She took all day to clean her room.  She’d forgotten the ultimate goal:  She’d lost her focus.  She always started off great but got lost very quickly, very easily, got overwhelmed by the sheer overwhelmedness of the task.

She was in tears.  She needed my help.  Not to do the actual physical work although that would have overjoyed her, but to guide her.

Procrastination had lead to overwhelm.

She’s 9 and not much different than the vast majority of adult network marketers I talk to.

She procrastinates every day about tidying her room.  Network marketers procrastinate about doing the activities that are going to build their business.  She always finds something more interesting to do than clean.  Network marketers run from activities they are scared to do.  She will get lost placing all the game pieces just so in the box.  Network marketers will get lost putting everything in place in their marketing strategy that the game (their business) doesn’t get off the floor.

She has an excuse.

A good one.  Parts of her brain were damaged in utero.

Network Marketers have an excuse too.  One that can be fixed.  Admittedly painful, but doable.  Stop the little voices that tell you that you can’t do it.  Afraid to pick up the phone?  Some little voice back there is telling you that it matters what people think of you.  Some little voice is telling you that sales people are slimy and sleazy and you don’t want to be a “salesperson”.

Just like my little girl, you’ve lost your focus, you’ve forgotten your ultimate goal.  Fear (overwhelm) is holding you back.  To make money you have to sell product.  To get your room cleaned you have to do all the stuff you don’t want to do.

Don’t beat yourself up.  You’ve been told by well meaning, wonderful people to buy this course, get onto this system, learn to market better.  People teaching you, who know more than you, but are still struggling, haven’t made it, have taken your focus off of your primary because it’s easier to market than to sell.  So they will teach you another marketing technique (the next shiny object), then another because it’s easier and more fun to put the puzzle together than it is to pick it up and rearrange the closet so it fits on the shelf.

You know what to do, don’t you?  The focus of every single activity you do is to make a sale.  If the steps you are taking isn’t going to bring you a sale in your primary today or tomorrow then stop doing it !

If you’re like my little girl, she’ll skitter around her room all day procrastinating, never completely over the overwhelm because she doesn’t do the activities that are going to bring her to the ultimate goal.

For you, it might be years and many of you will quit before you get there.  Stop listening to those little voices.  Stop seeking advice from those who are still on the treadmill themselves and do whatever it takes to make a sale today. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was there too !

But I changed all that.  I signed up and am working with Team Inc Pro, where the whole funnel is directing people into my company.  Automated.  Work with the people who’ve joined your company instead of spinning your wheels with those who aren’t generating any income for you.  Generate all the traffic you want with free training inside.  Professional funnel with professional people to help you.

I can tell my little girl, from experience, why it’s so overwhelming, what she needs to do to get over her procrastination.  I can do it because I’m her parent and I know a lot more than she does.  I’m teaching her.

That’s the benefit of working with professionals who know marketing, sales funnels and how to make money in your network marketing journey.

Get with the team now, while we’re in beta mode, and experience the difference success can make.  Sign up, top right hand corner, on my blog.  Watch the first of the videos and then we’ll talk.  You won’t regret taking the frustration out of network marketing.

It’s your choice – put the fun back in with the team at Team Inc Pro.

I’m usually a morning person.  I love getting up and watching the sun rise, listening to the stillness of dawn, enjoying the sound of the birds as first one then two then a whole chorus wakes up and greets the morning.

There’s peace in the early hours.  The kids are still sleeping, the phone isn’t ringing.  You don’t have to get going for awhile yet.  You can drink in the quietness.

So here I sit, at my computer, at the end of a busy, hectic day.  Interruptions, emergencies in the wee hours, scheduled errands done and taken care of.  My body longs for the comfort of my bed.  To just lie down and drift off to sleep.

And I almost set my blog aside.  It was on my list today.  The one thing that isn’t stroked off.  I argued with myself.  I’m tired.  I deserve to go to bed.  I got a lot done today.  Tomorrow is another busy day.  I need my sleep.  The list went on and on.

But if I give in to those voices I will only be procrastinating.  If I don’t write this today I may get it done tomorrow but then there’s everything else I do once the writing is done which won’t get done !  I know it.  It’s happened to me before.

Life got in the way.

