In addition to my “I can, I will, I am” mantra, I obsessively listened to Jim Rohn’s CD Building Your Network Marketing Business. For the first year of my business, it was the only thing that played in my car. I absorbed every piece of that short (under an hour) CD. I learned what this business is really about. I learned it’s a “do and then learn” business. It’s not a “learn and then do” business. I learned “not to get distracted by little things.” I learned how to “discipline my disappointments.” I learned how to think like a leader, like a network marketing professional.
Liz Hartke versus her beliefs. I love sharing stories about Liz, one of my business partners. Speaking of which, I refer to a person I work with as a “partner” rather than “one of my distributors” or “somebody on my team.” Leaders never want to be “one of your distributors” or on “your team.” Leaders want to be partners with you, want to run a team with you, and eventually want to flourish on their own.
Okay, back to Liz. I have so enjoyed watching the work she’s done and how she’s grown – in her business, as a wife and mother, daughter, sister, and as a mentor and leader. I had the opportunity to play a small role in her growth and then got out of the way to watch as Liz soared to the highest levels in our company. Early in her business, she had a major breakthrough in her mindset. In our company we have a rank called “2-Star Diamond,” which Liz had set herself the goal of achieving by a certain date. That date was approaching, and she still needed to sign up three or four people to hit that rank. We jumped on a call, and Liz told me how disappointed she felt that she wasn’t going to hit the goal she had set.
Our conversation went something like this:
Me: What do you mean you’re not going to hit it?
Liz: I need four more people, and I only have three days left to do it. There’s not enough time. It’s just not going to happen.
Me: Okay. So what do you mean you’re not going to hit it?
Liz: Well, it’s impossible. I just can’t do it.
Me: Stop going out there and trying to talk to people when you don’t believe that it’s actually possible. You have three days to hit this goal. Spend as much time as you need – even if it’s the entire next two days – getting your mind right. Even if you have to pretend, get in the mindset of believing it’s possible. If you can take it one step further, I want you to get into the mindset of knowing that signing up four more people is possible and knowing that it’s going to happen.
Liz left the call reluctant but agreeing to give it a shot.
I didn’t know if she was going to hit the goal or not. I knew it was 100 percent possible, but until she knew, it wasn’t going to happen.
Liz took the advice and shifted into the right mindset. She knew without a doubt it was going to happen, and she hit the 2-Star Diamond goal she had set for herself. This success was a launching pad for Liz. She has gone on to achieve the highest rank in our company: 15-Star Diamond. That one mindset shift had enormous impact on Liz’s business.
Leaders know that just plowing along when their mind isn’t right does not lead to success in this business. In order to accomplish her goal, Liz spent two-thirds of her time getting her mind right, then she went out there and did the work. Once she knew it was going to happen, people were attracted to her.
4. Leaders understand they own
a “big business.”
Leaders in our industry know that network marketing is big business. They don’t look at it as a little side gig to make some extra money here and there.
One of the best – and worst – parts of network marketing is that there’s little to no barrier to entry. Most companies require a few hundred dollars to get started. Some might creep into the thousands of dollars, which is still not high compared to starting costs for most other types of business. The best part about this is that anyone can get involved. The worst part is that you’ve got no skin in the game. If it doesn’t work out, you’ve just lost a little bit of money and a little bit of time. Given the low start-up cost and the opportunity being open to anyone, network marketing can mistakenly be perceived as not a “big” opportunity or a “real” type of business. Leaders understand they’re building a big business.
When I first got started, I played a mind trick on myself. I looked at my business like it was a franchise. I asked myself, “What if I bought into a McDonald’s franchise or some other similar type of franchise? How much would it cost me to do that?” With a bit of research I came to some rough numbers. (I was just doing this to trick myself, so exact numbers didn’t matter.) Buying into a franchise would probably cost a million or more dollars, and I would probably have to come up with, say, $250,000 to get the loan to purchase the franchise. I didn’t have $250,000 at that time – I was living week to week. The point of the mindset trick was to get me to treat network marketing like a big business. I asked myself, “How seriously would I take this business if I had $250,000 on the line? If the cost of failing was $250,000?” That thought changed my work ethic. It changed the way I approached this business. It added a level of urgency, of motivation. Every morning I asked myself, “How would I act today if $250,000 was on the line? If I had a ton of employees depending on me and a huge loan out there and a brick-and-mortar business? What actions would I take today? How hard would I be pushing?”
Leaders create whatever leverage they need to ensure they’re treating network marketing like the big business it is.
5. Leaders set one overarching, long-term goal.
Leaders in network marketing usually have one overarching goal.
