How I Earned $1k Per Day For A Week and Won Avant’s Contest
Jul 23rd
One of the things that great network marketing companies do is to offer incentives and contests for its distributors to participate in. The interesting thing about contests in Avant is that the pay plan is so lucrative that — to win a contest — you put so much money in your pocket that you could easily buy whatever the grand prize is!
But, in this case, the prize was even more interesting: rather than another big-screen TV, a trip to the Caribbean or an Apple iPad…….Avant decided to create a prize that actually touches people’s lives: an all-expense paid trip to New Orleans to join Avant founder, Brent Payne and the Avant leadership team for four days doing humanitarian work in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.
Did you know that there are still people in New Orleans who haven’t recovered from Hurricane Katrina? It’s true. And while some people have chosen to say things like, “Well, those people don’t want to help themselves” and do nothing…..Avant is choosing to be part of the solution by actually spending time with these people, teaching them some basic concepts about personal development, planting gardens, and stocking a community food pantry.
So, on July 22nd, I got a phone call from Brent Payne congratulating me for being the winner of the contest. During the last week of the contest, I was averaging nearly one new Elevate sale per week ($1k profit each).
Do you want to know the dirty little secret? It was the easiest stretch of business I’ve ever conducted. It was relaxing. It was simple. No rushing around. Just simple, relaxed movements. Here are some thoughts that come to mind for why I believe it was so simple for me to win:
#1 Begin With The End In Mind
When I heard that Avant was doing humanitarian work in New Orleans, I sent a note to Brent asking him about the dates so we could go ahead and start arranging for someone to keep our kids while Jessica and I went to New Orleans. That’s important. I’d already decided to be there. When I learned about the contest, I thought, “Even better. I’m still going but Brent’s going to pay for my airline flights.” And, here’s the thing: that isn’t intended to sound like bravado or to be arrogant; it was simply a stated intention: I’m going to New Orleans and I might as well be the one to get to go for free.
#2 Be Authentic
This isn’t a tip for winning contests; this is a tip for winning LIFE. I remember when I first got started in this industry, I was always worried about how I was coming across to my prospects. The phone would ring and I’d rush around closing the doors, worried that the dog was going to bark or that I wouldn’t appear professional.
Screw that. That’s for the birds. When I decided a few years ago to start just living my life and stop worrying about all that nonsense, here’s what I did: I started doing all my business from my cellphone. Even today, if you call me asking about Avant, you’re just as likely to catch me floating around my pool, driving in the car with the family or waiting for a table at our favorite restaurant. You might hear Easton in the background laughing like a maniac because he crashed into Mom while they were playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii. Or you might hear Will and Pate splashing in the pool. Or, if you’re like Leo (a fellow I spoke with earlier this week), you might hear me signing for packages from the UPS man and wondering who sent me a big box of Omaha Steaks!
My point is this: people are tired of marketers who try to be something they’re not. Be authentic. Whatever that means to you. For me, it means living my life in a way that I don’t have to change who I’m being just because the phone rings. And because there seems to be so few authentic people around, I promise your prospects will notice when they look at you and see you just being yourself.
#3 Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing
Let me give you a quick image: picture a construction site where a beautiful cathedral is being built. The scene has lots of construction workers but something strange is happening…
Most of the construction workers are sitting over to the side admiring their new hammer….or showing someone their new saw…..they’re filming videos of themselves trying to explain to other people how to drive a nail….and you’ve even got some of the workers saying, “I just don’t seem to be getting good results with this saw. Maybe I need to buy that new course for $3,000 on ‘How To Use A Saw Like A Pro’.
But as you continue looking around the construction site, you see something else: a much smaller group of people are — gasp! — actually working on the cathedral! They’re driving nails. They’re sawing wood. They’re laying bricks.
They are, by God, getting the job done. And they don’t waste their time sitting around worrying about whether or not they’re using a hammer that’s as fancy as someone else’s.
