Imagine for a moment…

You are a Grammy Award winning musician who has played for royalty and sold-out audiences around the world. You normally get paid over $1,000 dollars per minute, but because of a few marketing mistakes you only earn $32 for a 45 minute performance.

This really happened.

Fortunately it didn’t happen by accident, but was an experiment conducted by The Washington Post in 2007.

What was the purpose of this experiment?

To find out if people when they are busy and distracted would notice that something special is taking place, would they be paying attention?

Grammy Award winner Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world, was to play a 45 minute concert in a D.C. subway station at the most busiest time of the day –early morning.  This wasn’t an ordinary street musician. People would fly all over the world to listen to him play. He even played in front of royalty and sold millions of CDs.

On this particular morning he was playing one of the most elegant pieces ever written and he was playing it on a 300 year old Stradivarius valued at $3.5 million dollars and often referred to as the most perfect instrument in existence today.

Watch this! You won’t believe what happened.

Joshua Bell played for 45 minutes. Over 1,000 people walked by him, not even giving him the time of day. Only 7 people stopped to listen.

That would normally have been a $45,000 performance. Instead he only earned $32.

Wow!

From over a thousand people who walked by, there was only one single person who recognized him and said hello. That’s incredible, given his talent and fame!

That’s less than a 1% conversion ratio.

There is a valuable lesson to be learned here about marketing mistakes.

Although this experiment wasn’t meant as a marketing lesson in particular, there’s one in there. A big one! From a marketing point of view, Joshua Bell’s concert in the subway was a complete and absolute disaster.

1) First, his timing was totally off.

At morning rush hour, people are preoccupied and busy. They have only one thing on their mind…their destination, which usually is work.

2) He performed for the wrong target market.

People in a subway usually aren’t the right audience for classical music. And if there were a select few, like the lady who recognized him, they certainly wouldn’t expect a musician of such magnitude as Joshua Bell to perform a concert there. He was totally out of place.

3) No branding.

Nobody knew who he was. No signs, no flyers, no posters, no announcements or third party introductions. Nothing!

What can you learn from these marketing mistakes?

1) Timing is everything!

People are busy. Your fellow networkers are busy. So if you want their undivided attention you have to give some thought to when the best time for your marketing will be.

According to 60 Second Marketer the best day of the week to send out email campaigns is Friday. What a coincidence, I have found this to be the best day to send out blog posts as well.

2) You have to target the right market for your product or service.

Just revisit the example above. Out of over 1,000 people, only 1 person recognized Joshua Bell. If you market to the masses, you will yield the same results.  Not good and very expensive on top of it.

Think about the junk mail that comes through your inbox or in your postal mail box. It is clearly not targeted to a specific niche, is it? It’s a total waste of advertising dollars. You have a much greater chance of making a sale if you target a specific niche, people who search for and want your products or service.

3) Branding is key!

If you want to be successful in your network marketing business then branding is Key. For one, you want to differentiate yourself from your competition. Stand out from the crowd! Be different. Make a name for yourself. You are uniquely YOU and you want to convey that to your audience with your unique selling point.

In time, people will get to know you and connect with you because you have what they want. They will recognize you by your brand and they will recommend and refer you to others.

Do you agree that making these 3 marketing mistakes can absolutely be fatal for your business? I always love your feedback so please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

To Your Success…

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. If you liked this post and found it of value, please share it with your friends using the share buttons at the top and to the left. Thank You!

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1. Are You Still Acting Like a Secret Agent in Your Network Marketing Business?

I have known Mavis for about a year now and have learned a great deal from her about blogging and marketing online. Giving must be her middle name, because she always provides great value without asking for anything in return. A true Go-Giver!

So I dedicate today’s blog post to my good friend Mavis Nong. It is with great gratitude that I thank her for all she has been doing and continues to do for me as well as many others around the world.

Whether she knows it or not she has been a tremendous blessing to me over the past and especially during the past view weeks as I have learned a lot from her about improving my blog and how to reach higher rankings in search engines.

With this, I would like thank Mavis by giving back to her, as well as introduce her to those of my readers who may not know her yet.

Mavis is THE authority as far as optimizing your blog for the search engines. On her blog “Attraction Marketing Online” you can find tons of information about online marketing strategies, and amazing blogging tips to help you build a successful business online.

And that’s not all …Mavis also just started a new series called “Ask Mavis” where you can ask her any burning questions you may have about blogging and she will answer them for you. How cool is that? I tried that just the other day and Mavis answered my question about how to get indexed by Google.

With things constantly changing on the worldwide web it’s hard to keep up. Mavis however, seems to be always on top of things.

