About a mile away, a dollar bill is lying on a sidewalk.

Would you get in your car right now and go pick it up?

Probably not.  And yet, at the same time, there are thousands of people who will drive 5 miles out of their way to save $.05 per gallon on their next tank of gas.  Mathematically, there’s no difference.

This illustrates a very simple concept that — if you understand it — will save you HUGE amounts of time and money….and will allow you to earn a huge income in the process.

In fact, since we’re talking about money lying on sidewalks, let me give you another example, one that you probably have heard of.

Have you ever heard the old joke about how much money that Bill Gates makes?  Imagine Bill Gates were walking along the sidewalk and saw a $1,000 bill lying on the ground.  If he had to stop earning money long enough to bend over, pick up the bill, and put it in his pocket…..he’d be better off just leaving it lying there.

It’s basically just a fun way to point out that, at one point, Bill Gates’s net worth was actually worth more than $1,000 every few seconds.

Whether that particular claim is true or not, one thing IS true:  both of these examples illustrate a concept that most people have never heard of.  It’s called “opportunity cost”.

What is “opportunity cost”?  It’s the value of what you give up by not doing one thing in order to do something else.

I’ll give you an example that might assist you in understanding what I mean.

Years ago, I used to mow my own lawn.  Why?  Because that’s what I’d always done.  We had a lawn-mower and it seemed silly to pay someone to mow my lawn when I had a perfectly good lawnmower myself.  Besides….all my neighbors mowed their lawns on Saturday morning.  Everything in my environment pointed to the idea of me mowing my own lawn.

A little while after I got involved in the home business industry, I got a different perspective.  It went something like this:

1.  It takes me about 3 hours to mow my lawn, run the weed-eater and then cleaning up.
2.  It takes me about 3 hours to earn $1,000 in my home business.
3.  Hiring someone to mow my yard will cost me about $70.
4.  Doing it myself will save me $70….but it would COST me $1,000 in lost income.

Read that #4 again.  That’s what I mean by “opportunity cost”.  Sure, I can mow my own yard and save $70.  But what does it cost me to do that?  In my case, it costs me the ability to earn $1,000 or more in my business.

Opportunity cost is not something new.  It’s actually a common concept taught in any economics class.  But it’s not something that is taught in most American schools.  Nor do parents always pass it along to their kids.  But, if you understand this, you can absolutely get RICH.

Why?  Because getting ahead financially is all about engaging in high-value activities and delegating low-value activities.  If you can earn $1,000 for your family in just three hours…..why on earth would you spend those same 3 hours doing something that pays you far less?  The opportunity cost is much too high.

Here’s another example:  how much does your JOB cost you?

Most people — when they think about their job — they view it as a source of income.  But, what’s the opportunity cost of your job?  In other words, how much money do you LOSE every day by choosing to spend 8 hours working for someone else?

Moms are good at spotting this problem in their own lives.  A mom can often look at the income at her job AND the money she pays out for child-care and immediately thinks:

“Why on earth am I doing this?  If I do the math…..by the time I pay the daycare, the gas, the wear-and-tear on the car, the cup of coffee in the morning, grabbing a sandwich at lunch, the snack in the afternoon,….my dry-cleaning, etc………I’m only bringing home $20 per day in personal net income.  I could work from home AND be with my children all day and earn WAY more than $600 per month.

Read that again.  That’s someone who understands the concept of “opportunity cost”.

Here are some other examples for those of you who are already IN the home business industry.

• What is the opportunity cost involved when you choose to learn how to design your own webpages instead of spending that time putting prospects in front of your company’s presentation?  (Designing websites is not an income-producing activity; putting prospects in front of presentations IS.)
• What is the opportunity cost involved when you work in a company where you earn $20 commissions instead of spending that same time, energy, and effort in a business that pays you $1,000 commissions?
• What is the opportunity cost involved when you go to a 40-hour week job that pays you $4,000 per month…..when you could spend that same time earning more much more?

No one can answer these questions for you.  But, when I understood the concept of “opportunity cost”, I started making a LOT  more money.  I quit my job.  I stopped mowing my own lawn.  And I was able to earn a multiple six-figure income in less than 3 hours a day and spend the rest of my time living the lifestyle of my dreams.

So, the question is:  what low-value activities are you engaged in that you can delegate elsewhere?  What high-value activities can you start spending MORE time on?

