A Challenge???

I recently had one of my mentors make a challenge to myself and others while attending a seminar. He said if you cannot sit in room alone with no radio, no TV, no computer, no phone, and no pets for 1 hour, that you don't love yourself. And no you cannot close your eyes or go to sleep. I tried it yesterday and although I got through the entire hour, it was not as easy as it seems. I challenge you to give it a try.

Reflection

We are fast approaching Christmas and will soon be into a brand new year. Now is the perfect time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. It's also great time to reflect on what you have done in the past year and where you are headed down the road. This year has been one of many changes for me personally, some good and some not so good. Sometimes our reflection may be looking ahead and at other times it may be looking back. Not to live in the past, but to learn from some of the choices we have made along the way. I know that every decision has an outcome and that some of those decisions can change your life pattern as well as that of others. With all that being said, enjoy the holiday season, slow down, and take time to reflect. You might even want to start a journal... By reflecting you can really get to know yourself better and maybe even change the direction of your sail. Remember that life is a series of events and you are the co-creator of your life with god. Enjoy the ride it's not that long.

Multiple Streams of Income

If your like me and have your hands in many endeavors it can be crazy at times. Ever heard the term, "Jack of all trades, master of none". Personally, I come from the school of thought where you need to have multiple streams of income. The key is that these multiple streams of income must be created around your psychic income (what you love), and should not take up too much of your time. The key is to leverage your time, for example if your like me and your doing network marketing find others who are more talented than you to do the recruiting and building. Get them to do the same. If your doing network marketing and you can't find others to work hard, then you are wasting your time. Find products that are in alignment with your psychic income that you can promote on your blog or website. I currently market Magnetic Sponsoring by Mike Dillard and have made several hundred $$$ in a month without lifting a finger off of this one program. If your in network marketing, you might also consider using and marketing a marketing system to other network marketers. This will not take any of your time, as you only promote as a back-up when you are leading with your main program. These are just 3 of the many income streams I have created and most don't require more than a few hours a week.

If you are looking for a home based business you can check out mine at http://www.thehomebiz4you.com

If you need a system for your home based business, I highly recommend http://www.theultimatesystem.info

And if you need an affiliate program to build more income on the net, then I would recommend magnetic sponsoring at http://www.bigmlmsecrets.info

Are you going in the right direction

What does that mean? We'll let me explain, you are special, and you are designed for greatness. Everyone is,in spite of those that are less fortunate. If you don't believe me, just think what Helen Keller and former pro basketball player Spud Webb (5 foot 6) had to overcome to get to where they ended up. To take it a step further just look at the US President Barack Obama. He hardly comes from wealth, most of his brothers and sisters are living overseas and are not even middle class. How did he become president? Is it about hard work, or who you know? I don't really think hard work is near to as important as your thoughts. You see if you find yourself thinking that you aren't good enough, or you can't play golf because your paralyzed, or can't get a good job because you didn't go to college - Guess What - your right! As the great Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can, or can't - your right".

Don't become a victim of your thoughts, learn to overcome them. If you find yourself thinking negatively about a situation, then simply change gears quickly. You have the ability to change your thoughts and direction immediately. Put your sail in the right direction, but remember you won't get very far if you don't believe in yourself, or even more importantly you can't see yourself at the finish line.

If you feel like a good coaching session could get you going in the right direction, feel free to look me up at http://www.johnlowery.biz

Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving day in the US. In America, everything stops and people stuff themselves silly with turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. But I say, today is a time to reflect on the last year, today, and tomorrow. I know times are hard for many, but if you choose to be grateful then everyday will have meaning. I would like to take a moment to say wherever you are at today, take a moment and just be grateful. Be grateful you have a roof over your head, a car to drive, food to eat, a family, friends, good health, a stack of bills (which are blessing for things already received). Try to see the beauty in the things you have and share vs. the things you don't have. Try to see the glass half full vs. half empty and you will always win in any situation.

God Bless!

Stress The Silent Killer

I wrote a blog a few weeks back that things are speeding up. And if the universe really is expanding faster than before it certainly doesn't help when you throw technology into the mix. Technology can certainly make life easier for most, but the amount of advertisements we are hit with on a daily basis can make even a sane person feel like they are living on the edge. And traffic, marital problems, financial problems, and the list goes on can all trigger STRESS. As it says in the bible, "Be still and know that I am god."

Stress is the bodies reaction to any change. Studies show that stress is as an important part of your health as is diet and exercise. The human body is designed to experience stress and in small doses isn't bad, but stress becomes a negative when a person faces continual challenges without relief or relaxation between those challenges. Something that we call balance. It's estimated that 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress. 75% - 90% of all Dr. visits are due to stress. Stress can play a part in our lives and cause: Headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, anxiety, and the list goes on.

By learning to de-stress you can take care of your health and learn to live happier as well. Allow yourself to relax. And as you practice relaxation on a regular basis you have a clearer head and be able to enjoy yourself more.

Deadlier than Cocaine, Heroin, and the Swine Flu?

Deadlier than Cocaine, Heroin, and the Swine Flu?

Email Marketing!

Ok, I bet you are saying to yourself I am another one of those home biz guys trying to sell my program. Let me just say that I have generated over $150,000 in biz revenue from a few campaigns for traditional businesses, which currently pays me about $1050 per month in residual income. These are just 2 Campaigns where I didn't pick up the phone and the people contacted me directly for biz? I currently do most of my recruiting for my network marketing biz through email. Sometimes I don't have to pick up the phone and sometimes I do, just depends. But regardless everyone who I talk to has pain and needs a solution.

To be doing business without email today is absolutely crazy. This brings me to my next point, how much should you be emailing people? Personally, in my biz to biz email transactions I only email once a month or once bi-monthly, but I do it again, and again, and again. I think every week is too much for b to b, people will get sick of you and unsubscribe from your email campaigns. Believe me, after 2 years of using email for real estate and biz to biz, I know that you don't want to overdue it. But you do want to be consistent. It takes most people about 4 to 7 contacts before they will even feel comfortable enough to contact you.

If you have a home based business it's different, but I still get emails everyday from people and to be honest it is really anoying. I would say you could get away with 1 to 2 times a week for your home based biz campaigns, but 3 would be pushing it. Stay tuned for my next blog on how to get more business through email.

The World is Speeding Up!

Have you noticed your life speeding up over the past few years? I know I have, and it can make the average person crack if they don't understand it. I don't claim to be some spiritual guru, but I know that we are living in a period of time like no other. Here are a few tips to slow you world down, when it seems crazy.

• Take a breather and just let go
  
• Meditate for 15 - 20 minutes (close the door and go to a quiet place and just close your eyes and go to sleep)
• Put on a nice piece of music (something soothing or calm)
• go for a 15 - 20 minute walk.
• Say a prayer
• try to set aside time everyday to exercise

You Cannot Afford The Luxury of a Negative Thought

Have you ever been a situation where the way out seemed almost impossible, or so far away, you just prepared for the worst. I actually found myself doing this today while I had to go to court to defend myself for a decent sum of money that a source is trying to collect from me. Even though I know I did nothing wrong, for whatever reason I still had to defend myself. Even when you have been trained to avoid the negativity and only reach for the stars our human instinct is to prepare for the worst. The Legend Donald Trump has even been quoted that he always prepares for the worst before entering any business transaction. Personally, I would say anytime you allow your thoughts to drift into the abyss of negativity you can set yourself up for a string of events that could really send you into a tailspin. Many say your thoughts are not that powerful, but I totally disagree. I had gone into a negative state over the weekend preparing for this court case today and watched my car go into the shop with a major oil leak, a couch I purchased last week has become undeliverable even though I have made many attempts over the past few days to arrange for pick-up. I don't want to sound negative, but if you don't believe me, spend a few hours painting your world of negativity and just watch what happens. My advice is unless you are very wealthy - "You Cannot Afford The Luxury of a Negative Thought."

Here is a great exercise for you: Over the next week each time you have a negative thought write it down. You may be surprised how many negative thoughts go into your head.

