Sometimes “No” is the best answer

Even minor victories make a difference.

Today, I walked into the gym just as my daughter’s volleyball game was about to get started. There weren’t many people there so I was making my way up the bleachers when I noticed the referee pointing at me.

Now, I’ve had my share of run-ins with referees. Let’s just say I can get a little vocal when I don’t agree with the calls. But I didn’t recognize this ref and even if I did, I couldn’t see him throwing me out of a game before it started for previous bad behavior.

Turns out they needed someone to be a line judge, one of two people who stand near a corner of the court so they can tell if the balls land inbounds or not. The referee saw me come in and wanted the coach to ask me to do it.

Here’s my problem. I drove about 35 miles to watch my daughter play volleyball. I couldn’t pay attention to her if I was judging the lines.

So I said, “No.”

Now that might not seem like a big deal, and in the grand scheme of life it’s not earth shattering. But I often have a problem turning down requests for my help. It’s like I have a devil on my shoulder telling me I need to do anything and everything that’s asked of me.

I’m learning, however, that I can’t do it all. In fact, all I can do is all I can do. And I’m much better when I can focus on one thing at a time.

I’m also learning that lesson in business. When I take on too much, I usually spin my wheels and don’t get much accomplished. When I can do one thing, and do it well, I make more headway.

So, the next time you’re asked to do something, consider whether it’s the best thing to do or not before you answer. Sometimes you win when you take a pass.

By the way, we won the volleyball game, 3-0.

Steve DeVane

Financial bailout rescue plan – Find your own way out

Even the most optimistic investor is antsy today after the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion financial bailout rescue plan for the nation’s financial sector. Some are even worried about the possibility of another Great Depression.

The stock market had its biggest single drop in history, even bigger than the decline after 9-11. Since nearly everyone has money invested with some connection to market, the reason for concern is evident.

Most folks can only watch as their 401-K or other retirement accounts drop like a rock. Those who have to rely on a job to replace the lost money have a tough task ahead of them.

The reason for the difficulty is because jobs generally result in linear income – trading time for money. If you go to your job, you get paid. If you don’t show up, no paycheck.

Even high-paying jobs are based on this model.

A more favorable method of payment is royalty income. You get this by doing something once and getting paid over and over and over.

Most people think that such income is reserved for movie stars, musicians ad authors. It’s not. Network marketers make it every month.

Network marketing is responsible for more than $100 billion in world-wide sales. Instead of paying high-dollar celebrity endorsers, MLM companies pay distributors.

To earn their pay, networkers simply promote and recommend the companies’ products or services, which are usually high quality.

What if you went to your mailbox next month and found a royalty check? Would that make a difference in your life?

It can happen. It happens to network marketing professionals every month. They have developed their own financial bailout rescue plan.

Steve DeVane

Day-to-day business plan - Simple ways to get where you’re going

Some business strategies take weeks or months to implement. But more important to your success is your day-to-day business plan.

In a previous post, I talked about the problems with approaching your family and friends with your network marketing opportunity. I suggested, instead, to talk with people you meet in the course of your life.

The challenge is getting people to know, like and trust you. People tend to join people they know, like and trust.

The question: How do you get people to know, like and trust you?

The answer: Get to know, like and trust them.

You do that by asking them questions about themselves. There are many possibilities, but here’s two that are simple to remember.

1. What do you do for a living?

This will immediately get the person to talk about his or her work life. If you listen and ask follow-up questions, the person will almost always tell you something they don’t like about their job.

Nearly everyone is frustrated to some extent by work. Sooner or later, they’ll share those frustrations with you.

The great thing about this question is that once they tell you what they do, they’ll almost always ask you what you do. That’s a great opportunity to lay the groundwork for telling them about your opportunity.

It’s important that you give a simple explanation of what you do. Do not launch into a detailed presentation of your business. Odds are you’ll turn them off.

2. What do you like to do in your free time?

This will often reveal the person’s innermost dreams. If you listen closely and ask follow-up questions, the person will tell you what they’d really like to be doing with their life.

