The Secret - Law of Attraction

Paying attention to your thoughts can change your life.  If you dwell on negative things, you attract negative experiences to your life. If you dwell on positive things, you attract positive experiences to your life.

Failure Really is an Option

Have you failed lately? If you're not failing, you're not trying. If you haven't failed a lot in your life, you're probably not living up to your full potential.

Start your own failure club.

Warren Buffett on Network Marketing

Warren Buffett summarized the essence of network marketing in the foreward to The Pampered Chef, a book written by Doris Christopher, CEO of The Pampered Chef Ltd.

 -- Warren Buffet from the foreword to The Pampered Chef

I would challenge anyone on Wall Street to take $3,000 and do what Doris Christopher has done: build a business from scratch into a world-class organization. But follow the simple steps in this book, and it just might happen. Come see me in Omaha when you’ve put together your own recipe for success...

And that is why so many people choose to get involved in the network marketing industry. The possibilities are exciting. It's an opportunity that provides the vehicle to attain your dreams.

Could you achieve your dreams in traditional business? Maybe you can, but network marketing offers many advantages. The best companies provide what I like to call a plug-and-play business model. You simply follow the path of successful people who have gone before you, and emulate them. 

Fail Your Way to the Top - Sara Blakely

I watched an interview with Sara Blakely several years ago when she appeared on the The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC. She is the inventor of SPANX and it's earned her more than $1 billon and counting. You can read more about Sara's story here, or you can watch a clip from Diane Sawyer's recent feature story about Sara for ABC News:  Entrepreneur Shares Advice: ABCNEWS.COM - Youngest female self-made billionaire, Sarah Blakely, discusses her journey.

And here's a video from Forbes:

Einstein's Definition of Insanity

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I suspect we have all been guilty of insanity at some point in our lives, but if you're reading this it's obvious that you're at least considering the possibility of making some changes. Having an open mind is good. Taking action is even better.

Is playing the lottery going to lead you down the pathway to success? Is working 60 and 70 hour weeks and not spending time with your family the answer? If you keep relying on those things to get you where you want to go with you ever get there? Should you diversify your income by considering alternatives?

My father worked at Wal-Mart for many years. The company has changed a lot since those early days, but my dad often told me "life" stories about Sam Walton when I was younger. He told one about Mr. Walton's multiple bankruptcy filings many, many times. He told us others about his work as a clerk at J.C. Penney, dented cans, and his first attempts at retail "discounting".  In spite of these challenges, he became one of the wealthiest and most successful business men in history.

I've been there at various points in my life. I've been knocked down. I've been stepped on. But I kept getting back up and kept at it in spite of the pitfalls along the way.

I noticed that every time I got back up, it was a little easier and I went a little farther along the path before the next set back. Pretty soon, I realized that failure was actually propelling me forward. I became more and more determined to succeed. Failure is just another step in the process.

What's holding you back? How are you going to overcome it? Have you given up on your dreams?

Only you can answer.

Network Marketing Is Not Easy

Contrary to a lot of the marketing hype you receive via e-mail and see on the web, network marketing and multi-level marketing is not a get-rich-quick business opportunity. Like all worthwhile endeavors, earning income requires work. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Success in network marketing requires a career mindset just like a "day job".  When I started my career in finance, I started in an entry level position.  I had to learn the basics before I could advance to positions of higher reponsibility.  Likewise, I didn't start my network marketing career as an overnight success earning five figures a month.  Nobody does.  If you hear someone saying otherwise, it's most likely because they worked many years with another company and then started working a new opportunity with a new company. The overnight success with the new company most likely occurred because they built a large group of business partners in the original company and "transferred" those relationships to the new company.

Proficiency in network marketing can be compared to sports. When kids learn to play baseball, they start by playing catch in the backyard and progress from Tee Ball, to Pee Wee, to Little League, and on and on...In basketball, new players learn to dribble, shoot free throws, and progress to jump shots later on. It takes time to build the necessary skills. And just like in sports, playing in the Superbowl for the big payoff results from consistently doing the right things, at the right time, and repeating the process over and over again.

When I was new college graduate I went through sales training with one of the largest securities brokerage firms in the United States. One of the first pieces of information they impressed upon us was that sales are not normally made on the first, second, third, or even sixth contact.  Based on their research, the typical brokerage transaction takes seven contacts to close. It takes time to build relationships of trust and integrity.

Failure to approach network marketing with this mindset will likely lead to disappointment.

Why Network Marketing?

There are a variety of reasons people are interested in network marketing, direct sales, and multi-level marketing:

• Start a business
• Change careers
• Work from home 
• Improve quality of life
• Provide additional family income
• Buy products they like at wholesale prices
• Recommend products they like to others
• Receive personal recognition and encouragement

Network marketing has been around for more than 100-years. The industry was pioneered by J.R. Watkins’ company in 1868 and has changed tremendously since the 1950’s when two friends formed Amway in a western Michigan community and started selling their flagship L.O.C. (Liquid Organic Cleaner) product door-to-door.

Although network marketing is a low cost business opportunity with low barriers to entry (you can enroll as a distributor in most companies for $30-$40 or even less), you don’t earn any money until products are sold. Finding the right network marketing opportunity takes some foresight, marketing savvy, and finesse.