Heck, if you look closely, some of them may not even be holding the hammer right. Some of them might not even HAVE a hammer: they’re driving nails with the side of a pair of pliers! They’re so focused on actually doing the thing that they can’t be sidetracked to sit around and spend their talking about the work. They’re too busy actually DOING THE WORK.
The network marketing industry looks like that to me.
I see a lot of people who say they’re professional network marketers but they’re really just sitting around talking about the business. Or worrying about their business. Or spending time designing blogs, making friends on Facebook and making videos of themselves.
And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things…….unless the person is doing that stuff instead of making money and actually driving nails in their own business!
Don’t misunderstand me. I have a blog (obviously). I make videos. I use Facebook.
But ALL of those things are secondary to actually driving the nails every day. My primary focus is always, “Who are the 4-5 people that I’m introduce to AVANT today?” “Who did I talk to earlier who’s probably ready to get started on my team?”
THIS is the actual work of network marketing. Not all that other stuff.
It’s all about keeping the main thing the main thing.
Make sense? Great!
So, I’ve pulled my workboots out of the closet and we’re packing our bags to go to New Orleans next week to get our hands dirty. We’ll do a ton of masterminding while we’re there and it’s always good to hang out with Avant’s founder, Brent Payne. If you’re in the New Orleans area, call me on 334-655-8194 if you’d like to get together and talk about Avant, meet the founder and find out more about what we’re doing!
Lastly, do me a favor. If you like this post, comment on it below and retweet it or share it with others!
To your IMMEDIATE success!
Tony Rush
+1 334-655-8194 mobile
http://www.best7minutes.com
http://www.weareavant.com/main
The Rules Have Changed And Only A Few Are Paying Attention
Jun 28th
I hate to break it to you — no, that’s not true — I actually love being the one to break it to you.
The rules change and — as usual — most people aren’t paying attention. In fact, the rules changed quite a while back and most people still don’t know it. The ones who DO know it are not only having a BLAST in business but they’re making tons of money.
Here’s the skinny:
Your customer doesn’t care about all the features of your product.
The prospect doesn’t care that your MLM company is paying an extra 4% on the 3rd level.
If you’re talking to your prospect about the how many hotels will take your discount card, you’ve made a wrong turn and don’t even know it.
And, for those of you still in the stone ages, the prospect sure as hell doesn’t care about ORAC scores or how many mucopolysaccharides are in a serving of your miracle fruit juice.
People buy on emotion….and they justify their purchase on fact. Period. End of story.
In other words, WHILE the prospect is making a decision, they’re depending more on the emotional cues that they get from you, your company and your presentation….not just the data. Only AFTER they’ve made their decision will they quote some fact or other about why they made the decision they made.
That’s right: oftentimes the prospect herself doesn’t know why she made the decision she made. Only AFTER the decision is made will most people manufacture a list of reasons that would bear any resemblance to “critical thinking”.
Emotion is the ignitor. It’s the thing that sets our hearts turning. Why? Author Dan Pink knows why:
Good news and bad news: more people today, than ever before, demand EXCELLENCE. Not just excellence for the sake of it, but a committed, driven company looking to improve on what they can and get rid of what they do not.
And there are companies like that out there. And there are other companies out there who serve more as a warning to us all.
The Biggest JOKE In Network Marketing
Jun 25th
It’s not even a joke, really. But if it weren’t so sad, it’d be funny.
I was talking to a friend of mine recently. He and I got started in network marketing
at about the same time and we’ve both done well for ourselves.
So, when he called the other day, I asked him how business was going.
He laughed and said, “Dude, there is no business anymore! Didn’t you know
that? All the prospects are gone….everyone is a &$*#Y GURU nowadays!”
I nearly shot iced tea out of my nose.
(Remind me not to drink anything when I talk to Jeff on the phone.)
What’s his point? It’s simply this:
Due to a handful of very effective communicators in our industry who
are really good at getting people to adopt new ideas….
….there’s a mass movement in network marketing where everyone tries
to pretend they’re a guru, a leader, an expert, a trainer or a coach.