Procrastination is one of the worst enemies of anyone involved in the network marketing industry.  There is nobody to hold you accountable.  There is nobody watching the clock to make sure you “work when you are at work”.  So it’s easy to procrastinate.  To put it off till tomorrow.  I work for myself so I don’t have to report to anyone !

Ouch, but therein lies the rub.  If you don’t push yourself nobody else will.  If your income isn’t as high as you would like it to be, it’s nobodies fault but your own.  Chances are you procrastinated.  Just like I was tempted to do.

STOP !!  The very fact you are working for yourself should be all the motivating power you need to get’r done.   You’re working for your family, your lifestyle choices, whatever your dream is.  That’s important.  Important enough that you chose to start a business.

I know it feels like you are working hard and you haven’t gotten any results yet.  You may think that it’s not worth it.  You haven’t made any money yet or not much.  You’re on this hamster wheel perpetually spinning like a top. Take heart, you’re not alone.  Tons of people are in the same situation you are.  Getting stuck and getting nowhere.

I hear you !  I’ve been there, done that !!!

Just over a year ago I started looking for “the” mentor I could learn from, work directly with and get out of that rut of learning more and even more because buying one more course wasn’t going to do it !

A couple of months went by and more people got on my list but I had no place to take them.  Everything I was familiar with just didn’t sit right in my gut.  My conscious wouldn’t allow me to enthusiastically direct them here or there.  More searching, following and observing what “my” potential mentors were doing, what they were saying, questioning myself:  do these people think the way I do, do they have integrity and honesty and more importantly do they care about people.

A couple more months went by and “my” mentor list got smaller and it was time to pick up the phone and connect, personally, with them.  One man rose to the top of my list:  Richard Bravo.  Intelligent yet humble, compassionate, an excellent grasp of the problems and issues most network marketers were facing, a techie kind of guy who had the patience to explain the nuances nobody else shared in their various courses.

I liked what  he was doing with his funnel, what the end result was going to do for big, small and inbetween people.  I liked what his company was doing, where it was going, their philosophy, the products, the comp plan was unbelievable and within days I had joined him in Life Force International.

Today, the funnel is very close to being completed.  Techie issues are holding up the full launch but I can share with you, if you are tired of spinning around in circles, getting nowhere, Team Inc Pro is going to address every single issue you have ever experienced and then some.

You can get a sneak peak at the beta version of the beginning of the funnel on the top right hand corner of my blog.  Fill out your name, best email address and phone number and I’ll send you the link.  Course if you’re married to your current company, don’t waste your time.  That sneak peak is only for those who want to seriously help others AND make money at the same time.

I’m off to sleep now.  I’m glad I didn’t put this off and give into the ugly procrastination trap we often fall into.  I will sleep easy now.  I’m stroking it off my list and I’m done.

Sweet dreams.

FRUSTRATED?  Are you suffering from the lack of progress you promised yourself.  Are you still living on hope?  Still propping yourself up because you “believe”.  Still searching for the “secret” to success?

Richard Bravo: 

If I can just learn that new seo strategy, then, I’ll see success.
* I’ll buy this ebook.

If I could just learn that new paid advertising method, then, I’ll see success.
* I’ll buy that course.

 “And if you’re like most people in the Network Marketing industry today, right here in 2011, you are in a constant state of overwhelm, distraction, disarray and confusion. You’re like a hamster running around and around and around, possibly getting no further ahead. Each week you’re exposed to the latest, greatest, bright, new “shiny object” that promises to be the next great lead source or the next great business building device. You buy many of them, the information piles up… but so do the bills. You’re not much further ahead than when you started. You’re exhausted, mentally and physically. This was NOT the way it was supposed to be…

Sound familiar? If that’s not you, consider yourself extremely fortunate. And extremely rare. Because what I just described to you IS the great majority in Network Marketing right now. And the great majority is NOT doing well. The number of people “in this industry” vs. the number of people “making money in this industry” is way out of whack and getting worse.” – Andrew Cass 

And we wonder how come.  Every minute of every single day we are bombarded by “NEW” information to process.  And most of us are alone, wandering the information highway, lost, with no guidance.

