Faithful Prayer

You are a Champion!

When it comes to our success in our Network Marketing Business and other endeavors in our life (especially our religion) we may not have enough faith. Some people get upset with us when we talk about faith and being positive or avoiding negative language, thoughts, and actions. We need to get realistic in their mind. Perhaps we should pray a prayer that exhibits their true faith regarding their business or life in general:

“Dear God, thank you for doing your best and trying to help me in this life. I know that things have been tough for you lately and that your adversary, the Devil, is powerful. However, I know you do the best you can to help me and perhaps you can do better next time. I will try again tomorrow too. When I pray to you tomorrow things will be better for you and perhaps you will be able to help me and answer my prayers someday…”

Now don’t get upset with my prayer because I’m just trying to match the words with our true faith. We don’t want to sound more positive than we really are. After all, we may have the kind of faith exhibited in the past by some of his followers who began to worship idols and things they made with their own hands because they trusted in themselves. The idols, in their mind, had more power to help them than did God. Why else would they have these idols or other gods when God told them he wanted no other gods before him? Perhaps that’s why some do not attend worship services because they can get farther in life working on their job when it comes time to worship.

It would be very hard to convince a lot of people (due to their level of faith) that the troubles of the day and even their blessings (daily bread) are enough. After all, we don’t want to worry so we trust in our government (health and retirement, etc.), in our jobs, value of the dollar, and many other things (except perhaps God). Perhaps there is some false trust in many things we might trust in? Think about the security you feel right now regarding these other institutions. Do you worry a lot about the future?

Just because we know how to pray a positive sounding prayer we can’t convince God that we are too positive because of how he sees our words, our thoughts, and our actions in life? As they say, “Actions speak louder than words.”

We see many examples in the scriptures about how to pray (I suspect you won’t see an example similar to the one I drafted above). Of course, one of the best known prayers is the Lord’s prayer (we also see a lot of instruction leading up to the prayer in Matthew 6) . Is Matthew 6, at verse 9, a positive prayer?

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.“

Perhaps this prayer is just a little too short for many of us (especially the part about give us this day our daily bread)?

” I’ve had some terrible times in my life, some of which actually happened.”  Mark Twain

Investments

You are a Champion!

No matter what your skill level you should be able to make a few hundred dollars extra working your Network Marketing business part-time. And so, what do you need to do with the extra income?

• Pay Debt (first)
• Save and Invest

Just like the government we can make decisions with our credit card(s) that don’t make sense and pay interest instead of paying the cards off each month. Our Company provides a great debt management system (free) to track spending and pay off debt.

Now let’s look at something that many people won’t consider–where to live in the country and the cost of living.

I was absolutely amazed listening to an author on C-Span Book Review talking about needing to take care of the rest of the country outside of places like New York, San Francisco, and San Diego (East and West Coast) where people go to live to make money (I guess I need to read his book). In other words, much of the middle of the country is a cultural and economic waste land and I am sure he has a lot of statistics to prove his point.

A book written by David Lereah called All Real Estate Is Local (2006) shows the median price of a home in major cities around the U.S. In the second quarter of 2006 we see the media price ($Thousands) for a few cities:

1. San Francisco, CA area $751.9

4. Honolulu, HI $640.0

5. San Diego, CA $613.1

7. New York-Wayne-White Plains, NY-NJ $549.2

Way down the list you will see, Tulsa, OK $135.0 (18% San Francisco)

Many of us have been to some of these other places and see how the average person lives and the cost/quality of the homes. Have you ever been to Tulsa, OK? On the South side of Downtown for many miles South you will see homes that would compare very favorably with Beverly Hills, CA (actually the mansions are probably bigger in T-town). This is duplicated in many parts of our country and the rest of the world (without name recognition). My wife and I live modestly in a 3,200 sq. ft. all brick home that’s been paid for a long time. When I see where many people live in some of these major cities I have to really wonder why they continue to live in that location spending a good deal of their time on the interstate highway, etc. Of course, the median income in many areas of the country (like the State of Oklahoma) would be far less. However, that doesn’t necessarily correlate too well to a “standard of living” or “quality of life.” I wouldn’t trade places with too many people in San Diego, CA despite their view, good weather, many attractions, and location. In many parts of the country a big income just doesn’t cut it.

