The MLM Networking Mom

Creating a Top 10 List

2008-03-05T18:50:00.002-05:00

Having a top ten list is a very common article and blog theme. Sometimes there are only 7 but the concept is still the same. There are several themes you can use. You can have it be about resource books/CD's, movies, experts, websites... and the list can go on forever. These lists do not require much explaination. You tell people what your picks are and why.

Another important list is a list of reasons for doing your business. This can be a powerful recruiting tool. If you have a well thought out list with solid reasoning, you'll see a good response to you. And that is what blogging and writing articles is all about. Letting people find you that are already looking for a home business opportunity. When they find you and like what they see, they'll want to join you.

SO go out there and start thinking about your list. Figure out the key reasons for joining your business. Remember that there are no wrong answers here. This all about you and your opinion. Have fun and until next time,

Reach for your dreams!

Networking Sites Online...your New Best Friend?

2008-02-27T11:15:00.003-05:00

Hello! Things are hectic. I am busy responding to tons of emails in response to my profiles on a few of the free networking sites. I am currently on My Space and a new site for businesses called Direct Matches. I have just recently gotten my profiles settled and the amount of traffic on my marketing site and on my travel site are through the roof!

I have had so many emails requesting to be my contact and many to request more information on my business.

My analysis - its still too early to have solid numbers. You should run tests for a minimum of 30 days to have accurate data. Outlook is VERY GOOD.

SO what are they responding to? First off, I have my picture on my profile (its actually one of my husband and I). Second, I customized my site- have used free layout sites (Google search- free myspace layouts) to match the theme of my industry. I looked for something eye catching and easy to read. Then I put a bit of my story on there and "teaser" information on my business. Enough information to pique people's curiosity and have them wanting more.

Now I am going to start building up my blog history on the sites. This will help people to get to know you more, and to see what your knowledge level is on your industry. This is a great place to put prospecting, team building, and motivational emails. This will help to tell your story. This shows that you are a leader and not just a follower.

So it is my advice to you to go out there and start using the Free networking sites to promote yourself. In doing that, you are promoting your business. Have fun and good luck!

Its All In The Story...

2008-02-22T13:51:00.003-05:00

Writing a good story is where you want to start. If you are not getting enough conversions (people who sign up for your email list), then try tweaking it a bit. I am not saying start from scratch, if you already have one. Try rearranging some paragraphs, highlight some key points, have people write some testimonials for you and put them in there. Testimonials with pics are great. Talking about pictures...

A picture says a thousand words. I am not saying that you need to go and have a professional photography done after a full makeover. A nice picture for people to identify with. If it's with your spouse or children it's even better. Never underestimate the power of a well placed picture.

You can blog and write your articles all you want, but if you don't have a story to tell, no will "get to know you". Remember, network marketing is about selling YOU, not a service or product. If people don't get to know you, they won't want to join you.

You also need to know the story of your company. Once you have people itching to join you, they will want to know what you are doing. If you don't know your company's story, you loose credibility with your prospects. If you are brand new to your company, have your sponsor or other person in your up line tell the story for you (until you know it). Most companies have a magazine or a DVD/CD that tells the story, so it should not be hard for you to learn it.

The more comfortable you are with telling your story and your companies story, the easier for you to "close the deal".

Getting The Word Out...It's The Only Sure Way to Make Money.

2008-02-21T14:28:00.004-05:00

If you are in network marketing and you are not telling anyone about your product/service or about the business, then how do you expect to make money?

It seems like a silly question, but I see people join network marketing companies all the time and all they do is sit and wait for something to happen. I notice that many of these kinds of people expect their sponsor to "get people" for them and to find them customers. For some reason they want all the perks and benefits, but they don't want to "work for it".

Let me tell you, these people will always fail. I am sure that you have seen them go from one company to the next, looking for, no wait expecting, to find the "magic beanstalk" that will take them all the way to the top. I find that many of these people disguise themselves as your friends and family. Have you noticed they always have a sob story? They are the perpetual "victim".

My advice to you is to avoid having them join your team. You can only do so much for them- they are not looking for training and tools, they just want success to happen at the wave of a want.

You want people who are motivated to join your team. You want leaders, who will not go to pieces if you can not drop everything and go hold their hand. You want people who realize that it takes time and dedication to build a solid business.

This is why it is so important to market and brand yourself. You will draw people to you. You will draw people that want to mentored by you. These are the people you want to join your business. These are the ones that want to be leaders and want to learn how to be one. They are willing to work in a team, but can step up and take charge when the occasion arises.

So don't be a lump on a log, get out there, put your story out there and start generating interest in you! Network Marketing is not about selling a product, but it is about selling you!

Stay at Home Moms and Network Marketing… A Winning Combination.

2008-02-19T20:59:00.000-05:00

Many Moms are turning to Network Marketing for supplemental income. Network Marketing enables them to add to the family finances with out sacrificing a ton of time with the family.

With the wide variety of products/services offered and the wide range of benefits, compensation, and pay plans in Network Marketing; Moms are finding it easy to find something that they love and can stand behind. As a matter of fact, I believe that the hardest part is choosing the right company. Businesses are not “one size fits all”. It takes careful consideration and a little bit of homework to find the right one for your situation. But that is what is so great about network marketing, there is something for everyone.

Moms have several advantages over other network marketers.

We have already learned the value of organization- our houses may not look like it, but we do know that when things are organized, our days go much smoother.

We have also learned about routines and scheduling- when you sit and put everything down on paper, you’d be amazed at how much time you have to work a business.

We have also learned about prioritizing- some things can wait until tomorrow.

I would have to say that our most valuable asset is our unique problem solving abilities. This is something that is vital as a Mom- every child is different, and thus what worked on one, may not work for the other. We are constantly having to evaluate the situation and adapt our solutions until we reach the outcome we desire. We know that we can’t ignore the problem or it will turn into something much bigger (spoiled brat syndrome- it may be cute as a young child, but wait until they are teens).

Being able to identify and solve problems is essential in Network Marketing. You need to be able to handle the problems when they are small before they turn into massive problems. We have the ability to “think outside the box” and use creative solutions, that get us back on track. So many Network Marketers fail because they can’t stop following traditional advice in Network Marketing- they go broke, get beat down by rejection, and just give up.

As a Mom, we know that quitting is not a solution- we love our families too much to do it. We reach out to other Moms for support, encouragement, and motivation. That’s what is so awesome about the bond that we share as Mothers. We know how each other feels, we know that working together we can reach our goals. That’s why I think that Moms have such a huge advantage over others in Network Marketing. We already know how to be team players, and when needed step up and be the leader- because if we don’t who will?

Network Marketing is enabling Moms to change their family’s life, without sacrificing time. Network Marketing is changing, we are seeing more and more mentoring groups form and strong teams being built through them. Moms have a good grasp of the idea of support/ mentoring groups, so they learn how to translate that to their business faster than others. Its an awesome and humbling experience to see the massive numbers of Moms excelling in Network Marketing and I look forward to helping more Moms reach for their dreams!

Do You Have What It Takes To Succeed In Network Marketing?

2008-02-18T14:17:00.002-05:00

With all the people out there talking about making "Big Bucks" while on auto pilot, I am sure you are busy trying to figure out what is HYPE and what is for real. I know that I am.

Well I like to keep things simple. No need for long and complicated processes in Network Marketing. As a matter of fact, you are doomed for failure if you have a long and complicated process for growing.

So what does it really take?

Well I have been "trying" internet marketing for almost a year now. I had no clue what I was doing. I was involved in a small forum, only reaching a small number of moms. Talk about stupid, but I didn't know any better. I had a sponsor that thought I was waisting my time, in a way he was right, because I was holding myself back. I didn't even try to learn how to effectively market online.

Then it happened. My sponsor who has excelled in several other Network Marketing businesses using traditional methods was now struggling. What he was doing was not working either. So he started to explore internet marketing (I wonder where he got that idea from, hmm).

He discovered a few systems that he liked and we started to learn what we could. We started to implement as we learned and watched our numbers start to grow. Now we are no where near our goals, but we are getting there faster because we didn't give up.

We did not let conventional network marketing get in our way. We learned and we implemented as we learned. Now we are sharing what we have learned with our teams and with others on the internet.