-         Compiled by Richard Bravo

What Happens Online In 60 Seconds

• 1 new definition is added on Urban Dictionary www.urbandictionary.com
• 1,600+ reads on Scribd – www.scribd.com
• 13,000+ hours of music streamed on Pandora – www.pandora.com
• 12,000 new ads posted on Craigslist – www.craigslist.com
• 370,000+ minutes of voice calls on Skype – www.skype.com
• 98,000+ Tweets
• 320+ new Twitter accounts created – www.twitter.com
• 100+ new accounts opened on LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com
• 1 new article published on Associated Content – www.asociatedcontent.com
• 6,600+ new pictures uploaded to Flickr – www.flickr.com
• 50+ downloads of WordPress – wordpress.org
• 125+ WordPress plugins downloaded – wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
• 695,000+ Facebook status updates
• 79,364 Facebook wall posts – www.facebook.com
• 510,040 Facebook comments
• 1,700+ Firefox downloads – www.firefox.com
• 694,445 Google search queries
• 168,000,000 eMails are sent
• 60+ new Blogs are created
• 1,500+ Blog posts are published
• 70+ domain names are registered – www.godaddy.com
• 600+ new videos are posted to YouTube – www.youtube.com
• 25+ hours of video are streamed on YouTube
• 100+ questions are asked on Answers.com – www.answers.com
• 40+ questions are asked on Yahoo! Answers – answers.yahoo.com
• 13,000+ iPhone applications are downloaded – www.itunes.com
• 20,000+ new posts are made on Tumblr – www.tumblr.com

EVERY MINUTE there are 98,000 new tweets, 60+ new blogs being created, 25 hours of videos posted, 20,000 + new posts on Tumblr and you’re trying to get your message out so it will be seen, it will be heard, it will be acted upon!!

Overwhelming isn’t it? 

Frank Kern said in his 2012 Internet Address  that we’ve got it all backwards.  We’re focusing on technology and marketing.  Marketing “you” so you can rise up and become a guru at (pick one) method of marketing.  We are attempting to become a big star in a saturated field with an overwhelming flood of information that people don’t need!

 YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR RESULTS

People are looking for results.  Not another course, not another ebook, not another webinar.  RESULTS !   Guru’s have been picking their pockets for years already and some brag about it!   Money is pouring out and nothing or very little is pouring back in.

Tim Sales in his ebook “Online Prospecting Systems …. EXPOSED!” says:  “I recently saw a video from another network marketing “trainer” saying that the #1 thing all prospects want is training, and if you want to be successful then you must become a coach and offer them training.  This person went on to say that there is no “coaching test” – so, all you have to do is simply proclaim that you’re a coach and then start coaching prospects.”  Not only is this philosophy dishonest, it’s also completely unethical!”

Overwhelm !

“Today, YouTube is full of “attraction marketers” trying to teach you how to do that which they have never done.  If anyone tells you to brand yourself as an expert, run. Understand most people see right through your charade and view you as someone who is calling themselves an MLM consultant, but really doesn’t have a clue.”  – Dale Calvert, The Success Principal The Internet Has Stolen”

Frank Kern bluntly states we, as network marketers, are in an identity crisis.  We are NOT in the internet business.  There are zero (0) dollars to be made in the “business” of internet marketing.  The dollars are in the product.  Product must be sold. “Internet marketing is using the internet to deliver the right message about an excellent product to the right people at the right time.”  That’s it.  That’s all.

When we combine the wisdom of all these successful businessmen, they are all acknowledging where our industry is now:  frustrated, overwhelmed, in information overload.  Add the erroneous training information the wannabe mentors, coaches, trainers are perpetuating.  Subtract the lack of focus on what we should be doing: moving an exceptional product, and it’s no wonder network marketers are confused, frustrated and still poor.

But there is hope.

Frank Kern says we are in the business of results and he defines that as: “When you can efficiently guide a customer towards an end result which will provide massive transformational value in his/her life” you have a “Magic Bullet”.

We did it.  We created that Magic Bullet.  That transformation just waiting to happen.   But wait, let me fill you in on how it all came to pass.

Richard Bravo, (a Betternetworker instructor),  who needs no further introduction, and I were chatting on the phone one day and the conversation turned to what’s happening online, what people are missing, what that missing link is, how to help those who, as Andrew Cass identified, as being on a hamster wheel.  Our energy fed off each other and I found out Richard was in the beginning stages of designing a system that addressed those very issues.

 Hours and hours later …….

