Rich Vosler Sales Training

Network Marketing: Legitimate Business or "Pyramid Scheme"?

Rich Vosler — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:03:17 +0000

I was having coffee recently with a sharp twenty something educated college grad (ivy league no less) and we talked about something he'd been thinking about: starting his own business. As a coach, people like to bounce ideas off of me. I had met him on a flight recently and immediately struck up a conversation with him. We were having coffee in a quaint suburb of Philadelphia discussing his options about business ownership. I, naturally, talked to him about my network marketing business. I was a little disappointed when he said, "That's certainly not the direction I was thinking about going." When I asked him to be truthful as to why he wasn't interested he said, "Truthfully? It looks like a typical pyramid scheme where the guy at the top makes all the money."

Now you have to know me. After a decade of involvement in network and referral based marketing, I've heard that many, many times. That's why I should have politely educated him on what truthfully is and isn't a pyramid scheme. But you know what I did instead? I froze. Not because I didn't know what to say but because I was so shocked and disappointed that a guy this young and bright thinks like that. Is this where our Ivy League schools are taking our future leaders? I actually know what they're doing. They're conditioning and programming (there's that word again) them to get jobs. And that's very, very sad. Needless to say, he'll be a customer until he realizes the facts I've outlined below about our legitimate business vs. pyramid schemes. Here they are:

Every organization that has ever existed is a pyramid. Look at any org chart and you'll see one or two people at the top and everyone else under them. Your church is a pyramid. In fact, God chose this "Pyramid Scheme" to build his Son's church. Jesus sponsored 12 and they in turn went out and sponsored hundreds who went out and sponsored thousands who went out and sponsored millions. The apostle Paul spent his whole life building God's "pyramid". The product was God's message. If it's good enough for God shouldn't it be good enough for us?
The biggest pyramids of all are the corporations. There's one person or a few people (CEO, president, board of directors) at the top who make the most money. Where are most of us in that "scheme"? Somewhere at the bottom or in the middle with no chance of ever being at the top of the "chain", right? In our business of network marketing or referral marketing, not only can we build an organization to sit on top of, but the person who got us involved will help us! It puts money in their pockets when they help us! And, better yet, if we work harder than they do we can make more money than them! Everyone has an equal opportunity, unlike a traditional company or corporation. In my 20+ years in the business world I've never had a CEO or board member offer to help me make more money then them. It just doesn't happen. That's the biggest "scheme" out there. If you want to work 50-60 hours a week for 40+ years building someone else's "pyramid scheme" with little or no chance of making it to the top, go right ahead and have fun doing it.
Pyramid scheme's are usually illegal because there is no product flowing. There's only money changing hands and all the profit is made by bringing people into the company. This is also commonly known as a "Ponzi Scheme". Unfortunately, uninformed people confuse the old Ponzi Scheme with anything that resembles a similar structure. Remember: If there is product flowing, it's usually legitimate.
Major companies have chosen this "pyramid scheme" as a major distribution model to distribute their products. Companies like Coca Cola, AT&T, GE and Ford all sell there products through network marketing as do thousands of other well known companies. They understand, as did God, that "word-of-mouth advertising" is the most successful way of marketing. Why would they enroll in these distribution models if they weren't legitimate?
Do you remember back in the 90s the phone company MCI? They had a program that took them to the number one spot in phone service called "Friends and Family". Guess what? That was network marketing and you were probably involved in it and didn't even realize it! Do you realize that every time you recommend a TV show, movie, book, recipe or church, you're participating in a "pyramid scheme"? Think about it - you're promoting a product or service based on your experience with it. That's exactly what people in network marketing do. They advertise by word of mouth - by telling someone.
If the company you're looking at is a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA) you're probably in good hands. They scrutinize the companies they approve for a full 12 months to make sure that they meet their strict Code of Ethics. Out of the thousands of network marketing companies out there, only a little over 200 are members of the DSA. I wouldn't make that a requirement for the business you're looking at but it certainly is a good thing. You can check out their website at www.dsa.org.

Now, does this mean that all companies that participate in network marketing are legitimate? Unfortunately, no. There are some people out there who want to make a quick buck using this distribution model and they give the industry a bad name. But generally, a company that's been around 3-5 years or more has stood the test of time. The bad one's usually don't last more than a year or two.

We've got to get our facts straight and we have to educate the consumer. Don't let someone tell you what your doing is bad. You don't have to get mad at them but you do have to educate them. Education is the only way to overcome this objection and put it to rest once and for all. I hope this helps and I hope you pass this on to anyone who gives you that objection.

