Network Marketing: Personal Development

Personal development is the process of developing more of what you have as potential within. Reaching your full potential as a human being con­sists of two different processes.

One is the process of acquiring new character­istics and attributes such as patience, courage, determination, self-confidence, and trustworthiness. The second process is correcting old habits, the wearing away of the rough edges of your personality, like shyness, fearfulness, or unworthiness.

This is the process where we lose or release the behaviors that no longer work for us. Stepping outside your comfort zone is an act of courage. It’s also where the excitement is and where real personal growth begins.

Network Marketing: Freedom

This stage is the culmination of all your plans and efforts. You have worked hard and learned much. You have well-developed skills and proven command of the business. You think and act on long-term goals and objectives. You are free!

You have developed a group of strong full-time network marketing leaders. They are trained and growing without your involvement. They look to you for guidance and support on the bigger issues of planning and leadership development.

Network Marketing: Leadership

Most of the leaders I have met in network marketing have worked hard on both themselves and their businesses. Many are articulate, have a great sense of humor, are great storytellers, have great product knowledge, have a deep understanding of the fundamentals of network marketing, and have high en­ergy, natural excitement, and have a well-developed self-image and confidence. They inspire the best in the people around them. By working on yourself as much as on the business, you can develop your own style of leadership.

At this stage, your consistent efforts have paid off. You love this game, both for what it has given you and for what it has allowed you to give others. You have earned the right to true freedom! Your experiences have made you a better person and a better leader. You have met your own personal challenges and those victories have fueled your confidence and personal success.

When oth­ers say you are lucky to have such success and freedom, you’ll know with cer­tainty that the freedom you have in network marketing is a freedom well earned.

Network Marketing: A Full-Time Business of Your Own

In this phase of your development, you have learned the basics of a successful and profitable network marketing business. You are ready to take your busi­nesses to the next level. Armed with your proven skills and new work sched­ule, you will find it easier to recruit people with greater capacity and skill.

The hallmark of this stage of the business is leading by example. You do as you want others to do. You recruit, train, and develop new leaders who bring new excitement and energy to your team. You now have the time required to build toward the big financial returns.

You can now expand your network marketing business more strategically, moving beyond your local and regional ar­eas to national and then international markets. When you start focusing your full-time efforts on the advancement of your business, momentum will really pick up.

Network Marketing: The Challenge of Self-Employment

When you start your networking business, you become the CEO, with the re­sponsibilities of charting the course for the future of your network marketing business. You also become the management team responsible for the implementation of that vi­sion.

You also become the head of the human resources department responsi­ble for recruiting and training the talent required to accomplish the objectives of the management team. You also take on the responsibilities of the head of marketing and promotion, and customer service. Juggling all these responsibil­ities will challenge you to step outside your comfort zone and learn new skills.

To develop a big network marketing business requires clear strategic thinking and a commitment to developing the right human resources to reach your goals. Stay in the building mode with a focus on recruiting stronger and more developed talent. Learn the discipline of being self-employed, and stay fo­cused on your goals and objectives.

You will now have much more free time to manage or mismanage. You can go golfing or stay home on a beautiful day and make the calls to new prospects. Hmm! The choice is now yours. There is no longer a boss checking up on you to see if you are getting things done.

This is a new opportunity to discover your own undeveloped talents and can be one of the most rewarding and freeing per­sonal experiences you may ever have. Start implementing these strategies in your network marketing business.

Network marketing success is a mind-set, an attitude, a commitment, a burning desire, first requiring energy, excitement, and enthusiasm about the prospects for personal gain. Learning something new means you will make mistakes as you progress. Take advantage of these strategies as you create the future you want.

Network Marketing: Getting Started

Affiliate Marketing: Follow Up On Referrals

According to the survey of more than two thousand businesspeople, follow up on referrals was ranked as the single most important trait of a master affiliate marketing networker. They believe that follow-up is the lifeblood of effective networking.

People who don’t know you will judge you harshly if you don’t deliver on what’s expected of you. They may even test you before deciding on whether they want to get to know you better. This siz­ing up starts with determining whether you can make commitments and follow through on them.

