4 Steps To Becoming A Business Big Shot

Nothing will get you results more than activity and a mind set that if you keep at it long enough, you will make it huge.

We all see the big shots in our companies, and have been blown away by the salaries they are making. You have to understand that they all started from from the same spot you did. Sure, some people have bigger networks to start with than others, but here is the formula for your success:

1- Dream big and set goals. It takes no more energy to set a goal to make a million dollars a year than it does to make $100,000 dollars a year.

2- Remember- you can have or be anything you see anyone else have or do. We are all here on the same planet with the same resources to pull from. What you may lack in talent, you can make up with in heart and hard work.

3- Devise a plan of what activities you will do everyday to reach your goals. Don't let anything stop you. If you don't feel like doing it one day, suck it up and do it anyway. Get in the zone. Be relentless.

4- Last but not least, Never forget:

"The only difference between the big shot and the little shot is the big shot, was a little shot that just kept shooting. You can do it!!

How To Close The Sale

Before we get into the mechanics of the title, we first need to squash a couple of misconceptions popular in some Network Marketing circles.

The first one is- Close is not a dirty word! Yes we do close prospects when we are Network Marketers. I hear a lot of experienced marketers say "I don't close people" If you are selling memberships or signing people up to join your business, you most certainly do close people, and there is nothing in the world wrong with that.
The definition of close, courtesy of "The Free Online Dictionary"
Close- "To complete the final details or negotiations on: close a deal."

People close doors all the time. Detectives close cases, which means the mystery has been solved and the case does not need to be opened any more. It has been completed.

When we close prospects, they have completed their period of prospect status and are now joining our team in business. Isn't that a better place for your prospect to be? Of course it is.

The second one is this crazy notion that Network Marketing is not sales. People like to say silly things like "I am not in sales. I don't sell anything. I share information" Yeagh whatever. Keep telling yourself that, but do it at the risk of missing out on a lot of good information and training out there on how to become better at what we do everyday. That's selling. Go look in the mirror and repeat after me three times: "I am in Sales. I sell products and services." Remember- 3 times. Now wasn't that liberating?

Okay. Now that we got that out of the way, let's get into it.

First thing to remember: Although we are in sales, do not come off as Sales-ey, needy, pushy, or desperate at all. Ever. I was on the phone with a Network Marketer a couple of weeks ago who claims he's been in MLM for 13 years. He was trying to recruit me into his business for about 20 minutes. In the first 90 seconds he told me to hold on and then he started a recorded call with no warning that it was coming. He had me curious on how he was going to try to close me so I listened to the whole call anxiously awaiting for him to get back on the line. When he came back, he asked " So, what did you like best about what you heard?". I said, " Hey man, it sounds good. Really. But I'm not interested. I have a business." From there he went to straight up pushy mode. I started to ask him if that's how he always approaches prospects, but he kept trying to push his business on me. He was even bragging to me about how much money he was making. God Bless him if he is. I can't see how when he comes off as that desperate and pushy. Always be professional when you are representing your company. If you don't, it will come back to haunt you. I promise.

People like to buy, more than they like to be sold to. Always remember that. The secret to getting people to want to buy is to create a buying environment. The only way to know how to create the proper buying environment is to do a thorough assessment of your prospect to find out what problems they are currently facing, what needs they currently have, and what wants they have. Keep in mind, most people don't make it a habit of telling strangers things like that until they feel they can trust you. Once you have established trust, you can then start to explain how you can help them solve their problem, want, or need. You have to link your product or service to the specific things mentioned by your prospect though. If you did a proper job of linking the two together, ask if there are any other questions or concerns about the information you provided. If yes, answer them honestly. If no, ask for the sale. If at this point you receive an objection, find out what the problem is, address it, and ask for the sale.

Some people just have a problem pulling the trigger sometimes.

Last summer I needed a pair of new sneakers bad. I was out shopping with my wife one day when we stopped in a store and I saw a pair that caught my eye. I showed them to my wife. She told me that she liked them too. She told me to see if they had my size. They did. The price was also right in the range of money I was looking to spend. But for some reason, I told my wife to forget about it. I decided I would get a pair somewhere at another time. My wife Lori grabbed me by the arm as I was turning to leave and said "You need a pair of sneakers. You like these, they are the price you were looking to pay, they have your size and color, what are you waiting for? Just buy them. She was exactly right. There was no good reason to not just buy them. She closed me. Sometimes people need help making a buying decision. Remember this story because it will happen to you sooner or later.

