MLM Leads Blog

I received an email from a guy I have a lot of respect for, Frank Kern. He has an incredible story. The best part of his story is he is a guy who has overcome, shaken off a series of bad choices earlier in life, and has made an incredible life for himself in the world of internet marketing. He is also a guy who is incredibly transparent and a straight shooter. I wanted to pass along his email to you as an encouragement.  Here it is:

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Messange sent one year ago:
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Let me tell you something about YOU.

YOU can do anything you want. YOU are in control.

YOU can achieve as much success as you want to.

YOU can and will pick yourself up when life knocks you down.

I BELIEVE IN YOU.

Thant’s all I wanted to say,

Frank

P.S. I’m sending you this because I just spent some time with my Grandfather today.  He will turn 89 in a few weeks and when I was younger, he would tell me what I just told you.

And let me tell you …I’ve been knocked on my ass more times than I can count. And it was those words that gave me the encouragement to get back up and keep trying. We all need someone in our corner. He was in  mine.

I’ll be in yours to the best of my ability.  We’re innundated with so much negative crap these days …we ALL need someone to encourage us.

Look …if you’re struggling, I’ve been there …and I can tell you first hand that it’ll get better if you keep on trying.

I believe in you. Go for it.

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BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY
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When I sent you that email, I was a mess.

I was unhappy with my business (even though it was maklng plenty of money).

I was miserable in my family life, and I was literally on the brink of dying young.

Seriously.

A few months after typing that very email, I went to the doctor for some random tests and so-forth. (I’d been feeling a bit run down for a long time.)

Anyway – after some testing, the doctor hit me with a dire warning:

KEEP IT UP AND YOU’RE A DEAD MAN.

Apparently, you can’t party like a rock star from age 15 until age 38 and get away with it.

And that’s exactly what I’d been doing.  You know how it’s supposedly OK to have 2.5 drinks a day or whatever?

Well, I thought that if you just “saved up” all week and had your entire week’s worth of drinks in one night, it would kind of be the same.

Make sense, right?

I mean 2.5 drinks a day is around 17 drinks a week.

So I’d be “drink free” every day except Saturday and then I’d have my whole “ration” in one day.

OK – now that I’m typing that out, I see how utterly moronic it sounds lol.

Anyway – that’s what I did for 23 straight years …which is why I was literally on the brink of catastrophic liver failure.

No kidding! My liver was actually so swollen that the doctor could just poke it with his finger.  (Damn, that hurts by the way.)

Plus, my blood pressure was so high that it was off the charts.

So the doctor gave me the Big Lecture and I actually listened.

Within 6 months, I’d totally cleaned up my act and lost 20 pounds of fat.

And fast forward to today and I have an entirely different and significantly happier life.

My health is good, my business is good, and I enjoy my family life so much that I closed down my office and only work from home.

I even have a new son who just turned 8-weeks old! (He’ll be writing headlines by summer.)

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HERE’S THE POINT
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If you’re looking back on the past year and you’re NOT happy with where you are now, IT WILL NEVER GET BETTER.

Not if you keep doing the same stuff that’s gotten you the results you’re not happy with.

So if this is you then let me do you the same favor my Doctor did for me.
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LET ME SHOOT YOU STRAIGHT
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Look man, you gotta change what you’re doing. It’s not working.

If it was, you’d be thrilled with your progress since my message to you a year ago.

But if you’re not, then it’s time to change.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Get absolutely focused on what you really want.

Do this by TURNING OFF THE DAMN COMPUTER and just writing down the answer to this question:  ”What do I REALLY want?”

Screw what the emails tell you you SHOULD want.

Screw what your wife, husband, parents, kids, or anyone else WANTS you to want.

This is about YOU.

What do you really want?

Want to sell training plans to cross-dressing MMA competitors?  Great. If that’s your thing, go for it.

Wanna run off and play guitar in coffee shops across South America? Good. You only live once. Be happy. Play “Freebird” at least once. For me. Thank you.

Whatever you do, get clear. Otherwise you’re ripe for falling into someone else’s agenda.

2. Dump The Crap Out Of Your Brain.

You do this by writing down a huge list of EVERYTHING you THINK gotta do to in order to do what you REALLY want.

Just doing that will kind of “clear it from your brain” and free up space in your “mental computer’s” RAM.

3. Decide what’s doable. You know that big list you just made that’s probably freaking you out?

Go through it and put star by all the stuff you can actually do.

4. Decide what you can do NOW.

Now. You know all the stuff with stars by it? The stuff you can actually DO?

Go through all of it and find the stuff you can do in the next 30 days.  Put two stars by those items.

5. Screw the other stuff.

All the other stuff can be dealt with later.

Now – let me address critics in the audience who want to debate whether or not that’s a good strategy.  ”Isn’t that procrastination?”

“Isn’t that other stuff important?” The answer to both questions is …PROBABLY!

But here’s the deal.

You can’t do anything about it right now, and if you worry about it then you’re just taking away focus and energy from the stuff you CAN do.

And that’s not going to get you anywhere.

