In school I was beat up in on a regular basis because I was the smart fat kid in class. At 21 I started my first business and went bankrupt within a year. In my late twenties I was seriously starving in Kenya. I’m not talking about being hungry. I’m talking about real serious starvation where I was so undernourished that I could hardly drag myself out of bed and I lost a gazillion pounds(maybe I should do another trip :0)

I’ve had many unsuccessful attempts in business. People have swindled me for large sums of money. I have had partners that didn’t keep their promised and left me in a bad spot. I’ve had friends that turned out to be lying scumbags. The list goes on and and and on.

Every time I’ve had a challenge I’ve become better and better at turning them around and I’ve developed a system so now I’m able to turn around a challenge in minutes or hours instead of
weeks or months.

I almost guarantee that whatever problem you have you will be able to turn it around by doing these 8 steps.

Step 1.
Do ten Jumping jacks, 10 sit ups and 10 push-ups. Then sit down to relax. Take a minute to let your pulse come down to almost normal. Then Take 5-10 really deep breaths. I’m not joking …this is one of the most important things you can do. For two reasons:

a) Exercise will change your mental and emotional state. When you feel better you will feel more resourceful and have more confidence.

b) Extra oxygen to your brain will improve the quality of your thoughts.

Step 2.
Get some perspective. Realise that it’s probably not as bad as you think. Ask yourself “What”s the worst thing that could happen?

Step 3.
Think back on situations where you overcame problems in your life. Write down at least 4-5 situation or keep on going until you can’t remember any more.

When you do this you will get more confidence that you can overcome the current situation too.

Maybe you will even remember something you did in those situations that can help you right now

Step 4.
Start making a serious brainstorm for solutions to your problem. 99.999% of the problems you have can be solved by an idea. I love the following quote. I think it was Dan Kennedy who said it but forgive me if it was someone else.

“Lack of money is never the problem… Lack of ideas is ALWAYS the problem

Don’t limit your creativity. Write down all your thoughts no matter how ridiculous you think they are. By letting your thoughts flow freely you will come up with far more and better ideas than you can imagine. Don’t worry for now that it might seem silly… You will edit later on.

Step 5:
Do the brainstorm again, but this time pretend you are your biggest hero. I’m not talking about superman or catwoman, but your biggest rolemodels in business and life.

So simply ask yourself: “What would I do if I were x?

You might want to repeat this with more than one of your heroes.

Step 6.
Make a list of all your closest friends and most resourceful contacts. Then start calling them and ask what they would do in your situation or simply ask them for help. You will be surprised about the help you can get when you reach out.

Step 7.
Use the magical “250 questions” technique: This is truly almost magical. Before you go to bed take a piece of paper and write a the question to which the solution would solve the problem.

For example if you are in a tight financial spot and need to make 1000 dollars quickly simply ask this question. “How can I make an extra 1000 in a week from now?

Put the paper next to your bed and repeat the question in your head 250 times before you go to sleep. Do this every night until the solutions come to you. Make sure you keep pen and paper close because you may get some brilliant ideas right after you wake up in the morning or you might even wake up in the middle of the night with the solution.

If this happens DO NOT go to sleep again thinking you can remember this idea in the morning, no matter how convinced you are that you can. I’ve done that myself and was disappointed to find out next day that the idea escaped me, so write it down.

8^th and final step:
Of all the solutions you now have, decide on 1 or 2 and then take massive action on them. This final step is what most people are not willing to do. Most people are so afraid of using their energy on something that is not guaranteed to work. Or they don’t take action because whatever they need to do is uncomfortable. Remember to change your life you have to move outside of your comfort zone. You can’t find change inside your comfort zone.

This formula has never failed me so far and I bet I will work for you too. Good luck with it.

Patrick Powers

PS : If all else fails get my new book. In it I’m revealing more the strategies that has turned
my life around and made me one of Europes top network marketers

This guy is making more than 10 million us dollars a year and allegedly about the same amount on training material for his team.

Would you like to know what his secret is? Well I’m going to tell you in a few days, but I would love to hear what you think it is. Do you think it’s prospecting skills, leadership skills, a duplication system or something totally different?

I’ve created a poll and if you think it’s something different than is included in the poll leave your comment below.

Networking really is one of the most powerful ways to generate lots of hot leads, create
powerful connections that can open closed doors and simply get what you want in life,
and not just in business, but in any situation.

Why is networking so powerful? Well… basically we tend to buy from and recommend
people that we know like and trust. Trust has become a bigger and bigger factor because
people have experienced so many ads, marketing messages and salespeople that have
been overpromising and underdelivering. Our trust in traditional marketing methods have
eroded.

Tadaaa …Networking to the rescue.

Business networking succeeds where traditional selling and marketing fails. It’s the perfect
way to build trust and it’s my strong conviction that because of the reasons we just talked
about it will become a more and more effective way of generating leads and marketing for a
small to medium sized business.

A network can be like a sales force working for you, referring hot leads to you and talking
about how great you are and in most cases they will do it for free.