The answer will let you ask them how great it would be if they got to do that whenever they wanted. This will lay the groundwork for the time when you share your opportunity with them.

These questions will help you begin to build a relationship with people. You have to do that if you want people to know, like and trust you.

And you have to build that relationship with no agenda. They’ll never know, like or trust you if you pressure them with your opportunity.

Once you have that relationship, an opportunity will present itself to share your products or services and company. That’s the way your business will grow.

Steve DeVane
I learned how to build a strong business from this mentoring program.

Simple business plan — getting paid for something you already do

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple business plan that paid you for something you do anyway?

Good news. There is.

Most people do network marketing every day. They just don’t get paid for it. Network marketing is nothing more than recommending and promoting products that you like.

Nearly everyone already does that with their favorite restaurants, a good movie, a great place to shop and other things. When you hear a good joke and pass it on, you’re effectively recommending and promoting that joke.

So, with network marketing, you simply find a company that has a product or products that everyone wants and you recommend and promote them. But here’s the key — you have to do it with no agenda.

That’s difficult, and it’s also where most network marketers go wrong. Most MLM companies train their reps to immediately make a list of their friends and family.

It’s the worst thing to do.

The new distributor and their upline proceed to call the people on the list with the sponsor usually doing most of the talking.

The prospect feels pressured in two ways. First, he wants to help out his friend. Second, the upline will often use some kind of closing technique to get the person to buy. Even if he buys something, it likely leaves bad feelings.

Before long the new distributor is an official member of the NFL — No Friends Left.

At first glance, the strategy appears to make sense. People tend to join people they know, like and trust so why not approach those who already know, like and trust you.

The problem is more than 90 percent of people don’t like to be sold. When they feel like a friend is putting the sales squeeze on them, it turns them off even more.

The solution: don’t go to your friends and family first. As a matter of fact, don’t go to them at all. Don’t tell them about your business unless they ask.

And once you’re successful, they will ask.

So, who do you go to? You go to people you meet. Live your life. Be knowable, likeable and trustworthy.

Along the way, you’ll meet the right people. The moment will present itself for you to promote and recommend your business and its products. If you follow that simple business plan with no agenda — not like a salesman — you’ll start getting paid for something you do everyday.

Steve DeVane

A practical way to reach your dreams

I recently took my daughter and one of her friends to a reception and presentation hosted by Western Carolina University. My daughter and her friend are both high school juniors considering where to go to college.

The event was well attended. The presentation was well done, and the school representatives were well informed and presented the university well.

On the way home, I asked my daughter her favorite part of the evening. She told me it was when one of the professors told her that if she’d score a little higher on the SAT that every school in North Carolina would want her.

Then she turned the tables on me and asked me my favorite part. After jokingly telling her it was the pretzels (they were quite good), I said it was a conversation she had with the representative of WCU’s School of Business after she told him she was thinking about double majoring in business and communications.

The professor — I think he might have been the associate dean — seemed pleased with my daughter’s plans. He told her that she was wise to follow her passion, which he assumed was communications, while also getting the practical basics of business.

In effect, he told her that you should always do what you want, but remember that you have to pay the bills, too.

Thinking about it later, it occurred to me how wonderfully network marketing fits into that scenario.

Many people realize early in life that they have to make money to provide for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, they jettison their dreams along the way.

Network marketing offers a way for people to reconnect with those dreams. Once we understand that opportunity, we’re practically on our way to reaching them.

Steve DeVane

Persistence — vital to success

Persistence is vital to success. In network marketing, once we’ve found a system that works, we only have to keep doing the right things until success is ours.

It’s a great moment when we realize that our goals are achievable. That they’re not in some far-off never, never land. If we persist, one day we’ll realize that we’re growing, and we’ll sense that success is within reach.

In his classic book, “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill says, “Sometimes it appears that there is a hidden Guide whose duty is to test men through all sorts of discouraging experiences. Those who pick themselves up after defeat and keep on trying, arrive; and the world cries, ‘Bravo! I knew you could do it!’ The hidden Guide lets no one enjoy great achievement without passing the PERSISTENCE TEST. Those who can't take it, simply do not make the grade.”

