Keep your hat on straight and your lenses clear!

I just got back from a two week tour in Europe. I was able to visit with hundreds of distributors who wanted to know “my story” and gain some advice for success. My theme to them is my theme to you:

“Keep your hat on straight, and your lenses clear.”

Let me explain.

My first job was working in the local cemetery. I mowed the lawns and trimmed the headstones. It was great to be working outside. On the first day that a gravesite needed to be prepared, I was really excited because I knew they used a back-hoe to dig the hole. Then I found out I wasn’t old enough to run the tractor – bummer! So my job was to jump in the hole and square out the corners. As I stood there in the hole with the ground up to my nose, I realized this was not a long-term plan for me.

So I worked my way through college earning a Finance Degree with minors in Statistics, Accounting and Economics. I became a banker. As I moved up the ladder, I was hired for a two-opening position the same day as a male counterpart. I had banking experience, he had none. I was single, he had a family. I looked on his hire sheet as he sat next to me during orientation; his salary was 50% more than mine. Ouch! I thought maybe I was missing something, so I started the position anyway with a competition against this guy in mind. And compete I did. On my first evaluation, I felt confident going into my boss’s office knowing I had aced my “competition”. In fact, I felt I deserved to at least match my losing opponent’s salary. So, I mentioned to my boss that I was aware of the salary discrepancy and that I felt my performance warranted an equalization of pay. I was met only with a scolding for my curious eyes and a warning that I could be fired for knowing such sensitive information. Now, I am no spring chicken, but I didn’t burn my bras either. I thought for sure my generation was past this inequality. Wrong! I needed the job, but, I mentally checked out like 40% of most workers, and set my mind to find a better way.

I decided to become a stockbroker because the pay was straight commission. I felt that was my best chance to find equal pay, and to also get ahead financially. No more of this “trading time for money.” If I worked smart, I would get paid for it! And I did. But, I always had to be there when the markets were open so I could trade my clients’ portfolios. I soon realized that if I wasn’t working, I didn’t get paid. If I took a vacation, my paycheck took one, too! I was making great money, but I was trapped.

So, I decided that I needed to leverage myself so I could get away. I opened up my own consulting business helping others with business and marketing plans. I soon grew to over 20 employees thinking the more I had working for me, the more leverage I would gain. Then, one day, the toilet broke in the office. Although my business card had “President” under my name, it may as well have had “Janitor” because I became one that day. When my employees were unhappy or not getting along, I became the babysitter. I was the first one in, and usually the last one to leave. And although I could leave the office for a vacation, the office never left me.

Through all this experience, I had been approached many times about Network Marketing, but I had certain notions about the industry. I also never really felt they were interested in me as much as they were my contact base. But one day, a friend of mine invited me to talk to his sponsor about an opportunity he had just joined. His sponsor was someone I knew and respected. His approach was about me first, then how his business could make my life better.

Because I knew my friend and respected his upline, I stopped long enough to really take a look. That “look” changed my life.

I started in 1992 and by 1996 I sold my business and went full-time. But that’s not even the fairy-tale. The man, whom I respected, eventually proposed to me in 2004 on top of the Eiffel Tower! (before Tom Cruise got the same idea…) We are still “gooey-weds” and hope to stay that way!

Now I am not an overnight success story in Network Marketing. When I first started, I wasn’t very coachable. My biggest downfall was that I felt my prior successes in traditional business put me in the driver’s seat for success in my network marketing business. So I didn’t need to follow my upline’s advice because I had a professional plan.

I became more and more humbled seeing success in people from all walks of life that followed their successful upline.

Make a list? Use the tools? Do 3-way calls? How could such simple steps create success? Finally, I fell in line.

When I was in second grade, I had to get glasses. Of course, I got called four-eyes, and the cute boys didn’t chase me at kissing-tag during recess. In her wisdom, my grandmother would always say “keep your lenses clear” as she taught me 3 rules for a clear perspective on life. I found these rules extremely helpful in building my networking business as I plugged-in to those simple steps:

• Expect the Best 2. Prepare for the Worst 3. See “What is”

Let me share some of those simple steps with my grandmother’s advice attached.

Recruit Yourself “What do you mean recruit myself? I signed up didn’t I?”

I found it goes much deeper than that.

You have to know “why” you are signed up.

What do you expect? Set goals, write them down - Expect the Best! Let me try an experiment: I want you to think of your monthly income goal you have set for your business. Do you have one? Are you thinking of it? Now let me ask you another question…Why did you stop there?