Should you go with an established company?

How many times have you heard that you should only go with a company in network marketing that has been around for 5 years or longer??? That is great if you want to barely make a living, most companies that have been around for that long are more established making your job tougher to market. But there is some truth to that, you can be more certain the company will be around in the future. Of course in the last year, we have seen the collapse of many well known companies. Here are my reasons why I would try to pick a newer company knowing that companies in MLM don't fail any more than they do in the traditional world, as many would want to lead you to believe.

• Chance to be one of the first ones to take product to market
• I'm not good enough to compete with 900,000 other distributors
  
• Less competition among other distributors (It's been said that 80% of all wealth is created within the first 120K distributors of any one company).
  
• Company has not yet hit critical mass

These are just a few ideas. Would love to hear others as well.

Manifesting Money By Simply Giving

Have you ever wondered why some people struggle financially and others just seem to cruise on by? Do you think it has something to do with who your parents are, or which town you were born in? If that is the case, you are sadly mistaken. Each and every one of us has the ability to create financial abundance in our lives. We have all been programmed for mediocrity, or I should say most of us. There is a reason why almost every financial adviser advices giving off the top to people who are in financial distress. They understand 1 of the secrets of attracting more wealth. Everything in the universe is moving in vibration, when your thoughts start telling you that you don't have enough and you begin to hoard every dime away, you actually are telling the vibrations that you aren't worthy of money and your scared of losing it. With that mentality your certain to never have very much money and probably will lose what you have over time. I will just share one example from this evening and this happens to me all the time, so I know it is not coincidence. I was attending my kids cub scout meeting and the den lady asked all the parents if they would donate $10 to help pay for snacks. I waited about 10 minutes and walked up to the table and noticed not a single parent had put any money in the envelope, I then grabbed $10 of the $11 I had in my wallet and put it in the envelope without even thinking about it. Than just a few minutes later I got a phone call from a potential client confirming a 3 hour coaching session with me for way way more money than what I had just given.

The moral of the story is simple, you want more money in your life - find times throughout the day to give it away. I have had cars show up out of thin air, guitars, money in the mail that came just in time. Give Give Give, but don't give because you are told to, or for religious reasons, give with a cheerful heart - you just might put a smile on someone else's face and the universe will provide. As it says in the bible, "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver."

How To Find Your Leaders???

How do you know who your leaders are in your network marketing business? Most of the top income earners say if you just have a handful of leaders in your organization you can become wealthy? So where do you find them? First of all, here is how I know if I have a leader on my team. I just created a new email training series for each new person who joins my organization, so I can spot a leader by simply looking in my back office and seeing who is opening the emails. The other way I can spot a leader is by how often they are calling me to check in. Most of my leaders correspond with me at least once or twice per week. You can also spot a leader by their sponsoring stats in your back office. If you see them putting up numbers than you know they are out their working it.

So now let's go to the flip side. When do you quit wasting your time with your distributors? Personally, I will always take time with anyone who is pro active, whether they sponsor 1 person or 20. However, here is the kicker that will save you tons of time and energy - Don't waste your time with your team members that don't respond to your emails, don't respond to your phone calls, don't ever call you for advice. As I always say, "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot get the horse to drink". In other words you can share your words of wisdom and give advice, but self motivation you cannot create. So when after calling your new distributor for the 3rd time and they aren't getting back to you, than it's time to move on and work only with those that want your help.

Facebook is the #2 Most visited website

I think I have blogged about this before, but I am really becoming amazed. It's been just over 3 years since I entered the world of social media through a website called MySpace. I never took it too seriously until just a little over a year ago when I started using Social Media for business. Now things are really getting crazy! I log into a website at least once a week to see which websites have the most traffic and to my surprise I noticed that Facebook had gone from #4 a few weeks ago to #2 surpassing Yahoo as the most visited website in the world. That's right folks, Facebook is now the 2nd most visited website in the world. If your not on Facebook, I would highly encourage you to get on their and start building your brand for business. If you haven't already, keep in mind your competition is.

To join me on Facebook visit my page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carlsbad-CA/John-Lowery/122540164753

Ok you've started your network marketing biz - Now What?

You just took the plunge and put $100 or $500 on your credit card to start your very own home based business and you are now going to be making $10K in your first 30 days??? Think again, if you have chosen network marketing. Network marketing is a long term way to create passive residual income and you should not quit your day job to do it. Most network marketing companies rely on individuals to move product or services, but due to the low cost of most products and the large spread of commissions over many levels, you are probably not going to be relying on your first $5 - $100 in commissions as your main source of income for bringing a new person into your business. Keep in mind if your with any of the other programs that are out there, where there are big up-front commissions, most do not qualify as an MLM Program, especially if they are only 1 or 2 tier pay outs. Not that those programs are bad, you can make a lot of money in those programs, but they are more based on direct selling vs. recruiting, training, and duplication and usually require a minimum investment of a $1000 to get started. In network marketing you need a very large organization with a few people consistently taking action to make a decent income.

So what can you expect to make in MLM over the first 30, 60, or 90 days? Keep in mind that 97% don't ever make more than enough to cover their product and this is usually only because most quit within 90 days, because they do not understand it, or have been sold a pack of lies by the network marketing vultures who prey on taking advantage of people.

Let's be realistic about the situation and say I gave you a scenario that went something like this: in your first 30 days let's focus on getting your monthly product paid for? In your 2nd month lets focus on getting your product paid for, creating a budget for advertising, and tools to market and build, and by the 3rd month lets focus on becoming profitable. If you were to follow me, I could show you how to become profitable within 3 months. Most Brick and Mortar businesses take 3 years to show a profit. In network marketing you can become profitable in 1 - 3 Months - if you don't quit. If that doesn't sound good to you and you need to make thousands quickly than I would suggest that you not do MLM. Especially, if you have a lottery minded mindset, you will just be very disappointed.

If you are interested in creating long term passive residual income, and realize that in 2 to 3 years you could have a very nice steady income stream, than I would look at network marketing. I personally believe that everyone should have a network marketing business, as over time it could pay you an additional $100, $500, or $10,000 a month, but don't expect it to happen overnight. To learn more feel free to visit my website at http://www.thehomebiz4you.com

Doing Something You Love

If you are like me there has been times in your life where you were able to support yourself doing something you loved. Maybe it was that dream job, that hobby that you turned into income, or maybe it wasn't even the job or hobby, but doing something that was helping others like being a nurse or counselor. You see, each one of us was destined for greatness, but we have been conditioned for mediocrity. I personally have earned most my income through commissions for the majority of the past 10 years in sales. I chose a career in sales, not because of the money or that I like bugging people to buy my product or services, but because of the freedom it allows me. As long as I am producing and hitting my numbers or quota it's not a big deal if I take an afternoon off to go to my kids baseball practice, or go for a morning surf session in the Pacific Ocean. My accountability isn't in how many hours I work, but I get a percentage of what I bring to the table in value through consistent action and having the ability to get others to say YES. It's the same with my network marketing business. I've also been fortunate enough to bring in additional income as a musician. As a matter of fact it was only not quite a year ago where I was paying most of my mortgage in Australia while doing what I love - music.

My latest passion is now coaching others to success whether it be in network marketing, business, or life. I absolutely love coaching others and it's not even my main source of income, but it is part of what I do. So, my advice to you, is if you don't like what you are currently doing, then change it. Find what it is you really like to do, or want to do and make that your primary focus. My main focus currently is my coaching career first (even though not primary source of income - Yet), than my career as a sales professional & network marketer, finally - playing music is a hobby that has generated me a generous amount of income over the years. So dig deep and start turning the things you love into cash. Find one thing you love to do and make that your focus and you can create multiple streams of income around that. You can do this even if you have a full-time job. Unless you love what you do for a living currently, your job isn't as important as you think it is. Find your passion and run with it.

