This is one of my favourite sayings of all time and credit where credit is due it was Oscar Wilde who said it.

And you may be thinking, ‘so what Rachel?’

Who cares what Oscar said over 100 years ago? 

Fair enough and I understand why you might think that way.

But if you’re marketing (or trying to market) your business on the internet there is an EXTREMELY valuable ‘takeaway’ for you contained within this old saying and it’s nothing to do with Chinese food!

It’s about being unique so that you stand out.

Most wannabe marketers are trying to copy gurus.

Why? Because we’re told that we must duplicate the successful actions of others if we want to be successful in business.

So what’s wrong with that formula?

Absolutely nothing.

But what is wrong with copying the gurus is that you can lose yourself if you’re not careful.

That’s the point. If you try and copy the prosperity phenomenon Randy Gage you’ll find he’s completely unique and you just can’t be like him and of course your story can never be the same as his.

How about David Wood, the internet network marketing guru? Well I just watched a presentation of his and I’m not exaggerating when I say he BLEW ME AWAY.

He wears shorts and t-shirt on stage at major events and claims not to wear deodorant.

Now would I like David Wood’s cheque?

Yes of course I would. But if I have to be like him to get it will I do it?

No …  because even if I were prepared to go against my own nature I couldn’t do it anyway.

I’m much too fussy about my personal hygiene and can’t imagine life without my deodorant!

How about Diane Hochman? Well she must be one of the coolest internet marketers on the planet. And of course we’re getting closer because at least she’s a woman!

So how about copying her?

Deep sigh. As much as I admire her I can’t be like her.

Why? Because I am ME for better or for worse, my success and my story is unique to me so my message for you today is for goodness sake stop trying to copy everyone else and just focus on being yourself.  (Your best self of course!)

A very smart entrepreneur called Ali Brown said, ‘model, don’t copy.’

You can take the strategies or systems that appeal to you for your business model and you can make them work with your personality and your ‘you-ness’ shining through.

When people do enough of that instead of dithering about wondering who they should be copying and what methods they should be using, the commissions start flowing their way.

And when that happens it’s sweet because you’re making money doing what you love and giving more of YOU to the world.

For more marketing and mindset training snippets like this and if you’re not on my ezine list, pop your details into the form above and you’ll hear from me soon.

What do you think? Have you put some of YOU into your online marketing yet?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Network Marketing fascinates me. If it didn’t I probably would have quit long, long ago. There is something about it that is simply addictive.. don’t you think?

What is it exactly? It’s hard to put your finger on.

It’s one of the toughest business models out there but still we cling to this concept of greatness through building a huge network.

Last week as you may recall from my ezine, Amateurs versus Professionals I attended a company convention and also had a special European leadership session with Randy Gage prior to the event which was by special invitation only. It got me thinking…

Randy is convinced that Attraction Marketing is devil’s spawn! This came as no surprise to me, as those of you who follow him know full well that he doesn’t mince words. With Randy it is his way or the highway.

That is actually what is so attractive about him. There is no room for doubt. He has complete conviction, the cheques and the success record to back up his philosophy. That is strong leadership that brings you back to the centre line.

During the leadership session he threw out a few acidic comments about Attraction Marketing and aimed them square at me. I shifted uncomfortably but looked him straight in the eyes. We laughed about it later as I know he wants only the best for me.

I am well aware that I manifested all of this because I dreamed of working with Randy Gage and his systems years before he even got back into a Network Marketing company.

Still..anyone would think I created Attraction Marketing. I mean come on Randy.. I am not Michelle Dillard!

Randy thinks that Attraction Marketing is ‘bullshit’ and that lots of the online gurus are just mining the minors. (When you think that apparently there was more money made in the Gold Rush from the selling of shovels and levi jeans, than from the gold itself this is obviously a good business to be in!

Anyway it got me to thinking again as I so often do about this online and offline MLM puzzle or conundrum.

I have never said that online MLM is the only way to go because right from the get go I have been very aware of the advantages of building MLM with a traditional (but smart step-by-step) business plan.

Not ever doing fliers again though guys!

I’ve never begged my prospects to join or cried when they said no. (At least not in a long, long time) In previous posts I have written about much of the online nonsense that is going on as newbie network marketers try to figure out what to do, and spam our profiles.