When it comes to investments and particularly a standard of living (buying power) we need to compare apples-to-apples.

All Standards of Living are Local (relative) and I’m sure that’s true in Mexico too!

Investors should consider returns and/or passive income so I wouldn’t discourage Real Estate Investors from reviewing local areas on the East and West Coast to take advantage of inflated values and/or double digit returns (when that phenomenon occurs).

We should be careful how we think when it comes to investments. “When the Okies left Oklahoma and moved to California, they raised the average intelligence level in both states.” Will Rogers

Compensation

You are a Champion!

Are you correctly working the compensation plan?

A difficult challenge in Network Marketing is getting recruits to understand and work the compensation plan the way that it is designed. A person can study the various compensation plans used by the industry and some of them are complicated. We hear all the time comments like, “Our plan pays the best compensation in the industry.” That statement is often easy to check by looking at royalty or commission expense as a percentage to Net Sales (Industry Statement Studies). In fact, looking at the Big Picture (Income Statement) is the best way to check the truth of such statements.

Some companies in the industry would like to let you think that they are unique when it comes to their compensation plan and are paying more than other industry players. Without strong proof to the contrary I suggest you greatly discount those statements until proved wrong. Why?

1. As we said, the plans can be complicated so many companies “borrow” the relational database logic. It would be extremely risky for any start-up company to design their compensation plan logic because of the complication. Doing so could result in catastrophic failure of the plan (Distributor lawsuits) or the bankruptcy of the company. Be very concerned about a company that pays more than industry because you may work long and hard for residual income to find them in bankruptcy.
2. Why would a Company pay more than industry and why would they pay less? A Company that pays more than industry places their company in financial jeopardy. A Company that pays less than industry can’t properly recruit people to market their products. If a Company pays more pay close attention to the quality of their products, fixed costs, and their financial management.
3. Why would a company design a compensation plan that hasn’t been historically tested in the courts? Want to quickly find out that the Attorney General of your State thinks your new start-up company is a pyramid scheme? Design your own untested compensation plan.

As an example, let’s say that your compensation plan pays an override royalty and leadership bonuses with the top pin level being called Diamond (12 legs). Lets assume that a leg (Business Builder) is determined to pay you as a Sponsor $100 in override. Since that is the definition of a leg and the top compensation is the Diamond pin level (12 legs) what is your compensation objective? Get (12) legs that qualify at $100 dollars in override. An experienced sponsor (including the articles in this blog) can advise you on how to obtain that objective. How to build residual income, a lasting organization, that gets beyond frontline recruiting.

Otherwise, you are NOT working the compensation plan as it was designed to work! That’s a big NOT!

Let’s Get Real

You are a Champion!

Can we keep up with our self image? Perhaps we aren’t how we see our self or how others see us and keeping up our own self image is hurting our ability to do Network Marketing. Some of us are so sophisticated or so uptown or so whatever.

Let’s get real because many people are hurting and need Network Marketing to pay bills, get out of the rat race, etc. Perhaps we may even need to look at Network Marketing as a way out of the hole we’ve dug. We certainly can be our own worst enemy.

I recall some really nice looking professional ladies (professional commentators) and well known in the community. People recognized them if they were walking down the street. I guess from a professional point of view you would have to say they “had it all” in order to do Network Marketing in a big way (really tear this thing up). Later we heard that one of them wasn’t being successful in presenting the business opportunity because her self image was holding her back from even presenting the opportunity. In other words, she was probably ashamed to say she was in one of those things. Also, she had picked one of the top Distributors because they were the only ones that could present the opportunity (with serious income) at the level that would attract her sophisticated friends. Since this is a third party story (don’t know about the truth of the story) I am still presenting the story because it is exactly how a lot of Distributors think. If they aren’t part of the in group (rubbing shoulders with the top Distributors) they don’t want to do the business. They want to be great by association.

Unfortunately, the only real way to be great in Network Marketing is take the influence we have and go to work. We should thank God if we have serious influence because we certainly can use it to do the business and it may have little to do with our “pro” upline sponsor. We still have to talk to people and work when they aren’t around.

Now let’s talk about a comment we hear a lot in the business: “It’s easier to find new people or new blood than raise the dead.” This comment is often used by Upline Sponsors that feel their downline is not moving fast enough in the business (80/20 rule of time management). What if you went to your local grocery store and the clerk said, “Sorry we can’t sell you that loaf of bread today because you’re not a good enough customer. You don’t buy enough at our store to be considered a good customer.”

