How Much Are You Worth?
Today, I was listening to a DVD by one of my favorite personal development gurus, Jim Rohn talking about value. He asked the question, “How much are YOU worth?’
Why do some people get paid $8 an hour, while others are given millions to perform their job? It has everything to do with value.
The amount of money you make is directly related to your
VALUE IN THE MARKETPLACE
People make minimum wage at a job because they don’t have much value to the market. I’m talking economic value only here. A person may be extremely valuable to society in other ways, as a parent, a son or daughter, or a church member, for example. But when talking about value to the marketplace, I am specifically talking about the skills you bring to the table.
On the other hand, a CEO who is bringing in BILLIONS of dollars to his company is paid MILLIONS per year.
Why? because of his value to the company.
That’s why I have always been adamant about EDUCATION AND TRAINING. There’s not better way I know of to increase your value to the marketplace.
Take the example of Network Marketing.
You have just started your Network Marketing business, having never done anything like it beforehand. Flash forward 3-6 months down the road, and you still haven’t made any money.
You haven’t made any money because your value to the marketplace is still very low.
Let me ask you this.
During those 3-6 months, what have you learned? What training have you received?
Here is what my wife and I did in our first 3 months after we started our Network Marketing home business.
We signed up for specialized training in Pay Per Click advertising. Then we signed up for specialized training in Social Marketing. We bought and read as many books as we could get our hands on. We purchased CDs and listened to them in our car on the way to work. We purchased DVDs and watched them over and over instead of watching TV.
In other words, we improved our knowledge 100 fold, and in the process we increased our value to the marketplace.
When we first sponsored someone in our business (and there were very few at first), we didn’t know much and had little more to offer our new members other than the training the company offered.
But now, months later and several training courses later, we can COACH our team with a high degree of certainty that we can help them make money in their business FASTER than we made money with ours.
Why? Because we know more.
And because we know more, we have attracted more new members to our team. Along with this has come a corresponding spike in our income. It’s been very obvious to us what has happened.
WE INCREASED OUR VALUE TO THE MARKETPLACE
And now? Now we have people calling us to join our team.
How has our life changed? Not much, because we are still on a mission to INCREASE our value to the marketplace.
We recently signed up for one on one training with some of the very top leaders in our industry, to learn the hidden secrets that only the most successful network marketers know.
Why would we do this if we are already making some serious money online?
Because we know that as our knowledge and value to the marketplace increases, so will our income.
To your success!
This is the business and the automated marketing system that I chose above all others
What Is Luck Anyway (and How Do I Get MORE)?
As many of you know, in addition to being a global internet business coach, I am also a scientist in New York City, where I work in a laboratory that specializes in infertility.
When I was first getting started in that line of work, back in the early 90’s, I was “lucky” enough to land a job as a Laboratory Director at one of the most prominant Infertility Programs in Boston.
It was my first real break, and many of my colleagues thought I was lucky.
You see, at the time I worked in another laboratory in an adjacent building, and had come to know many of the doctors in the Infertility Unit over the course of a couple of years. I was working as a Postdoctoral Fellow doing research at Harvard Medical School. I was preparing for my future.
As my Postdoctoral Fellowship was coming to an end, this particular position as Laboratory Director just happened to open up.
Luck, right?
I don’t think so, although it depends on your definition of luck.
Roy D. Chaplin, Jr, former CEO of American Motors, once said it best…
Luck is the Time When Preparation and Opportunity Meet
What a perfect definition. I was not “lucky” in the classic sense to have landed that job. I was preparing for that job for many years, doing research, learning skills, meeting people (networking), and “paying my dues”.
Then the opportunity came. Was I fortunate to be at the right place, just as I was looking for a job? Absolutely.
Was I lucky? Well, I was prepared when the opportunity presented itself.
There are 2 key components here.
First is preparation. In Network Marketing, that means learning your craft, honing your skills, and learning new and better ways to do things. Things like marketing, networking, closing sales, and phone skills. These skill all need to be developed and improved for success to occur.