When your number-one objective is to cultivate strong relationships with other affiliate marketing professionals and build your social capital, you have to come out of the start­ing gate without a stumble—and this means demonstrating your commitment by following up on every promise, every contact, and every opportunity to help your networking partner, over and above what is expected of you. Think about your own experiences, the way you form your judg­ments of other people and their affiliate marketing businesses.

What about that time your furnace broke down and you needed repairs right away? You prob­ably called three HVAC companies before one finally called you back within hours. Obviously, the oth­ers, who never returned your call, will never get your business—or that of anyone you know, for that matter. They lacked follow-up, which is extremely important in building credibility and trust.

Affiliate Marketing: Build Credibility

Your ability to follow up on what you say you are going to do— when you say you’re going to do it—is critical toward building credibility and ultimately networking your affiliate marketing business. Do you con­duct business with anyone who doesn’t do what he says he’s going to do? That’s exactly the point.

As educated consumers, we have high expectations for service, quality, and cost. We demand to have our expectations met or surpassed. Therefore, knowing that today’s consumer is so critical and demanding, we know that we must per­form at our best 24/7. That includes following up on your promises.

Good follow-up is not just doing what is required or what you’ve promised to do. It also involves going beyond what is expected. That’s the kind of follow-up that not only solidifies but strengthens and extends your networking relationship. The key to good follow-up is a system for keeping track of your networking partners, your meetings and appointments with them, and their professional needs and personal interests.

It is also important to follow up in a timely manner. Follow up with each contact at regular intervals to keep the relationship fresh in your contact’s mind. It may jog your memory or that of your affiliate marketing partner concerning an important event. And sometimes, it’s important just to call and say hello.

Network Marketing: Become Visible

One of the first steps towards your network marketing business is to become more visible in the community. Remember that people need to know you, like you, and trust you in order to refer you. As people get to know you, they will learn to like and trust you—at least, we hope so, because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Why do people hire a fitness trainer? Why do they hire a business coach? The answer, for the most part, is accountability. We tend to perform better if we are being held accountable to someone else, particularly if it is someone we respect, like a mentor or a study partner. Being held accountable for our actions, perfor­mance, and commitments tends to heighten our awareness of what we have promised to do.

Network Marketing: Accountability Is Important

So it is with networking your business: accountability is impor­tant. You’re making a commitment to yourself to begin networking your business. You’re promising yourself to get out of your cave and attend produc­tive networking functions. You are even taking the step of putting these weekly tasks into your PDA or Outlook.

When life gets in the way, promises to ourselves get forgotten or pushed to the back burner. How many times have you told yourself in the morning that today is the day you will start to work out? As the day progressed, guess what happened? Life got in the way. Instead of getting to work out, you got worked over by life’s unexpected twists.

Now, think of it this way. If you had a fitness trainer waiting for you at 6:30 p.m., would you be more committed to being there on time for your workout? Probably—because accountability kicks in. No one likes to know­ingly disappoint someone else, and no one likes to waste her time or have her time wasted by someone else.

The same holds true for a network marketing business coach. No matter what happens in the week, if you have an appointment with your coach, you will find a way to complete the assignments before your meeting.  So why not find an accountability partner for your network marketing business? That way, every time you commit to a strategy in this book, your accountability partner can keep you to the task.

Each week, perhaps by phone, you would meet to identify the network marketing strategy for the week and make the commitment to help each other meet that task. You could create a system to moti­vate and keep track of everyone’s compliance and diligence.

Network Marketing: Questions for Finding the Right Accountability Partner

1. Who do I highly respect as a network marketing business colleague?
2. Who would not be afraid to push me and keep me focused?
3. Who would I never think of disappointing?
4. Who is also interested in networking her business so that we can be accountability partners for each other?
5. Who knows me—and my tendency to procrastinate?
6.  Who will follow through on this commitment to me?
7.  Who has the time to help me?

Accountability in the context of a strong referral network can create excellence within your network marketing business.

Network Marketing: Take Action

Network marketing is the great equalizer. People of diverse backgrounds find new opportunity in network marketing every day. It doesn’t matter what you have or haven’t accomplished in the past, how long your resume is, what education credentials you have or don’t have it is about knowledge and action.