There are a lot of different closing strategies and approaches. If you just remember to let the prospect do most of the talking, and you really sincerely listen, you will learn the skills to quickly decide which way you need to proceed. The more you do it, the better you will get.

My Flame Burned Out

This is dedicated to Sarah.


I turned my heat on today for the first time this Winter.
It's funny really. In my house, its like we have this game every year. I go as long as possible without turning the heat on. That is until of course my wife and son can't take it anymore in the house without it and they finally say- "That's it Dad. Give it up. You have to turn it on! So I know we've reached the point when its time.

Just like every other year, I got up off the couch and went to the thermostat. I slid the lever over to the "Heat On" position, and proceeded to set the desired temperature. Only this time unlike every other year, my wife called out to me from the other room "There's cold air coming out of the register!" I went over to where she was and she was right. Cold air. (I believed her.) Really. I just needed to verify that she wasn't suffering from a poor hand circulation condition or something.

I went down to the basement where the furnace lives and took the sheet metal cover off the side. I saw the blower there looking me in the face while hard at work. No problem there. I then took a quick glance at the filter. Nice and clean. Nothing wrong there. I then leaned in to look at the pilot flame. Bingo! There was no flame.

I then proceeded to follow the instructions for re-lighting the pilot. I shut off the main gas supply valve, turned the pilot valve to the "OFF" position, and turned the thermostat setting all the way down to the lowest setting. I waited a couple of minutes till I was sure all of the residual gas fumes had dissipated. I then turned the gas valve back on, put the pilot valve in the "Pilot Light" position, lit the pilot, turned the valve to the "On" position and set the thermostat back to the desired temperature setting. A little while later, Presto! Nice warm house.

Once this job was done, I needed a nap. Just kidding. Once this job was done, I started to reflect back on the whole process and noticed several similarities between the pilot in my furnace going out, and the pilot in some people's Network Marketing business going out.

When someone first turned us onto our Network Marketing business, we were shown the possibility and the vehicle to create wealth beyond anything we ever experienced, or in most cases, ever imagined for ourselves. Someone lit our pilot.

Once are pilot was lit, we were told to not be discouraged by the nay sayers and people who would have us believe that our new business is a pyramid scheme, ponsie scheme, or worse. We were taught to filter the fuel we would allow into our system.

We were also told to attend business meetings frequently, get on all of the training calls, read good motivational books, and listen to good tapes to make sure we were filling our lines and our minds with a good constant supply of clean, high octane fuel.

We were taught to set our thermostats for our desired results by setting long term goals. We were also told to keep our blower running and to perform the proper activities daily to help us propel our business forward.

What happens next is really a pretty common theme with most Network Marketers somewhere witin the first year of business. The pilot light gets smaller and smaller. For some it eventually goes out. Never to be lit again. So what happens to cause this? It could be a couple of different things.

For some it could be that they didn't believe that the bad, cheap, negative fuel of family and friends trying to discourage them from pursuing their dreams would clog up the filter and stop good clean oxygen from keeping the flame ignited.

For others, they may not have kept the blower running long enough by doing the daily business activities that always eventually delivers the warmth of the flame to all the registers of our lives.

Whatever the reason, did you properly troubleshoot the reason your light was dying and bring it back, or did you just let it burn out only to kill off whatever heat and energy you had generated to that point? Don't let your flame die. Keep your system running long enough to enjoy the heat of the fire of your desired setting. It takes a little while to heat a house and a life. Be patient. AS long as you keep your flame lit, it will come.

Getting The Mo Back!!

After watching my Eagles get beat today by the San Diego Chargers there is no doubt my boys seem to have lost their swagger. After suffering a disappointing loss in prime time to the Dallas Cowboys also last week, they now find themselves with an uncomfortable 5-4 record. For a team that started the season as the fastest team to put points on the board, they haven't scored in the first quarter in the last three games now. Fans all over the Delaware Valley are scratching their heads and wondering what happened.

