The 49th day into a challenge to post a blog a day…..my posts are getting further and further apart, the business enthusiasm is waning, the vision is fading…..Been there?  So you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon of success and felt the thrill of success like you had envisioned or were promised?  Instead you are allowing  the deafing roar to fade away…and you become stagnant.

Well trust me, we all go through those periods – the periods when you are asking yourself what next?  Why am I doing this?  How do I get back on track?  Well – get yourself back on track by proclaiming to the world that you have slide….that you have fallen but you are pushing yourself back up and are ready to get back at it.  Make yourself accountable to your public acknowledgement! Oh easy for me to say?  Maybe it is – but just as hard for me to enact as it is for you, so let me share some of my strategies for getting over this hump and working on moving towards my goals:

1)  Review your goals - renew your commitment to yourself and your future.  Feel the passion that you first felt when you wrote your goals.  Is that passion and excitement still there?  Do you honestly believe that your goals are attainable?  Do they need to be fine tuned?  Why are you doing all of this?  What is your why?  As someone told me once – Does your why make you cry?  I love that – are you passionate enough to move mountains for your why?  If not…..figure out what why will give you that focus.

2) Get back to basics – remember the enthusiasm you felt when you first got involved with your business?  The hours you put in learning all the things you had to learn?  The dreaming, the frustrations, the support from your enroller, and the giddy feelings you had when you accomplished your first enrollment or your first ad campaign resulted in your first enrollment?  Remember all the time and energy you were dedicating to this business?  Remember that nothing could stop you?  Revisit that commitment, get that feeling back – and if you can’t – remember that old saying “Fake it till ya make it”  and if all else fails create a schedule and stick to it.  This is the time when there is no one here but you….no one that can dig deep down and find the internal fortitude to be successful.  Your enroller will hand you the shovel to dig, your mentors and support system may soften the soil….but the work of digging is up to you.

3) Figure out that this doesn’t happen overnight – yes there are promised out there that you can be successful with in the month, and possibly you might be the 1 in a million who can make it big in less than 30 days – but don’t set yourself up to fail before you have even had a chance to get started.  Set realistic goals, realistic expectations of yourself and realistic expectations of this industry.  Do a reality check – do you really (now come on be honest), really believe your enroller that you can pay off $25,000 worth of credit debit in the next 30 days with out any previous network marketing experience?  hmmmmmm—I don’t think so either.  But do you think that it is realistic instead to be able to create a business foundation that you can build on within the next 30 days?  ABSOLUTELY!!!  Be honest with yourself and you will move forward – hey – remember we went to school for 12 years – there is a reason our education takes a while – there is a lot to learn.

4) Get with the program – you know what? at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what opportunity you are with – it really doesn’t! What matters is that you are honestly concerned about help others – you know funny thing called Attraction Marketing?  What matters is how you lead the people who are looking to you.  Get with the program guys, the days of contacting your warm marketing and hounding your friends are disappearing.  The way to do network marketing is networking…and branding yourself.  Be the professional that everyone aspires to follow.

5)  Use your resources - Get back to your basics and hone your marketing.  Yes you can create a very lucrative business online and when you allow your self to be overcome with every opportunity – blogging, articles, campaigns, SEO, RRS, video marketing, social media, Pay Per Click, on and on and on…..You drown in a sea of “what next? How? When? Where? and How Much????  Deep breath – focus, focus, focus – you can’t master it all – so break it down master one, then move one, master, move on, master, move on!

6) Balance – If you have spent any time in the industry you know  that you have enter a business in which life long learning is a must – the playing field changes on a daily basis and in order to stay in the game you have to learn the rules of the game.  And the rules change. However, you have to balance the work with the learning – don’t get caught up in feeling that you need to learn everything there is to learn.  I find myself sometimes sliding into this trap – and you have to push off from the shore – you need to take action before you know it all.  This industry is built on doing and doing means be activate and doing the things that build your business and make you money.  And yes, learning will make you money down the road but but there comes a point where you just need to take the plunge and become one of the doers.  Find the system that provides the framework and the training, and then start doing – I am!

Did anyone else catch the opening ceremonies for the 2010 winter olympics in vancouver? Years of work, thousands of  people involved, timed to the last second, in my view was a thing of beauty, covering Canada’s history, culture and innovation. I really enjoyed it……….until I made the mistake of reading the headlines the next morning.

As ever, I was reminded why I don’t read the papers anymore. Reporters  from various sources could dwell on what didn’t work, and what wasn’t done. The journalists had toted that the Canadian people as a whole, really had no world identity and that they were anticipating a rather lackluster opening ceremonies.  Then in the same breath they gave some fleeting recognition to how many years of work and effort went into it. But I need to keep in mind that their job is to sell newspapers…and we have become a society where big headlines, and shock factor is what grabs our attention. I have watched several opening and closing ceremonies over the years, there is always a snag or two, its impossible not to have something wrong happen in such a large endevour. I choose to ignore what didn’t work and enjoy the show.

