What is your motivation?

I'm realizing as I am building my business, that motivation is key. 

However, being motivated for the right reason is important. 

When I started, I had a short term goal to reach, and when I did my flame died down and I was much less involved. Consequently my business started to die down as well, because after all if you aren't doing any work, then you are not going to have a successful business.

I needed to take a step back and figure out why I was really doing this, and if I wanted to continue. The only reason I could come up with for not was pure laziness on my part. I could, can, and have made this work. My team wasn't going to do this for me. Sure they were there for me during my absence so-to-speak, but they weren't going to do this for me. I needed to get up, and get to work.

No one was going to be able to push me into this, or make me do it. I had to do this for me and for my family. Not for a short term goal or bonus, but to ensure that we had financial stability when my husband goes to dental school in a year and a half and can't work like he is now getting his bachelor's.

My success is my choice, and I have to motivate myself.

"Motivation from an outside source does not last. Success in any endeavor is based on what is motivating you from within. THAT is the DNA of all Success. On a scale to 1 to 100 it is a 100. FYI...50 on that scale is halfhearted and we know that doesn't work."

 - Jack Zufelt, author of best seller "DNA of Success" and my grandpa :) 

So what is your motivation?

The Detriment of "Front End Loading" with a Home Business

Another wonderful article by Donna Stewart! Click here to go to her article!

"Do you understand the pitfalls of “Front End Loading”?

Here are 5 questions to ask to help with understanding and avoiding the detriment of Front End Loading.

 

1.  Does the company require a large investment of product to start? Large, meaning $500 + or more to get started.
2. Are the majority of commissions earned on the initial purchase of a new member?
3. Do the leaders contact you towards the end of the month asking you to purchase more products before the month is out?
4. Can you buy your status? Meaning, can you or people in your business purchase a certain amount of product so that you can “Get to” or “Maintain” your status with wth business?
5. Are you advised that you can recoup your money from your big product purchase by retail selling?

I know, I know. Some of you reading this may be saying, “What’s wrong with any of those statements?”

I say, “A lot!”
Now, stay with me here for just a moment.

Most Direct Sales and/or MLM companies make most of their revenue on “Front End Loading”. Sad but true.

What is Front End Loading?

Basically it means the majority of product(s) sold are to the “Distributers”, not the end consumer.
Let me say that again, “the majority of product(s) sold are to the “Distributers”, not the end consumer“.
The company makes the majority of their profits from distributers buying a lot of product up front or to “Get To” or “Maintain” a status.

Even if the new distributer is unable to retail sell the products, the company, and a handful of high status leaders, will still make money because the products have already been purchased by the distributer, not an end consumer.
Most companies that use front end loading with their members, will give a nice commission to the distributer that gets someone to buy in with a big order. This creates a major promotion of the “big buy in” when someone starts.