This happens a lot in Network Marketing also. Once you lose the momentum, it is so hard to get it back. Why is it that at times it seems like no matter what you do, you can't seem to find anyone to buy your products or services, or join your biz, but other times it seems like no matter what you do, you can't screw things up? Of course if I had the answer to this, I would have the most successful business in the history of Capitalism. Here are some possibilities though:

We forget the fundamentals

Too often we start realizing a little success and we get cocky. We might start different, more advanced strategies that we think might will bring us greater results quicker but they do not. Then we turn to the latest and greatest new thing and decide to give that a try. Then something newer and shinier comes along and we give that a try. Before long we are so far from the things that were working that we don't even remember what they were.

We Fail To Plan

What is the old saying? "People don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan." I am by nature someone who does pretty well shooting from the hip. I am not a meticulous planner to say the least. But I have learned the importance to set daily and weekly goals and work them relentlessly until they are achieved. This is a must if you want to be successfull in this business.

Too Proud To Ask For Help

For some reason most guys won't ask for directions when they are lost and a lot of people won't ask for help in business when they are struggeling. If you are at a loss for why you are not having much success in your business, find someone with experience to take a look at things from an outside perspective. Often we are to close to the field of play too see what's going on in the corners. Don't be too proud to ask for help.

These things may seem a little simplistic, but the fundamentals usually are. Stick to the basics and you can't go wrong. Only when we have mastered blocking and tackling, should we move on to double reverses, wild cat formations and other advanced tricks. Keep it simple!!

I Will Do Today What Others Won't

What is it that motivates you to get out of bed and get into production mode?
There has to be something. I build my home business in Burlington County in Medford New Jersey and I find the hardest thing for me is getting started every single day.

I love my home business and I love operating it. Once I get started. Much like working out, doing homework, doing yard work, and a lot of other things in life it seems that the hardest part of getting going in my home business is started.

The way I motivate myself to get going is to read these words:

"I will do today what others won't
so I can have tomorrow what others don't"

How powerful!! How motivating!! That gets me going more than anything else. Try it. It might work for you.

Frank Donohue is a Network Marketer.
He builds his business from home in Burlington County New Jersey

Frank and Mike's Butt Ugly Success System

Start making serious money and working with a real team of coaches that will get you there!!

Check This out!!

I am trying with every ounce of my being to not start making my business blog a political ranting blog, but man- with everything going on, it's hard!!

I belong to a grass roots movement called "Americans For Prosperity" and I often get emails which describe some the Shananigens (nice Irish word on the day after St. Patty's day) coming up on the horizon by our lovely, generous, president and congress in Washington. (I know I didn't capitalize congress or president. They don't deserve it!)
For anyone who is paying attention to how our liberties and freedoms are being stripped from us, and who care about it, below is the latest email I just received from the founder of "Americans for Prosperity". Please read it, reflect on it, and leave me a comment at the bottom of it. I really really realy want to know if I'm the only idiot that is deeply troubled about what is going on. If you are troubled like me, join this movement! It's time to let our weazle politicians who are supposed to be working for us, not enslaving us, know that we are MAD AS HELL!! AND THAT WERE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!


Dear Frank,

Washington , D.C. right now is like one of those old fashioned records that scratched and so it keeps playing the same tune over and over.
President Obama and Speaker Pelosi slam through a $787 billion “stimulus” bill to “save the economy.” Then, they pass a $410 billion omnibus spending bill with 8,500 earmarks even though Obama campaigned on a promise to end earmarks.
Let your Senator Know that a Trillion Dollar Tax Hike Deserves Proper Debate on the Senate Floor
Call the Senate Switch Board at 202-224-3121
or Click here to Send Your Senator a Direct Message
Working with 465,000 Americans who signed on through NoStimulus.com we fought them every step of the way and came within 1 vote of victory in the Senate. We said the “stimulus” bill had waste and abuses in it and we were right more than even we knew.
Did you see the latest outrage?
These $165 million in bonuses to the people who ran AIG into the ground and have now taken over $130 billion in taxpayer bailout money – turns out someone slipped into the 1,000 page “stimulus” bill a provision allowing these bonuses to be paid even after our taxpayer bailout money was given to the company.
That’s what happens when they pass a 1,000 page $787 billion wasteful spending bill…especially when they pass it with no oversight and little study under pressure of politicians like President Obama and Speaker Pelosi.
But now we need to make sure your Senator is aware that we will be paying attention to the truly dangerous $3.6 trillion 2010 Obama budget. Some quick numbers:
Raises taxes by a net of $1.35 TRILLION in next decade – big increases in income taxes and the death tax comes back.
Adds an estimated $1.7 TRILLION in new debt just this year – the actual budget deficit will be an estimated 12% of our total GDP (gross domestic product).
Federal Government spending will account for 27.7% of our total economy. Think about it – the federal government will be spending more than $1 in every $4 spent in the American economy under the Obama budget.
Institutes an Enery Tax on energy totaling over $1 trillion. Gasoline will go up by at least 50%. Home energy costs will skyrocket. Food costs and consumer product costs will rise. This Energy Tax is hidden in a scheme called “Cap and Trade.” This “Cap and Trade” scheme will have the government rationing energy and thus driving up the costs of energy to consumers.
For more information on Obama’s “Cap and Trade” scheme click here:
http://www.americansforprosperity.org/022709-obamas-energy-tax
There’s more. President Obama is attempting to pass his “Cap and Trade” scheme with only 50 votes in the Senate instead of the 60 required for most legislation by using a Washington procedural trick called “reconciliation.” Click here for an article by Americans for Prosperity’s own Phil Kerpen that provides more details.
But the bottom line is simple. Unless we act now the Senate may very well use a procedural maneuver to pass this massive Energy Tax called “Cap and Trade” without proper debate and with only 50 votes instead of the 60 that should be required under Senate rules.
I’m asking you to call your Senator now at 202-224-3121 and demand that the Energy Tax vote on “Cap and Trade” be done without “reconciliation” – for a $1 trillion tax increase the Senate should have to have 60 votes instead of 50!
Click here to contact your Senator:
http://capwiz.com/americansforprosperity/issues/alert/?alertid=12951421&type=CO

