Whatever it takes
30 Years in the business and I find myself making my first serious run at it in years. When you’ve been around a long time you don’t really have to work that hard to make money, so you might get lazy. I did. I woke up one morning and realized that in a few months I’m going to be 50. An old guy, the MLM Dinosaur. I also decided I haven’t done everything I’ve wanted to and it was time to reawaken the giant within. Here are a few things I did in starting over. Maybe they’ll help you too.
First I went looking for a company that I could call home for the next several years, hopefully for the rest of my life. No, I won’t mention names. This isn’t a recruiting pitch. The things I went looking for may not be what you would look for, but you should. I wanted to find a company that was over five years old that was already stable and hadn’t exploded yet. In other words doing about a million a month or so and had a good quality product line. I wanted to market nutritionals also. That is just a preference for those of you who like services or appliances. Those things are fine, just not my preference.
The reason for the pre-explosive state is frankly, I wanted to be the guy who caused the company to explode. If you build your business to the point where you touch off your company’s explosion then something interesting happens. If you have 50% of the company in your downline at the time of the explosion then you will have 50% of the company in your downline when the dust settles. I figure you take a million a month company to about 5 million a month over a 12 to 18 month period and you get to light the match. I like lighting matches.
Once I found a company that I believed fit the mold the next thing I was looking for was; I wanted to see what was going on with the ownership and management internally. Being a former company owner I might look for a few things you wouldn’t. Here they are: I want to see what their percentage of payout is. You might too, but I suspect you are looking for a fairly high percentage while I am looking for just the opposite. I’d like to see a number somewhere between 42% and 46%. If it is closer to the higher percentage I’d like to see that percentage offset with a lower cost of goods sold. Say around 12% to 15%. The reason for this is that I want to know that the owner is keeping his responsibility to me by keeping his company in good financial shape. Product based companies that payout in the 50’s or 60’s percent to the field don’t stay around long term.
Another thing I look for is the ego factor. Most owners tend to micro-manage their companies. It is important for them to do so in the initial stages of their growth. A $25,000 mistake in the early stages will cost them their business. So in an owner’s mind, if someone is going to make that kind of mistake, it is going to be him. However, when a company hits the million dollars a month range, I want to see that owner beginning to delegate internal operations to an expert. I want to see him spending big bux on a guy who has administratively already taken a company from 10 million a year to 200 million a year. Owners are supposed to be the keepers of the vision, not department managers. This is a tough transition for an overwhelming number of owners. Again, it is their responsibility to me and to you to make that transition.
I also want to see a quality product line but more important, I want to see an efficient supply line. I want to have reasonable confidence that when we pop this baby open, we won’t run into a ton of back order problems. Additionally, the owner needs to have a good reputation, not only with MLM distributors but with his suppliers too. Yes I ask questions of the people he buys his products through. It isn’t always easy to get this kind of information, but it is your life so why not make the effort. Here are the things I don’t care about; I don’t care if I like the owner or he likes me. I don’t care if the pay plan is a binary or unilevel or breakaway or hybrid combining the three together. All pay plans have a built in guarantee: If you work you get paid, if you don’t you won’t.
Now I am going to talk about how you dust off a MLM dinosaur and get back in shape. I started attending generic motivational and MLM training seminars again...a lot of them. I attended a Jerry Clark Boot Camp, a Jim Rohn event, an event that had over 13 or 14 big names in the industry presenting, and a company leadership event too. I also started listening to a bunch of motivational and MLM training CDs in my car and at home while working at my computer. No more music. I also stopped watching the news. I wasn’t going to feed my brain with doom and gloom. I have also consciously started to get back in shape again physically. No, I’m not training for the Olympics. But I do a few minutes a day on the stationary bike and I’ve taken off a few pounds. I even shaved off my beard that I've had since 1988. I'm still working on getting used to that one. I have a long way to go but I’m working on it a little each day. I’ll get there. All these things are important for building my personal confidence and stamina for the big push.
Now the mind set. That one is simple. Whatever it takes. Just, what ever it takes. I’m on autoship. I’m investing in tools and samples and mailings. I’ve spent time in the recording studio to cut a marketing CD. I’m on the phone. I am developing more new strategic alliances. The dinosaur is back. What ever it takes baby. What ever it takes. If you find yourself starting over again, I hope this article helps you to do it with a new perspective. Just win baby, nothing else feels quite as good.