In my opinion, we need to get these comments totally out of our vocabulary and never let our downline know that we’ve ever had a thought like this in our head. They may think we are talking about them when we are not. Every customer is a VIP that may eventually introduce us to a very serious business builder!

No matter how hard we try to treat people right there will be customers who leave us and quit using the products.  How we respond when they leave says a lot about us.  Thank them for their business, and how much they have meant to us personally, and they are always welcome to come back.

Never write off anyone even mentally because they are your customer and extremely important!

“Always leave people with their dignity.”

Guard Your Heart!

You are a Champion!

Guarding our heart is a much broader subject than we might expect and is key to our success with people.

Why do I say guarding our heart instead of our tongue? I once had a smart businessman tell me, “Never show your face.” What he meant by that is that people can read my face. When I’m not happy or angry you can see it in my face. And so, I’m giving away my thoughts for free and it could even be a deal killer or come back to hurt me. That’s why I’ve called this article Guard Your Heart! Because I have a really hard time controlling my face and I’ve struggled with it forever.

I once had the President (female) of a midsized company tell me a story about a former VP. She was very smart, extremely well educated with multiple degrees, and had worked many positions in the company being groomed for the CEO position because the company was private and her father was the Chairman. Once upon a time she was the Controller and worked for the CFO. I suspect it wouldn’t be too easy having the owners daughter working for you. She found the CFO extremely difficult to work for and one day he said something he should never have said: “If you weren’t the owners daughter I would fire you right now.” Those were words that should have never been stated and one day her father said to the CFO, “You know that time you mentioned….that’s what I’m going to do to you today.”

The CFO’s fateful comment wasn’t a slip of the tongue it was a slip of the heart. Why would anyone say something so stupid to a person in a position of power? On the other hand, why would we say something so stupid to anyone unless we intend to do something about it?

Control your heart by asking these questions:

• How important is this issue to me and why am I expressing myself?
• What is the reason for my comment and what do I intend to accomplish with it?

If the reason is to tell someone off this is really a bad reason (up or down the ladder). If things aren’t good for you there are much better and smarter ways to deal with your situation. If the reason is just an annoyance, and not extremely consequential to our success, this too is a really bad reason.

I’ve listened to educated leaders (some that teach leadership) talk about getting things off their chest and clearing the air. Big Mistake! I suspect they can say this because they are the boss.

Everyday people all over the world have to deal with these types of issues because that’s the way this world works. And so, we need to learn how to deal effectively with people. Also, some people rationalize that they are doing something for the good of their company and if they don’t deal with it (say something) the ship will go down. Dear person, “Let the ship go down it’s not that important to you.” Bad situations will correct themselves (hopefully for the better) so quit worrying your heart with it. This is not saying that we avoid all our problems–it’s about how we deal with problems.

Dale Carnegie made this comment, “…I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument–and that is to avoid it.”

If we can control the way we think (guard our heart) we have a good chance to win in most any situation instead of making things worse.

Andy Andrews in his book Island of Saints talks about One Principle that frees the Human Spirit. He describes the fact that anger is our personal enemy and does more damage to each of us than our enemies. Our enemies go on their merry way because they aren’t impacted or do they even care about our anger. Most people don’t give us a second thought. There is no such a thing as Anger Management. We need to determine how we are not going to be an angry person and eliminate anger.

Guarding our heart is a work in progress and a life long endeavor.

Ready to Opt-Out?

You are a Champion!

In their book The Opt-Out Revolt, Lisa Mainiero, Ph.D and Sherry Sullivan, Ph.D have some interesting facts:

• According to the Center for Work-life Policy, high-achieving women who were expected to now be at the top of corporations are instead out of the workforce or working part-time. Of Harvard MBA graduates, only 38 percent of the women who graduated in 1981, 1985, and 1991 work full-time, and of Stanford University graduates, 57 percent of the women who graduated in 1981 have left the workforce.
• Married mothers are increasingly turning to part-time employment. A recent survey of Yale University women found that 60 percent of female undergraduates intend to cut back on their work or stop work entirely when they have children.
• Researchers at the Simmons School of Management found that while 89 percent of the 571 women surveyed reported that they believed advancement opportunities for women had improved in the last ten years, only 58 percent were satisfied with their own advancement opportunities and only 30 percent believed that women and men have equal advancement opportunities.