A network is almost like a website: The bigger and older it gets the better it becomes. If you
have a big network you will obviously become influential and then suddenly you will find
that people will come running after you to offer you profitable business deals.

But networking has a weakness and you have to know and understand this to have any
chance of succeeding at it. So here it is:

IT TAKES TIME. And In two different ways.

First of all it takes time because you can really only do it one by one.

Second: networking takes time because trust will not magically be created after a
couple of meetings and trust is what it’s all about.

Hopefully you will not be scared by that fact. You should be concerned about your
return on your effort, not about how much effort you put into it.

If someone goes to the gym 2-3 times and expect to suddenly have a body like an athlete
you would probably agree that they are delusional, right? Yet people go to networking events
a couple of times and expect to have the orders and referrals pouring in.

The return on you business networking efforts can be dramatic if you do it the right way
and you do it consistently. When you have created a strong connection and trust to
someone who open you up to their network of thousands, tens of thousands or more.

Or if they just introduce and recommend you to a few very influential and connected
people it will be worth the effort many times. You will get out of networking as much as
you put in IF and only IF you do it consistently, but If you expect results NOW you will
be disappointed.

One of the greatest things are that you don’t have to be a great sales person, you dont
have to do any hard closing, because it’s all about building trust and when people trust
you they don’t have to be “SOLD”.

So even if you think you are lousy at selling, networking can give you great results if you
are simply consistent and provide value for your connections. In time they will become
fans of you and refer tons of prospects and clients to you.

Happy networking.

Committed To Your Success – Patrick M. Powers

There are 5 things you must do to succeed in network marketing. You must do all of them and if you do all of them consistently you WILL succeed. Strangely enough there are very few people that are willing to do these and that’s why relatively few people succeed.

Again… do these five things consistently and that dream of financial freedom will be yours.

1: Use your products/ services everyday.

This should be unnecessary to say, but unfortunately lots of people think being an MLM distributor is just like being a shop keeper. In network marketing you have to have an emotional attachment to the products/ services. Your passion for your products or lack of it will show when you speak to prospects.

Use every opportunity to use your products and services in a way that prospects see it. Not only that, but every time you are with team members you should be using your products. The more of your company’s products you use the more products your team-members will use.

2: Talk to people… Lots of them.
You have to do this every single week and if you want to grow fast you have to do it almost every day. You will only become really good after talking to a hundreds of people.

Don’t make the mistake that most do of thinking it’s not working after getting 30-40 no’s in a row.
It is totally delusional to think you can master the selling process after talking to a few people. In a “normal” selling job you will have to have hours of practice and talk to tons of people before you become good.

So when people say no to you it’s most likely not because there is something wrong with your products or company. It’s because the words you use are not effective. Simply learn the right words and you will get the results you are looking for.

This takes time and practice to get to a level where you start to get a good closing rate.

Also realize that all businesses you have to talk to a lot of people to get a client. I was once working as a salesperson selling one of the leading brands of antivirus software. We probably had to talk to about 7-10 people before we got someone that was even interested and out of those we probably only closed about 1 in 3 or 4. And this was a brand that everyone knew and respected. It takes a lot of rejection to be in business. Accept it or get out.
Even if you generate your leads over the internet or run ads offline, people won’t magically sign up with you. Even if the ads work you still have to talk to people and learn to handle objections, answer questions professionally and close people. Unfortunately you can’t buy your way to success in network marketing.

But if you talk to enough and learn from the best you can get to a closing rate of about 1 in 3 and that can make you a millionaire.

3: Make presentations.

This is one of the things that people fear the most. They often try to avoid it and tell themselves they will wait till they are really good and know more about the company or the products. But how are you going to become good if you don’t get real practice in front of real live prospects? Well … you can’t.

You will have to invest many hours in front of a live audience to become convincing. Trying to push more knowledge in your head is not going to convince anyone. It’s your ability to CONNECT with your audience that will make them sign up with you.

However you should NEVER do the first few presentations yourself. Get an experienced upline to do them for you the first 3-5 times for YOUR prospects. They will be able to close a much higher percent of the audience and thereby getting your business growing faster than you could by yourself

Also watching an experienced and successful upline do the presentations will give you a chance to see how its done instead of trying to figure it out by yourself..

4. Attending, promoting and organizing events.

What I mean by events are all the biggers meetings training and presentations

It’s at the big events that people develop the deep belief that it takes to go out and go for when everybody say you are crazy. The transformation I’ve seen in people after being at a big event is absolutely amazing. It is such an important part of network marketing.

YOU have to be there every single time and its your responsibility as a leader to get your people there. As soon as possible start taking part in events organized by your uplines. Ask them what you can help out with, step up and take responsibility. This is absolutely necessary to succeed and I’m sure if you look at your top leaders in your company this is something they all do.

5: Duplicate and develop leaders.

Duplication and leadership development is the biggest Network Marketing success secret. Sponsoring tons of people and hoping they will go out and do the same is going to set you up for burnout and probably failure. You will be lucky to signup 1 in 100 that can go out and do it by themselves.

