Most network marketing and direct sales companies have some minimum requirement that you need to buy to stay active.  How often you need to meet this minimum requirement varies by company.  It can be monthly, quarterly, or even yearly.  Companies that don’t trust you to remember have something called autoship.  Other companies just have some amount (measured by dollars or sometimes points) that you need to order monthly to stay qualified.  Why do companies have these requirements?  How can you make sure you stay active?

There are several reasons that companies have these requirements.  One is that when you sign up to represent the business, the company wants to make sure that you have an opportunity to learn as much about the products as possible.  By requiring you to purchase something within a certain time frame, they encourage you to try and/or consistently use their products.  After all, you should be a product of the product!  Generally you are getting these products at a discount.  If you are serious about the business, you won’t mind the minimum requirements.  If you are just in the business to get the discount, this quickly becomes apparent when you don’t meet your minimum requirements.

How often you are required to meet a minimum activity level determines the type of system you need to remind yourself.  If your company uses autoship, you really don’t have to do anything (except make sure there is enough money on your card to cover the purchase!).  The company will automatically send you whatever product(s) you decided to order when you signed up for autoship at the time you designated.  Autoship is nice since you don’t have to worry about remembering to place an order. It is not so nice in that you have to remember to change the autoship if you find you want to change what you order monthly and there is generally limited flexibility to change the time that the shipment takes place.

If you have a quarterly or yearly requirement, or if your company does not use autoship, you need to be a little more proactive.  Mark your calendar (with a reminder) when the order is due.  If there is no specific time in the month that the order has to go out, decide at the beginning of the month when you plan to order and put that date on your calendar.  Most of the time you can decide what you want and just hold it in a shopping cart until you are ready to order.  If you company has this capability, decide when you want at your leisure (maybe in the beginning of the month) and just leave it in the shopping cart.  That way, if you find yourself in a time crunch, you won’t have to rush and try to find something to order.

Whatever system you use, it is important to stay qualified in your organization.  If you don’t stay qualified you may risk losing commissions or your position in the company.  Take your business seriously and buy and use the products you represent!

Visit My Success Factors  http://mysuccessfactors.net

Many people that get involved in network marketing find themselves making a commitment when the first join to do x. X can be many things. Maybe they agreed to stay in the business for a certain amount of time, maybe they agreed to add a certain number of people to their business, maybe they agreed to contact a certain number of people, or maybe they agreed to buy a certain amount of product.  Whatever the x might be, it can be very dangerous (not to mention disappointing) to fashion your business around any of those commitments made.

Often commitments made at the beginning of a business are made with incomplete knowledge.  This incomplete knowledge can also come in many forms.  People often underestimate the time they will have available to work their business.  Sometimes their network marketing business is not given priority.  Maybe it turns out they don’t like the products.  Maybe they just forget to order. Sometimes they are resistant to the training and are not having the success they thought they would have.  They begin to doubt their abilities or the validity of their network marketing company.  Whatever the reason, their network marketing promises are either forgotten or unfulfilled.

Life being what it is, it is also impossible to predict when life events will interfere with plan.  Sickness, changes in financial status, and unexpected expenses are just a few of the things that will interfere with any business, but can be particularly harmful to a home-based network marketing business.

Network marketing is a team sport and requires the COMMITMENT of all its team members to benefit everyone on the team.  The more people on the team that chose not to participate, the more the entire team suffers. Network marketing is also an individual sport in that everyone owns their own business. As a leader, you really have very little leverage over anyone that decides not to follow their commitments.  Added to that, for many people, their network marketing business is just something “extra” that they do.  They are afraid to put in the effort that would be required to actually build a business that would support them. Getting them out of the “I can’t work my network marketing business because of X and X is why I need the extra money that I could earn from my network marketing business” can be challenging.

By communicating, providing training, and being available, you can keep as many people on track as possible, but recognizing that a certain number of people are not willing or are not able to honor their original commitment will save a lot of disappointment.

There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either in or out. There’s no such thing as a life in-between.

Pat Riley

(Former American National Basketball Association player and coach and the current team president of the Miami Heat)

One of the advantages of network marketing is the fact that you can work at home and work on your own time schedule. This fact is particularly useful if there are reasons that you have difficulty working a standard eight to five work day or have difficulty working in a “traditional” office setting.  People with attention deficit sometime fall into this category.  Often it is not that they can’t work under those circumstances, they would just prefer to be a little more flexible.

If you have been in network marketing any length of time, you might recognize that that you often find people with an abundance of energy in this business.  Of course, they do not all have diagnosed hyperactivity, but it is a personality trait that is very useful in the network marketing business.

