The title of that article was “Don’t Send Your Ducks to Eagle School.” I remember Jim Rohn saying that in a live event I attended almost 18 years ago when I first started my network marketing career. I didn’t fully grasp what he meant at the time.

Not everyone is going to have success in this business. I have to admit, I have had a bit of a struggle with this one all through my career. I’m over 18 years in my network marketing career and I have seen a LOT of distributors come and go. Some were friends who saw my success and wanted it for themselves, others were friends I met through the process of being their sponsor or upline. I often want success for them more than they want it themselves.

I guess it’s because I have come through hard financial times and network marketing was the solution for me. My network marketing business gave me freedom to work from home and not have to worry about where the money was coming from or how we were going to make ends meet. The best part is that I am not tied to any schedule. I can do whatever I want whenever I want. Because of that, I want others to experience freedom of time and finances.

When I saw the headline in the latest Jim Rohn newsletter, I had to chuckle a bit. Sometimes, in our desire to help people we care about, we expect them to be network marketing eagles. We want them to be eagles because we want success for our friends. Frankly, some will never be network marketing eagles.

As Jim Rohn said, “Good people are found not changed. They can change themselves, but you can’t change them. You want good people, you have to find them. If you want motivated people, you have to find them, not motivate them.”

It may sound harsh but you can’t change people. A duck will never become an eagle. Even eagles may not seem like eagles in the beginning. They need to LEARN to fly. The point is, the network marketing eagle has certain qualities that others do not have, motivation and willingness to learn are on top of the list.

I used to wonder how I would find those eagles but experience has taught me, the eagles will show themselves. You will see a lot of people come through your pipeline if you are actively building your business. Every month I sponsor several people. The eagles show themselves in what they do.

Network Marketing Eagle Traits

• They are interested in learning from others who have done it. They seek out leaders and find out what they have done to have their level of success. They gather with other eagles to learn eagle traits. This is accomplished by attending events, conference calls talking on the phone with upline leaders and any way possible to learn eagle traits. Even reading emails and articles like this one is in indication that you are a network marketing eagle. The ducks don’t read emails from their team leaders. They either don’t bother to subscribe or they delete because they don’t have the time.
• They are motivated to succeed and they are workers. Everyone has their own pace but the network marketing eagle is moving forward, making progress every day. They don’t let setbacks stop them from their goal.
• They take the initiative. They are not waiting for upline to do it all for them. They pick up the phone and call upline leaders who can guide them. They make themselves known as a serious business builder: an EAGLE!
• Eagles have great vision. The network marketing eagle also has vision. They see what they want and are laser focused on getting it.
• Eagles do not waste time on dead things. They eat live animals. Don’t wast time in your network marketing career trying to pick at and wake up the dead distributors who are negative and will never do anything. It’s better to go out and find fresh new prospects.
• Eagles don’t let stormy times get them down. While some birds fly away from a storm, an eagle will fly into it and adjust their wings to allow them to climb to greater heights. The network marketing eagle will take the stormy times and learn lessons that will make them fly higher in their business.
• Eagles nurture their young. Eagles are very gentle and attentive to their young ones. Network marketing eagles train and encourage their downline so that when they are ready, they can fly on their own.

Financial freedom is possible but it is not as easy as setting up a web site and expecting prospects and money to automatically start rolling in. It takes consistent, persistent, DAILY work. The business mindset is at the core of everything you do in your business. If you don’t have a business mindset, you won’t have any success in network marketing.

While you are in the business mindset, you also need to think about treating your business like a JOB.

Ask yourself this question: Would your boss keep you around if you worked your job the way you work your Network Marketing business?

The problem with a home based business is that, since you are your own boss, you can do or not do the daily tasks that are required for business success. On a JOB, you have a daily method of operation. If you want to keep your job and thus, earn a living, you must show up for work. Not only that, you must arrive on time.

Even if you don’t feel great, you show up and put in a day’s work.

Even if you aren’t paid very well, you show up and put in a day’s work.

Even if people around you are negative, you show up and put in a day’s work.

