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.

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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

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If you like this post and appreciate its message, please use the links below to re-tweet it! Thanks! — Tony

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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

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Imagine that you’re invited to Las Vegas to the MGM Grand Hotel where there are 5,000 guest rooms.

The owner says to you, “Under one of the beds in the hotel, there’s a suitcase full of $1 million dollars.  All you need to do is to go into each room, look under the bed and — when you find it — it’s yours.”

On the surface, most people would say “Woo hoo!  I’ll do it.  And I’ll be a millionaire!”

But that’s not actually what would happen.

- Because some people would search a few hundred rooms and quit.
- Some people would whine about how the little plastic keycard doesn’t always work and they have to go back down to the main desk to get another one.
- Some people would complain that their back hurts when they bend over to look under the bed
- Some people will begin to wonder if they were scammed
- Some people will not bother to look in the first place because they don’t want their friends to laugh at them or to think they’re having money problems
- Some people will show up every once in a while and go through the motions, but they don’t really believe they’ll find it
- Some people will stand around in the lobby and the hallways for the social aspect
- Some people will whine and complain that they haven’t been properly trained on how to open the door
- Some people will spend all their time asking the hotel manager for advice and then ignoring it

And…

-  The people who persist in their goal will eventually learn little things that will make the task easier….they’ll find out ways to get things done faster….and they will eventually find the suitcase.

And when they do, many of the others will assume the person was “special” in some way.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Some people will read this story and think it preaches “blind perseverance”.  I”m not recommending that.  Use your head.  Know when you’re in a situation that isn’t  working for you and adapt accordingly.  Never give up on your dreams but you MAY need to change plans or financial vehicles every once in awhile.

But, the main point of the story is that everyone had the same opportunity to find the suitcase.  Some people might have some natural gifts or talents that let them find it more easily than others…but the suitcase is available to everyone.

So, yes, lots of times the biggest difference between the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS is that the ‘haves’ stuck around longer.

There’s more to this story…stick around for Part Two in which we’ll cover the difference between “persistence” and “too stupid to quit”…

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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.

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Ryan Deiss is a weasel.

Not really.  But he’s giving away a delicious little marketing technique that I’ve used for about two years and never taught.  Not because I wanted to keep it to myself….but because I intended to actually release a product of my own explaining how it works.

Because while everyone else was whining about Google slap and complaining about the cost of PPC marketing……I was using this little-known method to drive high-quality traffic to my site for pennies.

Even better, it’s almost like mind-reading.  It lets you ONLY run your ads to people who are actually THINKING about wanting what you’re offering.  It’s ingenious. You’re basically targeting your ads on the Google Content network to only show up for Gmail users.

As you know, Gmail users are served ads on the side of the screen based on keywords in their email.  When Google announced this back during the official launch of Gmail, some people were upset.  They said that it was “invasion of privacy”.  I guess they felt that Google had people actually reading their email and serving ads accordingly.  People on the other side of the argument said, “It’s no different than showing dog-training ads on a website where Google’s search engine spots the keyword “dog training”.

What do you think?  Is advertising on Gmail an invasion of privacy?  Or is it just smart marketing?

Comment below!

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This may not affect many of you who are network marketers but if you’re also selling any of your own products (ebooks, etc.) then you will want to be aware of it.

Some of you may have heard that the BBB, the FTC and VISA have started targeting businesses that use free trial offers that turn into paid subscriptions at the end of the trial period.

Let’s be clear about this.  There is nothing wrong with giving someone a free trial.  And there’s nothing wrong with telling someone that they have to cancel a service within X time period if they don’t want
to be billed.

The FTC agrees:  “Free trial marketing can be convenient for consumers — if the terms are spelled out beforehand,” said David Vladeck.  He’s the FTC’s Director of Consumer Protection.

The key point is in the latter half of his statement:  “if the terms are spelled out beforehand.”  As expected, it’s not the honest and ethical marketer who needs to be worried; it’s the shady marketer who’s got so little confidence in his/her own product that they feel like they need to “pull one over” on the customer.

Simply put, this FTC/BBB/VISA campaign is against companies who try to hide the terms.

For instance, in November, the FTC reached a settlement with a company called Commerce Planet.

What were they doing?  They offered a “free auction kit” that would teach them how to make money on sites like Ebay.  Commerce Planet was charged with accusations of “unclear information regarding the trial”.  By signing up for the “free online kit”, consumers were not clearly made aware that they were also signing up for a monthly fee of $59.95 for an “online supplier” program if they didn’t cancel within a few days of the order.

Bottom line:  these people SHOULD be getting some attention from the FTC.  Because there’s no excuse for not being completely up-front with your customer.

So, the bottom line is this:  if you’re selling a product, service or subscriptions, there’s nothing wrong with offering a free trial that turns into a paid subscription.  There’s also nothing wrong with opting someone into a paid subscription as part of a one-time purchase as long as they understand it.

But that’s the key, make sure they understand it!  Use video.  Use audio.  Make it clear to the consumer what the terms of the transaction are and you won’t have to worry about the FTC accusing you of trying to pull a fast one.