Randy Gage and Eric Worre teach professional network marketing at its very best. Duplication and creating massive organizations that are built to last is their speciality.

Hence they have no time for the latest internet gimmicks and create an army of distributors who know exactly what to do.

Attraction Marketing and Internet Network Marketing on the other hand can get very complicated. By its very nature your people are all doing different things. This makes duplication very challenging.

I do love working online and bring in some great people this way. But you have to have a real business plan for them to get started fast with your company or team.

They then add in online marketing to the mix if they want to.

Going online straight away is awesome if you are experienced and already have a network circle to contact online. For some, especially younger people it is easy to get their heads around driving traffic to their web page. For others who barely know how to get their own domain name, it can be a very slow process.

Personally I advocate doing what you love and what makes sense for your personal circumstances. I for instance live in a very remote location and because of the internet have been able to enrol people from all over the world. Pretty exciting hey?

That being said I have some advanced internet skills and have created an excellent online marketing funnel that does a lot of the work for me.

If I lived in London I probably would do more local networking, so you see how it’s best to create your plan around your skill-set and your life as it is now. (That being said I have done so much local networking in my MLM career and I know the power of it)

I could go on. There’s so much here to elaborate on in another post but enough is enough. You guys are busy and short is better than long these days.

In closing I’m finding myself wondering how many of the Attraction Marketing gurus are really building an MLM downline?

I’ve always done the business with a mix of on and offline because the tools I have access to with my team are way too good to ignore for warm market.

There are many though who claim that they can do it all online. Network Marketing is about people and relationships so whilst I agree that A LOT can be done online with technology, I also know that meetings make money, cement relationships and build belief.

I see the transformation that happens to our team members when they attend events, especially major ones.

I do however LOVE online lead generation and for me it has always been about being able to teach people what to do to attract more prospects once they have been through their warm list.

In my experience most people are open to working their warm list if you give them realistic expectations and quality business tools to do it with.

Where it all falls down (I find) is when you have nothing else to teach them after that. It can be very challenging to meet enough NEW people to do another ‘major blast’ or create enough continued momentum and first line recruiting.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. It seems to me that the roles have been reversed.

The die-hard online network marketers (the Renegades and the Magnetics) who refuse to do any offline marketing have long accused MLM uplines such as Randy Gage and Dani Johnson, of doing one thing but teaching another.

Funded proposals and affiliate marketing are amazing and I have generated a lot of income with them but they can distract people from building their MLM cheque unless they have a systemized approach to it and really understand it.

In a strange irony it seems to me as though the shoe is now on the other foot. The MLM leaders who have built huge downlines with person to person and warm market lists are now calling out the online gurus as doing one thing and teaching another!

Are Attraction Marketers for the most part just selling online affiliate courses and losing sight of the MLM dream?

When you figure that the big players in Attraction Marketing such as Mike Dillard and Mike Klingler are no longer building the MLM model…

Ann Sieg is in MLM but has a huge business with affiliate marketing…

Jonathan Budd is a big player but again I don’t know how much of his earnings published on MLM authority sites are actually from his MLM.

Perhaps Randy Gage has a good point.

Whatever you may think there’s no doubt that most people now want to generate leads for their MLM online so if you want to go that route it’s important to get some great training and have a solid system in place. To check out the Attraction Marketing System I recommend & work with go here: Attraction Marketing System

What do you think? Leave your comments on the blog. I know this is a heated subject for many so please show respect!

p.s Every name I have mentioned in this blog has been of tremendous value to me in building my business and I in no way which to discredit any of them. They all bring incredible leadership and training to Network Marketing with their own unique style.

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I’m just back from a leadership convention in Rome and have some brilliant business builder training for you today.

I captured Randy Gage with my FLIP video, live on stage at his very best.

Some of you may have been fortunate enough to attend some of Randy’s live events or listen to his generic MLM training CDs etc.

If you have then you’ll know how amazing he is, and if you haven’t then let me have the pleasure of introducing you to Mr Randy Gage!

Watch the first video here: Amateurs versus Professionals

In summary there are 4 basic skills you need to develop to become a Network Marketing Professional:

1) How to make and maintain a candidate list
2) How to work your candidate list
3) How to invite prospects to take a look – (probably the most difficult but remember that you can’t look good & get better at the same time!)
4) Following up

Randy explains that these four skill-sets (and practicing them!) can take you to a $100k per year in Network Marketing.

