Key # 1: Desire

From the "10 Keys to Create Wealth To Fulfill Your Life's Purposes"
by Michael R. Ellison


KEY #1 DESIRE
Reading about the first key helped me identify the life purposes that drive me and rediscover the innermost desires that propel and sustain me in my Wealth Journey.
Or as we often say in network marketing, "Discover my Why"

Often, I find myself jumping ahead to the how and the when in my business goals:
How can I generate more leads?
How do I get my new business affiliate started?
When will I quit my job?
But none of these questions matter unless I figure out
Why I'm doing this in the first place.

Why? Because the road to success is paved with obstacles, setbacks and disappointments , and unless I have a real and strong desire anchored by meaningful purposes, I will find thousands of reasons along the way to give up and give in.

Desire gives us focus and energy to pursue our life's passions.

Sometimes it's difficult to see beyond the day to day obligations and challenges of our everyday life, to imagine a world beyond our current reality.
Most adults have forgotten how to dream.
I have to admit that before starting my network marketing business,
I had lost my ability to dream as well.
Sad to say, but at 28 I was living a life of quiet desperation and I was blissfully unaware of it.
Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with my life back then:
I had just gotten married, was expecting my first child, had a good job, good friends, what else was there to dream about?
There was no need to venture pass the 4 little walls of my life until...
That's a story for another time.

To make a long story short, starting a business "awakened the giant in me".
It broadened my horizon, gave me new goals to aspire to.

My desire for wealth is not greed based , it's purpose based.
It's not about the money itself, it's about the freedom and opportunities that money brings about.
Freedom to set your own hours, live where you want, do the things that are important to you; Opportunities for your children to attend better schools, to travel and experience new cultures, to help the less fortunate.

There is an unforgettable scene in one of Steve Martin's movies "Parenthood"
After his wife announces that they are expecting their unexpected 4Th child just
after he quit his job in a pretty dramatic fashion; Steve in a moment of quiet desperation says "My whole life is have to."
I don't know about you, but I want to live the life I want to live, not the one I have to live.
Money is just a means to an end not the end itself.

Think about this for a little bit:
If Money was not an issue in your life what would you do with the extra time and money?

Here's to dreaming again!

Pushing Through the Fear

I don't know about you but when I started with this business I was determined to succeed. I can still remember the sleepless nights thinking about all the records I was going to break, all the money I was about to make. Then overtime, reality stepped in, doubth creeped in; I got in a rut, got stuck and have no idea why. That thing stopping me has a name and it's called FEAR. What am I really afraid of and how can I get over it? I heard Jim Edwards say in one of his conferences that: "Fear comes from this one question you ask yourself" : "What will happen if it doesn't work out the way I want it to?" The questions I ask myself control my thoughts and therefore my attitude and my actions. I read a book called, "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" by Susan Jeffers. Here are my action notes: 1. Trust myself. Confidence is not the naive notion that everything will be OK, rather it's the certainty, that whatever happens in my life I can handle it. Handling it means that I'll work my way through it, I'll learn from it and ultimately I'll be OK. 2. Do my best and let go of the outcome. I can't control other people actions or reactions, I can't control unforeseen events, so why worry about them. 3. Stop Complaining. If I'm complaining, I'm not taking ownership of my actions; I'm giving control of my life to other people and outside circumstances. 4. I'll do it anyway. Rather than being afraid of rejection or of what people will think of me, I'm just taking action and worry about it later 5. Adopting the "no-lose" philosophy: "I can't lose regardless of the outcome of the decision I make". Why? because there are no such thing as mistakes and failures. In the Slight Edge, Jeff Olson says: "the secret to success is failure". "you have to go through something to get somewhere". Did you know that : * Michael Jordan, missed more than 9,000 shots in his carreer and lost almost 300 games.? 26 times, he missed the game-winning shot! * Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric bulb, tried out thousands of different versions of it and every single one failed before he got it right. what did the great man have to say about it? "I have not failed. I've simply discovered ten thousand ways that don't work" It's time to get over myself and start asking different questions: - How will I grow and become a better person just by making the attempt? - What will I discover or learn that I can use the rest of my life? - Who else has overcome this obstacle and how can I model their beliefs and behavior? - How many lives can I impact by taking action in spite of my fear? From now on, I will act as if what I do makes a difference and commit to giving 100% to all areas in my life. Warmest Regards, Carmina Carmina Blaise Enlighten, Empower, Enrich www.WhoIsCarminaBlaise.com 908-998-1723

The Most Important Relationship

Did you go through the yearly ritual of setting your goals?