Greg Arnold is the author of “The Multi-Level Mangler In King Arthur’s Court.” He built an organization of over 11,000 distributors and $30,000 per month income in less than a year. In addition to his networking activities, Greg serves as a consultant with top network marketing companies and leading network marketers.
First I went looking for a company that I could call home for the next several years, hopefully for the rest of my life. No, I won’t mention names. This isn’t a recruiting pitch. The things I went looking for may not be what you would look for, but you should. I wanted to find a company that was over five years old that was already stable and hadn’t exploded yet. In other words doing about a million a month or so and had a good quality product line. I wanted to market nutritionals also. That is just a preference for those of you who like services or appliances. Those things are fine, just not my preference.
The reason for the pre-explosive state is frankly, I wanted to be the guy who caused the company to explode. If you build your business to the point where you touch off your company’s explosion then something interesting happens. If you have 50% of the company in your downline at the time of the explosion then you will have 50% of the company in your downline when the dust settles. I figure you take a million a month company to about 5 million a month over a 12 to 18 month period and you get to light the match. I like lighting matches.
Once I found a company that I believed fit the mold the next thing I was looking for was; I wanted to see what was going on with the ownership and management internally. Being a former company owner I might look for a few things you wouldn’t. Here they are: I want to see what their percentage of payout is. You might too, but I suspect you are looking for a fairly high percentage while I am looking for just the opposite. I’d like to see a number somewhere between 42% and 46%. If it is closer to the higher percentage I’d like to see that percentage offset with a lower cost of goods sold. Say around 12% to 15%. The reason for this is that I want to know that the owner is keeping his responsibility to me by keeping his company in good financial shape. Product based companies that payout in the 50’s or 60’s percent to the field don’t stay around long term.
Another thing I look for is the ego factor. Most owners tend to micro-manage their companies. It is important for them to do so in the initial stages of their growth. A $25,000 mistake in the early stages will cost them their business. So in an owner’s mind, if someone is going to make that kind of mistake, it is going to be him. However, when a company hits the million dollars a month range, I want to see that owner beginning to delegate internal operations to an expert. I want to see him spending big bux on a guy who has administratively already taken a company from 10 million a year to 200 million a year. Owners are supposed to be the keepers of the vision, not department managers. This is a tough transition for an overwhelming number of owners. Again, it is their responsibility to me and to you to make that transition.
I also want to see a quality product line but more important, I want to see an efficient supply line. I want to have reasonable confidence that when we pop this baby open, we won’t run into a ton of back order problems. Additionally, the owner needs to have a good reputation, not only with MLM distributors but with his suppliers too. Yes I ask questions of the people he buys his products through. It isn’t always easy to get this kind of information, but it is your life so why not make the effort. Here are the things I don’t care about; I don’t care if I like the owner or he likes me. I don’t care if the pay plan is a binary or unilevel or breakaway or hybrid combining the three together. All pay plans have a built in guarantee: If you work you get paid, if you don’t you won’t.
Now I am going to talk about how you dust off a MLM dinosaur and get back in shape. I started attending generic motivational and MLM training seminars again...a lot of them. I attended a Jerry Clark Boot Camp, a Jim Rohn event, an event that had over 13 or 14 big names in the industry presenting, and a company leadership event too. I also started listening to a bunch of motivational and MLM training CDs in my car and at home while working at my computer. No more music. I also stopped watching the news. I wasn’t going to feed my brain with doom and gloom. I have also consciously started to get back in shape again physically. No, I’m not training for the Olympics. But I do a few minutes a day on the stationary bike and I’ve taken off a few pounds. I even shaved off my beard that I've had since 1988. I'm still working on getting used to that one. I have a long way to go but I’m working on it a little each day. I’ll get there. All these things are important for building my personal confidence and stamina for the big push.
Now the mind set. That one is simple. Whatever it takes. Just, what ever it takes. I’m on autoship. I’m investing in tools and samples and mailings. I’ve spent time in the recording studio to cut a marketing CD. I’m on the phone. I am developing more new strategic alliances. The dinosaur is back. What ever it takes baby. What ever it takes. If you find yourself starting over again, I hope this article helps you to do it with a new perspective. Just win baby, nothing else feels quite as good.
Greg Arnold is the author of “The Multi-Level Mangler In King Arthur’s Court.” He built an organization of over 11,000 distributors and $30,000 per month income in less than a year. In addition to his networking activities, Greg serves as a consultant with top network marketing companies and leading network marketers.
Author: Greg Arnold
Bounama Diallo