“…Many women get off the fast track when work doesn’t provide the fulfillment they expected. A recent survey showed that 17 percent of women left the workforce because their jobs were not satisfying or meaningful. Only 6 percent of women stopped work because the work itself was too demanding. Overall, understimulation and a lack of opportunity were most often cited as the reasons women left the workforce.

The reasons women leave the workforce are not always due to family needs. In our own survey, women mentioned a wide variety of reasons for opting out:

• A medical crisis
• Corporate downsizing
• Services no longer required
• Lack of challenge
• Gender discrimination
• Need to increase education
• Desire to travel and seek adventure

A Fortune-Yankelovich survey of three hundred career women, ages thirty-five to forty-nine, echoed these reasons. This survey uncovered a variety of additional reasons why women were considering leaving the corporate grind (some were considering more than one option).

• 45 percent were considering starting their own businesses
• 44 percent were thinking of changing their jobs in the same career field
• 35 percent were considering the possibility of changing their careers altogether
• 38 percent were contemplating going back to school
• 37 percent indicated the need for a sabbatical
• 33 percent were considering making a major change in their personal lives
• 31 percent were thinking of simply leaving their jobs and not working

For many women, therefore, this exodus may not be about motherhood but about a sense of dissatisfaction at work.”

Can’t you see from this information that a lot of women (and men) are simply existing in Corp. America and are looking for a change?  Are you one of them?

There are options…

Cut Above

You are a Champion!

If you want to have a lot of hits on your Website just write a post (include picture) called “Ground Zero.” I have exponentially more hits on one article I wrote (Ground Zero) than any other article I’ve written. Why? Make a list of all of the reasons that ground zero sticks out and is a “cut above” other key words (defining moments).

When a PhD writes a business book ask yourself (before picking up the book) how many times you will find the names: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Starbucks in the book. Also, ask yourself why the name Starbucks is more recognized than the name Howard Schultz (founder). Gates and Jobs are interchangeable with Microsoft and Apple because their names are recognized brands. How did this happen?

People don’t ask enough questions (right questions) when it comes to branding and business. What makes some businesses and brands a “cut above?”

Brands are fascinating to many people because we all have a different perspective about what creates a powerful brand. Our list of reasons will be very different because of our “frames of reference.”

One area I find interesting is the backgrounds of people that causes them to look at the very same issue in different ways. For example, my perspective about good and evil Corps. are completely different from some because of my accounting and business background I suppose. In my opinion, Corps. aren’t good or evil because they aren’t people. I will forever be amused at people who say things like, “Corps. don’t pay their fair share of taxes.” If you would like to pay more hidden taxes I suggest you lobby for Corps. to pay more taxes. That’s just one simple move on the Corp. chess board so why is this concept (people pay taxes) so hard for people to understand? Could it be our backgrounds and experiences are that different? Perhaps we even have totally different agendas in life and our viewpoint has nothing at all to do with our understanding? As you can see, different perspectives will cause each of us to lose sight of the real reasons that some people, places, and things are a “cut above.”

I’ll bet that people who have close relationships with Gates and Jobs see them much differently than people who see them from a far off! What is that old saying about familiarity?

And so, how do we create a “positive” brand recognition? Hitler has extreme brand recognition and most of us wouldn’t take all the money in the world to gain his brand recognition. Elvis Presley still has extreme brand recognition (died August 16, 1977 or 31 years ago).

Here’s my opinion regarding people who are a “cut above” everyone else (ignoring places and things).

Exceptionable People:

• Dream Big Dreams
• Have Laser Focus on Their Dreams

“I’ve lost heart or faith” should never be in our vocabulary. Guard your heart!

Pack Mentality

You are a Champion!

Trying to understand why people follow the leader?

I have long been fascinated with the reasons people follow other people (without getting a degree in Sociology or Psychology) because we all recognize the fact the some people are followed and we don’t have the vaguest reason as to why. We recognize the fact, that in a wolf pack, animals follow those stronger than themselves. However, as we can see in weak politicians and weak leaders, this is certainly only a factor with humans.

While I have read many books on leadership and understand some of the key principles (the reasons people follow) I continue to notice those I consider to be weak leaders followed (not just positional leaders).