When I first got started, I heard about our company’s Million Club – when your cumulative earnings reach $1 million. I liked the idea of earning $1 million within my business over time, but I wanted more than that. I decided to go for $1 million in a year. As Jim Rohn says, “It’s got a good ring to it, millionaire, $1 million a year!” That’s the goal I set for myself.
As all network marketing companies do, we have various ranks and titles you can earn: Star Diamond, Elite, Premier, Top 10, Success Club, etc. Corporate sets these goals, and I strived for many of them but only if they supported my main goal of earning $1 million a year. The most important milestone on the way to my goal was finding and developing leaders, so my daily activities focused on finding and developing leaders.
What single goal will help you get the most out of your business? Not the goal that corporate wants you to hit, but the goal that is going to give you the life you want. What is the one overarching goal, that if you hit it, all the other things would fall into place? Make it a long-term goal. Make it something that requires you to become a leader in your company. After your goal is set, make sure all your daily activities are in line with that goal. If an effort is not driving you toward that one goal, don’t do it. Don’t chase the shiny objects. Don’t go for three or four or five goals. Don’t switch gears and goals every few months. Even if your goal is not to earn $1 million a year, I ask you to look at your business and decide what you want it to do for you.
6. Leaders create momentum and ride it.
Think about a time things were clicking for you – in network marketing or another area of your life. A time you were doing well at something, and you felt excited and confident about it. You were in the groove. Leaders get themselves into that grove in their business. Success magazine’s Darren Hardy calls this the “Big Mo.”
I teach my leaders that gaining momentum in this business is like surfing a big wave. In order to get out to the big wave, you have to go through the crashing surf.
Once you get through the surf, the water is calm. Then the wave comes in and, if you get on top of that wave, you’re riding the energy. You’re riding the momentum of that wave. Its momentum carries you forward. You’re no longer crashing around in the surf and the work is not as hard because you are riding the power of the wave.
It’s the same with building your business. The surf is your fears, your insecurities, your self-doubt, the
negative talk going through your mind. The surf is your lack of success and your lack of skills when you’re first getting started. We have to move through these pieces in order to get out to the wave. As we move through them one by one and start to see some small wins, we get closer to the wave, to the momentum. We’re getting to the end of the surf and out to where we can catch a wave. And when that wave comes, that momentum is built, our job is to surf it, to ride it as best we can. Finding the momentum and riding it promotes massive growth in your business, is fun, and is much less work than crashing around in the surf.
7. Leaders give themselves permission to succeed.
So many of us are waiting for permission to become the person we’re capable of becoming in this business. Right now, as you’re reading, I want you to hear and I want you to feel – from my heart to yours – that you have permission to succeed at the highest levels in this business. Whenever I’m mentoring one-on-one, I always share that nobody’s going to crown you king or queen in this business. If you want to be a leader in our industry, you are going to have to crown yourself king or queen. And until you do that, you will not see long-term success in your business. In the history of the world, there have only been two ways to become a king or queen:
1. It’s in your bloodline and you inherit the title.
2. You earn the title.
In this business, no one has the bloodline of a king or queen. It doesn’t matter who you signed up with, who your mentor is, what company you chose, or when you got started. Nobody’s going to give you that crown. There’s no inheritance in network marketing, you have to earn your title.
Action Steps
Set aside a few hours to hone in on what you are working toward in your business. Work through the following exercises in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
1. Referring to the action steps from the last chapter, bring back to mind the life you want to live five years from now. Write down the long-term (five-year) income goal you are going to strive for to support that life. Make that goal the center of all your daily activities. During your working hours, strive to do only those activities which support your goal.
2. Think of a short-term (three- to six-month) goal that is a stepping stone for your five-year goal. Write it down and make it your “push” goal over the next three to six months.
3. Create “I am” statements around the concept of giving yourself permission to succeed at the highest levels in your business. An “I am” statement is simply a powerful, positive affirmation starting with “I am.” Create 10-20 statements to roll around in your mind throughout the day. Examples:
I am becoming a leader of leaders.
I am empowered.
I am confident.
Chapter 4
BUILD TO LAST AND YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
As a leader, it’s a major responsibility on your shoulders to practice the behavior you want others to follow.
— Himanshu Bhatia
Don’t Mistake Information Gathering for Personal Development
Most of us have a major misconception about personal development. We think personal development is something you just sit down and do. Read 10 pages a day. Listen to the podcast on your ride to work. Jump on the training call. This, however, is just information gathering, which is useless if we don’t do anything with it. It’s not personal development. Personal development is the combination of those two words. You’re developing yourself as a person, a process that involves understanding “who you are” right now and “who you need to be” in order to achieve your goals and dreams.
