MLM Talk Online

By Michele Miller

It’s great working at home, being your own boss, but for some people it’s not what they expected.

I’ve heard several people say they get lonely and miss being around work associates; others find it hard to stay disciplined, or they just find working at home boring. I personally don’t find it to be any of those things myself and love working at home, but everybody’s different.

Some people are almost forced to work at home, such as disabled people, single moms that can’t afford daycare, or don’t want to put their children in daycare. For these people that didn’t necessarily choose a home career it can be quite depressing.

For those that chose to work at home, and don’t want to change that part of it, often times another problem arises. It can be called, “wearing all the hats syndrome”. Not only do you run a business and play manager, employee, billing clerk, sales person, inventory manager, etc., with a home business, you might find yourself cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, cooking meals, folding clothes, running errands, and paying bills, all during working hours. This problem tends to arise when there is no set work routine. It leaves one feeling overwhelmed on a daily basis.

To really enjoy a home business and keep yourself sane, it’s necessary to establish business hours and a routine.

It’s best to get dressed every day at a reasonable hour, otherwise you find the whole day’s gone and you’re still in your night clothes. It’s great to be able to do that, it’s just not good to do it. You can bet the doorbell will ring on the days you slack off on this one!

Give yourself a lunch break and try to eat healthy. It’s so easy working from home to walk by the fridge every thirty minutes and get a snack. Soon your body expects to be fed every couple of hours, just like a newborn. Not a good thing, especially when you start packing on the
pounds.

Try to get some fresh air every single day. It’s not good to get out of the house only once or twice a week. When you feel mentally happy and healthy, you will be able to stay sane with a home business.

Remember, working at home can be harder than working outside the home. It’s all up to you how your business turns out; it’s a lot of responsibility. So, try not to stress yourself unnecessarily.

Use phone time wisely. Enough said…

As far as housework goes, and all that other stuff that messes up your work day, I found something that works and may work for you. I get up and get showered and dressed and then I spend about an hour cleaning the house. I’m usually ready to sit down and start work around nine, but if it’s ten o’clock that’s fine too. Routine, routine, routine, is the key to being successful and staying sane in a home business.

Michele Miller is a home-based business owner and author of an Ebook about medical transcription. You can visit her website at: http://www.medical-transcription-at-home.com

Thanksgiving is over and the holiday season is upon us. As usual, there is too much to do and not enough time to do it. So, what’s the cure for the pre-holiday blues? Mary McDonald has some dandy ideas on her Solo Entrepreneur blog for you to try. I’m going for her last suggestion: Chocolate!

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Get your daily dose of inspiration here: http://mlmtalk.com

By Usa Johnson

Although network marketing is one of the simplest and quickest roads to personal and financial success, only 5 percent of those who make the journey reach their goals. What sets them apart? The same thing that will set you apart if you follow these key steps:

1. Know what you want.

What do you want in life? Wealth? Health? Happiness? Any and all can be yours - if you create a compelling enough vision of your future. This vision works like a magnet, moving you forward and keeping you going, even when you hit occasional walls. Walls are part of any business, network marketing included. It’s what you do to get up, over, around, and through them that matters. Really knowing what you want will move you beyond them each and every time.

2. Make a firm commitment.

Network marketing may be a unique business model, but like all businesses, it works only if you do. No matter what product or service you sell or what company you join, you need to be the engine that drives your success. Don’t be content to be a passenger. Remember: Action is commitment set in motion; motion builds momentum; momentum, over time, leads to success.

3. Follow the system.

Network marketing companies don’t just offer a product - they offer a system for delivering it to the public. In short, they’ve worked out all “policies and procedures” to a science, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or waste precious time and energy on the countless details that plague most business start-ups. The result? You (and everyone you bring into the organization) hit the ground running. Therefore, follow your company’s system EXACTLY. There’s no quicker way to success.

4. Love and use your product.

Enthusiasm sells products and begins with familiarity. That means knowing your company’s products (or services) inside and out. Use each over an extended period of time to gain firsthand experience of its benefits. Talk to others to learn how each bettered their lives as well. This deeper understanding enables you to talk more comfortably, authoritatively, and enthusiastically about your products and services with all you meet.

5. Work your upline.

Your sponsor is part teacher, part guide, part cheerleader, part friend. That’s a whole lot of parts! And when you put them together, you get an energetic, knowledgeable, and caring person who can get you where you want to go as directly as possible. Know, however, that your upline includes more than just your sponsor. Your sponsor’s sponsor (or even your sponsor’s sponsor’s sponsor) is someone with helpful tools and tips. Don’t be shy about giving him or her a quick phone call or dropping either an e-mail. Use them to expand your knowledge and reach.

6. Cultivate winners.

Build strong relationships with a significant number of the individuals you sponsor. Exactly how many is a significant number? It could be 10 to 20, or just two to three. The key is this: You don’t have to have a downline of thousands all giving 100 percent. All you need is a handful of folks who have “heard the calling” and respond body and soul. These are the distributors worth cultivating; they’re the true winners who will help you grow your business, so support them any way you can. As to the rest, if they’re reluctant to begin with, no amount of pushing or pulling will get them to change their minds or the way they do business.

