Healthy Business » clear vision

Three principles for success

wbhawkins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:19:00 +0000

Follow the principles to succeed

I think it was Eddie Cochran who said that there are ‘three steps to heaven’. His three steps were finding a a girl to love, followed by getting her to fall in love with you and ending by kissing and holding her tight. It sounds easy and romantic.

But finding a girl to love is, generally, quite hard to do when you are young. Some people don’t achieve it at all. Many keep their girl for the shortest of times. Getting her to fall in love with you is the next challenge. How the heck do you do that? You take her out, make her laugh, make her feel special and hope one of these methods sticks, because you know that prize of her kiss is waiting for you when you succeed. Eddie Cochran knew that holding her tight was important because you have worked so darned and invested so much of yourself in the process that you don’t want to lose her. That would be a disaster.

In this business, there are three steps to heaven too. They sound easy. They are easy to understand. They make sense. But like anything, anyone following the principles needs to follow them religiously to get the prize.

The first success principle is ‘consistent effort‘. This business needs you to do certain things each day and everyday. You need to put the business in front of people every day through phone calls, meetings, presentations and training. By doing this, you make sure that you increase your chances of selling products and recruiting people to your team.

The next principle is ‘duplication‘. Over several decades, Forever Living has fine tuned a business model which is easily duplicable. That sounds odd to most people but it is a sound principle which ensures that the business model is easy to learn and to follow so that people can get going quickly when you recruit them and train them in the business.

Finally, you have to ‘give it enough time’. Most people think this business is either a get rich quick scheme. It’s not. You need to be patient and work it along building it up steadily through hard work and following the plan. That’s why many people drop out just at the point when they could have seen it grow hugely.

I am at the early stages of my business and I am already getting success. Following the plan takes discipline, dedication and some sacrifice. But when you have worked hard and remained patient you will reach that goal which compelled you to start the business.

Shared Post

Sphere: Related Content

Who gets network marketing?

wbhawkins — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:31:16 +0000

It's a rational business decision.

Building a business is a tough thing to do. You need not only a good idea (which, to be frank, is the easy bit), you need to know how to execute your idea so that people know about it, understand it, feel comfortable with it and ultimately decide that your business idea, service or product is something that they will buy from you. When you have been in business for a while, you get to know what questions to ask about a business before you commit to it.

For instance, some years back I was keen on buying into a franchise which is a yacht brokerage. I was looking at selling other people’s yachts, boats and dinghies. With a franchise, the key commitment that the franchiser is looking for is the fee that you pay to buy into their ‘proven’ system. Before I was going to do that, I did some market research into the ‘area’ which would have been my allocated territory.

My research showed me that the market was not for yachts and boats in the centre where they suggested was the best spot, but was, in fact, the inland waterways. Inland waterways are a totally different market to yachts and so, I concluded, I would be better off starting my own business selling barges, cruisers and narrow boats rather than investing and borrowing £90,000 to get into the franchise for yacht sales.

A few years later, I started my own business in live, online learning training IT professionals around the world through the internet. In short, everyone thought the idea was great, but the business struggled and I ran out of money to be able to carry on with it. I lost quite a lot of money in the process but I learned many lessons.

When it comes to starting a network marketing business, I could immediately see that the idea is good, the business is proven, there is a ready and untapped market in the UK, there is no franchise fee to worry about, I believe in the products, I have all the right skills and experience to be able to make it work and I can start it part-time and work it around my other commitments.

This week I spoke with an old business friend of mine about the business with the help of Cora, my sister-in-law, and presented the business over the internet. My contact was very open about the business and was keen to understand the details. He had come across the Forever Living business five years ago but had not pursued it because, amongst one or two other reasons, he had not known anyone in the business to understand why people were so positive about it.

Furthermore, he had spent several years working in the food industry marketing health food products, so he understood the market well. His main enthusiasm from our presentation was the fact that over half of the business’s revenue comes from one aloe vera drink. As a businessman, he understood the business model and knew that the business model is not some wacky scheme but that network marketing is a proven business strategy. His enthusiasm for the opportunity was based on rational thinking and experience.

The plain fact is that people understand and enthuse about this networking business for different reasons. Many because they believe in the products. Some because they can also see the opportunity. Others because they see how it can help them achieve what they want to achieve in their lives which ordinary jobs can never provide on their own.

All of them see it for what it is, which is an unconventional business which helps people. It is honest, non-pushy, high quality and enables those who want to change their lives change them for the better. If you don’t believe it, then that’s fine.

Shared Post

Sphere: Related Content

What type of people start network marketing businesses?

wbhawkins — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:23:22 +0000

All types of people succeed in Forever

It never ceases to amaze me how many different types of people start network marketing businesses. I first really understood just how diverse the backgrounds of the successful people in Forever Living are when I went to a ‘Success Day’ in Leeds recently. (A ‘Success Day’, by the way is a monthly event in different locations around the country where the company recognises the achievements of its people).

At the event, I made a point of being introduced to as many people as I could who are already in the business and who are doing well. I met one inspirational woman who had been a doctor in a hospital but had left the profession to pursue developing her Forever Living business which she was doing very successfully.

I another woman who was doing very well and had reached a senior level within the business after leaving university and being introduced to the business by her mother. One of the presenters in the day had been a ’shelf stacker’ in a supermarket and is now one of the leading people in the business. Another speaker had been in a band in the 1960’s with a hit that reached number seven in the charts above The Beatles, who then went into academia and had decided to leave to pursue his Forever Living business full time.

My sister-in-law, Cora, also introduced me to the managing director of the business, Bob Parker, who still runs his own Forever Living business, who was a very approachable man which is typical of the type of people within the business. Unlike many people in traditional companies, the people in Forever Living are happy to share their expertise in being successful in the business. In addition, their are no ‘big egos’ which makes for a more inclusive feeling in the business. This is part of the ethos.

So, you can probably see that there many people in the business from all types of backgrounds that succeed in this business. You don’t need to be a brain surgeon or a sales superstar to do well. Everyone who succeeds in the business follows a simple marketing plan and follows three principles of network marketing. I will explain these principles in my next blog entry.

An article I read today about the personality of some network marketers makes for interesting readers. It’s by Dr Robin Rushlo. I am not sure it is entirely true but it gives an insight into how energetic some people are in network marketing.

Shared Post

Sphere: Related Content