If you would be interested in a free 15 minute coaching session, email me at john@sellingwithintegrity.net

Your Words Are So Powerful

Did you know the words you use can have a lasting impact on your overall well-being? Take for example when you ask how someone is doing and they say "not bad". Did you know that your unconscious cannot process a negative? How about telling your kid "Don't spill the milk". You know what usually happens? Yes, he/she spills the milk. Do you know why? It is because your kids brain just visualized you telling them that, so almost immediately following they actually spill the milk - makes sense. How about, "I cannot wait until I am out of debt". Guess what? You just told your unconscious mind that you want more debt. It is no wonder you cannot get out of debt and spend most of your life in debt. By trying to get out of debt, you are constantly telling your unconscious that you want more debt, "Your Wish is My Command". So how do you avoid the above. It is not easy, but my advice is really pay attention to the words that you use.

Below are a few more examples:

"Don't slip on the ice" - what happens when you tell your friend or neighbor that - they usually slip on the ice. How about telling them "be careful walking on that ice, it can be slippery". They didn't visualize themselves slipping on the ice on the last statement.

"not bad", try I'm doing good, or if your not doing good, just say you are doing ok.

"I cannot wait until I am out of debt", how about "I am so grateful for all that I have, it will be a wonderful day when I have more options vs. obligations", or "I am so grateful for all that I have, I create more value everyday and money flows to me constantly".

"Don't Spill The Milk". How about "Be careful when you hold that glass up", or "Don't drink so fast, pay attention".

This is just a tip of the iceberg, but remember your unconscious cannot process a negative and it also sees in pictures. If you would like to learn more about this, feel free to contact me for a free 15 minute consultation.

"Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at will change". Wayne Dyer

Amazing Twitter Folks!

If you are not aware of the phenomenon known as Twitter, you are either living in a cave or completely in the dark on trends. Twitter is currently the #13 most visited website on the internet today and is taking the world by storm. From people tweeting about their latest meal, to people tweeting about their favorite recipe, I highly recommend you make Twitter part of your marketing if you are involved in a business of your own. Below are a few top Twitter Folks, I highly recommend you consider following!

Ashton Kutcher - Ashton is bigger on Twitter than he has ever been as a Movie or TV Star. He has over 3.6 Million Followers. He can probably just use Twitter to promote all his movies from now on, who needs to pay for advertising with that sort of network. Not only is he married to Demi Moore, but now he is The reigning king of Twitter (#1) - Sweet! I hope his film career goes as far as his Twitter Page.

Kevin Spacey - Kevin is a great actor and also a great twitterer, he always has some pretty interesting tweets and keeps it up there pretty regularly. He currently has over 1.2 Million Followers and as a former shoe salesman, has made the grade as an A+ actor and an A player Twitterer. I would given Kevin an A+ on Twitter, but he doesn't follow anyone back - ???????

Tony Robbins - The guru of personal development, has hit it BIG on Twitter, with a following of over 1.3 Million Followers, I'm sure Tony will add a few more pennies to his bank account. I still kick myself everyday I didn't travel to see Tony in Salt Lake this past June at my company's annual convention.

GaryV - Gary has like 800,000 followers, that is insane for someone who is not a Big Movie Star. Gary has a Wine Club TV Show and has taken his family business to new levels. I'm sure any wine entrepreneur would love to advertise their business on Gary's Page.

Guy Kawasaki - What can I say with over a 170,000 Followers he certainly knows how to attract an audience. Not too shabby for a venture capitalist and columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine.

Perry Belcher - Perry is a very interesting cat to say the least, with, "Air Brush Tatoo Artist, and Hot Dog Vendor" as his previous credits, he has some pretty good tweets and will not keep you too bored. He seems to interact with all of his followers and currently has over 106,000 followers. He claims he makes $1 per month for each of his followers, that's amazing for anyone in the world of social media. Doesn't that work out to over a million dollars a year from Twitter????

Ann Sieg - As a professional online network marketer I am impressed that anyone in the world of network marketing would have a total of 72,000 followers. Fortunately, I have had the chance to meet Ann and do some social media training for her team. It looks like her book "The Renegade Network Marketer" is making her a force to be reckoned with in the world of Twitter.

Oliver Turner - not sure what to make of Oliver, he certainly doesn't Tweet too often. As CEO of a staffing company who would have ever thought he would have almost 65,000 followers? I was recently on a training call with Oliver where he claimed to have received payment of over a $100K for 1 social media speaking engagement - that's amazing!

James Hickey - I actually know Jim personally and will say as SDEntrepreneur he seems to really know what he is doing in the world of social media. He actually passed me up in followers recently on Twitter and I think out of all the people in San Diego only Tony Hawk and Jason Mraz have more followers? James keeps it interesting with his local SD hot Spots and Photo Quizzes. He is a must to follow if you are interested in Social Media, or San Diego and keeps it very entertaining.

Neil Diamond - As a huge Neil Diamond Fan and imitator, I could resist to follow Neil on Twitter. Surprisingly Neil is very interactive with his audience. He has tweets like "At the US Open. Wow, what a great match!". He isn't the most active tweeter, but for a celebrity you can always find him tweeting every few days. Plus I'm a huge fan of his music, so I had to include Neil on my amazing Twitter Folks Page.

James Ray - James is a dynamic speaker and since attending his seminars and following his tweets, I am pretty impressed at not only by his personal development quotes, but also his ability to open up about his personal life. At his latest seminar he mentioned that he checks his Twitter and Facebook account regularly. You might recall James from the movie The Secret - "Your Wish Is My Command".

Well that sums up my list of Amazing Twitter Folks! If you are on twitter make sure to add these folks to your list of followers. And of course you can always follow me at http://www.twitter.com/homebiztrainer

Failure is a desire, due to lack of Belief!

I was sitting in my office this morning and figured out why so many people fail in business and most don't achieve what they really desire in life.

A perfect example is a real estate office I was working with down in Australia last year. The owner of the office was struggling and in mounting debt (over $200K). He was fed up and fired everyone in the office, but myself, which was a good thing as the other 3 employees were stealing from him with their time and sucking all the positive energy out of the office. As the only remaining warrior, me and the owner came up with a new game plan and decided to become the first real estate office in the small town to offer flat rate commissions to homeowners who wanted to sell their homes. Within about 30 - 60 days things really started turning around - quickly. We were doing marketing on a shoe string budget and could hardly keep up with all of our appraisals. I could see that we were onto something - BIG. We spent time together talking alot about "The Secret" and how we both had the power to really turn this business around. But along the way something went wrong??? About 60 days into our campaign, while I could see the big picture and the 4 sales we had just made, the owner could not. Now keep in mind this was around June of 08 and we hadn't made 4 sales all year. As a young 24 year old man the owner, couldn't see beyond his current predicament of $200K in debt. He didn't understand that the power we were creating was going to change his world forever and that he was much bigger than his $200K worth of debt. You see, even when things start to turn around we want to run to our safety net, in his case bankruptcy. Even though I could see the sunset, he could not. Within just a week of writing up 4 sales, he declared bankruptcy and closed his doors. I was left with a few sales that I would never see commission from and he was working at a job earning just around $20 per hour.

The moral of the story is when things start to turn around for you, it still takes time. Just because your not getting all the money you need right away there is a definite chance over time, that you will. You see, in our Western Society we have been conditioned to only work when we are getting immediate money. But many of the $$$$ you earn will not show up for awhile. I already knew this having owned my own business previously and working as a straight commission salesperson. Quite honestly, I think if you just work everyday with a powerful belief system whether you get paid or not, you will eventually start to reap the rewards. It may not be in your time, but it will be in due time. Everything has a germination process. A baby takes 9 months to be born, a carrot 7 weeks. Do you get the picture??

Unfortunately this young man who would've changed his world forever is now bankrupt and living on government assistance. Don't allow your current predicament to be the end all, or be all of your life. If you believe you can change it, even if the money doesn't show up immediately, know that it will over time.