There are 2 Advanced Skills

5) Doing presentations
6) Leadership Development

How are you doing on that? As I keep saying no matter how great you become with attracting prospects to you, you still need to learn the core skills to enrol people and to build a huge group. (And Randy will be the first to tell you that as he becomes very irritated by claims that you can build a group purely online)

So amateurs do things for free and professionals get paid.

Moving on to the final video for today check this out:

Randy Gage asks the Magic Question

It’s a very short video and a very short question! Leave us your comments and let us know your answer at the blog.

p.s There are a few references to my company here but I think you’ll agree that the value of the training far outweighs that, and the fundamentals are the same whichever company you are working with.

Here I am enjoying the top leadership lifestyle champagne & 6 course recognition dinner in Rome. The diamond lifestyle really does take some beating! To listen to Randy’s MLM Rockstar audio go here: MLM Rockstar

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Creating Your Own Economy

Welcome back to the series. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I’ve enjoyed writing!

In the last 3 parts we exposed New School and Old School MLM for what it is. We looked at ways to integrate social media with offline marketing and drive prospects to your website. Finally we looked at what it takes to become an Attraction Marketing Rockstar. Scroll back on the blog if you missed any of these articles and would like to catch up.

I always focus a lot on the MLM aspect of Attraction Marketing and building the business because I am aware that people get so side-tracked online with learning the skills for social media and creating content that they sometimes forget what they set out to learn them for!

Today however I’m going to take a more holistic approach and look at what it really takes to work at home and how you can create your own economy in this new economy.

One of the reasons MLM is so great (and it still is no matter what some of the guys trying to get you into other deals might say!) is that anyone can CHOOSE to start their own business for a small investment. In the business world $250-$1000 is a miniscule investment so remember that.

As a result MLM is becoming even more popular than it has been in the past. People that have never considered it before are diving into it in droves because they have finally realized that their job or the government is not going to provide them with the security they crave.

So what does one have to do to create their own economy today?
I have been working from home on a self employed basis for 7 years and now I feel like my day has finally come!

Never in all of those years has it been easier to work from home, with all of the amazing communication tools at our fingertips, so that is the great news for you if you choose to create your own economy now.

Here’s 5 things you can start to do (or continue to do) to get yourself positioned to take advantage of this massive boom towards working at home and creating your own economy.

1) Brand yourself with social media. Start with Twitter and Facebook. Take a course – yes invest in your ‘personal technology.’ To be your own boss you need to provide your own training and buy your own pencils now.

2) Evaluate your skills honestly. Write down all the activities you need to perform to build a successful home based business such as:

Generating leads/prospects
Telephone communication
Person to person communication
Technical Skills
Copywriting skills
Recruiting/Sales skills
Team Building and Leadership skills

Many of the skills you need to work as an entrepreneur are the same in or out of MLM.

Give yourself a score on a 1-10 of what your skill level is in the key areas you need to perform in. Identify your areas of strength and focus on getting even better at those.

Being mediocre in everything doesn’t get us very far. You can outsource the things you are not so good at and improve the things that you want to spend the most amount of time doing.

There are certain skills in MLM that are essential so work hard on yourself to develop those and partner with your mentors to tap into their expertise so they can help you.

In MLM for instance it is essential to develop communication and recruitment skills. The fastest way to do this is to find someone upline from you who is having success and work with them. Introduce your prospects to them and start to model their speech and behaviour.

It doesn’t take that long to see massive improvements in your performance as long as you are taking enough action (online or offline) to get prospects into your funnel.

3) Partner with a successful team of mentors so you are learning and improving your skills every day.

4) Creating your own economy starts with creating your own mindset. The best investments I have made and still make are in personal development programs, books, audio and live events. If you don’t believe you can do it then who is going to believe in you?

Oh and a big tip is don’t just buy them. Read and listen to them EACH DAY! I listen to audio training whilst I drive or do mundane kitchen duties. I actually look forward to doing stuff in the kitchen so I can listen to my latest Tony Robbins, Randy Gage or Joe Schroeder audio.

5) Start to think of yourself as the company. ‘You Inc.’ is so timely now. There are so many opportunities and ways to develop income at home with the internet that really jobs are no longer a necessity. If you like having a job or you depend on the income then look at ways you could start to be an independent or self-employed rep in your line of work.