Its been a slow process. It takes time to build teams and lists. Its very rare to be an overnight success, but if you stick to it and continually do things to build and grow your business, it will happen.

What is a JOB? The Case For Network Marketing...

2008-02-16T14:38:00.001-05:00

A J.O.B. is Just Over Broke. With almost any job, your boss will buy your services and skills at wholesale and sell them at retail. That's just how business works. The business owner makes a profit off of you. Can you get wealthy in that scenario? NO! It's very unlikely.

In Network Marketing you can be a leader that grows a business to enormous heights. You will have the support of a 100 million dollar company behind you plus all the training, experience, support, and mentoring of your entire up line - with all of those support resources having a vested interest in your success (we all succeed when you succeed).

If you own a traditional small business, you don't own the business, the business owns you. You are fully responsible for its success and failures. You have to pay your employees (if you are lucky enough to have some), ordering and paying for supplies, products, work space and on and on.

To even get into a franchise today, you need at least 30 thousand dollars on up to over a million dollars to get fully set-up - depending on which franchise. And for all that money, you are likely to have bought yourself a minimum wage job. Why? Because while most franchises often make a profit, the business owner will need to be there - tied to the business- for 80 or more hours per week, while the employees will be going home after only 40 hours per week.

All regular businesses and jobs have one fatal flaw: They are all part of the trading time for money trap. In this common set up, it's all linear income: you work for 8 hours, so you can get paid for 8 hours. If you are sick for half a day, you only get paid for 4 hours; if you miss a day, you don't get paid at all. If you're not there working - for any reason - you don't get paid. Period. You are trading time for wages.

What we have with Network Marketing is leverage. We have the ability to create true residual income. Residual income is income that continues to flow even when you are not actively working the business. In creating residual income, you are no longer trading time directly for money. Instead we're creating a flow of income by doing something once, the right way - building a solid, empowered team, and getting paid on it...forever!

What Sets THEM Apart From The Rest Of Network Marketers?

2008-02-14T13:30:00.004-05:00

I have been talking to a lot of the "big hitters" in my company. I am on my way to the top, but I am not there yet. I like to listen to the stories of others who have "been in my shoes".

You see in 99% of the stories that I hear, everyone starts with little or no money. Very few have started off as a millionaire (I know that there are some who have). Every single one of them had massive financial problems and needed the business to work. Sounds familiar?

So what sets them apart from the rest of the network marketers, you know the 97% who fail miserably?

I have decided that there is only one thing that sets them apart from the rest- the perseverance and determination to keep going. That's it. Plain and simple.

We live in a world of instant gratification. Everybody is so used to getting things done "right now". Well it just doesn't happen that way in network marketing. You have to work at it- that's part of the reason why it's called network marketing. If it was so easy and simple, if it didn't need work and perseverance, then everyone would be doing it and everyone would be millionaires.

It's crazy insane the number of people that look at the industry as a cruel joke, a hoax, a scam. They have tried it or know of someone who tried it and they failed. They never really give it a chance. How about the ones that join and say "I X amount of money, and when its gone or if I haven't done ____ by this date, I am out"- hear or thought that one before? Guess what, that's not giving it a chance either. you are anticipating it to fail. Remember, what you think, becomes reality. So if you are overly cautious and don't go for it, you won't get it. Plain and simple.

I saw and talked to a number of people that threw caution to the wind and went for it. They gave it their all. They didn't let all the no's beat them down, and they didn't let the naysayers keep them from reaching for their dreams.

You see, network marketing is a wonderful business model. It makes sense and when you find the right company (for you of course), its a life changing event. If network marketing was not a great thing, why would Trump say that if he had to start all over with nothing, he would rebuild his wealth in a network marketing business?

So get in there, get your feet wet and reach for your dreams!

I am Back!!!

2008-02-13T22:46:00.003-05:00

Well I am back from my trip to Corporate Headquarters and I am very impressed. I am blown away by the company, I wanted to join all over again!

I am convinced that I have found the best network marketing company ever. I will let you check it out for yourself ==> The Right Place, The Right Time

I am very jet lagged, I need to get some rest. I know that I usually don't have such short blogs, and this is the first push for my company, but why should I keep a good thing to myself. If you see it and it makes sense to you, what is holding you back?

I am going to get that rest now, so I can get some good work done tomorrow. Until next time, Reach for your dreams!

It's Okay To Make Mistakes... That Means You Are Willing to Take Risks.

2008-02-11T09:31:00.000-05:00

Did you know that it is okay to make mistakes in Network Marketing? Well it is, and in all honestly I think that it is essential. If you are not willing to make mistakes, then you are not willing to take risks and to think "outside the box".

Come on, if it really was so easy to just buy leads and follow a few scripts, then why do so many fail?

Think about it- if everyone is doing the same thing, and it has only a 3-5% success rate, then how successful is "the system"? In my opinion, that system sucks. So many sponsors will tell you to do it, because its an easy line to remember- by leads from _______ and use theses scripts....

Now in their mind you are now trained and equipped with the right tools to use. Now they can move onto the next person.

When you are willing to take risks and try other ways of team building then you are positioning yourself to make mistakes, but you are also positioning yourself to have massive success.

Now I have been blogging and building an email list for over a month. I have been working on some free advertising and it has had a slow build but, now I am having hundreds of people looking at my marketing/ recruiting website a week.

I was lucky to have 17 or more people look at my site in a week. Now I average more than that in a single day. This stuff is phenomonal. I love it! I have been learning how to do this, by getting free information (my budget is tight). Its a process, weeding through the hype and gleaning what little useful information is in the various free reports and websites out there.

I have been working with my husbands friend on this project. We have been testing our sites against each other. We are learning together and we are helping each other. And we have been putting together a comprehensive program that we can share with you. It is a simple 5 step system. Once we know how we are going to package this, we will make the big announcement.

Its okay to make mistakes- everyone does from time to time. It happens. These experiences can be used to strengthen us and to grow us. So go for it, jump in and get your feet wet. Don't let the fear of making a mistake hold you back.

Wayne Gresky once said that "You miss 100% of the shots you never make". So what is holding you back?

Why Do They Complain So Much? Don't Recruit This Person!

2008-02-05T14:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, time for a dose of reality and some candid advice.

You will meet people that are complainers. They have to have something to complain about all the time. Hopefully you will only have customers that are this way (customers can be replaced) and not team members.

I know that it can be very unnerving having to deal with unsatisfied customers. Just try to remember that sometimes you just can't make everyone happy. Try to be as pleasant as possible and direct them to a customer support number or to someone in your upline that has experience in dealing with "difficult" customers. Hopefully you won't have to deal with that customer again.

Occasionally you will find a complainer on your team, hopefully your team is not infested with them. SO what can you do to stop the complaining? Sometimes you can't stop it (there are some people that have to complain). But here are some things that you can do to cut down on legit complaints.

Education- training is important. You'd be surprised how a little training will take most of the questions and complaints out of your team. Have various forms of training available (teleconferencing, webinars, group meetings, online training thats available at all times, books, CD's,...)
Motivation- this goes hand in hand with the training. Some people have no idea how to run a business, never mind network marketing. They don't understand that its all about selling YOU, not the product. Proper motivation and empowerment/esteem building tools will help your team weather the storms.
Communication- I know it is hard to be on the phone all day, but an email to all of your team is a great way to motivate and to keep your team informed. Have them email you questions that they may have. Let them know that it is okay to call you in an emergency for help, its just difficult being on the phone all the time when ther is no emergency.

Now of course there will be some people that you can't satisfy. If you take the steps I mentioned above, they should not have legit complaints. You will find that they joined because they thought that you would do all the work for them. They don't want to do the "hard stuff" they just want the rewards, they want to get rich form doing nothing. These kind of people will probably not stick around long, when no one sympathizes with them.

How To Handle Rejection In Network Marketing...

2008-02-04T12:27:00.000-05:00

Let's face it, when you get started you are so excited you want to tell everyone you know about the perfect business. And to be honest, many will think that you are crazy. I know that most of my family told me to call them when I have completely gotten out of debt and replaced my hubby's income.

So why don't they see that they are missing out on the success you will see, because they wanted to sit and wait to see what happens? I find it so frustrating.