Network marketing takes upbeat, positive energy.  Since a great deal of network marketing is dealing with people, it takes a lot of energy.  You have to be up most of the time.  You have to be able to keep yourself and your team motivated—and this sometimes means putting your energy in overdrive. Suddenly that trait that drove your teacher crazy is a great asset.  Take advantage of it!

Network marketing often changes.  This keeps someone with attention deficit from getting bored.  You don’t’ have to worry about anything being mundane for very long.  There are always new products to learn about, new training to listen to, and changes in the compensation plan, and new people in your company.  There is always sometime new to keep your attention-and you like it that way!

No one in your upline will think it is strange if you are very enthusiastic and talk 90 miles an hour.  In fact, they will like it.  Plus you can pace around your room while you are on the phone, no one will notice or care.  You can also pace around while you are listening to training, on a conference call, pretty much while you are doing anything.  (A web conference might be a little distracting, but luckily there probably wont’ be too many of those!)

Your network marketing business is exactly that—your business. You can run it anyway you want.  You can do it your pajamas.  You control your time.  If you want to work your business for 15 minutes or three hours, it is all okay!  Network marketing is a business that can use what may have been a problem for you into an opportunity with many of the necessary traits built in.

“Our success is a direct result of knowing how to market a brand and having the right people representing the brand “. Greg Norman

Multilevel marketing can offer you a chance to earn some extra money in time for the holidays (and beyond)!  With the holidays fast approaching, this may seem like a strange time to start a new business venture, but starting now can give you some great benefits not only for that shopping, but for building a new future for 2010.  Why wait until January 1 to make some changes for the better!

One of the easiest ways to build you business quickly this time of year is to find a company that has products that can be given as gifts. Everyone is looking for gift ideas, so being able to start you business and take care of some shopping at the same time as a lot of appeal.  (Don’t forget to make sure there are also great products after the holidays!)

Network marketers often hear the complaint that someone doesn’t have time to do anything else.  So, what will take more time—working your network marketing business or taking an extra job somewhere to get extra money for the holidays?  Keep in mind that working elsewhere including transportation back and forth, possibly eating out more often (since you will be busy going back and forth), not to mention you are probably not going to be able to pick your hours.  In fact, you may even be required to work on the holiday!  If you work at home, there is no back and forth time and expense, no extra meals, and you can certainly pick your hours.  Again, it is important to find a company with a system that matches your goals and time constraints.

What about after the holidays?  Are all the bills going to disappear?  What if you could keep working this business that you already started as a continual source of supplemental income?  What if you could even earn enough to make a different in your financial situation?  What if you like the products and had to buy them anyway (in other words, if there is a minimum amount of products that have to be purchased to stay active, they are products that you would buy anyway, so there is no additional strain on your budget)?

This could be the very best time to start your business, get some of your holiday shopping done, and get some great products for yourself.  Reach the life you deserve in 2010.  There is no better time to start your new business!

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Thomas Alva Edison

Most companies recognize the power of reward.  Stores offer free rewards for shopping in their store via a rewards card.  Credit card companies offer all kinds of rewards for using their credit card.  Consumers are responsive to the offer of rewards—that’s why so many companies use them.

Companies also know about rewards.  Many of them offer rewards to their employees for everything from sales quotas to making a specific deadline.  Companies also know that employees respond to rewards and are motivated to receive them.  Many companies even make sure that they give that award in a forum where the person is recognized publicly for their achievement, or offer group reward where everyone shares in the success.

So why not use rewards to motivate yourself?  If you are working for yourself, you can set you goals, work hard to get there, and then forget to reward yourself.  When you are setting up your goals, why wouldn’t you decide on a reward for yourself when you reach that goal?  The best part about setting your own reward is that you know it is something you will really want.

Getting to goal and rewarding yourself can be an important part of maintaining you momentum without getting burned out.  Just going for goal after goal, even when you are recognized by the company, can become tedious and tiring day after day.  The reward you decide for yourself doesn’t have to be money.  Maybe it is an afternoon off, maybe it is a movie, maybe even just a relaxing bubble bath.  Whatever the reward, make sure it matches the goal.  The bigger the goal you achieved, the bigger the reward!

Try adding rewards to your business.  If you want to add a level of accountability, find someone and tell them what reward you have chosen when you reach that specific goal.  Adding rewards will add a new level of motivation, but also a new level of fun.  Everyone loves to do what they want to do for a chance and the opportunity to give yourself that chance shouldn’t be passed up.  You work hard—reward yourself!