Hold them by the hand and work with them every step of the process. Don’t let your people work by themselves in the beginning. They have no idea what to do, so if they attempt they will not succeed. When they experience failure after failure they will soon give up.

These 5 activities are what I call “The 5 crucial Network Marketing activities”. I also call them our job description, because its what we all need to do consistently to get paid like a pro. If you leave any of them out you will not reach the top, but if you do them consistently you will succeed in the best business in the world; Network Marketing.

Attribution Statement: This article was first published On The MLM Tips, Secrets and Strategies Blog By www.VirtualUpline.com Disccover how you can finally succeed in MLM. Claim Your FREE MLM Training Now

If you look up duplication in Webster’s Dictionary, you’ll find that it means to make an exact copy of something. Let’s say you had a son or a daughter that needed critical surgery, and you met with the surgeon right before the operation. If the surgeon said, “I have something new and innovative I’m going to try on your child,” how would you feel?

You would not feel much trust or confidence. You would want a proven technique to save your child’s life – not a risky experiment.

That’s what happens so often with duplication in Network Marketing. People get a new idea and want to try it rather than stay committed to a system.

Mastery in the business comes from duplication – sticking with a system until you see the results you want. Through a great duplication system, people become leaders of leaders, and that’s the real purpose of duplication.

Great duplication will create the residual income and the time freedom that everybody wants from Network Marketing. The only way to get there is by remembering TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More – and applying the fundamentals of duplication to a system that works.

Don’t Rush The Process.

One thing I share with leaders is that going for fast cash often leads to a fast crash. It’s not how fast they come into the business, but how lasting they are going to be.

Forget the word fast and use the word lasting. It takes time to have a lasting leader. Just having a fast leader is not the answer to permanent duplication.

Pat Davis, of Millionaires in Motion, teaches a great prospecting seminar and talks about those who try to make a grandmother out of a bride. They want the finished product—commission-generating
grandchildren overnight. They forget to allow a bride to experience the joys of a new marriage, of growing and grooming for the role of parent first, then grandparent of duplication.
You cannot rush those vital steps, and duplication absolutely takes time. The length of time varies for each person.

That’s why, with integrity, it is absolutely critical and important that we let people know this is going to take three to five years to create residual income and time freedom.

Anne Landers wrote something I think is incredibly powerful—that people of integrity expect to be believed. They also know time will prove them right, and they are willing to wait. The waiting and the patience builds.

As long as someone is actively working their business, it will come to pass. What we reap is what we sow. That doesn’t say when the harvest is going to come through, and that’s one of the most
frustrating parts of this business for the majority of people.

I would rather have 15 steady plodders than one-heavy hitter. I find that so-called heavy hitters seldom last. They jump from company to company, trying to get in on a “ground floor.” I don’t look for them and I don’t want them. I want to take people who have commitment and willingness, and work with them on their belief, their integrity, and their leadership to create for them the lasting, not the crashing business.
Commitment

Commitment is crucial to the partnership of duplication. I agree to commit to certain responsibilities, and my team player agrees to commit to their own set of responsibilities.

Many people say, “I’m really interested, I want to, I hope, I want, I’m ready to be a master duplicator,” but there is a huge difference between interest and commitment.

When someone says that to me, I know they are not fully committed. When someone is just interested in doing something, they do it only when it’s convenient, easy, and fits into their schedule. But when someone is committed to doing something, they will accept no excuses, no alibis, no justification, and no rationalizations—only results.
When I’m duplicating someone, I work only with commitment. Hopes, wants, likes, and interest have no power behind them. If you are going to really work this business, you need to put
commitment into it—not a maybe, not a perhaps, not a someday, not I’d like, I want to, I hope it’ll work.

I’d really like to know: Does “someday” come right before Monday or after Saturday? I’ve never located “someday” on the calendar.

A committed leader needs to declare their commitment aloud to their sponsor and their team. It’s not enough to say: “I hope to be a diamond,” or “I’m planning to be a leader in my company.” They need to use the word “commitment” for it’s strength with the people they are coaching and duplicating down
the line.

I request and get an agreement that they are going to make declarations for other people to hear. A winner or a leader can always tell you where they are going. They say “I am committed to earning my car in the next year” or “I am committed to being up to $2,000 a month in the next six months.”
When you say you are committed, the results, in time, will follow.

Denis Waitley uses a quote that goes something like this: “Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.”
Creating Partnership.

Once someone makes a decision and is very clear that they have made that decision for themselves, without manipulation, then I do a clarity and commitment exercise with them. We sit down together
within 24 to 48 hours of that decision, and we start working with their foundation, their value, their “whys” to work their business.

At this point we are beginning to form a partnership, so I need to know how each person wants to work and what I need to do to support that. The most successful people in this industry have
tremendous partnerships with their people.

I do a clarity and commitment session with everyone I personally sponsor, and the team members do it with their personally sponsored people, also.

“What are you committed to achieving in this business?”