Most distributors fall short by focusing on “what are the activities that I have to do?” Leaders focus on “who is the person I need to become in order to build the team I want?” Once you get clear on who you are and who you need to be, you can then look for the resources to close the gap. And here is the important part: you need to do more than study and learn, you need to implement. You need to become! It’s not an information-gathering plan, it’s a personal-development plan.
“52 Books a Year” Is Not a Personal Development Plan
One day on a private Facebook page for leaders in the company I work with, I read a post by a leader who had committed to reading 52 books during the year, along with a few of his team members. Many people commented on the book-a-week post – “exciting,” “great idea.” I couldn’t disagree more. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m a book junkie. I probably skim 52 books in a year and deep dive into a few that are relevant to my growth at the time, but I don’t read just to read.) Looking at that thread, I wondered, “How much is somebody actually going to learn, and how much more are they going to become? How will they implement what they learn if they just read book after book after book?”
When I work on personal development with people I mentor, we find the areas in their life – in their character, their self-esteem, their leadership – where they want to grow. Then we find resources for those specific spots, and they work on improving.
For example, you’re reading this book. You can plow through it and gain a lot of new information. But if you don’t implement what you’re reading, you’re not going to become who you want to become. Consuming information gets you nowhere. To use this book effectively, after reading it, you’ll put little pieces of it to work for you. You do this step by step. You take the good – the aspects that you need – and discard the rest. Just gaining some information isn’t enough. Taking that information and applying it to your life – that’s a personal development plan.
Your Personal Development Plan Is
Not Limited
I used to be a massive consumer of information, reading personal development books until two o’clock in the morning. But I wasn’t necessarily applying what I learned. I was gaining information, but my life wasn’t changing. When I turned 25, it became clear to me that I needed a therapist. My life wasn’t working. I was not happy, I was depressed, I was having anxiety and panic attacks all the time. I didn’t know what to do anymore. I truly needed help.
I met with four therapists before I found one who clicked with me, who spoke truth into my life. She wasn’t there to comfort or coddle me. For a year, I went to her every week for an hour and then implemented everything she told me to during the following week. I did the work. I wasn’t just consuming information anymore. I took action on everything she assigned me. Do you see the difference between just gathering information and actually engaging in personal development?
Your Personal Development Plan
Let’s begin right now. Grab a pen and paper (or come back to this section later), and let’s put together your personal development plan as it relates to your network marketing business. Start by jotting down the leaders in your company and leaders you admire, then list qualities you admire in those leaders. Most likely, you’ll identify many different leadership qualities – from technical leadership skills to self-esteem to how they make others feel. You may admire somebody for her ability to inspire others. You may admire another person for the duplicatable systems he created for his team. You may admire yet another leader for the way he always brings in top-quality people or for his trustworthy character. How do those leaders inspire their team and how do those leaders make the individuals on their team feel? Put your inventory of these qualities into a list.
You’ve just defined your idea of the pinnacle of leadership, in other words, who you’re looking to become. This is your ideal self as a leader in network marketing.
Now it’s time to take an honest gut check: where are you right now? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of the qualities you’re looking to grow into. Get a clear understanding of where you are today and where you want to be. You take the inventory so you can see the gap. Once you see the gap, you know where you need to improve. Your improvement plan covers the distance between where you currently are and where you want to be.
How to Bridge the Gap
How do you bridge that gap? To paraphr
ase Wayne Dyer, it doesn’t matter what you’re willing to do. People are willing to do a lot. They’re willing to sacrifice a lot. I’m sure you too have been willing to give a lot, do a lot, and sacrifice a lot. But the real question, again paraphrasing Wayne Dyer, is “What’s the piece that you’re not willing to do?” When you figure out what’s on your “I’m not willing to do that” list, you’re well on your way to putting together your personal development plan.
If you want success at the highest level, you have to get your “I’m not willing to do that” list as close as possible to zero. It’s always the place you don’t want to go – the things you don’t want to admit that you need to address. That you need to improve. That you need to work through. That fear, that doubt, that insecurity, that depression, that “I’m not good enough” self-talk, that piece you’ve been carrying with you since childhood. Whatever that is, get clear about those places you don’t want to go, those things you don’t want to do, because that’s where real change and growth occurs.
Once you know what you need to start working on, find the right resources to help you. Find people who have been there, who have done it before you. Model them. What is it that they’ve done? How have they gone through it? How have they reinvented themselves? You may hire a mentor or a virtual mentor. Maybe it’s your sponsor. It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone you work with one-on-one, although it can be. Your resources may be books, CDs, courses, success partners, someone to model. You may get a therapist. There are so many possibilities. I wish there were a checklist or formula, but this process is different for everyone.
If there were a formula, it would be a simple one:
Where are you now?
Build to Last Page 4