I think that it is easier to have a complete stranger say no to me about the business, than have friends and family members think that I am crazy.

You have to learn that people really are not rejecting you, they are rejecting the business. They don't trust the industry, too many people think of pyramid scheme and tune you out.

You have to learn how to sell yourself. Get your sponsor or someone in your upline that has credibility with your friend/ family member to speak about how enthusiastic you are and how far you are going to go with the company. Have other team mates give testimony on you and the business. You have to overcome peoples mindset on network marketing and their view of you (quiet little Sally Jane, scatterbrained Beth, hippy dippy Sue...). Your history with friends and family can be keeping them from really hearing what you have to say, having a 3rd party "endorsement" can be the key to getting them over the hurdle.

When you realise its not really you that they are saying no to, it takes the sting out a bit. Just remember that you can start building your credibility for strangers and use 3rd party endorsements/ testimonials to help your friends and family really see what you are trying to share with them.

Just remember to keep positive and reach for your dreams!

Running On Empty...

2008-02-03T22:25:00.001-05:00

We are running on Empty over here.

My husband's friend (my sponsor) is out of town, so we are handling his business obligations and ours- on top of keeping both our internet marketing sites going.

It is not an easy thing to do.

I know that I have blogged about this before, but it is so true- especially when you are still in the building phase of your business. I think that once we have fine tuned our system it will be an easier task.

I am forced to decide what can be neglected and what has to be done in order to maintain what we are doing.

My attention in being divided and thus I am not able to work on needed improvements and my email campaigns.

It is trully a learning experience and I am glad that it will soon be over. I am also glad that I can say (from experience) that you can not reach your fullest potential in network marketing when you are involved in more than one company.

I will keep you posted on my progress. I have some follow up work to do. Have a wonderful evening.

Driving Through The Fog...

2008-02-01T13:43:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those days? You know when you're head hurts and body aches? Some of you may be thinking hangover, but I don't drink- that nasty bug has infected our house and we just can't seem to get rid of it.

I am taking meds and downing vitamins to keep from falling victim to the illness. I have too much going on that I need to stay on top of. I am walking around in a medicated fog. Its an odd feeling, but I am somewhat functional.

Have you ever felt that way? I know that I did when I first got into the business. There is so much information out there on how to get going. Go ahead do a Google search on Network Marketing, MLM, and lead generation. Its insane the amount of programs and systems that are out there. Guess what, the ones that produce the results all are doing basically the same thing.

SO how do you drive through the fog of information overload? Simple just like driving through the fog in your car. You move cautiously, turn your low beams on and pay attention to the road you can see ahead of you.

You keep moving cautiously. Its tough, a lot of the systems and programs out there usually have free information and email lists you can join. Get a feel for how they operate and if you like the way they do things go for it. Of course make sure you are not getting ripped off first.

Keep your low beams on and your eyes open. You can't get so caught up on learning the system that you neglect your business. It can take you several weeks to fully understand a single concept. During those weeks you could be losing customers and prospects. So keep your low beams on and your eyes open.

Pay attention to the road ahead. You may not be able to see the end when you are in the fog, but if you know where you are going, you can have mileposts that will help you determine if you are still on track to reach your final destination.

Now I hope that you have a final destination. This is your dream. This is your vision. The ultimate big goal to work towards.

Remember if you don't aim at a target, you always miss. This is the same as having goals. If you don't have any to aim for , you'll never reach them.

All In Due Time...

2008-01-30T21:40:00.001-05:00

I have to say that it has been an awesome past week and a half. I have been having great devotions and listening to some great preaching as well as participating in some awesome training sessions. I love how everything seems to be falling into place. I am seeing how everything from my spiritual walk of life is translating into my business and how the principals carry over very well. What can I say, when you do things the right way, God blesses it.

I am excited and anxious at the same time. I am seeing more and more traffic in all my internet efforts. I am also getting more emails and more people checking out my marketing site. This is how it is, consistency is definitely a factor in the results I am seeing now. I must say that it may be slow at first, but when it gets going, there is no holding it back.

I am happy that the funded proposal is working well, as well as a good lead capture page- I must admit that I need to tweak mine a bit (my friends is doing much better). I am still dealing with growth and email spam filters. I have not found the right auto responder for me, but that is just a matter of time- in all honesty part of the problem is my lack of experience. I am always open for suggestion or comments.

Viral marketing works. Pure and simple. I started out answering questions about home businesses on Yahoo! Answers many months ago and I still get emails because of my responses. I haven't been on there in months! That is awesome that people are taking this serious enough to be looking at dated material like that. This is all a part of finding quality targeted traffic for free.

I am still working on MySpace. I am not a guru on personalizing the pages yet. A friend of mine is going to help me when he gets back from a business trip. When I do I will let you know what I have learned so you can use the knowledge too.

I have to go now. I am getting ready to get on a conference call. Have a good day and until next time, reach for your dreams!

Are You Throwing Life Lines or Are You Just Saying Lines?

2008-01-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

Odd title, don't you think? The purpose of this blog is to help other moms to work from home. I want to see other Moms become leaders in their network marketing business, and to help them learn how to grow a strong team. The reasoning behind this is to help other families stop drowning in debt, living from paycheck to paycheck.

I try to share what I have learned and what can work in ANY network marketing business, because I want to help as many people as I can.

I want to use a little illustration to evaluate how successful we are in our network marketing business.

Imagine that you are on an island in the middle of the sea. The island is full of other business owners.

The sea is full of men, women, and families drowning in debt. They are trying so hard to stay afloat and they are yelling for help, trying to get out of the water.

You look at the other business owners, they are busy making their place look nice, great signs, web pages, making flyers, talking with other business owners. Sometimes you'll notice that they will throw flyers and business cards out to the people.

Every now and then the big business owners get into a boat and go out to talk to the people in the sea. They stand in their boats and shout out all the "lines" that their business has taught them. They look so good, the money that they have and the money they promise looks good. Sometimes someone from the sea climbed into the boat and made it back to shore. Too often they stumble back into the sea when they realize they don't have the money for the good clothes and the boat.

You have found a great company. It is changing your life, and you have been given the tools to help the people in the water. You have a lifeline for the people in the water. You know how to help them promote their business with little or no money. You don't even need a boat. You realize that if you throw the line into the water, people can grab it and be pulled to the shore. When you have more people helping you to pull the line, even more people can be pulled in.

Pretty soon the people in the water start scrambling to your line because they see that it is working. Now you have the money to buy as many boats as you want, but know what? I prefer to buy more ropes and to split the people on my rope into teams to start working on the other ropes. This is the principal of duplication and multiplication in network marketing.

So how are your rescue efforts? Are you too busy making things nice on the shore? Are you waiting for a boat? Or are you using your rope?

How to Become Successful In Network Marketing

2008-01-27T22:17:00.000-05:00

I was sitting in the choir at church today, listening to DR. Jerry Thorpe talk about being a successful Christian. It was a very powerful message. I loved it. He preached from Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He had 3 key points that I feel can be used to help our businesses as well as our walk with Jesus.

1. This one thing I do: You need to have a dream, a vision, or a goal. This is not a wish like I want to win the lottery or to be happy. Goals can be measured (pay off my credit cards, my car, my house, to the long term of being debt free).

Did you know that 80% of the population don't have any defined goals, in fact they only help other people reach their goals. 15% have not clearly defined their goals and have no clue how to reach them. The 5% that are left have clearly defined their goals and are the most successful people in the world. Their success is greater than the success of the others combined.

2. Forgetting those things which are behind: If you do not let go of your past it will cripple you and hold you back.

Forget your inadequacies: Fill in the blanks- I always wanted to_________but I__________
Stop making thinking this way, just get out there and do it! No excuses.

Forget the Skeptics in your life: They will always hold you back. Are you familiar with the story of Peter walking on water? (Matt 14:25-32) That was a significant event. Most people want to do something significant, but most are afraid. How do you walk on water?

Get out of the boat- get out of your comfort zone. If you could do it without leaving the boat, why are you not successful yet?
Forget the storm- there will always be difficulties and tough times. You need to keep on going despite the storm.
Ignore the boat people- remember they only want to keep you in the boat. The boat is "safe". They are too scared to take the first step.