If I can assist with these questions, feel free to post your questions or comments below!

Tony Rush
http://www.tonyrush.com

To set the table for this question, let me share with you some comments made on my Facebook wall earlier today:

since there’s a more than 95% FAILURE rate in this industry, I’d say that means that there’s something VERY wrong with it… companies are NOT set up properly, the role of a sponsor is VERY important to new and inexperienced people…

For far too many “sponsors”, their idea of “training” is to throw a bunch of worn out email and pdf’s at the new recruit and tell them to “get on the corporate rah rah” call… … which can be great… but are more like eating Chinese food… awesome while it lasts and, 20 minutes later, you can’t remember what you ate (heard) and you are hungry all over again.

Let me first say that I believe any sponsor worth his salt is going to provide training and support to his team. It’s not even a statement that needs to be made because….well, it should go without saying.

With that said, though…..how much support does a new distributor need? Obviously it’s a question that will have many answers depending on who you ask. But it makes me think about how things were when some of us joined the industry years ago.

When I got started in my first serious endeavor, I went home from the meeting with

– a company catalog
– an 8-page booklet packet of 8 1/2×11 sheets that looked like it was a 10th generation copy of how the pay plan worked
– the “pink copy” of my enrollment form
– a cassette tape about the company

That was it. And that was probably more than a lot of the old-timers got when they joined the industry 10 and 20 years ahead of me.

And yet, I made it work. I enrolled 6 people in my first month. Within 90 days I was earning enough to quit my job. If I needed something and didn’t have it, I either figured out how to do without it….or I create what I needed.

Back in the old “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie” days, thousands of people got started and received little more than I did. Maybe a few copies of the cassette tape to hold them over until their own order came in. A booklet that explained how the tape system worked. A price list for products. That was about it.

A friend of mine joined Excel telecom in the 90s. He got a few nicer materials than I did but it was still nothing to really write home about. Most of it was company “propaganda”….no real sales tools or instructions on how to start building a business.

Fast-forward almost 20 years. Even the most LAME network marketing company offers 10X the amount of support that I (and many of you) lacked when we got started. And, from what I see, it seems that most companies offer at least some or all of the following:

A full schedule of conference calls
Recorded calls
PDF files
Weekly webinars and “over-the-shoulder” video training
Replicated squeeze pages
Printed materials
Autoresponders
Company sponsored promotions
List-building tools
Social media tools

And I understand that some of the things that we offer are a bit more complicated than the old days of “make a list of people you know”.  But, at the same time, whenever I hear people who say they “couldn’t make money because they didn’t have any support”……

….I find myself thinking, “Really?  You honestly think you didn’t have any support?  You’ve got 100X the support that many of us had when we got started.  And yet we had more desire than excuses. ”

So it all begs the question:  are people in our industry REALLY lacking support?  Or are they lacking in self-reliance?

What do you think?

Have you ever wondered who was looking at the same website or online article as you?

What if you could instantly have a conversation with someone who’s on the same page as you?

What if you could see the moment that someone arrives at your Facebook Profile and send them a hello message?

Or, what if you could have a chat with anyone who visited your lead capture page, just to make a personal connection?

In other words, what if EVERY single website on the Internet allowed social interaction, even if the website wasn’t set up for it?

Well, it’s already available (in beta) and it’s free.  It’s a new browser plug-in lets you interact with any other users who are visiting the same web page as you.  The only catch is that you can only see people who have also installed the browser plugin.  So, it may take some time to reach a critical mass.

Still, passing the word to your own friends is a great way to start……and you’ll be interacting with people that you already know and like!

Get started at WhoIsLive.com

And use the Share buttons to pass this along to others!

I got another phone call today from a person who I’m lightly acquainted with. I believe he and I may have been in a company together at some time in my past but I’m not quite sure.

The phone call started the way many of them do:

THEM:  Hey, Tony, how are you?

ME: Good, doing good.  How can I help you?

THEM:  “Well, I’m actually calling because I was thinking about you today and I wanted to share something with you that I’m really excited about.  I know you’ve got your own business already but — someone like you could do this with one hand behind their back and make another six-figures a year without even trying.

Right.  Flattery aside, let’s be clear on this:  there’s no such thing as earning any significant money in network marketing without putting forth some effort.  I know this.  Every top-earner knows it.  The only people who don’t know it are the people who aren’t making money….and that’s WHY they’re not making money.