That will give you more time freedom and put you into the right mindset for being an entrepreneur which ultimately is what you need to become to create your own economy.

Finally my biggest tip for you is to cancel your bad news channel or just don’t watch it! It is a constant stream of information about why you are not in control and cannot create your own economy. As Jim Rohn would say, ‘don’t sign up for that class.’

If you’ve found this article of value to you then please bookmark it on any of the buttons below or you can easily Tweet it out on the big green button. (This is a great way of giving your followers interesting and free content to read)

You can also leave a relevant comment and don’t forget to link it to your blog or website. You never know that might just generate a lead for you but in any case it is a back link to your website which gives you one positive vote from google!

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Part 3 – How Do You Become an Attraction Marketing MLM Rockstar?

With thousands of people coming online each day desperately looking for solutions in this new economy and stumbling across Network Marketing, it is ESSENTIAL that you learn how to stand out from the MLM crowd and become a more attractive YOU!

How can I achieve this I hear you cry? It’s an online MLM goldmine with an online gold rush and stampede to go with it!

What can you do for people to sit up and take notice?
How can you attract people to you so they are compelled to type your name into Google and find out more about you?

How can you become another Randy Gage, Eric Worre, Mike Dillard or Mike Klingler?

Ladies there is plenty room for us here!

How can you attract people to click on your links and check out your articles, websites and blogs?

How can you give so much value that they are compelled to enter their details into your website so they can learn more from YOU?

Ok so you got started last month and you’re not too sure what I’m talking about! That’s okay too. Wherever you are just get started. Get started today and it won’t be a moment too soon.

Here is something you can do today to become a more attractive network marketer so you can start to develop the skills and the attraction factor of an MLM Rockstar:

Get Inspired!

Never in human history has it been easier to connect with the MLM legends and Attraction Marketing Rockstars. Do you realize how easy it is NOW to tweet one of these guys or gals, or leave a comment on their blog and start connecting and learning from them for free?

Here are some of the Attraction Marketing Rockstars that I follow and let inside my head on a daily basis. To become more attractive we need to replace those voices of lack and poverty and start to re-program our minds.

Here are some suggestions of blogs and/or resources for you to plug into:

Randy Gage – THE prosperity blog

Eric Worre – MLM Video Show

Mike Dillard – Magnetic Sponsoring

Mike Klingler – Attraction Marketing Merge

Ali Brown -Marketing Genius and amazing inspiration for women

Even if you never buy a product from these guys you can learn so much about being an attractive marketer just by reading their emails and blogs.

Take your pick but start following at least one of these Attraction Marketing legends today and focus on becoming a more attractive YOU!

So much of what we talk about with online MLM is technical or tactical.

Yes we need all that but we also need inspiration and energy to think bigger than we ever have. To become an attractive online marketer we need to be able to inspire other people to greater things especially in these difficult economic times.

What would they follow us for otherwise? Whatever level you’re at just get started today to ramp it up because if there was ever a time to turn it on and really start to brand yourself online then this is it!

The best way to inspire others is to really get inspired yourself. The world is changing and we have a brand new opportunity in this new economy.

Millions of people all over the world are wondering where the security is for them and how come the ‘old machine’ is broken.

Last night I listened into a call with Joe Schroeder and he said that the majority of people are now ‘beautifully equipped to participate in a world that no longer exists!’

Talk about inspired… As Jim Rohn would say, ‘you could stay up all night and not think of that!.’

Ok enough for today. You get the picture? You see how these inspirational mentors have influenced me so that their language stays in my head. To stay challenged and inspired pick some mentors today and work on developing your unique ‘attraction factor.’

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It’s an interesting question and one that puzzles and/or irritates many. I could probably write a book about it but the sun is shining and I’m going off on my holidays to Spain in a few days, so today I will share just a few of my thoughts with you on the fascinating topic of MLM leaders.

If you’ve read my stuff, you’ll know that I’m not ‘new school’ or ‘old school.’ I’m not against any of it, rather I am for a lot of it!

I prefer to focus on the good stuff and leave behind the stuff that doesn’t work for me. I’ve long since quit worrying who approves of what I do or what my upline, sideline or any other line think of it!

I’m having great results building a ‘You Inc’ business and the time is right in my opinion to harness the power of the internet to attract prospects to you.

