Tweamster's Blog

What To Stay Away From

October 31, 2011
2 Comments

Frauds, Liars & Scams

First, a few definitions.

Fraud – One who assumes a false pose; an impostor. From the Latin for deceit or injury.

Liar – A person who knowingly utters falsehood; one who declares to another as a fact what he knows to be not true, and with an intention to deceive him. From a predecessor to Old English meaning to be untruthful.

Scam – A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle. U.S. slang, a carnival term, of unknown origin. Perhaps related to 19c. British slang scamp “cheater, swindler”

A Man Named Gordo

I advertise my home business opportunity in a magazine called the “Home Business Connection.” Now, surprisingly, you might think that I would expect people to call me who are looking for a home business opportunity. At least that’s why I thought I was advertising in that magazine.

Enter a man named Gordo. Gordo left me a voicemail in which he said he was interested in my business opportunity. Seems pretty straightforward, I normally call people back and find out about them and what they’re looking for and find out if there’s a match.

When I called Gordo back however, it turned out he was more interested in selling me on him, than vice versa. He called himself the “Greatest Networker in the World.”

The Greatest Networker In The World, by the way, is an actual book written by John Milton Fogg, who has been in the networking industry for over 20 years, and was also one of the founders of UPLINE magazine, a magazine about the network marketing industry. John gives seminars and lectures, writes books and articles, and in general would not be cold calling someone to invite them to listen to a conference call. So red flags were already going off.

When I mentioned that I had read “his” book, he responded “yep, that’s me.” I never bothered asking why he was disguising himself as Gordo. I was too curious at this point to see where he was going with this.

So he invited me to listen to a live conference call which was limited to 10 network marketers. He claimed it would be 100% live and 100% interactive. After inviting me, he then asked if there was anyone in my organization who I wanted to invite to the call.

The next thing that was odd was he couldn’t just give me the number to the conference call and the PIN. He had to call me back later in the day to give me these.

Finally, the appointed time rolls around and I call the number and get on the conference call. The first 15 minutes of the call were spent trying to locate someone who was supposed to be on the call and hadn’t called in.

He started the conference around 7:15, by saying the call was designed to help us make money, it’s not about making friends or saving the world.

Other statements he issued were: “Gordo hates liars,” “No one in the world knows more about networking than me,” and “No one in the industry earns more than me.”

Remember that statement about the call being 100% interactive, once the call started, everyone was locked out or muted except for Mr. Gordo, so much for the “interactive” call.

Another gem was “The secret to making money is not to make money.”

“Stupid is okay, don’t act stupid.”

“Same circus – different clowns.”

Since he had told us to be at our computers at 7 and the red flags were screaming at me by this point, I got online and started looking up Gordo and Gordo’s phone number.

What I found was pretty interesting.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Gordon-Moss.aspx

Or you can check out his blog. But be forewarned it has nothing to do with networking.

http://theworldsgreatestnetworker.blogspot.com/

Okay, one more

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=17999

Okay, I think you get the idea. Stay away; far, far away.

Better idea

For more info on how to pick a real opportunity, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter.

Those tips will help you avoid falling victim to any frauds, lies, or scams.

Have a great week!


No Jobs?

July 7, 2011
2 Comments

Jobs & Recession/Depression/Economic Uncertainty

Since there seems to be widespread disagreement about what to call the current economy, but pretty much everyone agrees the current economy is in the trash can; yet there can be a silver lining in every cloud. Some of the biggest and brightest companies in the U.S. were started or formed in recessions.

Also remember that whenever someone loses money by selling a stock, someone else is buying that stock in hopes of making money.

Home businesses always thrive in a recession as people look for ways to supplement, increase or replace their incomes.

With those positive notes in mind, here is an article that outlines part of the problem:

Porter Stansberry: This is why there are no jobs in America

Monday, May 23, 2011

I’ve decided to re-publish the most popular essay I’ve ever written. For some subscribers, this will only be a reminder about the serious problems we face in America. But for the many subscribers we’ve added in the last several months, this will be all new.