I find that especially as women, we often cut ourselves short when it comes to expectation. I could write a whole article on my belief as to why, but all I really need to share with you is that my grandmother’s rule helped me jump over that hurdle.

If, after you set your expectations for the best, you then prepare for the worst, you won’t have to worry about the “what If's”.

My CPA told me that “Worry is like paying interest on money you haven’t borrowed yet.” Isn’t that the truth? What is the worst that can happen? “Prepare for the Worst” and move on! For me the worst was to stay in my current situation as President, Janitor and Babysitter. That was enough “worst” to motivate me into this business!

Don’t forget to…See “What is.” This, too, is very helpful. When I train someone, I will ask them for their financial goal. Often they will give me a very lofty goal (2 to 10, or 40 times their current earnings) which I love. Then I will proceed to ask them what their time and energy commitments will be toward this goal. Some will let me know how busy they are. They have to work their regular full-time job; they have family schedules, and church or community obligations. Therefore, they have only one or two hours per week that they can devote to their Networking Business. See “what is!”

Although the opportunity to create wealth truly exists in this industry, you must match your energy with your goal.

In fact, in the beginning, my energy exceeded my return. I felt grossly underpaid! I had to get the train engine rolling. In time, my energy began matching my return. In fact, I sold my traditional business and went full- time in my Network Marketing business. And now…well let’s just say I don’t know of anything my husband and I could put our energy into that will give us the return we are getting!

Start Contacting Now In order to invite people to this business, you have to make a list – a really BIG list. This was another one of my downfalls. At first I didn’t even make a list. I had bigger “marketing” plans. Then when I did make a list, I only added the people that I thought would join me. Why should I put people on the list I knew would say “no?” Big mistake… HUGE! How do you really know? Because my list was so small, I ran out of people before I got enough yeses. I wanted to blame the system, or the whole “list” thing, or my upline, or network marketing…anything but me and my short list!

Once you start contacting, Expect the Best! Doing so will bring your enthusiasm to the table.

If you walked into a room and casually muttered “fire,” most people would not take you seriously. But if you walked into a room and yelled, “FIRE!” you would more than likely get people’s attention. Inviting people you know with your genuine enthusiasm will certainly cause them to stop and wonder if they had better take a look. Think back to when you were first invited. What made you take a look? Not all people will say yes to your business or products. They might not even say yes to your invitation. But the odds of them taking a look are a lot greater if you are genuinely enthusiastic rather than blasé.

Many of us are intimidated at first about contacting people on our list. Why? We don’t know what to say, we are afraid they will reject us, or even worse think poorly of us.

So…Prepare for the worst. First, use your upline and the many tools made available to you to tell your business story.

Then you don’t ever have to worry about what to say, and your prospect will see that they don’t have to know what to say in order to join you – they just have to use the tools or follow a system. Second, what is the worst that can happen when you invite a prospect? They’ll say “No?” I found that if I thought about the possible “no” in the first place, I didn’t have to take it personally. They weren’t saying “no” to me, but rather to the timing of my opportunity. This then, gave me the encouragement to keep them on my list, to “drip” on them at a later time - which leads me to my grandmothers final advice. Seeing “What is…” helped me to wisely spend my precious time I had budgeted for my networking business.

When I was in college, I was the master at procrastination and then cramming. I wrote many term papers the last few days before they were due, and I crammed for many of my exams. Although that behavior got me through college, it drop-kicked me in my Network Marketing venture. I would get busy with my life all during the month and then month-end would close-in and I would feel the pressure to meet my goals. Often, I didn’t meet those goals because I didn’t have enough potential yeses in my prospect pipeline. My month-end-desperation seemed to turn people away. Then the temptation arose to blame network marketing, or my upline, downline, or the even compensation plan…certainly not me and my inconsistent contacting habits!

Seeing “What is…” helped me most of all in my business.

“What is… Is that I had to make a list. What is…is that I got better results when I used my upline and the tools or system. What is…is that consistently contacting people about my business and products is the only thing that grew my business. I didn’t have control over who said, “Yes”, but I did have control over how many people I had in my “pipeline.” All these basics of building the business were crucial to my success, and they are to yours as well.