We talked and we talked and we talked again.  How to incorporate online and offline, how do we work with only those who want success, how to weed out the tire kickers and the wannabes, what level of training are we going to offer, how to incorporate blogs into a newbie’s marketing strategies that were SEO friendly, yet be personalized enough to utilize with PPC, how do we address the broken link between marketing and product sales, how do we handle the training, how do we get past the current flaws when the newest members teach and train their newest members and the list went on and on.

Our Goals, Our Values, Our Focus

Then we had to talk about our goals, our values and our focus.  Were we on the same page?  Did Richard and I value the same things?  Were we in this to make money for ourselves or was the team the focus?  Did we agree on the qualifications and standards before we agreed to work with someone.  We spoke honestly and openly about integrity, honesty and ethics and found out we’re reading from the same book.

The decision to work together was easy and Richard’s “Magic Bullet” became mine.

That “Magic Bullet” that is in the ‘soon to be released’ stage.  The one that the right person can get in now and become a part of the foundation of the TeamIncPro/Wealth System.

If that person is you, or you think it’s you, go to the top right hand corner of my blog, sign up with your best email address/name/phone number and you will get ONE email from me with the link to the first 3 videos in the system that literally will get you off and out of the never ending cyclical hamster wheel.

My number and my email address are in the ONE email.  Watch the videos, then call or email me. 

There are too many good people, successful people like Andrew Cass, Tim Sales, Richard Bravo, Dale Calvert and Frank Kern who have identified what the problem is.

Now’s your chance to get off the wheel and focus on what you’re here to do.  “ It’s not only important what you learn but who you learn it from.” – John Maxwell

Their favourite meal was on the table:  buns, ketchup, hamburgers.  I suggested to my little guy that maybe he would like to put more than ketchup on his hamburger and he could choose whatever else he wanted to add.

I saw the protest in his eyes when he glanced up at me but relented.  Then I watched him as human nature took over and controlled his every action.

He put some cheese on, then a slice of tomato.  He looked up at me again.  His eyes asked “is this good?”  A nod, a smile of encouragement and he focused once again on his burger.  A goodly chunk of lettuce, a few cucumbers, he picked through and found a couple of perfect onion slices.  He was on a roll here.  Pickles, then a dollop of mustard, another slice of cheese, more lettuce, one olive, carefully placed in the right spot and the hamburger was starting to look like … (I can’t describe it).  I cautioned him that he had quite a beautiful hamburger there but maybe it was time to stop.  He nodded and reached for the ketchup bottle again.  Placing the other half of the bun on top, he was done, he was ready.  He just had one problem.  It wouldn’t fit into his mouth.  It was too much and he was stumped.  Now what?

As any good mom would, I stepped in to help him out of his dilemma.  He chatted away about how all that stuff was good and how come he couldn’t eat it all at the same time, and if a little bit of a few things makes his hamburger taste good then it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t just get his mouth around all of it at one time and he went on and on and on.  Only half my mind was listening to his chatter as I rearranged some of his choices on his plate.

The other half was absorbing the lesson this little guy had just given me.  How similar this 6 year old was to the adults online who are still struggling to build a business.  Even at 6, he was exhibiting “more must be better” concepts, focusing on them and forgetting the experience was to enhance the hamburger (the business)!

We’ve got the basics (the hamburger and bun).  We add the ketchup, cheese and tomato (two or three marketing techniques) but then we go overboard.  We have to add the Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus 1, article marketing, solo ads, forums and blogs and we have to become specialists: teachers and trainers of all of them.

Then we teach others to focus on all this good stuff and our burger (the basics of our meal: our business) lays forgotten, overwhelmed, overpowered as we focus on things that in and of itself are good, but don’t get the foundation of our business (the burger) into the consumers hands.

My brilliant little boy just showed me how adults can get so focused on adding more stuff, we forget our priorities are upside down.  The point of our purpose is way off.  The purpose of adding lettuce (twitter) or pickles (blogs) is not just to add them because we can and everyone else is doing it and we can become “experts” at something but because it’s going to enhance our (business) hamburger.

Our business – the purpose of it all.   The residual income part, where the money is?  Remember?

You are probably not one of ……….

You’re probably not one of those who skips all over the place looking for the next training or the next system that is going to teach you the training so you can perpetuate that cycle – Are you?  Still looking for the elusive formula which just seems to be one course or training away?