I want to bring your attention back to the slant of the journalist…..bear with me, you will see what it has to do with your network marketing business in a bit.  This email “joke’ is currently circulating among my friends, and it definitely helps to emphasize the point I am hoping to make:

A Harley biker is visiting the zoo when he sees a little girl leaning into the bars of the lion’s cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.   The biker without hesitation  runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.
  
Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.
A CBC reporter has watched the whole event. The reporter addressing the biker says, ‘Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I’ve seen a man do in my whole  life.’
The Harley rider replies, ‘Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and  acted as I felt right.’
The reporter says, ‘Well, I’ll make  sure this won’t go unnoticed. I’m a journalist, you know, and tomorrow’s paper will have this story on the front page… So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?’
The biker replies, ‘I’m a soldier  and a Conservative.’   The journalist leaves.
The following morning the biker buys the paper to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on the front   page:
 
SOLDIER ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT
AND STEALS  HIS LUNCH
That pretty much sums up the media’s approach to the news these days….it is a matter of interpretation and prespective, and what sells!

So whatever does this have to do with building your business?  Well, when you are starting out in this business you make a conscious decision to pay attention to the headlines - you listen to the hype, the interpretation and you look for the leader who will deliver on your dreams.  You choose to follow someone who has more experience in this field than you do, someone who has created the hype, who you perceive as the expert.   Unfortunately most of those experts are floundering themselves – they have never learned to be true leaders – only masters of an illusion that sells.  And so you begin your search again…looking for the success that you are sure awaits you with the right leader.

When you find your leader they will give you a template that provides the road map for your success.  A leader encourages you to take the steps that are necessary to build your business.  They have learned from the university of trial and error – they have made their fair share of mistakes, but have chosen to move beyond the mistakes and become successful despite the road blocks.  You true leaders are the ones that don’t rely on smoking mirrors to grab your attention – they are leaders who draw you to them by adding value and committment to your success.  You will find the leader who is more intent on speaking about your success than bragging about their own, they are the ones that who have heart and true intent to build with you.  Look for the leader who quietly shares their experiences, encouraging you to try this or that, to avoid the pitfalls of over promising and underdelivering. 

Your job is to build your business, your job is to find a leader who will guide you.  Your job is to not have false hopes, not to believe in the hype and grand illusions but to be determined to build a successful buisness that will endure.  You job is to wade through the hype and find the template that will allow you to make money while learning your trade, while honing your skills, while developing your leadership skills. Your job is to be mature enough to know that your leader is not going to do this for you, that you are responsible for your success, that your past failings where you fault – no one elses – not the company, not the compensation plan, not the product.  You need to move past the hype, and interpretation of the snake charmers and make your decision to build a network marketing buisness. 

Don’t dwell on the past – on what hasn’t worked.  Instead you need to focus clearly on your goal, conquer the internet , conquer your fears, conquer your indecisiveness.  One step in front of the other, deal with the reality of building a business, give it the time and energy that it deserves.

And the last bit of advice I would give you in this article: quit reading the news. It is too negative. I dont blame the reporters, its their job. I just prefer to focus on the positive. To your ongoing success!!!

I would like to share with you a trend I have been seeing online lately that makes me feel rather sad for the people that are doing it. They don’t realize what they are doing, and how much they are missing in their business, simply because they don’t know any better and have never been shown how to properly work their business online. So let’s start with a little background……

I am just like you, I have an online business, and build it over the internet. It does not matter what my business is, or yours, but I want to explain this trend I am talking about, we have all seen it, just not realized what it is maybe.

What I am talking about, is the people on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. (basically all the social media sites out there) using it to advertise their business. Here is what I am talking about…..Join my business now!! Work with the best!! Do this within 12 hours to get this, this and this…….Join Donald Trump in his latest endeavor……..

You know the rest, and sadly, it’s like getting beat over the head with an anvil, just to get your attention. Am I the only one that doesn’t care for this? Nothing personal against any celebrity out there, Mr. Trump included, but I don’t care for your offer, product, celebrity endorsement, whatever slant you may be using, because that is not what is going to sell me!!!!

What is going to sell me, is the lady or gentleman who originates the advertisement. As it stands right now, if you slam out your script, I don’t care one bit about it. In this day and age, it is not about your product, compensation plan, company, whatever you may have been told, it is about YOU!!  If I have no dealings with you, no relationship, no credibility, I am going to ignore you. Plain and simple. If you need any proof of this, what was your reaction to the last tweet, or update, or whatever that you saw? Did you say, oh Donald Trump is involved I am going to jump onboard? I very much doubt it. You asked yourself, who is this person, do I know him, and knowing the answer was NO!!  you ignored him or her. We all are intelligent people, and are able to make decisions by ourselves, and trust me, none of the above is what I make my decision on when it pertains to joining a potential online business!!

