Low Lying Fruit Pickers

I had the opportunity yesterday to spend the day in Des Moines both training people on the "teamworkfirst" team and showing the opportunity to another friend....and guess what happened? I was cross recruited TWICE!!!!!! It's amazing what happens as you start working your business. The "cross marketers" come out of the wood work. These are people that try and pull you away from what you are doing and plug you into their business.

It really is amazing and I refer to these people as "lazy marketers". Instead of listening to what you are doing and saying..."that's fantastic" they try and get you to a meeting, get you to their website. (And I don't think there is ANY problem is swapping information as long as the other person is sincere in checking out YOUR information too). These lazy marketers want a free meal. They figure if you are already doing a business that you are the EXACT kind of person that they need...someone who wants to work a business....this is called "picking low lying fruit". Why wouldn't you listen, smile, and affirm them in what they are doing and move on. You can easily put that person on a drip list and get back to them at a later date. Check in quarterly with them and see how the business is doing. For the most part....a person is convicted in what they are doing.

If you are to be successful in anything you do, you need to stay focused. You need to stay in the game and give it 100% for at least 6 months to a year. Give it time to work. In fact, give YOURSELF time to work. Clear your mind of all the opportunities out there (and there are MANY) and stay focused on what you are doing.

Don't let 'low lying fruit pickers' pull you off the fast track to success. Simply ask them....how long have you been in the business? How many people have you sponsored in the last month? How much volume is moving in your organization? ...If they can't answer this directly without being wishy washy...its not worth your time.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not naive enough to think that what they have to offer isn't a good offer. All I am saying is that for YOU to be successful....you need to stick with it and give it 100%. If you keep bouncing around...you'll never reap the rewards you deserve. Trust me on this one....the more successful you become in network marketing OR ANY VENTURE, the more opportunity givers will appear. There is an opportunity around every corner...and guess what? You are IN ONE!!

The Attractor Factor

Stop for a minute and think about WHO or WHAT you are attracting into your life? It always amazes me how attracted bugs are to light. A light shines in the darkness and they all swarm to it like metal to a magnet.

The same is true in business. Its better to attract people to you, than go chasing people or selling people. How do you do that? By becoming stronger, educated, smarter, "fined tuned". We are in a perfect business to do those things. Don't go chasing people....rather attract them to you.

Jim Rohn says it best:

"To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract."

So the most important thing to the equation is working on "Thyself".

I can guarantee you success if you only improve upon one or two areas in your life....and you can attract success. You are in a business of attracting.....don't sell....go attract by "BEING". Don't wake up in the morning and say to yourself "Wow, I wish I could be like her". Go do it! Don't say to yourself, "I wish I could be rich". Go do it! Don't wish for success. Create it by attracting it in your life!

Lesson #1

According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, one of the most important lessons he learned from his Rich Dad was:

Lesson #1 Rich people don't work for money.

It never ceases to amaze me how the middle class view work and wages. If you work a job, you get an hourly wage. If you have "good" wages and work a standard 40 hour work week than you can make a decent income.

What about when the dollar doesn't keep up with inflation? Rising gas costs? Higher Mortgage payments? What about sudden changes in health? Is that dollar guaranteed or protected?


"Most people have a price. And they have a price because of human emotions named fear and greed. First, the fear of being without money motivates us to work hard, and then once we get that paycheck, greed or desire starts us thinking about all the wonderful things that money can buy. The pattern is then set."

"What pattern?"

"The pattern of get up, go to work, pay bills, get up, go to work, pay bills...Their lives are then run forever by two emotions, fear and greed. Offer them more money, and they continue the cycle by also increasing their spending. This is what I call the Rat Race."

-Rich Dad, Poor Dad

The whole thing is about getting stronger mentally and emotionally. Money doesn't feed the need. Educate yourself and sharpen the tools in your tool box, and get better at what you do. Knowledge is far better than money.....and only than will you truly leave the Rat Race! Quit letting money control you...and take control of your own life!

Live your dreams!!

Have you ever listened to someone talk about their dreams? Sometimes it absolutely amazes me. Try it some time. Take interest in others and sit down with them for thirty minutes to an hour and affirm them and ask honest questions.

"Wow! That's really neat Joe. How long have you been interested in starting and running a crab restaurant? Amazing! 13 years? How come you haven't begun the process of getting one going? I think it sounds like a cool idea! Who doesn't like crab? Plus, I think 'Joe's Crab Shack' sounds like a very catchy name! You should go for it! Do you have a business plan? Where would you get the working capital? I'm sure there are some open minded investors out there!"

A little bit of interest in others and affirmation and encouragement can go along way!