You recognize – don’t you ….?

No, you’re probably one of those people who recognize that we are in the business of “Results”.  We don’t need to provide more information to a market that’s saturated with more “how to” trainings than it would already take a lifetime to absorb.  Agreed?

Success to you is clear …. Isn’t it?

Success to you is focus, a clear easy to understand duplicatable process, automated where you step in and work with only those who say “yes”, created by a team of professionals focused on YOUR success and on YOUR business results.

Yes?  Is it time to focus on RESULTS?

Here’s what I’m going to do for you !

I’m willing to give you a sneak peak at what’s going to bring you results, if you focus, if you can screen out all the stuff you’ve been taught by those who don’t know how to but are eager to say they do.  All the BS’ers who are going to offer you one more course, one more training, one more tip and then you’ll be successful.

Are you ready for results?

Good. Scroll up and on the top right hand corner, fill in your name, best email address and phone number.  Hit submit.  You’ll have to approve the subscription and then you will get ONE email from me with a link to a website.  Watch the videos (still in beta version, links are not live) and decide whether you want to become a part of what Frank Kern refers to as a Magic Bullet in the making.

“You have successfully created a Magic Bullet when you can efficiently guide a customer toward an end result which will provide massive transformational value in his/her life.”  – Frank Kern

Then call me or email me (contact info is in the email) but be ready to transform your life !

Agreed ?

My little girl bounced into the room, eyes shining, pen poised over a special notepad.  “What do you want on your dress, Mommy?”  She tilted her head as she waited for my response.  “Stars, sweetie, lots of stars, big ones, little ones, make them sparkle just like all the people I work with.”

She didn’t reply, just bent her head over her drawing, pen busy as she left the room.  I watched her leave.

She didn’t question or doubt me that the people in my life are all stars: big or small.  She is growing up believing in the “awesomeness” of people.  She told me yesterday it didn’t matter what her husband looked like as long as his heart was good.  She’s 9 and in the day dream world of what her future is going to be.

“It’s not what you look at – it’s what you see,” she tells me.

She’s looking for and seeing the heart.

The “awesomeness” of people.  It’s what you look for that you find.

You may be one of the readers who doesn’t realize how truly awesome you are.  You may not have tapped into your uniqueness, found your strength, settled in on the peace of who you are.  This will be your brand.  What you bring to the world.

Take a moment, without interruption and take a look around you.  Get up and wander through your house collecting the knick knacks or books that pull at your core.  Gather them all in one spot and allow yourself to feel what that picture or statue or book means to you, how it speaks to you.  Then move onto the next one.  And the next.

Then make the connection between them.  Is there a reoccurring theme throughout them?

I recently sent a list of the items I had compiled to one of my “bigger stars” and this was his response:  “The aspect that stands out the most to me is the inspirational, proud, committed, spiritual, gentle warrior type of theme in a lot of the items.  That definitely comes through in your “brand.””

My brand:  the core of who I am.  The authentic self that connects with the core of your own authenticity.

That connectiveness that means nothing unless I can transform your life from where you are now to where you want to be.  The transformation from a dead zero or small business to a thriving, profitable one.

That I can do but not alone.  You have to make that choice.  You have to choose to be a star, to hitch yourself to something new and different, to be a part of a galaxy that fills the sky with its brilliance.  I can do that with you, if you make the choice.

Transformation.  Are you ready?

DO THIS

Here’s what you need to do:  On the top right hand side of my blog, there is an optin form.  Fill it out, hit the submit button, accept the subscription and you will receive one email from me taking you to a website.  On that website there are 3 videos, in beta mode (links aren’t live yet) that will give you a taste of what is “Coming Soon”.

If you can see yourself transforming your life with the right system that you saw a bit of a sneak peak there, and in a business built with integrity, surrounded by a team with strong, solid values, the same ones you have, then call or email me immediately after you’ve watched the videos and we’ll talk.

You just may be in the right place at the right time and that is spelled  “S-u-c-c-e-s-s”.   Finally.

“Leaders must help people believe they can be effective, that their goals are possible of accomplishment and that there is a better future that they can move towards through their own efforts.” – John Gardner

Melanie Milletics in a recent article on Betternetworker  expounded on her views of rank or paycheque not making the receiver a leader – a person worth following – a person who can transform the lives of those who follow.

