Jim Ryder

_______________________________ I learned early on it wasn't the money that was the most valuable thing in life but time. If we are on this earth a finite number of days, and we don't know the number, why not make the most out of every single day?

Jim, if you can go into your 'way-back machine' to when you first heard about network marketing... what was that like? When I first heard about network marketing I got very excited, because I didn't know anything about it. My background is parts and service at new car automobile dealerships and I never really even thought I would have a business of my own. I did dream of having a car dealership one day. When I saw network marketing, I knew I could have even more success than a dealership would have and without the headaches. I was excited right away!

I was exposed to it by a woman who really didn't seem (at the time) to be the most professional person in the world, but she sure made a lot of sense. I was impressed with the concept of being paid over and over on the work that was done now.

So you jumped right on it? Absolutely! When I first saw it I knew it was for me.

What was it that got your attention the most? When I really, really knew, was when I read the marketing plan and I thought, ‘Wow, for the effort, the pay was really incredible‘! With what I was doing at the time, sure there was a paycheck, but the reward was really the pat on the back. Now, you know the pat on the back is okay, but the owner was the one cashing the check, he was the one that was glad you were making him more money.

Another thing I really liked about what I was seeing with network marketing was that it was finally my chance to not have a boss. The money and the chance to be your own boss were the reasons.

How did you start? Did you come out like a shot? What happened was we had had our first daughter, and as everyone knows it’s not the cheapest thing in the world, especially when you're already living paycheck to paycheck. Diapers and all of the rest of the baby stuff means less money for bills. So, I remember walking out of the bedroom and telling my wife, Moe, that she was going to have to go back to work. She did not want to go back to work.

Incredibly, the very next day, the very next day— it's amazing how things happen in this business— we came across an advertisement for the product. My wife saw a sign when we were out in the car.

I didn't want anything to do with it and she's saying, "Give me a pencil. I want to write this number down". I'm pretending I can't find a pencil and she's looking for it in the car and found it just as I was driving away. Lucky for us she remembered the number and wrote it down on a piece of paper.

Do you remember what the ad said? It was a weight loss ad, I don't remember exactly what it said but she called and got a sample of the product. Well the day she got the sample she kept calling me at work, she called me like three, four times and I'll be honest with you, I said, "Moe - don't bug me at work about weight loss garbage!" When I got home she made me look at some of the information. And you know what?

The reason I watched it was, because it was an excuse for me to lie on the couch. I was extremely overweight and tired all the time, so I figured I could watch this tape with one eye open. But pretty soon both my eyes were open and I was walking around in circles in our little duplex and I was all excited and wanted to get going.

So, we both got on the products and had excellent results, of course!

As a result of getting results with the product, people where I worked wanted to know what was going on with me. After a month on the product I finally said, "Okay... I'll tell you guys about it after work". And I was so nervous. I ran home at noon, got a product catalogue and after work everyone met in the conference room at the dealership. I was acting all confident but I was nervous and all I did was open up the product catalogue and said this is what I'm taking, this is how it works, and in less than a half hour I had pre-sold $1000 worth of product, which gave me the deepest discount I could get but I didn't even know that at the time.

I was so pumped! That was the final nail, when I decided this was what I was going to do. The profit was $423 and it took me less than an hour, which was about what I would take home in a week from my job. Can you imagine? That's when I knew it!

Before all of this happened I thought we couldn't afford to get on the products. My sponsor, very smart, asked Moe if she would like to work at home and she said, "Yeah, whatever- just send me information". When he told us that when we sign up with the company we immediately get a 25 percent discount I said "OK, let’s get it". What I was really thinking at the time was when the products didn’t work I could tell my wife not to ever waste our money on stuff like this again.

So, when I sold the $1000 worth of product I knew immediately that we were getting $250 because we were getting a 25 discount. All the way home I was excited about it. I went downstairs and ordered what they wanted. The woman I was placing my order with told me what I owed her and I thought it was too low, so we went through the order again and even a third time until she finally said, "Oh, maybe you don't understand, this must be your first time calling". I said it was and she said, (and it was really a life-changing, pivotal moment for me) "Well, when you order a volume of $1000 or more, you get a 42 percent discount".... I specifically remember dropping the phone.