Second is OPPORTUNITY. Knowing a good opportunity when it presents itself, and MOVING ON IT. I’ve seen so many qualified people come and go through the network marketing industry because they were unable to or unwilling to take advantage of an opportunity when it came about.
There is nothing more frustrating to watch.
I see it in people looking for a better way of life, looking to stop the madness of trading time for dollars with no freedom and no savings.
These are people that I KNOW could succeed in Network Marketing, yet they don’t move on an opportunity because they are paralyzed by either fear or procrastination.
You must be able to ACT on an opportunity. If you can’t act, then it doesn’t matter how prepared you are.
I was “lucky” to get that first Laboratory Director job back in the 90’s. And I am again “lucky” to be a successful Internet Marketer today.
And both times, luck came for the same reason.
Preparation met Opportunity, and I took advantage.
That, my friends, is the key to success in life.
To YOUR success!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Global Internet Business Coach
Cresskill, NJ; February 21, 2009
Why is the MLM Failure Rate so High?
Welcome to Day 8 of the “30 Tips in 30 Days Holiday Blog Special”.
Today’s post is about MLM and Network Marketing failure. Why?
Because at many points along the road to success in this industry, I can guarantee you one thing:
You will feel like quitting!
And it order for you to avoid becoming another MLM statistic, we need to arm you with some knowledge about why people quit. In tomorrow’s post, we will discuss what to do when you feel the urge to quit.
Here is the ugly truth in MLM:
Over 95% of MLM business ventures FAIL!
Why? Well, I had my own ideas but I decided to ask people in the industry what they thought the main reasons were for the high attrition rate. You can see all the results in my Squidoo lens.
Today I will talk about what I consider to be the top 3 reasons that people fail in Network Marketing.
REASON 1: UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
By far the biggest reason for people quitting network marketing is, paradoxically, their very high expectations of the kind of success they will have and the time it will take them to achieve it. People come into the industry thinking that it will be an easy way to make a lot of money. They start their business thinking that it will be only a matter of weeks, or months at the most, before they’ll start making the kind of money that will allow them to quit their current job.
The real truth? Unless you have prior networking or sales experience, it will take the normal person months, or even years before they start seeing the kind of results they are expecting. In fact, most successful network marketers failed at the first MLM business they started. And the second. In fact, for many of the top earners out there, there were quite a few failures before they finally learned how to be successful in network marketing.
Who is responsible for these unrealistic expectations? Sadly, most of it originates from all the hype you see out there. You’ve all seen the ads: “Easy Money”, “Make Huge Money Online”, and “Become Rich Online,” to name just a few.
Are these lies? No. There are definitely people out there who are making a lot of money online in network marketing. In fact, there are A LOT of people making big money.
But they are not generally the people who are starting out for the first time.
No, the ads are not lies. But they are misleading. At least in my opinion.
REASON #2: TREATING YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A HOBBY
This is your business. If you don’t treat it like a business, it will fail. It’s pretty much as simple as that.
What do I mean? I mean putting the time, energy, and money into your business that is necessary for you to see success. Let me give you an example.
This is how I treat my business. I have a full time job as a medical professional, and I have a successful network marketing business.
How do I do both?
- I work about 3 hours at night on my business after I come home from my job, at least 4 days a week.
- I work an average of 5-6 hours on my business on the days I am not working (except Sundays).
- I have put every cent I have made to this point BACK INTO MY BUSINESS to make it grow. I invest in myself by paying for additional training to acquire skills I will need to be even more successful.
You see a theme here? TIME and MONEY. That is how you “treat your business like a business”. I’ve never seen a new business thrive when someone spends a couple hours a week on it. And people who take their business profits and buy a big screen TV will soon be looking failure in the face.
There IS a time and a place for such behavior — after you’ve started making Big Money. But until then, put the time and money into your business on a consistent basis and you will see it grow.
Slowly at first, then faster, and even faster until, one day you’ll wake up and realize your are one of those “Network Marketing Success Stories” that you read about.
It can and will happen if you treat your business like a business.
REASON # 3: LACK OF SKILLS
If you are an auto mechanic, you need skills to fix cars. If you are a doctor, you need skills to fix people.