7. Avoid cold calls.

When prospecting, always start with “familiar faces” - family, friends, acquaintances, etc. Because they know and respect you, the trust is there. Too, they often listen more intently and politely, allowing you the opportunity to fine-tune your approach. That’s invaluable experience, and it can help you quickly build the confidence you need to extend your circle.

8. Reject rejection.

Rejection may not be fun, but it’s not personal. That’s why it’s critical that you commit to not letting your fear of rejection stand in the way of your goals. One way to work through your fear is to literally list the reasons some folks wouldn’t be interested in network marketing in general and your company/product/service in particular. Next, prepare responses to each and every one of the objections. This act alone will bolster your confidence; too, your responses will help prospects move beyond their own limited beliefs.

9. Diversify.

Thanks to the Internet, teleconferencing, new and inexpensive printing processes, and the like, you can communicate with prospects not just across the street but around the world. Scary and overwhelming as this may be, it’s critical that you embrace these new ways of doing business and make them work for you. That said, never lose sight of the old stand-bys - home meetings and one-on-one contacts. Human contact is critical in network marketing, no matter what the product. There’s simply no substitution, so create a balance between old and new approaches to achieve maximum results.

10. Take care of yourself.

If you want to succeed in network marketing, you’ve got to give it your all. But that doesn’t mean you have to live and breathe the business 24 hours a day. You’ll quickly burn out, plus, you won’t enjoy the finer things in life - the very things you went into the business to experience. In short then, don’t put off to tomorrow what you can begin to enjoy today.

USA B. Johnson is the author of “Success Is Yours with Network Marketing: 10 Key Steps to Build Your Business,” which can be ordered through Amazon.com. Johnson, an independent distributor for a leading network marketing company www.usajohnson.com.

By Cheri Y. Sigmon

Here’s a “secret formula” for determining the “marginal net worth” or “lifetime value” of a customer. This is a powerful, major concept that not 1 in 100 business owners knows. I didn’t until about two years ago when I studied the works of the master marketer, Jay Abraham. I’ll put this in my own words and keep it brief.

The “Lifetime Value” or “marginal net worth” of a single customer is an actual number specific to your business. It’s VITAL to your success for two important reasons:

1. You have to KNOW where you are before you can determine precisely WHERE you’re going. You need a baseline number so you can effectively track results.

2. Until you KNOW EXACTLY what each new customer is worth to your business, you have no way of knowing HOW MUCH money you can spend in marketing to get that customer. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Take the time to calculate this! Master this simple but incredible concept, and you’ll have one of the least well-known tools in your marketing arsenal - and you’ll soon be chin-deep in cold, hard cash.

Step 1: First, determine certain figures for your own business. If you’re new - make a projection.

Q. What is your ‘average sale?’ (Add total dollar sales for a year, and divide that by the total number of sales transactions you completed, or expect to complete).

Q. How many times a year does an ‘average’ customer buy from you? (Take your total # of sales transactions for a year, & divide it by the total # of customers).

Q. For how many years does an average customer buy from you? (Remember, 20% of the population moves every year, so this is typically less than 5 yrs, depending upon the nature of your business.)

Q. How many people does your average customer tell about you? (A major factor). The most common average is between 3-12, but guess.

Q. What percentage of these people actually become your customers? (Usually between 20 to 70%).

STEP 2: Here’s the thing - the secret formula… WHAT EACH CUSTOMER IS WORTH TO YOU IN COLD HARD CASH!

Fill in the blanks below (using the numbers you calculated in Step 1, to find out precisely what each customer is actually worth to you right now.

A. Average Sale = __________

B. Number of Sales per year per customer =__________

C. Number of Years customer buys from you =_________

D. Number of Referrals from customer = __________

E. % of Referrals who become customers =__________

F. Gross Sales per year per customer (A x B) =__________

G. Gross Sales over life of customer (F x C) =_________

H. Referrals who become customers (D x E) =__________

I. Gross Sales from referrals (G x H) =__________

J.TOTAL VALUE of Satisfied Customer (G + I ) =__________________

Isn’t this dynamic and powerful information when you run the numbers? Trust me - it’s worth your time to sit down and figure this one out! I won’t do this for you, since each business will be different.

Plus, you get more benefit when you personally master the concept and do the math yourself. Try it - you’ll be astounded at the total “dollar” value of just ONE satisfied customer. I had vaguely ‘known’ it was high, but the numbers don’t lie.

Bottom line: From now on, when you feel even remotely discouraged or when a customer starts getting on your nerves (hey, it happens), just think about the value of ONE satisfied customer - and smile.

Cheri Sigmon is a full-time Internet & Network Marketer, living in the historic small town of York, SC USA. Cheri enjoys USANA, the Gourmet Coffee Club, & World Wide Web marketing.