If it resonates with you… if you see these same problems in your communities… I encourage you to pass this along to your friends. This is a message we must get across to our fellow citizens. Robbing Peter to pay Paul will not lead to national wealth or prosperity. It will only lead to bigger problems for our children and grandchildren.

This Is Why There Are No Jobs in America

I’d like to make you a business offer. Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can’t turn me down, as you’ll come to understand in a moment…

Here’s the deal. You’re going to start a business or expand the one you’ve got now. It doesn’t really matter what you do or what you’re going to do. I’ll partner with you no matter what business you’re in – as long as it’s legal. But I can’t give you any capital – you have to come up with that on your own. I won’t give you any labor – that’s definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you’re allowed to operate your business. That’s my role in the affair: to tell you what to do.

Now in return for my rules, I’m going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business, each year. Half seems fair, doesn’t it? I think so. Of course, that’s half of your profits. You’re also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you’ve got to cover my expenses for promulgating all of the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you’re my partner. It’s only “fair.”

Now… after you’ve put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business and after you’ve worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you’d like to cash out – to finally live the good life.

Whether or not this is “fair” – some people never can afford to retire – is a different argument. As your partner, I’m happy for you to sell whenever you’d like… because our agreement says, if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time.

I know… I know… you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all of the labor. That’s all true. But I’ve done my part, too. I’ve collected 50% of the profits each year. And I’ve always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business. Oh… and one more thing…

Even after you’ve sold the business and paid all of my fees… I’d recommend buying lots of life insurance. You see, even after you’ve been retired for years, when you die, you’ll have to pay me 50% of whatever your estate is worth. After all, I’ve got lots of partners and not all of them are as successful as you and your family. We don’t think it’s “fair” for your kids to have such a big advantage. But if you buy enough life insurance, you can finance this expense for your children. All in all, if you’re a very successful entrepreneur… if you’re one of the rare, lucky, and hard-working people who can create a new company, employ lots of people, and satisfy the public… you’ll end up paying me more than 75% of your income over your life. Thanks so much.

I’m sure you’ll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me… but it doesn’t really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me – or cheat me on any of my fees or rules – I’ll break down your door in the middle of the night, threaten you and your family with heavy, automatic weapons, and throw you in jail. That’s how civil society is supposed to work, right? This is Amerika, isn’t it?

That’s the offer Amerika gives its entrepreneurs. And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs…

©2011 Stansberry & Associates Investment Research. All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. This website may only be used pursuant to the subscription agreement and any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the world wide web), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, LLC. 1217 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202.

Why Network Marketing?

For my money, the best way to leverage one’s time, create residual income, and minimize Uncle Sam’s intrusion into our lives is network marketing.

To learn why it’s such a brilliant concept, please watch Brilliant Compensation.

Okay, Looks Good, What Next?

All right, so now you need to find a company that will allow you to make the concept you learned in Brilliant Compensation work.

If you don’t know how to pick a good company with a great product, network marketing probably won’t work for you.

One of my favorite mentors came up with a book and course called “MLM-The Whole Truth.” In it, he lays out what he calls the 12 Critical Success Factors™. You can get a free introduction to the factors he’s isolated by going here. It’s a 7 day series of emails where you learn 7 of the 12 concepts.

I Already Have A Company, But It’s Just Not Working For Me

Okay, fair enough. Did you get the 7 day series of emails? Does your company/product meet the qualifications that he talks about? If not, you probably need to go back to the drawing board and find a company/product that does meet the 12 Critical Success Factors.

If your company does meet them, then my next recommendation is to run, not walk to get your copy of “Professional Inviter” to learn how to do the business. In it he covers what is communication, the six steps of the “Inviting Formula”, how to tell when you’re done greeting someone, what qualified means when prospecting for network marketing business partners, and much, much more.

For more info or to order the course, go to “Professional Inviter.”