Some like to do this by using social media to expand their warm market, and then when the time is right they introduce their MLM business.

Others like me focus on giving value through the use of social media and attracting or magnetically pulling prospects into their online marketing funnel.

Others try to automate the entire process which I think works for internet marketing but is a difficult road to take for internet network marketing.

Whatever way we attract prospects to look at our business the bottom line is still that we need to build relationships and get to know people. I just find it a lot more productive to do that by using some automated tools to sort out the real prospects before I invest much time into them.

So back to the question of the day about global MLM leaders and why they so often don’t promote attraction marketing, and are even quite negative about it.

Here are some of my thoughts as to why this is and it may help you to get clear on your position and the road you want to take to expand your business.

There is so much confusion brought about by many traditional leaders being anti online attraction marketing and many ‘new school’ leaders being anti everything else!

Here’s what you may want to consider before you shoot someone down for their position in the old school, new school debate.

1) MLM leaders with thousands of people in their organisations, spanning many time zones, countries and languages cannot lightly change their daily method of operation without affecting all of those people in their downline.

2) Online attraction marketing for MLM is very specialized. Many people will not have the patience or the time to apply themselves to learn how to do it effectively. I believe any one can learn how to do it because we have amazing training available these days, but the reality is that not everyone wants to sit for hours at their computer learning a whole new marketing method.

3) MLM leaders are hesitant of promoting something that they think can cost their downline a lot of time and money if they get it wrong. They often do not understand that there are a ton of ways to generate leads online that cost nothing or if you use a funded proposal such as Magnetic Sponsoring, you can actually get into profit very quickly.

4) Online MLM attraction marketing can be very distracting for those who do not work with a strong team that is focussed on their MLM business. They get online to build their MLM but if they don’t have a system they can end up jumping from one thing to the other, promoting this and that and completely losing their focus on their MLM. Why would a global MLM leader think this is a good idea?

5) Internet and training resources. The online attraction marketing model works fabulously with good training and systems for those in English speaking markets with high speed internet access.

My question to you then is ‘what about the rest?’

If you’re building MLM online and focussed on USA, UK, Canada and Australia then happy days. What if like me and many others you have team members in other countries?

I have downline in Nigeria. The guys in Nigeria have the most amazing entrepreneurial spirit. I still am yet to speak to a prospect who hasn’t read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad,’ by Robert Kiyosaki. It’s incredible!

These guys are building business the social, offline way. They love the idea of internet network marketing but the technology over there just does not permit them to attend webinars and access the training sites that one needs to access to understand how to build the business with attraction marketing.

Taking into consideration all of these things I fully understand why leaders in my upline such as Randy Gage and Eric Worre tread carefully with what they promote.

They and many other MLM leaders have an obligation to provide the best training and leadership to build their group in their MLM. This is quite a challenge when you have fast expanding downline in 50 countries!

It reminds me of the famous ‘butterfly effect.’ The slightest flutter of the wings can have huge implications further down the line.

Most global MLM leaders have our best interests at heart and understand that to build a huge group it is best to stick to the core principles and to keep it simple. I don’t buy into all that negative stuff about your upline not telling you this and that! They have nothing to gain by sabotaging you and most of them are doing their best.

Leaders find leaders and many of those leaders will shoot off and create their own systems that suit their style, skill-set and cultural setting.

Randy Gage has a saying about MLM duplication that goes something like this and I paraphrase, ‘a large group of people taking a few simple actions over a sustained period of time.’

Here’s your challenge! If you want to build a global MLM business that throws off passive income for the rest of your lifetime and beyond how are you going to create that type of consistency using the internet?

That’s why I created my own simple marketing system with a step by step process to build a Network Marketing business with attraction marketing, as opposed to just generating a lot of leads online.

I’m incredibly passionate about the opportunity that online attraction marketing presents us with, and if you’re ready to step up and build your business in this exciting way you can read more from me and get access to the resources I use here: Attraction Marketing

Just bear in mind if you’re committed to building an MLM business we still need to respect other ways of building the business that work for thousands of people all over the world, and a big tip I’d like to give you is that it is essential to have an effective offline system in place also, if you want to build globally and tap into other markets.

Have a great day and I’ll try and check in from Sunny Spain!