I know you can do this and I definitely believe in you!

To learn more about living a successful life, click on the Sales Power DVD link on the right and purchase my program "Secrets of Sales Power."

Tips To Improve Your Wealth Attitude

Rich Vosler — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:01:10 +0000

One of my most favorite magazines of all time has been brought back to life! Success Magazine is back. I read it throughout the 90s but then it seemed to disappear. I was re-reading their premier issue, April/May 2008, and there's a great article on your wealth mindset. The article is titled, "What's in Your Head Determines What's in Your Wallet." If you've read any of my blogs before, you know that this article would really resonate with me. I do a lot of training and teaching on self talk and how that determines your direction in life. But more than that, I continue to be a student of it as well.

Here are a couple of quotes from the article:

"Your Net Worth Will Equal Your Self-worth" - If you're like me, this quote has ticked you off. After all I have a pretty good self image so how come I'm not wealthy? We'll explore that in another post.
"Worry is one of the most costly attitudes in pushing money away from you" - Now this one I can relate to. When things aren't going my way financially, I tend to worry about where the money's going to come from. What I'm learning is that that's the exact attitude which is keeping money from flowing to me. If I constantly say, "I can't afford it. I don't have the money. I'm not wasting money I don't have," I'm focusing on lack. And what I focus on is what I get. So when I focus on lack, I get lack. In trying to help by not spending money unnecessarily, I'm focusing on the very thing that's going to keep money out of my life. To get abundance, I have to focus on abundance.

Here are 5 Tips to Improve Your Wealth Attitude from the article:

Write down all that you are grateful for in your life right now - read it every day.
Make a decision that you will be wealthy. Affirm that decision every day by taking action in that direction.
Surround Yourself with the people who are where you want to be financially.
Read and listen (sound familiar?) to material that will support your new outlook and attitude about what's possible.
Teach others the attitudes of wealth. Once you teach it, you will learn it.

I believe in you and I know you can do it!

Dealing With Self Doubt (new link)

Rich Vosler — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:46:19 +0000

It's been a while since I've made a post. I've been travelling to Atlanta working with an awesome company called YTB Travel. I'm going to be doing some coaching for them and they really want me to build their business so I can see what they're doing. My first time there I saw their new training center which is awesome. They've got a huge center there where they train and bring new people into their business. It's been quite a few years since I've been involved in network marketing myself and it's great to be back. What's funny though is that I've been experiencing the same feelings I had when I was involved back in the 90s. All the self doubt comes crawling back.

I've been working on my personal development now for 16 years: Reading good, positive, inspirational books, listening to motivational speakers on tape and CD, going to personal development functions. Really immersing myself into a development system to change. Then, as I got started with YTB, all the self doubt came rushing back. It just goes to show that you can never stop developing yourself.

I've been keeping sort of an audio file of my feelings. It's been amazing. One morning after a particularly rough day I woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn't sleep. I had all these thoughts rushing through my mind of the possibilities of what these businesses could do. That's what's its like when you get your hands on a phenomenal opportunity. You get so excited you can't sleep. What makes this so great too is that now that we're in a recession, people are looking for more and better ways to make money. It makes these kinds of businesses much more attractive.

So how do you deal with the self doubt? First thing is to not succumb to it. Especially if you have some naysayers in your life. When you are doubting yourself and then you talk to someone about your business and they laugh at you what are you going to do? Are you going to wimp out and let them steal your dream? I certainly hope not. Another thing you can do is to make a list of the reasons you got into the business in the first place. Then make a list of why you got excited about it. Your list of possibilities so to speak. As you begin to see what excited you when you got in you'll start to feel the self doubt fading and the possibilities coming back. It's a great feeling. It truly is.

It's a daily fight with your emotions. Some of the things I've been struggling with have been: Thinking about succeeding and how cool it will be. How I won't have to worry about money or college or weddings - I have 9 kids: 6 girls and 3 boys! But there is a big difference between thinking about the success and actually doing the work. You have to plan out the work and plan out what you're going to do to succeed. I spent 5 years in another network marketing opportunity thinking about what it would be like to be successful but never did anything to get there. That's deadly. Dreaming about the future helped me stay positive but it did nothing to get me towards my ultimate goal because I didn't ACT. After 5 years I thought it wasn't working so I quit. What I finally realized was that it was my own fault because I never did the work. When I felt down and out, thinking about being successful carried me to better mental places. But not doing anything was devastating. So you have to think about the work too.