When I read this, my spirit was lifted. I know this guide. He’s the one who whispers, “You can do it,” when other voices are coming up with a million reasons to quit. The guide sends a clear message to keep going amid the bombardment of images coming my way.

We might not be where we want to be, but if we persist we will get there.
Soon we will smile when we hear the world cry, “Bravo! I knew you could do it!”

Steve DeVane

Change your life - It's your decision

Have you ever given any serious thought to how you ended up in the job you have?

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. I was talking with a friend about it the other day and he was telling me about the path that led him to his current position. I didn’t tell him this for fear of offending him, but his description unnerved me quite a bit.

It seemed he ended up where he was because of a series of unrelated events that had little to do with his strengths, talents, gifts or desires. What made it worse was his apparent reluctance to consider any alternatives at any point along the way or even now.

I was just about to question him about it, when I realize that until recently my life was much the same. I thought that I was where I was and there wasn’t much I could do about it.

Fortunately, I’ve come to realize that I am where I am because of my past choices, and I can change direction by making different choices.

It’s not easy, but it can be done. Think about it. If you want something different, change direction. Decide and do it.

Steve DeVane

What if ... you took a positive view?

One of the coolest things I’ve learned recently is the art of turning a negative into a positive.

Sometimes this can be accomplished just by looking for the good in whatever situation you face. Often, however, you can turn a whole issue completely around just by changing the way you approach it.

One of the best examples of this I’ve seen I discovered through a blog by Joe Vitale. It’s called “What If Up.”

What If Up encourages you to turn “what if …” questions into an examination of positive possibilities. Often we ask such questions in a negative tone. Some dreaded circumstance usually follows the “what if.”

Instead, the What If Up movement promotes considering all the great things that might happen. It involves three steps: identify a challenge; notice how you’re mentally approaching it; then What If Up it.

What If Up even has its own online community called the What If Up Club with more than 160 members.

Next time you face a challenge, “what if up” it and turn it into a positive.

Steve DeVane

Speak up for your profession and products

The other day, my daughter called me on the phone to complain about the cost of ice cream. She and her friend had been to a nearby ice cream shop. Each had ordered a scoop of ice cream.

When they got ready to pay, the cashier told my daughter it would be $8.03. I told her that maybe it was just an expensive place to buy ice cream. She said it wasn’t that expensive because a sign said that each scoop of ice cream was $2.

I asked her why she didn’t mention that to the cashier.

She said she didn’t want to.

I told her she had to learn to speak up in those circumstances.

She protested a little, but I think she understood.

Later, it occurred to me that network marketers often face similar tests in their business. Occasionally, you’ll be talking with someone and they’ll say something about being in a financial crunch. Or someone will tell you about a challenge they face that one of your company’s products would help.

Many network marketers make one of two mistakes in those circumstances: they come on too strong or they clam up and don’t say anything.

Putting a sales squeeze on people never a good idea. Good networkers learn to present their opportunity or products in a non-threatening manner.

In order for people to know about the wonderful profession of network marketing and its many amazing companies if you have to learn to speak up.

Steve DeVane

Learning leadership by following first

Have you ever wondered what makes a good leader?

Sometimes you see someone who has a certain way of speaking, of acting, of living that leads you to describe the person as a “born leader.” Turns out that description is probably not accurate.

Most great leaders were once great followers. If you want to be a good leader become a good follower.

That’s why it’s so valuable to have a mentor. That importance applies to all areas of life, but it takes on greater meaning in network marketing.

In MLM, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of so-called “systems” competing for your attention. Each claims to be the best way to market your opportunity.

When you’re considering marketing options, pay close attention to the person behind the system. Is that person someone you can learn from? Can you picture them showing you how to succeed?

Then look closely at the people that person has already mentored. Has he or she successfully taught the system to others? Moreover, did he or she teach them how to pass it on?

Once you’ve found that mentor, follow them down the path to success. In no time you’ll be the leader you are meant to be.

Steve DeVane