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with Art Burleigh
We asked Art for some key concepts that continue
to propel his group to even greater success, and he had this to
share:
'Freedom Is Not Free . . . But, don’t
we all know people who think it ought to be? Time freedom and
financial freedom… aren’t these things what most of
us are pursuing? How do we achieve the growth in our group —
the momentum that creates increasing passive income?
'Freedom sure doesn’t happen by accident, or
by hoping the business will grow. Let’s look at specific
areas where serious effort and focus are required in order to
lock onto a success track for increasing your freedom — freedom
from the rat race, from not having enough money, and never having
enough time to enjoy your family, friends, yourself and life.
'And, while we look at the key building blocks for
our foundation, let’s keep the big goal in mind—so we
know where we’re headed. My business-building goal and vision
are simply this: to grow Pawns into Kings and Queens — to
show people that I care about creating a beneficial partnership
with them, and that my wife and I can help them get what they
want with what we have to offer. There are things that have been
missing from their lives that they really feel they deserve and
that they’re passionate about obtaining or achieving.
'I’ve come to realize that with the right mentoring,
even inexperienced novices to Network Marketing can grow into
powerful leaders if they’re truly self-motivated, and they
develop a strong vision. My job is both to facilitate that and
show that it’s possible by being a successful example. That
not only takes consistent work, but it also takes courage to do
things that I’ve never done before.
'That courageous effort, of course, includes prospecting
for more ‘Diamond Leaders.’ They’re out
there, and we’re blessed to already have many on our team.
I believe that the harder I work, the more successful I’ll
be in attracting them to me.
'Let’s look at the 15 interrelated key areas
where focus and serious effort are required:
1. Listening—This is so critical, yet
most of us are unpracticed at this skill. You’ll learn exactly
what your prospects and emerging leaders need and want if you
ask sincere, probing questions, and actively listen to answers
without an agenda of your own (see John Fogg’s book, ‘Conversations
with The Greatest Networker in the World’).
2. Understanding the Power of Vision—You
can’t get where you want to go unless you know where you’re
going. And, in this business, you have to be the engine that propels
you along the route. Don’t you owe it to yourself and your
family to see the biggest picture?
Vision is the ability to see beyond the invisible.
It’s the ability to hear music in the future, and the belief
and courage to dance to that music today.
A lot of us place limits on our vision because we
limit ourselves to the narrow scope of our past personal experiences.
We expect too little, so we get too little. Why not embrace the
bigger vision of other leaders in your company and in our industry?
There are some amazing success stories in our industry! Remember
that you already have a vision. Your vision is free, and you can
change it—whenever you want to!
3. Developing and Strengthening Your Self-Motivation
— It comes from within. It’s what drives us to accomplish,
and you tap into it from your vision.
Here’s what that means. There’s a difference between
your current situation (like your current income of $50,000 a
year) and your vision about making more money. Motivation pours
forth from the gap between where you are and where you want to
be.
So, if you’re making $4,000 a month now, and
you absolutely feel that your income should be $8,000 a month
— you have to create no tolerance for that $4,000-a-month
difference. If you have no tolerance for that shortfall, your
motivation will pour forth to make up the difference (see Richard
Brooke’s ‘Mach II with
Your Hair on Fire’).
4. Consistent Daily Action — One success
habit exercised consistently by a huge leader in our group (and
one of the company’s most prosperous distributors) has been
getting on the phone from 3 to 6 pm every weekday and pounding
out calls. We all need to put in at least 7 to 10+ hours per week
to build our business. Have you carved out your hours, made them
sacred, and planned what you’ll do? (Remember, ‘action’
isn’t ‘fixin’ to do it’ — it’s actually
doing it!)
5. Gaining Perspective — Understand
the Five Groups of People in Network Marketing.
- Group 1: Preferred customers who have
NO interest in the business. Love them as a large mass; they
create a lot of consistent volume.
- Group 2: They have some desire, but no
consistent time or commitment to build their business. They’re
casual networkers. They earn enough money to pay for the products;
they might develop a small business. It’s possible that
they’ll become more serious later as you help their vision
expand, and as their success with the products/services grows.
Ninety percent of Network Marketers fall into Groups 1 and 2!
- Group 3: Their life is okay — no
major dissatisfaction. They want to make $500 to $1,500/month,
and they’re not willing to make a big change in lifestyle
or work too hard. Seven percent of Network Marketers fall into
Group 3.