You see, I had collected checks from everybody who ordered from me at work and I had already dropped them off at the bank on my way home. I just got paid $423 in less than an hour! That was it!

And how did it go from there? From there it went great! I continued to go to work; my wife was home with our brand-new baby selling products all day long.

Another thing that I loved about it was that I was told I didn't have to know anything; I just had to do what I was told to do. I loved that!! It was the human tendency to take the path of least resistance, plus I could think that if it didn't work it wasn't my fault. But we did what we were told and we had customers calling constantly.

It got to the point where I would ask Moe how much she made that day and she would say, 'Oh, two hundred or three hundred' or whatever it would be, but I would just know that she made something. People would call and she would ask them two or three questions and then she would say, "Here's how it works". We'd just make two, three, four appointments every single day. In fact, I never even thought that she wouldn't make money.

It sounds magical, Jim. It does sound magical, but...

... when you take the product and you feel what you feel then it really almost doesn't matter what you say to people... they just want to be like you.

They would even say that to Moe.

That was nice, but after a couple of months I thought this was really great but in the information I saw that they were giving these checks from the company. My first check was about $36 and that was unbelievable at the time because I didn't know it was coming. When I opened it the most exciting thing was that it was enough to pay a bill. I was excited because I couldn't figure out how I could be getting this money. I hadn't done anything to get this money. It was great!

So, we were making a good retail income and now I'm wondering why we're not getting checks from the company and then we realized it was because we needed to start sponsoring people.

So we started doing that but without any real direction. Although I was working closely with my sponsor, we were both in the same boat at the same time, bringing people in and crossing our fingers hoping they would do something. It took awhile, years really, of learning what to do and what not to do and going through things together.

My sponsor had come up with something that was really working and we jumped on that and we just shot! After four years we took off. I was told that would happen.

I was told from the beginning that you are going to work, work, work, work and think you are the only one doing it and just like that, *snap*, things are going to take off. Everything I've ever been told has come true.

No challenges? Of course, challenges all along the way. I remember there were times when we'd be doing business and using packages that we'd send out to people but we’d run out and didn’t have the money to get more. It's amazing really, considering (like most people) we were running our business on a shoestring budget.

I went full-time into the business about a week after we closed on our 1st house and a week before we had our second child, so it was hard going for a couple of years. We would get money from retail and the company was sending monthly checks to us at that time for $800 to $1500 and I had a house and bills. Looking back I can't even tell you how we made it, but I do know we made it because that's what we wanted to do.

There would be times that we were so broke that we couldn't afford the materials to build our business -- like having the money to send out those packages, but as I was telling you, I was always taken care of… somehow things worked out... prosperity happens when you need it most!

For instance someone would request materials and I didn't have them, but the next day some materials would be returned in the mail for some reason and I'd love it because I could take it, change the cover letter, and send it off to the new prospect. No matter what, I got what I needed, and I got what I needed the entire time I was building this business, I still do today.

Tell me about using the Professional Inviter... Like a lot of NWM organizations, it can grow extremely fast and then it will shrink down to a level that is stable. We do this so we can have 'walk away income', so people should be able to walk away or retire, which is what our sponsors did. That really was a blessing in disguise.

I was nervous and scared and to be honest, a little bit upset, but what it forced me to do was step up! This meant there were a lot of things I had to learn and do and there were a lot of hats I had to put on as a real leader. I had to learn to become a teacher. The reason I even looked at the Professional Inviter was because of Tim's reputation and our experience using Brilliant Compensation, which was extremely powerful. I purchased the package and immediately after the first disc I knew that not only would I use it myself, but I would suggest, almost make mandatory, that people in my organization purchase and listen to it.