Freedom is about choice and a decision to act. Your commitment to take action and learn from your results and consistently pursue your goals will determine your level of network marketing success. I believe everyone can commit to an action plan and achieve a new level of personal success. The freedom achieved through network marketing is unparalleled.

Suc­cess is not determined by what you think you know about network market­ing, but by learning simple, proven methods that work. So, if you are willing to work for a better life and more personal freedom, network marketing may be the perfect solution and business model to give all that you are looking for and more.

Network Marketing: Learn From Past Experiences

We often learn more from our mistakes than our triumphs. Experience usually begins with failures and disappointments, which if seen as opportunity for learning can be used to fuel new successes and develop new skills and abilities. The harder you work, the more experience you gain. The more expe­rience you gain, the smarter you work and the more successful you’ll become.

Some people start a network marketing business to develop a part-time business to earn additional income. Others want to replace their full-time income and make a career change. Yet others will embrace the upside potential of network marketing and the power of leveraged income and build true wealth. That’s your choice, and the plan of action you develop will reflect your goals.

MLM and Catalytic Converter

For those of us who drive a car, we often take for granted a mostly silent, hidden-from-view part called a catalytic converter— at least until it breaks. What purpose does your car’s catalytic con­verter fulfill? It removes many harmful emissions from the engine’s exhaust. This is accomplished through a combination of heat and a precious-metal catalyst that causes those harmful emissions.

It the engine is out of tune and not calibrated properly, the catalytic converter’s efficiency can become greatly diminished—potentially leading to the converter’s failure. At that point, your car is in the shop for an expensive repair.

How does a catalytic converter relate to networking your mlm business? By definition, a catalyst is an agent that initiates a reaction. In a car, the catalyst is a precious metal. In networking marketing, there are three kinds of people: those who wait and watch for things to happen, those who make things happen, and those who wonder what the heck happened.

A catalyst is one who makes things happen. Without a catalyst, there is no spark, and not much gets done. Think of all the catalysts youknow. Who is the catalyst in your home? Who is the catalyst in your office? Who is the catalyst on your favorite sports team? Who is the catalyst in your network? What would change if there were  nocatalysts? What would it take for you to become a catalyst for your mlm business and your network?

MLM Characteristics Shared By Catalytic People

1. Initiative. Catalytic people don’t sit still—they make things happen in all aspects of their lives. These are the people who see the idea first and then take action. They are leaders by nature and take initiative simply because something needs to be done.
2. Intention. Catalytic people operate with intent and are goal driven. They eliminate chance by creating their own luck. They can clearly define their purpose and goals. They can envision the end and see the possibilities before others do.
3. Confidence. Catalytic people have confidence in themselves and in the players on their team. They also have confidence in their skills and abilities. This confidence helps to ensure that the task at hand will be accomplished with stellar results. These people have positive attitudes, seeing the glass half-full, not half-empty.
4. Motivation. Catalytic people are not only motivated themselves, but they also motivate others to perform at their highest potential. These people excite others to contribute, sharing their energy and excitement through their words and actions.

To set your network in motion toward helping your mlm business, make it your goal to become a catalytic person. Think of your net­work as a row of standing dominoes. Each domino will remain standing until you act upon the first domino.

As a catalyst, you must tap the first domino to watch the chain reaction of tumbling dominoes. Your mlm business is standing in place, waiting for you to set the pieces in motion.

Network Marketing: Be A Value-Added Friend

Southern California has many eucalyptus trees. They’re huge—tall and lush. Yet, for all their majesty, they have a weakness, one that is not immediately apparent to the naked eye. They tend to topple over fairly easily in heavy winds. It happens almost every year. When they’re uprooted and blown over by the wind, it’s easy to see the reason for their instability. Their root system is broad, but not very deep at all.

I’ve seen some people with networks that share the weak­ness of those eucalyptus roots: wide, but shallow. Don’t let this happen to you and your network. Your network must be strong, deep, and broad. Without these three characteristics, your business is likely one day to topple over in a strong storm!

Let’s begin by focusing on the people who make up your word-of-mouth marketing team. Get to know these people, you should make a point to “go to.” You don’t want to pry or violate their privacy, of course.