As A Man Thinketh

I just spent this past weekend in Las Vegas attending"Harmonic Wealth Weekend" with James Ray. And all I can say is WOW! I've always pretty much known that an intention was one of the key ingredients to getting what you want in this world, but I never imagined that your intention was the most important. Yep, you heard me right while most of us think that hard work, and education will get us to where we want to go - high achievers know differently. This might explain why 85% of all millionaires don't have a college degree. You see we have all been programmed for mediocrity. We have been told if we just get an education and work hard we can achieve all of our dreams. If that were the case 80% of us would be wealthy not 1%. I'm not saying education isn't important, in some cases it's a necessity. If you want to be a Dr. or a Lawyer all the powerful thoughts in the world will probably not produce that piece of paper. For the majority of us an education will not determine our success. We will never rise to our full potential until we realize that our thoughts and intentions are way more powerful than our methods. If you want to just scratch the suface on this subject than I suggest you read a book called "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen. I have an electronic copy of the book and will send it to you directly if you email me. Change your thoughts and your world will change.

Personal Development

Hope everyone is doing well. Usually the last day of the month is always a time for me to reflect on what I could have done differently over the past 30 days. Or work my tail off if I haven't hit my monthly goals. Fortunately that hasn't been the case this month.

I went to an evening seminar last week with noted self help guru James Ray and realized I had been putting all of my time into working and not growing. You know the truth of it all, is that I had not invested any money into personal development or coaching for at least 3 months. That hit me hard, because if your not continually investing in yourself to be better, you will become content. Noted Speaker & Trainer Brian Tracy says you need to invest at least 3% of your annual income back into you. I think it should be closer to 5%.

Anyhow, when you become content you quit growing. I challenge everyone during the month of September to purchase at least 1 Personal Development Book. If you really feel stagnant like I have been, than you might even go as far as enrolling in a weekend seminar or signing up for a course.

Duplication

If your starting out in network marketing or have been at it for a number of years, you will soon come to the realization that you must have duplication to build any sort of organization.

As a student of Mike Dillard and Ann Sieg's, I love the concept of attraction marketing, but let's face it, for most it's just not practical, or even necessary. Out of the dozens of people I have worked with over the past year, I only teach it to a handful, as the learning curve is about as steep as getting a degree in business - ha ha. If the truth be known, most networkers are still just very part-time and couldn't be bothered with blogging, setting up squeeze pages, Google Ad Words, twitter, Facebook, list building, auto responder emails, copywriting, etc.....

As a student of attraction marketing, I also take great pride in another leader who has a bit of a different philosophy. His name is Randy Gage and if you have never picked up his MLM Manifesto, I highly recommend it. http://bit.ly/hdsJ6

I have met both Ann and Randy personally and although their views may collide at times, I have the up most respect for both of them. Below is a great article by Randy that explains duplication in a nutshell.

http://bit.ly/35uTEZ

What are your expectations?

If your involved in network marketing - are you enrolling lots of people into your opportunity? Better yet, are you getting any duplication? You could build a huge organization without duplication, but you will more than likely burn out as network marketing, as most pay plans are not designed for a solo artist. It may seem like that in the beginning, until you get a large team together.

It's a good idea every now and then as you start to grow your team to take a breather from recruiting and work with your people on your team, as that is the only way for your team to grow. But how do you decide who to work with and grow your organization? I was on the phone with a friend of mine this morning who just sold his network marketing company and has made millions as both an owner and distributor and he told me that to be a great leader, you must lay down the law early with your distributors. He says, you must let people know that their success is important to you, but that this is a real business, and that your time is very valuable. He reckons you should only spend your time with those people in your downline that qualify for your time. His rule is that you must call and check in with him at least 1 time every other day. If you do that, than you will get lots of support from him.

You see, if your joining a company and expecting someone else to build it for you, you may be in for a BIG Surprise. This biz is about becoming a leader and developing skills and taking action. If you take action everyday you will become successful over time. There is no way if you put 5 - 10 hours per week into your business that you will not find success. Obviously, there are some things that are out of your control, like your company going out of business, your product being removed from the marketplace, competition, attrition due to poor products. But ultimately if you find the right company with good products, and a good pay plan, and you work it everyday, you should do just fine. If you just show up everyday and work on yourself, you will be amazed at will start to happen. But don't expect anyone to build your business for you. However, do expect help if you put your hand up. If your eager to make it in network marketing and your sponsor or upline isn't helping you, than find someone in the company who will. Your only a few steps away from success in this industry, as long as you don't quit.

Switching MLM Companies

It cracks me up that when you are a professional and you switch jobs a few times, people don't think too much of it. But in network marketing if you are a leader and you switch companies more than a few times in a 6 month period, be prepared to be crucified. I'm not saying it is a good idea to jump around from company to company, but sometimes you have to go through a few companies to find one that fits your style, personality, and most importantly your wallet. I have friends who have been with the same MLM Company for years and have never made a dime, but still hang on because they like their company, products, and leaders. I like my company too, but when you have bills to pay and a mortgage, sometimes you have to put business before relationships. As they say, "This is business". If you have been with the same company for many months and haven't seen any fruits from your labor, that would be the time to ask yourself if you are in the right company??? Most builders will know within a few months. Yes, I have switched from a few companies lately to try and find my new home as my last company that I was with for over a year and half just had a major hiccup and my group never fully recovered. It's not that I don't like the company or people involved. But when opportunity knocks, you have to look at your current situation and ask yourself - "is it worth it?"

Twitter For Dummies - 6 Steps for Better Tweeting!

Ok, so you have decided to finally throw in the towel and join the online community known as Twitter. Should you really do it, even though you are not to sure about it? I say YES, YES, and don't even think about it. Twitter is a great way to build your online presence and can actually be alot of fun. Just to give you an idea of how popular twitter is visit www.alexa.com which tracks the most visited websites in the world. Twitter is currently #23 up from #26 a few weeks ago and #38 a few months ago. I believe twitter will be in the top 10 within a few months. Here are 5 Steps that I believe will make your experience much more enjoyable.

Step 1 : Unless you are using twitter to market your Brick & Mortar Plumbing Company, always use a real picture of YOU. Preferrably your head shot. It doesn't have to be a professional shot, but must look friendly. No unwanted facial expressions, sexual body shots, or flipping off the camera, just a friendly smile. I personally, won't add anyone who doesn't look like someone I would have over for supper. I would recommend a custom twitter page like mine, but if you don't have the $50 - $200 to spend than you can go to a website like twittbacks.com.

Step 2: Try finding your friends or family members who are already on twitter. This is pretty simple, once you log into your account just enter their name or username. Obviously if people already know you, you will have a much better chance of building your following with people you know first.

Step 3: try to connect with like-minded people. There are 2 websites that will allow you to stay in touch with others who have the same interests, they are www.twollow.com and www.twellow.com (The Twitter Yellow Pages). I highly recommend you use both of these sites as who wants to follow people who don't have the same interests???

Step 4: Find people on Twitter who you look up to that are leaders in your industry or hobbies. Obviously most of their followers are going to have the same interests. Just click on their followers and start following. But don't follow too many people at one time, as Twitter could suspend your account. I personally, wouldn't add more than a 100 new people per day to any one twitter account. If you want to gamble and do more, just keep twitter in the background and only add people intermittently throughout the day.

Step 4: Find People in the area: You can do this by doing an advanced search on twitter, but I personally find it just as easy to use www.twellow.com and enter the name of your city or local cities in the search look up. This is great! Especially if you are offering a service/product/business that caters to your local market.

Step 5: Use 3rd party apps to build and manage your following the 2 most important ones that I recommend are Tweetdeck and Huitter. Tweetdeck will let you manage your twitter accounts much easier and Huitter will allow you to eliminate those that don't follow you back. The latter is very important, as Twitter puts a maximum on how many followers you can have versus those that are following you.

If you couldn't be bothered with the above, or would like a one on one coaching session on Twitter you can always email me directly at john@sellingwithintegrity.net I have helped many getting started on twitter and I can help you as well. To visit my 2 twitter pages go to: www.twitter.com/homebiztrainer and www.twitter.com/integritymktg

How To Pick A MLM Company

First let me say, that I have yet to meet any network marketer who has made any real money with a company after joining one that has been around for more than a few years. Why is this? I think it is like anything else. If you were to buy Microsoft Stock today it would be much harder to make money with it, than if you had bought in back in the early eighties. I think it is the same with network marketing, or any business for that matter. Once a company gets saturated with distributors it's just much tougher to build as more and more people already know about it. If a company has already hit critical mass, there is no longer any wave to ride and you will just be fishing in "The Red Sea". Of course, the company isn't going to tell you that their top income earners got in early, as they have to keep your hopes alive. Here are my suggestions for picking an MLM Company.