In the book, "The Dream Giver", it lays out the cycles we go through in developing and sharing our dreams. It would be a marvelous thing to think we would never encounter objections in our dream process. Unfortunately, we encounter the biggest objections from friends and family. Quite frankly, those objections hurt the most because it's from our friends and family that we seek the largest amount of support.

We live in a negative society. Let's face it! You can't even turn on the television or radio without being blasted with negative stories. Apparently, negativity sells? The next time you encounter someone that has a dream as big as yours....give em a little boost! Listen to them, ask questions, and affirm them. You never know....you might be talking with the next Sam Walton and hearing about a dream of Wal-Mart?

The essence of team work

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend and business partner today. He had brought up some highlights that were shared with a sales team from upper management. The general point of this manager was to convey to the team that "greed is good". He went on to share that to get anywhere in life you need to be greedy and aggressive.

I understood why my friend shared this story with me. Because he knows me very well, and he knows that the "greed" mentality goes against my own belief system. I just had to shake my head in dis-belief. Yet, it didn't totally surprise me either. Harvard Business Review states that 52% of all managers shouldn't be in management. That's right, over half of people who are in management roles, jobs, careers, or positions shouldn't even be managers. So, I shouldn't be baffled when I hear stupid remarks that managers make on a daily basis.

Zig Ziglar is quoted in saying, "You can have everything you want in life, if you help others get what they want in life"

Interesting isn't it? It's the giving mentality. The more you give, the more you receive, and this isn't some Dan Cline revelation. This philosophy is plastered all over the bible. To have the opposite thought process and notion that greed is good is to fully admit that you love one of the seven deadly sins.

Let me clear in what I am saying. Greed is not good. It doesn't help you get what you want in life. It might help you get somewhere over the short term, but over the long term it spells out death. It spells out complete failure and catastrophe in sales, business, school, relationships, and in life. You don't get what you want in life by having a "me first" mentality. You get somewhere in life because you fully understand the essence of team work.

I started the team "teamworkfirst" because I wanted to give the ever lasting impression that putting "others first" would not only reward you financially, but MOST importantly reward you in life. What a great feeling it is when you give back. My encouragement to anyone reading this is to GIVE, and GIVE HUGE!! It will change your life.

I love the game of football, and I will leave you this last point. In the game of football it represents what we go through in life. You have a common goal (to score a touch down) but you also have an opposing obstacle trying to prevent you from accomplishing that goal (life's set backs). You have two options in the game. You can trust your ability and talents and try to score that touchdown on your own, or you can trust and work together with your team's overall talents and gifts and work towards scoring the touchdown together (teamwork). It's not impossible for one person to out perform eleven people on the other side...but it is extremely difficult. It's nearly impossible to stop eleven people working together...and the odds improve nearly 100% that you'll score that touchdown! Get on a winning team and do your part! Give back and help others and good things will happen!

By the way.....up in the upper right corner of this post is the main core of my team!

Re-Thinking the word "Job"

It's easy to fall into the money trap. Times get tough, the economy buckles down, oil prices start soaring, inflation rates start sky rocketing, and words like "recession" start being batted around the financial media outlet like water in a desert.

It doesn't take too long for the "chicken little factor" to take effect, and before you know it every Tom, Dick, and Harry are all singing in unison, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling". The dooms day critics are quick to point to the sky as well. Why? Because it has been foretold in ancient literature that our days on earth our numbered. It's the beginning of the end or just simply put.....it's over. Finished. Done.

In times of financial stress the norm will proclaim the importance of "holding on to your job". The 'average Joe' will go running to work a 60 hour work week, facing traffic jams, constant mis-management, constant review and minimal vacation and for what? All for a small salary and benefits. The same benefits that ultimately stab you in the back when you try to use them. You know? The famous 80/20 health plan with a $2,000 deductible. The same plan that sucks $500-800 out of your pay check monthly. The same plan that covers you for your once a month $60 doctor visit. But it's all about playing it safe.

How safe is corporate downsizing? How safe is job lay-offs? How safe is your minimum wage job at the expense of lazy management? Playing it safe, quite frankly, is playing to lose. It's time to stop playing the victim in the game of "Chicken Little" and stand up for yourself and break free of the financial poverty that binds you! It's time to stand tall and stop making someone else rich and start making yourself rich! It's time to stop wasting your time and having a job rob you of your precious time and start taking back precious minutes for yourself and your family.

It's time to join the winning team, and the other 28 million home-based business owners who are taking advantage of financial freedom, time freedom, and tax advantages. Don't go work a "job"...your life is too valuable and short to be the peasant for the next guy. Time for you to think for yourself and reap the rewards that you so richly deserve!