- Group 4: Now, it gets interesting. These
are unique people! They are people who are willing to develop
leadership skills. They’re disgusted with where they are,
and they have a burning desire to change. They’re able
to envision making $10,000/, $20,000, or even $30,000/month.
Only 2.5% of Network Marketers fall into Group 4.
- Group 5: These are the same as Group 4,
but they’ve matured to a point where they have a rock-solid
belief in themselves, and they can envision earning $100,000/month.
They already have some leadership skills, and they work at fine-tuning
these strengths. Only .5% of all Network Marketers fall into
Group 5!
6. Getting Bulletproof Conviction —
We all get a lot of ‘Nos’ along the route to finding
a few ‘Yes’ responses to our presentations. The rock-solid
foundation for courageous, persistent pursuit of goals comes from
focusing with conviction on what we actually want in life.
In Network Marketing, one of the hardest parts is
understanding that you’re really in control of your own dreams
and destiny. Your success does not depend on your upline or the
company. It depends upon you and your conviction. It depends a
great deal on your commitment to your personal growth and development.
It is so important to stay committed to your passion, no matter
what obstacles crop up!
How do we start getting better? Or helping others
get back in the game? Sponsor new people! Learn more! Take urgent
action — embrace your company’s contests or incentives
that further reward your vigorous business-building.
7. Building Your Belief Systems — Why
is BELIEF so important? Every one of us, especially your newest
distributor, needs belief in four key areas to succeed in this
business.
We need belief in…
- The Company;
- The Products;
- The Network Marketing Industry,
- and Ourselves.
These last two are usually the hardest to attain.
That’s why you need to study our industry enough to really
believe it’s the last bastion of free enterprise — it’s
the best vehicle to ride out of the rat race. And, it’s the
only chance that an average person has for obtaining true, residual,
walkaway income.
Belief in yourself comes from spending time and
energy on self-development — day after day. Not just a few
times a year. You’ll find that the most successful leaders
in our industry have been doing this for years. Over time and
with practice, they get better at prospecting, following up, recruiting,
teaching and training — on the many facets of our business
that we need to know to be really successful.
Why is belief so important? Once someone understands,
then they’re able to establish the belief necessary to achieve
their goals with Network Marketing. If the belief isn’t there,
the person won’t get involved — or certainly won’t
stay involved. Belief creates enthusiasm and excitement. Your
enthusiasm is a fire around which people will either ignite —
or melt!
When you believe in your opportunity so strongly
that you’re on fire with the possibilities, people buy what
you’re selling and sign up in your deal. And, if they catch
your fire, they’ll stick around and do the business with
you — creating duplication and substantial growth in your
group!
In the beginning, successful prospecting is 90%
enthusiasm and 10% knowledge. The trick is to keep that ratio
in place as you learn more. Our industry graveyard is full of
smart, knowledgeable folks who’ve lost the excitement that
got them involved — and gets others involved.
So, fuel your belief to create a bonfire of excitement
when you speak to people about the possibilities our business
presents to them. That powerful, positive belief is the one-and-only
answer to giving people an understanding of our business, which
they need to get involved and on the right track.
8. Harnessing the Spiritual and Dynamic Laws
of Prosperity — This is an extremely important topic.
We know some of these laws intuitively, but it’s enlightening
to study them in depth. Prosperity Laws are activated by: Vacuums,
Creativity, Imaging, Commands, Increase, Love and Good Will, Prayer,
Self-Confidence, Charm and Persistence.
When I exercised the Vacuum Law of Prosperity last
summer, I rented a huge, 30-cubic-yard dumpster for a week, cleaned
out a ton of stuff from our garage (the result of an emergency
move the prior year), and I rescued a scrap of paper in a hidden
box. The name and number on that scrap led me to a long lost networking
couple who are now in our business and whose leadership will probably
develop into another $100,000-a-year leg for me! All as a result
of clearing lots of crap out of my life to make room for something
more wonderful!
The Law of Attraction helps bring strong Diamond
Leaders (and those who want to achieve that stature) into your
group. It’s taken hard work to become an ‘attractor,’
but it’s thrilling when it happens! (See Randy Gage’s
terrific tape album, ‘Prosperity’.)
9. Sponsoring People just like YOU—OR, sponsoring
your weakness—Who’s the best type of person to sponsor?
Someone who wants to be a leader like you. Someone who wants success
and is willing to take all-out massive action to achieve it. Someone
who’s teachable and who’s courageous—who’ll
talk to old contacts and new strangers. And, if you don’t
yet exhibit all these helpful qualities, realize your weakness
in the areas where you’re lacking, and go after someone who
has the needed skills that you don’t—so their leadership
can build and synergistically springboard off your strengths and
those of your growing team.