Quote  

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” – John Maxwell


The Mystery of It All

May 24, 2011
2 Comments

Ever wonder if there’s something wrong with you because you just can’t seem to figure out how network marketing works? Why some people seem to do so well yet you seem to be just struggling along hoping that it starts working for you. Ever get so frustrated that you just want to scream?

I sometimes get the feeling that some of the “gurus” aren’t trying to expose any mystery, they’re working hard to maintain it so they can sell us their cure, their magic elixir.

Mystery & Power

The truth is, if a mystery is exposed, the power will be gone in the mystery, and you will have the power instead.

If you have the basics or fundamentals of something, and can apply those basics to your business, or your life, you can cause things to happen and achieve your goals and purposes.

Gurus?

There are a lot of gurus out there selling their secrets to success in network marketing. For the newbies, novices and even people who have been around awhile, it can be very difficult to tell real gurus from the pretended ones.

There are a couple of ways to tell who really has the right stuff. One is to check the statistics of the guru and see if he’s practicing what he preaches and having success with it. The second and I think better way is to find the guru’s students and find out if they are succeeding. Are they able to listen to and understand what the guru is teaching, apply it and have success with it?

Here’s My Favorites

I have a few that put together in correct sequence will improve your odds immensely of achieving your goals in network marketing.

First, are you totally sold on our industry – network marketing? Do you think it’s an honest, ethical and honorable way to build a business? Do you know why it is? If you don’t, then I recommend you grab your mouse and click through to Brilliant Compensation and let a Professor of Marketing and an industry veteran who’s made millions explain the industry to you in a way that makes complete sense.

Second, do you know how to to evaluate a business against a standard checklist. Do you know what the 12 Critical Success Factors are? If not, then you need MLM-The Whole Truth by Lou Abbott. Lou has a free email series to introduce you to MLM – The Whole Truth. You can sign up for the free emails here, 7 Days – 7 Insider Secrets, and learn how to check out a company before you join. A full book and course is available which the email series will tell you how to order.

Third pick, once you’re sold on the industry, and you’ve picked your company and you’re ready to rock and roll, what do you do? You have to invite people to take a look at your business, of course. Industry veteran Tim Sales has put together a course called “Professional Inviter” that breaks the subject of inviting down into easy pieces that anyone can learn.

I think I’ve dispelled enough mystery for the day. If you avail yourselves of these materials, you’ll be way ahead of the game.

Quote

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.  – Confucius


Posture

March 4, 2011
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What Do You Think It Is?

The first time I heard this word in relation to network marketing, the only idea I had for posture was my mother telling me to sit up straight. Obviously, with that picture, I not only had no posture (network marketing variety), I didn’t even know what it was. While my mom’s use of the term was totally correct, that’s not what network marketers have in mind.

So let’s start with a definition. From the American Heritage Dictionary, posture is “A frame of mind affecting one’s thoughts or behavior; an overall attitude.” It comes to us from the Latin word ponere, meaning to “put, place.” So you’re putting or placing yourself in a particular frame of mind.

What Frame of Mind?

So what frame of mind do you want to be in? When you’re talking to a prospect, do you want to be uncertain, afraid of objections and terrified of rejection? From that frame of mind, are you going  to have any success in convincing people you can help them? I don’t think so.

So what frame of mind should you have? You’re talking to a prospect, he has some need or want or “don’t want” that you’ve identified that you know you can help him achieve. Knowing that you can help him is part of posture, but if you’re hoping he’s not going to voice any objections, you still don’t have it.

Tim Sales says that posture comes from confidence in your ability to perform, nothing else!

Posture would be knowing that you have the solution for his need or want, that you can handle his objections and that through your leadership and skill and proper training you can help him achieve his goal or goals.

With that type of posture, your ability to invite and help people into your business will improve, and so will your results. Here’s to your posture.

The First Steps To Posture

Do you think that having complete and utter certainty that network marketing is a legal, valuable and honorable business would help your posture? Of course it would, rhetorical question. If you didn’t have that certainty, it would slow you down, lower your posture, and inhibit your willingness to reach out to others about your business.