If you only want to make a few thousand a month and don't mind grinding it out for a few years to do so, go with an established company like Amway, Herbalife, USANA, XANGO, Mona Vie, or ACN. These are all great companies, and have great reputations, and great training. I doubt very much they will be going anywhere in the near future and even though you won't probably make a million dollars, they are a safe bet.

If your like myself and want to be earning over $10K per month, you need to find one that is fairly new (within 2 years old or less). This can become challenging as most network marketing companies go belly-up in their first 2 years. Below are a few things I have used to join a newer company.

• Leadership (Are there any top income earners already involved willing to put their reputations on the line. See if any of your leaders are on this list. Even if its a start up more than likely the company would have recruited some of these folks. If the person recruiting you isn't on this list, hopefully someone in their upline is).
  
• Pay Plan (Is it easy to understand, do I get paid on my entire group volume. Pay plan must be easy and good to avoid high attrition). If it takes 3 hours to understand pay plan go elsewhere.
  
• Product (Is the product part of a trend, will it be easy to share and market. I usually go with the opportunity over product, but product must be good and popular to sell. Don't want to be marketing an outdated product or something that requires a 1 hour reading of a scientific report in order to sell). Extremely important for duplication.
  
• Ranking. (I would only pick a company that has a high ranking in terms of $$$$ for the first 12 months and would probably make sure company has been around a little while). Here is a site I found recently that shows all the top companies in MLM. If the company you are marketing isn't on this list - seriously re-consider.
  
• Momentum (Does the company have momentum, is it growing fast, and can I benefit from the growth - Spillover from sideline, upline, etc.... If I have to build it myself, I may think twice before joining. The average network marketer only recruits 2.5 people on average. I want to be with a company where everyone has a chance to make money).
  
• Does the company have a hook??? (Has the top distributor or company owner made history elsewhere. Were they a famous author, speaker, health guru. This is a storytellers business, so if you can share a hook of some sort, or compelling story- that makes it much easier to market your business. There is a reason why a company will have a distributor who is a former gold medalist, pro basketball player, or someone who endorses their product.)
  
• Brand (Does the company have a website that looks like it was developed back in the early nineties?). As a former Advertising Executive, I cannot stress how important your Company's Image is if you are going to be marketing a product/company. You are putting your name on any brand you market. The company website must be able to compete with the mainstream or you are going to have a tough time marketing. If the company isn't willing to invest in a smokin website, how do you expect them to invest in you. This is network MARKETING.)
  
• Tools (Does the company have good 3rd party tools? I personally don't want to be with a company where I cannot share my story primarily over the net. I've done my work with CD's, tape, and brochures, and product samples, they do work, but will cost you tons in mailing, follow up, etc.... I want to build fast, so I want something I can email to people quickly.)

So far, I have only been able to find 1 company recently that has all the above ingredients. Go to my website at http://www.bigmoney4you.info to learn more.

How To Have Fun In Your Home Biz

If you are seriously considering a home based business, or you are already in home based business it is essential that you learn marketing. 95% of all people in the network marketing business do not know how to market and that is why they usually fail. One of the best programs to help teach you how to become the hunted instead of the hunter is a program called "Magnetic Sponsoring". If you haven't already seen it before, I highly recommend you take a closer look. This program will show you the tricks of the trade, and why becoming a leader is essential to your success in your business.

Hopefully you are already having fun in your business, but if your tired of chasing your friends and family members go to www.bigmlmsecrets.info to pick up your free 7 day video series.

7 Things Not To Do

7 Costly Mistakes You Don't Want To Make In Network Marketing

7 Costly Mistakes that most every new network marketer makes. First of all, if you are just starting out in network marketing one of the best ways to get going is to make a list of people you know personally and contact them. Many of these people will not be interested in what you have to say, but a few will. As one of the top network marketers I know says, "Everyone knows at least 2 people who would do great in this business". However, keep in mind your family and friends are more than likely not going to be interested in your offer. However, many may become loyal customers. The latter is the main reason that I would never avoid my warm market. Now When you are contacting others about your opportunity, here is what you don't want to do.

Part 1: You call your friend and they say they are not interested in learning more about your opportunity. DO NOT keep calling them back trying to invite them to your meetings, phone calls, etc... A friend of mine the other day called me about her new opportunity and how great it was, and I kept telling her I wasn't interested, even though I was very happy for her. After I told her I was not interested, she even went on to call me a half a dozen times over the course of 2 days and has even put me on the phone with 2 of her business partners. She even tried to get me to cancel a very important date, to go to a meeting. Pro's don't act like this and you shouldn't either. This is very old school.

Part 2: Don't invite a friend you haven't seen in 10 years to coffee and make them think you care about them, to only have your sponsor show up and spend 30 minutes pitching their business opportunity. This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was very excited to meet up with an old friend and learn more about what he was up to, to only find out that I had to spend the next 30 minutes listening to his friend pitch me on another opportunity. Would a professional doctor, realtor, or lawyer behave like this? Be a pro, and if you want to introduce someone to your business call them and tell them about it, if they would be open to meeting with you for this purpose, than bring your sponsor, only and if only they know they agree to it. Do not be secretive, it will only make you look bad, unprofessional and probably lose you lots of respect.

Part 3: If you share your opportunity with others and someone puts their hand up that they want more information. Don't wait too long, keep in mind if someone puts their hand up, it could be time sensitive, so don't let time pass too long before putting them on a 3 way call, or getting them on a conference call. If you are new to network marketing, never enroll people on your own, always, always, always get them on the phone with your closest leader.

Part 4: Don't buy leads for at least your first few months, if ever. You have to develop some pretty phenomenal phone skills, before you just start randomly calling people. I would seriously just go through the white pages of your local telephone book and spend a few hours a week just practicing your phone posture and dealing with rejection, before you pay $3 - $7 per lead through a lead company. To be quite honest the leads you purchase, are not going to be much better than your phone book. All you got to say is "you responded to an ad on the internet about a home based business". Most people are on the internet nowadays and everyone is filling out forms, so who is to say they didn't.

Part 5: If you give someone a product to try, do not make the mistake of not following up with them. You wouldn't just randomly hand out $5 Bills to everyone on the street, be selective and ask permission first before you just put a bottle in someone's hand. If they give you permission always follow up at least within a few days to see if they liked it. If they didn't like it, move on, they will never join your biz....

Part 6: Don't pass up an opportunity when you see a car with an advertisement for another MLM. Most people in this situation know how to do MLM and direct sales and could be a great candidate for your business and most are probably not making any real money. They are also probably working a business model where they have to work lots and lots of hours, do home parties and always be selling products. Hopefully, your opportunity is unique to theirs and you can show them a much better way. Just leave your business card in their window wiper and see if they call you back.

Part 7: Don't talk to everyone within 3 feet. How stupid is that. First of all the only reason you go after your warm market is because people already know you and hopefully you have some respect. At least enough respect where someone gives you the benefit of the doubt to look at your opportunity. But approaching strangers and randomly telling them about your opportunity before you get to know them is just STUPID. Now if your one of those people who cannot resist sharing your opportunity with the world than the only way this would ever work is, "To tell others that you are starting a new business venture and you are looking for people who need to make extra money and are entrepreneurial, ask if they would know of anyone like that?" The chances are great that they might say ME, ME, ME.

That's it for today, but hopefully by not making these 7 Costly Mistakes you will see your business grow.

Twitter is Crazy!

One of the hottest websites on the net today is Twitter. As of this morning Twitter was number 27 as reported by www.alexa.com that is up quite a few spots from where it was a few weeks ago. My prediction is that Twitter will hit the top 10 within the next few months, and be among some other big players in Social Media (Facebook, MySpace).