That’s the message in a nutshell.
It’s hard to believe the assault our economic freedoms are under. In fact, it can get down right maddening.
But as Americans we can and must respond the way we do to every serious challenge to our freedom and prosperity – by standing up and fighting.
At Americans for Prosperity, that’s exactly what we are doing.
Tim
PS Again, I urge you to contact your Senators now and tell them that the vote on the $1 trillion Energy Tax called “Cap and Trade” must be made without “reconciliation” because the Senate should follow its rules and require 60 votes, not 50, for such a huge tax increase.
Contact your Senator by clicking here:
http://capwiz.com/americansforprosperity/issues/alert/?alertid=12951421&type=CO

If You Don't Stand For Anything, You'll Fall For Everything

I like others, have been conned into a business opportunity or two. Like most of my pod casts, and blog entries, I try to provide the new or prospective Network Marketer with information they should consider on business opportunities or ways to market products or recruit new associates. Network Marketing business opportunities like every thing else in this world come in many shapes, sizes, and with many different price tags attached.

Another thing about Network Marketing opportunities that have a lot of different flavors are all the different ways available to generate business for your new venture. This fact alone was just as attractive to me when I started in Network Marketing as the potential for financial independence.

That being said, there is a lot of confusion being created by all the different network marketers out there suggesting to new distributors where to spend their marketing time and sometimes money. This can lead to marketing information overload. I hope to clear up some of this confusion here.

Does marketing on Facebook or My Space work? Yeagh it does.
Does creating You Tube videos that lead to a blog, or website help to generate business? Yep.
Does placing free ads online work? Yes
Does Twitter marketing work? Yes.
Do lead capture pages lead to sign ups? Yes.
Does cold calling work? Yes.
Does working your warm market made up of your friends and family work? Yes.
Does door to door selling work? Yes.

Here's the deal sports fans:
Everyone of these methods work. If they didn't, you wouldn't hear about them anymore. Your upline wouldn't be telling you to go out and do them. If you don't make money in Network Marketing, neither does your sponsor, or their sponsor, and so on and so..,

Just as importantly as doing your homework before signing up with a business, you must sit down and take an inventory of your likes and dislikes to figure out where you should be investing the majority of your marketing time. For example, do you enjoy spending a lot of time on the computer chatting with different people? if so you might want to work FB or My Space for marketing. Are you a people person? If you are, you might choose to hold lunches to show people your business or cold call.
You get the point. Gear your marketing efforts as closely with your personality. Do what you like to do, and do it well. Too many people run around in circles and listen to the last person they heard and follow that marketing advice, and end up accomplishing very little or nothing.

The bottom line is all these methods work. Do some work better or quicker than others? Possibly. But more importantly, The results you get will ultimately be determined by the time and dedication you put into the methods you choose. Persistence is key. Find what you like to do and stick with it. Decide how much time everyday you have to dedicate to your marketing efforts and just do it. If you do the things today that others won't, you'll have tomorrow what others don't. Stand for something, or risk falling for everything.

