focus means “to direct toward a particular point or purpose.”

Now, in order to direct something, in this case, your network marketing business, toward a particular point or purpose, do you think it might be a good idea to know what that point or purpose is?

I thought you might. . . . → Read More: Focus On This]]>

What Is Focus?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, focus means “to direct toward a particular point or purpose.”

Now, in order to direct something, in this case, your network marketing business, toward a particular point or purpose, do you think it might be a good idea to know what that point or purpose is?

I thought you might. So, what is the point or purpose you’re shooting for?

What’s The Point?

The point, or purpose, in the beginning is to achieve some initial success, if you don’t have that, you probably won’t stick around long enough for anything else to matter.

After that, your purpose becomes learning the business of network marketing so that you can build towards your goals and help others build towards their goals.

In their book, Your First Year In Network Marketing, Mark Yarnell & Rene Reid Yarnell say “The key to building a successful business is to stick with one system long enough to allow it to work.”

So Why Is Focus So Important?

Without focus, anything can knock you off the path. Another company, another recruiting system, another leader that you think has a better idea, or even the latest email you got saying that with the XYZ method, John Q. Public made $42,000 in the last 15 minutes. The possibilities are so huge in network marketing you might be tempted to swallow this and go off on a tangent only to discover a month later that you’ve wasted the last month.

You want to stay on a consistent path, otherwise those people you sponsor to work with you get confused and lose their focus (why, because you’re their leader and you lost your focus). Stick with one plan, follow it religiously and others will follow it too.

Put Your Blinders On

Mark & Rene call all the possible distractions and divergences that you might possibly encounter in your first year “the scatter bomb.” They warn you to put your blinders on so that you can stay focused and not get distracted. When you’re working in a traditional business, your boss ensures that you don’t get distracted or he fires you.

In a network marketing business, you are your own boss, so learn a system, put your blinders on and do that system consistently.

Otherwise, you’re going to get distracted, lose your focus and give up on your dreams; and I want you to have your dreams come true.

Consistency

Once you’ve got a system that is working for you, you have to follow that system. Whether you have 3 hours per week to devote to your new business, or 30 hours per week, when that time slot that you’ve allotted for working your business arrives, you had better be out there doing whatever your system requires.

Busy-work

Network marketing requires a flow of people to talk to or promote to in order to find people who want your product or your business opportunity. That means that when your “business” time arrives, you should be doing what you do that gets you that flow of people.

Reorganizing your email address book doesn’t do that. Reading a book on leadership skills doesn’t do that. Putting together and printing a full color one page flyer to hand out doesn’t do that. (Handing that flyer out to 40 or 50 or 100 people does.)

In other words, whatever time you have allotted for your business, make sure to keep the main thing the main thing, whatever you’re doing to attract people to your business or your product; that’s what you should be doing. Whether it’s handing out flyers, or handing out business cards, talking to people one on one, blogging, doing surveys, whatever you do to approach people, make sure you actually do that and not the easier to confront things that don’t put you in front of people.

Fit the other things in wherever you can.

The Slight Edge

I would be remiss not to mention at this point one of the key success strategies. Jeff Olson devoted a whole book to this called “The Slight Edge – Secret to a Successful Life.”

In his book, he outlines his philosophy as the difference between simple disciplines done every day vs. simple errors in judgment. The simple disciplines are easy to do and easy not to do. But done consistently over time, the simple disciplines add up exponentially just like compound interest.

A couple of examples, let’s say you decide to go on a diet, you’re going to cut out snacks and junk food and eat only three nutritious meals per day.  Are you going to notice any difference the first week? Not likely, but I promise you if you do that every day for a year you will notice a difference. If you get inconsistent on doing this, will you notice that you’re getting worse right away? No, but keep it up for a year and see where you’re at.

Let’s say you decide to talk to one person every day about your business. Are you going to sponsor anyone the first week? Probably not. But I guarantee you if you keep doing that every day without fail, you will start succeeding. What’s going to happen if you skip a few days or a week, are you going to notice any huge change in your sponsoring? No, but over time are you going to have less happening in your group? Absolutely.

I encourage you to read this book to understand the importance of simple disciplines done consistently.

How Do I Find A Company To Work With?

One of my purposes in starting this blog was to give my readers information on what to look for and why.

For more information, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter. It’s a free newsletter that will give you more ideas on what to look for in a network marketing company.

Quote

Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.  – Doug Firebaugh

It seems like every book I’ve read says you should begin your network marketing career in this fashion:

1)    Find a great company with a wonderful product

2)    Find an awesome sponsor within that company who can mentor you to success

3)    Go to work with your sponsor

4)    Learn the ropes

5)    Make money while you . . . → Read More: Network Marketing – The Chicken or the Egg?]]>

The Books Say The Egg

It seems like every book I’ve read says you should begin your network marketing career in this fashion:

1)    Find a great company with a wonderful product

2)    Find an awesome sponsor within that company who can mentor you to success

3)    Go to work with your sponsor

4)    Learn the ropes

5)    Make money while you learn

6)    Find others to duplicate these steps

That would be the egg.

But The Chicken

Might look like this:

1)    A friend or relative tells you about the company he’s working with

2)    You sign up because you like the product or the company or your friend

3)    You don’t know what to do and neither does the person who signed you up

4)    You tell a few people about it and nobody else is interested

5)    You quit

Or maybe like this, which it did for me:

1)    My brother tells me about the company he’s working with

2)    I sign up

3)    With the help of my brother’s sponsor, I sign up someone

4)    That person makes several sales

5)    I get excited and try to repeat steps 3 & 4

6)    Number 3 runs out of warm market to talk to and loses interest

7)    I move on to another job and while not losing interest, don’t network market for several years

8)    I read books, I start and run my own traditional business

9)    I sign up for another network marketing company and fail

10)     I keep running my business

11)     I read more books

12)     Etc.

The Reality

I’m guessing that most people reading blogs about network marketing or home businesses or work from home jobs have experienced some version of the chicken scenario; jumping in and trying to figure it out.

The ones who persist through the failures and keep learning eventually discover that there is a reason most books give you the first version, i.e. the egg: you increase your chances of success by doing things in that sequence.

It doesn’t mean the chicken is wrong, or the pig or the cow or the bull moose; if you keep your eye on the goal, you’re going to get there. (For more on the goal, see my earlier post “Why, Oh Why.”)

I want to help you speed up the process.

What Do I Do If I’m already A Chicken?

Keep going! The only thing that can stop you is if you quit. If you know where you want to go, you can get there. As Jim Rohn once said, “working hard on your job makes you a living, working hard on yourself makes you a fortune.”

The difference between the first chicken who gave up and the second chicken (me) is that I didn’t give up. I kept working on myself, reading books, finding mentors, etc.

If you’re already in a company and you’re happy with the products but not so much with your sponsor, find a mentor, read a book, learn how to talk to people. Develop the skills and attitudes you need to attract people into your life, whether mentors, teachers, or business partners.

What If My Company or Product Isn’t So Great?

Hey, it happens. The initial hype can generate enthusiasm for a company or a product that isn’t that good. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water! Find a better company/product and go to work.

Not only will your attitude be better, your honesty with yourself and your prospects will improve and so will your results.

For more info on how to pick a company or a product, see my post called Five Things To Evaluate, or go to www.AlansMLMTips.com for free emails on how to pick them like a pro.

Another Quote

“Would you like me to give you a formula for… success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all… you can be discouraged by failure / or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success. On the far side.” – Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM