Meet my Nephews and NEVER Miss A Moment!

Hey Gang~~

Very simple message today. Because I am in Network Marketing I have something a lot of people strive for…… TIME! A couple of weeks ago I decided at the last minute to jump in the car and head out for a two week road trip. Most of the videos you will be seeing for the next couple of weeks were done while on the trip. One of my favorite moments from the trip in Seattle was to watch my two favorite nephews (I only have 2) take a Karate class. It inspired me to shoot a tiny 50 second video. Enjoy and I (like every Blogger) love comments! If you like my stuff, consider joining my “Info Loop” on the right side of this video! Give someone an AWESOME day!

Turning Cold Calls into Gold Calls!

Hey Gang!

I get lots of people asking me for my opinion on cold calls. I know why they ask. Secretly, they’re hoping that I (or someone — anyone) will tell them not to make cold calls. I believe that most newcomers to network marketing or any business think of cold calls as an absolute horror, the most painful, humiliating thing that could ever happen.

Well, here’s my opinion. DO IT. That’s right. Make those calls. I call cold calls Gold Calls and for good reason. A cold call, if done right, can turn your phone into an ATM machine. And all you had to do was pick up the phone and dial. Okay, there’s a bit more to it than that. Before you pick up that receiver, do some research. If I’m looking to bring someone into my eting business I look for people who kind of do what we do. They just don’t know it yet.

Think of it this way. Who better to understand the value of a cold call than someone who does it all day themselves? Look for the professionals that sell big ticket items, such as real estate, advertising, insurance. They make lots of cold calls and are usually more receptive to someone cold calling them. I also call only people who work on a 1099 (in income tax terms, that means freelancers). A person who doesn’t run their own show ma not have access to the funds to make a purchase. However, to the big ticket item seller, a few hundred bucks to get into a great business opportunity is no big deal.

Once you’ve identified who you want to call, then the best practice is simply to start calling. Oh sure, you may flub a few calls, but from each conversation you’ll learn. Listen to the person you called. Try to figure out what problems they’re having and how your product or service can solve that problem. Let them tell you how you can help them. Not every product or opportunity is right for every person so don’t be discouraged if the connection just isn’t there. Try what I do. It’s called FORM – family, occupation, recreation and money. If you lead with those four topics you’ll discover just about all you need to know about your prospect.

Once you get over your initial fear of cold calling you’ll be amazed at how quickly you become at ease with the process. And when you make that first sale or bring someone into your organization…Wow! No better feeling, my friends.

Go from Cold to Gold! And while you’re on that call, give someone an AWESOME day!

It Ain’t Only About the Internet!

Hey Gang!

So as I’ve told you in several posts, I was at the No Excuses Summit in Las Vegas with my dear friend and super network marketing genius Todd Falcone and we’re feeling pretty good when we first walked in. And then it hits us. This was not a typical network marketing conference. We were smack in the middle of a major internet marketing event — computers and web stuff and conversion rates. Oh My!

Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the internet. Heck, you’re reading this on the internet right now, aren’t you? However, it isn’t ALL about the internet. People forget that the real value and opportunity of network marketing lies off-line, not on-line.

But nonetheless, I learned a lot, especially when talking in the hallway (see earlier post about meeting people) with a great young man named Jason and his girlfriend, Casey. Jason was a smart kid, but when he started spewing out all the technical jargon of exactly what he did on the internet my eyes glassed over and my mind wandered back to when I was a kid and our teacher was explaining why it was so important that we learn logarithms. But I finally came back to the moment when Jason asked what I did for a living.

I told him I was involved in network marketing, mostly meeting people face-to-face and developing relationships. I said that he may have a data base of thousands of names, but I had a smaller list and each person on it was my friend. I told him how I love to have phone conversations with people, meet them for coffee, even send out birthday cards to them all.

Jason picked up on the birthday card thing right away. “Really?” he asked. “What’s your birthday card conversion rate?”

