Another Day and Still Enthused

Month 5 – Wow how time flies

It is not that this business is not feasible, it is that you need to put time and effort into making it work. I am still trying to hire appointment setters but so far I have run into a wall. Three people have accepted the position but have not taken the time to actually make the calls to get salary in their pocket. I am not sure what the answer is at this point In time but I will use my creative juices to promote the job as telemarketing instead.

My downline is static right now and I need to make time to do the calls on my own. I am continuing to attend all meetings for the company as I know that is what keeps my enthusiasm going. So far the people that have signed as distributors with me are not working the business – the question is – do I work with them to get them going or just move on and say NEXT?

The advice I have been given – is NEXT and not waste my time working with people that cannot help themselves.

So my plans today include starting to find telemarketers and to try out scripts of my own and test them.

Day 121-125 Moving and Doing Business at the Same Time

I am currently studying and taking classes for a Green Belt certification, moving from my current home to a new location and doing business at the same time. How successful am I? Well that depends on which aspect I look at.

I was not able to take time to go to the Elite School for my business but will get all the feedback I need from my up line. I am hoping to attend the next time there is a school. I do have some people I am following up with in the evenings and may have to wait until next week to get in touch with them. This week I am in class from early to late.

I did hold a home party last evening and have two out of four attendees interested in the product at a minimum. Once again it is all in the follow-up!
I also was filmed for a testimonial for a friend’s website – fun to do but got tongue tied on occasion. Glad it did not take too much time to do.

I understand we are going to have the Master Distributor give a presentation in the Bay Area on March 6th – that will be excellent as I am feeling slightly out of the loop with my work schedule and moving locations.

The remainder of this week will be heads down to get moved even though I have a planned social event for a couple of hours tonight. Maybe they will………

Day 120 –When You Help Others You Help Yourself

The Sky Diving Networking Mixer was a small group of people and an intimate gathering. The big plus is that you got to connect with others on a deeper level. If the group is small, then you will definitely have an advantage over the larger events.

In my case, I was able to connect with 3 possible distributors/customers. I have follow-up with 2 so far and one has given me her home phone number and email address so she can order product. I will call her on Saturday morning to take the order. I am also helping her with her weight loss issue.

I love to help others!

The one other person is connected to me in the fact that I won sky-diving time and she desperately wanted to go. I am not interested in it, I offered it to my husband and we agreed to give it to her. It has created an “obligation” to look at our products and opportunity. I will be calling her on Monday for sure when she gets back from a short vacation to Tahoe.

The third person gave me a phone number I cannot read and need to get it from the mixer sponsor. I will also call her on Monday.

Today I get to do some of my volunteer work with the You’re My Hero project. It is an hour’s drive south but will be well worth my while to go there. Volunteer work helps me to connect to the world at a different level, help others and makes everyone feel great.

Day 116 to 119 –What Would Happen if I did nothing?

My job is keeping me busy for 12 to 14 hours per day. Not that this is a bad thing, it is the swing of business – especially when the economy is starting to turn around. It has left me, however, with the inability to work much on the business. I did not say stop working on the business, I simply stated work much. As a result of interaction slow down with connections, the emails coming through to me are minimal as well.

So what would happen if I stopped altogether – the answer is absolutely nothing! If you do not put in the effort, you will not get anything as a result. So I am finding ways to keep my sanity, connect and get out there is any way I can with the limited resources of time right now. Did I mention that I am also moving my home? That eats away at my time as well – this is not an excuse, but a fact of life.

So what can I do to make this business worthwhile and build it? I still attend networking events! I follow-up with the cards I exchange with others and on occasion, someone actually emails me back and sya they have passed on the information to their friends! Just keep going and keep promoting, eventually people will join you!

The firefighter I met with last weekend ahs now passed on the site information to his Medic at the station. I am looing for a study on Hep C to help others there as well.

Tonight I am at another networking event so hopefully I will gain some more connections there. (We are indoor skydiving!).

Day 110/111 – Writing the Right Script

Yesterday was the time to make sure the script for cold calling was fine tuned. I had three people help me to make changes to the verbage. As a result, I am still fine tuning. I hope to have the final version completed so that calls will start happening on Monday Feb 15th. In the meantime, I am still gathering contract applications and getting some very enthusiastic people interested. I will be connecting with those individuals on Thursday and spend some time Friday afternoon doing the training.

I have a training manual I am working on so that contractors will have some background information on the product, an idea of the ideal client base, and the ever so coveted script for the cold calls. I am excited about the potential and what we can do!

I also gave my twice monthly webinar yesterday with rave reviews! It encourages me to know that they want o hail me as a woman leader within the organization. This is part of my goal to be a spokesperson and trainer for the company.

Speaking of goals, you may wonder where I am going with my cold call campaign. My plan is to have 5000 customers at $200 per month. I will be tracking everything (one of my favorite things to do is track!). Now to finish that perfect script!