Even if you HATE your job, you show up and put in a day’s work.

While you are on the job, you must be efficiently working and producing according to the requirements set out by your employer. If you don’t do that, you get FIRED!

Now, think about how you are functioning in your network marketing business. Would you, as the CEO of your business, hire someone who functions like you or would you fire them?

If people were to put the same type of energy and discipline in their Network Marketing business as they do in their jobs, they would be rich.

It’s very important to have a serious business mindset while also, Daily operations LIKE A JOB.

How are you building your business? Most of us start out building our business around other things we are doing. That’s the way I started with my network marketing career 17 years ago. I saw the potential for working from home and freedom both time and financially. I started my business the way most people do, while working other jobs for income.

The key to success in network marketing is to have the right attitude. If you are like me, and had to start building your business around a job, you will need to build your network marketing business part time.

There is something very important you need to keep in mind. The way you approach your business will determine whether or not you are successful. If you are building your business in your spare time you will NOT be successful. It’s as simple as that.

When you build your business in spare time, you are putting it’s importance in last place. There will always be things that crowd out the daily tasks. Things just don’t get done. Maybe once in a while you dabble at your business but nothing that is consistent and making forward progress.

If you want to seriously earn an income in network marketing, you MUST get rid of the SPARE TIME approach to building your business. The spare time marketer does the business once in a while when they have some extra time. A strong business is not built that way.

Building your business part time means that you have a schedule. When you have a part time job, you have certain hours you devote to your job. You show up and do the work on schedule. When you apply this principle to your business it becomes a serious, progressive business, even if you are working it part time in the beginning. If you stick with it and work part time instead of spare time, you will get there.

Newton’s First Law of Motion states, “An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.”

Daily action is how a successful business grows, even if you have to work it part time.

Jim Rohn said it best, “I am now working full time on my job and part time on my fortune.”

The thing about having a list is that when people come to your web site they can subscribe to your list. Having a web site and a list means my business is building while I sleep, play or whatever I am doing. Even when I was sick for a month last year my business was growing and people were subscribing to my newsletter. I wrote my newsletter and sent it out. I average about 20 personally enrolled in my network marketing business because of the web site and newsletter.

In the beginning of my marketing career, 17 years ago, I did most of my marketing offline. I started my first online newsletter, Grade A Notes, in 1999. Grade A Notes is a monthly newsletter on therapeutic grade essential oils.

I had the idea that it would be good to have people come to my web site subscribe to my newsletter. Then as I wrote the newsletter every month, I would be giving value to both potential customers, current customers and distributors.

I had read several marketing and sales books that people usually need to hear something 7 times before they act on it. That’s what got me thinking how important a newsletter would be, so I set my web site up with an email subscribe form and started ALL my marketing to get people to subscribe to my newsletter.

That was before I knew anything about blogs. I’m not sure what year blogging started becoming popular. Today I have several blogs as well as my original monthly email newsletter. One of my blogs is the one you are reading this article on. This blog is written from 17 years experience in network marketing profession building a full time business. If I can do it others can too.

In my experience, my newsletters and blogs are my number one tool for success.

There are several reasons why building a list is powerful:

Besides the autopilot aspect of a web site and a list . . .

1. Keep in contact – When people who come to your web site subscribe to your list, you can keep in touch with them. They may not order products right away but if you can contact them with updates or tips of value, you will keep reminding them of things you have. When they are ready to order or get involved in the business, they will remember you. If you don’t have a list, you basically have only one shot at getting them involved in either product or the business.



2. Build a relationship – People will buy from or join with someone they know and trust. If you are going to expand past your warm market, you need a way for people to get to know and feel comfortable with you.



3. Provide value – The things you share in your blog or newsletter should be helpful to people. If you have a product related newsletter, show how to get the most benefits from the product. For example: If you are like me, a distributor for therapeutic grade essential oils, you have loads of topics to write essential oil tips about. The ways to use essential oils are almost endless.