Skype: Rachelhenke
Tel: 07766 643984 UK
USA 954 769 0049

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Sounds like an odd thing to say I know! When you are in the midst of ‘failure’ or are just recovering and regrouping it may be difficult to think this way.

The thing is I got to thinking the other day about how life has a funny way of working out. Many times we fail miserably at things only to find something much better suited to our talents further into our life’s journey.

In ‘the Science of Getting Rich,’ by Wallace Wattles this is covered in detail. If you are in need of inspiration I highly recommend this amazing free little ebook.

The truth is that when we fail we are forced to look within. My first MLM experience was a harsh one. In many ways I loved it and I did have some success – just not the long term residual type that I was after.

I did however learn some skills that I probably would not be able to develop under easier circumstances. When your back is up against the wall you may find that you become more daring and creative.

Failure therefore is a mixed blessing. I know some guys who have joined MLMs and made it to the top very quickly. There are a few of those inspiring success stories in our industry and I love to hear them.

On the other hand I bet it must be very difficult for those lucky few to relate to the pain and frustration of the MLM masses who take soooooooooo long to reach the top, if indeed they ever do.

Relate-ability is a huge thing in a people business such as this. We often say, ‘well if he can do it, I can do it.’ If you have really been through it and you have a story, even if it isn’t a diamond one just yet, you may find you have more to give those getting started, than the guys at the very top.

If you’ve been round the block a few times, have been in several MLMs and not made it to the degree that you aspire then this just may be the best thing that ever happened to you.

How so? Well you have something to measure your success, your MLM company, your team, your activity against don’t you?

You’re not an MLM virgin who thinks that because the company website says so your products are the only good ones in the world! You have come of age and you have developed respect for other companies and leaders in the Network Marketing industry.

When I was in my first company I thought there was no other company that could match it! I was so starry eyed and naïve it is quite amazing when I look back.

Knowing what is out there will help you to become a significant force in the industry, not just in your company.

For instance, if I had been making $20k per month in my first MLM in my first couple of years it would have been unlikely that I would have felt compelled to search for what in my opinion, is a much better opportunity for me and my team members today.

Okay so who wouldn’t want to earn that kind of money quickly and become an MLM Rockstar?

Most would want to but if the business wasn’t meeting your expectations in other ways and you felt perhaps that your success was at the expense of others in your team, instead of as a result of their success, you might feel different.

But it would be harder to make the break wouldn’t it?

It is also unlikely that I would have pushed myself to research the industry and to learn other ways of doing things such as working with online attraction marketing and the different skill set that entails, if I hadn’t have experienced dissatisfaction using other methods.

If I hadn’t done thousands of flyers in the rain, stood in shopping precincts surveying people, driven around the county doing one on one presentations and product demonstrations, and fallen flat on my face so many times, I don’t think I would have the compassion that I have now for those in the business who work so hard to make their dreams come true.

It is a challenging and tough journey for most in MLM. The drama and the excitement are difficult to match in other business arenas though and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

So when you’re feeling a little down that you didn’t make diamond yet just remember these things:

• Your story is unique and will inspire people to keep on going towards their dreams.
• When you leave something behind no matter how painful, you create a vacuum that will be filled by something better if you let it.
• Randy Gage, MLM Legend, didn’t make any money in his first 5 years in MLM.
• Mike Dillard, of Magnetic Sponsoring, didn’t either (and was fearful of making phone calls to his prospects!)
• Failure whilst not to be dwelt on is a trigger for looking within and deciding that you will improve your skill set and find the right vehicle and business building methods for you.

Do you have an inspiring MLM story to share? Please share with our blog readers – we’d love to hear it.

Read more of my story by downloading your free copy of my new attraction marketing ebook.

Wishing you exciting and inspiring MLM success in 2009!

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Things are heating up in the Network Marketing/ MLM world. Are you paying attention? I do hope so because we are about to create more millionaires (and regular high earning professionals!) in this industry than ever before.

What I am really excited about is to see more and more networkers earning decent money, getting into positive cash flow quickly even if they haven’t yet mastered the skills needed to build a large group in MLM.

In my opinion this will help improve the reputation of our industry much more than anything we can ever write or say about it. The more networkers earning steady money every month, even when they are not MLM Rock stars (yet) the better for us all.

Many networkers are still working there business in the traditional style where they promote their MLM full on (pitch, pitch, pitch) and deal with the ulcers in their stomach whilst they wait for their residual income to kick in.