Day 109 – Hiring is Tough

Today was very busy at work, however, I did have the chance to talk to two prospects for a sales job. I also have another 10 applications in the hopper. I managed to make an application form for contract sales and send it out to those that indicated they were interested. I wonder how many will actually fill out the form and follow through. My theory is that anyone who actually follows through is the one that gets the job. I am looking for those that can track and follow through on what they started.

I have also created a pay scale for contractors based on number of sales and built in a bonus structure as well. I believe this business model will work well as I am planning on getting product sales into offices first and then recruit after the fact.

Day 108 - More enthusiasm

Getting a check in the mail is always a motivator! I have the need to make more and more again. In order to double, triple my current income, I have to dedicate more time to the business. I know that I work full time during the day but now is the time to double my time and effort to really make this business fly.

You may ask how the heck am I going to be able to do this. The first thing is to continue to educate myself by reading more and more on network marketing. Although I am in the business, I realize that I really do not know much about it – I have been going about things the hard way.

The first step today is to re-read all the marketing materials and better understand the compensation plan. I also have to be better at understanding the product I am selling. If I do not know this, how can I educate those that I sponsor. This week and every week for here on is going to focus on educating myself and educating others.

I bought the book “Network Marketing for Dummies” by Zig Ziglar and although much of the material is repeat, there are many good points that needed reinforcement. One of the points is that the whole process is entirely up to me. I need to educate myself on the weak points and spend time practicing, practicing, practicing until I am fluent and can get it right. In the meantime, I need to build the business even though I am still in the practice stage. I hope I am not the one that ends up with static action.

Day 107 – Twist of Events

A little twist on the hiring of a sales person on commission. I have been asked to give an advance and then they will dedicate time to the process. As this is experimental at this point in time, I do not feel as advance is appropriate. I want to see some results before and advance is given. I guess I can do the experimenting on my own time first before having someone on contract.

OK, I need to bite the bullet and so this myself in the evenings and during my few breaks at work. I should have the list ready to go by Sunday and will start with calls from 8 am to 9 am in the mornings. I must admit, the fear is setting in again regarding Cold Calls!

Day 102 to 106 – Back Home Again

Lots of water under the bridge over the past few days including flight delays, restocking the pantry and back to the San Jose office to catch up on lot of work. Although I enjoy the travel, getting back to my own bed is such a treat!

I met with my sales person on Tuesday and went over what I wanted, Although he has agreed to do the selling for a little bit, the work is really mine to get the call list and comp plan to him. On Wed evening I spent my time putting the basics of the list together and then realized that I really needed to hire another person to do that job for me.

So I hired my eldest daughter to put the list together to free up my time. It was well worth the effort to free me up to do the phone calls. Yesterday I made the calls and calendared the follow-ups. I must admit that making those calls is not as difficult as it was two weeks ago. I am getting less fearful of doing them, especially when I have to prepare the scripts and get the materials together.

This is the best thing I have done as it really made me realize that this is truly a business and I can build a home team to really hit this out of the park.
One of my phone calls yesterday was to my upline. I talked about feeling isolated without anymore weekly meetings. It seems that we are moving more to the home parties and I have to put one together before I relocate.

So there it is, I have set a party at our home and another one at the hair salon. Each one is a couple of weeks away but it will give time to prepare for the meeting in both locations. I am planning on doing more presentations for the people that come to the first ones.

Day 100/101 – Rainy Days are Time for Thinking

I spent the day at the Vancouver Aquarium yesterday and had a chance to talk to my youngest daughter about the opportunity. She is a firm believer in residual income and also states that any MLM is a pyramid. Her idea of a pyramid is that only the people at the top make the money. I explained that in MLM although the structure looks like a corporate pyramid, the money actually flows through everyone involved.

She is happy to be a part of the business and I will have to find a way to sign her up as Canada is not part of the approved list. I suppose it will be all delivered to mom’s address (lol). I will be visiting my eldest daughter today and am working to get her on board as well. She is learning and speaking Japanese and I want her to be able to build her downline there. I am sure they can do it so will work with her to accomplish some of her financial goals.

I am also laying out the plans for hiring my sales team (not a part of the MLM distributors). These are people that do not want to be part of the MLM but want to sell product and set appointments for me. I am very happy to accommodate them. The plans are in the infancy stage and I will outline them here as they unfold. No better place to test theories and share what does and does not work.

Day 96/97/98/99 - Still Travelling

Friday again and it is time to start catching up with people. I have been making phone calls and connections even though the opportunity to connect is very limited. You have to do what is necessary to keep in contact with others. I still have a lot of follow ups on my plate and will get more done today.

I am loving the Olympic feel to Vancouver and am sad I will be leaving before the games begin. It has been another great experience visiting friends and family. However, I am looking forward to the journey back home next week.

Today is another rainy day (as typical for Vancouver) but the beauty still shines through! The rain is only on the surface. I guess that works for people as well You can never tell from the appearance whether there is a good person inside.