For the best video ever on the legitimacy and brilliance of the network marketing business model, go watch Brilliant Compensation.

Once you have that certainty on the industry, then you have to feel that way about your company and your product or products. For one of the best I’ve seen on  picking a company and product to work with, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter. Written by Lou Abbott, a 14 year veteran of the industry, he shares his hard-won secrets to picking a good company to work with. The email newsletter is free, but for the full treatment he has a book and course on the same subject. I highly recommend it if you are between companies, or are unhappy with your current company, or if you’ve just decided to join this industry and are looking for your first company. Great stuff!

Quote

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.  – Henry David Thoreau


Motivated By The Future

January 30, 2011
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I read an article last week which said that someone who wants to be at cause is motivated by the future.

The more I thought about this, the truer I decided it was – at least it was true for me. It was almost one of those epiphany moments – hell, it was an epiphany, it explained to me why we’re always being asked to figure out our why for doing the business.

Almost every network marketing book you’ll ever read tells you to find your why. I just started reading a book about the habits of successful sales people, and one of the first things he talked about was knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing. Every training or fast start meeting I’ve ever been to has talked about finding your why. Every network marketing company training manual I’ve ever read has talked about finding your why for doing the business.

Do you sense a pattern here? Why are we always being asked to do this? I always kind of had it chalked up as a motivational trick – a way to keep us moving. It is, but it is so much more than that…

We are motivated by the future. We don’t work hard now to get what we already have – or if we do, we’re in a serious rut, and need to change something sooner rather than later. We work hard now to fix in the future whatever it is we don’t like about now.

After years of attending network marketing meetings and trainings, I’ve heard a lot of different whys for doing a network marketing business.

  • put my kids through college
  • bring my husband/wife home from the job he/she hates
  • be able to be full-time parents
  • to travel
  • to get out of debt
  • to make something of themselves
  • to be someone that people look up to
  • to have the house of my dreams
  • to have the car I’ve always wanted
  • to be able to take care of my parents
  • time freedom
  • to be able to go where they want when they want
  • to live where they want
  • to work with the people they choose to work with

Do you see how these are all future things? They are all things that these people want in the future for which they were willing to work hard and sacrifice for today.

Now I get it. This explains the reason for all this attention to figuring out our why which I used to think was slightly, ummm, silly…

We are motivated by the future – what do you want in your future? The first step to putting it there is knowing what it is. The second step is knowing that you want it there, and knowing that you want it there so badly that you’ll work your butt off to put it there. So badly that failure is not an option.

We are motivated by the future.

Take Charge of Your Future

If you’re a newcomer to network  marketing and want to learn more of the reasons that network marketing is such a powerful method to help you achieve your why, check out Brilliant Compensation (it’s free).

To learn how to increase the odds of achieving your why by picking the right company, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter. (This is free too!)


Stop, Look and Listen

January 17, 2011
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Network Marketing

One way of defining network marketing is that it’s all about relationships and word of mouth. Knowing that relationships are about listening as much or more than talking, why don’t we have an easier time developing relationships with those in our “network?”

In his book, Conversations with the Greatest Networker in the World, John Milton Fogg identifies the problem as reactive listening, in other words, what you’re doing instead of just listening.

Are You Doing Any Of These?

Here, in brief, are a few of the 11 reasons the greatest networker identifies as why we’re not listening, or what we’re doing instead of listening.

Comparing – what you’re hearing to something else you’ve heard, is it better than or worse than what you heard elsewhere, do you disagree with it? Just listen, focus on hearing what the person is saying.

Derailing – change the subject, this will definitely tell the person you don’t care about what he/she was talking about. But if you’re figuring out how to change the subject, you’re not listening.

Fighting – disagree, dispute, disapprove, belittle, begrudge, put down… If you think what the person is saying is wrong – fine. Listen, let him know you heard him, then express your own thought.