It is sad that so many people are unknowingly limiting themselves from more opportunity for their  business’s growth, simply because they don’t know any better. So what do you do?

You make it about YOU. Yes, definitely use the social media outlets, but don’t slam the people over the head!! Take the time to establish conversations, get to know them, and don’t even steer the subject onto what do you do for a living. That will come all by it’s self when the time is right. People want to know about you and only you. This is not anything new. It is not even my idea, I was fortunate enough to find out whose it was. But believe it or not, fewer than 3% of network marketers know about it, and those 3% absolutely thrive by it. If you want to find out more about it, take the time to do some reading – learn from someone who has been where we all start – at the beginning. This man learnt from the school of hard knocks, put his lessons to use, and now teaches others, myself included, how to do this business the right way. If you take what you learn you can turn your results around and have people coming to you to build their business read on….

Catchy title huh?

Well, isn’t that what you are as you build your network marketing business?  Don’t you aspire to be Professional Network Marketers? You know the ones that are leading the pack?  That you are all busy buying every video, ebook and DVD system that they have to offer?  Yes – Amateur Enterpenuer fits……the metamorphosis is beginning.  So let’s take a look at four key problems that you need to take into consideration and plan for as you begin your journey to success.

1) Lack of Quality Leads -

The philosophy of old was to sit down make a list of every single person you knew – if they were breathing they went on your list, and you needed to contact them to tell them about your opportunity and i how great it would be for them to get involved with you.  So you do a fantastic job of talking to everyone on your list, well that is the ones that will answer your calls, or who won’t avoid you at the family get together and you end up enrolling three people into your opportunity.  And they stay for three months……..and now you are spending $100s of dollars a month to buy leads to people who are adamant they never completed a online questionaire asking for information about home based businesses.  So the spiral goes, around and around, down and down.

It is one thing to contact all of your family and friends to introduce them to a product or service that you are truly commented to, but quite another to pester them to get into business with you. For the most part they will try to dissuade you from building a business, because they don’t want you to get hurt.  Also, they have no idea of the income potential that is available to the 3% of network marketers that truly stick with it and make it work.

So how do you generate your own leads?  How do you start to build your “following”?  You need to create a system of advertising and branding that allows you to become an expert that people look to for leadership. You need to build in a way that will have people coming to you, that the days of chasing will be a faint memory.  Sound like the way to go?  I can speak from experience that once you get to that place your whole outlook changes – going from starving and scared to vibrant and alive, you truly find out that network marketing is the way to go.

2) Lack of Training -

Ok, you have you gotten involved with a company, have a great leader who is making tons of money and promises the moon.  But their idea of training is make your list, phone or email and go see the people on the list, read the brochure and presentation to them and sign them up. If that doesn’t work you just need to keep churning more leads, speak to more people, do it over and over again.  Hmmmmmm  – great training, oh ya, and don’t forget go to every hotel meeting you can and bring 10 people with you.

The intricacies of network marketing online have opened up a whole new arena for the network marketer and with it have come a need for more intense training.  A new skill set has to be learned. One that includes blogging, article submitting, article writing, lead generation, autoresponders, campaign submissions, website management, promotion, branding, follow up.  And the list goes on – no wonder the average network marketer lasts 63 days in the business!  You need to participate in a training program that is indepth and ongoing.  I spend $100 of dollars every month investing in my future.  I have participated in webinars, and conferences in order to learn this business – and I continue to learn. I order ebooks, and spend hours at book stores both online and at the local mall, I exchange ideas and ask for feedback from my peers and mentors.  Why do you think you that you could learn a new traditional job with just being shown to your desk?  You need to be introduced to your team mates, you learn the processes and expectations of your company, you learn how to, why, where and when…..what makes you think that you don’t need to do that when you are starting your own business?

3) Lack of Duplication -

Believe it or not this one is the easiest – if you don’t have success in your business that is what will duplicate. If you don’t know what you are doing, and you don’t have a plan that is taking you to success, that is what will duplicate.  Once you get it – you learn how to be a leader, how to build your business, how to create your own list, how to brand yourself – then you will start to duplicate the success you desire.  False promises abound in this industry – the promises of success overnight – they happen RARELY, but the honest leaders will tell you that they worked hard and relentlessly for 18 months or 2 years and they now are reaping the success.  The seeds that were sown a year ago are now producing the fruit of my success today.  I have sustainable growth in my business, I have developed myself as a leader and that is now starting to duplicate in my business.  Whatever success you want from your business you must first create it within your self – and then it become easy.

