Blog Post #13 - My MLM Journey So Far

I figured I'd make today's post an update on my journey so far in mlm. If anyone else is considering embarking on a similar journey perhaps they will find this post helpful, or at the very least they'll find it entertaining. ;)

I've been a full time distributor now for just under 4 months. Every day I wake up with my kids, have breakfast with my family, and then go lock myself in my office  (AKA the guest bedroom in the basement that I have transformed into my office) for a few hours until lunch. Those first few hours of the day are spent making phone calls, sending social media messages, writing emails, and studying the industry. To be honest, I really enjoy doing this every morning. I feel that even though my business has not become this massive enterprise already, it is picking up speed every day and I have grown and learned A TON these first few months. Am I the most amazing network marketer of all time? Definitely not. As a matter of fact there are extremely frustrating days that make me want to wave my little white flag and give up - but I don't. I just keep learning and improving myself the best I can. As a result, I am becoming a little bit better every day at helping people see the potential of what this industry can do.

By the time lunch rolls around I am usually pretty antsy to get out of the house. Oftentimes I jump in my car and head to a restaurant or a Starbucks nearby where I can sit down and get some more work done. It's similar work to what I've done in the morning but for some reason getting out of the house gets my creative juices moving. I'll usually stay there for 3 or 4 hours and just crank out all kinds of work.  It's also usually during this time that I'll create a new blog post or try some other ways to market myself. I'm all about experimenting with different things to see what works.  Anyway, when I feel like I've fried my brain enough for the day I head home.

This is the rough outline of a typical day for me. I am spending more time working now then I ever did as a corporate employee. Is that a bad thing? Not if you consider why I'm doing it. It has been proven time and time again that people can earn financial freedom in the network marketing industry within 3-5 years if they really work hard for it. I figure it's worth it to bust my butt for a while so that I can provide for my family forever. In addition, even though I'm working more now, I'm doing it from home which still allows me to see my family more than when I was a corporate employee. Sure, I'm on my phone a lot engaged in social media, texting, webinars, phone calls, etc. but outside of my typical work hours I try and do these things once the kids are in bed and/or the wife is busy.  As a result my family is still getting more attention than ever before. Another thing to consider is that I no longer lose 2-3 hours a day driving to and from the office - and by driving I mean sitting in traffic for half that time.

Now, to sum it all up, let me share my honest opinion of being a network marketing distributor so far. I'll start with the negative: IT IS SO DAMN FRUSTRATING.

So many people shut you down before you can even tell them what you're offering. The second they figure out that you work for a network marketing company they turn off. This drives me crazy because although I am offering something from the familiar network marketing business model (which works by the way), I believe that what I'm offering is still completely unique. Yes, I think my company's products and compensation plan are the best (blah blah blah) but that's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to the way that me and my team are building a business. I believe that our approach, our methods, our system, etc. will allow more people to succeed than most other opportunities. Am I re-creating the wheel here? No way. Having worked as a corporate sales guy for 2 network marketing companies I have "stolen" the best of the best methods (from the best of the best leaders) and combined them to create a clear path to success. It's not complicated and it's very achievable - as long as people are willing to apply themselves and jump in with both feet. In other words, I believe 100% that people can achieve success on my team - but helping people see the vision of what they can achieve is difficult because most people aren't willing to look.

Now for the positive which far outweighs the negative: IT IS SO REWARDING. It's rewarding in countless ways but I'll just summarize with the biggest ones: I get to be my own boss, I earn what I want to earn without any financial ceiling, I get to help other people (which is even more rewarding than helping yourself), I get to see my family more often, I have more time freedom to do the things that I want, I can work from wherever I want (we've been all over the place this summer including Alaska, our family cabin in Brianhead, and we have a possible month-long trip to Hawaii on the horizon), and I have had the 

opportunity to develop both personally and professionally. Even though this business is not a walk in the park, it's definitely worth it.

In conclusion, I just have to say that I would absolutely recommend network marketing to anyone that has the desire to do MORE with their life. Whether it's earn a little extra money or have more time with your family, don't think, JUST DO IT! It's such a tiny financial investment that it's not going to hurt you but will benefit you a million different ways. The other important thing to remember is that network marketing offers something for everyone - you don't have to quit your job and spend 40 hours a week to be successful. You can still make drastic positive changes in your life by just spending a couple hours a week in this amazing industry. Stop dragging your feet and just jump. You won't regret it.