So be sure to head over to “Attraction Marketing Online” and bookmark it as I’m sure you will not want to miss any of the great information there.

Trust me, Mavis Nong’s blog is a very valuable resource and if you follow her suggestions you will be well on your way of having a successful blog yourself.

Mavis, a heartfelt thanks for all you have done! You are a true inspiration and I am very blessed to have you as my friend. Wishing you a bright and successful future!

Be blessed,

Ilka
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Please tweet, bookmark and share this. Thank You!

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2. A Heartfelt Thank You to September’s Top Commentators
3. Are You Still Acting Like a Secret Agent in Your Network Marketing Business?

So what’s the difference?

Let me ask the same question a different way. Would you rather get paid for your own time and efforts or receive a share of other people’s time and efforts?

Let’s look at a couple of LINEAR income examples first:

If you have a job and get paid hourly wages, that’s called linear income. You put in your time and you get paid for the hours you work. If you have a day off or you are sick you don’t get paid. Doctors, lawyers or anyone who is self-employed earns a linear income as well. If a doctor doesn’t see patients or goes on vacation, he doesn’t get paid.

Now let’s take a look at some examples of RESIDUAL income:

Elvis made a lot of records during his lifetime.  Although he’s been dead for a long time now, every time one of his songs plays on the radio his family still receives “royalties.”

The same goes for movie stars. Regardless of how long ago they made the movie, every time it plays on TV or is sold on a DVD they receive royalties for it. Just like Elvis, they get paid over and over for it forever.

You may ask, …”Well how does earning residual income
vs linear income relate to me??”

If you have a MLM home based business you are creating a “royalty income” aka “residual income” of your own. You do something once, like acquiring a new customer for your company, and you will get paid on that customer as long as he or she stays with you. Every time that customer places an order, you get paid a percentage.

You can also leverage your time and efforts by inviting people to join your team and teach them to do the same … acquiring new customers for your company. Then you also get paid a percentage on their efforts.

Residual income happens when this royalty income starts to grow. Let’s say your customers love your products so much they start telling their family and friends and they all become your customers too. And then they in turn tell all of their friends as well. That’s kind of like how AOL grew so big so fast. Word of mouth is the fastest and most cost effective way of acquiring new customers.

Once this happens, things take on a life of their own. You can’t stop your business from growing, even if you tried.  When you’re sick or on vacation your business just keeps growing as one happy customer tells another.

Now, that’s the difference between trading time for money like with linear income, where you work a certain number of hours and get paid for those hours. And residual income where you do something once and get paid for it over and over again and also where you leverage your time with others.

Again, the question … would you rather earn residual income or linear income?

If you answered RESIDUAL INCOME than I would suggest you start working on that. Start today! You can do it part-time while you are still earning a linear income from your job.  Commit a certain amount of hours to work your network marketing business every week.  Set realistic goals. Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Be consistent. Be patient. And never, ever give up.

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How Big is Your WHY?

When you started in your mlm home based business, one of the first things your sponsor probably told you was to establish “Your WHY,” the reason you are doing whatever it is you are doing. You’ve got to have the desire. You’ve got to have passion. You’ve got to dream and you’ve got to believe you can do it.

It is very important to find out what your “WHY” is, because there will be times when things get tough, when you get frustrated and discouraged. And if your “WHY” isn’t strong enough you might not have the drive to go through when things get rough.

If your “WHY” isn’t strong enough you also might never get started in the first place … which reminds me of a little story I heard not long ago.

The Story of the Howling Dog Sitting on the Porch

A salesman was going door to door in a neighborhood where just about on every porch there was a dog either sitting or just lying around enjoying the day.  They would all bark to greet him as the man walked by. But on this one particular porch there would be a dog just whimpering and whining and howling like he was in some sort of pain. Every time the man walked by that dog would just whine and howl and it just wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t just bark like all the other dogs in the neighborhood.

So after a week curiosity got the better of him and he couldn’t stand it any longer. He walked up to the porch and knocked on the door.  An older gentleman opened and asked if he could help him. The man said, “Sir, is there something wrong with your dog?   Every time I come by here he’s just moaning and groaning, whimpering and whining. It’s been going on for an entire week. He should be barking like all the other dogs on the street, but all he does is just moaning and groaning. What’s wrong with him?

“Well, he’s actually sitting on a nail“, the owner replied.  Quite puzzled the salesman asked, “Why is he sitting on a nail and why doesn’t he just get off?”  The owner replied, “Well, it just doesn’t hurt him bad enough.”