But the surest way to make me roll my eyes is to tell me that I can sign up in your business, twitch my little finger a couple of times a day, and I’m going to make an extra $200k per year.  Riiiiight.

He went on…

In fact, if you could get 10 people like yourself to close 3 sales a day, you’d be making $15,000 per day…..”

Without wanting to seem rude, I’m listening to this thinking:  “This guy has likely never made $15k in a YEAR in any home business but he’s telling me how to make $15k per DAY in his business??”   Then he goes on to start attacking my network marketing company by saying, “Your company hasn’t been around as long as mine.    So, what I’d like you to do is to go to this website and it’ll explain all about it.”

What!?

Call me up…insult my business (and my common sense)….and then assume I’m going to be interested?

Well, dear reader, I know this may come as a shock to you, but I did NOT quit my own business, whip out my credit card and run over to his website to sign up in his sparkly new deal.

Why?  Well, it’s the same reason I didn’t join the other 6 businesses I was pitched this week.  And, with no disrespect intended, it’s why I also won’t join yours.  And it’s the same reason that you’re not likely to enroll any top-earners who are actively building their business.

The reason?  Because we chose our company deliberately (not on a whim)….we chose it for a variety of reason (that are not easily swayed)….and we have an actual blueprint for reaching our goals (that we look at daily)…..and we’re actively making progress toward that goal (by consistently working the business every day and not getting sidetracked by the Shiny Object Syndrome.

Read that again.  Because it’ll save you some time when you think about pitching someone who’s actively and passionately building their business successfully.

Len Clements once wrote an article called “The Land of A Thousand Heavy Hitters” or something like that.  Maybe it was a million.  I can’t remember exactly.  The article was about Len’s experience of someone contacting him and asking how to get a list of “heavy hitters” that they could call to pitch on their business.

Len recommended a phone book.  His point was that Mark, Art, Mike, Gene, or John weren’t always “heavy hitters”.  They were once auto-mechanics and soccer players and waiters and ministers.  They became heavy hitters because someone ran an ad or told them about their business and they believed in themselves enough to sign up and make a go of it.

And one of the ingredients in their success recipe is that they didn’t get lured by the Shiny Object Syndrome….and the didn’t get distracted and jump from deal to deal just because someone called them up or emailed them with a pitch.

So, to the fellow who called me (or the lady who called me, and the four people who said they “just wanted to connect”)……don’t take it personally.  It wasn’t you or your business.  You were just aiming your pitch at the wrong person.  You should probably focus your attention on people who have actually ASKED you for information on your business.  You’ll find a much higher success rate.

By the way, just in case you think I’m being a little harsh, I’ve got NO problem with someone sending me an email saying,

“Hey, Tony.  I just wanted to let you know I’m in a new business and am really excited.  Here’s a link if you ever want to check it out; maybe you’ll see something you like and want to be a customer.  Either way, thanks for taking the time to read this.  I’m excited and just wanted to share it with you.”

See, that’s totally different.  That’s cool.  That’s classy.  But that’s not what most people are doing.

ONE LAST THOUGHT:

If you’re one of those people who are in a new deal every few weeks….stop it.  Just stop it.  You’re ruining your credibility.  It doesn’t take more than a few moves for people to start seeing you as someone who can’t stay focused doesn’t stay anywhere for long and never finishes what s/he starts.

So, please…for your own sake:  stop jumping around.  The corollary to that is that you should also stop trying to build 3-4 companies at once.  You look like you have no focus (because you don’t).  The term “adding another company to my portfolio” or “adding another company to my quiver” are terms you will never hear from a person who’s earning serious money in MLM.  Seriously:  I challenge you to go find someone who’s consistently making $50,000 per month in their network marketing business who’s also building 2-3 other deals simultaneously.  Take your time.  You’ll need it.

Plus, as Randy Gage has said, “Besides…if you’re not at the top of your company’s pay plan yet, why are you even LOOKING at another company??”  Well-said Randy.

Friend, you CAN be wildly successful in this industry.  But, it will come when you get focused on one opportunity, put your blinders on and go to work.  It’s the only thing that has ever created long-term, large results in this industry.

Share your thoughts below!

The opening line of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” is “It was the best of times and the worst of times….”

That’s how I feel about our economy right now.