My resolution for 2009:
Improving The most important relationship in my life; The one I have with myself.
Not for selfish reasons but for the simple fact that if I can't get along with myself, I can't have good relationships with the people in my life: family, friends, business partners and clients.
Even since "The Secret" came out most of us have been aware of the control our thoughts have over our lives. But "All too often, we reserve our harshest criticisms and our most negative thoughts for ourselves." says Robert Stubert in an article in Success Magazine.
Robert points out that "the first step in managing your relationship with yourself is to determine what you actually think about yourself".

I'm ahead of the game, I've read "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson last year and went through the journey of discovering what Jeff calls "My Philosophy" or how I see things which in turn determines my attittudes and actions. It has a surprising journey to say the least, one that I'm grateful to have been on.
I've discovered that I have an Olympics Game Philosophy. Let me explain...
I see the world as a non ending competition field: you either win or lose, no in
between. Second place is for the first loser. I have to bring the "Gold" home every time. This is exhausting! The worse is that I never give myself permission to enjoy my accomplishments. No matter what I do , I never feel I've done enough.
Do you sometimes feel that way?
This "stinking thinking" has held me back in my business, career and personal life.
This is why I've decided to work on me this year.

What stands between success and me, is just me.
Edmund Hillary who was one of the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest, the highest spot on Earth said "It's not the mountain we conquer but ourselves".
The problem is not with the company, products ,compensation plan or other people, the problem is getting out of our own way and going for it as if we knew for sure we couldn't fail.

As Zig Ziglar says, "Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the
triumph".

The meaning of the word 'impossible'

This past week, I threw myself a big "poor me" party.

Those parties usually involve a lot of late nights TV watching or aimless web surfing.

Anyways during my aimless wandering, I stumbled upon something, or should I say someone who gave me a virtual slap on the face.

That person is Marlee Matlin.

If you don't know who Marlee is, let me tell you a little bit about her.

In 1986, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her part in the movie,
"Children of a lesser God".

It was her first movie role and at the time she was only 21. This made her the first and only person in acting history, man or woman, to accomplish this feat (according to Wikipedia)
She has since gone on to become an established film and television star.

But Marlee is not your typical movie star: she is profoundly deaf.
She's been that way since she was 18 months old.

Marlee's acting career while amazing considering the odds is not what prompted me
to tell you about her today.

If you are a fan of "Dancing with the Stars", (the ABC hit show)
then you probably know where I'm going with this.

She is in the show. Not as a judge or a host.
No! She is dancing! And doing quite well I might add.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her on the show and I said to myself

"That's impossible! There is no way she's going to pull this off, a deaf person can't dance!
She is going to make a fool of herself, yadiyadiyada..."

It's common sense that one must be able to hear the music, to follow the tempo and find the rhythm, etc...

Well, Marlee proved us wrong, yet again.

You've got to watch her, she is simply amazing and such an inspiration!

How does Marlee do it? What is her secret?
Where does she find the strength to go against the odds that are stacked
pretty high against her?

I think I found the answer in Napoleon Hill in his classic "Think and Grow Rich":
"One of the main weaknesses of mankind" he says
"is the average man's familiarity with the word ‘impossible.’
He knows all the rules which will NOT work.
He knows all the things which CANNOT be done."

Apparently the word 'impossible' doesn't exist in Marlee's dictionaries.

She is the living testament that "There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind"

I am humbled by her courage, her determination and most of allby her boldness.

What is my excuse?

Warmest Regards,

Carmina

Enlighten, Empower, Enrich
908-998-1723

Do you use leads?

The problem with calling leads is:
-It's time consuming (you must dial the number, let it ring, leave a voicemail, etc)
-It takes massive numbers to see results

What I'm suggesting here is not that you not use leads but that you use
them more effectively.
Some people will tell you that leads don't work, that the only way to go is with
face to face meetings.Others swear by the internet.
The truth is there is more than one way to build this business.

All the methods work, it's a matter of working at it consistently.
Pick what works for you and your current situation.
For me leads are the way to go, I have a full time job and a 3 year old at home:
My time is very limited.

Although I have had some success with leads,the process always left me exhausted.
The question became not whether working leads work
but how to maximize my efforts?

First, we must agree on the basics:A lead is a lead is a lead. No more, no less.
Just because somebody filled out a formdoesn't mean they are ready to get
started in your business.

A lead is simply someone who at some point requested some information.
Having said all this, please keep in mind that not all leads are created equal.
Some lead companies are questionable to say the least.
A clue is when you start getting frequent responses like:
"I just wanted to win the X-box".

Fortunately, there are some good lead companies out there,
most verify their leads before selling them to you, either by phone(preferred)
or by email.
So before investing a lot of money, talk to your sponsor and see
what they are using and can recommend.
Keep in mind that your job, when calling leads is to sort ,not sell;
to figure out who is who.That's it!