Peter started to sink, but Jesus reached out his hand and they walked back to the boat together. That is a successful walk on water, he did not drown. It got scary and he had the right Teacher to help him navigate the situation.

3. I press toward the mark: I will never quit!

Do you know why people lose? When things get hard and they fall, they stay down, they don't get back up.

Winners will get back up and keep on going toward the mark, reaching that goal.

When you sit and think about it. These are great for all areas of life, but can change your network marketing business forever. Remember, that the main characteristic that sets the successful network marketers apart from the failed ones, is that they never gave up.

Still making Improvements... On Myself

2008-01-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

Today has been a blah day. I am exhausted, taking care of my sick boys and keeping up with my chores and the business is not always an easy task. So I took a nap. I know that it seems like a strange thing to do, but I figure the chores could wait another day and my Mother In Law seems to be feeling better. I kept on falling asleep at the computer, so I turned it off and took a nap.

It was great. I really needed it to finish the day out. I got my grocery shopping done and had time to go to a ladies Bible study group. Really awesome book that we are using, called "The Lies Women Believe" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, I highly recommend it. It even has a companion guide with daily exercises- very helpful to keep you accountable for daily devotions.

Tonight's discussion was laying the foundation for the whole study. It was very eye opening to how many negative influences we have in our lives. Women are especially vulnerable to deception. Many of the lies we believe shape the way we think and how we feel about ourselves- we are in bondage to the deception. All the negativity makes it awful hard for people to want to be around us. Think about it, do you want to hang out with happy people that seem to have everything going for them, or do you want to hang out with the "downers" that always have one problem or another?

So I have learned that there are change our way of thinking- to get out of bondage:

We need to recognize the areas of bondage: this can only be done by being honest with yourself. There are so many forms of bondage: eating disorders, esteem issues, abusive relationships, smoking, drugs, anger,...
We need to recognize the lies at the root of the bondage: being honest again. The lies that lead to bondage can be: I'm too fat, too skinny, not pretty enough, not good enough, not smart enough, not cool enough,...
We need to replace the lies with the truth: You see you have patterns ingrained in your brain. They are called habits for a reason. You can't just quit and not replace those habits with something else. If you don't replace them with the truth and positive influences, you'll find other lies and negative influences to fill the void or just go back to the original problem.

I was not aware of how many lies we have fallen for and that we are constantly being deceived everywhere we go. Magazines, books, TV, movies, commercials, soap operas, radio shows, music how many have negative women role models, or stereo types. There are very few shows, movies, books, songs that have positive views of women.

When we make an effort to filter out the negative and start feeding our brains with positive information and influences a few things happen:

You'll be amazed at how much time you have on your hands.
You'll be in a better mood most of the time.
When life starts throwing curve balls you are not flustered.
More people will want to be around you.
You'll notice more good things happening to you because you are not viewing the world with jaded eyes.

I am not saying that things will always be easy, but we will be able to handle the problems better. I hope that you find this insightful and useful in your life and your business.

Remember part of growing your business is to sell "you", not your product. This is a way of improving yourself, to benefit your personal life and your business. Have a Good Day!

Keep On Swimming...

2008-01-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

Well I must admit it is a madhouse over here. All of my boys are sick and I have a touch of a cold. My mother in law is not having a good day and my husband had to go to a meeting all by himself. I must say that I often wished that I did not get out of bed today.

That is just a glimpse of what can unexpectedly go worn when you own a home based business. Thank God the internet never closes and I don't have to write the whole day off as a loss. I just put my boys down to bed not long ago and now I have a little peace and quiet to write my emails and blog for a bit. I am not getting everything done that I wanted, but I am at least getting something done. Remember, consistency will build the relationship. Also it helps to have everything worked out so you can get the bare minimum done to maintain your business.

Well I have some good news, I have more materials to go over and test out some new methods. I will let you know what I learned and what I have found to work. I may not be able to get to the stuff for a few days, but I hope to start checking the stuff out tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

Fronted Proposals Can Save Your Network Marketing Business!

2008-01-19T19:46:00.000-05:00

Funded proposals are a way of generating income while you build your business. This enables you to grow your business to the point of duplication and building the long term residual income. A funded proposal makes you immune to failure from the 2 main causes: running out of money and running out of leads.

You can do anything from affiliate programs, blogging with adsense, and/or selling informational products (yours or others). This is a one time sale, people are more likely to make a one time purchase than buy a business. This helps you to generate quick income that you can invest it back into your business. This gives you the time to learn how to effectively grow your business, thus enabling you to start enjoying some residual income.

You need to create an audience that is interested in what you have to say. Make an informational product, and sell it. Do follow up emails. Give them something that they need and want. Use it to create a following. This is what you use to get people wanting to join you.

Remember that whatever you do, you need to be consistent, don't do it only a few times and "see what happens". Keep on doing it and let the momentum build. You also need to keep track of what you are doing and the results (#of conversions) you receive. This will help you to learn what is working and what needs to be tweaked.

I have to get going, its storming outside and its time to put the boys to bed. So start thinking about what you have to offer and how you can use it to fund your business.

Are You a Winner Or a Whiner?

2008-01-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

Talk about loaded questions, but really, you need to know in order to succeed in your network marketing business.

In all honesty, I have to admit that there are times that I am a whiner. I feel that it is very easy to be the whiner and I have to stop listening to my "feelings" and make the mental decision to change my attitude and outlook. I have 3 young boys, that I home school. They are very active boys with very different personalities. Just taking care of them and our home is trying, never mind running a business too. It is not easy, but it can be done. So even though there are times that I want and feel like being a whiner, I choose to be a winner.

Let's look at a few differences between whiners and winners.

A whiner complains about not succeeding. She will place the blame on life, work, her family- basically anyone but herself.

A winner will sit and evaluate why she is not succeeding, come up with solutions and put them into place.

A whiner will demand help and act as if everyone "owes" it to her. She is not a team player.

A winner is a team player, she may ask for help, but she learns from it and shares that with others.

A whiner says"I can't... it's impossible"

A winner says "I will... or I'll find a way"

Now if you realize that you have been a whiner, then its not too late. The first step is making the decision to stop it and be a winner. Winners constantly surround themselves with positive influences. Negativity will only add to your negative feelings and thoughts. Take the time to feed your mind with positive and uplifting materials. There are a lot of good books and great music to listen to. Try to avoid negative people and activities. Replace them with positive influences and activities. Don't get hung up on all the problems and start working on the solutions. You'll find that the road to success is not as difficult if you have the right attitude.

Retention 101- How To Keep People On Your Team...

2008-01-15T23:52:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things that you can do to improve your retention rate in your network marketing
business...

Communication- We are in the age of technology, use it to keep your team informed. Email them
your successes regularly. Get them excited, your excitement is contagious, and your team will
naturally take on a new life. Conduct multi media training. Even if your company provides training,
conduct your own. This sets you apart as a leader that is willing to personally invest time in your
team's success. This helps to build a trusting relationship with your downline.

Develop a team guide- take your experience and put it into print. Tell them how to succeed and
what to avoid. As new people join, give this guide to them. This is yet another way of giving a sense
of knowing that they are participating in a proven system. It looks professional and it takes the
pressure off your team of having to teach each person everything. This is called duplication.

Start a team advertising Co-op- This is what gets everyone involved financially. Many will be
scared to go out start their own marketing, but when you give them a boost by getting them some
traffic for contributing to the advertising fund, the dream becomes more real to them-they start to
believe, understand, and get excited about getting their own traffic while they anticipate the traffic
from your co-op. This is yet another opportunity to show your leadership skills.

Doing these three things will increase your retention and duplication rates as well as develop and
display your leadership skills.

Can You Run 2, or 3 (or More) Network Marketing Businesses at Once?

2008-01-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

Seems like a silly question right? Many people see how network marketing on the internet is exploding and want to dip their fingers into many pots. I can understand how temping that this can be. I mean, once you get into the groove of things and work out all the kinks, network marketing on the internet can almost be automated. Almost. It is so tempting to get into a lot of different companies or programs. But is it worth it?