On a conference call recently, I made the following comment:

“We make our own economy.  There’s just as much money out there as there ever has been.  Your life is a result of your mindset, actions and decisions.”

In another conversation about Mike Dillard’s new product, The Elevation Group, I’ve recommended that people wake up and realize a simple truth:

“What we’re going through right now is not just another recession.  This isn’t just a slump that we’re going to work out way out of.  The US dollar is in decline.  And it’s time for Americans to wake up and realize that hyperinflation in America is not only possible but it’s likely.”

If you look at those two statements, they might seem like a paradox.  In fact, a couple of people have heard me make both statements and they’ve asked me, “Tony, which is it?”  Because it sounds contradictory to them.

So, let me clarify what I mean and how that second statement doesn’t negate the first one.

I DO believe that our lives are the result of how we choose to think.  That the quality of our lives is a result of the quality of our thinking.  I believe that our thoughts, beliefs, expectations, decisions and actions are the “ingredients” that make up our lives.  And we create our lives every hour of every day by the decisions we make. Call it “law of attraction” if you want to.  Call it “law of the harvest”.  Call it whatever you want, but it’s a law of sorts.  We create our own lives.

At the same time — and this is what has confused some people — the fact remains that this “law” — whatever we want to call it — is not the only factor working in our lives. To use an extreme example, anyone who’s read “Man’s Search For Meaning” would agree that Victor Frankl did an amazing job of maintaining a positive mindset in the horrible circumstances of Nazi imprisonment.  But — and this is my point, so don’t miss it — he was still in a Nazi prison camp.

Now, I don’t mean that to say that Frankl’s attitude and mindset was unrelated to the fact that he survived the ordeal.  In fact, quite the opposite.  My point is that he didn’t stick his head in the sand and say, “I’m not in prison, I’m not in prison, I’m not in prison.”  He simply looked around and said, “This is the environment I’m in.  And I have a choice about how to deal with it.”

This is how I feel about our current economy.

Only a fool would say, “Our economy is the same as it’s always been.”  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that food prices have gone up dramatically….that the value of the US dollar is dropping like a rock…..and that the economy is steadily getting worse, not better.  It’s obvious for anyone who wants to observe it.

So, to borrow from Frankl’s experience, let’s call this economy our “prison camp”.

It is what it is.

The question is, within this framework what are you going to do about it?  THAT is the opportunity for us to choose our thinking, our decisions and our actions.  That’s what we have control over.

Some people prefer to say, “No, I don’t want to hear anything negative.  I don’t believe in negativity.  I just want to focus on the positive”.

Well, if someone is in the  group, here’s my message for them:  Grow up.  There are weeds growing in the garden.  It’s not enough to stand around and say, “There are no weeds, there are no weeds, there are no weeds.”  If you want to have a healthy garden, sooner or later you’re going to have to acknowledge that — YES — there are weeds in the garden.  And you’re going to have to figure out how to deal with them.

So, I don’t see a paradox.

YES, I believe that we have the ability to create our lives by our thoughts, decisions and actions.
And YES, I also believe that the economy is in a precarious position that will make the Great Depression look like child’s play.

And it’s IN this situation, that we have a great opportunity!  Sure, it’s frightening….but it’s also exciting.

Did you know that there were more millionaires created during The Great Depression than in the 20 years prior?

Did you know that the Empire State Building was built during the Great Depression?  And the Golden Gate Bridge?

I believe you and I are facing even GREAT opportunities right now.  And it will come from

1. Understanding that it’s still our thoughts, decisions and actions that create our opportunities
2. Being informed about what’s going on and not ignoring it or sticking our heads in the sand
3. Finding out what informed, wealthy people are doing in this economy so that you can model their behavior

I honestly believe that anyone who’s reading this blog has the opportunity to become VERY RICH in the next few years, even if you don’t have a lot of money right now.  Because it’s not about how much money you have….it’s about getting into position so that — when the s&$% hits the fan — you’re not caught with your pants down and wondering what to do.

Not you.

You’ve got a plan.
You read the books.
You got informed.
You made some preparations.
You weren’t lazy.
You didn’t stick your head in the sand and say, “This isn’t happening.  This isn’t happening”.

That’s what Jessica and I have been doing:  getting into position.  And even though we’re running late compared to a lot of people, I think we’re still ahead of 90% of the population.