That transformation is a decision away.

“Successful leadership is not about position, power, popularity or perks, it is about transformation.” – George Barna

Transforming the lives of those we lead.

We’d called the meeting for 9:30 in the morning.  We were about to embark on a new project and it was crucial we had the whole staff on board.  In retrospect we did everything right:  the vision casting, thinking and planning strategically, mobilizing people, effective communication, motivating participation, accumulation the resources required, delegating.  The rest would come later: evaluating the results, fine tuning the processes but we had a healthy internal culture within our office and it was going to work.

Every leadership skill we possessed was brought into play at that meeting and what resulted was amazing.  Unfortunately a year later the local economy unexpectantly tanked in our valley and so did the fledgling project.  Unavoidable and unpredictable and it wasn’t financially prudent to continue.

That team, that core group of people took that project to a whole different and higher level than we could have ever done by ourselves.

Throwing the question out to those I’ve surrounded myself with:  “What does belonging to a core team mean to you”, Colin Baxter summed it up in 3 simple paragraphs.

Being part of a ‘core team’ in any endeavor is vital to your success. As hard as we may work on any project, we can’t possibly have all the answers and solutions to every problem and task. There is just not enough time in the day, nor do we have sufficient energy to acquire the knowledge or expertise necessary to succeed in our chosen goal.

 

Enter the ‘core team’. If you are part of a ‘core team’ you are part of a like minded group of individuals that have a common goal in mind. Each member of the team contributes his or her expertise to the group, in many cases the missing link for the other members. This allows each member to contribute a hundred percent of their own niche to the group and not waste valuable time trying to gain knowledge in other areas that may be required for the project. You are able to focus on what you are good at.

 

Last but not least, the key ingredient of support and encouragement is an integral part of the ‘core team’. With it all things are possible, without it the road travelled becomes a difficult journey.

Colin touched on much of what I’m working on currently.  My business partners Richard and Brigitte Bravo and I are on that same page.  Sharing the same vision, the same goals.

We’ve talked and strategized for hours on how we could help those who are missing the crucial links to profitability.  As Colin put it “not waste valuable time trying to gain knowledge ………you are able to focus on what you are good at.”  Yet we wanted people to feel they were “part of a like minded group of individuals that have a common goal in mind” no matter their expertise or knowledge level.  The newbie to the pro, if you will.  Or as Colin put it “the key ingredient of support and encouragement is an integral part of the ‘core team’, with it all things are possible, without it the road travelled becomes a difficult journey.”

It had to be automated to the extent the funnel we created was going to answer every question anyone had as they proceeded through the process so when they arrived at the bottom they had the necessary information to make a decision right then.  Education combined with automation left us the time to focus on those who said “yes” to joining us in our business.

We talked about the mentoring process.  Uneducated teaching the uneducated and how could we solve that problem.  A graduated mentoring process !  A sponsor, as they learned the business skills required would graduate into and up to the level of a qualified mentor.  Until that destination was arrived at, a qualified mentor and only that mentor would teach and train the newest recruits.

We tapped into everything and anything we could think.  Every problem, every point of frustration anyone had and we addressed it.  We were going to provide the solution.  The problem is, there may be something we haven’t thought of.  Just like that staff meeting where ideas were flowing, sparking other ideas, it was gaining a momentum we hadn’t thought possible.  A synergy that grew with “like minded individuals that have a common goal in mind.”

This is where you come in.  On the right hand side of this blog  there is a sign up form.  Fill it out, hit the send button and you will receive a sneak peak, of what we are working on.  It’s a work in progress but we need you to bring to the table everything you are, every skill level you process, all that you are (and yes, with all your flaws and warts, you are amazing) and join the ‘core’ team.  Be apart of the shaping, molding and very foundation of what Team Inc Wealth is doing to transform the lives of others.

Do it now.  The core of you is what you have to offer and that is more than sufficient.

p.s.  Thanks Colin.  You are the best !

If the definition of leadership is servanthood than George Fourie at thatMLMBeat rocks the boat.   Recently George Fourie hosted a blogging contest on thatMLMBeat where if he got “2 hours a sleep a night for the past two weeks, I’d be lucky.”  He didn’t do it for himself.  He did it for others.  Servanthood !

