Monday, July 29, 2013

20 Tips for Running a Home Business Meeting

Guideline to Running Successful Home MLM Business Meetings
By: Ray Higdon http://RayHigdon.com

This is a guideline to help those of you wanting to run home meetings for your MLM or home based business. This comes from a lot of experience and will help you avoid a lot of mistakes.
Has the Internet replaced Home MLM Meetings?
Without a doubt, no, it has not. Home meetings for your business can be very effective and the in-home presentation is a very easy way for your team to duplicate. For those with a large following on the Internet, you can certainly focus more on webinars or recorded videos but for the teammates you bring into your team that do NOT have that following, the home meeting can really be effective. I do a mix of online and offline as I see that is the best way to serve my team and their needs.

20 Tips for Running a Home Business Meeting

  1. Do not put out expensive food and or mixed drinks. Doing this makes no difference in signups from my experience but makes you not as easily duplicated as some people will not want to spend the amount of money you spent on refreshments. Beer and a little wine with maybe crackers is fine but do not go overboard.
  2. Respect your guests. If you have a prospect that is there on time but another prospect is texting you that they are on their way, start the meeting on time. It is very common for people to be late to these meetings and if you punish those that were on time, and reward those that are late, you are showing you are not a real business professional.
  3. The owner of the house is the opener and the closer of the meeting. You may have upline there to present the MLM opportunity but the home owner is to introduce them and to also close out the meeting. The intro should be short and sweet and the closing should be a testament to how serious the person is about building the business and boldly passing out applications and encouraging people to sign up. Keep in mind the guests are signing up with the home owner, not the upline leader.
  4. Be a good teammate. If you are supporting someone else’s home-based mlm business meeting and you are a guest, be respectful to them. This could be a whole blog in itself but here are some quick tips. 1. If you are going to text on your phone or check facebook during the meeting, sit where no one can see you as the guests may not know you are a teammate already. 2. Do not talk about how you had guests that were supposed to come but cannot make it or how upset you will be if they do not make it. 3. Do not interrupt the speaker. 4. Never, ever take a phone call in the house when a meeting is going on.
  5. Be a good host. Be super excited about the people that DID come rather than talk about those that did not make it. Especially do not openly talk to the upline how you tried to get more people and express your disappointment. It makes the guests that did come feel like losers.
  6. If this is your first home meeting, call it a grand opening. If you bought a franchise or started a restaurant, wouldn’t you hold a grand opening and invite all your friends and family and warm market? Why not with this business?
  7. Do not let people know you do weekly meetings until they sign up. You never want to invite a prospect by telling them that you do the meeting every week. The reason is they will see that they have an unlimited amount of weeks to show up, every event is special, market it that way.
  8. Help your new teammates. If someone enrolls at a home MLM group meeting, go ahead and schedule their home meeting. There is no time when a rep is hotter than at initial signup, get them going immediately and they will keep that excitement.
  9. Allow guests to sit closer to the presenter if you are already a member.
  10. Ask for the business. After the presentation directly ask your guests if they wish to enroll and get started. Do not beat around the bush, do not ask them what they think, ask for the business. So many people fail to do this and once they are out the door your chances of enrolling them decreases by 10-30%.
  11. Keep inviting. Have a small house and you have 10 confirmed guests? Invite 10 more as on average about half will show up. A packed room where people are standing is actually a great thing as it says you have something hot going on.
  12. Don’t be negative. If you are the home owner or an existing rep of the company, a home meeting is NOT the place to talk about anything negative. Get on the phone with your upline after the meeting or the next day but never in front of guests.
  13. Follow up with the people that didn’t show using this tactic:
    I call up the people that I invited to attend an event that said they would but did not show and this is what I say:

    Me: Hey there ______, I just called to apologize.
    Bum Prospect that doesn’t do what they say they are going to do: Oh, apologize? Why?
    Me: I want to apologize that I did such a poor job explaining the details of the meeting we had last night. We had a bunch of people join the team and these are people that would be underneath you in your business if I had done a better job explaining how the meeting actually worked.
    Bum Prospect that doesn’t do what they say they are going to do: Oh…
    Me: Well, I have several new teammates I have to jump on the phone with and welcome but I will be back in touch, take care!