Plotting – if you already have a plot in mind for the conversation you’re having, you’re not listening. You’re directing the conversation to make it fit with and stick to your plot instead of truly listening.

You should get the book to get the rest of the ways to “not listen” but I’m guessing you’ve already spotted one or more things you’re doing in your conversations.

What Else Should You Know?

Further on in the book, the greatest networker is talking about why he had a favorable impression of network marketing before he became a network marketer. He says “Nothing will ever be as powerful promoting a product or service as simple word-of-mouth, and Network Marketing harnessed that by giving it a reward structure. I thought that was utterly brilliant!” For an awesome video detailing why it’s brilliant; check out Brilliant Compensation.

If you’re looking for a company to work with or a better company, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter to learn more about what to look for in a company.

Or you can get The Greatest Networker in the World & Conversations with the Greatest Networker and read it here.

Quote

I thought this was pretty funny, but true as well. The Greatest Networker, in his persona in the book says, “Working where, when and how much you want, rather than having your boss or some company policy tell you what to do, is truly the American way. After all, didn’t the ‘Declaration of Independent Contractors’ say that we Network Marketers are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among which were Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?”


Right Between The Eyes

January 10, 2011
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Where Has This Book Been All My Life?

Ever pick up a book and have it just be so… right, so spot on, so personal and intimate to who you are and what you want in life; that you couldn’t put it down?

It doesn’t happen very often, and I read a lot and enjoy reading anything; history, fiction, economics, business, network marketing books, Harry Potter, sci fi; it’s one of my favorite pastimes, but moments like that where someone says exactly what I think are rare.

I hope I’m the only person who’s never read this book, but I have a hunch I’m in good company. I would guess I could probably ask forty or fifty networkers if they’ve read this book and I’d probably get forty or fifty no’s even though it’s considered a classic in network marketing.

What Book, Who Wrote It?

John Milton Fogg is the author, and the book is The Greatest Networker In The World. If you’ve read books or magazines on or about the network marketing industry, you’ve probably run across John’s name and never thought anything more about it.

Here’s a short self-description from John on his website; “For more than 20 years I’ve been a writer, teacher, author, speaker & coach. Ask me what I do and I’ll probably say, ‘I’m a writer.’ Ask my friends and they’ll say, ‘He’s a mentor.’ They’re right. That’s my purpose, passion & joy.

“I don’t claim to be The Greatest Networker in the World, and I am the guy that wrote the book, which having sold more than a million copies is one of the highest-ever selling network marketing titles.”

Has He Been Reading My Notes?

Here’s the part that really got to me and had tears welling up in my eyes:

“I just want to be a success, “ I told him, emotion troubling my words a little. “I’m so sick and tired of the sameness … to give my wife and kids the things they deserve. Disney World, “ I said, “I want to take the kids to Disney World – and the Grand Canyon. I want to be free. I want time … creativity … control…. And yes, I do want to be a pioneer – again. I loved doing that….”

“But…?” he asked quietly.

“But, I don’t know how,” I answered…  (End of quote)

I must be hanging out with the wrong people, nobody I know has ever mentioned this book to me …

Closing Out For This Edition

In the next paragraph, the narrator of the story goes on to say “I see other people doing it. Lots of them. So I know it can be done. And I know they’re not any smarter or better than me, or work any harder. It’s just that – I can’t seem to get it to work for me. I try. I really do. I make the calls… run my names list. It just doesn’t work.”

I am sure I’m going to find more pearls of wisdom as I continue reading this book (the quotes above are from page 13), and I will share them with you. But this one couldn’t wait as I knew it would speak to others out there.

But I wanted to close with this thought, no matter how good, bad or indifferent  you are at “doing” network marketing, you increase your chances for achieving your dreams if you pick a company that is going in the direction you want to go.

To learn more about how to pick a company to work with, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter.

If you’re investigating network marketing as a possible sideline or even a career change, but aren’t quite sure yet; you owe it to yourself to watch Brilliant Compensation, a beautiful analogy on why network marketing is so … well, brilliant.