I cocked my head not unlike my friend’s Labrador Retriever when you ask him a question he doesn’t understand.

Jason plodded on. “What I mean is, do you research which font is most effective? Have you made the determination if blue ink is better than black? How many conversions do you get with each mailing and what matrix do you use to measure your results?”

I told this eager young man that he was missing the point, that I only sponsor people I’d sit in a hammock with in Costa Rica. Now it was Jason’s turn to cock his head. I said that the internet was a great place to meet people, but you’ve got to figure out how to bring your heart into the internet. “Jason, right now you’re just a faceless dude, worried about ad tracking,” I said. “What you need to do is worry about how to bridge the gap between the internet and the real people you’re reaching.

I told him that he could take a list of 100,000 names from his data base and I could take only 1,000 and I’d beat him out every time. Why? Because I am the face behind the name. I’m the handshake instead of the email. And once a year, I’m the birthday card instead of, well…the nothing that he sends.

I can’t say whether or not Jason really got what I was saying, but I was delighted when his fiance piped up and said, “You know, until now everything I heard in this conference made me want to run away from network marketing as fast as I could. But now, hearing what you have to say, I’m ready to sign up!”

So, should you use the internet? Of course! It’s one of the most valuable tools we have. However, it’s not the most important. Your voice on the phone is a much greater power and that 20 minutes over a latte with a friend or net business partner beats out all the technology in the world.

Now go out and give someone an AWESOME day. And do it in person.

No Excuses Means No Excuses Means NO EXCUSES!

Hey gang!

Aren’t excuses great? I mean, we can drop the ball, give in to our fears, just be plain lazy and a good excuse seems to make us feel so much better. Common. Admit it. It’s true. Rationalizing out our own inadequacies is great medicine.

And then someone comes along and says, “NO EXCUSES!” I hate when that happens. You see, excuses may make you feel better (albeit temporarily), but they do nothing for your business or your success.

That’s what the No Excuses Summit I recently attended in Las Vegas was all about. Getting out of the habit — and it is a habit if not a real addiction — of instantly coming up with an excuse rather than facing the reality of a situation and confronting it head on.

Now let me say right here that I have been known on occasion to be the King of Excuseland. Here’s a recent one.

Have you seen the new Flip camcorders? Amazing little devices that can record up to two hours of HD quality video yet small enough to fit into a pocket. They’re simple to use and make it so easy to share your videos instantly on Facebook, Twitter, even your own blog. Easy for most people, that is. Yep, I’ve got one and have recorded lots of great stuff.

So I’m talking to my good friend Cedric and he says, “Casey, you’re missing a valuable opportunity. You’re great in front of an audience and on camera. Why aren’t you recording on video and posting them to your various blogs and accounts?” I told him that, as a matter of fact, I right now have 18 videos that I’d like to post but that I didn’t know how to work my darned Flip camcorder to get them onto my sites. Cedric was very understanding. He simply said, “No excuses. Figure it out.”

I knew he was right so I went home and that night tackled the problem of getting my videos up on Facebook. Well, let me tell you, this was no easy task, at least not for me. It took forever just to get one video to post and then, to my continued consternation, it posted nine times! I have no idea why. (My apologizes to anyone on my Facebook page that night.) Then I couldn’t figure out the title sequence. ARGH.

Next I tried to post a video to my blog, theidealnetworker.com. I had just about the same success as I did with Facebook. I’m starting to get a headache that I think only a vast amount of adult beverages could cure when I look up on my white board and see the phrase, “No Excuses Means No Excuses.” After a big dramatic sigh (after all, I did work in the movie business for years), I said to myself, “Casey…you are not going to bed until this is done and it’s done RIGHT!” There may have also been big dramatic music in the background — I’m not sure.

Anyway, after many failures, misspelled words, “error” messages and one moment when I almost threw that stupid Flip thingy into the garbage, I actually posted a video. Genius! I gotta tell ya, doing the work right is such a better high than a good excuse any day.