The purpose of this question is to get the person to dream about the tangible results of their work. The answers might be: I need a new car, I need to get my teeth done, I need money to put the kids
through college, my parents need special care now that they’re old, we need new furniture, give more to my church and charity. Whatever they say is okay.
This is all about dreaming of what’s possible for them through this business. Anything is fine. See it BIG with and for them!

“What income will you create in one year, in three years, in five years?”
Again, I need to see what they think is possible for them. I don’t offer them any ideas if they ask what the “normal” person can do. I’ll simply say, “Do you consider yourself normal?” I do not feed people answers.
Think of the proverb: Give a person a fish and you feed her for a day. Teach her to fish and you feed her for a lifetime. I coach people to find their answers on their own instead of relying on me.

“What will you do with your new wealth?”

This question starts to show their values. They think about what they would do with money after all their needs and basic desires are handled.
How do they value wealth? It might be that they have a special project or charity to fund. Like Mark Yarnell says, find a purpose bigger than you are. I agree with them one hundred percent.

“Are you coachable with a teachable spirit?”

Most people are going to say yes. Then I say, “Share with me what that means to you.” We’re going even deeper into how I can best coach them.

Sometimes people say, “I don’t know if I can do that.” I understand, but my question is: With coaching, are you willing to do that? Are you willing to have your closest friends, family members, and people that you meet along life’s way become business partners and team members?

If they do happen to say they are unwilling or they refuse to accept coaching, then I simply say, “At this time, you are uncoachable, and that’s okay.

That’s not bad. I can no longer be with you right now. I’m going to wrap up this conversation in just a moment. When you become willing to be coached—call me back. I’ll be eagerly waiting to
continue your coaching.”

I do not baby-sit or nurse maid. I do not solve people’s problems. Too many Networkers baby-sit their new representatives, which does not bring out their greatness and does not further their leadership.

Most of those who were unwilling or uncoachable call me back within the next 24 hours or less. They know that I am there to coach them, to support them, to empower them, to contribute to them, to acknowledge them, and to make a difference. They become willing to accept coaching by trusting my commitment to them.

“How much time a day, a week, and a month can you give to your new business?”

If it’s five hours a week, great. Then I know, and we’ll block out on their calendar exactly what those five hours a week is going to be.

If they are able to do two hours a day (ten hours a week), then that’s going to be a stronger time commitment on my side as their coach. However much they say, there’s a different impact on the
coaching.

It’s the same coaching, but of course, the more time they’re able and willing to put into the business, the faster and stronger it’s going to grow, and I’ll certainly communicate that to them.

“Are you 100 percent willing to give this business one to five years for success?”

This question is extremely important. They need to know that duplication is a process that is different for everyone—I never know how long it will be before someone is fully duplicated.

As their coach and partner, I need to know that they have the staying power for lasting results.
“Can you see, with my skills and coaching, that together we can build your business?”

Many people are going to cover their fear, because, unless they have Network Marketing background, most people don’t think that they can do it. This question eliminates the fear that they might
have by reminding them of the partnership and giving them a foundation for building their belief.

“Do you see anything that isn’t positive here, or win-win?”

I ask this directly, because if our partnership doesn’t feel entirely like a positive, win-win agreement for them, they’re going to come into the business without courage, clarity and conviction.

I don’t care if they have confidence yet, because that has to do with belief, and a coach is responsible for holding their belief level until they develop it for themselves, but they do need to be clear, courageous and have conviction.
By this point, 95-98 percent will say, “I see it as win-win.” Then we put the dates in their calendar. They’ll have a schedule of the weekly home or hotel presentations, 3 way calling, and trainings,
and based on how much time they are able to give each week, we figure out how many one-on-ones or two-on-ones we’re going to be able to do.

Then I give them the names and phone numbers of two or three upline people. The new representatives need to call the upline team and introduces themselves as new team players.

Why don’t I have the upline call the new representatives? Because the more responsibility and accountability the new people take, the more they will own their business. Each new
representative can become a leader immediately.

Throughout this process, I ask my new partners to choose what will work best for them, I know what kind of coaching I will give them depending on the time agreement and their accountability.

Accountability is very important to duplication, and it starts with understanding out agreements and commitments.
You Can Count On Me.

Finally, these are the most important words that can come out of a sponsor or coach’s mouth: You Can Count On Me. The new distributor needs to know fundamentally what’s in it for them
(WITHem) and that they can count on you (YCCOM—You Can Count On ME.)

It’s rare that someone hears that said so directly from anyone, but I let people know that when they are committed, they can count on me to stay with them and lend my skills, support, and coaching, so
that together we can build their business.

Integrity.

I have a big bolt with a nut on my desk that I see daily. It’s what I call a PTD—a Psychological Trigger Device.
A bolt has many threads on it, and in order for the nut to be screwed on the bolt; the threads of the nut and the threads of the bolt must be in alignment. They must perfectly match in order for the bolt and nut to have any strength to hold a table brace, a chair leg or a bumper on a car.