Imagine that you have a deck of cards and that you are looking for aces.
How many cards are you going to throw away?48! That's right!
You're only looking for aces and there are only 4 of them in a deck.
Are you going to grab a marker and attempt to transform an '8' into an ace?
No way!
You want to go through that deck as fast as you can.
The faster you go through it, the faster you'll find the Aces.
The problem as I mentionned earlier is going through each of those
leads to find your aces.

I tried several things, first I called each and every one.
It gets old and boring quickly.
A lot of valuable time and energy is spent
dialing each number, waiting for the phone to ring, leaving a message, etc...
The worse is getting the fax machine, invalid numbers, wrong numbers.
That's when you start to think there has to be a better way!

The next thing I tried was emailing the leads ahead of time.
Two problems here:
1) Most reputable autoresponder companies won't let you upload purchased
leads into their system.So you can either purchase/subscribe to a second autoresponder
system or use a Free one (yikes!).

Either way you still have problem #2:
2) 99% of the leads won't read the email.
So you're back at square one.

What if you only got to talk to people who actually answer the phone
and bypass the rest?It's actually possible!

Thanks to an amazing technology I stumbled upon.
Here how it works:First of all there is nothing to install, it's all internet based.
Once you upload your purchased list and you record a voicemail,
you're ready to go.

The first thing that I found amazing is that, the software will scan the list and
automatically removes the numbers on the "Do Not Call" List.
Isn't that a relief?!?

If you want to, you can filter the numbers you want to call by specifying the time zone,
area code, state, etc.And get this, if it's outside of the legal calling time (9am- 9pm),
the leads won't be dialed. So you can call in complete peace of mind.

Now for the brilliance of this system:You decide whether you want to talk to every
single person that answers the phone or if you want a percentage of them to get your
voicemail while you're talking to another live person instead!

For example if you purchase some leads of lesser quality in bulk,
you probably want to go through it as fast as possible and set that ratio pretty high.
But if you bought some high quality leads, you probably will want to
talk to everyone that picks up the phone. Right?

Ok so now you're ready and you click Dial.
The system calls you at whetever number you specify then
it goes through the list, dials the numbers for you!

When a live person or the voicemail picks up,
you hear a distinctive tone on your phone and their name shows up on your screen,
(you can even have your script uploaded so that you can refer to it while you're talking).

You manage the calls from your computer screen.
Obviously if someone picks up, you talk to them on your phone,
if their answering machine picks up you can either
click the "Leave Voicemail" button on your screen and move onto the next call
or you can leave them a voicemail yourself, it's up to you.

The system also allows you to make a quick note on the people you talked
to for follow up and provides you with a full report of your calling sessions
so you know who you talked to, left a voicemail for, who wasn't interested,
who requested information, etc...

What use to take me 5 days, now takes me 1 hour to accomplish.

Are you still dialing your leads manually?
Take a look for yourself
If would like a Live demo let me know...

To your success,
Carmina

Enlighten, Empower, Enrich

Dealing with Objections

This past week, I listened to another excellent call from

www.MLMRadioShow.com

If you have trouble dealing with objections,
you must listen to the show recorded on March 5, 2008.

We are not trying to convince or trick someone into
joining our opportunity.
The goal is to give them enough information without confusing them.
A confused mind does nothing!

Here are a few key phrases to get you comfortable on the Phone.
It's better to be prepared.

After the potential candidate has reviewed your company's information,
or you've made your presentation,

you start the "closing" ( for lack of a better word) process as such:

You: "Mr. Prospect, What questions do you have for me before determining

whether or not this business is appropriate for you?"

If they do have a question, you give them a brief answer then ask,

"Did that answer your question?"

If they say "No", you say;
"It sounds to me that you want the more in depth version.

Let me send you a (link, pdf, website ) that explains (whatever their question was)

and you can go over it in detail."

"What’s your next question?"

If they don't have any other question you say:

"Great! Let’s Get You Started!"

Here are a few common questions that the prospect may ask you.

Mr Prospect: How do I make money? How do I get paid?
You: It’s very easy. We get paid (weekly,monthly.. depending on your company).

And it’s based on the volume that’s generated in your business. And it’s not only the volume that you generate but also the volume of the people in your team.

Mr Prospect: What will I be doing?

You: Let me ask you. How did you find me?( if you're buying leads they requested

the info online for the most part) Ok Can you imagine if you had a system like mine?

And people came through your website and said I’m looking to make money from

home or if they come to your product website and said hey I want to buy such and

such? You’re going to contact that person just like we contacted you right? Get them

to look at the information that you looked at. And then after you’ve answered their

questions, with our help at first then they’re going to decide whether they want to

join your team or not. And anyone that joins your team you’re going to make 5-20% ( look at your comp plan) of their monthly volume. So you’re building a team and

moving volume of products either through people that join your team or customers.