Don’t make your own credibility the issue—people
are not as duplicatable as systems and using tools are. Don’t
be a lone ranger and venture forth without the ammo that your
successful upline uses when prospecting and sponsoring. Get equipped
with your company’s systems and tools.
10. Edifying, Supporting and Recognizing your
Diamond Leaders—With all we have to do to seriously build
a strong Network Marketing business, sometimes this key area may
not get the attention it deserves. Some Diamonds are stronger
in many ways than I am—I celebrate that and fan their flames
so they’ll achieve even greater success.
11. ‘Sharpening the Saw'—Seeking
Training from the Best and Renewing Your Spirit! — No investment
you make in Network Marketing—or in Life—is more important
than the investment you make in yourself! So, invest in your own
personal development.
We must all realize that… ‘To build your
business, you must first build yourself; to help others, you must
first help you; and to change the world, you must first change
yourself!’ Reread that. It’s the introduction to all
of Randy Gage’s Dynamic Development audiotapes. How
profound!
In the summer of 1997, my Network Marketing income
was large and steady enough that I could hop into our new luxury
car with my wife and young son and take off for a 5-week driving
vacation across the country. We drove 8,200 miles from Los Angeles
to Cape Cod and back. We saw this great country of ours from the
ground up, instead of down through the clouds. And, when we returned
home, we had more money in the bank than we had when we left!
Along the way, we listened to many audiotapes, including
Upline’s ‘Conversations with The Masters,’ ‘The
Woman’s Tapes,’ ‘The Greatest Networker in the
World,’ tapes from our company, and Randy Gage’s
‘How To Earn at Least $100,000 a Year in Network Marketing.’
That experience created a new foundation for learning much more
about this industry and how to do this business, and it has now
led to personal relationships with many of those mentors!
School is never out for the pro. Continue being
a student of your profession. Learn all you can about how to do
Network Marketing better! Check with your upline leaders to learn
what other resources they recommend. Of course, study all of your
company’s training materials and teach them! Congratulations
on being among the 2% to 3% of those in Network Marketing who
are smart enough to consider learning more about leadership and
improving themselves significantly!
12. Learning and USING your company’s systems
and sales aids — Skilled and experienced company leaders
and executives put these together for you. They’re probably
quite good. If your upline is making money following these systems
and using these duplicatable tools, you can follow their lead
and teach others to also. Don’t ‘reinvent the wheel.’
13. Seeking Partnerships in your prospecting
— Make a connection between what working you will do
to merge with what excites them and what they’re looking
for. Grow relationships into friendships! Offer partnership —
‘Let’s work together to achieve each other’s dreams!’
Leadership emerges from that.
14. Seeking to Empower others — As your
own level of belief in all these areas grows, your principal job
as a leader of your group becomes making the future real for people
who would like it to be real. People who get into this business
must have some level of belief. They must have some level of faith
to decide to do the business. No matter how successful they’ve
been in any other business — they don’t fully believe
in Network Marketing. Not yet…
Why not? Because they don’t have any evidence
yet. When you bring in a brand new business-builder, that person
has no evidence that this business is going to work for her. She’s
got evidence that it worked for you — or, if you’re
just getting going, she’s got evidence that it worked for
somebody in your upline who’s been successful. But, she has
no evidence of her own… yet!
15. Knowing what your new person really needs
from you — It will be the substance of their hope. So,
empower them with the vitality of your beliefs, and act with conviction
and enthusiasm. Show them the systems and tools that work, and
direct them to the resources they need to build their own belief
systems.
Show them how coming into partnership with you and
what you have to offer can benefit them by helping them get what
they want — the things and the freedoms that have been missing
from their life. They really feel that they deserve these things,
and they’re passionate about getting them. That’s what
they want from you!'
'My many mentors may recognize some of their powerful
thoughts and teachings throughout this piece. Like all of us,
I ‘borrow from the best,’ and I gratefully acknowledge
and salute the profound help I’ve received over the years
from all of these great industry leaders: Jay Sargeant, Geraldine
Heyman, John Milton Fogg, Jan Ruhe, Randy Gage, John David Mann,
Richard Brooke, John Kalench, Russ DeVann, Hilton Johnson, Steve
Spaulding, Tom Schreiter, Bob Berg, Frank Keefer, Tim Sales, Ruby
Miller-Lyman, Stephen Covey, and many others — I so appreciate
the pioneering path you’ve forged.'
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