The threads in duplication come from four places: Leadership, belief, commitment and integrity.

If any one of those four threads is not aligned, the representative and the team will not have the strength of duplication. What if someone has tremendous belief in their industry, their company,
their sales compensation plan, and the product, they have commitment, they have leadership, but they lack integrity?

They don’t follow through with their word. They miss appointments. They break agreements. These actions say to the team they are coaching, “I don’t really care.” Too many people have no commitment to keeping their word or following through on what they say.

In duplication, that is one thing that I am absolutely inflexible about. When I say, “On This Rock I Stand and World You Will Adjust,” what that means to me is that my integrity is impeccable and people and teams that I’m duplicating know that.

So I always ask, “What does integrity mean to you? Are you a person of your word? How do you feel when agreements are broken?” This is a business that is built on integrity and agreement.I need to know that my partners understand and embrace that.

This does not mean that an agreement cannot be renegotiated, but for me there is no such thing as a partial commitment. There are several levels of commitment between “I won’t do it” and “I’ll do it.”
There is nothing wrong with any of those levels, but I put my effort into only one: I’ll do it.

If people break agreements with me, I don’t start duplicating with them again until they get back on track with their integrity. I stay in honest heart-to-heart communication about when something or someone is out of integrity or commitment.

If we stop the process of duplication, it is worth it to keep integrity intact. Recommitment is the way to keep integrity in a partnership, and this happens over and over in duplication until the trust isn’t broken anymore.

This can sometimes create a lot of friction, but the team coming up through the ranks knows without a shadow of a doubt that their leader truly possesses sincerity, commitment, courage and compassion. There is no need, ever, to compromise your integrity.
Passing the Baton.

I was in Atlanta around the time of the 1996 Summer Olympics where one of the women on my Networking team had chosen to assist and support the relay racers from all over the world.
She told me, “Peggy, you have no idea how much time and discipline is involved.

I’m not talking days, weeks, months—I’m talking years and years these relay runners practice passing the baton.”

That baton has to be passed so responsibly and so strongly that the next racer can take it and not lose a single running stride. First, the batons have to be absolutely clean. Then they have powder toweled on in a special process so the baton can be more easily grabbed without slipping. The baton has to feel the same each time the runner passes it off—not slippery, not sticky, just easy to grip and release.

Each runner has a responsibility to pass the baton without letting it drop to the ground or fumbling it and losing the Olympic medal.

The whole thing is duplication. We are passing the baton of leadership to the next person we have chosen to coach in partnership. If a baton of duplication is not passed on responsibly, then you are going to lose a step in your business building.

If you lose too many steps, you drop out of the race altogether. Don’t try to pass the baton to everyone who jogs by—save your effort for responsibly duplicating leaders to run the race to the finish.

So many network Marketers just keep saying yes, yes, yes to anyone near the starting line. They are ineffective in passing the baton of duplication, because their own attention is divided. They end up
duplicating their own indecision and lack of focus, and they seldom manage to stay in the race. Many, in fact, burn out and drop out.

To pass the baton effectively to your leaders, you have to recognize the limitations of effective coaching. People call me and say, “I want you as my coach, and I want you to duplicate me.”

I say, “I have my teams now. I have a commitment to them that might last six months to a year. I do not pick up any more in between.”
I have no trouble saying no. I let them know they’ll be on my waiting list, but there is no commitment from me until I finish one of the other teams. When I’m done duplicating a team, it has very successful income-earners and at least 10 to 20 strong, successful leaders.

Know When To Let Them Go.

Perhaps you’ve heard the story about how an eagle raises eaglets: The parents spend months building a very soft, protective nest with lots of down and soft leaves. Once the eggs are laid in the perfect,
cozy nest, both the male and female sit on the eggs until they hatch.
Then both parents take care of the new eaglets with careful protection and food until it’s time for the babies to fly. Then the parent eagles begin to take the soft down and the soft leaves out of the nest. They just peck them out and let them drift away on the wind.

The nest starts getting very uncomfortable for the eaglets. Sticks protrude, poking them, and the bottom becomes weak and drafty. The eaglets know it’s time for them to learn to fly. With the soft nesting gone, they have more room to flap their wings and get strong.

The adult eagles will not allow the babies fly until they know they are strong enough. Once a baby eagle flies and is strong enough, the parents never return to the nest again.
Why do I share that story with you?

In my experience, too many coaches or upline duplicators hold on to a team that they are duplicating for too long. They feel successful, acknowledged, recognized, and there is a lot of satisfaction there, but unless the eaglets of duplication fly, they will never be strong.

Once someone has the skills, the knowledge and the results, I totally let them go. They know they can always return with a question or if they want to hone a skill, but once my eaglets of duplication are gone, I don’t hear from them very much.

This frees me to duplicate others, but also frees them to become true leaders in their own right.

It’s important when people are fully duplicated to put them out there so that they can be recognized as the leader for their group. When I was doing a duplication tour, a nice man in Sydney,Australia, gave me a button to wear, saying that I “truly exemplified” what it meant to him.

