How’s That Working For You?

I was thinking about many of the things that I have heard since I got involved with network marketing.  I have heard things at big “hotel meetings”, “annual rah-rah meetings”, conference calls, “business presentation meetings”, etc.

As I would think about some of the things that MLMs boast about as “GOOD”, the famous phrase used by “Dr. Phil” kept popping into my head.  “How’s that working for you?” As the different factoids kept popping into my head, I would hear the famous question, but with emphasis on different words.

For example,  I would see illustrations of what was touted as the best compensation plan in the industry (if my business grew to 15,000 associates).  HOW is that working for me? Then I would hear them talk about how great a deal it was that I only had to pay $25 per month for my back office and a corporate website that looked like 200,000 other associates website and order very expensive brochures and DVDs each month to promote my business.  How is THAT working for me? I also heard that my company had a huge  and beautiful corporate headquarters in a prestigious area of town.  How is that WORKING for me? I was told that I need to bring 5 or 10 people per week to a business presentation or do a business presentation for them at my home.  How is that working FOR me? Best of all, the “top money earner” would get in front of meetings and tell everyone the amount of his monthly residual check which was somewhere in the HIGH SIX FIGURES per MONTH!  Now I ask you, How is that working for ME?!

Let me now ask  the obvious.  Have YOU heard similar things from your MLM company??

How is that working for you??

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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When Your Downline Asks: How Much Do You Make?

In today’s society, a person’s finances are considered to be among the most private and protected subjects.  Many people are more willing to talk about the details of their love life than about money.  It is simply considered bad manners to ask people for details about their income or money.

There are some exceptions to this rule.  One of them is in network MLM marketing.  As new associates are brought into your business, one of the ways that they gage how well the business works is to ask how much money various people in your organization are making.  Many times on the front end, new prospects are shown a business presentation that includes a description of the “compensation plan”.  From that information, they MIGHT be able to make some guess-timations about what they can make in the business and possibly even set some goals.  Those of us that have been in MLM for many years know that those presentations of the compensation plan have little if any relationship to reality.  Your business and your downline’s business will have to function in the real world, not inside of a colorful PowerPoint presentation.  With dozens of types of compensation plans and literally hundreds of ways an individual business can build out, it can be virtually impossible for a new distributor to know how much they can or will make.  That means that the best way to learn about the money is to ask real people in the business about the money.

So, what do you say when your new associates ask: How much do YOU make ?? Don’t be caught off guard by this question.  It will happen.  If you are a newbie to the business yourself, then there is not a lot of pressure.  If you have only  been in the business for 3 months, you can’t be expected to make a lot of money or even have much of an idea how fast your income might grow.  In these cases, you might be able to defer the question to someone in your upline who has been in the business for a while.  However if you have been in the business for a year or longer, you better have a GOOD answer.  If your answer to the question, How much do YOU make? is not a good answer, then your new associates are going to be discouraged from the outset.  Let’s say that you have been in your business for a little over a year and you get the question.  Let’s say that your answer is $300 per month.  If I am your new recruit, I am not very impressed.  I would expect a solid network marketer that has been in a good business for over a year to be making more than that.  I might be comfortable with $1,000 per month.  If you had been in for 3 years, I would expect to hear something closer to $4,000 or $5,000 per month. If you had been in for over 5 years, you better say something in the neighborhood of $10,000 per month.  Otherwise, I am being told that for 5 year of hard work, I will not hit the money that I expected when I first saw the presentation of the “compensation plan”.  RIGHT!!

So be ready for this question.  It will come.  If you do not have a good answer, then maybe you are in the wrong business.

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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Duplication Is The Key!

Everyone in network marketing knows that there are a few basics that are essential to success.  A good company is certainly important.  Top notch products and/or services are critical.  But, what makes MLM such a great business model is the ability to grow a large team of people who can do exactly what you do. It doesn’t matter if you are a MASTER network marketer and have perfected all of the skills required to run a great business.  If the new people coming into your business cannot duplicate your perfection, your business can not grow and thrive.