Happy Birthday Lance Brown

I was going to take the day off today and soak in the beautiful East Coast weather we've been blessed with today, but I felt compelled to do a little something for a very dear friend of mine who I have had the good fortune to know on a deep level not only professionally, but spiritually. Today is the birthday of my very good friend and mentor Lance Brown. If you have not had the privilege to meet Lance, I suggest you add him as a friend immediately.

Every once in a blue moon, opportunity knocks at our door. Often our success in life can be measured by how many times we had the wisdom to be able to identify those opportunities and embrace them as our own. Opportunities also come in many categories. Not just monetary. They can come by way of people, places and things. For me, the most special are the people we meet and what we can learn from them. When I met Lance, I ceased an opportunity which has already paid dividends for me. I hope he feels the same way. Lance has a lot of knowledge of our industry. Better still, he as a willingness to share it with whoever asks! Lance you are a rare gem my brother. I wish you another year of success, health and happiness in all you do! Happy Birthday man!

The Ultimate Direct Seller

I've been spending an incredible amount of time the last couple of weeks with my Granddaughter. Since suffering a job elimination, it seems I have quickly become the designated Hailey baby sitter. It was like "Hey Dad, really sorry about your job. But hey- since you'll be home tomorrow anyway now, can you watch Hailey?" That was 2 weeks ago and probably 5 days of watching Hailey since. Of course I don't mind a bit.

I spend my days now watching "Ariel's Beginning", "Cars", "The Little Mermaid", "Sleeping Beauty", "Elmo" and "Ratatouille". As one of these movie's are on in the family room, I sneak into the dining room to make follow up calls.

Promptly at noon, I take Hailey up for her nap but not before having to read her about 3 books. The cool thing is some of her favorite books are mine too from back when I used to go through this same process with my son back when he was Hailey's age.

As I was reading "Green Eggs and Ham" (1 of our favorites) to Hailey today, The hidden meaning of the book hit me dead in the face like a 2 ton heavy thing!!! It was a true revelation! I must have read that book about 5000 times in my life. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. Just like The Beatles "White Album", or The Eagles "Hotel California" or any other example of media creation that exhibits an underlying meaning behind the obvious first layer, I believe Dr. Seuss has been trying to secretly communicate with, and guide children for as long as this time tested master piece has been around. Unlike some of the darker aforementioned examples of hidden messages, I think Dr. Seuss was secretly communicating for good. Are you ready to hear my theory? Read on:

When I opened my eyes to the truth today, and I mean really opened my eyes,
it became obviously clear that "The Cat in the Hat" was written to be used as a guide to children who just might pursue a career in MLM.

The story starts out (for those of you who grew up under a rock somewhere in the desert of Tierra Del Fuego, and are unfamiliar with this master piece) with "Sam I Am" holding up a sign identifying his name to his new prospect. Very quickly into the novel, Sam makes the first MLM mistake. He leads with his product.

I can picture Sam sitting in a business briefing for "The Acme Company" on the night he signed up as a distributor, being told how he will earn a 15% commission for every plate of green eggs and ham he's able to sell, and how he will get a 10% override for every new recruit he brings into the business. He is brewing with enthusiasm at the thought of financial independence! He will be free to just run around and do all the crazy things children's book characters do without ever having to worry about getting a job again. He was told by his upline leadership to go out and talk to as many of his creepy looking Dr. Seuss character friends that he can about the business opportunity. He was ready. He was dripping with ignorance on fire!! He figures he will start his prospecting with the dude in the book that has no name but looks a little like The Grinch who stole Christmas. I think they might be brothers.

Let me back up for one second. The first thing he did was run home, log onto his cartoon PC, open up a Face Book account, and barf on every one's wall he could find about green eggs and ham. Believe me I know. I just deleted him as a friend this afternoon.

Anyway, he did try very hard to market his product and for that he needs to be respected. He tried some benefit visualization strategies on the guy like asking him if he would like them here or there, he asked him if he would like them in a house, or with a mouse. He he even asked the guy if he would eat them in a box or with a fox. In my opnion, he should have never tried that last one without doing a 3 way call with his upline leadership.