The only thing on the button was a big “#2.” It means put others first and yourself second, and I wear it often.

Once representatives are fully duplicated, they no longer need me. They are now leaders of the leaders that they are duplicating on their team. The key leaders always use the phrase that captures it perfectly: “Let them go and they will grow.”

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Peggy Long has been involved in Network Marketing for over 22 years. This article has been adapted from her first book “Like A Rock”. She lives in Peoria, Arizona and spends five months each year on a Canadian island. Feel free to go to her site www.peggylikearock.com and explore her coaching, trainings, books and tapes.

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Top MLM Secret # 10: Absolute commitment to success from day 1.
If you have followed my work you probably already know that this is one of my biggest secrets.

The moment I became committed everything changed immediately. The right kind of people seemed to appear out of nowhere and they wanted to follow me. They took me lead and followed my suggestions.
It was like night and day. After 13 years of struggle in MLM, within the same week of making a commitment to success almost everything went really well. I just a year I built a team of 4,500 people.

Almost everyone that join a network marketing company say they are committed to achieve their goals and dreams. Unfortunately almost none of them are.
I don’t think it’s because they don’t know what a commitment is. I think they are simply lying to themselves. To be absolutely sure that there are no misunderstandings this is my definition of what commitment means:

To do whatever it takes, until…..

From studying MLM leaders now for over 21 years I’ve observed that they all do the following 5 things. I call them:

The 5 Crucial MLM Activities.

1) Use your products/services every day
2) Talk to people. Several times a week if not every day
3) Make presentations. At least once a week.
4) Attend promote, organize and conduct trainings and events. (At least once a month.
5) Lead other people to do these 5 actions.

These are the things all MLM leaders must be committed to do to succeed. I’m positive that if you think about the really successful people in your MLM company you will agree that they are doing these things on a regular basis. All 5 activities are necessary including ALWAYS being at the big events.

Keeping this in mind the following are actual excuses I’ve had from people that claimed
they were committed.

I couldn’t come to the big regional event because:

- Something came up.
-There was a premier on my favourite movie.
- We needed to paint the kids room.
- I was really tired.

- I forgot it.
- I didn’t feel like it
- My partner wanted me to stay home.
- I Couldn’t afford it.
- We were going to a family party.
- My car needed to be repaired.
- I had a fight with my girlfriend and I didn’t feel like going.
- I go in my own speed.
- It was too far.
- I don’t really like people.
- The weather was too good.
- The weather was too bad.
- I fell off a train. (Honestly this is true)
- Some friends came by.

Image what would happen if you came up with any of these excuses for not going to work?? You would probably get fired. But I hear these excuses all the time from people claiming they are committed to succeed in MLM.

The truth is they are not even half as committed to their network marketing business as they are to their job, and at the same time they expect to make 3 times or more what they make in their current career.

85 % of network marketers have never even done all The 5 Crucial MLM Activities. Of the remaining 15% most of them don’t do them on a regular basis.
The majority in MLM don’t practice prospecting scripts, they are not willing to buy training material or go to a seminar or hire a coach to improve themselves.

Their actions show exactly what they are committed to: STAYING THE SAME.

Without a commitment to do the The 5 Crucial MLM Activities and to invest In self improvement it’s delusional to think you are ever going to make a decent income let alone a 6 or 7 figure income.

I invite you to take a serious look at your own behaviours and spot the ones that reflect a lack of commitment. And be honest. Don’t try to fool yourself. You are the only one that looses if you are not completely honest. The first step to self improvement is recognizing and acknowledging what needs to be improved.

The moment you become truly committed you will INSTANTLY see a massive increase in your business. I could talk about commitment forever, because it it such a powerful force. But I would probably bore you so instead we will continue the countdown of the Top 10 MLM Secrets of all times in part 2 soon.

Happy sponsoring and duplication.

Patrick M. Powers
Attribution Statement: This article was first published On The MLM Tips, Secrets and Strategies Blog By VirtualUpline.com. Disccover how you can finally succeed in MLM. Claim Your FREE MLM Training Now

1. MLM Pitfalls Your Upline Never Told You About. By Patrick Powers

YES YES I know …It’s my own book. :0)  But I wouldnt have written it if I didn’t think it would be the best. It’s very practical, to the point and full of tips and insights you can take to the bank.

2. On this rock I stand (and world YOU will adjust) By Peggy Long
I can without a doubt say that this is one of the MLM books that had the biggest impact on my life. Not just because of the content in the book but because it lead me to coach with the author and that transformed my life.

The book is not going to win any prizes for writing style. To be honest its a bit “messy” BUT it has some of the most orignial and not-published-anywhere-else secrets to leadership and duplication.

3. The greatest networker in the world. By John Milton Fogg
This is both entertaining and inspiring. This is the (fictional)  story of a network marketer who decided to quit, but go to just one more meeting where he meets a mentor that turns around everything for him.