I’ll close with this.  If you want some recommendations on what I think you can do right now to start getting into position, here’s my top three tips:

1. Get a membership in The Elevation Group. If you’ve been to the financial section of Barnes & Noble, you already know that the information there is either outdated or useless in this economy.  Some of the information is not just bad, it’s dangerous.  The Elevation Group is a resource website that Mike has put together so that the “average person” can find out what’s really happening in our economy, how to prepare for the possibilities, and how to make a ton of money in what we call “The Greatest Wealth Transfer In The History of the World”.
2. Start buying some silver. Physical silver.  Not silver stocks.  Actual silver coins.  American Silver Eagles are good.  So are Canadian Maples.  Buy bullion coins, not “collectibles”.  (Collectibles are great but, if you’re hedging against inflation or looking to protect your assets, bullion coins will let you buy more silver for your dollar.)At the time of this writing, silver is still only around $30 an ounce.  Anyone can afford to buy an ounce or two of silver every week.  You’ll be glad you did.  Silver is actually more rare than gold and — as the dollar continues to plummet — putting your money into silver is the best way to protect your assets and watch them grow.  (Note:  I’m not a financial counselor.  Due your own research.  I’m just telling you what I would do.)
3. Buy a book called “Emergency:  This Book Will Save Your Life” by Neil Strauss. The reason this book was helpful to me was NOT because it was written by a guy who knows all about a possible economic crash.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  When he started writing this book, he knew NOTHING.  So, this book is an opportunity to “look-over-his-shoulder” as Neil goes through the whole process himself, learning about the economy, learning what possibilities could occur in a economic crisis, etc.  This book also includes non-economic preparation.  Think about it:  if the dollar crashes, the banks are closed.  If the banks are closed, there will be a run on the grocery stores.  If there’s a run on the grocery stores, you’d better have a plan.  Emergency is very easy to read, even funny at times, but will leave you with a very clear perspective about your ability to not only survive but to prosper in times of crisis.

Bottom line:  there has never been a time when “self-reliance” is more important than it is right now.

We live in times of uncertainty.  So, it’s important that you understand how to control your thinking….don’t follow the knee-jerk reactions of the “herd”…..and start thinking for yourself.  If you do that and you get informed, you’re in the top 1% of people who can get very RICH in the next few years.

As always, please leave your comments or questions below.  Also, please use the link/buttons provide to share this with others!

I was hosting a presentation call last week — something I volunteer to do and enjoy doing — and someone asked me, “What are my odds of succeeding in your company”?

I understood her question. Like a lot of people, she’d been indoctrinated with the idea that “95% of people who join MLM fail”.  Which isn’t true.  It’s never been true and it’s been bandied about and repeated so many times that no one even bothers to pretend they have data to support the claim.

But this lady was asking a valid question.  She was looking for a number that would tell her how many people “succeed” versus how many “fail”.

On the surface, the question sounds good. It looks good on paper. But the way most people ask this question indicates a HUGE lack of understanding about success. Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say a person wants to be a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. They want to know how many people take Tae Kwon Do classes and — of those — how many people achieve the black-belt level. Say that figure is 1% (I have no idea). In their minds, this represents a 1 out of 100 possibility for them. And so this person will assume that their personal “odds” are 1 out of 100.

And this is their mistake. The 1% figure doesn’t exist because 99% of people “fail”. It exists because most of the 99%ers are just taking up room.

Tae Kwon Do is one of those things that have an easy-entry. You can show up on a Tuesday night, pay some money for a uniform and technically be “in” Tae Kwon Do. But that doesn’t mean you’re committed.

On the other hand, if you’re someone who is seriously passionate about becoming a black belt and you’re willing to commit the time, effort and energy to do the work….then your “odds” of becoming a black belt are about 100%

Seriously:  a 100% success ratio. For every person who says “I’m going to be a black belt” and then actually does what is required to achieve it….about 100% succeed.

Same thing for buying a musical instrument. I’d guess that fewer than 10% of people who buy a guitar actually learn to play a song. Why? Because of the “easy entry”. On the other hand, nearly every person who makes the commitment to learn and practice actually DOES it.

Another 100% success rate.

And it’s the same thing in our business. I don’t regularly see people who who are doing exactly what we teach in our company who are not getting results. And when I occasionally run across someone who says, “Hey, why am I not getting results?”, I can usually ask them five questions and find that they are skipping one or more basic principles that we teach in our business.