Don’t ask me how, but after that one video posting traffic to my blog tripled! People signed up for my newsletter. I had moved out of Excuseland and into Actionville! I loved the new address.

And then I go to Vegas for the No Excuses Summit. Naturally, I take along my now beloved Flip. Luckily for me, I was interviewed several times and each went great. However, did I take my Flip out of my pocket and ask if I could just hit record for each interview? Oh no…too embarrassed to do that. What if I screwed it up and everyone knew I was a tech-dummy? Couldn’t have that. So, rather than just plunging in and doing what I knew I needed to do, I made an excuse and missed a massive opportunity. The entire YouTube nation was just waiting for my next video posting. Yet, I chose an excuse over action and what did it get me? Nothing.

Here’s a simple question. How bad do you want it? If for every action you know you need to take you instead come up with an excuse — “It’s too early to make that call,” “They probably aren’t interested in my product or service,” “I’m no good on the telephone,” “They probably don’t like blonds,” “I’m never that good on a Tuesday.” — then all you’ll have at the end of the day are your excuses when, instead, you could have a thriving business and the best high you’ve ever felt.

Do yourself a favor. Come up with an excuse, a really good, iron-clad excuse, why you aren’t growing your business. Now, shoot that excuse full of holes. You know you can. It’s easy. It’s just an excuse. They can’t stand up to the light.

Just make sure you don’t make an excuse for coming up with an excuse to cut to shreds.

If you can’t think of a good excuse, let me know. I’ve used them all and I have no need for them anymore.

In blogs to come I’ll be sharing the other 7 awesome points I learned at the No Excuses Summit. They’re really powerful and I think you’re going to love them.

Now go out and give someone an AWESOME day. And I don’t want to hear any excuses why you can’t.

Hang Out With the Winners!!

Hey gang!

So many wonderful things came out of the No Excuses Summit I recently attended in Las Vegas. And one of those take-aways I had already done just be being there.

Most people, especially those new to network marketing, have a tendency to only attend local events or those sponsored by their company. Nothing wrong with that, unless that’s all you’re doing. Ever hear the phrase, “If you want to be a winner, hang out with the winners?” It’s so true. I remember my mom cramming into my head the opposite of that phrase — “If you want to be a loser, then go ahead and hang out with those losers!” She was right. So many times kids get derailed by hanging out with the “wrong crowd.”

But what happens when those kids, or we adults, start hanging out with the “right crowd,” those who are excited about our industry and have valuable insight to share? I’ll tell you what happens. That excitement rubs off on you. You’ll come away with so much more than information. You’ll get an attitude tune-up that’s worth ten times what you paid to attend.

So which events do I suggest you attend? All of them. Okay, maybe that’s not possible. But read the blogs and keep yourself current on which seminars and meetings are coming near you. Or, if it’s a big event, one with star-power speakers who you know in your heart could help you change not only your business but also your life — well, then save up a few bucks and fly out to wherever the meeting is taking place.

And here’s another bit of information that’s gigantic. During the breaks, DO NOT saunter off to a corner and call home to check on the kids. Talk to people. I’ve never been to any event where the main speakers, the heavy-hitters, aren’t totally available to meet and speak with attendees. Don’t pass up this golden opportunity. You’d pay mega-bucks to get their tapes and DVDs. Why not get a little free advice in person?

Try what I like to do when I’m in any crowd where I don’t know many people (or even if I do). I make it a point to go up and introduce myself to at least five people. Sound intimidating? Perhaps, but remember where you are…a network marketing meeting. Networking is the key word here and everyone expects you to come up and say hello. That’s what they’re doing. All you have to do is follow suit.

You know, the real magic of most of these events happens during the breaks. I can’t tell you how many great contacts, not to mention wonderful friends, I’ve met standing in a convention center hallway during a break. Have a pocket full of your business cards ready, too, and that ever-handy Sharpie pen for jotting down names and numbers.