“Dr. Robin Rushlo”, is a well known MLM Radio personality and is nationally recognized as an expert in the network marketing business.He is the current host of the radio show, “Networking with the Blindguy”live daily from SEAD RADIO Network,providing Success and Retention Training for the network marketing industry brought to you at the Successful People Builders Network http://myshopandcompare.com and http://www.robintrushlo.com

If you have ever gotten a job, any job, you have a story to tell about how you got that job, how you came to be in that business, etc.  The same is true of multilevel marketing. Everyone has a story of how they got started, who told them about the business, and how their life has changed.  Sometimes your story is the only verbal contact you will have with someone, so you need to make it good!

While everyone may have a story, not everyone has mastered telling their story.  Sometimes we get so excited about our business, they we want to tell absolutely EVERYTHING about what this business has done for us and what the business can do for them.  Half an hour later our audience is either asleep, has put us on permanent hold (if we are on the phone), or is looking for a way to escape.  Some of us try to make the story too short.  “Well, a friend of mine called up one day and I signed up and it’s been great ever since!”  No too inspirational.

Your story should be short, but spark interest.  Your listener should want to hear more about your company (not necessarily about you), more about the products, and most importantly, how they can join you.  There are some things you can do to tell and effective and compelling story.

First, you need to practice.  If you have to, write down what you want to say and read it over.  Writing it down will force you think about what you want to say.  It will also give you a chance to really evaluate what you are saying and how you are saying it.  Practice in front of the mirror or, even better, videotape yourself.  Do you seem interested?  How long did it take? Did you mention all the essentials (your company’s name for example)?

Next, find someone to practice on.  This should be someone who can give you an honest critique of your story.  Someone in your organization is a good choice, but someone who may not have already heard your story would be good as well.  Have your upline listen as well and have them both give you feedback on the story.  Keep repeating this until you have a story that says what you want and you can tell it the way you want.

Your story is as important to your business as you business card, your website, or any other method you use to contact people.  Telling it wrong can destroy your chances and telling it right can inspire others to give it a try.

“The best leaders…almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols. Thomas J. Peters American Management Consultant, Author, Trainer

If you have ever gotten a job, any job, you have a story to tell about how you got that job, how you came to be in that business, etc.  The same is true of multilevel marketing. Everyone has a story of how they got started, who told them about the business, and how their life has changed.  Sometimes your story is the only verbal contact you will have with someone, so you need to make it good!

While everyone may have a story, not everyone has mastered telling their story.  Sometimes we get so excited about our business, they we want to tell absolutely EVERYTHING about what this business has done for us and what the business can do for them.  Half an hour later our audience is either asleep, has put us on permanent hold (if we are on the phone), or is looking for a way to escape.  Some of us try to make the story too short.  “Well, a friend of mine called up one day and I signed up and it’s been great ever since!”  No too inspirational.

Your story should be short, but spark interest.  Your listener should want to hear more about your company (not necessarily about you), more about the products, and most importantly, how they can join you.  There are some things you can do to tell and effective and compelling story.

First, you need to practice.  If you have to, write down what you want to say and read it over.  Writing it down will force you think about what you want to say.  It will also give you a chance to really evaluate what you are saying and how you are saying it.  Practice in front of the mirror or, even better, videotape yourself.  Do you seem interested?  How long did it take? Did you mention all the essentials (your company’s name for example)?

Next, find someone to practice on.  This should be someone who can give you an honest critique of your story.  Someone in your organization is a good choice, but someone who may not have already heard your story would be good as well.  Have your upline listen as well and have them both give you feedback on the story.  Keep repeating this until you have a story that says what you want and you can tell it the way you want.

Your story is as important to your business as you business card, your website, or any other method you use to contact people.  Telling it wrong can destroy your chances and telling it right can inspire others to give it a try.

“The best leaders…almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols. Thomas J. Peters American Management Consultant, Author, Trainer

http://itreallyworks.biz

contact me at  drblindguy@gmail.com

Do you find yourself with too much month at the end of the money?  Have you accumulated too much debt?  Do you have a child that needs money for college?  Do you have a shortfall in retirement account?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, what are you willing to sacrifice to make more money, pay off your debts, save for college, or retire with dignity?  The answer to that question is not easy and even if you are willing to sacrifice a lot, how to do you decide what to do?

What if you committed yourself to building a business?  What would like commitment look like?  The answer to these questions is different for everyone, but there are some important considerations.  The first consideration is how fast you need to take care of the issue.  Are you in desperate financial condition now or can you see that an income stream will be ending in the future?  Are you debts affecting your ability to get a loan or costing you a great deal in fees and interest?  How old are your kids?  How soon do you need to retire? The more urgent the problem, the more you may have to sacrifice to get things going quickly.  There is a direct correlation between the amount of time you spend on the business and the rate of growth.

