1. How is Network Marketing different today than when you first started back in 1988.
Sue: It is different yet similar in that we are still networking and building relationships with people and working towards the American dream. Today however we have more tools to work with especially with the Internet.
When I started in 1996 all we had back then was our internet connections which was mainly dial up and we had email for online communication. Today we have….landing pages, team pages, websites, auto responders for drip campaigns, online message forums, online communities for networking and the list goes on for making huge connections and turning those connections into relationships and into partnerships and friendships that can lead to partnerships.
2. What attracted you to Network Marketing back then?
Sue: I never wanted anyone to tell me what to do. The same why Robert and Kim Kiyosaki had for starting their own business. The freedom to live the way I want and how I want.
3. Are there any general characteristics - personality traits - of a successful distributor?
Sue: Yes I think there is. The person who understands the fact that the more you develop yourself to become the best you can be the more income you will earn in the long run. Network Marketing is so much more than just about making money, it’s about the self-development. If you do not believe me pick up Robert Kiyosaki & Donald Trumps book ‘Why We Want You to Be Rich’ or any of Kiyosaki’s books because he strongly suggests this for becoming very successful in ANY business. The more you grow yourself the more your business will grow. It’s really that simple!
4. For someone looking at direct sale/mlm companies today, what questions should they be asking as they research different companies?
Sue: One of my long time mentors of over ten years, Rod Nichols, just wrote a book called ‘The Twelve Power Secrets For Network Marketing Success’ and list these criteria for selecting a company:
At minimum you want to find a company that displays the following characteristics:
• Has been in network marketing for at least two years, preferably 5 years or more
• Has a management team that is experienced in network marketing, is assertive, and yet fiscally conservative
• Markets a product or service that is in high demand and is either unique or priced lower than equivalent products in the market
• Has no long-term debt and is financially strong
• Offers excellent training and marketing materials
• Supplies network communication systems such as voice mail, e-mail, web pages, conference calls, etc.
• Offers a program where both distributors and customers buy directly from the company
• Has a compensation plan that is both fair for the average part-time distributor and lucrative enough for the full-time heavy hitter
• Is involved in or has plans for international growth
• Has a company web page and offers e-commerce associate pages either free or at a reasonable price compared to the market
• Operates at a high level of integrity in all areas
If your company or the company you are considering has all of these characteristics, you have probably joined or found a reputable organization that will be around for many years and contribute to your success as a network marketer.
A couple of other things to consider if you’re looking at a company you’ve found online:
Check to make sure there’s a real physical address for the company and call the company phone number to see who answers and ask questions, check out their customer service, etc.
Order some products first to see if you like and would use and recommend them to others.
Find out what sort of marketing tools they have such as conference calls, training, brochures, catalogs, websites, etc.
If you are speaking with someone who is not very experienced request a 3/way with their upline to check out their team and who you would be partnered with. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had people email me and say I signed up with someone who has no clue what to do, can you help me!!
5. Who have been your mentors over the years and why?
Sue: There are so many of them. In Network Marketing - Rod Nichols has been a mentor for over 10 years, he’s not only been a business partner he’s also a good friend, Jim Rohn, Mark Gorman, Mark Yarnell, Dani Johnson, Brian Tracy, T.Harv Eker, Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump for business.
I’m now studying about real estate investment from Robert and Kim Kiyosaki because this is where I’m at in my educational process of learning and growing. I want to make sure that I invest my Network Marketing income wisely and learn how to improve my financial IQ. I just attended a seminar up in Dallas a few weekends ago for the launch of the Success Magazine. What I’m learning is absolutely fascinating. I’m particular interested in what Kim Kiyosaki is teaching women about financial independence which started with her book ‘Rich Woman’.
Because she had the same why I had for starting my own business. I did not want anyone telling me what to do.
6. Was there one defining moment for you in your Network Marketing career?
Sue: Yes when I finally realized that I had done it! I also depended totally on my husband back then in 1996 for everything. I had no income of my own, was totally dependent on him for everything. I had no degrees, no corporate back ground, no credibility or contacts, not much experience and no confidence. I’ve built a credible career in Network Marketing in the last eleven years and an income that will sustain me now if God forbid something were to happen to him. He’s very proud of me. I would like to see all women achieve this financial independence and I’m on a mission to help Kim spread the word.
7. What about the phrases: "This is not a get rich quick scheme." and “Is this a pyramid scheme?" Can you talk about why these phrases have been closely associated with Network Marketing and how you address them when you are speaking with a prospect looking at partnering with you?