4) Lack of Working Capital -

This one is a biggy so pay attention!  You have all heard the promises of “I will pay your way in”, “You don’t have to spend a dime, no autoship, no upfront cost” and hundreds of other promises on how you can make a boatload of money without any investment on your part.  Ok…..do here comes the needle – I am bursting your bubble.  How can you seriously expect to make money from an opportunity that no one is paying anything to get involved with????? Do you really believe that there is a money tree out there and they allow you to pluck $100 bills from it with out an investment on your part?  So the reality is – this business is going to cost you some investment capital.  How much is up to you – up to your desire on how quickly you want to build your business, and to what size and return you want to build it.  You are going to have to be prepare for investment for autoshipments $100 to $300/month, increase travel expenses $150 to $400/month, increased gasoline $75 to $150, weekly events $25 to $50, inventory $100 to $200…..and what about the cost of starting your business online, webhosting, autoresponders, article submitters, domain purchases.  Are you beginning to realize that you are going to need some captial to do this business right?

So many leaders never address the need for working capital with their new enrollees and it sets them up to fail.  That is why y0u need to educate yourself , why you need to find a system that will allow you to monetize your list.  What does that mean – monetize your list?  What it entails is a system that introduces your new prospects to a series of small purchase opportunites – they get the opportunity to purchase products that help them build their business and you earn an affiliate commission thus being able to fund your business growth. But at the same time you are also building your list and ensure that you are sending out your autoresponders to help them stay engaged and moving through your funnel towards your primary business opportunity.  As you generate income you turn around and invest in growing your business, expanding your advertising, fine tuning your articles, continuing to educate yourself on how to build your business.  By continuing to reinvest you build a solid foundation and continue to move your business forward and you aren’t stealing from your bank account so that you are spending more on your business than you are making.

You owe it to yourself to truly review these four factors and be honest with yourself.  I know this is the way I tried to build my business for the first 6 years in the industry – I built it at the expense of my bank account and just kept getting fartherand farther in debt.  Now…..now I get it, let me help you too.

Check out MLMLeadSystemPRO and let me help you today!!!

Social media marketing seems to have become the next latest and greatest way to cost effectively market everyone’s home business opportunity – I get hundreds of twits and messages, video links and tags from total strangers who are marketing their NBT (Next Big Thing – thanks to Mike Dillard for the acronym) – that I just HAVE to take a look at.  Well – to be honest – no….no…I don’t have to take a look at it.

                Now don’t get me wrong, I am just like you – I have an online business – possibly mine is a little more lucrative than yours – but I am in the business of relationship building.  I have to be honest I am not interested in doing business with a total stranger who thinks that they know what I can, and cannot afford to pass up, what I do and do not need in my business, and that I JUST HAVE TO GET ON BOARD HIS/HER TEAM.  No, No, and again NO!!

                Let me ask you a question – given the choice of dealing with a total stranger who is “selling” or a person who has taken the time to build a relationship, is an expert and has truly brought value to the relationship – who are you going to follow?   Nothing personal against any celebrity out there, Mr. Trump included, but I don’t care for your offer, product, celebrity endorsement, whatever slant you may be using, because that is not what is going to sell me!!!! What works is people joining people…..you are marketing YOU. 

                Now that we are all on the same page – that this is marketing and you are marketing YOU – there are a couple other things that I need to make sure you are on board with:

1. This industry will not save you – get over it – if you are looking for big bucks overnight – go buy a lottery ticket – blunt – but honest!
2. Your company will not save you – they have expert marketers who are geared to keeping you hyped and pumped to promote THEIR BUSINESS NOT YOU!!
3. Your compensation plan will not save you – there is no such thing as a turn key business that will make you millions overnight – remember that is a company selling a company line.
4. There are hundreds of companies out there that are EXPLODING -  are poised for rocket growth – not just your company
5. You may think that you have the world’s best product and everyone should be using, buying, distributing it…..but unless you plan on buying $50,000/month of your product the only opinion about your product that matters is your customers!

So bottom line – get off the emotional roller coaster – network marketing is about building a list, building a relationship with that list, and then marketing to that list.  You need to rethink your network marketing career and start to market YOU.  Start by building a relationship….start by educating yourself, become an expert in helping others succeed.  And start by taking a look at Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring – it will definitely get you get started on the right foot –

Although the title of this video is funny, it holds some great thoughts on what type of person “I” am and what “I” need to be for my business.  Also, reinforces the type of people we need to look for when we are looking to grow our business. Network Marketing and building your home business shouldn’t be hard – but it takes attracting the right people.  Sometimes the search should not take us down the road that we think…..You Can’t Send a Duck to Eagle School