What is Twitter? Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each other's' updates, known as tweets. Pretty simple, you can send these tweets from your computer or mobile phone throughout the day.

If you haven't yet made the leap into twitter I highly recommend it. This is a great way to connect with other like-minded individuals who have an interest in you, your business, or your hobby. The other great thing about Twitter just like MySpace & Facebook, is it is FREE. So how do you get started on Twitter? It's pretty simple go to www.twitter.com and set up your profile. You can use generic backgrounds are get more creative at www.twitbacks.com. If you couldn't be bothered with setting up your own profile, there are sites that will do it for you for anywhere between $50 - $250. I highly recommend you get a custom looking site, as this will attract more followers.

Once you get your twitter page set up, then it's just a matter of trying to find people to follow and hope that they follow you back. You might start by looking for people you already know, then you can start going after people that either have an interest in your business or hobby. One site that I highly recommend to build your Twitter Following is www.twollo.com. You just simply put in keywords that are relevant to your interests and Twollo will automatically follow those people for you.

That's about all I have time for today, but if you want tips and strategies on how to build your Twitter following, email me at john@sellingwithintegrity.net for a free consultation. I know how to do it, as last I checked I had over 21,000 followers on one account and currently have a grand total of 27,000 followers with my other 2 accounts combined. If you would like to follow me on twitter go to www.twitter.com/homebiztrainer

Your Vehicle Means A lot

OK, so you've started a sales job, or recently became a distributor with a network marketing company. How do you know you got into the right vehicle? You could be the greatest salesperson or network marketer in the world, if there is no hook for your network marketing company, or market demand for your latest sales product/service - you could be in trouble. It's kind of like trying to get to Hawaii, would you be better off flying there on an airplane or trying to drive there? Let me just give you a few examples of how this has worked for me in the past.

Sales Job #1 - sold software over the telephone domestically made a few thousand per month. Moved into Next Sales Job with same company and sold overseas, made over $10K per month. Was it me? Partly, but mainly it was the customer base and demand for my product overseas, was much higher than in The US.

Sales Job #2 - Went to work for a fledgling real estate office. After 4 months had finally made my first sale, and the office went bankrupt. Shortly thereafter I went down the street to the largest Real Estate office in town, and made double the number of sales in a shorter period of time.

Network Marketing Opportunity #1 - spent 60 days marketing my business and only enrolled 1 person. Network Marketing Opportunity #2 spent only a few days and hours and enrolled my 1st person.

You see, you are going to be told by your up-line, boss, manager, whoever, to hang in there, when you could be losing thousands by sticking around. Make sure that there is a need for your product/service and see what type of response you are getting from your prospects. Sometimes your talents are not always as important as your company/product/service.

Team Work

I was watching the final game of The NBA Finals tonight between The Lakers and The Magic and was thinking to my self that whoever showed the most confidence would win the game. Let's face it, most NBA Players are the best in the world, they can shoot, dribble, and slam dunk. These guys make millions and are probably doing what they love to do. But every NBA player just like most everyone I have ever met who is successful in business, or sales, has a competitive streak. It's in their blood. Your probably saying, what does the NBA have to do with direct sales, or network marketing? I say it has a lot to do with it. The reason the lakers won tonight's game is they believed that they could. They were up 3 - 1 in the series, and I can almost guarantee that about half way through the game when they took the lead, they knew they were going to win it. That not only reflected in the final outcome of how well they played, based on maintaining self confidence and good posture, but also on the ability of the teams leader Phil Jackson. So here is what I am getting at. If you want to go big in network marketing or sales, you need a great mentor, a great team, and a product you can feel confident in sharing with others. If you have all the above and believe in yourself (Self Confidence) you can go very far.

Why 97% Fail in Network Marketing?

There are a few reasons why most people fail in Network Marketing. But the number of failures vs. success' is astronomical - they say 97%. Out of the thousands of people I know that are either in MLM or have tried it, only a handful are successful. Why is this? I believe the number reason for failure is that the companies we represent and most leaders teach people how to be salespeople not mentor/trainer/leaders. Most people cannot sell, so if someone has no sales experience, they will have a very tough time doing MLM in just about any capacity. If you want to find out if your good salesperson, just go and buy a bunch of leads, or start calling people out of the phonebook and try to sell your juice, hand cream, or healthy chocolate.

So how do you do MLM if your not a born salesperson, or want to be a salesperson? The answer to that is simple. Work on yourself and try to attract people to you. If your just starting out in MLM this could take some people a few years. But if you want to move faster than that, than your best place is going to be the internet (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Lynked in, blogger, Youtube, and the list goes on). I recommend picking just a few social media websites and master them. I then recommend that while you are building your following that you EDUCATE, EDUCATE, and EDUCATE. Become like a sponge to webinars, training, etc... Over time you will have a wealth of knowledge to share with others through blogging & article writing. Once people see you and trust you, they will automatically want to join your business, or buy whatever it is you are selling.

Your Business will only grow with you?

I heard a successful network marketer say this the other day and I thought of a few of the business owners I know who haven't been to a personal development seminar in years. These are the same people who think that spending any money on furthering their education is a waste. You know them, they were probably given a business or just got somewhat lucky and think they can walk on water. I personally, feel that excelling in business takes not only guts, but also constant on-going training to prepare yourself mentally for the challenges that lie ahead. The truly successful will be in a constant motion of training for the rest of their lives.

What is MLM?

What exactly is MLM? If you want to know the truth, it's basically a Personal Development Business disguised with products & services. I recently heard someone say that, and thought it was one of the most brilliant statements I have ever heard on the subject of MLM. This may lead me to what the master Jim Rohn says, "Nobody really ever fails in MLM".

I personally believe that everyone should have an MLM Business if nothing less for the tax write-off and the training you will get. In Robert Allen's book "Multiple Streams of Income", he says everyone should have a network marketing business in their portfolio along with Real Estate, stocks, bonds, etc.... Not to mention the psychology you will learn about human beings in this business is amazing. Did you catch that last part - BEINGS. Yes, we are beings. So with that being said, I wish you all the best this week and say that if you are frustrated in your MLM Business or not sure what MLM really is, go back to my first sentence. You might have a moment of clarity or what I like to call a "Breakthrough".

Hot Affiliate Marketing Program

The truth about MLM is that it can take many months or years to build any sustainable long term residual income. So a great way to build your business and following online is through affiliate marketing. As you can make immediate cash, and if your going to do MLM, your going to need it to survive over your first few months in the business. My 2 most recent favorites have been Bill Crosby's "Twitter Traffic Machine", and Mike Dillard's "Magnetic Sponsoring".

Recently I came across another program that I think is top notch called The Clickbank Code. Just the pay per click training alone was worth every penny. It just surpassed "Twitter Traffic Machine" as the #1 Affiliate program on ClickBank. To check it out and learn how 1 guy is generating over $50K per month online within 30 days go to http://www.bigmoney4you.info

I couldn't believe my eyes until I saw some of this guys videos on the product, absolutely mind boggling.

How Many People Do You Need To Sponsor?

That is probably one of the biggest questions in network marketing? How many people do I need to sponsor to be successful? Bob Schmidt who was probably one of the most successful network marketers of all time said you just need to find one strong leader a year to make a fortune in MLM. Than we got all these internet network marketers running around today saying you need 15 to 20 a month to be successful. After spending almost 2 years of my life in MLM, my thoughts are that if you could find 2 or 3 per month that would be very good. That would require talking to people daily, interviewing them, and sorting to find those that are ready. Think of yourself more as a talent scout who is looking for those individuals who you believe are qualified to do the job. Don't be a pushy sales guy. Pretend you are independently wealthy and you won't make any money unless someone stays with you for a long time. Try to keep in mind if you had to work with 15 to 20 people a month that would be challenging for even the top networking pros. I did it a few months ago and almost everyone quit, because I didn't have the time to work and develop everyone in my group. That was a good lesson for me, it taught me that in this business you need duplication, not alot of recruiting. If your just going to recruit a ton of people, my recommendation would be to just go become a salesperson, because most of your people are going to quit if you don't support them. This business is more about duplication, teaching, mentoring, and personal development than just signing people up to see what happens.

