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There comes a time in every business owners life when they have to decide how badly they want to succeed in their chosen business. This is true of brick and mortar business as well as internet businesses and those using the MLM business platform. This time usually comes after the initial excitement of owning a business wears off and the daily grind of that business kicks in. In Network Marketing, this can come on suddenly and is most often seen when your excitement for your chosen company does not translate into excitement in those you present your products and business model to. After the third or fourth “no” in a row, you begin to doubt the decision you made. And, with such a low entry cost, dropping out (or at least “not working the business right now”) makes more sense than figuring out what is not working and how to make the business work for you. You convince yourself that you will continue to use the product and will talk to other people about it (when asked of course), but to really work the business is not for you. (At least not right now!) It is at this point when you choose. Do you see this down time as an excuse to say, “MLM just doesn’t work for me” or as a time to get serious? If you are looking at it as a time to get serious, here are a few keys you need to consider: What is your purpose for wanting to own your own business? What is the passion that drives you to that purpose? What are you willing to do (and not do) in living out your passion and fulfilling your purpose? In next week’s podcast we are going to look at the second aspect of this time of seriousness and consider the essentials of business success. Hope you will be back to hear part 2!

Over the past couple months, I have been taking a hard look at everything that I do in the world of business. One of the things that has become a passion to me is the way I have used Social Media in the development of all of my business efforts. I have been caught up what I am calling the "Social Media Billboard" model. What I mean by this is that I have used social media like an advertising billboard, putting information out there and hoping someone would call me as a result. There has been very little engagement, just advertising. Well, this is going to stop and stop right now! My goals have changed and my vision is now to stop making advertising my primary social media activity and to replace that with engagement. Actually talking to people (you know conversations) and letting us come to know, like, and trust each other. Then, if the circumstances are mutually beneficial, business will follow. This podcast deals with three things I think are important for all MLMers to know about engagement and social media. My hope is that it will make you think as it has me. As always, I appreciate your thoughts and comments!    Point 1 - Don't leap before you look - 5:35 Point 2 - Not everything you read or hear about social media is true or will work for you - 7:35 Point 3 - Success with social media requires a strong social media strategy - 11:04   I would love to hear from you! (Engagement) Any insight/comments would be appreciated!

I work around teens and young adults in my work in Pastoral ministry. Most of them (especially the young men) are very in tune to the video game world. They are engaged in online gaming as well as with friends and often just by themselves. One of the things that I hear them talk about often are the “cheat codes” that they obtain from various places that allow them to pass through levels of the game and get to the ultimate prize at the end. Now, not being a gamer, I don’t really know how hard these levels are that require cheat codes, but I know that they are talked about often and those with the codes are held in high esteem by those who don’t have them. Today I want to apply the same thought to your work in the Network Marketing arena. There are cheat codes, things that you can acquire that will help you pass through the levels of learning and reach the levels only seen by the very few (2-5% to be exact.) These codes though, unlike the gamers codes, do not allow you to skip levels of learning, but they do make those levels more manageable and easier to conquer than if you tried to work your way around this business model without them. I hope that they give you a leg up and that you can report back quickly about how you are advancing to the most lucrative levels your compensation plan has to offer. Here you go: Success requires effort - Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” So much of what is taught in this industry today is about how you can make boat loads of money without doing anything. That, my friend is simply not true. Success requires passion - Passion is defined as, “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.” If you have not chosen a product you are passionate about, an upline sponsor who inspires you to be better than you are, or a compensation plan that can produce the income you are looking for, your passion will wain quickly and you will either give up entirely or move on to another company where the grass looks greener. Success requires a plan - no one ever “just falls into success.” Forrest Gump maybe, but not anyone in real life. The old adage in all of business is: “those who fail to plan, plan to fail.” The question you have to answer is where do you want to be by the end of this year, in two years, and at your perfect place. From those ends, back up to your current place and decide wh