Also – actually DO the “immediately doable” things for the next 30 days, my experience tells me that your momentum will be so great you’ll actually be able to easily do a lot of the things from your list you originally thought were impossible for you.

You’ll also have new clarity and will probably find that much of the other stuff on the list isn’t even needed.

6. GET TO WORK.

Listen.

If you get all caught up on the little details, you’ll be in the same place a year from now.

Don’t let that happen.

7. ACCEPT REALITY

You wanna know something?  This is NOT gonna be easy.

Remember how I told you I lost 20 pounds of fat? Man, that first week in the gym was a NIGHTMARE.

And to make matters worse, my trainer (who is a terrible person) would make me display my physical weakness in front of GIRLS!

So not only was it hard, it was embarassing! I was failing in public.

But that’s what it took so I did it. And in the end, it wasn’t so bad.

So if I can muster up the gumption to struggle through my first few pushups in front of a room full of pretty girls,  you can break through you comfort zone
too.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the wise men of Kool And The Gang:

“GET DOWN ON IT (If you really want it).”

You can do it. I believe in you.

Frank

There was an interesting article on Yahoo today – “My Walk Away Number” (you can read it here). It talks about what would it take for a person to walk away from their job, not necessarily to retire, but to take a year off, do what ever you want in that year, travel, regroup, rebuild, regain your sanity, and even to start life over with a new job, a new business or whatever.

I liked the idea of the article, and it got me thinking about a lot of things.

But, I would rename it to, “What is My Freedom Number?”

Let me define this a bit.

I’m not talking about what your residual income would need to be. I’m talking about a dollar amount that would allow you to reset, reboot, regroup, retool, and quit what needs to be quit so you can regain, relive, revive and cherish life again.

I’m also not talking about what would it cost you to fund all your dreams, a new BMW, a yacht, an African safari, a Beverly Hills mansion, etc. This isn’t about that. It’s about you having a certain dollar amount in your hands that would give you the opportunity to call it quits, turn off the alarm clock, and wake up the next morning with the chains off your ankles… or your spouse’s ankles.

Essentially, what would it take you to quit what is robbing you of your freedom?

Maybe it’s a second job you’re working right now. Maybe it’s your spouse who wants to be home with your children. Maybe it is the extra overtime you’re working so you can pay your bills. Maybe it is everything. Read that paragraph above again, and figure out what it is you need to quit.

Now that you know what it is, DON’T make this more complicated than it is. Don’t get out tax and bank statements. Just like the article says, make this a “back-of-the-envelope math” problem. Write down some numbers real quick and figure it out.

You choose – Figure a total amount for one or two years. Figure a total amount to include anything extra you want to do. Figure a total amount that may include starting something brand new.

If you read the Yahoo article, you will find figures ranging from $45,000 to $750,000.

Everyone has their own freedom number. You cannot judge someone for have too little or too much.

So, what is your Freedom Number?

Want to know mine? I’m not a complicated guy. I have some financial obligations that would be necessary, but here is what mine would include, following the format of the Yahoo article:

Name: Rich Niccolls

Age: 46

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Occupation: Small Business Owner

Walk-away number: $174,000

“It was always my goal to retire in my 40′s. I still have time, but my clock is ticking. My freedom number is more about waking up in the morning and doing what I want to do without the obligation of answering to anyone. I basically mean that I want to wake up without an email telling me I need to do something, a phone call that wants me to do something, or a text that says I need to update things and begin the marketing and promotion of something new.

“I have in mind about 18-24 months. If I was to walk away to my freedom, it would involve selling off my business which I have owned for 9+ years. I love my business, but the question is about walking away. If I sold my business, paid off all my obligations that are associated with my business, I would need about $174,000.

“I would do nothing for about 3 months but fish, do some remodeling on my home, and travel a bit to see family. After that I would begin investing in real estate and take advantage of how things are in the real estate market right now. At the end of the 18 months, I don’t know if the real estate will have built enough, but I’ll do what I have to do at that point.

“I would continue to relax, go on a mission trip or two with my church, and spend a couple of quality weeks at Disney World. While I love my business, as a business owner, I haven’t had more than a couple days off in several years. When I do vacation, it is with my business. That’s not a crime, because it is my business that allows me to do that. But, I’m just sayin… I wouldn’t mind slipping off the radar, away from email, phones, and texts for a period of time.”

So, there you have it. That is my Freedom number. Small by some standards. Huge by other standards. But, it is my number.

It’s a healthy exercise to do, and slightly different what most network marketers are taught to do about dreaming of that BMW or luxury vacation. I’m just looking for a freedom number that will allow you to quit what is keeping you or your spouse from being free.

This is the final part of what I would do in 2012 if I was building a home-based business.

Days 1 – 3 focused more on activity and production:

• Day #1 – Email Marketing
• Day #2 – Pounding the Phones
• Day #3 – Direct Mail Campaigns

Day four is different, and I call it “Trimming The Fat.”

What is Trimming The Fat? It means that you are cutting away the stuff that doesn’t matter, the stuff that doesn’t earn you money, the stuff that keeps you from earning money, and all of the excess so you can focus on the essential.