His prospect was very adamant about not being interested in Sam's product. It wasn't until Sam, his prospect, a mouse, a fox and a goat, who were in a car riding on top of a train went off of a cliff and landed in the ocean on a boat that Sam was finally able to get his man. What a stud of an associate to have in your downline!!! The End

Before I finish this post, lets just quickly summarize some Do's and Dont's that the great Dr. Seuss was trying to teach all of us in the MLM business:

1- When looking for a business to join, DO find one where you really believe in the products or services. This will create conviction in your very being that people will easily feel which will create trust in you and your business.

2- Don't lead with your business. This cannot be emphasized enough. It sucks. Don't do it!

3- Be persistent. No doesn't mean no. No never means no. No means maybe, and maybe means yes. Therefore, the answer is never no. If you think in these terms when doing your marketing and prospecting, you will never have a problem with rejection again.

Stay tuned for my next post- The Subliminal Messages Behind "The Cat In The Hat"

Just kidding :)

fbomb428 Weekend Chilaxing!!!

Hey friends,

Not doing much blogging today. Just maxing and chillaxing in weekend mode. I'm playing around with twitter a little trying to make myself a little more familiar with it. A friend of mine turned me onto it recently. If you're not understanding the whole twitter thing yet, Stand By

Mike and I are going to be doing a very special podcast in the next several days with my good friend Julio Ricardo Varela, (Julito77) who is really building a huge following on Twitter. He is going to explain the power of viral marketing on Twitter, what to do, and what definitely not to do. You are not going to want to miss this one. I can't wait to interview him. It's gonna be quite an education. If you want to make sure you have access to the very special podcast, email me by clicking on the link to the right. Or you can sign in to follow this blog and get instant access.

If you already have a Twitter account set up, follow me at fbomb428. If not go get one. Let's have some fun!! Have a great weekend everyone.

Six Sigma for Network Marketing ?

What do you do if you are working your business and for some unknown reason not achieving the results you think you should be, or know you can? The problem for many is we don't have any real problem solving skills to help us establish a practical system for operating our business. Or if we have a system in place, we don't know how to identify where in our system something may be off track and need adjusting.

Corporate businesses do a pretty decent job in my opinion of taking their best and brightest and sending them out to formulate problem solving methodologies, that can be taught pretty easily, (duplication) and then implemented to help solve a wide array of problems from cutting unnecessary costs to improving and streamlining processes, to increase profitability.

Unfortunately, they do a pretty bad job (generally speaking) of sticking with one tool or program long enough to reap the benefits. Companies like people, have short attention spans and are eager to move on to the newest and shiniest fad on the market.

I have been trained in Six Sigma for 8 years now and find that the model is very helpful and can be used in almost any application you can think of. The reason for this is because every conceivable action in your life or work is in the basic sense a process. Anything you do, has process steps involved to achieve the desired outcome. For example, making a pot of coffee- you put a filter in the holder, add a specific amount of coffee, fill the water reservoir, and mash the on button. That is a process.

Six Sigma was designed to look at a process and improve it. There are different Six Sigma models of course. I would like to share with you the D.M.A.I.C. model to help you in your Network Marketing Business. The letters in this model represent the different steps in this problem solving tool.

Let's say for example, you have been working your business for 1 month now and have only recruited 1 person. You expected to have 3 people in your down line by now.

Phase 1. D=Define. Define your problem statement. In this example, it would look something like this:

In 1 month, I have only recruited 1 person.



Now we must establish a future goal for improvement. Make it realistic. and quantify it.


In March, I will recruit 2 people into my organization.



Phase 2. M=Measure.

Now we must measure as much as possible our previous results up till now. We want as much information as we can get. It would be very helpful if we kept some type of records as to how many people we offered our opportunity to in 1 month that only resulted in 1 new recruit. If not, I recommend you start this practice from now on. This will help you establish a ratio or percent that you can use as a benchmark for future improvement goals. Let's say for example you spoke to 10 people in 1 month and only got one. That means you only have a 10% success rate for this time period.

Phase 3. A=Analyze. This is the hardest part. Especially if you don't have some accurate data or stats to go back and look at. Going forward in your business, it would be helpful if you kept some type of log for you to track your daily business activity and the results of those activities.
For example, if you know that you have been devoting approximately 65% of your time focused on recruiting friends and family, 25% of your time placing ads online, and 10% of your time marketing on FB or another Social Network vehicle, now you can quickly identify where your efforts have been directed.