You see in business you can't be a jack of all trades and succeed in network marketing. You know what they say, "a Jack of all trades- master of none". When you are involved in multiple businesses you do not have time to focus on anyone. Your business is not about a product, it is about people. If you want to build a strong team of leaders (that's right, you are not going to do everything for your team), you need to invest time into mentoring them. It's better to focus on building a strong team with high retention rates, than to quickly build large teams in different businesses with extremely low retention rates.

You see when you have your fingers in many pots, you can only dedicate a small amount of time to each (there are only 24 hours in a day). When you focus on only one company you will build better relationships, and build stronger teams of leaders. It takes time to build the relationships but in the long run you'll have a more stable source of income, a little bit of hard work now, will enable you sit back and enjoy the residual income later.

Making Your List Grow...

2008-01-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

Given my recent increase in my list it has caused some people to ask me how I did it. It is a valid question only if you know why you are growing your list.

You see most people think that having huge lists means that you are making lots of money in network marketing. WRONG! If it was that simple, then everybody would already be rich. There are services out there that will sell you lists- its just like buying leads for cold calling. When you buy lists and leads, they are only as good as what you pay for them. Most of the time, you lose money in the process, so why bother? But if size mattered, buying lists is the fastest way to get a big one.

Personally, I would much rather have a smaller highly targeted list that knows me and trusts me. It is much easier to handle a small list, less headaches from spam filters and less complaints. As long as they want to continue to learn from me I am happy.

Most people forget to ask WHY in building their list. You see you need to be thinking about the reason why people want to be and continue to want to be on your list. So before you start to build your list you need to figure out who you are and what will attract people that want to know more.

When you stop and think about it, you'll realize when it comes to list building that size really does not matter. What matters is that you build a highly targeted list, which in turn will produce more profit for you than buying leads and lists ever will.

Growing Pains In Network Marketing

2008-01-11T21:22:00.000-05:00

I didn't think that anyone would have any problems or complaints having massive growth almost over night. I have had steady growth since I have started implementing my new strategies. I have been able to keep up with the demands of the growth until yesterday. The massive growth has raised the red flags for several email systems.

I guess that I have made it big, my emails are being blocked by most email systems and I am having difficulty maintaining a line of communication with my list. I am currently working on correcting the problem and if we can't get it worked out, I will look at different system for handling my lists.

Having growing pains can be nerve wracking, I know that I am worried that I might lose people, but it is a good thing. It means that you are having growth which should be translating into profit.

As long as you remain proactive on correcting the problems that arise and find a reasonable solution you should be able to ride out the hiccups during your growth.

I want to thank everyone who has made this experience happen to me, I apologize for the interruption in my normal emails, and I hope to have things back to normal soon.

Amy Collins

Becomming Unstoppable In Network Marketing...

2008-01-10T13:09:00.000-05:00

As a mentor and friend, I try to help people reach for their dreams. This is no easy task. Honestly, not everyone is going to make it in Network Marketing, and I really want everyone to be successful.

I want to talk about why this happens. We all know people like this...they go through the motions. Attend meetings, participate in training and even respond to emails. They have all the outward appearances of someone who wants to make it work, they still love the company and the products, so why can't they seem to get it together?

They are letting something hold them back. Something is stopping them dead in their tracks. Of course the next logical question is- why?

Sadly most people know that they are stuck but they don't know what to do, some don't even know what has them stuck.

When I have a problem, I have to find a way to get through it. Really, problems are not going to go away if you ignore them. You need to face them. Learning how to break through the problems will benefit your personal life as well as your Network Marketing business.

SO how do you become unstoppable? I will share with you some tips that I have learned:

Admit that you have a problem- make list of the problems that are keeping you from advancing in your network marketing business. I don't care how stupid and little the problem seems, write it down and then walk away from the list for several hours.
Evaluate the problem- look at your list and start brainstorming, be creative, think of all the ways you can overcome each problem. You may even want to ask a friend or two to help you come up with some solutions.
Implement a plan of attack- you know what your problems are, and have solutions to the problems, so now you need to take action. Without taking action, the problems will stay, or worse yet- get bigger.

Once you have done all this, you will find several things happen:

More problems will surface- but that's okay, you know what steps to take to overcome them.
You take ownership of your network marketing business.
You take the first steps of being an entrepreneur (someone profits from solving a problem)

So while you are brainstorming think of ways to make a profit every step of the way.

Mastering all of this will make you unstoppable, with tons of people hunting you down, wanting to know how you did it.

So What's The Big "Secret" to Success In Network Marekting?

2008-01-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I am sure that many of you have seen or heard something about the book and movie called "the Secret". It was featured on Oprah and is touted by many mentors in the MLM and Network Marketing Industry.

I am not saying that you do not need to see them. You may find them very aspiring. To me it was a mix of stuff that I had learned on my own growing up, science (the law of attraction), and church. It wasn't anything "new" for me, it didn't rock my world, but it is an important phenomenon, and is worth talking about.

"The Secret" is all about the "law of attraction"- it basically says that you are what you think (yes I oversimplified the explanation). You see many people walk away with, if I think it, it will happen. If I write it down on paper and look at it every day it will happen. Well it doesn't work that way. We don't have genies in the bottle waiting to grant our every wish and desire at the nod of a head.

We need to do more than wish for our dreams to happen. We need to be willing to learn and change in order to reach our dreams. Keeping our eyes on the prize will help us to get there, but the prize won't magically drop into your lap. You'll need to step out and reach for it. That's the Big "Secret" behind the secret.

This works in all areas of life and business. Remember when you are full of negative thoughts and emotion, you will only draw negativity towards you, but, when you are filled of positive thoughts and emotions you are a beacon towards positive things.

I am a positive person, and try to keep negativity from hindering my success in Network Marketing. I have seen others' teams explode overnight and others have no growth at all. I have been somewhere in the middle- happily trucking along, knowing that my time will come. I have been working on my consistency and learning new skills in order to have an "edge". It started slow, but in the last 12 hours I have watched my email list grow by more than 400%. It is awesome to see it all happen.

It is also a humbling experience. I am far from reaching my goals, but well on my way and I have to thank everyone that has followed my blogs and emails. Thank you, because with out your support, I would not be here right now.

Working From Home Is NOT Easy For Moms

2008-01-08T19:54:00.001-05:00

Now I don't want you to be misguided. Working From Home is not easy. It never will be. There are things that you can do to make things less hectic for you.

I think that it is important to take a little time and evaluate yourself and your situation. You need to know why you want to work from home. Are you forced into the situation (single parent with kids and can't afford child care) or is it because you want to have more freedom and flexibility than a traditional job allows?

For whatever reason you are toying with the idea, and some of you have already made the decision (welcome to the fire, do you miss the frying pan yet?). You need to know that you can't just jump into working at home and gain instant success (yes, some do but many struggle for quite a while).

Find support from other moms. Find local Moms groups specifically for WAHM's (Work At Home Moms)- check with local churches, libraries, community centers to see if they have any groups for you to check out. Also look for forums and groups online. If you don't find what you like, then start your own forum. It is vital to have support from others who are struggling with the same issues you do as a WAHM.

Secondly a little planning, organizing, and preparation will go a long way. Some very useful things to do ahead of time (or ASAP for the ones in the fire like me):

Routines- If you and the kids know what to expect next, your day will be a little less hectic. I am not talking about a rigid schedule, your kids may not take to change well and it will ruin the whole day for you when you have to adjust times. Keep it loose, I have breakfast routines, mid morning snack, lunch then nap for the baby, and school time for the older boys. After school and nap we have a snack and watch a movie or children's shows. When Daddy calls to say he's on his way home, we clean their room. They know the order of the day, I can adjust times as needed to fit around meetings and special classes.
Work Spaces- That's right plural. You need at least one for you and one for the kids. I have an older computer that my boys get to play games on while I am working in my office. Even having a small work area with crayons, coloring books, paper and maybe a few puzzles can fit the bill. This lets your kids know that you still love them and want to be with them, even when you are working. If you have the luxury of a laptop with wi-fi, it can be a godsend. I can supervise the boys in the pool while working in a lounge chair on the back porch.
Wireless Phones- Can be anywhere in the house and still get the phone. If you have the laptop with you, no need to move from the lounge chair to get information. Get a second phone line. One purely for business/ work purposes. It will have a separate bill for tax purposes but it also lets you know that it is not a social call. You can also not answer after business hours with out feeling guilty.
Cleaning Routine- Let's face it, every one will expect your house to look perfect, because "You're home all day aren't you?" You need help to keep the house clean. Your spouse/ significant other and kids will need to chip in. If you periodically walk thru the house maintaining cleanliness (15 to 20 minute sessions 3 or 4 times a day), you will only need to have a good deep cleaning session 1 time a week (it takes me a few hours on a Friday afternoon, or Saturday morning).
Dedication and Perseverance- Its not easy to work from home. It is a huge adjustment for you and your family. If things don't magically start working right away, don't quit. Evaluate the situation and try new strategies. There is no magic formula, what works for one person may fail miserably for another. That's why it's important to stay flexible and to be willing to learn and try new way.