So hit the road to success. And while you’re out there, give someone an AWESOME day!

So, Do You Come Here Often?

Howdy, Gang!

So, do you come here often? Cheesiest line ever, right? Unless you’re squeezed in among the cattle in Coach (as in airplane cabin, not purses), because then you’ll always get a laugh. This is step 1 to starting the “airplane conversation”.

When you’re stuck on an airplane, what do you do? Are you one of those who immediately sticks on the noise-canceling headphones, fires up the laptop to either work or play endless hours of solitaire, and tunes out the world? Now why would you do this when you have a captive audience? Think about it – you spend all week going to networking events trying to meet new people, yet when you’re sitting right smack dab next to someone new, you don’t even introduce yourself. It’s time to change your tactics, folks.

When I travel, I always choose the center seat. Ugh – no way, you think – too cramped, no room for my laptop, whine, whine, whine. Well remember, you’re not going to work or sleep, so why does it matter where you sit? Here’s the reason for the middle seat – you have an audience on either side of you. So you strike up a conversation with one and usually the other will join in. Or one is sleeping, but now you can turn to the other. How easy is that?

So what if you’re sitting next to Mr. or Mrs. Probably-Not-in-My-Typical-Demographic? I know you already know the answer to this, but I’m just testing you. As you’ve learned throughout your time in this networking game, somebody ALWAYS knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who either a) needs your services, or b) has services you need, or c) needs services of someone you can recommend. (Think: 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.) Oh yeah, and don’t forget the “somebody” who doesn’t need anything you have to offer right now, but might in the next couple of weeks/months/years and you won’t even remember them but they’ll remember you or your brochure that they picked up out of an airplane seat pocket way back when.

Next time you book that airline ticket, resist the urge to choose the window seat with an empty seat next to it so you can relax. You know “relax” and “airplane” can never go together in the same sentence, right? So why pretend? Get out there and work it in the sky, because…..wait for it…..The sky’s the limit! (Okay, someone had to say it.)

Now go out and give your fellow travelers an AWESOME day!

Fast food drive up windows can really be a tool?

Howdy Gang~~

Where do you give out your marketing materials? Are they passively sitting in a holder somewhere on a desk or are you actively putting them out there?

Here’s an easy tip that kinda combines marketing with random acts of kindness. The next time you go through a toll booth, pay the toll for the car behind you and give your brochure/flyer/CD/card to the toll booth operator and ask him/her to give it to the person in the car whose toll you just paid. Do the same thing in a drive-through with someone’s coffee or food. You could even do this in a bar or restaurant, but be sure to pick your moments so the bartender isn’t too busy or it’s a dinner bill for a family of six.

Other places for your stuff…..

• With the credit card receipt at a restaurant, for your waiter
• In the airplane seat pockets (Do you really think they get cleaned out? Reach in sometime.)
• In the taxi seat pockets, or on the bus/subway seat
• In anything you mail out – bill payments, invoices, etc.
• On the magazine table at the doctor’s office

Those are just a few…..can you think of others? Please share!

Give someone an AWESOME day (and a brochure)!

Is that a Sharpie in your pocket???

Howdy Gang~~

You’ve heard to never go anywhere without a pen, right? Remember filling out that first job application at McDonald’s as a wee-little 15-yr-old and Mom saying, “Always have a pen with you when you go job hunting.” And despite this digital age we live in, that’s still good advice. Except now we need to step it up a notch and say “Always have a Sharpie with you when you go to a networking event.” Ummm, why?

How many times have you gone to write on a glossy business card, only to not be able to? So frustrating! Because so many people have glossy or colored or “busy” business cards these days, it’s hard to write on them with a normal ballpoint pen. That’s why you need to have a Sharpie, because those things can write on anything and – bonus – they don’t smudge. So you can write on the card, stick it in your pocket along with the others, and still be able to read it in the morning.