I often hear distributors say they don’t know enough to write a blog or a newsletter. Try writing the newsletter from a standpoint of sharing what you have learned. I still do that to this day, even though I have been with my company for over 15 years. I am always learning new ways to use essential oils. Since many of you who are following my blogs are essential oil distributors I am speaking to you.

If you are building a list through a blog, you can build it via the RSS feed but the best way is to set up a subscriber list on an autoresponder service like Aweber. With a subscriber list on Aweber, you can send your blog post to the list but you can also give your subscribers extra things that you don’t share on the blog. It also has web forms so people can easily enter their email address and get your messages get sent to their email address.

With Aweber you can have multiple lists. Once you have customers and distributors in your downline, those people should also be on another list. I have lists for my downline. One is for product related updates and tips, one is for distributors building a business.

Always direct people to your lists.

If you haven’t started your list, why not get started today.

I installed and activated the Broken Link Checker plugin but I got sidetracked and didn’t notice in the Dashboard how many links were broken but today I got the email notification telling me I had 48 broken links. WOW!! That’s a LOT of broken links.

I’m glad I stumbled across Broken Link Checker plugin. A bunch of broken links on your web site or blog isn’t good for your search engine rankings. If you have a lot of broken links it looks like you aren’t keeping up with things on your blog. Search engines are programmed to take things like that into consideration when ranking web sites. They are looking for quality sites. The higher number of broken links lowers the quality of your site in their eyes.

I really appreciate that this plugin sends an email when my site has broken links. It is set to check every 72 hours but you can change that.

Most of the broken links were in comments that were made on posts. Sad to say, many people don’t take their business seriously enough to stick with it and they let their domains go. This is far too common in our industry. This is also why I am glad to have found this plugin. I thought you would appreciate knowing about it if you haven’t been using it already.

Click here to download Broken Link Checker or search in your WordPress Plugins Dashboard.

There is a way to make talking with strangers feel natural and comfortable. If you approach every stranger as a friend you haven’t met yet and just smile and say “HI!”

The key is to ALWAYS BE READY! Always ready to connect with people. That begins with being friendly and having a warm approachable energy that you sending out.

When you are standing in a line at the grocery store or sitting in a waiting room or a variety of other places, there are often opportunities to stir interest in your product or business opportunity. Are you aware and watching for these opportunities?

There are 3 things that will help you attract prospects wherever you go:

1. Have a warm friendly smile on your face.

2. Be conversational with people around you. Look people in the eye and say “Hello. How are you today?” Just be friendly and talk to people. If you appear stressed out and closed off, people will not want to talk. You will also find it difficult to talk to them. You must truly be in a warm and friendly mood. If not, you will repel people rather than attract them.

3. Use a product in front of people. Does your company have a hand lotion or some other product that you could use in front of people? For those of us who market essential oils, this is a super easy tool. I carry an oils pouch and often open it and apply an oil in front of people. My favorites are the ones that are mood uplifting. People will comment on how great it smells and I tell them, “I need an emotional pick me up.” Then I wait for more questions. If I feel more chatty I often ask if they are familiar with medicinal grade essential oils.

Does your company have any products that work well to use in front of people? Another option is an article of clothing, jewelry or accessory with a company slogan or a product slogan. I remember a wonderful pin we used to have that said, “May the Immupower be with you!” That one was great for getting people to ask questions. People were constantly asking what that meant. It was an easy opening for a conversation.

For oily distributors, there are a few more ideas here:
http://crowndiamondtools.soundconcepts.com/index.php/apparel.html

Think about what your company has that you can use to generate questions and have something prepared to say when people ask questions.

When you get a spark of interest, make sure you are prepared to share a brochure other marketing piece with your web site address on it. It’s best if you can also get their phone number but at least get something in their hands.

I particularly like the info newspapers that have third party articles related to your field. Sound Concepts is one company that produces these newspapers and other tools for several companies. Check with your upline to see what is available for your products.

There is a spot on the back page to put your contact information. Don’t forget to do this. Be sure to include your web site address.

For Essential Oil related newspapers from Sound Concepts, go to http://www.essentialproductinfo.com

Well, there you have it. There are lots more but hopefully these ideas will help you get the wheels turning. Have fun!!