That makes DUPLICATION the master key to any MLM business.  After all,  it is leveraging the work of others that gives the MLM business such power to generate income.  So, even if you have found the perfect company, with the perfect compensation plan, and products that are off the charts, your ability to make serious money is completely dependent on the ability of new associates being able to duplicate all of the things that you do to build a business.  Some companies achieve great duplication and associates can produce geometric growth in their business and income.  There are two things that determine what level of duplication is possible.  Those two things are 1. a simple teachable “system” and 2. good TRAINING. Good companies focus on these things.  Other companies think that training consists of your startup kit and learning as you go.  Make sure that you are with a company that provides great tools for training new associates.  Training is not something that is done in an hour or with one phone call.  Good training is a continuous system that teaches the system all the time.  It took me several years to figure out that a company selling one CD per month and having weekly meetings where the same 30 minute presentation of the business was done over and over does not qualify for a “good system”.  I finally found a group that has developed a training program that is so good, they offer it to anyone in any MLM business for FREE.  If you understand the importance of duplication and training, then we can help you, no matter what MLM business you are in.  Please visit us at:

http://cli.gs/9b8nrL

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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The Best MLM Company In The World!

OK, so you decided to get into network marketing. That’s fantastic!  Wouldn’t it be great if there were someone or some website or business directory that listed all of the MLM companies and objectively ranked them from first to worst?  Sort of like the business magazines that list the top 100 best companies to work for, or the 25 best cities to live in America.  Unfortunately with MLM companies it is not quite that simple.  But there is good news.  Whether you already have an MLM company or are looking for a good MLM company, there is a logical and objective way to analyze them based on some important criteria.  Obviously one of those criteria is the management of the company.  Who runs your MLM company and what kind of track record do they have?  Are they experienced in MLM? Ethical?  Those are things that you would like to know.  What about the products or services marketed by the company.  Are they truly excellent or just a mediocre knock off of 20 other companies?  What about there training and support?  Then there is the  BIG one…..the Compensation Plan!  These can be extremely difficult to analyze.  Compensation plans can vary dramatically.  If your company has a bad one, you could spend the next three years working your butt off for a $300 monthly income.  NOT GOOD!  Unfortunately a lot of MLM associates do not know this until they struggle through those three years and end up very frustrated.  Most MLM companies do not make it easy to get the information that you need to make a decision.  I strongly recommend looking into these things.  Whether you have been with a company for a while or you are considering signing up with a company, this is not a game, it is a serious business decision that WILL affect your life.  If you would like some assistance with analyzing a company, we can help you.  Just visit this site: http://cl.gs/J0ra87

 To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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Make A List Of 100 People That You Know.

In the last half of the Twentieth Century, the primary business building tool of multi-level marketing companies was “the list”.  Distributors were trained to make a list of at least 100 people that they knew.  This was considered a “warm market” list of friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and anyone else that you recognized by sight and could guess their name in less than 5 tries. These people would supposedly be receptive to listening to a business opportunity.  It was thought that a substantial business could be built from the list.  How good of a tool is “the list” today?  First consider that the list is made up of most of the people that you know.  If, your mom, your neighbor that throws beer cans in your yard, Uncle Dave the plumber and your best friend from high school are ALL sales and marketing professionals with great people skills, then your “list” is a golden path to riches.  However, if you live in the real world, you will be lucky to EVENTUALLY get 6 or 7 people, from that list of 100, to sign up in your business.  If you are even luckier, 1 or 2 of those 7 people might actually WORK the business a little. Am I saying that “the list” has NO value in the Twenty First Century?  Of course not.  You absolutely should make the list to find those 2 people who will actually work your business.  Then, leave the other 98 ALONE!  Today, a warm list should be the least of 10 or more methods to grow your business.  Today, business is GLOBAL and we have Web 2.0 technology.  So go ahead and make a list. Just don’t badger all of those people constantly.  There are much better methods utilizing technology and communication skills to build your business.  What you actually want to find are the people who are looking for you and your business opportunity.  There are over 6 billion people on this planet today.  Your job is to market yourself and your business in such a way that the people that would love to be in your business actually contact you.  That is the way to grow a large global business full of associates that WANT to be in the business and are dedicated to success.  Take the time to learn these skills and you will be much more successful, not to mention that your friends might start taking your calls again.

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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Frustrated With Your Network Marketing Business?

Are you frustrated with your MLM business?  Let me guess.  When you joined your business you were shown an “opportunity presentation” that said that your new company had the “best compensation plan in the industry”.  You were probably shown an illustration of how your downline would grow 3 getting 3 getting 3 until you had an organization of thousands of associates and a monthly income of $5,000 or $10,000 or maybe even $80,000.  Then you were told that the illustration was only an example and your results could vary.  You were probably told that the progression of 3 getting 3 or 5 getting 5 building to thousands of people was a “perfect world” situation, BUT what if only 10% of it happened for you.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra $500 per month or $8,000 per month. Does that sound familiar?  Sometimes they will even hedge all the way down to 1%.  The reason they do that is because the illustration is a “perfect world” example of 5 getting 5 getting 5.  In the real world, the progression will not even be close to the example.  With a lot of these compensation plans, you would be doing GREAT to get to the 10% mark. 