A lot of us get caught up in that situation. We’re sitting on a nail, but it doesn’t hurt bad enough yet. Our situation doesn’t make us uncomfortable enough to do something about it. To change things. But if our “WHY” is strong enough and if we really want it with every fiber of our being, it will move us off of that nail and make us take action.

Think about “YOUR WHY”. Better yet, write it down. Studies show that if we are just thinking about something, we have a 50/50 chance of accomplishing whatever we think about. However if we think about it and then write it down it jumps up to 75%. If we think about it, write it down and then tell somebody else that jumps up to 85%. Pretty powerful, isn’t it? So make sure you write your “WHY” down.

Why did you get started in your mlm home based business?

Of course “YOUR WHY” would be unique to you, but here are some examples…

Maybe you would like to pay off your car? Pay off credit cards? Buy a new, larger house? Send your kids to college? Bring your spouse home to be with your children? Quit your job? Maybe you are about to lose your home to foreclosure and desperately need to make some extra money to keep it. Now that would definitely move you off of that nail, wouldn’t it?

If your WHY is big enough, powerful enough it will not only move you off of that nail, but it will also provide you with enough motivation to keep going when things get rough.

To Your Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

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What is a Pyramid Scheme?

According to Wikipedia… A “pyramid scheme” is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment, services or ideals, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme or training them to take part, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public.

People often label MLM or Network Marketing, which is absolutely legal, as nothing but a pyramid scheme. However, a pyramid scheme is based solely on recruiting new people and no product or service is involved. That is illegal.

With a legitimate MLM or Network Marketing company the emphasis is on selling products or services, not on recruiting.

Where a lot of people get confused is, when you draw out the organization structure of any MLM or Network Marketing company it looks like a pyramid. So they conclude that the people at the top make all of the money and you have to get in early to even stand a chance of making any money at all.

That is not so.

Unlike with traditional businesses every person has an equal chance to make as much money as they desire in their network marketing business. How much that is depends on how much effort they put into it. If you put in more effort than the person above you, you can make more money than he or she does.

“According to the US Department of Labor and the Direct Selling Association with the same time and effort I’m five times more likely to earn over $100.000 in Network Marketing than in my life-sucking job.” (Quote from video below.)

How come traditional companies aren’t labeled a pyramid scheme. If you draw out the organization structure of a traditional company it looks much like a pyramid as well. It’s kind of not fair, is it?

Go ahead, draw out the organizational structure of the (traditional) company you work for and see what it looks like. And while you’re at it, go ahead and do the same for any other organization as well. What do they look like? Oh no, it’s a pyramid scheme!

Question: Would authorities like Robert Kiyosaki, New York Times Best-Selling Author of one of the top-selling financial books of all time; Donald Trump, and Warren Buffet, the most successful investor of all time be supporters of Network Marketing if it was illegal? I really don’t think so. Yet they are, because the see it as the brilliant business model that it really is.

If you have a MLM, Network Marketing business you’ll get a kick out of the video below. If you are thinking of joining this industry it will shed some light on the myth that multi-level marketing is a pyramid scheme. It definitely is NOT!

Enjoy!

To Your Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. If you got a good laugh out of this please re-tweet and share it with your Facebook friends. Don’t forget to leave your comments below. Thank You!

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Show me any network marketing leader who hasn’t struggled in his or her career. Most of them had to overcome tremendous obstacles on their way to the top.  There’s no such thing as overnight success. They usually have been years in the making.

“Beach Money” is such a story.  Jordan Adler’s very personal story of struggles and failure and overcoming obstacles until he finally reached success. It will grab hold of you and you won’t be able to put it down until you reach the last page.

Jordan’s honest, giving demeanor comes through in “Beach Money” where he shows you a step-by-step success formula.  The very same formula he used himself to grow an organization of thousands of people and generate a massive passive income. The kind of income you only work for once and get paid over and over again.

That is “Beach Money.” Money you get paid whether you get up in the morning or not; whether you’re out shopping at the mall, traveling across the country or just lying on the beach.

Once you start reading his book, you will find that Jordan is much like you. If fear of failure or doubt that you’ll ever have any success in network marketing has a grip on you, let Jordan’s words inspire and encourage you. He knows what you’re going through because he has lived it. He has been there and done it.

He will show you that you already have everything you need to succeed in network marketing. You just need a little push, a shift in your thinking and a roadmap to follow. That’s all!

“Beach Money” will show you how you can grow your network marketing business even if the only time you have available is your lunchtime. And it will show you how you can turn your yearly income into your monthly income.

Jordan Adler is the top income earner in one of today’s fastest-growing network marketing companies. But in spite of his tremendous success, he is very much down to earth.