Comments on my blog are always welcome. However, if you'd like to reach out to me privately my email address is kalfreedomgroup@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Post #12 - Overcoming Objections (Part 4)

Because my blog posts don't follow any specific format and are basically about what I am feeling that particular day, I'd like to add another post about common objections I hear and how to overcome them.

Objection #5: I don't know very many people so I can't build a big team.

Like I've mentioned previously, network marketing is usually a misunderstood industry. Most people assume that in order to be successful you must have endless connections and a massive rolodex of people that you can convince to join your business. This is completely false! Success in network marketing has nothing to do with how may people you know. Does it help if you have eleventy billion friends that you are in constant contact with and are open to trying something you suggest? Of course! But the vast majority of people don't have that. Most people are leading average lives, working 9-5 jobs, and only have a small circle of friends and family that they have the time to keep contact with. So how in the world do so many people find success in network marketing with such a small pool of people to work with and talk to? Simple: they find a few ambitious people that are interested in what they're offering, they teach those people to also find a few ambitious people, and so on (see: duplication), and in doing so they LEVERAGE the efforts of their team members and don't have to build their businesses alone. Because everyone only has so many people in their circle of influence, it is important to leverage the efforts of other team members in order to always be tapping into new circles full of new people. In other words, if everyone just found a few ambitious people (ambitious = people that will also find a few ambitious people of their own) from their respective circles then the whole team would experience exponential growth and everyone would benefit. There would be a constant flow of new people joining the business!

I'll also say this: EVERYONE can find a few good people. EVERYONE. If they say they can't then they're just not interested in joining your team. Period. Anyway, let me share an example of how quickly a team would grow if someone were to sign up, enroll 2 people in their first 2 weeks in business, and then teach their team members to do the same...

Look at those numbers! By week 24 (less than 6 months in business) this person would have 8,090 people on their team and they personally only signed up 2 of them! Will this happen perfectly? Of course not. But even if 90% of people didn't get their 2 people you would still have over 800 people on your team (and growing) and you would most likely be making several thousand dollars a month. Again, network marketing success is not dependent on how many people you know. It is dependent on your ability to teach duplication and leverage the efforts of your team members.

Objection #6: I don't have time to build a network marketing business.

This will be short....

If someone says they don't have time to build a network marketing business then it's important to explain that anyone can build a network marketing business as fast or as slow as they want. If someone can only dedicate a few hours a week to building their business then that's fine! It may just take a little longer to build a big income. If someone still says they don't have time for it, even a few hours a week, then leave them alone! It's all about priorities and they don't want to make network marketing one of theirs. This person hasn't caught the vision and that's ok. Just move on and find people that do.

Comments on my blog are always welcome. However, if you'd like to reach out to me privately my email address is kalfreedomgroup@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Post #11 - ASEA

Normally I try and make my blog posts as general as possible so that anyone in network marketing - not just the people involved in my company - can benefit. However, today I would like to talk about ASEA specifically because I’ve had many people ask how I decided which company to join. Obviously I feel like ASEA is the best opportunity out there and I would like to share how I came to that conclusion.

When I first started considering leaving corporate America to build a network marketing business about 15 months ago I talked to a lot of friends and family to get their opinions. I assumed that most would think I was crazy for even considering leaving a great job to pursue an mlm business. However, the reaction I received from close friends and family was almost exactly the opposite. Most encouraged me to definitely consider the jump but to make sure that I was choosing the RIGHT mlm to join. They told me not to join ASEA only because I was familiar with it but to first make sure that I felt like I had the best chance of success there. They pushed me to do a lot of research on things like the many different products in the industry, the diverse compensation plans, the founders of the companies, etc. before I made a final decision. As a result, I spent the next long while researching the industry.

In a nutshell, here are the reasons I chose ASEA and why I feel that it is the most unique network marketing opportunity available. I believe that individually these reasons are unique but put together they make ASEA unlike any other company in the industry:

Reason #1: The Story

ASEA was founded by a brilliant businessman named Verdis Norton. Verdis is well respected in the traditional business world and has a long history with Kraft Foods. Most recently he was the Vice President of Strategy for Kraft Foods before retiring in the mid 2000s. After retiring, he was asked by a friend of a friend to sit on the Board of Directors for a Biotechnology company. This company was struggling and they hoped Verdis could give them some strategic advice as to how to turn their fortunes around. Verdis agreed and almost immediately discovered that this biotechnology company was in real financial trouble. He knew they were past the point of recovery and would soon start selling off some of their assets to stop some of the bleeding. Verdis saw huge potential for one of their biotechnologies and decided that he would put a team of investors together to purchase this technology. Once they purchased the technology they quickly put a team of scientists together and perfected it – eventually the technology began creating stabilized Redox Signaling Molecules. Once perfected, the original idea was to flip the investment and sell it off to the highest bidder. However, once Verdis saw how much the products were helping people around the world, he felt the need to protect the technology and make it available to anyone that needed it. As a result, he decided to make the technology and the products available to all via network marketing.