Do You Just Show Up At Your Job and Expect to Get Paid?
by John H. Kirk

A lot of people complain that they don’t make money in MLM. I often ask them if they do any follow up to their downline. In most cases, they respond by saying that they don’t have the time and they don’t like talking to people on the phone. These are the people that just show up at their MLM job and expect to get paid. A few of them will luck out because their upline sponsor didn’t just show up, but the vast majority will not make any money. They will immediately start placing the blame on the program they are in. They will immediately say “this program doesn’t work”. WRONG! The reason they didn’t make any money was because THEY DIDN’T WORK!

MLM is different from most conventional jobs because each person is their own boss and each person sets their own hours. They also get to choose if they work or not. Unlike most regular jobs, there is no one to tell them that they have to be at work by 8:00 A.M and can’t quit until 5:00 P.M. They also know that there is a boss or supervisor watching them to see if they’re doing their work. If they don’t do their work, they will be fired from their job. In MLM, you don’t have that pressure of “do it or get fired”. However, you don’t have that salary cap you have on your regular job. Your income in MLM is only limited by the time and work that you put into it.

As a carpenter before I became involved in MLM, I knew that I couldn’t just show up and expect to get paid. I was an independent contractor and I got paid by how much work I did . . .
not to just show up. I had to invest in the tools of my trade, place advertising to get the jobs and spend countless hours of bidding on jobs that I may or may not get. This was time and money spent before I would ever see a dime! Once I received a job, I could only get paid for the work finished. This meant that my paycheck was directly connected to the amount of work I did. Do you know what would have happened if I had just showed up at the job site and did nothing? I had mt tools; had my job to do! Now all I had to do was sit there and wait for someone to pay me to do nothing! It doesn’t work that way and MLM is no different.

The MLM company provides you with the tools (camera ready materials). It provides you with the job (to build a marketing sales force . . . your downline). You have to not just show up! You must mail your circulars. You have to advertise your business to purchase my tools of the trade and place my advertising). This is where most people who fail in MLM stop. No wonder they don’t make money! They haven’t even bid on any jobs yet. The next step is to bid your jobs. This is done by following up with your downline and getting that commitment to work the program. Yes, you will get some “no thank you’s”. I know that I certainly did when I bid for my jobs in construction. On the average I had to bid 10 in order to get one! Now it’s time to go to work! This is where you get paid for your efforts! It’s now your job to stay in touch with the people who committed to you. You must help them go through the same process of getting their tools, placing their advertising and getting their bids (commitments) and getting them to repeat the process to their downline. This process does not stop. If you stopped going to work and doing the job you were hired for on your regular job . . . you wouldn’t have a job or a paycheck very long would you? Why do some people think that MLM is different. It’s not.

I hope that I have given each of you something to think about. In 99% of the cases, when
a person blames a “program” or a “company” for his or her failure to make money in MLM . . . you can bet that they just showed up and expected to be paid.

John H. Kirk
Author

I generally begin by thinking about the different things that have happened in the year to this point but also in the years prior in my network marketing career. Reflecting on both the good things that happened and things that weren’t so good. I don’t spend much time on the things that weren’t so good but just enough time to take note of anything I learned or ways I could get a better outcome.

Not only is it important to be regularly analyzing things and improving as we go, it is also important to celebrate the successes of the previous year. Celebrating is really important because it sets a success energy that attracts more good things.

Three Reasons to Reflect on and Celebrate Success:

1. We train our subconscious to be aware and open to success and abundance.
2. We give our subconscious and conscious mind PROOF of our success and progress.
3. It builds self-esteem, confidence and belief in our abilities.

Some things to include in your reflection:

Any successes large and small. Even the things you consider small. Some of these small successes are stepping stones to larger successes.

New things you learned – This is a huge one that people often forget to include. Reflect on all the training you have taken, books you have read, videos & audios and live events you have attended, anything that has been good for growth in your personal development or business skills. Really celebrate this one knowing that training and personal development is the biggest success secret of network marketing professionals who earn full time income.