Let me give you a personal analogy, and one that I am not real proud of. Since I quit teaching back in 2004, walking around campus, up and down the hills, coaching sports, etc., I put on some weight.

I had been slowly putting on a few pounds here and there as I aged, but after 2004, all I did was sit on my butt, staring at a computer, and concentrating on growing National Leads. In fact, I put on about 50 pounds. Yuck!

Overall, I was about 80 pounds overweight. I was lazy, and my health was deteriorating rapidly.

In 2011 I knew I had to make a change. I began following better eating habits and trying to drop bad ones. That helped, and I began to drop 10, 20, and 30 pounds.

I also started running. At first I could run more than 2 minutes (I was bad). Then, it became 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes. I ran a few 5K races and then a 10K. Then last November I ran a half-marathon. It took me 2 hours, but I did it.

Overall, I trimmed about 50 pounds of fat off my body in 2011… and there is still more to go.

As a result of that, my life has improved in so many ways. My quality of life is better. I feel better. I’m more active. My relationships are better. Everything is better.

In many ways, the extra fat I was carrying around was a window into other areas of my life that were unkept, out of control, and unhealthy as well.

Trimming The Fat In Your Business

Much like going through what it takes to lose weight and get in shape, there are many things a person does throughout the day, week, and month that are non-essential and highly unproductive.

Here is a list of things that I hear and see in others that need to be cut:

1. Order more brochures, CD’s, magazines, and DVD’s.
2. Buying more stuff from your company
3. Getting business cards made up
4. Ordering the latest company shirts and hats
5. Analyzing the leads list you bought… again
6. Emailing all of your upline for new ideas
7. Googling new ways to grow your business
8. Buying another ebook or program that will teach you how to recruit 10, 20, or 30 people a month
9. Studying the incredible science behind your nutritional products… again
10. Organizing your office space… again
11. Rewriting your autoresponder emails
12. Buying an iPad so you can better communicate with your “hopefully” growing downline
13. Researching other MLM companies that are growing because yours is not… at least your downline is not
14. Writing more blog posts about how great your company is
15. Twittering, tweeting, chirping and cheeping
16. Facebooking again and again and again
17. Re-pinning more Pinterest crap (um… I mean crafts and recipes)
18. Etc., etc., etc.

You get what I’m trying to say here. There are so many things that we do, but not one of those things above is going to earn you a dime. You may think that some of them do, but they really don’t, at least in a proactive way.

It is not that some of those things aren’t fun or cannot or should not be done. But, and listen closely here – it is when we replace the essential activity with non-essential activity that keeps us from being successful.

BOOM!! That is the big thing for anyone!

That list of 18 things, plus about 100 more are the FAT of your business. Many of them you could stop doing all together and would never miss them.

Again, I am not saying that any of those things are bad, but they’re fat. They are keeping you poor, keeping you from achieving, and are keeping you from being focused up the one essential activity that will put money in your pocket, get promoted in your company, and get you full-time in your home business.

It is time to get leaner, not fatter.

Did you hear that? The problem is, everywhere you turn on the Internet, Barnes and Noble, Facebook, and even your own company, they want to you do, buy, and participate in non-essential activities.

When I realized I had to lose weight (and I still need to drop another 30), I had to learn to say “No” to what was making me fat and saying yes to the essential things that would make me leaner and more fit.

You must learn to say “No”or “Not Now” to so many things on that list above, trim the fat of your business, so you can focus on the essential.

What Is The Essential?

The essential activity you need to be doing is…  PROACTIVE RECRUITING.

There can be two kinds of recruiting, passive and proactive.

Passive recruiting is buying one of your company polo shirts and walking around the mall so that people can notice what company you represent… and maybe, just maybe, they’ll walk up to you and say, “I heard about that company, tell me more about it.” Or, slapping a magnetic sign on your car and driving around town. That’s passive. Doing stuff that “hopefully” gets someone to come to you.

Proactive Recruiting is going after the prospects, referrals, and recruits. You email, call, or mail them. You do your follow-up calls and are with the prospects on conference calls, guiding and leading them to become distributors. You are dialing for dollars. You are emailing your prospects, answering their questions, and guiding them through the recruiting funnel.

You are an active participant, not a spectator.

You get the idea.

What To Do

Here is what I would do in 2012.

First of all, make a list of things you know right now are keeping you from being proactive. Decide to either stop them all together or put them off until later in the day when all of the essential work is done.

Second, monitor your activity through the day and week that is upcoming. Ask yourself this simple question – “Is this activity putting money in my pocket, taking money out of my pocket, or keeping me from having money in my pocket?” If it ain’t putting money in your pocket, it’s not essential and should be cut or put off until the essential is done.

Finally, commit to a period of time – 30, 60, or 90 days when you will stay highly focuses on the essential. Facebook will not wither away without you. Do it. Reward yourself. Take a brief rest or vacation (after all, it is supposed to bring freedom), and then refocus again.

So… cutting the fat… we all have some fat to lose. 2012 is the perfect time to make the cut!