Hopefully these tips will help to keep you from pulling your hair out in frustration. Until next time, Reach For Your Dreams!

Amy Collins

The MLM Networking Mom

Some Excellent Resources For MLM and Network Marketing....

2008-01-07T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some excellent resources for your MLM and Network Marketing Business. I want to share them with you. It is not mandatory that you buy them and use them, but knowledge is power. Having a good understanding of the basics will enable you to produce positive results a lot faster. Some of the books can be borrowed from the local library, so your current financial situation does not need to keep from advancing your knowledge and ultimately your business.

Here are some great CD's available at www.brilliantexchange.com:

The Perfect Business? By Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad Poor Dad" books and other titles have sold over 26 million copies worldwide. In this CD "The Perfect Business", Robert applies his "Rich Dad" formula to show your prospects why Network Marketing could really be the perfect business for them.

"The Answer" by Brian Tracy

In "The Answer", your prospects will be enthralled and swayed as they listen to one of the greatest communicators of our time, Brian Tracy, give a logical, enthusiastic defense of the Network Marketing Industry.

"Start Smart, Finish Rich" by David Bach

In this CD, Financial Guru David Bach recommends strongly that people look into the Direct Selling Industry as a legitimate way to make money outside their day-jobs. This CD is devoted to overcoming the same objections that David Bach himself had at one time about the industry.

Here are some great books:

How to Make Big Money in Multi Level Marketing by David Roller

This book covers Network Marketing from top to bottom. How to Make Big Money in Network Marketing by David Roller has the best overview of Multilevel Marketing or Network Marketing of any book available.

MLM Nuts $ Bolts by Jan Ruhe

The number one selling how to book in Network Marketing. A must have for all Network Marketers around the world. It solid advice on how to run a MLM business based on the Author's personal experience.

Future Choice : Why Network Marketing May Be Your Best Career Move
by Michael S. Clouse, Kathie J. Anderson, Scott DeGarmo

Are you interested in presenting your Network Marketing business as a legitimate, smart career choice in a style that will interest all your prospects? Then Future Choice is the book you need to explain Network Marketing.

Rich Dad Poor Dad : What the Rich Teach Their ...by Robert T Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter

Argues that a good education and a secure job are not guarantees for financial success, and describes six guidelines for making money work for you.

Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men - One Message by Donald Trump, Robert T. Kiyosaki -

The two moguls explain why they feel that America is becoming a two-class society--part rich, part poor--and offer practical advice and strategies to help readers achieve financial security and success, with tips on real estate, starting a business, investing to win, what to do at different stages of life and experience, and more.

Are You On The Road To Success?

2008-01-05T18:50:00.000-05:00

You have found a great company, with great benefits, a great marketing site, and a great product/ service. That's great! So you started to make big money overnight right?

No? Why not?

Many network marketers expect instant success, they find a company that has all the right ingredients and don't understand why they aren't filthy rich overnight.

I often wonder why that is. Many of them are quick to start pointing fingers. I hear excuses all the time, often accusing the company or their sponsor of not helping them or that they were lied to. Honestly, I am tired of hearing the excuses.

So let's get a few things straight. We are in Net"WORK" Marketing. It is not Net"DO NOTHING" Marketing. You are not going to get anywhere by doing nothing. You can't jump in a car, set the cruise control, and take a nap. You need to keep your eyes on the road. There are bumps, curves, potholes, pedestrians and other drivers for you to look out for.

So let's talk about some of things that we need or that we can do to keep our car on the road to success.

Your WHY- This is the reason you are in network marketing. My husband is my why. I know that my husband's job is killing him, and if I don't get him out of there he's going to have serious health issues. My children are also my why, I want them to grow up having a dad. Your WHY is your main motivation to keep going.
Destination- This is vital to your success. This is your goal. You should have some short term goals (less than a year) and at least one long term goal (more than a year away). Think of your short term goals as your mile markers and your long term goal as your destination. IMPORTANT: as you achieve your goals you need to set new ones. This is what will keep you from stalling on your journey down the road of success. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO KNOW WHEN YOU GET THERE?
Vehicle- This is the system you are (or are not) using to propel your business down the road to success. Just like a real car, you need to do maintenance. You need to look at the dash board and when you notice that something isn't working right, fix it. And if fixing it still doesn't get you anywhere down the road, its time to start looking for a new one. NOTICE the vehicle is not your business. It is just the system you are using to work your business. There is a difference.
GPS System- Its like a map and a compass all in one. I like it because you can use it to see where you are and where you want to be. You can see the most direct road or path to get to your destination. If you start to veer off the road a bit, it can tell you so you can make minor adjustments to your course. If you completely drive off the road to success, you can find where you are and where you want to be, and find the new most direct path to your destination.
Driver- This is YOU. You are the one that has to drive the car (its not your sponsor or the company). You are in control of how slow or fast you drive down the road. If you are an alert and cautious driver, you will quickly recognize the signs of the car not working properly and signs that you are "off course", you can react quickly and your adjustments should be minor. If you are blindly driving down the road at high speeds, or you fall asleep with the cruise control on, you will not notice signs of problems quickly and your adjustments will have to be more sever.

Just remember that the road to success may change, but the destination does not. As long as you keep your eyes on the road and pay attention to your surroundings, you should be able to easily navigate your way down the road to success.

Happy Trails!

Marketing Yourself In Order to Build Your Network Marketing Team

2008-01-04T18:23:00.000-05:00

So you are trying to make a name for yourself in the MLM and Network Marketing Industry on a shoe string budget. The great news is that you can generate some pretty good buzz for FREE. That's right, you can start making a name for yourself for free, and I am going to tell you how.

Hopefully you have figured out what your gimmick or niche is. What is going to set you apart from the other network marketers online. Having this is what will attract people to you. That's right, we are going to let people that are already looking find you. How?

Search Engines: Okay, this is where blogging and article submissions is going to work for you. Learning how to maximize your blogs and articles to be on the first page of a search engine results page is key. Most people won't look beyond the first page of results. Choose your key words wisely and remember the more relevant your key words are, the higher the ranking.
My Space: It's a social networking website. This is awesome. You can put your story into your profile and start making friends with high profile members. Really wow people with your profile page- make it look really awesome. Have links to your other stuff: opt in pages, blogs, articles, marketing and sales sites. Put your name out there and start making friends. You will be amazed at how many people will reach out to you and how many will want to know more about what you are doing.
You Tube: Video Marketing. If you have the ability to make videos and post them on the internet, go for it. There is a huge following for You Tube so take advantage of it. Remember, we are selling YOU, not the business. People love to see and hear the person that is mentoring them. Make entertaining and informational videos to draw people in. Give out your opt in page information or your blog information, so they can find you.

There are people looking for help in their business, or to get into the network marketing business and the more places your name pops up, the more likely they will look at you. SO what are you waiting for, go out there and sell yourself!

Why My Network Marketing Business Almost Failed...

2008-01-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

Many people have made and are making fortunes in network marketing and MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) businesses. Usually only a small number of people make the big money, while 95% fail to achieve any measurable level of success! But why?

Network Marketing IS simple. It does not take rocket science to achieve success. It's just NOT easy to do.

Let me show you why it is so easy for so many to fail (this is my opinion of course)

The simplest explanation is usually the right one (a rough translation of Occam's Razor). I am going to use this theory to explain why more than 95% or more network marketers fail.

Are you ready?

What was the first thing that you were told to do? Go out and tell people. (I was told to tell 40 people within my first 2 weeks- did you have to fill out a list too?). Guess what, that FAILS 95% of the time.