    Hehe, how many of you are smiling right now?

    You see, it is all about posture and positioning, I don’t care if someone signs up or even shows up but those that do not are going to feel like they missed out and chances are they will ask me about it later.

    But, this is MY BUSINESS, no one takes my power and no one should take yours!

    Here is the normal conversation that rookie network marketers go through:

    Rookie: Hey _____, where were you last night
    Bum Prospect: Oh, I had to trim my mustache and clean my aquarium, sorry I missed it
    Rookie: Dude, I had my upline from out of town there and I told them I would bring someone, why would you tell me you would make it and not?
    Bum Prospect: Calm down crazy person, stop pushing me your damn pyramid scheme!
  14. Use the power of leverage with anyone on the fence. This works better in certain compensation plans. If you have someone close to signing up, and your compensation plan is fitted for this, encourage them to join before your home meeting as anyone that joins in the meeting will fall under them. People can sit on the fence forever, unless they have a reason to make a decision quicker.
  15. Follow up with every guest. Make sure you note or write down every guest that attends and follow up with them the next day. Ask them what they liked most about what they saw and if they are positive, say “sounds to me like you are ready to join!” and be quiet. If they respond positively, take their application over the phone.
  16. Understand that more of the people you know would rather come to your house than to a hotel or someone else’s house.
  17. If you have no upline around you, do not be afraid to play a video. Keep in mind that network marketing is NOT really about selling the startup package, it is about selling the idea that that person can do the person. If all you do is press play, your guests will certainly believe they can do the same.
  18. Be a professional. If someone is negative after the meeting, do not attempt to convince them amongst other guests. Just calmly reply, ‘Cool; it’s not a fit for you but thanks so much for coming!’
  19. Don’t get discouraged. Do you know how many people showed up to my first home meeting? ZERO! I could have quit easily, but I didn’t. If you have not done multiple meetings with hardly anyone showing, you simply have not done enough of them.
  20. Alternate the location. If your meeting is getting stale, alternate the location and add a lunch or head to someone else’s home or have a different speaker.
Wow, that Was a Lot of Home Business Meeting Tips Huh?

You will see that some of your best people will come through home meetings and some of your best team duplication will also come from home meetings. Add these to your arsenal if you desire to be the full package in this industry. 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Avoid the Retirement Crisis


Today I am blogging about the Retirement Crisis that is coming and how you can avoid this crisis by thinking outside of the box and taking Robert Kiyosaki's advice by diversifying your income and creating a residual income outside of what you are currently doing. 

To find out more about how you can create that residual income go to my website http://NoMoreBoss.info
July 17, 2013 at 7:52am
Posted on: Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Written by: Robert Kiyosak

Last week, I mentioned John Bogle, an entrepreneur, true capitalist, and the founder of one of the world’s largest mutual fund companies.

In his book, The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, Bogle expressed concerns about the retirement system as a whole. He takes aim at CEOs of investment firms and believes retirement is going to be the next big financial crisis in this country. That’s a big deal, especially with so many people relying on distant retirement accounts to provide for their future security.

Bogle, an insider in the mutual fund industry, is disturbed by the greed he sees in his industry. He says:

When I came into this business there were relatively small, privately held companies, and these companies were run by investment professionals.

Today, that has changed in every single respect. These are giant companies. They are not privately held anymore. They are owned by giant financial conglomerates, whether it’s Deutsche Bank, Marsh & McLennan, or Sun Life of Canada. Basically, the largest portion of mutual fund assets are run by financial conglomerates, and they are in the business to earn a return on their capital in the business—and not a return on your capital.

Bogle points out that in mutual funds, you, as the investor, put up 100% of the money and take 100% of the risk. The mutual fund company puts up no money, takes no risk, and yet keeps 80% of the returns. The investor gets back 20% of the gains (if there are even gains).