Does that sound like something you’d be comfortable doing?

If they are still unclear direct them to something like Brilliant Compensation

by Tim Sales or the Perfect Business by Robert Kiyosaki

that explains the principles of Net-work Mark-eting

Mr Prospect:How much does it cost?

You: That’s the best part! There are 2 packages that make sense (Even if you have 5 packages just select 2, a high end and a low end, remember a confused mind does nothing). An ($ highest) package which gives you access to (whatever is part of that package) and an ($ lowest) package which gives you pretty much the same except (whatever they won't be getting). Which one makes the most sense for you?

Mr Prospect:I have to talk to my spouse, my teacher, my long lost cousin…
You: Ok. That's not a problem. When would be a good time for us to get back together with (your spouse, your teacher, your long lost cousin) on the phone?

Mr Prospect:No I want to do this by myself.
You: Ok No problem. Just do me a favor, make sure you take them through the exact process I took you through, otherwise you’re going to find yourself at a loss trying to explain the business to them and they will not see it the way you do.

Has that ever happened to you before?
(Plan for follow up)
when is it going to be a good time for us to get back together?

Mr Prospect: I need to think about it
You:Would (2 weeks, 1 month, 1year,...depends on the guarantee offered by your company) be enough time?

Mr Prospect: Yes
You:Great! because our company has a (2 weeks, 1 month, 1year) money back guarantee. So let’s get you started so you can try the business, get to experience the company, the product the training and everything for (period of guarantee).

And if you’re not satisfied you’ll get (90%,...100% depending on company policies)

of your money back!

Mr Prospect: I really don’t have the money
You: I can appreciate that you don’t have (whatever it costs to get started in your company) sitting on your night stand, so How long is it going to take you to get

that money together?
Plan to follow up with them at the time they specified

You always follow your answers with the following routine:

"Did that answer your question?"

Yes (if 'No' see above)

"What’s your next question?"

No more questions

"Great! Let’s Get You Started!"

That's what I got from that call, but it was a hour long call.
I left a lot out amd the written word doesn't really convey how
you handle the questions, it only gives you the words.

Numbers don't lie

One thing I learned early on in this business is the necessity of tracking my efforts.

What will it take based on track record to sponsor 20 people in 12 weeks?

The first thing that hit me when I looked at my numbers is that it's going to take a LOT of work. The second thing that hit me: I have NOT being working my business!

Sure, I've been busy: in the past month, I developed 2 new websites, set up a 90-day system for my team, wrote 2 auto-responders for follow up, etc.... But none of these activities are growing my business.

The principal activity I rely on to grow my business is phone prospecting.

I purchase leads (contact information of people who are looking for a home business) from advertising agencies and call them with the information they requested.

When working leads, you must have the right expectations otherwise,

you'll give up before you get anywhere.

Keep in mind that just because, someone requested the information,

it doesn't mean they are ready to join your or any business for that matter.

It is truly a numbers' game.If you're only calling a handful, you might as well not call at all.


What should you track
Dial: when you get a voicemail or you talk to someone other than the one you wanted to reach (wrong numbers, busy signals don't count)

Completed Calls: when you've reached the intended party (regardless of the outcome)

Appointment: after talking to a prospect, they agree to meet with you for a follow up call at a specific date and time. (if it's not specific, it doesn't count as an appt., sometimes people ask you to call them back, or to send them more info, that does not constitute an appt.)

Consultation: they show up for the follow up call.

Sales : they join your team

For example in a given week, I made 45 dials, talked to 9 prospects, set up an appointment with 2 of them ( 7 of them were either not interested, asked me to call back or to send more info), 1 of the 2 showed up for the follow up call and didn't join.

Compiling the numbers over a few weeks will show that on average, I've called 31 people every week, talked to 8 and barely scheduled 1 appt per week.

One of two things need to happen:
1) Develop my prospecting skills
or
2) Contact more people.

Method #1 will have to come as a result of method #2.
But saying that I need to talk to more people doesn't help me much. Does it?
As Dani Johnson says, "nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific"


So what it will take for me to sponsor 20 people in 12 weeks?


In order to sponsor 20 people in 12 weeks, I would have to make 36 dials and/or talk to 10 people 5 days a week or make 180 dials and/or talk to 47 people every week.Those numbers should result in 5 appts every week which will give me a fair shot.
Ouch....

Reaching those numbers on a daily basis would require more time and a lot more leads than I can currently afford.

But numbers don't lie, they give me a true picture of the situation.
But now I know....

"Reach for the moon. Even if you fail you'll land among the stars"

Warmest Regards,
Carmina