The contest was sponsored by MLSP and 137 participants garnered 5,192 votes or an average of 38 votes each !  The top prize winners were rewarded with free memberships at MLSP, free pro blogs from thatMLMBeat, free memberships at TribePro and all of them will receive wide spread recognition.

George Fourie and Roxana Hannah from My Lead System Pro announced the winners.  All of which demonstrated good marketing strategies from free bonuses if you vote, to promoting and asking for the vote on their blog.  George chose not to monitor the content this year to focus on and watch the different marketing strategies.

The following Top 50 thatMLMBeat bloggers will be able to place the banner announcing their participation in this year’s Top 50 thatMLMBeat blogging contest.

Congratulations to them all and especially to George Fourie for being the leader who demonstrates servanthood.

#1  Ray Higdon

#2 Mavis Nong

#3 Darren Little

#4 Melodie Kantner

#5 Marc Korn

#6 April Marie

#7 Dr. Bob Clarke

#8 Natasha Nassar

#9 Joey McDermott

#10 Tracey Walker

#11 VaNessa Duplessie

#12 Bluesman Of MLM

#13 Easther Sudharta

#14 Sandy Moore

#15 Michelle & Bill Pescosolido

#16 Jeffrey Kistner

#17 Nicky Price

#18 Stacia Hopkins

#19 Marcin & Mari Marczak

#20 Sonny Lanorias

#21 Sharon Whiteman

#22 Darren Spruyt

#23 Terry Petrovick

#24 Clint Butler

#25 Lory Moore

#26 John Robberson

#27 Dave and Dawn Cook

#28 Suzanne Levac

#29 Lynda Cromar

#30 Rob Fore

#31 Viviana

#32 John Komatsoulis

#33 Angela Paige

#34 Janet I Mueller

#35 Ruth Alade

#36 Neil Ashworth

#37 Ken Pickard

#38 James Bennett

#39 Jerry Chen

#40 Aidan Gibson

#41 Alecia Stringer

#42 Raena Lynn

#43 Trevor Barret

#44 Steve Hawk

#45 Donna Merrill

#46 Yorinda Wanner

#47 Miriam Buhr

#48 Joyce Edwards

#49 Edward Elliott

#50 John Gaydon

Congratulations to each and every participant who entered the contests.  Whether you hit the top 50 or not, you are still a winner !

She was tiny, beautiful, native, 19 years old and she wanted to make a difference in this world.  She also had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD).  Her biological mom drank when she was pregnant and the message she wanted to bring to teens and young moms was “Don’t”.

Don’t drink.  A devastating decision that affects too many innocent children.

She shared bits and pieces of her life.  How hard it was to fit in.  How difficult it was to comprehend things other children took for granted.  She knew how hurtful it felt when she wasn’t invited to birthday parties.  Her family, who understood her disability, was her strength.

She graduated.  Woke up one morning to the realization she wanted to make a difference in this world.  She knew she needed to get the message out and she hit the public speaking platform with her proud, loving and supportive adoptive mother at her side.

As she spoke I couldn’t help comparing her to my own beautiful, 9 year old, adopted daughter.  I heard the struggles, how she overcame them, how she rose above the hardships, the tears and the joy as she struggled through the devastation her biological mom had inflicted on her.

A story I could relate to.  One my daughter was living.

It was a story of hope.  One my daughter is also living.

Against all odds this young woman was changing the world with her courage, her strength and her willingness to step out of her comfort zone.

We adults could take some lessons from these “disabled” kids.  Don’t quit, work hard, don’t give up when the going gets tough, seek professional help, keep knocking on doors, try, try and try again.  There is a way, if you never give up.

I can’t instil within you the desire to change your life.  I can’t motivate you to motivate yourself.  All of that is within you.

What I can tell you is if you need an example – come meet my daughter.  Then go home and ask yourself what excuse you are using.  Whatever that excuse is they all pale in comparison to what she’s struggled with and overcome.

She blessed the world when she was born.  And I, right now, at her age, am the major benefactor of that blessing.  Praise God.

I did the marketing, they did the selling

I knew a lot about what they offered.  They knew virtually nothing about what I offered.  Both of us were focused on the results.  The same results.  Their success was my success.