Although it's a little difficult in this simple example to make all the points that are worth mentioning on this subject, the next step would be to identify what outlet you found your 1 prospect through. If it was on FB, you might want to increase more of your time and efforts toward FB marketing. To find out where to cut some of your time and efforts, you want to probably cut from the vehicle which is sparking the least amount of activity. If you were able to speak to 4 potential prospects through Craig's List advertising, but were unable to recruit them, you probably want to either increase your efforts in this area or keep it the same for your first try at this. If you couldn't convince any friends and family to take a look at your opportunity, this is the obvious place to cut your efforts.

Phase 4. I=Improve The improve phase is the organization of the changes you intend to make to improve your outcome. Example would be- Friends and family recruiting- 25%, online advertising- 40%, and Social Networking Marketing- 35%. Based on your business time/effort analyses, this might not be a bad start to making your adjustments. Try this new model of activity for a specified period of time. (1-2 weeks should be sufficient) If things start to improve slightly, you may want to go back and adjust this model again to support your new results. If it gives you your desired outcome. Then you are on to the control phase.


Phase 5 C= Control When you find the appropriate breakdown of your maximum effort efficiency, it is important that you continue to work your business in this model. It is just important to maintain good records and frequently make sure that you aren't subtly regressing in your desired results. If you decide to try to improve your results, start the process over and monitor and control.

Although this is a very shallow simplistic look at Six Sigma, it is a nice structure to help you keep your business activities and the results you are getting documented and easy to see. It will also help you to develop some good disciplines to help you build your business and reach your goals quicker.

Did You Make Any Bad Decisions Today?

A buddy of mine told me a story a few years ago that changed the way I think. It's amazing how that happens. One simple story you hear on occasion, can create a paradigm shift in your life.

He told me of a job he used to have where he worked in a steel mill, with a few other guys who were challenged by the new owner of the shut down plant to reassemble the union and the workers and re-open the once failed facility, and make it profitable under new ownership. The new owner was very involved in the day to day operations when it first started up. (as you might expect) The new owner would frequently call into the plant from out of town to see how things were going. On this one occasion he called the Melt Department where my buddy Mark was working and Mark answered the phone.

The owner started the conversation by saying "Good morning Mark. How is everything?"
Mark replied- "Good Sir. Everything is fine"
Owner- "Great!! Tell me Mark, did you make any bad decisions today?"
Mark replied proudly- "No Sir!! Of course not!!"
What the owner said next was fascinating. "You didn't?! Well then you didn't make any good ones either!!" He then slammed the phone down and hung up on Mark.

Mark was obviously confused. What the owner was teaching Mark, was contrary to everything he and most of us all had been taught by authority our entire life. Don't make any mistakes, or bad decisions. In other words, Failure is unacceptable. Don't screw up no matter what you do!

Only this very successful businessman was teaching his young manager what he had already experienced in life and business. He was teaching him a valuable lesson that that had brought him to his present station in life.

The lesson is "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained." Without failures and mistakes, there is no wisdom or success. You can't have one without the other. This is tough to remember sometimes.
When you screw up or make a bad decision, try to embrace it. Make sure you figure out where you went wrong and learn the lesson. Make the adjustment and move on. Continue process until desired outcome is achieved.

The next afternoon, the phone rang in the chaotic Melt office again. Ironically, my buddy Mark answered. It was the owner again:

Mark- "Good afternoon, Melt Department"
Owner- "Mark! How are you?"
Mark- "Fine Sir. How are you?"
Owner- "I'm good Mark. Mark, tell me. did you make any bad decisions today?"
Mark proudly replied- "Yes Sir! I made a whole bunch of them!"

Mark learned the lesson.

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

2/24/09

Good evening all.
I just finally got the blog up and going and am really excited about the fun stuff I'm planning on putting up here and I hope you are as well. There is a wealth of knowledge out there in our industry and it's our job to find it and share it.

It has been written, (unfortunately, I can't remember where right now) and I paraphrase:

if you want to learn something, and I mean really want to learn something, (not just read it, memorize it, and take the final test and forget it, like I did all through school) you must

1- Read it, see it or hear it
2- Do it
3- Teach it.

This is the process of mastering any topic of your choosing. I have practiced this approach a lot of my career and it works. So let us now go out on our search for good, accurate, applicable information to learn, put into practice, and then share with our fellow Network Marketers so we can help each other reach our goals. See you all at the top!