4. Your first year in network marketing. By Mark Yarnell
This classic is very indepth and thorough.

Brilliantly simple. Apart from my own book this is probably the best one to give to new team-members to give them the foundation for success.

6. Secrets of Building a Million-Dollar Network Marketing Organization from a Guy Who’s Been There, Done That, and Shows You How You Can Do It Too. By Joe Rubino

This guy obviously really has been there and done that. Easy to read and full of practical tips.

7: The Truth: What it Really Takes To Make it in Network Marketing.
By Kim Klaver.

This is by far the most original book on network marketing because  ITS A CARTOON…. HUH! Yes it is a cartoon book, but you would be making a mistake to not take it seriously.
It’s actually really good and has a step by step system about what you need to do from day one in your MLM career. It has the added benefit of being in a format that is digestible and you can get your people that hates reading to read it.

8. 103 Ways & Places To Sponsor New Distributors. by Tom “Big Al” Schreiter.

If you ever have thought to yourself  “where do I find people to talk to?“  this is the book you need. It’s VERY comprehensive.

Very inspring and full of practical tips.

10. 17 Secrets of the Master Prospectors. by John Kalench.
This was one of the first books I read on network marketing and it created a foundation for my success. If you want to learn prospecting you need this book.

Remember:  Leaders are Readers. All these ten books need to be in your library.

This list is purely based on my opinion and even though i have read a LOT of book on mlm I havent read them all.

Let me know if you know any books you think should be on this list or maybe for a top 20 list in the future.

Pitfall # 1. Saying “Let’s try this and see if it works”.

If you were getting married would you say “let’s try it and see if it works”? No – you would do your homework on the person ( really get to know them ) and then you make a commitment. For better and for worse.

The “lets try this and see if it works” attitude does simply not work. If you have that attitude, then it will almost definitely not work, because it takes a true commitment to make it to the top in anything. Were you really that naïve to think that success came that easily? And, if you haven’t been successful in the past, did you think that just the concept or system of network marketing would by magic make you successful? If that was true, then everybody would be in network marketing today.

It takes a special person to create special results, so if you are not special, are you committed to becoming a special person? If not, it will never work.

The “lets try this and see if it works” attitude comes from not doing your homework. You have to know your company, the products and the industry, before you can make a true commitment. Too many times people will just sign up based on the excitement of the meeting and forget to do their homework.

But remember this: People will respond to who you are more than what you do. So if you are a person that has not totally committed yourself, then people are going to sense that.

People want to know that they can rely on you to be there for them 3 years from now. If you are not committed in your heart to this company, how can you expect people to follow you. They simply won’t – people follow leaders that are committed and know where they are going.

Even if you attract a few people or even a handful or two, then they will be like you – UNCOMMITTED, and they will drop out when it get’s tough or when they find out that it takes work to make it in Network Marketing.

The moment, and I really mean the moment that I became committed to reach the top, everything changed for me – people started to show up at the meeting and they signed up. Not only that, but they were the right kind of people who were committed to do the work and make a difference.

Solution: Get to know the industry read books like “The Greatest Opportunity in the History of the World” by John Calench. Interview leaders and customers in your company.

Then make a firm commitment to stay in this company for better and for worse and make it work for you.

Tip: If you are searching for information on the internet, be skeptical about what you read. Most bigger/older companies will have negative information about them on the internet. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad Company.

Remember that other people will have a vested interest in publishing bad news about your company so don’t believe everything you read. Also remember that many big non-MLM companies also have bad press.

A good place to find unbiased facts about MLM companies or to find out if a company you are researching is a scam is www.MLMWatchdog.com

Yes, because they didn’t do anything about it. They were just like most MLM’ers that decide they are going to be rich, but they never do anything about it. It’s simply THE reason why people fail in our industry (or in any other for that matter)

Let’s do another riddle. 4 MLM frogs were sitting on a log, but 2 of them were leaders. The leaders decided to jump in the water. How many were left on the log?

This time the correct answer is: NONE! Why? Because the 2 MLM frog leaders didn’t just jump in. They also inspired the
remaining 2 frogs to jump in too.

True Leadership is THE most powerful skill in networking marketing AND it’s THE most overlooked area of our business. If you can lead you can have real duplication. With real leadership and coaching skills you don’t need to sign up a thousand people and hope some of them are going to stick and duplicate.

So ….do you lead, inspire and commit your team members? Do you hold them accountable to their word. Do you have that ability? And do you use it?

You may say that you could never be a great leader, but If you think that leaders are born you are wrong - they are self-made. You don’t have to win in the gene lottery and be born with special ability to acquire the skills either.

I used to be hopeless as an M.LM leader. Like most other Network marketers I simply signed people up and hoped they would do something about it. When that didn’t happen, I started to do some good trainings, but still nothing happened.

This was a puzzle to me. Why wasn’t anybody duplicating me? I was doing what I was supposed to do – wasn’t I? I was prospecting, signing people up and training them to do the same. Isn’t that it?

NO – unfortunately this is what almost everybody believe, they are supposed to do and that’s why they don’t succeed or only succeed to a certain point and then plateau.