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Quick question: Are you building a list?

Some networkers look at me when I ask that question and say, “A list? A list of what?”

A list of people who want to be in communication with you. A mailing list. A prospect list.

Most aren’t.

See, most networkers do this:

1. They market the business or opportunity
2. They get a prospect
3. They determine if the prospect is interested in their MLM
4. If they are, great. If not, they move on

And it works. That is, it produces a result.

Someone might say, “What’s wrong with that?” There’s nothing “wrong” with it. We’re not talking about “right” and “wrong”. We’re talking about short-views and long-views. And, each one is important at different times of your network marketing career.

See, the short view is about getting some cash flow. Getting some activity. Getting some movement. It’s what most people do when they’re brand new. And it’s good. It allows people to focus on short-range, income-producing activity.

The longer-view is more about establishing your own personal “brand”. It’s about building a list of people who are interested in WHO YOU ARE. Because, once you do this, then you are able to do things in business that most people can’t even think about: you can create “results on demand” just by reaching out to them.

For instance, you can send out an email that

• tells your prospects about a special “invitation only business presentation” and book dozens of prospects to a conference call
  without ever picking up the phone
• shows them how to take advantage of a special one-time offer
• recommends a product that you get paid a commission on (and create instant income at the touch of a button)

The possibilities are endless…IF you have a list. It’s a group of people who like you, are interested in you and who will respond to you if you cultivate the relationship in a way that gives them value.

If you haven’t started building your list yet, the good news is that it’s not difficult to do. In fact, you can start right now. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Start thinking about marketing YOURSELF instead of your business or opportunity. It’s called “branding”. Whenever you see a networker who’s lead capture page talks about what they can do for you…..and not necessarily what their MLM can do for you, you’re looking at someone who understands the concept of personal branding.
• Touch your list regularly. Point them to your blog. Send them a video you shot with your iPhone or digital camera. Send them photos of your last trip to an exotic location. Teach them something that you’ve learned about business that they might not know yet. Show them (through ACTION, not words) how cool it would be for them if they had the chance to work directly with someone as awesome as you!
• Buy your own name as a domain name. I own TonyRush.com and that’s been my primary website for years. Whatever I’m doing at any given time is there.
• You need a system to manage your list. The NorthStarConnect.com system is specifically designed for this task. Not only are there multiple lead capture pages available, but you can edit each of them to suit your needs OR build your own from scratch. Once that’s done, you can create your own lead categories, autoresponder letters, email broadcasts, etc.

By doing this, you’ll immediately set yourself apart from the masses of networkers who are all out there pitching the same company and opportunity. AND from the networkers who are just looking to burn through as many prospects in a day as they can.

Instead, you’ll be building your own personal “brand” and distinguishing yourself as “a person worth meeting who’s got an idea worth sharing”.

It’s easy, fun and profitable!

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Dear Friends,

What an exciting week. Is there anything more exciting than a new adventure?

To dispel any possible rumors: it IS true that, after 4 1/2 years with Polaris Media Group (formerly Liberty League International), I have resigned my distributorship. I’ve emcee’d and hosted 24 live events for the company all over the world in the last few years and also more than 600 conference calls. It’s been a wonderful career and I’m grateful for the experience and all the wonderful people I’ve met and interacted with. Truly, I’ve had the best seat in the house!

Some of the core principles that we’ve taught over the years is that you truly can create whatever life you want if you’re willing to:

a.) Know things for yourself (not follow a crowd blindly)
b.) Pursue your goals with tenacity
c.) Keep an abundant mindset toward your possibilities
d.) And do that which feeds you emotionally

And it occurred to me recently that I simply wasn’t having as much fun as I should. To “not have fun” for a few days is one matter; to “not have fun” for several weeks or months due to conditions you can’t impact….that’s another.

I have no plans to join another network marketing opportunity. Instead, I’ll actually be doing the things that I’ve always enjoyed doing: showing people how to create the life they want…how to get from where you are to where you want to be….and the practical, nuts-and-bolts activities that create success in a home business.

I’m also joined by three other 7-figure earners who are excited about the same mission: John Lavenia, Shannon Lavenia and Gene Braxton.  We’ve run a training/lead-management company called Unified Wealth Solutions for several years and are excited to offer generic network marketing and internet marketing training to the industry as a whole.

We’re currently hosting some FREE training calls each week at 5pm EST that are available for you to enjoy and learn from. If you’d like to attend these calls, feel free to email me at tony@tonyrush.com for the call details.

Finally, I have some VERY cool announcements coming soon including ONE particular item that is unlike anything I’ve done before.  If you’d like to find out more about what I’m announcing, visit http://www.tonyrush.com and I’ll be letting the “cat out of the bag” very soon. I’m super-jazzed about this!

So, I’m excited for the future and hope you’ll come along for the trip as well!  It’s going to be a party and I’m looking forward to laughing more, helping you achieve what you want and having a blast in the process!

To your IMMEDIATE success!

Tony

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