Sue: Well to tell you the truth I do not hear these phrases very much any more and it’s probably because I just do not think anything about it anymore. I have total belief in this industry and in myself and I believe that comes across to people who I’m speaking with. It just doesn’t come up. If it does I would say this:
Do you work? And they say yes….Do you have a boss? And they say yeah…. does your boss make more than YOU do…usually the answer is YES…..do they have a boss? And they say yeah….do you think their boss makes more then them? Well of course….do they have a boss? Yeah I bet that boss makes even more huh?….that’s a PYRAMID…. in fact, our entire government system is a pyramid and that pretty much covers it. People who use this word are usually saying it because it’s sort of a knee jerk reaction. They just are not educated on our industry.
Now days though many more people are looking at this industry so they are either going to join you in your company or they are going to join someone else in their company! So it’s always important to note to let your friends and family at least now what you are doing and that you support Network Marketing 100%!
-Network Marketing is well over 50 years old and is legal in all 50 states and 125 countries…
-The Network Marketing industry does about $100 billion in retail sales annually
-There are approximately 50 million distributors worldwide (14 million in the US)
-An estimated 50,000 people join Network Marketing companies weekly
-Business Start –Ups Magazine (a division of Entrepreneur Magazine) rated Network Marketing as one of its 100 Best Businesses to start.
-In a recent comparison publicly traded network marketing companies outperformed both the Dow and S&P 500 by nearly 80%!
-In an issue of Entrepreneur Magazine they wrote ‘Literally thousands of people are realizing annual incomes in excel of $100,000.”
I happen to be one of those people!
As far as the get rich quick scheme goes….there’s a lot of those out there and the reason people fall for them is because they are DESPERATE, period. Everyone wants to make a million dollars; they just don’t want to do a million dollars worth of work.
This business takes work. In fact, being in business for yourself is actually more work and harder than anything you will ever do. It’s also worth it because within 5 years you can have the freedom to live where you want, how you want and work with whom ever you want.
Keep on working for someone else and in five years you are still working for someone else! In fact, most people work for someone else for 25, 30 years or longer and then end up broke and broken down! Beaten to the ground and never saw their kids growing up! How sad is that? Parents are working longer hours and spending less time together with their children, husbands and wives spending less time together and is likely a huge factor in the high increase in divorces, teen pregnancies, teen alcoholism/drug usage and runaways.
Jim Rohn always says “I’m working full-time on my JOB while working part-time on my fortune!”
8. What professional rewards have you achieved in your Network Marketing career?
Sue: The biggest reward that I’ve achieved is the fact that I’ve built a credible career and one that my family and I are very proud of. Throughout the years I’ve made connections with people in all walks of life, ceo’s, business owners, corporate professionals, network marketers, moms, dads, truck drivers, school teachers, doctors, attorneys, cpas, and I’ve partnered with many of them.
I’ve also had the pleasure of helping a lot of people to grow in this industry and that’s really rewarding to give back and see people becoming they best they can be.
That’s not really called work to me! It’s something I’ve always loved! Helping people!
9. What about this idea of "leadership" and "the law of attraction”? Can you tell us in your own words how these two concepts are applicable to direct sale/Network Marketing?
Sue: It’s really important and actually crucial for people to understand the importance of becoming a leader. When you grow yourself and become a leader you will get paid as a leader. It’s really that simple. Doing it is the tough part and doing it long enough to see the fruits of your labor is what takes courage and patience!
Most people get into Network Marketing and just want money now. They don’t understand why do I have to read all this stuff and listen to these cd’s go to seminars? Where’s the money? They have a really tough time with delayed gratification.
Becoming a leader is all about getting through the rejection and that’s the part that’s the toughest I think. A lot of people will quit with the first no they hear. They tuck their tail and run back to their same ole life and just settle.
I was never going to do that. The alternative for me was either working for someone else or not working and making any income of my own and having to depend on my husband for the rest of my life and there was no way I was gonna do that. So I got through the rejection! And it got easier and easier and easier!
Mainly because I was a student of this industry and stuck to my mentors like glue and listened to every conference call, went to company conventions, read every book I could get my hands on and every CD and some of them over and over again.
I remember one time after listening to a team call for about two years every Thursday night at the same time and heard the same stories and info over and over about a million times the leader did not show up for the call.
Everyone said Sue why don’t you do the call? I remember this like it was yesterday! I was petrified! Guess what?
I stepped up the plate and did that call and it poured out of me like a funnel! Because I had heard it so many times before! I’ve been doing them since. My next step was going on stage in the year 2000 in front of over 4000 people.
Again I was terrified! Once I conquered that fear though I thought wow another milestone met! Now I speak all the time in front of groups of people. Do I still get nervous? Yes of course I still do and I absolutely love it! Because every time is a growing experience.
Does this mean every Network Marketer has to speak in public? Absolutely not! It was a way for me though to get out of my comfort zone and conquer my fears and grow into a better person! It's the person you become that counts.
When you really do start to understand this and DO IT you will be amazed at how your income will start to climb. When you help others that you bring into your business understand this your income will continue to grow. People will automatically start to become attracted to you because they want to be mentored by you! It all takes TIME! Any business does.