Business Language

If your in sales or network marketing and you enter the world of prospecting you are going to find that everybody has a preference of how to communicate. For example you may leave 3 or 4 messages for someone and they won't return your calls, but send them an email and you may hear back immediately. Just because one person responds well to the phone doesn't mean that another person will. I have one business partner who primarily only responds to email. I have a business client who only likes to talk on the phone. My personal preference is email, or chatting, but just because that is my preference doesn't mean that will be your prospects, clients, or business partner. Some people will only do business face to face, they are rare, but they are out there. So the next time you are prospecting or training, start to pay attention to how your clients, prospects, and partners respond and learn their business language.

Attraction Marketing

Well I am going to blow the lid off on a few people out there who are really fired up on attraction marketing. Let me just say before I do that, that I am currently consulting with a few businesses and many students on how to do Social Media. Yes people, Twitter and Facebook are different. If you don't yet know the difference, let me just say I have never made a dime on Facebook. Let me also say that, Social Media should just be one tool that you use for your business - BUT A VERY VERY BIG ONE. I have spent the last year focusing more and more on online methods for marketing, I have read, "The Renegade Markerter", taken online classes, read books, most recently picked up a copy of "Magnetic Sponsoring". They are all great and should be read, but what you will discover is no system, no amount of advertising is going to be more important than YOU simply becoming a leader. Or at least someone that people look up to and go, "Hey I want what he has".

Now, with all that I have learned on this subject, I could write a book. But why re-invent the wheel on blogging, and pay per click. When the next phase of attraction marketing is all going to happen in the world of Social Media, its already happening through Web 3.0. What worked 3 years ago online, or even 12 months ago, probably isn't working so well today. Also in network marketing if you purchase leads or participate in pay per click, where someone doesn't actually make out who you are when you contact them, your closing percentage will go down by 90%. In their minds you are just another salesperson or telemarketer. Unless someone contacts you directly about your opportunity you are always in a weaker position. And if you aren't a born salesman, it will be a grind, I can promise you that. I can also promise you that by just throwing videos or blogs on the net, people are not just automatically going to jump into your business. They need to get to know you first, and that can take months and in some cases years. I just brought a girl in on Friday who I have been talking to off and on for at least a few months. On the flip-side I've also had people call me directly and say they want to join my business before they even know about my business. You see you brand yourself and sell yourself and you don't need to worry about chasing people, they will chase you, but it will take many months before this will start to happen. This is also very challenging to duplicate for most. Out of all of the people I have sponsored in the past year. I have just a handful of students who are really getting the attraction marketing down. It's a bit complex and isn't for everyone.

Reflecting back on my MLM Career so far, it hasn't been a bed of roses. I spent 12 years in sales before getting with my first company back in 2006, and to this day have never closed 1 pay per click lead. I've also never closed 1 purchased lead. I have personally sponsored over 50 people in the last year, not customers, business builders and the majority have all come from Social Networking sites, MySpace, Facebook, and most recently Twitter. I still am not sure if I have even brought in anyone from any of my blogs? I have brought in a few from Craigslist, but that took me awhile to master.

I personally think that online marketing is a better fit for certain individual types, but I know many network marketers who are still doing it old school who are making a ton of money. Old School Networking still works and to be honest if you have the gift of gab and are a born salesman, I wouldn't even go into online, I would just talk to everyone like you always have, people are still buying. Just keep in mind if your going to do network marketing old school and teach people those methods, you will have to find others who have the gift of gab to work under you. As old school is really tough for the non-sales types, unless someone comes into your group with a huge sphere of influence.

Remember Network Marketing is a contact sport. It's all about you. Are you a leader? If your not a leader, you will struggle in attraction marketing and offline marketing. The great thing about network marketing is if your not a leader or not making a huge fat paycheck, just partner up with someone who is, and just be the messenger for the first few years and work on yourself. That way you won't go broke and will have a lot less pain. TAKE THEM TO YOUR LEADER. You can't enroll people effortlessly until you become one anyhow, whether your offline, online, uptown, or downtown. The average networker only enrolls a couple of people into any given program. In my first company, I just had customers and didn't get one business builder under me in 8 months. Most of the people I sponsor today bring in 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, it is rare to get anyone who sponsors 20 or more. Believe me, I am looking for them everyday, but they don't grow on trees. Most of them are already playing on other teams, I have to wait till their contract expires - ha ha.

In closing, at the end of the day, this business has always been about relationships and it always will be. The internet has just evened the playing field a bit.

You are Self Employed

Do you guys realize that whether you have your own business, work for an employer, or do network marketing, that you are all self employed. That's right we are all self employed and until you start believing that, your success will be limited as you will never be completely in charge of your destiny. You will always be dependent on that company or boss.

If we are going to become successful in life we have to get that through our head and realize that no matter who signs our paycheck we are self employed. It doesn't really matter whether you are a 1099 Independent Contractor, or an employee, you must get this. Because, if you don't you will never feel important and you will always depend on your employer or company for your success.

Let's say that your company or network marketing company went out of business tomorrow. It does happen believe it or not - especially in today's world. I was selling real estate in Australia around this time last year when my real estate office I was working for went bankrupt and closed their doors. I could have been devastated, but I knew how valuable I was and just re sold my talents to another office and was back to work within a few weeks. If you depend on your employer and never saw yourself as a valuable player, than you could become devastated and may not recover from your loss. If your company goes under, or you lose a valuable client than you will just say, I'll find another employer, or company to go to work with - no big deal. There is so much freedom once you get this - that it will be liberating to your success.

I read a story about how Dustin Hoffman the actor used to go around and tell everyone he was a professional actor before he even made a dime at his profession. So why don't all of you go around and tell everyone that you are a realtor, life coach, network marketer, or whatever it is you want to be, and start to realize that your job or current situation is just a means to get you to where you want to go. We are all self employed.

Getting Your People To Stay???

Ok, you've joined your MLM opportunity. Your past the point where you know how to sponsor and train, but something happens, the person you spent hours, or weeks with who you thought was going to be a rockstar vanishes. Your sponsor, or company didn't tell you about how to deal with the people you bring on board that quit? How many quit, I don't want to give you a real number as to scare anyone new who is thinking about getting into MLM, but the number is very high. I know of professionals who expect it, and to become a network marketing pro you should too. If you honestly think that everyone you recruit into your business is going to stick around for longer than a few months, you have another thing coming. MLM is one of the toughest endeavors out there, not because it is really hard, but because most people are lazy by nature, and they are attracted to MLM because of the hype that shows you how to get rich quickly. Working for someone and getting a paycheck is easy and working for yourself, or on straight commission is hard. I know I have done it for years as both a business owner, salesperson, realtor, musician, and network marketer. I've also spent a number of years in Corporate America and a salary is much easier compared to straight commission. At least you know you are getting paid whether you perform or not. Of course you may get fired if you don't perform. You can probably fake it for alot longer than you could if you were only paid for your ability to perform and produce.

That is enough about work, what to do when your downline vanishes? I was hanging out with my friend the other day who has earned a 7 figure income in network marketing and he said he is The General and he is just looking for a few lieutenants to join his squad. He said he doesn't expect to find anyone who can out perform him, but he expects to find a few leaders. You might have to go through 10, 15, or even 30 people to find one lieutenant. This is after you have already done lots of sorting to find your 30 to 50 to join your training camp. So here might be a better way to think of your MLM Business versus just trying to bring everyone with a pulse into your business. Think of your business like you are building a team, no different than a NFL Team. You are sorting for your superstars, but many won't make it out of training camp onto the field. Why is that? A few reasons, but here are my thoughts. Many won't do the work necessary to be successful, many don't have the skill-set or the desire to develop the skills, many lack serious ambition, and many just quite frankly are LAZY. Lots of people want what few have, but aren't willing to do the work. There is a reason this sport is called NetWORK Marketing.