 There is a great way to cut to the chase with these compensation plans.  Ask the company how many associates they have that are currently making $10,000 per month or $80,000 per month.  Ask them what percentage of all associates in the business are making $5,000 per month or more.  Don’t fool yourself, they know the answer to these questions.  If they will not answer directly, or if the answer is less than 1% of all associates, then you have some perspective on the real deal.  If 99% of all associates don’t achieve the illustrated income level, what does that tell you? Also look at your own checks.  Are you making $5,000 per month after working hard for 2 or 3 years?  Are you even making $500?  After you pay your monthly website fee and purchase marketing DVDs and brochures, are you really making much money at all?  The good news is that there are companies out there that value there affiliates and provide a compensation plan where hard working, even part timers can make $5,000 or even $10,000 per month in a reasonable amount of time (like a year to 18 months).  But you have to know how to find those companies.  Frustrated?

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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Are You Interested In Network Marketing?

Are you interested in network marketing?  That’s great, but I do NOT want you in my business. What? Am I nuts? We are all looking for people who are interested in network marketing, RIGHT?  Wrong!  I am looking for people who are passionate about network marketing.  I am looking for people that are determined and will do whatever it takes to be successful in network marketing. I, for example, am interested in hydrogen fuel cells.  I am also interested in astronomy and golf.  I will occasionally watch golf for a while on T.V. or walk outside at night to look for a meteor shower if a big one makes the news.  I will also read an article about fuel cells in Popular Science.  However, I am not passionate about any of these things.  “Interested” means you “might” want more information. I don’t know about you, but I am way past that point with my business. I know that if I drag lukewarm people into my business, I will have to drag them every day.  No Sir!  BTDT, Got the T-shirt. I am looking for people who have an I’m gonna make it work or die trying attitude. I want people in my business that are motivated and excited about the business.  I am perfectly willing to coach, mentor, train, help and work with my business associates. But, I am not willing to push, drag, beg or do it for them.  SO, if you are interested in network marketing, there are some great books at the library that you can check out.  But, please stay away from my business. However, if you are passionate and excited and determined about building a huge business that makes a lot of money, then I would love to talk to you.

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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The $10,000 Question!!

Most people set goals when they start an MLM business.  The goals are usually something like how long it will take to make different levels of income, time to reach certain designated levels within the company, or how long it will take to replace their income.  I had done the same things.  However, I had a moment of clarity when I first heard the succinct question, “How many customers do you need to make $10,000 per month in residual income?”.  I must admit that as many times as I had looked at numbers, set goals and even made spreadsheets to analyze my MLM business, I did not know the answer to this simple question.  As I began to look for an answer from this perspective, I was a little shocked by what I discovered.  The answer turned out to be an alarmingly high 12,000 to 14,000 customers.  After a little time to recover my bearings, I spent some time looking into what was the answer to “The $10,000 Question” for other MLM companies.  I found out the average is around 2,000 customers and the range is anywhere from 250 to 15,000+.  My MLM company was actually on the HIGH end of the scale.  I got into MLM for  a couple of reasons.  Foremost, to make money. Secondly to help other people make money.  12,000 customers was an enormous number of customers to get in my business.  Also, could I expect the people who had joined my business to also try to build a business of 12,000 customers.  Not likely!  A lot of us are looking to eventually replace our income so that we have options in life.  $10,000 would qualify for income replacement for over 90% of Americans, but at what price?  If I only knew then what I know now, I might be retired. If you dare, ask yourself the $10,000 question.

To your great success!

Steven Jones

If you would like to learn more, please visit: http://www.cl.gs/DA2qzd

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Getting Started

This blog will be about my experiences in network marketing. I never paid much attention to MLMs before I was 40 years old. I always thought of those businesses as something that other people did and I just was not interested in them. However in 2006, it became evident to me, that worked properly, a good MLM business could produce a nice source of additional income. So I signed up. Since my formal education is in Business Management and I am a very analytical person, I have picked this business form apart and examined a lot of data. In this blog, I will share my personal experiences as well as some of the things that I have learned. I hope that some of what I can share will help others with their business. I look forward to sharing.