Can you carve out the time consistently to work your business (as well as be somewhat flexible when opportunities may arise)?  Are you willing to sacrifice time with your family, your friends for a month, six months, a year?  Is that sacrifice worth the financial gain?  We all know money isn’t everything, but when money issues are so pressing that they are constantly occupying your thoughts and actions, they are already interfering with your life.  What is worth to you to not have those worries?

Finding a business that you can build with consistent effort takes some shopping around.  Ideally you want to work with someone that understands you financial goals and will help you achieve them. Find a company that offers you proven systems and assistance (in the form of training or other support).  Don’t be afraid to spell out what you are looking for over the next month, six months, or year in terms of income.  Find out of those are realistic financial goals with this particular company.

There are great opportunities out there but, like all investments, they do take a little homework.  Making the sacrifice of time and effort for a short time can pay off in your quality of life in the long run.  As Beverly Sills said “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”

We’ve all heard that lifelong readers do better at pretty much anything.  How important is reading?  Here are some interesting statistics associated with reading (from the website . http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp#literacystatistics.)

More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level—far below the level needed to earn a living wage.

56 percent of young people say they read more than 10 books a year, with middle school students reading the most. Some 70 percent of middle school students read more than 10 books a year, compared with only 49 percent of high school students

There are almost half a million words in our English Language – the largest language on earth, incidentally – but a third of all our writing is made up of only twenty-two words.

Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.

The educational careers of 25 to 40 percent of American children are imperiled because they don’t read well enough, quickly enough, or easily enough.

And more from http://desicritics.org/2007/10/27/053758.php

·         58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school

·         42% of college graduates never read another book

·         80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

·         70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years

·         57% of new books are not read to completion.

·         Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.

Why do we quit reading when it is one of the easiest ways to continue to educate ourselves?  Probably lots of reasons; time, a learning disability (although this is less of a reason with audio books), and we don’t see the value of continuing to read, but reading is an important way to learn.  Readers are more likely to advance in their jobs.

Don’t let yourself be another statistic!  Read a book (preferably nonfiction since reading fiction can be the equivalent to watching a soap opera on TV!).  If you don’t like reading, get audiobooks—there is a lot of downtime in the car and listening to CDs is an easy way to pass the time.  You will be surprised at how far reading can take you.  Knowledge is power!

Check with you leader or upline and ask what books they are reading today.

Remember Leaders Read. Suggested Books: Bible, The Go Giver, Go for No, The Greatest Networker in the World,  The Answer, Who Moved My Cheese

If you are involved in any kind of business that involves sponsoring or enrolling, you know that to effectively build your business at some point you need to get contacts—a lot of contacts, otherwise known as leads.  You can start with your friends and family, but those soon run out.  You can try to find your own leads (phonebook, your own website, etc.), but you are trying to sponsor or enroll people that may not be interested in your business (or any business for that matter).  If you do too much emailing to random people, you might even get accused of being a spammer!

Finding good leads and an effective system on how to use them can be very difficult.  You can do an internet search and you will find many companies that sell leads.  There is also a very large price range for individual leads—anywhere from pennies for each lead to $50 or more.  But how do you narrow down the choices to get the leads that will be interested in your business?  You need to ask some important questions when you are looking to buy leads.

The first question you need to ask is where the company is getting the leads.  Some have capture websites, some run television ads, and many other sources.  The best sources are where the person has at least expressed an interest in some kind of business.  The very best leads are people that have expressed an interest specifically in your kind of business.  Because those types of leads require the most effort on the part of the company, as you might expect, they can also be the most expensive.

Another important question is how old are the leads.  If the leads are too old, the information won’t be accurate, people may not be interested any more, they may not even remember ever signing up for information.  Some companies sell their leads to multiple people.

If you area paying a lot of money for leads, you should expect some guarantee from the company about the accuracy of the leads.  Some may even replace any leads you get that turn out to be inaccurate.

Before you go to the expense of purchasing leads, be sure you have a mechanism in place to use them.  This is usually in the form of an emailer program or a dialer program.  There are many of these programs available so, shop around.  Make sure you have the computing power for the system to work.  Trying to work the leads yourself by sending out individual emails or calling on the leads individually is inefficient.  No matter how much time you spend, you can’t get the volume you need to sort through the leads to find the ones that are really interested in working with you.

The final, and probably most important consideration is do you have the time to consistently follow up with the responses you get from people who are interested in your business.  If you don’t work consistently to follow up on your leads, you will lose most of them and you will waste potentially a great deal of money.

If you are in an MLM or network marketing company, work with you upline to develop a system to work your leads.  Sometimes you can even work leads as a group (and share the expense as well).

Leads and lead systems are an important component to building your business.  Take your time and make sure you know how to work your system before you start spending money on leads.  Also remember that when purchasing leads, you get what you pay for.

look around and see the leads you need http://itreallyworks.biz

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