With the successful launch of MLM Agency Style behind us, it is time to outline exactly what you can expect as you join us on this amazing journey to become the new face of Network Marketing. At MLM Agency Style, we are attempting three things in particular: First, we are attempting to open the MLM business platform to those who are creatives. People who always ask the question “Why?” and whose desire for uniqueness within the platform is as important to them as how much money they make. Next, we are attempting to provide training that will allow these creatives a starting point to build their own unique “agency” styled businesses while allowing their own organizational leaders to do the same thing! The areas of training will include: Basic Business Training. No business will long survive unless its owners understand how money works, how to market both their products and their business offer, and how to create a business model that will thrive in good and not so good economic times. Development of the Entrepreneurial Mindset. Entrepreneurs understand things like hard work, delayed gratification, and a willingness to grow. Leadership training. It is not enough to be able to sponsor people, you must be able to lead your team to maintain consistency and growth. Basic Marketing Training. Understanding the constant changes in successful marketing helps each team leader build the strongest business possible by creating a constant flow of potential customers and business associates. Personal/Professional development. Continued business success requires continued personal/professional development. The more you grow personally and professionally the better you can help others grow into their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, thus strengthening their chances of business success. Training creatives is a tricky venture (as a matter of fact it has been likened to herding cats). So, there will likely be training coming from various angles as we move forward. However, it will always have these five essentials as its foundation. Finally, we are attempting to create a place for conversation, brainstorming, and personal/professional development. It will be a place for every creative to come, to feel safe, and to grow and expand their own skills to the fulfillment of their dreams for life, family, and their organizations. This place will be in the form of a members only section of the site. This area will be priced so that everyone who wants to c

As we have been dealing with a new look at a the greatest business model on the planet, we had determined that there are five ingredients that are absolutely essential to build it strong and stable. You must have people. These people are divided into two categories (1) customers and (2) agency partners. You must have products. If you don't have something to sell, you don't have a business. You must have the promise of help and training. If you bring a new agency partner into your agency, you must be willing to help/train them to be successful in their own right. You must have a desire for personal/professional growth. If you do not grow personally and professionally, you will never be able to expand your agency. You must expand your understanding of particular business knowledge. Understanding how to run a successful business is as important as anything else. Within these five ingredients we want to focus this episode on one aspect of ingredient #1 - Customers. There are five things that you need to be able to accomplish in order to build a strong and consistent customer base: Determine who you want to work with. Decide what benefit your product/service provides your preferred customer group. Do the research necessary to make sure your preferred customer group is large enough to make your efforts worthwhile. Do the appropriate follow-up that will allow you to build a strong referral based customer acquisition system. Diversify into new market segments as time and research warrants. When you consider these five, your customer base will be strong and consistent, growing as your satisfied customers refer you to their circle of influence! My advice to all agency styled MLM businesses is: Don't Forget the Customers!

In order to unleash the creative in you, you have to take some time each day to consider the creative opportunities available to you in you life. While you are taking this time each day remember three things: 1. Be honest with yourself. If you can't carry a tune in a bucket, a singing career is probably not in the cards. But maybe some other career in the music industry is. Don't let one barrier keep you from finding another way to the place you want to be. 2. Free yourself to imagine. For many people who have been compressed into the "reality" of life, imagining the possibilities is really tough at first. That's to be expected at first. Stay with it, do some research on those dream thoughts and imagine the possibilities! 3. Learn to discern. Once you begin to imagine, once your creative gene is kick-started, you have to be able to be discerning. We all only have 24 hours in a day and if you try to cram every possible dream into every day, it will simply overwhelm you and you will fall back into the settled peace of the mundane. Of all the dreams and creative thoughts you come up with decide which one's to pursue and in which order. Then focus and enjoy them all as time permits!! So today, I am giving you permission and encouraging you to return to the days when being creative and imaginative was considered normal and the right thing to do! What will happen when you unleash the creative in you, no body knows for sure. It will only become clear to you when you give it a try!!