The distributer is typically excited about their new venture of starting their own home business, and eventually realizes that they are unable to retail sell the products and they are stuck with it. Unfortunately, this happens all the time.
Sure, most companies have a return policy, however, it is typically a short time frame. By the time the distributer figures out they are unable to retail sell it, the time frame to return the product(s) has lapsed.
When this happens, many distributers try to give the products away as a method to lure potential customers and business partners. They may get a few, and the entire sad cycle begins again.
The company earns their profits while the distributer does not.
Now, lets dive a little deeper.
Let’s say you have achieved a status of … let’s call it “Queen Bee”.
As a “Queen Bee” you are required to have $1000 dollars worth of product purchased (from you or your customers) in any given month. (This does NOT include your initial buy in.)
So, you’ve joined and paid $500 to start and have products on hand. You need to go out and produce another $1000 worth of product purchases (sales) in a given month to be a “Queen Bee”. And you do it!! YEAH!! You’re a Queen Bee!!!
You earn XYZ amount of commissions, you’re happy and on your way to achieve the next status of “Ultimate Queen Bee!!”
To achieve “Ultimate Queen Bee!!” you need $2000 worth of product purchases (sales) in a given month and one of your customers (business partners) needs to achieve, “Queen Bee” and have at least $1000 worth of product purchases (sales) in her business for the month.
Now you have your sales in line for the month, however, your business partner is “short” about $500. Hmmmm…what to do??? How do you get her to work so YOU can advance to “Ultimate Queen Bee”?
Well, your business partner could call the company and purchase that $500 worth of product herself to get to status of “Queen Bee”, which means she could advance to “Queen Bee” and YOU would also advance to “Ultimate Queen Bee”!
Soooo, you pressure your business partner to either go out and have parties and make the sales or just buy the amount of products needed to reach the status and ‘hopefully’ sell them next month.
Do you know what happens down the road?
You have a lot of people getting to and maintaining “Queen Bee” by personally buying the amount of products required. (In hopes of retail selling)
You have a lot of people getting their business partner to buy products to maintain their status.
Hardly any, if any product is getting sold to the end consumer.
People get stuck with products they don’t need or use and are unable to retail sell it. They are unable to get their money back because the return policy time frame has lapsed.
Yet, the company continues to make money while many, dare I say most of it’s members lose their money.

My advice: Be vary wary of businesses that have a large start up and a business that allows it’s members to purchase extra products to achieve a status. You don’t want to get caught up with Front End Loading.
Be Careful Out There"

Making Money at Home...Doing Nothing?

Here is a wonderfully informative article by my good friend and mentor, Donna Stewart.

"Have you ever come across the carazy ‘Money at Home’ ads?

They pitch the unrealistic concept of how you can make hundreds, thousands even millions of dollars by basically doing nothing.
What I find so alarming is the amount people who buy in that garbage.

Making money at home with your own business is possible.

But, let’s get real.
Earning a great income right from home takes a lot of hard work. Anything worth achieving does.
With having a successful, multi-million dollar online business at home, I have come across so much hype  and seen countless people get hurt.

With that said, I thought I would share my Top 10 things to look for when searching for a way to make money at home.

I’m sure you’ll notice that each point is listed as a “1″. That’s because I think each one is just as important as the next. Just sayin…

1. Look for DISCLAIMERS and Read Carefully!

1. The “Don’t-Be-Scammed” Scam!  Often websites will claim to show you the few legitimate ‘make money at home’ programs out there.Either they are trying to sell you a book, DVD, or a training program, which is likely to be of questionable value if any at all, or they are trying to point you toward their own work at home program. They will say they’ve reviewed dozens of ‘make money at home’ opportunities and only found one that they recommend. Of course, it will have a link to it, but if you evaluate the site carefully, you’ll more than likely see that all signs point toward a work at home scam.

1. High Pressure Tactics: “The Next 17 People to Join…”  Or “Free Today Only!” What’s the hurry? They are counting on you to make a quick decision to fork over your money. A measured look at their site will probably reveal suspicious information.

1. Contact Information  Scroll to the bottom of a site. Most legitimate companies have links to their real contact information and sometimes their address and phone number at the bottom. Many real companies also have a link to their FaceBook profile or FaceBook fanpage and/or Twitter account. In a ‘make money at home’ scam, often the only contact information is an email form or email address. There is no way of knowing who specifically who you are dealing with.

1. As Seen On…Some sites will tout mentions in well-known publications, like the USA Today or The New York Times, but then do not provide links. You’ve got to wonder why they decline to offer proof. If no link is provided, then I would assume they are either lying or the coverage was unfavorable. Sometimes they will mention or use images of well-known companies like Coca-Cola or even famous people. Their hope is that by simply associating themselves with a trusted brand they will appear more trustworthy.

1. “Christian” Business Opportunities Simply because a business says it is “Christian” is no reason to believe it is. Con artists are not above using religion to sell their snake oil. As with the “As Seen On…” scam, they are just trying to associate themselves with something trustworthy. Along these same lines are sites that pepper their web pages with Bible quotes.