We have to fight the doubt daily. We all think that God doesn't want us to be successful but in reality he has given us all the tools to be successful! It's the enemy who doesn't want us to succeed and his main weapon is self doubt. Trust me. I feel like I should be a master at dealing with it but the enemy is stronger than me. But, he's not stronger than me and God. Why would God NOT want us to succeed? That's ludicrous. Jesus came to "give us life and to give it more abundantly." If you're not Christian, you probably have a spiritual teacher who gave you a similar teaching. Don't let the enemy get you thinking that you can't do it or can't succeed. YOU CAN DO IT. You just have to learn how to fight it every minute of every day. Just this past week, I quit and joined again 6 or 7 times. And that was just one morning! I'm serious. Every day I want to quit but I know that my future and my kids future depends on me succeeding. And I'm not going to quit this time until I get it done. And I'm going to record it here, in this blog, so you all can figure out how to deal with it too. So let's start our journey together. If you're just starting, you're going to love this. If you've been in a business for a long time, re-commit and follow me. What I'm going to teach you will take you to the next level in your business. God Bless you on your journey. I know you can do this and I definitely believe in you!!

Dealing with Self Doubt

Rich Vosler — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 05:11:35 +0000

The Power of a Dream Board

Rich Vosler — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:31:52 +0000

One of the things I've been learning about is how to construct a dreamboard. I bought a cork board for my office wall and bought some magazines with pictures of things I like - planes, ocean front homes, boats, etc. I cut out the pictures and tacked them onto the board with some family pictures and powerful quotes. I hung it on my office wall above my desk where I look at it every day. It keeps me excited and focused on why I come to my office everyday and work hard. Every time I have trouble picking up the 100 pound chordless phone, I look at my dream board and I'm off and running! It's a very powerful tool that I recommend everyone use. It's also one of the 5 Secrets I share with you in my new Special Report that I offer on this site.

This past Sunday after church, I was making breakfast for my kids and my two sons ages 14 and 15 came in with their Bass Pro Shops catalogs. They were all excited to show me the things that they wanted to get. You could feel the excitement when they walked into the room. They were showing me all different boats - bass boats and party boats - as well as fishing gear and quads to take to remote fishing spots. When I saw the fire in their eyes I took the opportunity to explain to them the concept of a dream board. I told them about mine and took them up to my office and showed them.

Within an hour they had both constructed their own dream boards that are now hanging over their beds. Their boards are smaller than mine and maybe not quite as meaningful - yet. But the concept they've learned, to focus on their dreams, could quite possibly make the difference in where their life is headed.

Don't you think it's time to consruct you're own dreamboard? What have you got to lose? That's not really the right question. The right question is 'What could you possible gain?" Click on my special report and learn what this powerful tool can do for you - it could change the course of your life.

I know you can do it and I definitely believe in you!

Tips For Developing Leaders

Rich Vosler — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:38:49 +0000

So how do you begin to develop others? Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, it all starts with yourself. Once you get to the point where you are satisifying the questions I posted yesterday, you'll be well on your way.

Here is what has worked for me in developing successful leaders:

Believe in them - To help your leaders grow you have to believe in them. Once they sense that belief they'll begin to soar. Belief in them takes some effort on your part. You have to believe that they can do what you need them to do before you actually see them do it, so it takes some faith. You have to step out on a limb and take a risk on them. But if they are meant to be a leader, they'll know that this is their opportunity to shine. I recently took my 15 year old son to his first job at a local gun club. We left his name their last fall and the owner said he'd call in the Spring. Sure enough he called at 4 p.m. and wanted to see if my son could be there at 6. My son said yes. On the drive over I told him, "You should work your butt off tonight so the guy knows your serious. If he asks you to do something, run to do it. Really impress him." When I picked him up several hours later he told me it went really good and that they're going to be calling him back for more work. I asked if he took my suggestions and he said, "Yes. Everytime they needed someone to do something I jumped up and said I would do it." That's how your potential leaders should act when you give them an opportunity. If they don't, then you know whether or not they'll make a good leader.
Trust Them - Along with the belief piece is that you have to trust them. This is different in a sense because you have to trust them with important opportunities fullly knowing that they may screw it up. Furthermore, you have to trust that they'll learn their lesson and not make the same mistake twice. You almost have to expect that they're going to make a mistake and let them do it. Then you can help them discover the lesson later. This is why when you choose potential leaders you should have some small demonstration of leadership from them already. You don't want to give an important opportunity to someone who's not out really working their business. Don't let their first demonstration of commitment be in something important that you give them to do.
Be available for them - Part of developing leaders is your commitment to pour your life into others. When you make the commitment to start developing leaders you have to be there for them. You have to make sure that you set regular, consistent times to meet with them and discuss their progress. Nine times out of 10, if they are good potential leaders, they know what their strengths and challenges are. But you have to be willing to invest the time in helping them grow. To do that you need to be there for them.
Encourage them - The reason most people never move on to leadership positions is not because they don't want to. It's because they don't believe they can do it. They may get excited at a meeting or major function and have the belief, but lose it on the way home. That's where your encouragement comes from. If you see something in that person that says they would make a great leader, tell them! Give them examples why you think that. Tell them that you believe in them and that you trust them and that you know they can do it. One of my upline Diamonds built his massive network around four simple words: YOU CAN DO IT. That was his answer for every objection that someone gave him. I can't sponsor anyone. You can do it!. I can't sell any product. You can do it! I can't get to that next level. I believe in you! You can do it! My spouse and I haven't stopped fighting since we got into this thing. You can do it! And he didn't use it as an excuse not to help them so he didn't have to get involved with their problems. He did it because he believed in everyone, but waited for no one.
Love them - Finally, to develop leaders you have to love them. And the way you do that is to build a real relationship with them. Not the kind of relationship you build just because it will help you in your business, but the kind of relationship where you really get to know them because you care for them and you want to spend time with them for many, many years. Build a friendship with them and genuinely learn to care for them.

If you practice these 5 things, I can promise you that the leadership in your organization will not only grow but will shine. When you believe in them, trust them, are available for them, encourage them and love them, they will step up to the plate and help you grow your organization and take it to the level where you want it to go.

I know you can do this and I definitely believe in you!

Rich Vosler is a certified coach specializing in the Network Marketing Industry. He can be reached via his website or by phone at 609-268-0430. To access his Free Report "Why Most People Fail In Network Marketing and 5 Things You Can Do To Succeed" click here.

Developing Leaders Downline

Rich Vosler — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:38:57 +0000

One of the areas that's often neglected when you build your downline is that of developing leaders. But here's the problem with that: It starts with you! There are certain things that you have to do to become a leader yourself before you can teach and develop other leaders. Leadership is taught by example. You can't read out of a book on leadership and then expect to have leaders develop in your organization based on what you "read" them. But you can learn and PRACTICE the ideas in the book to become a leader. Then you can demonstrate that to your potential leaders.

You should begin learning about leadership from day one in the business. You can't expect to become a leader automatically just because you've reached a certain level in your business. There are still some things that you need to demonstrate. People will follow you based on your example and character. Here are some things you should look to develop in order to become a leader:

Do you have an extraordinary attitude?
Do you operate with high levels of integrity and honesty?
Do you have excellent listening skills?
Are you teachable?
Are you open minded?
Do you have Initiative?
Are you plugged in?
Are you engaged?
Do you engage others?
Are you visible?
Do you follow a personal development program?

These are also the same questions you should ask when seeking out potential leaders in your organization.

One of the easiest ways to develop leaders is to identify them using the questions above and then giving them small assignments. You can start with having them organize a phone session with people in your organization. Then move up to organizing open meetings/opportunity calls and then onto training sessions. If they can't get the phone session organized then you have your answer as to whether or not they'd make a good leader. Then as they complete them, they move on to the next one. The key is to give them assignments that are stair-stepped to bigger assignments. You may have someone who can do the first two assignments fine but fails at the third one. That's how you determine where they are in their leadership. Then you know where the opportunity for them to improve is and you can share that with them in your next counseling/coaching/leadership session.

Sometimes your best leader will be someone who you never thought would be a leader. But given the opportunity they shine and prove their leadership skills. That opportunity could very well be a personal tragedy that they've come through with outstanding leadership skills. It could also be a group promotion you run based on finding leaders.

The possibilities are endless in terms of how to develop leaders. For the next several blog posts I'm going to give you more information to help you with that process. But here's the bottom line: If you want your organization to grow you have to learn how to develop leaders. You can't do it all. Developing leaders will help you experience the freedom you signed up for when you got into your business.

I know you can do this and I definitely believe in you!