Why this is important:

Over the years I have looked at a lot of network marketing companies. What I discovered was that many of them were started by people that were either eccentric, egotistical, or greedy….or all of the above. This sounds harsh but it is the truth. This resulted in a lot of network marketing companies eventually going out of business, merging with other companies, or being hit with all kinds of lawsuits. It seems that a lot of network marketing companies weren’t and aren’t driven by honest, business-savvy individuals. Many get into the industry just to make a quick buck and have no regard for the independent distributors that give their heart to the company. ASEA is the opposite. ASEA was founded by a strategic, business-savvy, and honest individual who has a long history of success in the industry and decided his biggest goal was to help as many people as possible. He then surrounded himself with individuals who were also full of integrity to help him run the business and keep his ethics and values in place.

Reason #2: The Products

In order to understand the ASEA products, you must first understand the importance of cellular health. Every system in the body depends on our cells. Our cells are foundational to our overall health. In other words, when our cells are healthy, we are healthy. As mentioned previously, Verdis Norton purchased a unique biotechnology that creates stabilized Redox Signaling Molecules. Redox Signaling Molecules are known as cellular messengers. They help our cells communicate with each other which helps our cells detect problems, repair themselves, and replace themselves when needed. Currently, ASEA has a health supplement and a skincare line that is created using this unique biotechnology. Inside a bottle of ASEA are trillions of stabilized Redox Signaling Molecules and by drinking only 4 oz of ASEA a day you can supplement your body’s supply of these vital cellular messengers. This will allow the cells in your body to perform at their optimal levels which could result in more energy, better sleep, improved endurance, better recovery when exercising, etc etc etc. The skincare line contains these same molecules but instead of targeting the cells on the inside of your body, these products target the cells on the outside of your body – your skin cells. This results in fewer wrinkles, improved appearance of scars, tighter skin, improved appearance of cellulite, faster recovery from burns/cuts, etc etc etc. In other words, the ASEA products provide cellular health from the inside out (supplement) and from the outside in (skincare).

Why this is important:

No one else has this biotechnology! It’s patented, protected, and most importantly IT WORKS! When you start seeing other companies making “me too” products based on the success your products have had, it oftentimes becomes difficult to explain to people why they should use your products instead of someone else’s. There is no “someone else” when it comes to Redox Signaling Molecules. ASEA is in a class of its own and there is no competition.

Reason #3: The Financial Opportunity 

ASEA offers a binary compensation plan to their independent distributors. A binary compensation plan simply means that everyone that joins the company only has to build two “legs.” If you sign up in ASEA then everyone you ever sign up, and everyone they ever sign up, and so on, will be put in either your right leg or your left leg. Your financial success with ASEA depends on how well you are able to build out and balance both legs.

Why this is important:

Without getting too detailed and confusing, ASEA’s binary compensation plan makes it simple (not easy but simple) to build a lucrative business. The compensation plan offers residual income (you will earn commissions week after week, month after month) and leveraged income (you can leverage the efforts of your team members as well as your own to earn commissions). The compensation plan creates a more team-friendly environment where everyone works together and succeeds together.

There’s a lot more to it but sufficeth to say that the compensation plan at ASEA is the most lucrative and generous I’ve seen in the industry. ASEA goes the extra mile to pay their independent distributors for the work they put in. By teaching simple concepts like “everyone gets two people in their first two weeks, and then their people get two in their first two weeks, and so on”, the average Joe can make a lucrative living with the ASEA financial opportunity.

Let me just conclude by saying that I love the network marketing industry and I know there are a lot of good, honest network marketing companies out there. I also believe that many of them have terrific products and good compensation plans. The one thing I don't believe, however, is that there is a better opportunity than ASEA. 

Comments on my blog are always welcome. However, if you'd like to reach out to me privately my email address is kalfreedomgroup@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Post #10 - Dave

This post is less of an educational post but will instead be about a personal experience I had recently in my network marketing business. The reason I share this story with you is because there is oftentimes a negative connotation with regards to network marketing and that has bothered me since I began working as a corporate employee at a network marketing company 6 years ago. This industry changes lives in a number of ways and this experience was a nice reminder as to why I love the industry as much as I do.