Don’t forget the things you learned by trial and error. Like when you began learning to write a blog or make a video.

There are lots of things you can add to your list. I recommend writing down your reflections. If you have been following my training for any length of time, you should have this done from previous years and have saved them. If so, take out some of your past years reflections and look at the progress over the years. This is really fun.

Reflecting on the progress you have made builds confidence. When I look back on the shy girl who was terrified to be a leader, I am amazed at how far I have come. It always gets me choked up as I write and reflect on how I have changed. Network Marketing is the best business for personal growth.

After you have finished reflecting on the previous year, you can make a plan of action for the next year. What will you do to increase your business? How will you improve on your marketing skills and what will you do to implement. Think about where you want to be at the end of 2012. Write that down. Then make a list of all the things you plan to do to get there.

Writing all of this down is very important. It helps you have a direction for the year. Keep a copy of both the reflecting of the previous year and the plan for next year. It is really empowering to look back at the things you have accomplished in the past and how far you have come, especially when you have the notes for several years. You can see your growth over the years which is such a confidence booster.

Slowing down your business activity during the holiday season is a HUGE mistake.

1. Smart, professional network marketers know that December is actually the month you should be picking up the pace and getting ready for the best time of the year for business.



This is the time many are thinking about increasing their income and are making goals for the new year. This actually starts on the 26th of December but January is a HUGE month for attracting new distributors. People go online and start searching for business opportunities. This is another reason you are insane if you aren’t learning how to improve your online marketing skills.



2. While so many network marketers are snoozing in their business, it is much easier for you to get noticed, especially if you have been learning attraction marketing skills.



3. Most people are more involved with social events and getting together with friends and family. This can present all kinds of opportunities to share your products or the business. Have you prepared a very brief “30 second commercial“?

Here are a few ways to build belief:

1. Using the Products – You must believe in the products or services you are offering otherwise, you’ll never be able to have belief in the industry or your ability to build a business.

Let me tell you, a great product experience can work wonders in building belief in your ability to sell it. My product experience is the reason I am in the network marketing industry today. Use the products. You’ll have great stories to tell and STORIES SELL!

2. Attend Events – You should be attending as many events as you possibly can. Whenever you can get together with other distributors you can learn from each other. Not only learning but energizing each other.

3. Listen to audios and videos – There are loads of audios and videos put out by your company, your upline and other network marketing trainers. Serious network marketers are listening to these trainings as much as possible. The more you listen, the more you will be able to speak up about things that will help other people.

4. Attend Conference Calls – Listening to and even participating in conference calls is another awesome way to build belief in yourself and the network marketing industry. Conference calls are a great way to learn more and polish up your skills.

There are a lot of conference calls you can access, especially if you are using any of the training on the internet. It is impossible to be on all of them. Usually these conference calls are recorded so you can listen anytime.

5. Read Books – I know, you already know reading books is important but I am always amazed how few books people actually read. That is one reason why I put my reading list online a while back. It’s not even the full list. I just went through books I have in my office and ones I could remember.

6. Subscribe to Newsletters & Blogs – There are loads of blogs and newsletters that you can benefit from. It is particularly important to subscribe to all upline newsletters you can find.

Also subscribe to newsletters and blogs on marketing, personal development and things related to your company. I also recommend subscribing to industry journals like Network Marketing Times Magazine.

7. Talk to someone who has done it – Find someone in your upline who has achieved what you are wanting to achieve. Talk to them. Learn what they did to be successful. Not only what they did but notice their mindset.

8. Affirmations – I have been a firm believer in affirmations for a long time. The words you use have power. You raise or lower your energy and belief by the words you use. You can even program yourself and your habits. You can change things you don’t like.

Affirmations can be effective in helping reprogram success habits. Add EFT to your affirmations and watch the changes you can make. I never do affirmations without adding some EFT. It’s powerful. Give it a try.

9. Visualization – See yourself and feel what it feels like to achieve success in network marketing. Spend a little time each day visualizing and getting comfortable with various aspects of your business.