Raise of hands, how many have heard that if you tell 100, at least 5 will join your business? My hand is up too.

Guess what? It didn't work for me.

Now, I'm not going to say this doesn't work, but I will say is that after six months of talking to people for hours every day this just didn't work for me.

Honestly, unless you're a natural born, confident, and charismatic sales leader going into the network marketing industry you'll probably have these same results.

Don't get me wrong some people are very good at talking to people and getting new clients, customers, and team members: BUT most aren't.

What about scripts? I tried that too. I used ones with a 20% conversion rate, and I still couldn't get a single one to join. Honestly, when you have 3 young boys wanting attention while you are talking to people on the phone, how can you NOT make it sound like you are reading from a script?

So what happens to most people after they've spent time and thousands of dollars on leads and advertising with no or very little success?

They get discouraged, they run out of money, they get tired of hearing NO and then...

They give up.

Hey, hearing NO all the time is bad for your self esteem, it gives you a lot of doubts about yourself and your network marketing company.

As I said before, most network marketer give up, and not surprisingly within the first 9 months.

The network marketer's perception of their business goes from one of opportunity to one of complete doubt and negativity.

Hey, what you think is what you are, so when the network marketer thinks that they and their network marketing business is a complete failure, a total waste of time, and a dead end, this becomes a reality to them.

Well, let me tell you. I did not want to be a statistic. I was and still am determined to make my network marketing business work. I believe in myself and in my network marketing business.

So something had to change. I changed my tactics. I am using a proven system, that can be used in ANY network marketing or MLM business. I have found a way to expose my business to more people in one day, than I can meet in a month. I have leads calling me, I make money even when people don't join my business.

I took control and I took action.

So what are YOU going to do?

What Network Marketing Business Is For Me?

2008-01-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Wow talk about a loaded question. There are so many Network Marketing and MLM businesses out there, its can be very hard to choose. Its hard to tell what ones are for real and which ones are fly by night operations (scams or poor planning). This is where you will have to do your homework. There are some KEY things that you want in a Network Marketing Business.

1) Residual Income (also called Passive Income) is income earned on an ongoing basis for effort done once in the past. Some examples include:

An insurance agent that gets commission when a customer renews their policy
A network marketing or direct sales rep's income from her direct customers when they reorder product every month.
A marketing consultant who creates a workbook and sells it in e-book format on the Internet

2)Leveraged Residual Income is the work of other people creating an income for you. Some examples of leveraged residual income include:

An e-book author selling her e-book through affiliates who promote the product
A network marketer who builds a downline and receives commissions on the sales made by people in his downline

3) Product/Service In Demand That People Are Willing To Pay For is what separates a lot of scams (Pyramid Schemes) from the good opportunities out there. If the company does not have a product or service that is in demand and that people are willing to pay for, then they are just taking you for a ride. Run away from these companies. Don't even give them the time of day.

4) Good Marketing And Sales Sites that will sell your product/service and that will sell your business opportunity for you. All that you need to do is send people to your sites and that should win them over for you. Remember, by the time people figure out what company or business you have, they have already "bought" you by opting into your list or lists. You have already cultivated a trusted relationship with them.

Just remember that you need to really believe in the business you're in. Passion and enthusiasm go a long way in the industry. Let people see how much you love what you are doing, they'll want to learn more.

Until next time,

Reach For Your Dreams

Amy

Don't Let Mistakes Stop You Dead In Your Tracks...

2007-12-31T20:12:00.000-05:00

So one of the key things in building your MLM or Network Marketing business is consistency. Well as you can tell from my archives I am still struggling with this. ADMIT YOUR MISTAKES AND LEARN FROM THEM!!! I must say that the holidays and seasonal colds and the flu have been running our household for a few weeks. I am sure that many of you can identify with that. I apologize for not posting more often.

SO what happens when you mess up? Well you can (and probably will) lose some of your leads and team members. Unfortunately not everyone is ready to step up and be a leader for themselves.

You can recover. Making mistakes will show people that you are human. Apologize, give a brief explanation and move on. Let others learn from your mistakes, something good can come out of the set back.

I am not saying that you have to go out and make mistakes to become more marketable, you're sabotaging whatever efforts you are making at establishing a trusting relationship. Now you can take the mistake and turn into a blog on "What Not to Do..." and go into your personal experience. Talk about why you did it in the first place- what mislead you into thinking it was a great idea to do it, what your expectations were and how they were not met.

Its not easy swallowing that lump in the throat and admitting to your mistake, but it will help you in the long run. Its better to ask for forgiveness than to lose credibility with your leads and team.

See you tomorrow...

Getting Started With SEO Article Writing

2007-12-27T23:18:00.000-05:00

Every day thousands of people are making money from search engine optimization article writing. Knowing the ins and outs of search engine optimization will give you the upper hand in the world of online network marketing- even without the help of pay-per-click ad campaigns. Read on to discover how you can make this generate income for your business.

Effective writing is a skill that not every one is born with. Luckily, it is a skill that can be learned. And with the right determination, passion, enthusiasm, and practice, you’ll be a great writer in no time.

Most writers are readers. They like to read a lot. They read everything they can get there hands on. They read every single word they see, even the tiniest of details- they have a thirst for knowledge, and crave for it.

Of course, it should go without saying that a writer writes. And they put their passion into it. Most people who try to become a great writer get frustrated after months of writing without seeing any considerable improvement in their writing. This shouldn't be the norm. The skill is slowly cultivated for some, and faster for others. But with the right kind of practice, you should get to your goal in no time.

Writing for web content and SEO does is not rocket science- you do not need a degree to understand the language of the game. One should just write the same way you speak with friends or co-workers; so your articles and blogs should have a very conversational tone with out jeopardizing it being an informative article.

Besides your article being informative, it should be entertaining your readers. Make it entertaining enough to keep them reading through the entire article. DO NOT make it so entertaining that you disappoint them when you don't meet their expectations. You can do this by having an eye catching headline, a powerful introduction, interesting text, and a very remarkable conclusion. Having all of this will ensure you that your readers will definitely remember your article and will most likely ask for more.

Always take the time to proof read your work. Remember, even the world's greatest writers have editors that read through their novels, books, stories, and the such to ensure that every typo, reference error, and link problems are removed and polished. As somebody who is just starting a career in the writing world, you should make it a habit to carefully proof read every single article that you write. You will be amazed at how many mistakes that you have made.

To help improve your Search Engine Ranking, your meta tags should be relevant to your article. Having the main keyword or keywords, in the title and in every paragraph will help to show relevancy. This is a very effective tip that will generate more traffic to your article.

The SEO world is an interesting and profitable world. And if writing is really your passion, then it should be even more interesting to you- never mind the income you’ll generate with writing your SEO articles. Be sure you use your resource box wisely. Have links to your web site or blog and a link to your lead capture page.

So My Sponsor is No Help to Me...

2007-12-26T13:14:00.000-05:00

Show of hands, how many of us have a good working relationship with our sponsors?

I am sure that there are very few hands in the air right now.

Mine is one of them (for a change).

In the past, my sponsors were always "too busy", just didn't care, or worse yet- complete idiots (having them around made it even harder for you to recruit). Let's face it for the most part, sponsors are no help at all.

So what are you going to do about it?

Well you basically have 2 options:

Quit: You can give up before you even start working. I do not care if you just joined or you have been in the biz for several months or even years. If you have to rely on your sponsor to get your business going, you need to quit. You obviously don't have what it takes. This is Net"work" Marketing, not ride your sponsor's coat tails, not sit back and do nothing marketing.
Step up: That's right, you'll need to step up and become the leader you want. The great thing about MLM and Network Marketing, is the huge amount of information available to you at the click of a button. Start learning about your business, the industry, and how to build strong teams that will multiply. You will find that people want leaders, and are drawn to them, your recruiting and retention will increase dramatically. Just do a Google search and you will find that there is a ton of experience and knowledge ready for you to learn.

So I am not here to encourage you to quit. I want to see Moms become successful and reach their dreams. SO I want you to step it up.

So it's not going to be easy. No one ever said it would be, every one has had "one of those days" You know when

you wish you could crawl back into bed and go back to sleep.