Otherwise, if you’ve already read “The Greatest Networker,” reread it, if not, get and read the book, it’s well worth it.

Quote

Are you really listening, or are you just waiting for your turn to speak?  — John Milton Fogg


Never Give Up

December 21, 2010
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There are basically two wrong things to do in any life situation.

1)    Give up

2)    Do nothing

There are a multitude of potentially useful or right things to do.

For instance, if things aren’t going the way you planned, you can learn more, plan better, do more, do a lot more, do something different, revise your game plan, find someone that’s gotten to where you want to be and ask for their help, work harder, work smarter, find a partner, find a better partner, get rid of the wrong partner, find a mentor, find a better mentor, etc.

You can also find out what’s motivating you, what’s your passion, why do you want what you want. If you say you want to be rich, why? What would being rich enable you to do? If you want more free time, why? What do you want to do with that free time? Travel, study, go back to school, be a missionary? What’s your real objective?

I read a great book on this subject a couple years ago called “Living With Passion” by Peter L. Hirsch. In Chapter 3, he gives an exercise in figuring out your purpose and values.

Once you have that thing, that passion, that goal, your why in front of you, it becomes much harder to give up on yourself and easier to motivate yourself to do whatever you need to do to turn the situation around.

Quotes To Help Keep You Motivated

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.  – Calvin Coolidge

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.  Theodore Roosevelt

I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.  – Vince Lombardi

Never Giving Up Means Knowing Where You’re Going

To learn more about how network marketing can help you achieve your goals, 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.

Till next time – MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Course Correction

December 6, 2010
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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.


Word of Mouth

November 29, 2010
2 Comments

Why Is It Called Network Marketing?

Network marketing is called network marketing because we market through a network.

By utilizing our networks, we’re bringing customers, customer gatherers, people who get other people interested in the company, and market exposure to their company and products.

By doing this, they make it possible for someone to start with no business experience and yet have the potential to become very comfortable, and even wealthy by learning on the job and applying what they learn.

Why Do They Do This?

With the use of our networks, the company can get lots of exposure, lots of customers, and lots of profits (if they do it right).

By so doing, they eliminate most of the expense of PR firms, marketing agencies, branding agencies, market research firms, focus groups, etc.

Then they can take all that expense that they’re eliminating and pay that money to the field of sales reps and marketers that are bringing the customers to the company.

The more people you bring to the company who gather customers, and the more customers you bring to the company, and the more leadership you provide, the more handsomely you’re going to be rewarded.

Why Does This Work?

Because of the power of word of mouth. Here’s what one writer has to say about word of mouth: “In our business lives, positive word of mouth generates referrals and referrals generate business. So, word of mouth is one of the most important marketing tools that can contribute to our success. What could be better than a customer mentioning how pleased they were with a service you provided to others who may need this service? Free advertising… that’s what word of mouth is.”

Here’s another: “Media Guerilla points to interesting research from Intelliseek that finds that consumers are ‘50% more likely to be influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations from their peers than by radio/TV ads.’ ”

And finally, “Even more important than its credibility, reach, speed and ability to break through the clutter is its power to get people to act. In study after study with almost every category of buyer, word of mouth has been shown to be what is known as the proximal cause of purchase – the most recent thing that happened before purchase. In other words, the purchase trigger. People tend to make major purchases on the advice of trusted peers or experts.”

What Role Does Advertising Play?

The whole role of advertising in network marketing could be called finding new launch points for word of mouth. In other words, you advertise to find someone who will start a word-of-mouth campaign among his/her friends, family, acquaintances and business associates.

If you’re good at networking and getting referrals, you may never need to resort to advertising, but that’s the subject of another article.

Helpful Information

To learn more about the brilliance of the how you get paid for your word-of-mouth avalanches, check out Brilliant Compensation.

To learn more about how to determine if a company is a good candidate for word of mouth to catch on, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter.

Quote

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product and profits. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two. – Lee Iacocca


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