If you are a network marketer, you need to acquire the skills necessary to be successful.
What are these skills? I’m talking about communication skills, marketing skills, and networking skills. Skills like how to talk to a prospect, how to communicate and support your team members, and how to project yourself as a leader.
Not to mention marketing skills. Here, you need skills like copywriting, website design and development, and learning how to promote your business online and offline.
What I am getting at is that people starting a network marketing business often overlook the fact that you need to acquire skills to be successful, just as you would with any other occupation. Yes, network marketing IS AN OCCUPATION, although not in the traditional sense.
People get impatient because they want to run before they can walk. They get uncomfortable because, for most of us, change is uncomfortable.
But it’s imperative that you acquire these skills (or learn how to outsource them) in order to be successful as a network marketer.
There you have it. My 3 top reasons why 95% of people fail at network marketing.
Leave a comment and add some more!
Tomorrow we will arm you with some tools when YOU feel like quitting…. and you will!
Everyone does.
Until next time, be happy!
Bob
Learn how an automated marketing system can cut down your learning curve
30 Tips in 30 Days: Day 3 — When It Comes To Your Marketing Dollars, Spend Wisely
This is Day 3 of our 30 Tips in 30 Days Free Marketing Tips Series. Yesterday we talked about identifying your prospects. Today, we switch gears and talk about MONEY.
How you spend your marketing budget each month will go a long way in determining your success in the MLM/direct sales industry. And how you allocate your dollars when you are just starting out will be vastly different from how you spend your marketing dollars as become more experienced.
One of the most common and, I believe, most costly mistakes that newbies make in this industry is in how they spend their early marketing dollars.
After all, we want to make money, right? :-)
Most new network marketers get flack from their friends and family members about starting a home business, and the natural tendency is to want to prove them WRONG — as soon as possible!
So, the majority of people just starting out in network marketing make a BIG MISTAKE when it comes to allocating their marketing budget. What mistake am I talking about?
They BUY LEADS.
Now I am not totally against buying leads in the right circumstances. But now when starting out. Here’s the problem.
When they are new to the industry, most people have NO IDEA how to actually talk to a prospect. They don’t know what to say, how to say it, and how to avoid sounding like they are begging for a sale.
The result: People RUN from you.
They RUN and they HIDE. You start calling and leaving messages, people don’t show up for followup appointments. You call some more, and then frustration and doubt sets in. You seriously begin doubting your decision to join in the first place.
It is the first step in the cascading process that ends in network marketing failure.
But you need to have leads, right? You need to talk to people if you are going to make money. In the long run, absolutely. In the short term — NO!
It sounds paradoxical, but I believe the worst thing that can happen to a network marketing newbie is to have leads before they are ready.
So how do you get ready?
EDUCATION, my friends… and TRAINING.
Rosemary and I are both huge believers in EDUCATION.
It is the key to being successful in anything.
Just think about it. You wouldn’t try to be a doctor without going to medical school.
You wouldn’t try to fix cars without some kind of training first (well, some would, but that’s another story).
So what makes people think that sales and marketing is any different. If you have never had any training in these areas, you need to get some.
BEFORE you open your mouth to your prospects.
I know some people will disagree with this, but I truly believe that this is one of the major contributing factors to the very large drop off rate in this industry.
It’s fairly easy to start a home-based business. It’s not so easy to be successful.
The BOTTOM LINE!
How would I spend my initial marketing budget if I was just getting started in Network Marketing (and had no previous training)?
Lets say I had $1000 as an initial budget. Here is how I would spend it:
- $800 Marketing Education and Training
- $200 Start up Costs for Home Office, Supplies, and miscellaneous expenses
Notice I did not say ANYTHING about leads or prospects.
That’s because, if you have no prior sales or marketing experience, you’re not ready for them.
What kind of education would I suggest?
Check back tomorrow for Day 4 of the 30 Tips in 30 Days Holiday Special.
To your happiness! (because it’s the only thing that matters!),
Bob
See what business Dr. Clarke has chosen as his primary income stream!
If you have missed any of the previous posts in this series, simply go to the Business and Marketing Tips category in the right sidebar.
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