So go ahead, grab a copy of “Beach Money.”  Let it inspire you. Let it encourage you to push on and to never, ever give up until you reach the lifestyle of your dreams.

To Your Success…

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Have you read “Beach Money?” Please leave your feedback in the comments below.

P.P.S. Be sweet, re-tweet! It’s very much appreciated. Thank You!

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Could Your MLM Home Based Business Be In Danger?

Think the MLM Home Based Business you are building is really yours? Think again?

Imagine this scenario…

You have been building your MLM Home Based Business for the past 10+ years and all of a sudden the company decides to make some radical changes one of which is changing the compensation plan.  You are scrambling to keep your organization but can’t prevent max exodus. The bottom is falling out of what you have been building for years. To top it all off, the company doesn’t like your comments of discontent, sees you as a threat and decides to put a hold on your commission check.  Worse yet, decides to terminate you.

Think it couldn’t happen to you? Think again!

Different scenario…

Very excited you joined a new startup company. It’s just what you were looking for. You put a lot of time and effort in building your team. You’ve got everyone else excited to follow your example and then from one day to the next the company decides to no longer use the network marketing business model. You’re left out in the cold.

News Flash …

You may have been told that you are your own boss building your own business, but if it’s a MLM Home Based Business it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Your business belongs to the company you are associated with and you can lose it at any time for any reason!

You are an independent contractor!

Nothing more. You don’t really own your MLM Home Based Business. And if you don’t comply with all of the terms and conditions of the agreement the company spelled out for you ….and may amend at its own sole discretion at any time… it’s “Game Over”.

Scared yet? You should be!

So how do you protect yourself?

Well, you start by reading your company’s Terms of Service, sometimes also called Policies and Procedures or Distributor Agreement. Go through it with a fine-toothed comb and if there’s anything in it you don’t agree with, don’t sign it.

Realize that you are an independent representative of the company which will pay you commissions for selling their products or services as long as you are in good standing with and comply with their rules.

Although you are your own boss you don’t own the MLM Home Based Business you are building.

Build yourself not your company.

Build yourself up as an authority. Develop your strengths. Learn new skills become more marketable. Make a name for yourself in the industry. Network with leaders, shadow them and learn from them.

It’s these skills that once learned you will have forever and which you can take from company to company and build on. So promote yourself not the company you represent.

Invest your income.

Many top income earners in the industry invest their income from their MLM Home Based Business in other markets, like the real estate market for example. Investing your earnings  is a very wise decision should something go wrong with your company. Tip: Always consult a trusted advisor to help you make sound investment decisions.

Yes, you are building a MLM Home Based Business, but the company you represent owns it. They provide you with the product or service, they ship it, they have the overhead, etc. and they pay your commissions. You only do the marketing part.

So, don’t be left in the cold if something should go wrong.

To Your Success…
Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Don’t be shy. Every network marketer should know about this so make sure you re-tweet and share this on Facebook. Thank you!

P.P.S. This is a DoFollow blog so make sure you leave your comments below for some link juice.

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1. Are You Still Acting Like a Secret Agent in Your Network Marketing Business?

Overcoming Objections with Feel, Felt, Found

Overcoming objections is one of the top business skills you need to learn how to master in your mlm home based business.

I know I struggled with this issue when I first started.  But then someone introduced me to “Feel, Felt, Found” a really cool method to overcome objections.

It is only natural that people have objections when they are confronted with something new and unfamiliar. It is our job as their future sponsor to help them overcome these objections. Oftentimes the objections we hear from our prospects aren’t even real, but more of a way to say “hey, I’m not ready for this,” without actually coming out and saying it.

“Feel, felt, found” lets you empathize with your prospect. Most likely you were in their shoes at one time and you can relate to what they are going through.

Here are some examples of the most common objections we may hear….

“I don’t have the time to do this business.”

“I don’t have the money.”

“I have to think about it.”

“I don’t want to be locked into a monthly commitment (autoship.)”

“I don’t like MLM, Network Marketing.”

“I have to ask my husband.”

All of these objections can be overcome with “FEEL, FELT, FOUND”

For example…

“Mary, I totally understand how you feel about not having the time to do this business. I felt the same way. But then I found that it only takes a few hours a week to get things started…”

“I understand your concern about the monthly autoship, Bill, and know how you feel. I felt the same way. But then I found that I actually ran out of the product before it was time for the next autoship to come around … that I really needed to set a good example for the team I was building and therefore needed to be on autoship…“

“I appreciate how you feel about having to think about it, Sue. I felt the same way. But then I found the sooner I started the sooner I would reach my dream of … (fill in the blank.)”