You may find it challenging at times. In life, we bear a lot of roles: significant other, mother, daughter, friend, etc. I like to compare it to wearing a lot of hats. You will find a potential for a lot of hats in this business, too. Let me show you what I mean:

When you first get started, you have on your “builder’s hard-hat” because you are going to build a huge organization. Soon, you find that someone is building faster than you are, so you put on your “horse-racing hat” to go at a faster pace. Then you experience some disappointments – someone you thought would say “yes” actually says, “NO,” or one of your distributors doesn’t come to an important meeting. So you put on your “beekeeper hat” to protect your from the stings of the business. And then, your distributor calls and quits! This practically knocks you off your horse, so you put on your “hat of armor” to protect the fall. However, you are certain that you can “fix” your distributor’s attitude, so you put on your “nursing hat” only to realize that you can’t fix anyone’s attitude. So, you put on your “dunce hat” because you feel stupid. What were you thinking? You? Building a Network Marketing business? Then, you remember your “why” and are determined to keep going, so you put on your “hunter’s hat” because from now on, you are going to hunt down only leaders and not waste time on anyone else. Until, you realize that “some will, some won’t, so what, someone’s waiting” and you decide to put on your “fishing hat.” This way you can cast out your line with the bait of “freedom” on the end and reel in those who are interested. And with a little bit from your “lucky hat” your business will start to grow. As you develop a group, you find yourself getting into management mode, putting out fires so you need your “fire chief’s hat” until you realize that you have let your prospecting pipeline go dry, and… you start all over with your “builder’s hat” and get back to the basics.

At the end of the day, you will learn that you need only one hat: your graduation hat because through all this, you will have earned a Ph.D. in human behavior. Just remember to keep that hat on straight!

As I finally adopted these simple building steps and learned to “keep my hat on straight”, something great happened. I realized that the basics were crucial, but that there was much, much more to gain from this business.

That is the people.

As the basics became second nature, the true fun about building an organization came out - Connecting with people.

As women, we can fall into the trap of connecting with people, but not moving our business forward with the basics. So while we are feeling connected, our businesses are disconnected. Women are typically better connectors than men, but men can be better at the building basics. When you can incorporate both – Katie bar the door!

You see, I truly believe that we all have a unique human spirit, and that genuine self is inspiring. Some of us hide our true self behind fear, shyness, knowledge, or some other protective front.

As I have studied those who have had success in this industry, they are those who have set sail with their genuine true self and that magnetic human spirit gathered up an organization of other human spirits along the way.

Think of one or more persons you are drawn to in your life. People you look up to, admire, or respect. Chances are you are drawn to those people because their genuine self inspires you somehow. I have some of those people: My grandmother, my friend Patty, and my Sweetie to mention just a few.

So how do you find your genuine self? Check your “auto-pilot.” Certain times of the day, your body is going through the motions and your mind is just being you. For me, it happens when I am exercising, or in the shower – some of my best ideas come when I am in the shower. When you are driving…have you ever been driving and suddenly wondered if you have run any red lights, or missed your exit? That’s being on auto-pilot – that is your genuine self.

Look for this genuine self in others and you will be inspired. As you do so, you will then be on autopilot yourself, and your genuine self will be inspiring to others. I know of no other way to get paid to play this wonderful game of “people” than in network marketing.

My husband and I are very fortunate. Financially, we have hit the top. Once you are meeting your financial goals, you will experience what we have discovered –

Helping others hit their financial goals becomes the true reward to this business.

I have always said that building a Network Marketing business is like a Petri dish for personal growth. It will be challenging, and will more than likely, require you to step out of your comfort zone in order to taste success. For me, it far outweighed squaring out graves in the cemetery, or competing in an unfair salary world, or trying to juggle being a President, janitor, and babysitter.

Jump into your journey, and just remember: Keep your hat on straight, and your lenses clear!

Melyn Campbell has been full-time in the networking industry for the last 10 years – her forte being compensation and training. In addition to her experience as a networker, she has also consulted with 62 Network Marketing companies on their compensation plans helping them tweak their plans and in many cases designing a plan that better suits their product and distributor force.

Her expertise in training and compensation is a result of her background and education. Graduating from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Finance, a composite minor in Accounting/Economics, and an extra Major Skill in Statistics, Melyn’s career highlights have been in Financial Services and Marketing Consulting. She was a stockbroker for eight years with Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney. She also owned her own Marketing Consulting business, with 20 employees, serving clients all over the United States.

Network Marketing has given Melyn the freedom to focus on her many areas of interest. She loves music, golf, and her new-found family with her recent marriage to her husband and mentor in the networking industry, Steve Campbell. They currently reside in Provo, Utah where they enjoy their long-term achievement as Team Elites, the top position with Nu Skin Enterprises.