1. Multilevel Marketing (MLM) The legitimacy of MLMs vary greatly. Reputable companies, like Avon and Mary Kay, use multilevel marketing to sell quality products. But most others use the MLM model to sell questionable products at ridiculously high prices (compared to market value). They focus mainly on pitching ‘making money’, fancy cars etc., more so than the actual product. In many other cases of MLM’s they focus so much on the selling of a large start-up pack to a new recruit which is where they would make most of their money. There is no real residual income as the members typically do not repurchase monthly and/or they quit because they did not make any money.

1. Pyramid Schemes A pyramid scheme is basically a model where getting more people and their money into the scheme is the basis on which you are paid. Pyramid schemes typically have no product sales and operate under the guise of work-at-home business opportunities. Posting ads online and distributing flyers are examples.

1. Better Business Bureau With the BBB, anyone can get an account. So just being a member does not mean it’s a good company. Always check the BBB for membership, how many years it’s been a member and then also check out it’s rating. BBB grades are not a guarantee of a business’ reliability or performance, and BBB recommends that consumers consider a business’ grade in addition to all other available information about the business.

1. Average Income Statistics If you are researching a company that provides a business opportunity for it’s members, the most important question (in my humble opinion) is to ask if the company provides average income statistics.The average incomes of it’s members. The highs, the lows as well as the average time it takes for someone to achieve the different income levels. Any ethical company should provide those numbers. It’s a business after all and with starting any business, you need to know the numbers. If they don’t provide that information, that should be a red flag to pay attention to.

I hope this helps you in some way. If you enjoyed this post, please share and Facebook and Twitter.
Have you been scammed or have an experience to share? I would love to hear your story. Please comment below.
Here’s to making money at home the right way.

To Your Success,

"

Miscellaneous Motivation

What holds us back is usually a lot less than we think it is. Sometimes it's an unseen mental block.

 

 Don't let anything hold you back! You can do anything you want and reach any goal you set.

33 Blogging Rules from my good friend Kim!

Kim is the best, here is what she has to say about blogging!

Here are 33 blogging rules for success!

When building your brand on your blog, it’s important to have CREDIBILITY.
One easy way to show your knowledge and be credible, is to ensure that your information is without spelling or grammar errors! This is a very small but very important step to take before publishing your post.

Spellchecker is your friend!

I recently came across this comical list of 33 blogging rules:

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat. )
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
16. Don’t use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word verbless sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!.
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know..
28. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

Next time you are writing your next blog post, remember these 33 blogging rules!

ABC! Always Be Closing!

Whenever you are giving a presentation to someone and you are trying to convince them that what you have is what they need, there is one very important thing you should remember:
You should

Always
Be
Closing

What does that mean? It means you are in charge of the presentation, and you are directing it. You are asking questions that are giving you necessary feedback to successfully close.

For example, after part of your presentation you can ask questions like “Are you with me so far?" or "How does that sound?” or, “Do you see what I mean?” and, “Does that make sense?”
Listen carefully to what they say and how they say it, and use their answers to tell you where you need to focus on.

Any time you give a benefit, make sure to ask, "Can you see how this would benefit you/your family?" or, “Could you use that?" Cause them to come up with their own reasons that what you have will be beneficial for them. Listen to their answers and build on that.

Always make sure you're periodically asking if they have any questions! If you don't those questions may go unanswered and be the seeds of doubt.

Trial closes are always good. “Does this seem to be the kind of solution you are looking for?" or, “How is this sounding so far?” will help you know what is going on inside their mind.

When you’re finished with your presentation, always ask, “What haven’t I covered yet that is important to you?" This is a great way to make sure you've covered all the bases, and that their concerns are addressed.

 So have confidence, take charge, ask questions and then make sure to be quiet and listen, and you will see stronger closes as you present.

