In today’s current economic climate people are searching even more online for a way to try and earn extra income and take control of their own financial future, but at the same time are more skeptical than ever because so many opportunties are labelled as scams. Whilst there are a large number of scams or incorrectly presented opportunities online, there are also a large number of scammers out there naming everything as a scam.  It’s easy to put up content on the internet and you can virtually write whatever you want and it will start circulating on the internet.  Some of the biggest names in business such as Jim Rohn, Anthony Robbins, Roberty Kiyosaki all have been labelled as a scam somewhere on the internet.  Why? Pure and simple  - traffic! If you use the leverage of someone else’s popularity and label it as a scam then you can divert that traffic back to your own website.

The true scammer, therefore, is the person making the scam claims. There are even so called comsumer protect websites out there who list hundreds of scams on their websites , but the interesting thing is on these websites is that nowhere can you find the owners contact details, its impossible to leave your own message most of the time and the reason they do this is so they cant get sued for  misleading claims and also so they can rank high on the search engines and then charge advertisers to advertise so they themselves can make money.

So, as you can see, not all is what it seems. If you are concerned about something being a scam, sure, do your due diligence but dont rely on one or two ‘scam’ reviews especially if that review leads to another website.  ALARM BELLS! Wake Up! This is a very old marketing trick to steal from competitors popularity. It really makes me wonder why these companies or people have to steal traffic and not work off their own merits?

There are even companies that are 30 or 40 years old being labelled a scam. I can guarantee one thing, something that has been around for a very long time, is definetely NOT a scam or they would never have lasted so long. The sad fact is that the other reason ‘scam’ issues are out there are people who perhaps tried to become an entrepreneur at some point and failed because of their own shortcomings such as:

* Lack of consistent effort

* Under capitalised

* Gave up after the first obstacle

* Failed to follow the training

* Failed to invest time and money required

* Poor mindset

* Never let go of the ‘job’ mentality where they expected to get paid after every day’s work

* People do not take accountability for their own results

Ok, so as I said earlier there definetely are some scams floating around on the internet, and I certainly have came across a couple, but I can certainly say that after spending thousands of dollars on the internet  purchasing marketing tools and education products that I have rarely encountered a real scam.

The simple solution is just to find the people who already have the results you want and copy them and take responsibility for your actions and your results.

To Your Success

I know you are probably thinking what the? Well the reason I was inspired to write this post as I recently started watching the new series of Australian Idol (and I really dont watch much television at all!) but I love seeing good talent and people who are driven to succeed.

Every year the competition just gets better and better and this year they are at the time of writing this they are only up to the point of choosing the top 12 and already there are good people going home.  I was watching some of the judging comments (some of them are totally uncalled for and less than constructive), but alot of them are exactly what the person needs to hear to step up and make it to the top and it got me thinking about how so many people choose a career in network marketing and yet only a proportion of those people ever really make it.

People are so quick to point the finger at the network marketing industry and say that there is a huge failure rate but is that not the same for the music industry, athletes or anything that requires self discipline, drive and determination? Its human nature that only a small percentage of people will  actually persist and do whatever it takes to get to the top. Imagine how many knock backs a singer gets before they make it big??? I cant imagine how thick skinned you would have to be in order to get so many knock backs and get told you dont have what it takes. The person who does make it, is the one that says ‘screw you’ I am going to make it no matter what it takes. It has to be an obsession about succeeding and seeing yourself succeeding if you really want to breakthrough and become better than the herd of other people who quite frankly might have the talent, but just not the same drive.

If I had a group of people to choose from about who I would want to mentor and I had some who were very talented, confident, experienced and had the money and then someone who didnt have any experience, little capital BUT they had the belief they were going to do it and the drive that could not be crumbled – then I would certainly choose the person with the drive and a burning desire.

You have to have the attitude of I am going to succeed at this or die trying… without that attitude you will never make it!

So, I say thanks to Australian Idol for inspiring people to follow their dreams and if you have that same dream in Network marketing then get serious about your goals, and do whatever it takes.