And when they correct their activities and actually start doing what we teach….then the results show up.

So, success is not a matter of “odds”. It’s not a slot machine. It’s not a lottery. It’s a CHOICE. And since anyone can choose to actually do the things that create results…..then anyone can choose to be successful.

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

Quick video for you today:  “How To Get UNSTUCK In Your Business”.

If you have a broad and general complaint that you’re “not making money” or you’re “not enrolling enough people”, this simple diagram will demonstrate how to pinpoint EXACTLY what you need to do in order to get more enrollments.  Enjoy! — TR

NOTE:  the video is in HD so it won’t fit here.  Click here to watch it in all its HD glory.

“Lead generation is easy.”

How does that statement make you feel? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why or why not? Does it feel like it should be true but you just haven’t experienced it? Would you like to believe it but just can’t bring yourself to say it out loud?

Or are you nodding your head up and down right now and saying, “Absolutely, Tony! Lead generation is easy”?

If your answer is anything other than the last one, you’re probably making your task much harder than it has to be. Because the statement that “lead generation is easy” isn’t a matter of perspective….not a matter of expertise…not a matter of experience. It’s simply a matter of understanding what a lead IS and how simple and easy it is to get people to say “Yes” to getting more information about your business.

But, where did this idea come from that marketing was hard? Or that lead generation was hard?

The biggest culprit for spreading this message is very obvious:

A. 99% of the people who will lead you to believe that marketing and lead generation is difficult are people who are making their living by selling you a solution. Think about it. They can’t sell you a solution until they convince you there’s a problem. So all their ad copy and language is spent affirming how difficult it is to get leads

B. The second culprit are people who have experienced lead generation as hard themselves….so they need to be “right” about their experience. They’d like to solve the problem if they could….but not if it’s going to mean they have to give up their story…their struggle….and their “rightness” about how difficult the game is.

There you go. Those two categories take care of the vast majority of people who preach “lead generation is hard”.

But here’s the basic point:

People who tell you that something is hard are generally those people who have experienced it as hard. It’s best not to take those people as your advisors.

After all, if you wanted to learn how to sail a boat, and you have a choice of two successful sailors to learn from……do you really want to spend your time with the guy who constantly talks about how hard it is?

Give me the successful guy who says, “You’re not going to believe how easy this is. Check this out….”

I’ll work with him all day long and I’ll learn for myself how easy things can be when you decide for it to be that way.

Lead generation is easy. Don’t ever let anyone tell you any different.

Tony Rush

Hey guys.

If you’re marketing a product, service or opportunity online, you may have already heard some news about how the FTC is changing the rules. It’s true — they are. And it’s a good idea for you to be familiar with the changes.

(By the way, I am not a lawyer and this should not be considered legal advice. Be responsible for your own business, look at the data and know for yourself what you should do.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here’s the scoop:

In the past, it was completely permissible to show testimonials of your product, service or opportunity and share with the general public what kind of results someone got as a result of using the product or being involved with the opportunity, provided that you offered some sort of disclaimer that you weren’t “guaranteeing” that everyone would have the same result.

In other words, as long as you smacked a line at the bottom of the website saying something like “Results may vary from individual to individual”, you were in the clear.

That was yesterday. That’s history. Today, the rules are totally different.

Here’s what one FTC lawyer had to say:

“…The most significant change to the revised guides is the deletion of the “safe harbor” that has long allowed advertisers to use testimonials who reported specific successful experiences with an advertised product or service as long as the advertiser included a disclaimer such as “Results not typical.” Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect.”

Let’s put that into plain English.

Let’s say you’re in network marketing and you have someone new in your business. Let’s call her Fanny. Fanny starts following the system EXACTLY as it’s taught…works the business with integrity and consistency and — lo and behold! — she winds up creating a $20,000 per month income in her first 6 months.

Then let’s say that Fanny writes you a testimonial that says, “I got started in XYZ International six months ago and now I’m making $20,000 per month.” And she’s got the check stubs to prove it.

So far, so good, right?

Well, up until the FTC changed the rules, you could just put a disclaimer on that page that says something like “Results may vary and are based on the time, energy and commitment you invest in your business” type of disclaimer you’ve seen 100s of times.

But here’s the key phrase that the FTC has added to the mix: “required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect”.