The Power of Images & Goals

Recently I printed out a picture of a surfboard I wanted to purchase, but rather than just buying the board, I wanted to see if I could attract the board to me. Funny enough, less than 2 weeks after printing out the picture of the board and staring at the image almost every day, I found the exact same board, different color less than a mile from my home. A guy was selling his board on Craigslist, I knew without a doubt that it was meant to become my latest surfboard. So, I simply went down to the ATM Machine and drove over to his home and purchased the board. This is just one example of a few that I am exploring.

About 10 months ago, I had started a new position as a real estate salesman down in Australia and had printed out images of my home back in Carlsbad, CA and posted them in front of me to look at every day. Many of the salespeople I worked with commented on why I would live in Maryborough, when I could be living back in my home in California only a mile and a half from the beach. I subconsciously, thought that they were right and within a few months, I was living back in my house.

Recently, I read a book called "The Answer" by John Assaraf and he spoke about how he had a vision board that he had created several years earlier and when his son came across his board one day accidentally, John studied it and noticed that he was living in the exact home he had posted on the board. Are the above just random, or can our minds really attract what we want out of life?

I'm sure most of you reading this have heard the story of Jim Carey the actor/comedian. He had post dated a check for 10 Million dollars and carried it around in his wallet for many years before hitting it big in Hollywood. He put at the bottom of the check for acting services. You see, these are just a few examples of what can happen if you begin to create your future with images. I personally believe that images are way more powerful than words. Yeah, you can write down goals on a piece a paper, but my challenge to you is rather than just writing down a goal, take an image and dwell on it for weeks or months and imagine having that object or thing, and see where you end up?

The mind is way more powerful than anything you can imagine. It has the ability to make you, or break you. Most people fail not by unfortunate circumstances, because somewhere deep down they sought failure and not success. Let images and create thoughts that will override those negative feelings and fears.

If you don't believe me, just start with something small like a surfboard or a pair of sneakers and see where you end up.

What Type of Pay Is Realistic In MLM

I met with a friend of mine the other day. We were discussing MLM and the future of our industry. He has been in the industry for over 18 years as both a distributor and a company owner, and has made as much as a 100K per month as a distributor. We talked about a new person coming into the business and what they could expect. He said he had studied pay plans and had discovered that most every pay plan in our industry has a pay out plan on average of 10% of your overall monthly volume.

He went on to claim that whatever your monthly volume is, more than likely will reflect your yearly income. So in conclusion, if you want to make a 100K per year in MLM, you will more than likely need a 100K in monthly volume, 1 Million a Million in monthly volume and so on. I don't know if this is factual, but it did line up with all of pay I have received from the few companies I have been with. It is also very consistent with every company I have worked with as a salesperson over the past 10 years.

Serving Others

I just watched the movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith. The last movie he was in "I Am Legend", had me bored to tears, I think I got about half way through before shutting it off. His previous movie before that, "Pursuit of Happiness", actually had a significant impact on me both personally, and professionally. Who would have ever thought that a movie could have such an impact, but there are a few others that have. Although this film, had me sitting there in awe, wondering what was happening, when it all came together, it made perfect sense.

I won't go into the details of the movie in case you haven't seen it, but it certainly gave me a breakthrough, on what it means to be a great person. You see a great person isn't someone who lives for themselves, a great person is someone who lives for others. This guys life had hit a turning point and he made a decision due to a tragic event that he would help others. Maybe he felt guilty and was trying to give back something, maybe it made him feel good. I think it was both.

At one time I lived my life completely for myself. When I got married and had a child, I realized there was more to life than just me. Believe it or not, my past year in network marketing has helped me to see that helping others is the only way to truly be an inspiration on this planet. There are other great ways you can inspire others through being a speaker, a pastor, a policeman, an actor, a volunteer, or as we saw in "Seven Pounds", a tax collector. You see no matter what career we have, we all have the ability to serve. It's just a matter of choice. As contrary to our beliefs we don't necessarily have to be in a career, where we automatically serve to serve others.

The life you lead today will one day pass like the wind. If you can come to realize that and wrap your hands around that fact, you might just change the way you look at things. I heard a guy once say, "live each day as your last, but plan for 10 years down the road". I personally think the greatest tragedy in life is to live like you are going to live forever.

If you don't feel like you have been a great servant in your life, its never too late to start and impact the lives of others while you are here. Your little acts of serving others might make a huge difference, and maybe even save someones life. If your looking surpass your leadership in your home, business, company, church, hospital, or community. Simply make yourself a promise that you will put others first. I think what makes a leader great is simply serving others.

Supporting MLM

If your a professional network marketer and want to stay & support our industry, why not buy your products and services from other network marketers or companies. I am currently only active in a few companies as a distributor, but I support many on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, I currently use some wonderful products from Herbalife, I have a membership for legal advice through Pre-paid legal, I send out cards to business contacts/friends/family members through Send Out Cards, and the list goes on. So if you are looking for some new products/services for your own personal life, why not buy from a fellow networker. Not only are you supporting the industry, but you could be getting some awesome products/services.

The Truth is Out There

The Truth is Out There

Building Your Team

Building Your Team

Health & Wellness Through Botanicals

I read an article this morning in the newspaper about a guy who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. His name is Tim and he lives in my current town of Carlsbad, CA. The Dr. doing what he knows best prescribed Tim some medication to make him feel better and return back to work, as the MS was causing him blindness and tremors. The worst part of the article was how Tim's wife's health insurance was refusing to pay for his prescription drugs, which were now costing him $7,000 per month. There is no other form of treatment for this type of MS, in Western Medicine which is now causing Tim huge financial hardship. All I can say is don't become a victim of Western Healthcare and this should never happen. Unfortunately, for most of us we are taught to put our health in the care of Dr's who push drugs and surgery to create wellness in our lives. Through my years of experience in health and wellness and having been a victim of The US Healthcare System how would one avoid such a catastrophy? Here are only my suggestions, but I believe them to be absolutely critical to avoid such a major problem.

* Exercise for 30 Minutes Per day (walking, jogging, gym, etc..)
* Pay attention to your diet (avoid gluten, preservatives, and processed foods as much as possible)
* See The Chiropractor (Weekly, or Monthly for regular adjustments)
* Yoga (Try and participate 1 time per week, great for organs, stress, and existing ailments)
* Botanicals (Find One Botanical that has proven to help people with your ailment, this could be acai berry, mangosteen, almalaki, etc..)

Regarding botanicals, be agreessive, and give them time to work. If you try one for 30 - 60 days and don't get any results move onto another one. What may work for one person may not work for another. Most importantly just get radical about your health and don't just shove drugs into your mouth because the Dr. says so.

It Finally Happened

I don't know if God was smiling on me today, but for the first time ever in my network marketing career I generated over 15 leads for the day and that doesn't include the 5 that called me wanting to know more about my opportunity. Did I pay for them - yes. I am not going to lie, like most people in this industry, but for $25, I cannot complain, knowing that most lead companies will sell you junk leads for quadruple that. Why did I get so many leads? Unlike other networkers, I am not going to pretend to have some great secret, and tell you that MLM is really easy and can be done entirely over the internet with no skill-set. But let me just give you a breakdown of where all of these leads came from:

* Craigslist
* MySpace
* Blogs

And if you haven't figured out yet. Self generated leads are 10 times better than leads you purchase from a lead house. If you want to learn how to get 15 to 20 leads a day, I can certainly tell you how after today, but I won't be giving my information away on a free webinar, as I really don't want to divulge what I did until I see it repeat itself over and over again. But I will say that I have people on my team that are recruiting 5 or more business builders per month doing exactly what I tell them to do with no prior MLM experience, and less than 30 days in the industry, generating no more than a few leads per day.

What Your Downline Should Look Like?

What Your Downline Should Look Like?

Why So Much Scum in MLM?

Why So Much Scum in MLM?

The Australia Wild Fires

Authentic You Radio Features John Lowery aka "The Home Biz Trainer"