I served an LDS mission from 2004 - 2006 in Concepcion, Chile. If you're not familiar with the LDS church that means that at the age of 19 I moved to and lived in Chile for 2 years with the sole purpose of sharing my religious beliefs with the people there.
I learned Spanish and had a ton of great experiences. Most importantly, I met a lot of wonderful people during those 2 years but since I have been home (over 10 years) it has been difficult to maintain contact with most of them. Recently I discovered that a Chilean missionary that had served alongside me in Chile had moved to Utah not long ago with his wife and 2 kids (let's call him Dave for privacy reasons). When I realized that they were living only 45 minutes from me I found Dave on Facebook and invited him to lunch. It was so great seeing my old friend! His English had gotten quite good and he seemed like he was in good spirits. I was eager to hear what his story was and what his plan was for the future. What he shared with me over lunch that day was a pretty powerful reminder that this life is freaking tough and I often forget how blessed we really are.

Dave shared with me that he had worked and lived in his home country of Chile since finishing the mission but always felt like he and his family would be better off if he could somehow bring them to the United States. Chile is actually more advanced than most people realize but it still has its fair share of problems. According to Dave the government there is a mess, jobs are scarce, and any other opportunities are limited. He explained to me that his biggest motivation for wanting to come to the United States was because he wanted better opportunities for his kids. Better schools, better programs, more possibilities. So, long story short, after he was let go from a job that he had held for 8 years, he looked at his wife and said that if they were ever going to take that leap of faith and come to the U.S. then there wouldn't be a better time. So they pooled their savings and the severance he received from his company and they moved to Utah. No family in Utah, no job lined up, nothing. Just him, his wife, and their 2 little boys ages 1 and 4. Sounds terrifying, right??

At this point they have been living in Utah for 6 months. Since arriving, he's struggled to find decent work due to the strict laws regarding Visas. He also grossly underestimated the amount of money it would take to get here and get settled. He worked for Carl's Jr for a while and now works 2 jobs where he cleans office buildings at night and does business to business sales for that same cleaning company during the day. He works his tail off and makes roughly $2,000 a month and works 65 hours a week. Surprisingly, he's not miserable - he's an optimist. He's certainly not ecstatic about the way things have shaped up so far but he figured going in to this that it would be tough for a while before he really gained some traction here. In his mind the sacrifice is worth it because it will provide a better life for his family in the long run. His wife on the other had is miserable. She is struggling to adapt because she doesn't speak any English (that makes it way harder), she's bored and can't work because daycare would cost more than what she could earn, they are struggling to make ends meet, and her husband is never home. She is already looking for a way to return to Chile and get back to their previous way of life. Like Dave she sees way more opportunity here but she's just too unhappy. Dave is hoping things start looking up soon so that she feels the desire to stay.

As I listened to Dave tell me this story my heart hurt! To make that sort of sacrifice with your family and then be faced with such a tough situation is my worst nightmare. But here's the happy part of my story: I have a solution. I shared with Dave that I work with a network marketing company that is completely unique and offers a terrific financial opportunity to anyone that's serious about extra income. I wasn't trying to "sell" him on anything, I was offering him a solution! As we spoke more about the company and the ways you can make money he became more and more interested and excited. He said that he needed two things for his wife to be happy here:
1. More money.
2. Something for her to do.
This network marketing thing fit the bill! He could partner with his wife to create more income and it would give her with something to work on during the day! I got him signed up on the spot and he left our lunch feeling rejuvenated.

To sum it all up, I have no idea if Dave will build a big network marketing business. That all depends on him. I will of course be here to help, he can plug into our awesome system, and he'll be given the tools to succeed, but it is still up to him to run with it. That said, his story is just the most recent that reminds me of why I love network marketing. This industry sometimes gets criticized yet I don't know many other industries that change lives the way network marketing does. I seriously can't think of a single one. Whether you just want to get healthier, look better, or make money, network marketing offers a solution. Instead of just settling for a crappy situation and assuming it was just the card you were dealt, do something about it. Network marketing exists for people like you! Only you can change your life for the better so give network marketing a FAIR look. You won't be disappointed.

Comments on my blog are always welcome. However, if you'd like to reach out to me privately my email address is kalfreedomgroup@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by!