The beauty of our industry is that we have the opportunity to really develop into a better person. Even if we didn't get paid a dime the self-development educational process alone will lead a person to a better income any where they go and that's the real truth.
This is what Kiyosaki says. He says in the traditional business world if you don’t cut it in 6 months you are FIRED!
In network – marketing you can take years to develop and in 3 to 5 years you can obtain total freedom to have the choices to live your own life. 3 to 5 years is nothing compared to working for 40 years for someone else! That goes by with the blink of an eye when you are working ON yourself and ON developing your business consistently!
When you are working on the self-development and listening to all the cd’s and going to the seminars you are getting POSITIVE reinforcement to GET YOU GOING and KEEP you going!
The more you improve yourself the more you want to continue to improve and as you do your income continues to increase! It’s also not about just having more money because having more money doesn’t always solve our problems does it? It’s about how to keep your money and know how to invest it and make it work for you. This is also what I’m learning from the Kiyosaki’s.
There are people who win the lottery only to end up broke again within a few years because they had no clue how to manage their money and went out and splurged it all on junk.
A lot of Network Marketers do the same thing. They never really learned how to invest it so this is another key area to understand and one that I’m on a mission to learn and teach more on.
When you really do GET THIS and you decide never to give up, you will eventually achieve total FREEDOM.
10.What is this concept of leverage we all keep hearing about in building a network-marketing business?
Sue: Well to tell you the truth this is really the most valuable asset to building a business like network-marketing. Leveraging other people's time and money is where you begin to leverage yourself in any business. Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump both speak about this in their books.
In a network-marketing business we have the perfect way to do this by building teams where our long term focus is passive residual income. This is income you earn for doing some one time and it continues to grow even when you are not working.
For instance this past year, I was in a transition moving my son up to Austin to play level 1 tennis up at a well known tennis academy and then became seriously ill for about five months.
For about half of 2007 I was really not able to work much yet my income continued to increase as my organization grew without me doing a lot of personal sponsoring.
If I had been in a traditional job or corporate position I would have been FIRED as the Donald would say!
If I was a self-employed person such as a CPA, doctor, lawyer, personal coach, small business owner that depends on seeing clients to get paid, I would have most likely lost all my clients and my business and thus my income would have dried up. This is why I always recommend a person in this case start a part-time 'B' Network Marketing business on the side for leveraged passive income (call it for a rainey day ).
If I was only retailing products I would have been broke.
Because I had built a 'B' business as Kiyosaki calls the right side of the quadrant, my income kept growing from what I had done previously. That's called leveraged passive residual income and that's what Network Marketing offers and it's why Robert Kiyosaki recommends Network Marketing as a perfect 'B' business.
11. Sue, you have been a part of direct sale/Network Marketing industry for over 15 years.) In hindsight, if there was one thing you could go back and do all over again - based on your years of experience - what would you do differently?
Sue: Actually, I would listen to my husband more! He has said more than once, I told you so! I'm pretty stubborn. He is my advisor and my friend and my partner in life (for 32 years) and one day soon he will be my partner in this business full time helping me make the right business decisions! This is a huge why and has been for quite some time.
I’ve done really well in developing myself and making connections and in developing a full time income and along the way have made some business mistakes and that’s what I’m focusing on now by studying with the Kiyosaki’s.
12. For the listeners out there, what would you encourage them to do if they are interested in getting more information about Network Marketing?
Sue: I would encourage them to visit my website if they are new to looking at this industry and I’d be happy to consult with them about it and find out more about them and what they are interested in and consult with them on what direction to go in and if I feel they would be right for this business.
It’s really not for everyone. Anyone can do this -
However, not everyone will do what it takes to become an entrepreneur. They may be coming from an employee background and that’s all they know how to do. They have had someone telling them what to do, when to do it and how high to jump for all their life.
If they decide not to continue living that life and are willing to step out of their comfort zone and become someone better and stronger and want a better life it all starts with DESIRE, knowing what you want and WHY you want it and then learning while taking ACTION to get it done.
If they are this sort of person get in touch with me right away because with the downturn in our economy this is the perfect timing to start on their path to freedom with a 'B' business in Network Marketing.
Sooner or later someone is going to approach them about Network Marketing. Why not start now rather than later?
Sue is an entrepreneur, Online Marketing Coach and a 6 figure income earner in the Network Marketing industry who has been creating an income from home online since 1996. She encourages self-growth and shows people how to develop valuable connections online and turn them into lasting relationships for long term business profits. She is also a public speaker and published author of numerous print and electronic articles as well as coauthor of the book 'Build It Big: 101 Insider Secrets From Top Direct Selling Experts' and is a rich woman coach. To find out more visit: http://www.eCommerceHomeBiz.com
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