Rather, as you naturally get acquainted, learn about their goals and challenges—business, personal, educational, and financial. Know­ing this information will help you identify many ways that you can help them.

When you help someone meet a goal, you instantly become a “value-added” friend—an asset to this individual’s life and network marketing busi­ness. You’ve demonstrated that you’re in the relationship not just for what you can get out of it, but also for what you can invest on behalf of your friend. You’ve demonstrated reciprocity and car­ing. You’ve nourished the relationship’s roots so they can become strong, deep, and broad.

The most profitable relationships are beneficial both ways. Adding value to a relationship is also highly profitable and rewarding. How does helping someone meet a goal help you in your network marketing business? If you help someone meet a goal in turn, want to help you meet a goal: network marketing for your business.

Ways to deepen the roots of your network marketing while becoming a value-added friend

1. Build quality relationships. Take the time necessary to deepen the relationships between you and your referral. Invite them to appropriate social functions. The stronger your friendship, the more you can all expect from each other’s network marketing efforts.
2. Don’t just show up. You might have heard the old saying “Ninety-nine percent of life is just showing up.” Baloney! Just showing up is not good enough in a relationship. You must establish credibility and trust with people before you can expect them to help you in return.
3. Start by giving. Let your mantra be not “What’s in it for me?” but “What can I do for you?” Do not underestimate the power of helping other people—it is the cornerstone upon
   which relationships are built.

The wise farmer knows that before he can expect to reap a bountiful harvest, he must invest a lot of care and energy into planting and cultivating his crop. By becoming a value-added friend, you, too are farming. You give your time, your knowledge, and anything else of value that your referral sources need in order to succeed, knowing that one day you may draw on some of that value to help your own network marketing business.

Network Marketing: “Sizzle Product”

One diversion that is often created by your own network marketing company, when new products or services are introduced. Often, it’s what we call a “sizzle product:–a new, exciting technology or specialized niche item that causes affiliates to lose all decorum and sense of propriety. Irrational comments and erratic behavior on the part of new affiliates generally accompany the announcement of these new products. Especially when a major field leader joins in the fever, the “sizzle product” Scatter Bomb can be quite devastating.

This type of Scatter Bomb fever began in one network marketing company with something as innocent as simple math when an affiliate calculated that he would earn an extra $30,000 the next month if everybody in his group ordered just one of the newly released product. It progressed to the point where frenzied medical doctors rented warehouse space and taught medical assistants how to operate fork lifts in order to warehouse the supply which would result in $20 million of profits next year.

What made this situation all the more frightening was that this frenzy occurred when no one had yet seen or even used the product, and no studies about the product had been released. All this activity stemmed from rumors that the new product was really great and that everyone in America would be in lines a mile long to purchase it. Company leaders dropped the hint that the supply was limited and could become back-ordered, thereby keeping the fever at a high pitch as affiliates bought more than they needed to be sure they didn’t run out.

They saw thousands of victims of this misdirected activity and, even a year later, some affiliates were still distracted from building their network marketing business. Some were threatening to sue everyone in the knows world, and orders were still angry over the $20 million they lost.

Network Marketing: Protect Against The Scatter Bomb

So how do you protect our affiliates and our distributors against this type of Scatter Bomb when it’s a new product from our own company? How do we maintain rationality in the face of a screaming frenzy initiated by our upline leaders? Well, I am not sure there is any protection, given the truth about greed and human nature.

When a good solid network marketing company releases a new exciting service or product, nothing can really keep people from becoming excited. Tell your leaders to try the new products and to recommend that everyone in their groups try them, but not mortgage their homes in order to buy them. Wait until the new products has fully proven itself before getting too excited.

What I have learned is that the real money is made a few months after the new products have proven themselves, not during the initial hype. If the affiliates jump the gun at the launch of a new foreign market they typically only last a few months in network marketing. Perhaps the biggest danger of all is that the launch of a new product or service, which has real sizzle, can scatter affiliates enough to shift their focus from selling financial security and time freedom to just selling the new product.

Most of all, maintain a balanced outlook with every new product. Don’t go overboard and build your presentation around any one product or service before it is a proven success. Frenzies never yield stable growth.