To Your Success

In my 5 years that I have been coaching and mentoring people I have seen an incomprohensible amount of people fail because they simply do not take enough action. Why? because they do not believe they can really achieve the results. They do not have big enough ‘why’ which leads to lack of belief and lack of action. Unfortunately most people are just not uncomfortable enough to do what they have to make things happen.

I have certainly seen in my time a ton of people that have the desire –  but not the belief or the need to really burn all bridges and make it happen.  What’s interesting too is the amount of people I see who are looking to make changes in their life but they dont have the guts to take action. They want garantees that they will succeed and they are so afraid of failing that they keep watching from the sidelines hoping that one day some majic fairy will come along and make it all better for them. Well guess what, that aint going to happen.

Today I watched this extremely powerful interview between Tony Robbins and 2 top internet marketers Frank Kern and John Reese explaining the reasons that most people fail because they simply don’ t follow through, believe and take action. After watching this 30 minute video I almost had tears of joy, happiness and awareness rolling down my cheeks because this is exactly what I needed to see. I realised at that moment I already had all the attributes and actions in place to really take my business to the next level, all that I had to do was to make a decision to do it. This was definetely a life changing moment.

I hope this video will inspire you to have the guts to go out and take action and take on a new challenge that will allow you to really reach your full potential.

http://tonyrobbins.com/video/interview.html

Dont Let tomorrow be the same as today.

I remember when I first signed up into my MLM company about 5 years ago and the reason I chose it was because I found it online, it was dressed up as a system that would allow me to work from home around my baby all on the internet. I was so excited about not having to go to work and that I could make some income from home whilst taking care of my child.

My first business plan call and I couldnt believe what I was hearing – they told me to write a list of all my friends and family and that I was to organise a grand opening and hold a home party. I felt sick inside, I lived in a City where I really only knew a few people and I felt embarrased about trying to pitch them on products and a business that I was still so new to. When I gave my upline my list they insisted that I must know more people and to think of all the people I had ever had anything to do with and contact them. Are you kidding me?? I had not spoken to most of these people in years, and now out of the blue I was supposed to call them and tell them all about the great products and business I was involved in (sound familiar?).  It still sends shivers down my spine when I think about this crazy marketing concept.  Ok sure some of the people I knew could have definetely used the products for weight loss and health, but no one I knew of  I suspected were aspiring entrepreneurs.

However, being the good student that I was, I wrote that names list and invited my handful of friends and family and got it set for a couple of weeks time. The day came and went, I did manage to sell some products but to be honest I just felt relieved that I had completed that part of the training. All I could think was I hope I never have to do that again.  Sure enough, along came a new range of skin care and I was asked to repeat this awful experience, and once again being determined to overcome fear I invited the same people.  The second time really produced nothing and I vowed I was going to find a way to market on the internet.

So being resourceful I bought a copy of Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Google and set up an adwords account and studied and studied until I had a bit of a grasp on pay per click advertising. Now, over the course of the next 4 years that is pretty much all I did and I had a fair amount of success in retailing and recruiting, but I certainly couldnt duplicate it with the system we had in place for coaching and because of the high attrition rate in MLM I found myself after 4 years in a very bad place financially.

Then, my upline created a group of motivated distributors who were going to be trained to master the prospecting of purchased leads. We were expected to maintain a fairly large amount of  purchased leads to remain in the exclusive group. I was tied to the phone almost all of the time, and for the effort I was putting in I was simply getting very, very poor results. Most of the people I called were looking for a job or trying to win a laptop lol. A few months of this and I was truly broken down and that’s when I stumbled on a little book about Magnetic Sponsoring and it opened up a whole new way of marketing on the internet.

Since reading that book my life has changed dramatically. I am now invovled in a company that provides world class internet marketing education and I have very qualified people contacting me wanting to join my business who are desperate to escape the old school methods of recurring rejection.  I will not lie, internet marketing is still hard work, but it sure is a whole lot more fun and you can work it in your time and not feel like you are still in a JOB.