Warren Buffett agrees

Warren Buffett is regarded as one of the greatest investors of our time. He is a capitalist. He is an entrepreneur. He is not a managerial capitalist. (Managerial capitalists are not entrepreneurs. They did not start the business. They do not own the business. As managerial capitalists, they have responsibilities, but take no personal financial risks).

This is what Warren Buffett has to say about these corporate money managers, managerial capitalists, most of whom are “A“ students from great schools.

He says: “Full-time professionals in other fields, let’s say dentists, bring a lot to the layman. But in the aggregate, people get nothing for their money from professional money managers.”

If this is true, it might be stated another way: Those who choose not to become financially educated or play an active role in their investments and, instead, turn their money over to professional money managers, are abdicating responsibility for their financial future—and, if Buffett is on target, getting little value for it. How great is the risk of turning your money over to a “professional” who brings little value to the undertaking of making your money work for you?

Bureaucrats: “B” students

The vast majority of students who graduate from our schools are “B” students. They’re taught, by and large, by “A” students, some of the brightest students who continue their education to become teachers. What becomes of those “B” students as they choose their path in life? It’s my opinion that they become bureaucrats.

The problem with bureaucrat?

Decades ago, Rich Dad said, “The problem with the world is that it’s now run by bureaucrats.” He defined a bureaucrat as those in a position of authority—such as a CEO, president, sales manager, or government official—but who take no personal financial risks. Explaining further, he said, “A bureaucrat can lose a lot of money, but they do not lose any of their own money. They get paid, whether they do a good job or not.”

When you look at the bureaucrats who run the country, especially our political leaders, I think you’ll find that most are attorneys. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman, Ben Bernanke, is a former college professor. He is also an “A” student who became a “B” student (a bureaucrat) and the most powerful banker in the world. And we wonder why we are in a financial crisis.

Rich dad said, “A true capitalist, an entrepreneur, knows how to take a dollar and turn it into a hundred dollars. Give a bureaucrat a dollar, and they’ll spend a hundred.”

And we wonder why we have a global financial crisis.

Become a “C” student

Today, millions of people are relying on “B” students, bureaucrats taught by “A” students, from their financial well being. The problem is that they don’t have your well being in mind. They have theirs.

How do you combat this? By becoming a “C” student—a capitalist. Whether by investing or starting a business, you have to take control of your money and your retirement, not trust it in the hands of those who don’t have your best interests in mind.

Today, I encourage you to start learning how to make your own money work for you—not others

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Student Loan Crisis

I’m just curious, would it surprise you to realize that there are a lot of people that want you to spend a lifetime in financial bondage?

That's right they want you to be a slave.

They want you paying them forever.

There are a lot of bubbles that have happened in my lifetime. The Y2K bubble; the technology bubble; the wall street bubble, the housing crisis bubble, Where things just got out of control and then they would crash.

The next big bubble that I think is gonna bust is the education bubble.

Don’t get me wrong, I think education is a good thing. I support knowledge and learning. I am constantly improving my skills through education. But I’ll tell you our university system is completely out of control and setting up kids to have a lifetime of debt.

I just found out that more than thirty eight million Americans have student loans right now totaling over a trillion dollars. At the end of June they were paying about three point four percent on those loans. On July first, they went up to six point eight percent, they doubled, six point eight percent.

So here's what's happened okay over the course of the last ten or so years.

Since two thousand and three, from two thousand three to two thousand and thirteen student loan debt has quadrupled.

In the last 10 years, quadruple.

The average price of a year in college in nineteen eighty was eight thousand seven hundred fifty six dollars for a four year college degree.

Today it is twenty one thousand six hundred fifty seven dollars per year.

That means to the students going to go to a four year college are going to have about a hundred thousand dollars in student loans that they're going to have to now go pay back

and do you think it's easy for a college graduate to go get a job in today's market place?

Think again, it's tough for a college graduate, a recent college graduate to go get a job, . . .

to get a job let alone to get a job that’s going to pay them decent enough income to have a living and to pay to get out of that student debt in any kind of foreseeable future.

I know people in their thirties and forties that still have student loans that they’re still dealing with.