I had the pleasure of sitting in a meeting recently with one of my clients. She was doing a presentation to a group of people in the area of her specialty. What she does is unimportant, but what I saw in her inspired me to write this article and challenge we creative entrepreneurs looking to grow our businesses to keep it simple. Keeping it simple means: 1. Don’t over think things. I remember hearing about Occam’s razor. This is a scientific principle that indicates that, “when faced with competing hypotheses that are equal in other respects, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.” In other words the easiest answer is most often the best answer. 2. Find a niche and master it. Being an expert in your chosen niche makes you more valuable to your clients/customers than if you are simply good at a lot of things. Most people can be good, but only experts are sought after. 3. Learn to honestly care for your customers/clients. When you have an honest concern for those who buy your products and services, you will treat them with the utmost respect and they will make you their sole supplier! There you have it! Entrepreneurial success, by just keeping it simple! Remember to #EnjoyTheJourney

I wrote an article a while back about why so many people fail at Network Marketing (95-98% don’t ever make a full time living). The answers I got back as comments were pretty typical. But the one that stood out the most was that those who fail don’t have a big enough “why.” This answer caused me to ask the question, “What is my why?” Why, out of all the business models available to me did I choose Network Marketing? Why, not real estate - I was really good at that! Why, not insurance - wait, I know why not insurance (I was really bad at cold calling!) Why not just Pastor a larger church that could pay a larger salary - Where I Pastor is God’s direction, not a career choice. So, why MLM? Why Network Marketing? To be absolutely honest the answer for me is “I don’t know why?” I just can’t get away from it: I think about it all day long. I think about it when I go to sleep. I think about it when I wake up. It makes my mind fill with all kinds of amazing ideas. It drives me crazy. I defend it at every turn. It is just part of who I am. Why? - I really don’t know, but what I do know is that I am in it to win it and no amount of disapproval, no amount of struggle, no amount of “other options” is going to move me from this point. I only feel that way about four things in life: My faith and its call on my life. My family and their place in my every thought. My business in and around the Network Marketing platform. The St. Louis Cardinals - the best team to ever play baseball! So, with all the talk about “the size of your why” I, again, fail miserably to bring the traditional MLM answer to light. For me it is the most creative and genuine way to build a solid legacy business and I don’t know what I would do if I could not have a place in the industry. How about you? I recently read that what we really need is not a “why” but a vision, fed by passion, that leads us to purpose. I like this phrase much better than “What’s your why!” These are my thoughts, but I would love to hear yours. Follow me on Facebook at MLM Agency Style, on Twitter @MLMAgencyStyle, on Google+ at MLM Agency Style, or visit the site (yes its true) also at MLMAgencyStyle.com. Share this with your friends so that we can get an amazing conversation going on this subject! Let’s talk and see if there isn’t a way to put a new face on the Network Marketing industry!

I am re-reading many of what I consider the “classics” of business books. These books are written in a way that even the non-business person can understand and act on their truths. One of my favorites among these is Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisite...

Last week we began talking about the development of your MLM agency. We talked about finding the right company/product, and not being moved off your mark once you find it. In the middle of these two ideas I said that to build a successful agency you must we careful to choose your team with care. This is what we are going to talk about in greater detail today. In a traditional business agency hiring the right team is critical to the overall success of the whole business. Making sure that people joining the team have unique skill sets that benefit the whole organization, have the same sense of purpose, and are committed to the same long term goals and successes. Without taking care in putting the team together an agency will struggle, battle discouragement and discontent, and find itself always looking for new team members as those most upset leave for “better offers.” In traditional Network Marketing, we are most often taught not to prejudge anyone. If a prospect is interested “sign em up.” Then you will see the cream rise to the top. The problem with this approach is that it takes huge amounts of time and energy to keep this kind of hodgepodge team together, let alone productive. More people will leave than ever stay, work hard, or succeed at any level. So, in order to build the most successful agency you can consider these five thoughts: 1. Recruit people with character and high moral standards. With this kind of recruit on your team you can rest assured that the best interests of the team will always be at the forefront. 2. Understand the uniqueness of each new team member. The traditional MLM view of new team members is that they are all the same and need to adjust to the franchise model rather than celebrating each one's uniqueness and helping them build the business that they can envision. 3. Train your recruits to accentuate their skills and learn to "outsource" their weaknesses. Too many times excellent business people fail at MLM because they are forced to work too hard in area where they are without skills or that they simply hate to do. If you are building a strong group, most of the "outsourcing" can be done within the confines of the group itself. 4. Use the talents of each team member to build the whole business. When everyone is being used for the benefit of the whole business the spirit of team takes over and the camaraderie, loyalty, and fellowship bind the team like nothing else can. 5. Build with the success of each grou