If you can relate to my story  I sure do feel for you. But, it really doesnt have to be that way because a true entrepreneur recognises an opportunity to make a change, take control and move forward in a direction that increases your value in the marketplace. In order to really be successful you must increase your value in the marketplace.

You know I am not much of a Sylvester Stallone fan, but this speech from one of the Rocky Movies has to be one of the most incredibly powerful speeche’s ever delivered.  Imagine having a coach in life like that who is willing to give it to you straight to make sure that you are always being the best you can be?

This video I can really relate to and is a great addition to my recent post I wrote on Persistence. Most of the population are so willing to give up on their dreams at the first obstacle and the only answer to that is that whatever it was that they were chasing, they just didnt want it bad enough. Every time you think you are ready to quit – just watch this video and remind yourself ‘why’ it is you are chasing your goals.

Keep Moving Forward

I think one of the major reasons that people become involved in a home business or internet business is for the freedom and the choices that the money can make possible for them. It is not enough just to say that you want to earn $10k a month without having a purpose for why you want to earn that money. Having money in the bank , is not really what life is about. Its about the choices and the freedom that money can make possible.

In order to achieve the results you want, you really must have a clear picture of what sort of life you want, how you want to live it, where you want to live it and what you would do with the time freedom you create for yourself. Without a clear picture it is very hard to reach those goals, because you are really just shooting at nothing. As the saying says, In order for you to land amongst the stars – you must shoot for the Moon.

I recently came back from a skiing holiday in the ski resorts of NSW, Australia where I spent a few perfect days, mid week in perfect weather and no crowds and I am so grateful that I have the freedom to choose to do this and still manage to have my business running 24/7 and not being tied to it. Here are some photos below and a video I shot the first day I was there.

Brendan (my husband) and I at Guthega

Some Apres Skiing at the Pub

Me with Friends Enjoying the Beatiful Weather

I was involved in a traditional MLM for over 4 years and one thing it DID NOT provide was time freedom, if anything I was controlled by the business. I was tied the phone all day, spent hours and hours delivering flyers and doing presentations and was left with no time to spend with my family or go on a holiday. When  I discovered a direct sales company that leverages the internet to the full extent it changed everything and now I live a life that most people only dream of.

See You at the Top

One thing I have learnt about myself is that I am a very persistent person, and when I decide I want something, I stop at nothing and persist without exception. This is actually a very necessray attribute in being an entrepreneur as overcoming obstacles is really what sets apart winners from losers.

If you were to ask ANY successful entrepreneur about what the key ingredient for success was, it would most definetely be persistence. There is no successful entrepreneur that has not had to overcome obstacles in order to be where they are. Most people fall into the 97% crowd where their commitment and desires are short lived when obstacles appear in their way. Their goals and desires start with passion and fortitude but staying the course only really happens when you are truly connected to your goals and persist without exception.  Successful entrepreneurs not only learn, but profit form their mistakes.

In the last couple of months I have had some pretty incrdible blows and obstacles. I had my facebook account disabled after I had it built up to almost 4000 friends (and with no explanation why?) . I had been slapped on google 3 times in one month , then suspended along with thousands of other marketers for no reason that was even understandable or true. I then started again and lasted only 2 hours before the same thing happened. Most people would give up at this point, but not ME>< This type of challenge truly fuels my desire to overcome the obstacle and come out the other end triumphing and knowing that nothing can stop me.

The path of an entrepreneur is sometimes quite challenging, especically when you are surrounded by people who are negative and like to steal your dreams. But, just know that your success can only be determined by you and the only way you can fail is to quit and join the 97% crowd.

If you think back about things you havnt or have done in the past, its always the things you didnt do that you regret the most.  So, be adamant and persistent about the goals you set for yourself and just know that there is nothing you cant achieve if you choose not to waiver in your pursuit.

We all had to learn to walk at some point, and just remember that no matter how many times we fell down as toddlers, we just all stood back up again.

“Fall over seven times, and stand up Eight”