What that means is that — if you’ve got someone in your company making $20k per month and you want to display that testimonial on your website, you would ALSO have to disclose the amount of money that the average person earns in your company.

Stop. Wait a second.

You and I both know what the “average” person earns in any business. Zero or close to it. Why? Because “average” people are never successful. That’s why they’re called “average”.

They don’t follow the system.
They don’t do the work.
They don’t attend the events.
They don’t go to the training calls.
And they quit before you can say the phrase “you’re responsible for your own results”.

What does the average person in YOUR company earn? $100 a year? More? Less? Whatever it is, you can be damn sure it’s nowhere close to Fanny’s results. Because Fanny is someone who’s choosing to be very UNaverage in her life.

Wait, there’s more.

The FTC lawyer went on to say:

“The FTC also said that it believes that it is “likely” that testimonials that present the specific experiences of a product user (e.g., the number of pounds or inches lost) will be viewed as claiming that those experiences are typical of what consumers will generally experience.”

Did you get that? Read it again: “testimonials…will be viewed as claiming that those experiences are typical…”

What that means is that — if you put a testimonial on your site of someone who makes $20k in a month….then the FTC says you’re claiming that the typical consumer should expect to earn $20k/month. Substitute any number in that sentence with any other number and it will also be true.

And this is true for non-financial testimonials, too.

Do you sell a weight loss product and say that someone lost 20 pounds? Then the FTC says that you’re claiming that everyone will lose 20 pounds.
Do you have a testimonial on your site from someone who used a miracle fruit juice and their cancer was cured? Then the FTC says that anyone with cancer should expect to be cured using your product. (The FDA will get involved in that one, too.)

In short, if you use testimonials with specific results AT ALL….then you’re affected by this change in the rules If you want to continue to use those types of testimonials, you can’t just say “individual results may vary”. You have to say “Individual results may vary. The average person experiences ______.”

It’s my understanding, though, that not all testimonials will be affected so seriously. If someone is just expressing how happy they are that they use a product…they like the way it tastes….they’ve joined a business they’re excited about…..they’re a satisfied customer, those are probably okay.

It’s only when you’re offering a testimonial where someone is talking about a specific result of some kind.

So, what should you do with all this?

You should COMPLY, by God!

Seriously…I’ve been tracking this conversation for a long time and it’s amazing how many people are investing their energy into trying to figure out how to “get around” the FTC…or how to outsmart the FTC….or how to shortcut the system so they can still offer wild testimonials and not be affected by the changes.

Let me give you a word of advice: your energy is far better invested into some other income-producing activity. The best thing you can do on this issue is to simply play by the rules. Because, if you ignore it and get a phone call or letter from the FTC…I promise you will comply or lose.

Here’s the good news…

I’ve not used testimonials in my marketing in YEARS. And it hasn’t kept me from making a ton of money in my business.

Why?

Because, while testimonials are a great form of “social proof”….testimonials are not the only thing that matters when someone is looking at an offer. In fact, it’s arguable that they’re not even in the top three reasons why people choose to raise their hand and ask for more information….or just outright buy right in the moment.

People are more attracted to your product, service or opportunity because of WHO YOU ARE BEING in your marketing than in how many testimonials you can pile up.

I know one thing for sure: the people who get started with me in my business don’t get started because I show them a bunch of people who are making multiple six-figure incomes in their first 6-12 months. They’re getting started with me because:

A. They want what I’m selling
B. They can see themselves easily duplicating what I do to earn a great income
C. They can clearly see a path from where they ARE to where they WANT TO BE.

It’s not rocket science. Testimonials are great. But they’re not the “be-all, end-all” of marketing.

So, my advice: don’t use testimonials with specific results. Feel free to use all the testimonials you want about how happy people are with the decisions they’ve made.

Tony Rush

P.S. One other thing: in times of change like these, plenty of people will not comply and will be out of the game. Another bunch of people will have talked themselves into the belief that “they can’t make money if they can’t use testimonials” and they’ll just quit altogether. Either way, there will be fewer people out there marketing or marketing correctly.

People who take the approach I’ve described in the latter part of this article will be in a GREAT position to rack up some serious cash in the coming months. Be one of them. There’s never been a better time to earn the kind of income you deserve!

“In times of change, the LEARNERS will inherit the earth….while the LEARNED will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” — Eric Hoffer