So how do you become a real leader? I was lucky enough to bump into one of the best coaches in our industry that taught me a system that I used to go from 1000 people – 4500 people in my team in less than 5 months. She herself signed up only 58 people over 4 years but built it to 125,000 people in that same period, and this is the essence of what I learned from her:

Don’t JUST train – LEAD.

And you might have heard that you lead by example, but what example do you need to set? Leading is not JUST going forward and showing people what to do. It’s crucial to understand the difference between training and leading if you want to go to the top and retire rich in network marketing.

Training is showing or teaching people what to do – Leading is getting people to do it. (whatever it is they need to do)

You can judge whether you are leading or not, based on whether your people are duplicating and following you. If you in your own mind is leading, but nobody is duplicating you, you are in fact not leading at all – you are only showing.

When I started to get my people to actually do it, my business and my life changed. With the techniques I learned from my coach I was suddenly able to get people to follow through on their words and their action plans.

Needless to say that I can’t put the knowledge, techniques and strategies of a 3 months coaching program into one article, but if I can just share one thing that would make a huge difference for you, here it is:

Instead of telling your people what to do or telling them about what they should do, start making agreements with your team-members about what they are willing to do. Then help keeping them accountable and you will start to see much stronger duplication in your team.

If you are impatient and want to go to the top now, if you are tired of not living your dreams then maybe it’s time for you to get a coach.

Right now I have 3 spots open and I’m offering a huge discount, because I live really cheap in the Dominican Republic. My normal price is $1000/month or $2600 for 3 months.

But why is it such a powerful business model? Let’s examine some of the reasons and why I think it’s the perfect business model for anybody wishing to create financial security and freedom.

1) No Risk: The risk of starting a new business today is huge - approx 80% of all businesses starting today is out of business in 5 years. The risk of starting in network marketing is a small startup fee and a very small monthly maintenance. The startup fee is usually less than £750 and the monthly maintenance is usually less than £100.

2) Positive Cash-flow fast: Normally when you start a business it would take 1-3 years for the business to show profit. Because of the low investment in Network marketing you could have positive cash-flow in months, weeks or sometimes even within days.

3) Free training and coaching. In any business there is a lot to learn and you can speed up the learning curve with the right coaches and training. In network markeitng you get free coaching and training from people that has already succeeded. You don’t need to pay high coaching/consulting fees or go to expensive trainings to keep up with the competition.

4) It’s systematized: Like with the franchising model ( Mcdonals, subways etc ) there is a tested and proven business system. You don’t have to figure out everything by yourself making it far easier for you to succeed. You simply follow the system that others have used to succeed and you will succeed too. This way you can focus almost solely on activities that bring in money.

5) Low overhead: You don’t have to rent any fancy offices, don’t have huge marketing costs, you don’t pay any wages, insurance cost etc.

6) Big tax deductions: When you have an in-home business, you can easily put another 2-3000 pounds a year in your pocket from the deductions.

7) No time in traffic: Since YOU are the business and can conduct it from anywhere you are you don’t have to sit in traffic every day. On the other hand that also means that you could travel to exotic places in the world and conduct your business from there of you wanted to.

Unlimited income potential. In a normal business there is a limit to how many customers you can have in any one business location. To expand you would have to hire more people open up new locations etc. Not with network marketing. It’s only limited to your own mindset and the number of people in the countries your company operates.

Also consider this: The only two ways of becoming financially free is either:
1) To get money to work for you or
2) To get people to work for you.

To get money to work for you is when you invest in something and you get a return.
The problem with leveraging money is that it takes a lot of money to make serious money this way. So that that option is not possible for most people.

The only option left is becoming financially free through the efforts of other people.

This is how most fortunes are created in the world. But a traditional business is
involved with huge risk, stress, managing people, long hours etc etc

Through networking marketing you don’t have the negative downside, but all of the upside.

The power of exponential mulitiplication.

Let’s assume you get started today and you find one person the first month. That person does the same and you continue to find 1 person a month. In other words you and everybody else finds one person a month. That would be doable wouldn’t it? How many people would that be in a Year?

The answer is: 4095 people. I know you probably don’t believe me, but do the math yourself.

Now imagine you would get compensated with a percentage of the turnover created by these people.

To make it easy let’s say you have 4000 people averaging £50 a month
£50 X 4000 = £200,000/month.

Let’s for arguments sake say that you get 5% of this. That’s £10,000 per month. That is in essence how you can leverage yourself in network marketing and make money through the efforts of other people without the problems associated with the traditional business model.

This looks a bit easier on paper than it is in the real world. But then again everything is harder in the real world.

The question is not whether it’s easy – its weather your dreams are important enough for you to put some effort into creating them. If you are committed to create financial security for you and your family in my opinion there is no better way than through network marketing.

Huge fortunes are being made in this business, it’s growing faster than any other business model right now. Someone is going to take advantage of that growing market. Is it going to be you or someone else?

Go for it and make it happen – Patrick M. Powers