This can take a LONG time! So what’s the easier option? I have found it to be the use of a funded proposal, or monetization strategy at the front end of your business. I will write in more detail about this in the near future but for today I want to talk about the ‘MLM Gurus.’

The ‘traditional versus the modern,’ and the ‘old versus new,’ ‘the offline list making and the online list attracting’ debate rages.

There is so much confusion between the two sides that the great principles from both are often simply misunderstood. Those unfortunate enough not to have access to a great traditional system seem to have nothing but contempt for it because they have been burned.

Those who have access to a great (or sometimes not so great) traditional system and are making large cheques are naturally reluctant to rock the boat.

This is a pivotal time in the history of MLM and a very exciting place to be. Which side of the fence are you on? Are you positioning to take advantage of this massive migration of new business builders who will be joining us, due to the depressing state of the crumbling economy?

I was inspired to blog today because I am observing the different viewpoints (and can relate to both) The traditionalists are disparaging of the ‘MLM gurus’ teaching online MLM, many whom have never built a business themselves.

This is a valid point right? It’s always a smart idea to be careful who you choose as your mentor. On the other hand what’s the saying about you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Well you know what? I think you can – if the old dog wants to learn! That is what is happening now. Experienced professionals in MLM, both successful and not so successful are turning to new mentors who can teach them the new business model of online attraction marketing.

It doesn’t matter what size cheque the teacher has – if they have a skill that the student wants to learn, such as how do they generate high quality leads online, it will be very valuable to the student if the teacher can deliver!

I don’t think there is a need to be so contemptuous of the teaching profession. We are not that way in any other arena are we? Teachers are highly respected and in most cases are broke – but still they can deliver valuable education which when received by the receptive mind is applied in a productive way.

Many entrepreneurs learn amazing new technical skills, or liase with their geek squad to cut to the chase and enable them to turn that information into money. That’s what entrepreneurs do right?

Anyhow, the point being that even if an MLM leader is earning millions, they are unable to teach skills such as building a marketing funnel online if they haven’t taken the time to learn how. Doesn’t matter what size their cheque is in that scenario either. Of course they can pay for their education and update their skill-set, which is what many are now doing.

On the other hand is it annoying when you get spammed 20 times a day by those who say they are attracting 100s of leads and can teach you how? You bet! If they are so great at attracting then why are they spamming me, I think?

This is no different than traditional MLM. There are the guys who jump all over you and shove their MLM down your throat the minute you come in the room, and then there are the MLM Rockstars who naturally attract the right people to them because they provide value as part of their very existence.

It is the same online or offline. There will always be pretenders, posers, gurus and would-be gurus! The thing is when your new team member introduces their friend the same day they join your company, it doesn’t mean that they are able to teach them anything either right?

No of course not. It means that they are able to connect them up (hopefully) with an effective upline who can teach them both together and point them to 3rd party tools and a system to use.

It is the same in the online world. The new leaders in online attraction marketing are not hiding behind their laptops. They are creating and bringing value to the industry by showing people, old and new, how to add some new skills to their tool kit so they are relevant and not sounding like they stepped out of Dr Who’s Time Machine!

Do they attempt to teach them with their opinions? No.. they also use 3rd party tools and connect them up with great teachers who are earning the big bucks and have built large businesses in MLM, such as Mike Klingler and Mike Dillard.

So traditional marketers give the online guys a break please! And online guys please learn to do attraction marketing with the correct strategy so you are giving real value and not driving people nuts!

At the end of the day – if you want to chase the business and do traditional marketing then do it big and don’t worry what ‘they say!’

If you want to build a marketing funnel online, attract prospects to you every day and make a profit whilst doing so because you provide relevant educational resources to your target market, then go for it and stop worrying about your uplines and sidelines.

Pick a coach or mentor who is building a business themselves and is active in the MLM world today, not just teaching from the sidelines.

Whatever you choose to do – do it with integrity, do it big and do it with heart. Then it will be a win win for all.

Here is an amazing video of my favourite traditional marketing MLM Rock Star, Randy Gage, talking about his early years in MLM and how he made no money! Some of the conversation is relevant to this blog and you can listen to the MLM Rockstar’s, inclusive Eric Worre’s, viewpoint on this situation. http://networkmarketingpro.com/2009/04/22/nmpro-36-randy-gage-the-early-years/

I’d love to hear your comments on where you fit into this fascinating dynamic of MLM. It’s a great time to do some critical thinking. Don’t buy everyone else’s opinion without thinking it through yourself.