Now the cost of education, the cost of a university education, has gone up over three times the rate of the consumer price index. In other words, when looking at the cost of living, it's gone up over three times the cost of living. It's gone up by almost six hundred percent since nineteen eighty while the consumer price index has gone up about a hundred and fifty percent.

Think about that, shouldn't education kind of match everything else that’s going on in the world.

For the most part it's a racket, it’s a system designed to keep you in debt to learn about jobs that, guess what, most of them are gonna be obsolete.

You don't think that advances and every form of technology in every single field is not going to change the educational outlook that's going on in the world. It certainly has in my field, in pharmacy.

Now don't get me wrong I told you I'm a huge fan of education. I'm just not a huge fan of financial bondage for people.

The number of student borrowers has increased sixty six percent from two thousand five to two thousand twelve. The average student loan balances increased forty nine percent from two thousand and five to two thousand and twelve. Student loans now surpasses, when it comes total debt by borrowers, Student loan debt now surpass credit card or auto debt. It's just an absolute epidemic.

Now, you want to go to college fantastic, wonderful, here's my advice for somebody that wants to go to college

Learn a specific skill. All these generic programs, these generic college experiences, don’t really prepare you to do what you need to do. Learn a specific skill, learn it well.

Why not take charge of your own future?

Why not, while you're going to school, take ten hours a week and apply it to a business that will pay for your school.

What if you could just make a thousand or two thousand dollars a month, part-time in a business that you're passionate about and use all of that money to pay for your education?

What a different situation you would be in to leave your educational experience, debt-free and have a cash flow business in addition to your diploma. Wouldn’t that be better?

All the credit card companies and the banks, the government, it seems like everybody in the world wants you to stay in debt, in bondage to them.

I don’t want you to live that way.

I want you to be free; to have choices; to have options; to not spend twenty to thirty years working, to pay for a piece of paper. You will actually more than likely pay for that piece of paper two or three times over by the time they get all the interest charges and fees that have been stacked up against you. Then you can use your education to do whatever you want to do in the world, but you’re not gonna be a slave.

Would it be ok if I showed you a better way? A way that will create a future, what I love almost about what I'm seeing right now in this business, it’s the young people in this business, they are rising up and they’re saying to heck with the old model; to heck with this economy, to heck with people being in charge of my life. I’m going to use this business to own my future, to be debt free, to be totally in charge.

Would it be ok if I tell you about a friend of mine? He was in his first year of graduate school when he and his wife discovered she was pregnant with triplets. He didn’t know what he was going to do. He was going to need three of everything. He wouldn’t be able to provide for all of those expenses and continue to go to school. He really didn’t know what he would do. Then his father introduced him to a business that he could do part time. Around his school schedule. Something that was flexible and that he controlled. He saw the value and the possibilities and he jumped right in. By the time he graduated from school he not only had all of his student loan debt paid off he actually had a residual income built up that allowed him to make choices about his future. Because his business was doing so well he never even pursued a career with the degree he earned.

Would it be ok if I shared some more information with you? Some information that will show you how to be free; to have choices; to have options; to not spend twenty to thirty years working, to pay for a piece of paper. How to use your education to do whatever you want to do in life, without being a slave to your student loan debt.

Visit my website no more boss . info
Or call 502-212-2929

Friday, July 5, 2013

We Are Privileged.

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

We are privileged to live in a county where we create our own opportunities and control our own path. We owe a great debt to those who came before us and today we celebrate. Relax, enjoy America's day and raise a cup to salute the patriots who enable our freedom and liberty.

July marks the start of the second half of the year. Today, be sure to take a moment for yourself and reflect on the first half. Did you progress? Are you keeping your New Year's Resolutions? Now, grab a pen and set one attainable personal and career goal for the second half of the year. Next, put it in an envelope and open it on New Years Day. (Let me help you reach your goals http://AIMHighEnergy.com )

Keith Abell, RPh MI
If I could show you how to eliminate
your two largest monthly expenses
would you give me 20 minutes?
(502) 212-2929