I was recently in Venice Beach on a SendOutCards trip, to visit Jordan Adler. I wrote about Jordan and his book, Beach Money in the blog before, and mentioned them in Podcast 11. Jordan is in my “upline” in SendOutCards. What this means is I was sponsored by a gal named Dawn, who was sponsored by Judi, who was sponsored by Jordan. How multi-level marketing works is that you receive some $ for introducing someone to the business opportunity provided by that product or service, and then you also make “residual” (or “cashflow”) income on the people that person brings in, and also on the products/services that person sells. This is not a “pyramid” scheme, where folks are brought in and the top folks are really being paid by the new folks coming in. No. If no one entered into an MLM “downline” from now through eternity, the whole procedure wouldn’t “crumble,” you don’t need “new blood” to make the $ “go” to the top dogs.
Podcast 11 had a bit about MLM, and I think I will probably speak more on wealth, economics, network marketing, and such in the next one, because of the way the world seems to be turning. But a lot of folks seem to believe that MLM or network marketing or “online” businesses are some sort of “get rich quick” scheme. If they are, then they’re probably some sort of illegal pyramid scheme, NOT a real MLM program.
Jordan Adler recently gave a “Fireside Chat” – he does a conference call every Monday night for anyone in his “downline” (which is in the 1,000s!), which is incredibly informative. I wanted to give you a taste of it here – because what he has to say is so important to anyone who is starting a business – and in particular, a MLM business.
Now, I happen to be partial to SendOutCards. You don’t have to do “parties,” you don’t have to “stock product,” and everyone – EVERYONE (especially businesses) can use a way to keep in touch, appreciate, and follow up with clients, customers, friends, and leads. This system makes it easy. I have been in 3 other network marketing companies, and it just didn’t work out. One of the reasons is that they all had very low upfront costs to ‘become a distributor,” but then the product was usually more expensive than you could get the same thing at the mall. In SendOutCards, though you have a higher fee to enter and become a business, the product is 300% less (or more) than cards/gifts at the mall and they have a system where you can do everything from your computer. If you want to know more specifics about the “why” you can check out Podcast 11 – or email, and I’ll cover it more in depth with you!
I have included some of Jordan’s “chat” here, and edited it so it’s not so “SendOutCards”-specific. But I really believe it’s worth the read, for anyone entering into a business. Enjoy!
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FIRESIDE CHAT:
Tonight, I’m going to tell it to you like it is. No sugar coating. No babying. I’m going to give you everything you need to build a successful business. Sit back with a fire in the fireplace and let’s have a talk.
1. Reading your e-mails does not constitute working your business. If you have to read e-mails or talk in chat-rooms, do it at 11pm at night and not during the day or in the evening. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but imagine having 100 people spending 1 hour a day on the internet. That’s about 500 hours per week that could have been used [more productively].
2. Turn off or unplug your TV for 2 reasons. It wastes your time and it gets you down whether you know it or not. Everything there is focused on negative. Your business will sky-rocket if your focus on 15 minutes per day of reading.
3. People making money [in their businesses] are not watching TV or spending time talking with other distributors in chat rooms. They are doing walk-throughs and sending positive cards. E-mails should never be done first thing in the morning. It’s too easy to get sucked in. the next thing you know, you’ve spent 2 hours of the most productive time of the day answering questions that have nothing to do with building a successful business. [NOTE: I highlighted this – I think it’s critical!]
4. It’s the little things that will make the big difference. Read ‘The Slight Edge’ by Jeff Olsen.
5. You may be a genius and may be able to come up with a really cool elaborate system for signing up people. There are many ways to build the business. If it’s not duplicatable, you’ll never make a lot of money. If you are a great marketer, you may make good money, but the really big checks are reserved for those that duplicate. You can be really good OR you can be really duplicatable.
I’m not a great marketer, but I am very duplicatable and my message is simple. Don’t get mad at me when I tell you what I think you should be doing. I’m not one to brag or talk about my success unless I feel like it serves a purpose. People are baffled as to how our team has 32,000 people in 40 months. Most people are trying to figure out what to DO to make this happen for them! It’s not so much what you do as much as it is what you shouldn’t do.
