Design Your Own Income . . . Practice the Art of Making Big Money

Dr. Eileen Silva © 2006
email: ensilva@aol.com
web: http://www.easilymakingmoney.com/

All of my networking career I have heard these stories and more. I know you’ve heard them too:

“Earn $10,000 your first month!”
“Earn a six figure income!”
“Earn a full time income working part time.”

For years, I agonized when people asked me how fast they could hit $10,000 a month. I usually answered that question with a series of questions:

“Have you ever done any networking before?”
“How large an organization have you built?”
“How much time do you have to invest?”
“What’s your budget for advertising, promotions, etc.?”
“How coachable are you?”
“Are you willing to enroll in and follow through with our mentoring program?”
“And what kind of success story do you personally have with our product?”

Then, like an IBM computer, I mentally entered this data into my evaluative processes and came up with a qualified answer. The qualified answer was usually something like, “Well, we certainly CAN get you up to $10,000 or above, but there is no actual way to predict how fast, because a lot depends on . . .”

Then I’d go into an ‘evasive’ qualified answer that didn’t really offer any assurances. A couple of years ago, I had a really hot prospect with a fabulous MLM track record on the line, and she said, “If you can guarantee me that I can make up to $10,000 a month by my third month, I’ll join your company and really build this.”

At that time, I had no predictable way to utter such a promise and be sure I could deliver on it, so I passed, but it continued to haunt me that I could not accurately design an income for someone that talented. After all, we can design our bodies, houses, careers, etc. --- we ought to be able to design an income in MLM, just as we do in traditional business! If you went to work for J. C. Penney’s, you’d get a tangible dollar income and have a certain number of hours that you’d be working, and you’d pretty much be able to calculate your earnings.

Since that time, I have become an income specialist. I can now tell you, with my company’s compensation plan, exactly what you need to do to produce $10,000 a month. The key is . . . for your company to have the kind of pay plan(s) that includes some pay spots that are easily figured and have some sort of front-end money. It’s really helpful, too, if your pay plan has a weekly payout so that your recruit can easily keep up with production levels.

I arbitrarily picked “$10,000” a month for my income “lesson plan,” so that I could give you the formula in less than 30 seconds, and you’d actually wind up making $12,060 with it in your first month, but I’ll bet you wouldn’t complain even if you mess up a little and didn’t quite make it.

We have an obligation in network marketing to help people “bring home the bacon.” To do that, it’s critical that we help our people realize their income dreams fast enough to prevent attrition from canceling out new recruiting (a definite sign that new people aren’t making enough). We need to focus more in coaching the new distributors effectively in how to be successful in measurable terms. Here are some guidelines for you in working with your new recruits:

1) Let them set income goals and then design a work plan that will produce in 12
months or less (preferably 90 days or less for initial goal);
2) Define the game plan for your recruits’ new recruits;
3) Mentor with all necessary skill sets included in your coaching plan;
4) Plug your people into all support system trainings and tools that will assist them further;
5) Always remember that “signing them up” is just the beginning and carries a great deal of responsibility with it. Be ready to be a leader and do what is necessary, or don’t personally sponsor them;
6) Be sure to have an evaluation process in place for you and your distributors to be able to analyze regularly how things are going and to make on course corrections where they are needed.

Being a networking leader is quite a bit like being a parent! You make an emotional commitment to provide guidance and mentoring no matter how long it takes, and for as long as the company and both parties are still alive, we are in relationship, whether we like it or not.

I don’t know about you, but I feel a tremendous sense of personal connection to those who choose me as their sponsor. I’m going to assume that you do, too. So let’s all “raise the bar” in our industry and become as genuinely interested in our new recruit’s income as we are in our own, because you know what they say:

“When you help others get what they want, you get what you want.”

If Not Money, Then What?

Dr. Eileen Silva © 2006
email: ensilva@aol.com
web: http://www.easilymakingmoney.com/

I’m going to subtitle this blog: “The Rest of the Story,” because as I sit here I realize that I really love many of the non-check benefits of MLM. These benefits sometimes cost money --- lots of money --- but not for me.

You see, our company picks up the tab on two, all-expense-paid, incentive vacations a year. These are five star events that are truly trips that money couldn’t buy, because the president of our company previews the locations, the restaurants, and the excursions. Everyone loves them, and that is guaranteed!

I remember laboriously flying to Maui for my third all-expensive Maui experience. I had learned to book my massages, facials and body wraps before I went. I’d also learned that Hawaiian fabric starts out looking gaudy and atrocious, but you gradually become sort of anesthetized to it and begin to erroneously think you like it --- until you hit the mainland, where it continues --- year after year --- to look ridiculous. When you unpack your bags (or watch your maid unpack your bags), you continue wondering if maybe all that pineapple clouded your judgment.

Well, mementos and local clothing aside, the trips are fabulous. What’s not to love --- France, England, cruises, Monte Carlo, Ireland, and Maui? I would gladly put forth significant effort just to be on the trip, even if I never made a dime!

On some trips, we are presented incentive, spending-money bonuses too. There is something about having your company pay for your luxurious lifestyle that is intoxicating. But, trips are not all! We’ve earned not one, not two, but dozens of award trophies and prizes. We’ve won everything from Waterford crystal to televisions.

Another of my favorite non-money benefits is the opportunity to work with great people. Some of them have become friends that we talk with every day and look forward to seeing on the beaches of the world. These friends are scattered all over the world, but most particularly, all over the United States, so we are able to experience all of the cultural nuances of this great country with friends. When I go to Seattle, I have seafood. When I’m in Buffalo, I have “wings”. In Dallas, Mexican food is the thing, and on Maui, it’s a luau.

In addition to enjoying culinary treats, we also experience whatever special things each area has to offer, whether mountain lakes, antique malls, spa treatments, football games, or churches. Network marketing has given us a cultural appreciation and exposure that I never dreamed possible. Before I joined MLM, I had only flown a couple of times. Now I’ve logged well over a million miles in the air!

But, perhaps one of the greatest intangibles is the joy of seeing some spectacular magazine, television and newspaper coverage. Sometimes I really have to pinch myself because it is so exciting to be a part of this industry.

I remember the day that I flipped open a magazine that came in the mail, and THERE IT WAS --- a “life-size” picture of my grandson and me, side-barring an incredible interview that I had forgotten about doing. I knew I had lent the magazine a number of great pictures, but I was totally surprised to see what they had done with those pictures.

Another of those non-financial benefits is being able to have people who, not only know WHO we are, but also HOW we are doing and what program we are working. Once in awhile someone calls and says, “You don’t know who I am, but I know you, and I’d like to join your organization.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the benefit of the personal growth I’ve experienced. I’m happier than I have ever been, and I’m now living life on my terms. I hope this article has gotten you thinking. I realize as I write this, that some of my fondest memories in this business had nothing to do with money. They had to do with people, places, or experiences. Next time you are evaluating the success you’re having in your MLM, don’t forget the intangibles . . . for they might provide all the difference.