Do you know one of the most powerful ways to motivate and retain your downline? No, it’s not free leads or a free website or even a powerful recruiting system. It’s something that’s easy to do, but is often overlooked in today’s fast-paced race to success. It’s recognition.

The simple act of recognizing what people are doing right and then taking the time to acknowledge their achievements and praising them for it is a very powerful motivator. So take some time to recognize your downline for the little things they are doing right today and you’ll soon be celebrating bigger achievements with them in the future.

Linda Locke
Get your daily dose of inspiration here: http://www.mlmtalk.com

Are you a little stuck on the pathway to business success? Well, here’s some great advice from Alexandria Brown on her Small Business Marketing blog about 3 ‘A-Ha’ Success Principles That Have Reshaped My Business that should grease the skids for you.

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Get your daily dose of inspiration here: http://www.mlmtalk.com

Here’s a helpful video from Rick Raddatz’s The Wednesday Minute blog about how using stories can help you sell your products or services.

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Get your daily dose of inspiration here: http://www.mlmtalk.com

Starting and building a business is never easy. There are all too many people who will tell you it can’t be done. Friends and family will try to persuade you to give up this madness and get a good, steady job with a regular paycheck. Prospects will turn you down, recruits will abandon you at the first sign of work, and a tiny commission check will make you want to quit. Don’t!

“But it’s too hard,” you say, “No one believes in what I’m trying to do, my friends and family think I’m crazy, I’m just not sure if I am up to it!”

When you have days like this - and you will — the one thing that will sustain you and keep you going is your Why. In other words, the reason that you stepped out of the long line of people following the regular path and started your own business in the first place. Maybe it’s because you want to stay home with your children, or that you want to finally get out of your dead-end job that pays you a pittance, or that you’d like to buy a home, or spend more time with your family, or to spend your day doing what you want to do. Whatever your Why is — it’s unique and special to you. Cherish it and honor it, because your Why is what will keep you going when all the obstacles seem stacked against you.

Succeeding in your own business is hard — after all, if it were so easy, everyone would be doing it. It takes a lot of energy, drive and passion to make it through the tough times on the road to success.

It’s like you were a rocket that has to expend tons of jet fuel to break free of the earth’s gravity. Your Why is your jet fuel that burns hot and bright within you. And once your orbit has been successfully achieved, you can look back and see that all the energy expended is worth it and your path is high and wide.

So, the next time you feel like you want to quit — just remember your Why and stay the course.

Linda Locke
Editor, MLMTalk
Get your daily dose of inspiration here: http://www.mlmtalk.com

Are you easily stopped by obstacles in your business path? Lots of people give up at the first sign of a roadblock to their goals. Here’s a helpful post by Bob Baker on his blog about how to cope with this problem in a creative way.

Meet Obstacles (and Go Around Them)

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Get your daily dose of inspiration here:
http://www.mlmtalk.com

by Jackie Ulmer

The holiday season can mean a real slow down for home-based business owners, but only if you let it! With a holiday plan for business and some organization, you can keep your business thriving, and propel yourself into the New Year!

Here’s how -

1. Do some follow up now with past contacts. Schedule a phone or face-to-face appointment to review your program or products.

2. Do you have a product or service that might be perfect for holiday gifts? Schedule some lunch time or afternoon showings for people to preview. Make gift suggestions and offer to gift wrap. Send out email greeting cards to remind people to buy from you!

3. Offer a discount coupon to anyone who refers a friend who also purchases between now and the first of the year.

4. Begin setting appointments now for January. Let people know that you realize they are busy and suggest a date in January.

5. Put yourself in power momentum by scheduling blocks of time daily for contacts and follow up. What is realistic each day? 5 of each? 10 of each? Set the pace and stick to it!

6. Go on a mission to pass out as many flyers and business cards as humanly possible over the next month. And you do, have a 30 second “commercial” ready that may appeal to what they need right now. Extra cash for the holidays? Convenient and secure online shopping with no crowds, hassles or parking?

7. Going to a lot of holiday parties and events? Use this time to meet as many people as you can. Ask lots of questions and collect business cards and email addresses. Ask each person if they mind if you keep in touch with them. If they begin asking you questions, be prepared with short, intriguing answers. If they show an interest, schedule a time to contact them in the next few days. Try to avoid saying too much about your business at the party. Schedule, schedule, schedule and then be sure to follow up!

8. Include a business card, flyer, post card or some bit of “shameless promotion” in your holiday cards and correspondence. Don’t send cards? Now you have a good reason to start! Check on that tax deduction!

9. Begin reviewing your past year’s goals and accomplishments. Where can you improve? In what ways can you push yourself on to bigger and better next year? Have your next year’s business plan concrete before January 1!

10. Keep your focus, remember CANI (constant and never ending improvement) and enjoy the season, knowing that you are doing and being the best you can be!

Jackie Ulmer, a veteran Network Marketer, has recently published an e-book on How to Build a Successful Network Marketing Business. She has coached and trained thousands of representatives. She can be reached through her web site at http://www.streetsmartwealth.com/