Yesterday was one for me. I had a headache. The boys were awake, my sponsor dropped off a ton of stuff for me to go through, and all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and pull the blanket up over my head.

My husband’s Mom woke up and started to take care of the boys. Thank God.

If I didn’t have so much to learn I would have slept all day. I went back to my room, closed the door, and plugged in the laptop so I could rest, and work at the same time. I spent many hours on my laptop yesterday, learning new things. It’s amazing everything that we are getting ready for the upcoming year. We are very excited.

I alternated work and naps (long lessons and a headache are not a good combination). Amazingly I made it thru 3 discs. I still managed to check on my emails and talk to my sponsor about the things to come.

All this with a migraine.

SO what’s the big deal? I was determined to get things accomplished. I could have just as easily gone back to bed and shut everything out for a whole day. I could have been a lump on a log. Anyone who has ever had a migraine would not blame me for doing it.

Without determination, you can’t succeed. We can give you encouragement, training, training tools and resources. We can show you how, but if you are not willing to do the work, you won’t succeed. We all have our bad days, we all have difficulties and problems.

We all have the same opportunity and we all have the same chances at making it big.

The ones that are determined are the ones that will make it. You need to visualize and work towards that dream. You need to be willing to learn new things and to change course in order to reach that dream. Because the dream doesn’t change, the way you get there does.

An Effective Email Campaign

2007-12-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

Now that you have a list of leads, what do you do? Simple, let them get to know you by starting an effective email campaign. This is a great way to start building a relationship and generating trust with your leads. So this is the part where you sell yourself to the leads. Remember, MLM and Network Marketing is not about recruiting, it is about relationships.

You'll want to email your leads at least once a day, no more than twice. This is going to build the relationship and establish trust quickly. This is your leads' opportunity to get to know you better, get a feel for your teaching and mentoring style. You need to be predictable so have set times that you mail people, let people see that you are reliable.

Your emails should be entertaining and informative- let the readers get to know the real you. No templates or scripts, you don't want them to think that you are a fake. Remember, they gave you their information expecting to be mentored and taught by you. You need to deliver the promise. You can have motivational/encouraging emails, but you need to be sure the bulk of them have actual substance that they can apply to their business. Remember that you want to keep them real, but it doesn't mean you can't write several at the same time, and keep them on file.

The first email of the day should be your longest (between 300 and 500 words). This is NOT where you push your business. You will lose leads if you push your business here. They came to you to learn, not to get recruited. You can tell them about a service or product that you use in the P.S. of your email- this will look more like you are sharing some of the secrets to your success and this can be another source of income for your business (affiliate programs, resale rights,...)- make sure it is a product/service that you use and stand by. You do not want to push something that you have never used before, or has not worked well for you .

After establishing a trusting relationship with your leads you can share your business with them- I recommend giving them a link to your marketing tool at the end of an email. DO NOT send out an email dedicated to pushing your business.

The second email of the day should be short, sweet, and simple (not more than 100 words). You can respond to a leads' question (if it can be answered quickly), give a motivational tidbit, share quotes of encouragement or wisdom. This is another place where it is okay to share products or services that you use, but stay away from pushing your business until you have established that trust.

As you can tell, email is vital to building the trusting relationship needed to convert your quality leads into new team members for your business. When email is used effectively with MLM and Network Marketing, you will see that your numbers will grow faster than you could ever imagine.

Generating Free Leads- Part 2: A Good Lead Capture Page

2007-12-19T08:55:00.000-05:00

Now that we have talked about blogging, let’s move onto the next step in building your business.

You need to create a very effective Lead Capture Page. This is the nitty gritty on how to design a Lead Capture Page that will help you to convert tons of free leads for your Network Marketing/ MLM business.

Headline - To start with you want to write an "attention grabbing" headline. Paint an emotionally charged picture in the prospects head. The best way to do that is to “Put The Promise” in the headline. The prospects start to imagine what your offer could do for them, or the pain they’ll go through if they decide to not opt-in for more information.

For example, all network marketers are interested in more information on how to get Free Leads, so you could simply promise more information on how to generate Free Leads effectively in exchange for their name, primary phone, and primary email address.

TIP: The more information a prospect needs to give you lowers the chances of getting bogus names and email addresses.

Offer- The stronger the offer, the better odds prospects will give you their information. As soon as they get to your site, you want to answer the prospects biggest question: “What’s in it For Me?” You can do that by giving them a High value Free Report, Video, Ebook, etc on the subject that they are interested about. You can give away all kinds of stuff as long as it’s good quality content and relevant. If the prospect arrived at your site because they searched for information on Lead generation, you should offer a bonus related to that.

Audio - Even better if you also have automatic Audio that starts to play when the prospects arrives at your Lead Capture Page. The reason is very simple- people are extremely busy these days, so you only have a few seconds to grab their attention, or they’ll move onto another offer. Another benefit of Audio is that it makes your Lead Capture Page more personal and unique, it lets you stand out from all the “masses” out there.

TIP: Video is nice, but it takes too long to load on many servers. You want to grab the prospects attention right away!

Sub Headers –The next thing you do on your Lead Capture Page is to list some of your best benefits. List some of the content, with out giving away your “secrets”, so you want your “bullet points” to be blind. You should also try to get your “bullet points” (same as the Headline) to grab their attention, list benefits they’ll receive, and foster a fear of loss. This will create a sense of urgency, causing them to react.

Two Opt In Boxes on the Lead Capture Page - The reason why you want to have two Opt In Boxes on your website, where your prospects can leave their information is that all people are different. Some people respond faster than others, so for the “Fast Responders” you want to have a Opt In Box at the top of your Lead Capture Page, not too far below the Headline. You want to have the Opt In Box high enough for your prospects to see as soon as they arrive at your site.

For the “Slow Responders”, who want more information, you’ll want to have a second Opt In Box further down on your website. So for those prospects you talk more about your offer and add a second Opt In Box.

TIP: Change the default option on the Auto-responder Button that says: Submit or Sign Up to something else like: “Show Me How To Get Free MLM Leads Now!” or “Click Here To Get Your Free Video Now! ”, “Sign up for your FREE Report”, “Yes, I Want To Know More”etc.

So creating a very effective Lead Capture page as described above, and becoming an expert on generating Free Leads will not only take your MLM/ Network Marketing business to the next level- you can very easily sell your own "Lead generation" information product to the millions of network marketers that have no idea on how to generate Free leads effectively.

Generating Free Leads Part 1- Blogging

2007-12-18T17:22:00.000-05:00

Many Stay At Home Moms (SAHM’s) get overwhelmed by the amount of information out there about Network Marketing. It is so easy to get boggled down by all the information and systems out there, that you can neglect your business. So I find the best thing is to get passive income and Free Traffic going then you can learn other ways to improve and grow your business. The great news is that it is not hard to do. So how do you do it?

Start out by writing a blog (online journal). It’s free at blogger.com and easy to do. This will be your “home base”, somewhere for people to get to know you, find out what you are about, and possibly what your business is (depending on the focus of your blog). You should post a blog everyday, with 300- 500 words each. Once you have set up your blog you can open a Google AdSense (or other PPC ) account and place advertising on your blog. Having a resource box on your blog with links to your lead capture page and/or your business Marketing tool. This will start generating Passive Income and generating Free Leads for your MLM or Network Marketing Business.

This is great, you have a blog and you have told your story- so now what do you write about? Simple, go to amazon.com and do a search on MLM and Network Marketing books. Look at the table of contents, and read the titles. Each title is a great topic to write about. You can write book reviews and profiles on the authors of the top sellers. You can also go to ezine articles.com and see what titles are getting the most traffic. Also looking in Networking Marketing and MLM forums will let you know what the hot topics and questions of the moment are.

Now you are ready to start generating some passive traffic. Take your blog posts and submit them as articles on the internet. Do a Google search for the top submission sites and submit your article to at least 10 sites. Article submission software is nice to have, but not a necessity. Make sure you have a link to your blog in the article. This is like leaving a calling card all over the internet, directing the people to your “home base”. The more people that you have visit your blog, the more chances of someone clicking on an ad or clicking a link to your lead capture page, or business marketing tool. This is a never ending cycle of passive income and generating free leads for your MLM or Network Marketing Business.