They’re all into “branding themselves as a “name”….but they seem to
be missing an important factor that no one told them about: RESULTS.
Many of these people have NO results. No track record. Their MLM income is
something that many steadily-employed teenagers would not aspire to!
But they’re out there telling everyone that they’re an expert.
Some of you MLM veterans will know what I mean when I say that it’s the
modern-day version of “fake it ’til you make it”.
If it were the 1980s, these are the same clowns who would park their
beat-up Datsun around the corner from the hotel and walk into the
meeting with a fake Rolex watch and a suit that they’re still paying
for from when they bought it on a MasterCharge months earlier. (snicker)
Again, if it weren’t so sad, it’s be funny. And it’s not only sad, it’s
harmful.
Because these are a very LOUD bunch of people. They spend all their time
writing articles about their expertise….and making videos….and posting
their “expertness” online every day.
Of course, the reason they have time to do all that is because….that’s
ALL they do. They’re not actually building a business.
See, once upon a time, the “leaders”, the “coaches”, the “trainers” and
the “gurus” in our industry were people who had actually MADE A TON OF
MONEY in network marketing….and were showing others how to do it.
Many of today’s “self-proclaimed experts” are just people who decided to skip the
whole part about actually having successful experience….and they’ve
decided to go ahead and be experts without it.
So, how can you tell when you’re talking to a SUCCESSFUL person who can
assist you…..and someone who’s just a wannabe, self-proclaimed guru?
My friend Jay suggests these signs; I’ll paraphrase:
1. You find them engaged in personal branding…but it’s nearly impossible
to find out what company they’re with.
2. They only promote affiliate programs. They really spend more
of their time and energy selling “how to do MLM” materials than anything
else.
3. Ask them about their network marketing business and they start to
dodge questions. They’d rather tell you about their coaching and
“expertise”. After all, if they actually start talking about their
MLM company, you might discover that they’ve never actually had any
significant success or earned any significant income in that business.
4. Ask them specifically, “I’m not asking about your affiliate programs
and coaching deals….but, I’d like to know more about your network marketing
business. How many people you’re enrolling weekly…what kind of income
you’re earning”, etc. This makes them very uncomfortable. They’d rather
tell you how many Twitter followers they have…or name-drop a few people
that they met at the last Guru Seminar.
I can go on and on but you get the point: these are people who want to
become successful by pretending to be an expert on something they’ve
never done themselves.
I’m not suggesting that you deliberately antagonize these people. But,
it’s worth noting these things because it might be helpful when you
encounter someone and want to know if they’re really a leader…or someone
who’s just posing as a leader.
And don’t get me wrong: there ARE some real leaders in this industry.
I can think of quite a few of them off the top of my head.
Art Jonak
Randy Gage
Tom Schreiter
Robert Butwin
Kim Klaver
Jackie Ulmer
Jan Ruhe
Don Failla
Doug Firebaugh
Mark Yarnell
But one thing that sets THESE people apart from the current crop of posers is
that these people ACTUALLY HAVE RESULTS TO back up their teachings.
They’re not just regurgitating what they read or heard in the latest, greatest
“how to do MLM” home-study course or coaching program.
Lastly, if YOU are one of these people who fell for the whole idea of
“present yourself as an expert” or “attraction marketing is about presenting
yourself as a guru”…..then do yourself and the rest of the industry a favor:
…go work your business.
Really. Just go work your business….make a ton of money and learn
all you can while you do it.
THEN — and only then — will you really be someone who’s got an opinion
that’s based on experience and results….and you’ll have the success
in your bank account to prove it.
Tony Rush
I’ll bet you’ve never seen one of these before!
May 21st
If you like this post and appreciate its message, please use the links below to re-tweet it! Thanks! — Tony
I’m hopping mad. Seriously. Here’s why.
May 12th
My GOD this burns me up. Seriously.
It’s one of my biggest frustrations about network marketing today. Here, this video will explain it. And if you watch it and actually DO what I tell you in this video, your income WILL go up. I guarantee it. — TR