If you’d like to learn more about creating your own online marketing funnel and how to make it duplicatable for your team then go check this out and you’ll be hearing from me on the other side! Attraction Marketing Funnel

Rachel Henke
Active Magnetic Marketer in the Field!!

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Here’s a very quick post about leveraging the news. Recently I posted about network marketing being in the news as more and more people turn to the industry in these difficult economic times.

Here’s another instance of positive press about direct sales and home business. We really are positioned in a perfect place to take advantage of this giant wave of people who are looking for a better way.

Here’s the link: Sort of Positive Press for Direct Sales and Network Marketing

As Randy Gage often points out the big money is made by those who follow the big business model not the retail model. Most outsiders who are unfamiliar with network marketing only see the small model because it is the sales types who are out there doing their thing so vocally.

It’s an interesting thought though that when network marketing goes mainstream this seems to be the popular model.

Our job is to make sure the residual income model gets seen and people are not under estimating the potential of network marketing by thinking it’s ‘a little sales thing’ they’ll do until they get their dream ‘job’ back!

The press is getting more favourable but still it does seem to portray us as a bunch of folks dabbling in a hobby business for minimum wage, and doesn’t show the huge earning potential.

What do you think?

p.s are you leveraging the news with social media? Blogging is a great place to start.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Henke coaches Network Marketers to transition into building their business online. Subscribe to Network Marketing (MLM) Coaching Online

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No one likes to think of themselves as selfish, and the word conjures up nasty feelings doesn’t it? On the other hand I have learned from my prosperity studies with Randy Gage that there is a time when being ‘selfish’ can be a good thing, and is highly recommended.

It might be a good thing all the time… but then we would interpret a different meaning from the word selfish. Ok enough of that and on to the marketing!

In the real world most people don’t want to be thought of as selfish, so I got to wondering why there are so many selfish marketers working on the internet today.

There seem to be many good people that are behaving like selfish marketers so I can only guess that they just don’t know any different. As with most things in life it’s about learning and growing.

I’ve posted a lot about the need for Network Marketing leaders to teach their teams not to post spammy messages online, but this goes even further into the issue.

Social Media and Social Marketing require one to be sociable. Well there’s a shocker you may say!

The thing is if we start to ask ourselves what is sociable and giving about posting and whizzing opportunity links and offers at everyone that comes in our web 2.0 path I think most would clearly see that the answer would be, very little.

So why do so many do it? Yes I know they have ‘the gift’ and have a duty to spread the word but when so many of us have the gift it can start to be a little irritating lol.

Mike Klingler says that marketers are not normal. Well let’s face it he’s right on the money with that observation! However he goes on to explain that our challenge in Web 2.0 and Social Media Networks is to try to behave normally.

And yes that may not seem like the fastest route to get prospects and people looking at what you have to offer (i.e.; your wonderful gifts) but in this case I have to say that slow and steady wins the race here.

Building a network online is like building a network offline. It requires patience and interaction. Yes many parts of the business can be automated but to be effective in a social network is like being at a party.

You can’t thrust your business on the party goers and expect them to be in the mood to listen. There is a time and place for everything.

The absolutely super and wonderful thing about this whole new model of attraction marketing is that the more relaxed you are and the less you say the more people want to hear from you!

I know that sounds strange but its true so let me back up and explain. Attraction Marketing revolves around the basic principles of attraction. The best analogy is the classic dating one.

We’ve all done it after all… the more we chase the less appealing we are. The more mystery and posture we have surrounding us, the more we are pursued.

Being an attraction marketer is very similar, and as I’ve mentioned in previous post those who are trying to implement the new model but are still chasing everything that moves are missing the mark.

Let’s teach our team members and business partners to give value and build relationships first so that they begin to attract their target market towards their ‘gift’ and don’t need to graffiti the walls!

This is all part of the new movement of the Network Marketing Revolution whereby we will come together to showcase this industry to the world as the fabulous one it truly can be when done with elegance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Rachel Henke coaches Network Marketers to transition into building their business online. Subscribe to the Professional Networker blog

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