When we face uncertainty sometimes we balk and go back to actions that we know can be accomplished. It is difficult to set out and take a new path when you are uncomfortable or feel a sense of fear. Fear may grip you which in turn puts you into a position of retreat rather than advancement.

I am visiting my home country (Canada) and I found that a member of my family wanted to go to a location in the city at a time when I am at work. Even with all the preparation, the fear of getting lost stopped them in their tracks. The final decision was not to go unless I came with them. Interesting on how we cling to each other for support and yet are unable to move too far away (to a place that is not so comfortable). For me, I would explore and get lost. I would then work through the process to find my way back home. For others, they dare not venture.

Day 93/94/95 – Working While Travelling

Often when we travel, business is the last thing on our minds as we navigate parking, shuttles, getting through security, finding a meal, boarding the plane, renting cars and driving to the final destination. It was no exception for me. As we went through the process, we managed to arrive in tact into a country that does not have our product approved.

So how do you sell to a country that is not active? The first thing I have done is to pitch it to some friends of mine that have done many, many MLM projects. I have been bending their ear on what they think of the product and the compensation plan. So far they like what they hear.

So, how do I sign up people from this country? Not easy, you simply have to get them to fill out the form with the contact and shipping information, including the payment side of things. Then, I have to hold it until the time is right. So let’s see how that goes! I am still here for another 9 days so will have lots of time to think about what to do next.

In the meantime, I am still connecting with those that attended the seminar last week. I have a new distributor ready to sign up, another one that wants to go to a local meeting and yet another than wants to start on the product. I will be giving them all a call while I am here.

The time away also lends time back to think about how to handle the recruiting process. I have worked out a compensation plan for a sales person to help me while I work full time. This way I can dedicate my time away from work more strategically. I love having the opportunity to strategize and also read great books on building business.

Day 92 - A New Sales Idea

Friday sure rolls around quickly and now writing in this blog has truly become a habit. I really enjoy using social media to connect with others and still have a place where I can do a brain dump. Today I am doing the talk to people at my Rotary Club about health issues. I am also sending them to the website to see the video. I will phone call follow up with them later (next week). In the meantime, I will continue to follow up with the seminar attendees.

I had a thought about a different way to grow this business. I am generally thinking about hiring a few sales folks on commissions. This means they will book home parties and do the presentations. They get paid for the home party and they also get paid when someone becomes a distributor. If they only buy the product then the pay is minimal. This is particularly useful when a person does not want to join an MLM but still wants to do sales. I am also thinking of having them approach Chiropractors, get appointments to show the video and then do three way calls with my upline. I do believe this way of thinking will work out.

I am going to be talking to my first sales person on February 2nd in Seattle of all places. But that is where I will be on that particular day. I think I can get a good jump on the territory by doing it this way. What do you think?

I know most of the time we are working alone at home but this will give an edge in the fact that there will be accountability from myself as leader and from the sales team that I hire. I plan on having sales meetings each afternoon with a plan for the next day. I want to have 3 home parties booked each week, a minimum of three Chiropractor appointments plus some spa visits (appointment based ones only), throw in a couple of naturopaths, herbalists etc.

This should equal at least 5 appointments per day with a total of 25 per week (at a minimum). I will write up the plan and start hiring immediately. I will then you in on how the plan is working.

OK time for me to make my phone calls!

Day 91 – Post Seminar and Time to Follow-Up

It is early and I am wide awake with ideas and getting that list so I can follow up. The follow up is going to be the key of making last night’s seminar a big success. I am sending an email to the person I sponsored and will be calling him on the phone this afternoon to make sure I get all the info I need to get that follow up in place.

I got the phone and emailing formation around 3:30 today and called everyone on the list. I got yelled at by one person saying that MLM is a scam and we are all scam artists and all MLMs do is take advantage of the little people and rob them. I think this guy has an issue with someone that ripped him off in the past. He did not think MLM is a viable business at all and all the products were fakes and phonies.

It seems that my husband bought back into that attitude today as well. He did “research” on the product and found all kinds of negative information (actually not a lot but some) and, of course, he believes the negative over the positive each and every time. It just feels like an uphill battle with him every day and I am getting very tired of it. The negative guy on the phone, well, that is his problem not mine – next!

I also got some very positive responses from others I called. One wants to be a distributor and is showing the video to his friends over the next couple of days. Another one gathered all the info last night and will go to the site and check it out again, a third person was extremely interested in the product and yet another wants to try it before signing up. It was really positive and besides, the more people we talk to, the more distributors we can get on board. I am aiming to have 10 plus by the end of February.

As far as my down line – the one group spends time complaining about spending money! Auto ship is a painful experience, yet there is no effort to sell product and recruit. I would not be surprised if the auto ship went away and we have a dynamic compression situation on our hands!

Was it a good day! Well YES! I actually phoned people and got better as I smiled and dialed away. I still have the fear but at least I know I am following up!