For almost 28 years, my speciality was solving problems.  My title was Sales Manager but that wasn’t reflective of what I really did.  It should have been “Listening Consultant” or “Marketing Advisor” or some other title.

THEY WERE PAYING FOR RESULTS

See, the guys who were my customers or became my customers thought they were paying for advertising in the newspaper/flyer/radio but what they were really buying was results.  Some thought the cash outlay for their advertising budget was in the expense column.  A few knew they weren’t buying advertising they were increasing their customer base or revenue.

The customers came in all different shapes and sizes.  Business savvy varied drastically.  Some I dealt with on a cash basis for obvious reasons.  Some I knew weren’t going to have their doors open for long.  I saw the struggles.  I identified the challenges.  I celebrated the successes.

And I was there.  Listening to the meaning behind the words, offering solutions to the hidden and obvious problems.

I was their marketing specialist.

Which was completely different than the sales aspect of their businesses.

Two sides of the same coin.

And one we, as network marketers, don’t seem to get.  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, forums, blogs are marketing.

Marketing doesn’t sell.

Selling sells.

How do I know that?  Because I never sold a combine in my life but I can do a first rate job of marketing one.

Where am I going with this?  To tell you to get off your butt and learn how to sell.  I don’t give a sweet tweet if you think you are a facebook specialist.  Does it bring customers to your door?  Once at your door are you selling them what you’ve got?  Does your expertise do a great job of marketing which doesn’t commute to sales because you don’t know how to sell?  Do you have a clear cut vision of your funnel?

“All businesses have only one function – to bring in customers and that can only be accomplished through marketing.” – Tony Robbins

So what’s your business?  Are you moving people through your marketing efforts to a sale?  Do you know, really know how to do that?  Or is your business teaching people for free how to make friends on facebook?  Do you really have your focus on business or marketing?  Where should it be?

Make the distinction.  There is a huge difference between marketing and the sale.

Make the distinction.  Your business depends on it.

Is this you?  How do you feel?  Good?  Frustrated?  Happy?  Unhappy?  Empowered?

She worked hard.  Every day she spent hours reaching out, helping people, sharing her knowledge.  There were times she experienced satisfaction, most times it was just plain frustrating.  She had to make some sales.  She had to introduce others to her primary business. She knew recruiting and moving product was her only chance to achieve her dreams.  But how? 

She believed, as many others did, that going after what she wanted was selfish.  She felt that securing her own financial success and happiness would mean she would be depriving somebody else of their money or time or both !

She was, what we would call, submissive.  “I won’t assert myself in any way so I won’t cause anyone to feel uncomfortable and in return they will be nice to me. They will like me and somewhere down the road I can talk to them about my business.”

Evidence points in the opposite direction.  Successful human relations means giving the other person something he wants in return for something you want. 

No human being is self sufficient.  We all need something someone else has to offer.  You can take what you want by force (criminals) or by outsmarting them or by using intimidation methods.  You can become a human relations beggar by making deals with them (submissive) or you can operate on a fair exchange basis.  I have, you want so here’s the way to get it.

Successful human relations means giving the other person something he wants in return for something you want – including money !  Successful people have a tendency to give more from their abundance.  Successful people spread their own happiness around.  Spreading their generosity far and wide, gracious with their time, money, support and encouragement.

Most of the trouble and misery in this world is caused by unhappy people who are critical, judgemental, worried about competition and their lead sources.  Unhappiness arriving from their own lack of success.  What we call the “lack” mentality.

Don’t deprive others of what you have to offer.  You owe others that happiness that can only come from achieving success.  It’s not selfish to experience a monetary gain from your interactions.  It’s time to move into the entrepreneurial world and supply a solution to someone else’s need – for money.  It’s time to drop the submissive roll and step into the world of business.  Where I give, you get, you give and someone else gets and the cycle continues over and over again.  Happiness (and money) multiplying.

As I write this, the two Davids (Wood and Sharpe) have created a system (solution to a problem) and are doing a successful job of selling it.  Thousands upon thousands have signed up.  Each one of those people are struggling (unhappy) and are looking for the magic bullet that will create success (happiness).  They already know, deep down in the very recesses of their being, what they need to do, but they continue to struggle.

Sad.

Be selfish.  Go after what you want.  You won’t deprive others.  Trust me.  You will enhance their lives.  It’s the pathway to success.