Also, while you’re writing on the cards, you may want to code them. For example, an asterisk might mean to follow up ASAP, a checkmark might mean to put them on your newsletter list, etc. Be careful with your codes, though. You don’t want to use a big X for someone you think is a loser or a frowny face or something obvious. You might think these cards are going in your pocket and no one else will see, but as soon as you think that, Mr. X will come over and say something like, “Oh, let me write my other phone number on that card,” and that could be just a little bit embarrassing.

So, go out and buy some Sharpies and start carrying them with you. You may as well take a few extras, because once people see what a good idea this is, they’ll be wanting to borrow yours. Which, of course, means that they will remember you.

Give someone an AWESOME day!

Build a bigger network by giving some time!

Hey Gang~~

Let’s face it – everyone has a “bandwagon” or a “soapbox” they like to jump on occasionally. Whether it’s political or environmental or medical, we all have a cause we support. So it just makes sense that volunteer organizations are a great place to network. Think about it – there’s a group of people out there that you automatically have something in common with, which means no cold-calling or small-talk. You see where I’m going with this, right? Get out there and volunteer!

Besides putting your skills to good use at a cause you believe in, you demonstrate your expertise to other like-minded peeps, who may become, or refer you to, prospective clients. Think about those “volunteer types” – they’re people just like you. It’s too easy! And these days, the “I don’t have time” blahblahblah just doesn’t fly because we’re all virtual at some point. If you don’t have time to spend a day dishing out food at the homeless shelter, maybe you could volunteer to edit the pictures taken at the day’s event or type the thank you letter to the food donors. Seriously, how long does that take? And those who do like to get out there in the trenches are eternally grateful to anyone who will take the paperwork off their to-do list. See, we all have our strengths. The point is, you’re making connections and you’re making a difference. It’s a win-win.

So here are some examples of some services they need that you can offer, and guess what your action item is? You got it! Call your favorite nonprofit this week!

• Translating marketing literature
• Writing press releases
• Editing/Proofreading
• Writing emails
• Snail mail – stuffing, licking, stamping
• Generating sponsor support
• Database management
• Web development 
• Graphic design
• Research
• Tracking legislation

Now go out there and give YOUR cause an AWESOME day!

Now don’t be shy— Some useful tips to work a room!

Hey Gang~~

Now I’ve said it before, but of course I’ll say it again…in the game of networking the people with the most relationships will win every single time. But here’s the thing – did you know that some people are just naturally introverted and shy, so networking events are actually hard for them? It’s a concept way beyond my comprehension, but it’s true! I read it on the internet, so it must be true! So in an effort to put an end to shyness everywhere, here are my tips for working the room instead of the wall:

• SMILE! I know you’re thinking, well duh, but seriously. Besides the obvious “it makes you more approachable” reason, you might actually trick yourself into having a good time.
• VOLUNTEER! More specifically, volunteer to work the registration table. This way you’ll have to talk to everyone and you won’t even have to think of what to say. “Good morning, what’s your name?” is already scripted for you.
• BRING A FRIEND! Preferably an extroverted friend, but any wing-man will do. Be careful not to use the friend as a crutch, though. You still have to meet some new people, not just talk with your old friend the whole day.
• FOOD! Hanging out by the food line is a gimme. It’s like the weather – you can always think of something to say about it and everyone has an opinion. And if you happen to say “those cookies look delicious” and someone proceeds to tell you about their grandmother’s secret cookie recipe, well look at that – you’ve started a conversation!
• HOLD ON! If you’re a fidgeter, try holding a drink or a pad of paper to give your hands something to do. However, DON’T hold anything electronic, because you know you’ll end up checking messages and then your approachability meter just took a nose-dive.
• UNITE! If you think you’re the only Bashful Betty in the room, you are sadly mistaken. Scan the wallpaper – you’ll see others in your predicament. Now go and meet them and form a united front.

These are a few easy tips to get you started – now get out there and make it happen! And while you’re at it, have an AWESOME day!