What has this subject to do with Network Marketing? Everything! Network Marketing is a people business and we have to have followers in order to succeed in business.

I think that much of the answer may be external to the leader because of several studies on group conformity. Here is another link to an article by ABC: “Why Do People Follow the Crowd?”

Understanding this crowd behavior gives us some insight into why just a few people (examples) can have such a significant impact in the lives of so many people. Evidently, many people won’t think for themselves even when they may question group behavior. Perhaps there are aspects of group acceptance and security (fear). It’s not always about being right either.

Look at how differently many people (FLDS) view morality in the West Texas polygamist compound recently in the major news. While we may not agree with a minority about morality we would like to have an understanding of them.

The other day I was listening to a radio host and his logic was about as low (in my opinion) as I have ever heard. Yet, listening to him he was very forceful and positive about his message. His powerful demeanor came across even over the radio even though I found his “message” disgusting.

If we have a sincere message that we truly believe (strong convictions that are action based) I believe that others will hear and even follow. When others gain our conviction about the message they too will follow and our movement will gain momentum.

Inner War

You are a Champion!

Matthew 23: 12, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

The key that opens the door to Network Marketing, and other endeavors, is in the above verse and the verse before it in Matthew 23:11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.”

Did I find this key from just reading these verses in the Bible? No!

We can (and will) learn this lesson the hard way because everyone exalts himself when he shouldn’t and it turns people away from us (turns them off). We can have no religion or faith and learn this principle. In my opinion, those people who think too highly of themselves will eventually create their own demise and we learn this through observation.

Do we light up the room when we enter or when we leave?

As a kid we think if I can get my PhD I will be great or if I can play pro football or if I can earn a lot of money, etc. I will be great. In reality, we will be great when we learn humility. When we aren’t humble we look at everything wrong. Someone says something rude to us and our ego flares up. Instead of smiling (blowing it off) our mind comes to the rescue and returns a rude remark. When things don’t appear to be going our way we react with an ego (appears on our face) that says to everyone around us “stay away.” After all, we deserve better than we are getting at the moment!

We all know people that others want to be around and feel comfortable around. We are glad to see them coming down the road. Some other people put us in the wrong frame of mind just seeing them coming. Where can we hide to get away from this person or what can I say to excuse myself? If we get that kind of a reaction from people we must realize that we have lost our inner war. It’s up to us to regain control of our thoughts and learn a humble spirit.

How often we see people crash their career or business by letting their ego and pride take control.

It’s not an external war (fighting those around us) but an inner war that we must win so don’t become a victim of your inner being!

Raising the Bar

You are a Champion!

People love to make general statements about goals, achievement, planning, success, and “Raising the Bar.”

The first place to look at is where we are (do we like what we see?). Some would tell us to look forward (where we’re going) in building our plan but I’ve never seen any business start their planning process by looking forward. Even if they have no track record they don’t pull their business plan out of thin air. Planners look at the economy, industry, resources, competitors, etc. They begin by looking at history and the starting point (track record) and plan from that point on.

If the President of a company told us that this next year we will grow net sales by 50% over the current year (and we’ve been growing at 15%) the first question would be what are your assumptions. Surely the answer wouldn’t be: “I’m just raising the bar because we are in a recession.” We wouldn’t want that plan presented to the board of directors.

If we take a trip…the difference between hype and planning is looking realistically at the map and (if we have acquired a pilots license) understanding the type of plane and speed of the plane, the heading (compass), the contingencies (wind direction), the landmarks along the route, etc. These factors are very good indicators of when and how we will arrive at our destination. Good planning will help us arrive at our destination on time as planned.

If the President said, we will grow at 50% because we “plan” to acquire another company, etc. and had an aggressive (but reasonable) possibility to achieve the goals we would all feel a lot better and might decide it’s a reasonable plan. Good planning forces us to look at reality!

Understand how to raise the bar for your downline Business Builders and paint a picture that’s explainable and reasonable. People want the resources (tools) to succeed and be rewarded for their efforts. Anything worthwhile takes a lot of effort.

What are our resources, what is our purpose for doing the business, what is our experience, who are our contacts. Where we are and where we have been has a lot to say about where we are going!

Here is the link to a simple plan of action (fast track core training) for MLM Distributors.