It wasn't that I listened to it and then adopted his methods, although I would encourage that, but I loved it because he was parallel with what I was already teaching, but in a more detailed or precise, duplicatable way. So, as a leader, I didn't have to worry about my people getting the wrong information about inviting people to come into the business. I could simply direct people to listen to it telling them that it would tell them exactly how to invite people into the business. It freed up my time to concentrate on other training.

When someone shows me that they are serious about the business, they are taking the steps and talking to people, I tell them it's time for them to get and listen to Professional Inviter and I tell them I endorse and believe in what Tim teaches. The feedback has been totally positive and I knew I made the right decision.

Jim, what's the benefit you see of your people all hearing the same training? The benefit of that is that when the question about bringing people into the business comes up— I rarely have to answer questions one on one. I will pose a question to the organization to let other people answer the questions. The nice thing about having the Professional Inviter is that when the question comes up about bringing people into the business, so many times now people quote it, or I'll hear someone in my organization recommend it to the questioner and I can trust that everyone is getting information that supports their success. For me the benefit is that I know it's working for the people that get it and listen to it and I can relax about it with the confidence that what they're getting is what I want them to get. (Did that come out right?)

Fine- and very professional, too.... We've seen people who weren't really confident about inviting people who suddenly have prospects actively looking at the business, because they took the time to listen to and absorb what is said in Professional Inviter. It's helped them get over that hump.

What would you say were the two or three key points about it that really help your people in building their business? I would say the number one, above all, is the fact that there are live calls. Often in this business there are people who talk the talk... and maybe they've walked the walk, but how do we really, really know? It's helpful to have tangible proof. When you hear the live call's Tim does it really validates that he isn't just talking or writing about doing it, he actually does it. You hear him do it. Not only do it, but stop and explain the how's and why's.

Jim, what I'm more interested in is the principles that Tim is teaching. What have you found to be the most helpful or powerful principles for your people? I really like all of it, but when Tim goes into handling questions and objections he talks about the idea that the only real objection is, "I don't think I can do it", so, to educate the whole organization with this same information is powerful.

Tim also does an amazing job of talking about follow-up and follow-through. Many training programs fall short of the follow-up; this one goes through all of it and goes a step further by including the importance as well as the how-to of follow-up and follow-through.

Jim, what's the best thing about network marketing for you? Time freedom! The freedom to do what I want when I want is the best thing above all.

I learned early on it wasn't the money that was the most valuable thing in life but time. When I learned it, grasped it and understood it, then it became the most powerful thing to me. In part, because even when I was broke, I always came up with the money and if that's the truth and you can always come up with the money, then you'll always find the money to do what needs to be done. But... we cannot have the last ten minutes again, it's done, it's over, it's gone. If we are on this earth a finite number of days, and we don't know the number, why not make the most out of every single day?

Network marketing allows you to do that? Today... I got up this morning. My daughter and I looked out the back window and watched a doe and two fawns in our backyard. We also picked up a huge turtle and brought it back to the pond. The wife and daughters are now out of the house and I'm here... I don't have to get up and rush out of the house.

When I started in this business we were living in an 800-900 sq. ft. duplex, now we live on a 13 acre, 1.4 million-dollar estate all because of network marketing

... And I do not go to work! I talked with you yesterday and I was on my boat!

You have the goal, and I sincerely believe that time freedom should be somewhere at the top, and network marketing can carry you to that goal. Why do you want to make more money? Because that money can afford you the time to live your life. When money first started coming in we would hire people to do the lawn and laundry and clean the house. Our neighbor's comment was that we were too lazy to do the lawn! I said, "Are you crazy? Too lazy to do the lawn? I don't want to do the lawn!" I did NOT hire someone to do the lawn so I had more time to work my business. That is a common misconception that people have in the beginning.

I hired someone to do my lawn and my laundry and clean my house, so that I could take that wasted time and spend it with my children because that’s what is important to me.

Network marketing has brought me here and that’s worth sharing.

Jim Ryder has been with Herbalife for 8 1/2 years, as he says, “It’s my first and only company.” He currently lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with his wife, Maureen and their two daughters, Emily (7) and Katelyn (9).