-These ideas are paraphrased from an article by Mike  Brooks, the president of Inside Sales Solutions, a Los Angeles based inside sales consulting and training firm that teaches companies and sales reps how to become Top 20% producers-

Be Passionate and don't Dabble!

A young man wanted to be an architect. So, naturally, when the time came to consider colleges, he and his father went to visit prospective schools.
The father was talking with a member of the faculty, and he asked her what the two most important qualities their most successful students possessed.
She considered for a moment, and then replied that the two most important qualities were
work ethic
and
passion
She said that the students who performed the best and had the highest success rates outside of their school were not the ones who were the most talented, but the ones who's lights were still on at 10 and 11pm; the ones who were passionate and dedicated.

"Find something you're passionate about, and don't dabble" 
-Dave Crescenzo

What ever it is your pursuing, if you're just dabbling, you wont see the desired results. Become passionate about it, and you will see you goals become a reality.

12 Success Factors- How to ensure you are not among the 95% who fail at home businesses

The 12 Success Factors are CRITICAL to building a real, lifetime, monthly residual income with a business at home!

Why do 95% of people trying to build a business at home fail?

Because they are trying to build a business that does NOT meet ALL of the
12 Success Factors

I have yet to find an MLM (Multi Level Marketing) or traditional business
that even comes close.
Residual Income is income that comes in month after month, year after year,
from somethingyou did ONCE in the past.
I grew up watching my mother trying a number of "home businesses" that started with enthusiasm and momentum, and then silently slipped into the box of "lost causes" never to be revisited. What she was getting out of them was not worth the amount of effort she was putting in. So my siblings and I would end up with leftover inventory to play with from whatever company she had tried, and she would have no more money than she had started with, and in some cases, less. It didn't take long for her self confidence in her own abilities to fade. She did not know that it wasn't her fault. If any of the companies she had tried had all 12 success factors I am about to discuss, she would not currently have that metaphorical box of "lost causes" and all of her hard work would have surely paid off.

12 SUCCESS FACTORS CRITICAL TO CREATING A BUSINESS THAT CREATES LONG TERM RESIDUAL INCOME

#1 COMPANY TRACK RECORD
most companies fail within the first
5 years – the company you chose
should one that has been in business
for 5 years or longer

#2 FINANCIALLY SOUND
the company must be financially healthy
and preferably debt free

#3 STRONG MANAGEMENT
fortune 500 style management
accept nothing less

#4 UNIQUE CONSUMABLE PRODUCTS
product must outperform anything in the
market place today AND they must be
products that real families, need use &
repurchase on a monthly basis

#5 COMPETITIVELY PRICED
products must be considerably less
expensive than where you currently
shop AND better & safer

#6 HIGH MONTHLY RE-ORDER RATE
95% or more of your customer shop every
month – note* this must include customers
and business partners – NOT just business
partners

#7  LOW PERSONAL PRODUCTION
REQUIREMENT
low monthly order requirement with NO
monthly quotas – no matter what position
you advance to within the company
#8 LOW COST TO START
under $50 for everyone
NO buying inventory with membership fee
enroller should NOT be paid a bonus on this fee

#9 TIMING
No “ground floor” deals – what happens when it’s
no longer ground floor?
bad news travels fast – this is why most MLM
companies get a bad name – they usually earned
it – when people get hurt and lose money, they tend
to tell everyone they know

#10 NO BREAK-AWAYS/BINERY COMP PLANS
you should NOT be penalized for enrolling someone
who is working harder and earning more than you -
you should NOT lose a person or business partner
because of it – not ever
Leadership development should be rewarded

#11 NO RISK
there needs to be a 100% money back/satisfaction
guarantee – no questions asked!
it needs to be safe for everyone, both customers and
business partners alike

#12 LOW ATTRITION
customers are cancelling – they’re not ordering
- read #6 again to fully understand just how important this is


You simply cannot sacrifice any of these factors when considering a home business.
If your business has all of these things, you will create a business to last a lifetime.