I always hear people tell me that I must not be telling them something. I must be hiding something. There must be some deep dark family secret. First of all, I could never have this many people on my own. I have only signed up 160 people. If I didn’t share all I’ve got, there would be less duplication. I speak simplicity into my group every day. I do the same thing over and over again. [NOTE: This was my problem, as I talked about in Podcast 11, with my previous MLM experiences. I knew so much about the product, that people that signed up didn’t believe that htey could “duplicate” what I did. So I sold a lot of product, but no one signed up to do the business – because they figured they “couldn’t be as good as me”! This means I was basically just self-employed, not building a business. If you want to know more about that, re-listen to Podcast 11.]
I don’t try and control everything. I let things go and let them happen the way they are supposed to happen. Too many ‘systems’ keep people from being able to really express themselves in a personal way that will allow them to grow.
[In another MLM company, we] had a guy making $1 million dollars per month after quite a few years. Every time he spoke he had the same message. Keep it simple. No fancy gimmicks or programs. I was always looking for a secret and what I heard were the same stories over and over again for years!
Most people don’t like cold calling, sales or telemarketing. If you bring people in any way other than something the average person feels like they can do, you won’t get duplication over time. People need to:
a. Believe they can do it
b. Be able to do it.
If you are really good at signing people up, but someone else doesn’t feel like they can do the same thing, you won’t get much duplication.
There are many ways to build a business. If you find yourself trying different things, and changing your plan every few weeks, don’t expect to ever have a huge business. Your message needs to be clear, simple and repeatable by others on your team.
MASTER 3 THINGS:
1. Meeting new people each day
2. Setting an appointment [with them to show you how your business will benefit THEM]
3. The gift account walk-through [This is SOC specific – but it means “show them the product/service, how to use it “on you/money back guarantee” – and then see what they think]
PEOPLE WILL JOIN YOU IF THEY LIKE YOU AND IF THEY TRUST YOU:
a. How candidates get picked for President
b. What I learned speaking to a group of young entrepreneurs
Edify your upline and downline. Build in relate-ability!
THEY MUST LIKE YOU AND TRUST YOU BEFORE THEY WILL CONSIDER DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU!
I get 50 e-mails a day from people with suggestions for corporate, opportunities to sign up with other companies, questions [that should be asked Support].
If you’ve e-mailed me about any of these things, you have probably gotten an automated response saying to allow 3 – 5 business days to hear back and that you may hear back from my assistant. Why? Because I am doing conference calls with my group, daily gift account walk-throughs and signing up and training distributors. I’m not reading my e-mails! I don’t spend much time on my e-mails and I don’t think you should either if you want to build a big team.
I know some of you get frustrated with me because you don’t hear back right away. Suggestions for corporate need to go to corporate. I’m building a team. I’m doing what I would want you to do to build a successful business. #1 Introduce [your business] to new people each day. You’ll find that when your team and your paycheck is growing, all the other things become a little less important.
Build relationships with your group and get to know them. Have get togethers! Do Q and A conference calls with your team. Have them introduce you to their new people on 3 way calls.
$500 PER MONTH WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE FOR MOST PEOPLE. When someone has a $500 residual check coming in, they get very excited. To make a lot of money, simply help a bunch of people make $500 per month. When you make $500 per month, others want to know how to do the same. Teach a few others to do the same, and you’ll be making $5,000 per month. Now teach a few to make $5,000 per month and you’ll be making $25,000 per month. That’s how it works.
MECHANICS VS INTUITION – You can get the mechanics down by reading books, listening to CDs and going to seminars. This will constitute 5% of your success. The other 95% will be your judgment and intuition. This means following your gut. Have faith that you know all you need to know. There is no blaming your upline or the company . . . you have what you need to succeed. Take action and great and powerful forces will be with you to guide you to your genius. Stop looking for the answers and just go. You are all knowing. Get connected to your source and get into action. It’s not necessary to ask anyone else what you should be doing. It’s time to just do and have faith that everything will line up just the way it’s supposed to. Practice the fundamentals and then use your God-given intuition and it will lead you to your genius!