See how this feel, felt, found approach works overcoming objections? You are actually relating to the prospect. Making them feel better about having these objections, because you let them know that you felt the same way at some point but you found a solution to overcome objections like the ones they may be having.

Overcoming objections is just something that comes with the territory of having a mlm home based business. But applying the method of feel, felt, found makes it a lot easier to handle.

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. If you have used the feel felt found approach in your business let us know your experience in the comments below. By the way, this is a DOFOLLOW blog so you will get some link juice back

P.P.S. If you liked this information, make sure you re-tweet and also share it with your friends on Facebook. Thank you!

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Building Your Network Marketing Business is Not a Sprint - It's a Marathon

Are you building your network marketing business going full speed like you would run a sprint?

I’m back in the saddle again after an enjoyable break. I cheated a little and did not totally keep away (from the computer) like I had planned originally but I did take it very easy. And I took a lot of time to think. I guess, I really needed that. Both, the break and the time to think. I was going full speed ahead, always afraid I’d miss something if I didn’t and I lost myself along the way.

I am a very competitive sort of person. I hate to be left behind and I hate to lose. I am also very driven which, I guess, goes right along with being competitive.

Take time to smell the daisies while building your network marketing business.

I used to keep insane hours, working from when I first got up until going to bed. Notice, I said “used to” because there will be some changes from here on forward.

“Working” didn’t mean 12 hours of income producing activities. A lot of the time was spent on learning new things, growing my list and driving traffic to this blog. While these activities eventually mean income, they will take time.

Building your network marketing business takes many different activities. There are a lot of pieces to the  puzzle. Each one of them important to make the picture complete. But it is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.

Before I went on break I had drawn out my goals for the rest of the year. Going over them again now, I realized that I have set my deadlines very tight. Too tight. On purpose, because I wanted to reach my goals faster. But why really? Just so I can prove to myself that I can do it? Nonsense. I’ve proven that many times over. The first time I was 10 years old. I think it’s time to “live a little.”

You can’t run a marathon from the start to the finish line like you would run a sprint, at your top speed. You would never get there. You will have to pace yourself through the 26 miles, taking in some water along the way to keep you hydrated.

I know that some of you reading this blog post are just like me, building your network marketing business going at it at full speed. I know, because  I read your blogs. If you can keep it up through the finish line good for you. But the likelihood is pretty slim. Most likely you will get burned out and maybe even quit.

Slowing down is perfectly okay. You don’t have to prove yourself to me or anyone else. The only person you are accountable to at the end is YOU. If you are reaching the goals you have set for yourself and you are happy with your accomplishments then that should be good enough. The important part is … to reach the finish line.

Are you pushing yourself too hard building your network marketing business just to prove to yourself (and maybe even someone else) that you can do it? That’s the way I am, but I am trying to change. When someone tells me I can’t do something, I am bound and determined to prove them wrong. Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

To Your Success!

Ilka Flood
The EnlightenedNetworker

P.S. If you found value in this post, please share it with your friends. Be sweet – retweet!

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Business of the 21st Century

I’m sure you are familiar with best-selling author Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad – Poor Dad.” If you haven’t  read the book I highly recommend it. I also recommend his newest book “The Business of the 21^st Century.” (Read the First Chapter of “The Business of the 21^st Century here.)

Have your parents ever told you this …

“Go to school get good grades, get a high-paying job, live below your means and save money?”

Has it gotten you anywhere? Has it gotten you to where you want to be?

The sad truth is, that for a lot of us, this plan doesn’t work.

You’ll never get rich working for someone else. That’s a fact!

Instead you should be in business for yourself. I don’t mean being self-employed or a small business owner.

In the short video below, Robert Kiyosaki will explain what “The Business of the 21^st Century” is and why it makes perfect sense.

I love the way he said: “Always remember, it’s not money that makes you rich, it’s business skills.”

I totally believe that, because money comes and goes, but the skills you acquire (in network marketing or direct selling) will always stay with you. And that’s why network marketing is the perfect business.

“The number one asset a person can build is build a business. That’s the smartest thing you can do.” _Robert  Kiyosaki.

I truly believe this, as from my own experience I know that “Plan A” doesn’t work. Our family had to find out what it meant to go from a paycheck to zero from one day to the next. There is no such thing as “Job Security” and there hasn’t been for a very long time.

So, are you leaving your future and that of your family’s in the hands of someone else? Or is it time for a change? Is it time for you to take a closer look at “The Business of the 21^st Century? It’s your choice!

To your success,

Ilka Flood
The EnlightenedNetworker

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