Angel Matos

Angel, we want to thank you for giving us the time for an interview today. Having newly launched a Spanish Edition of TheNetworkMarketingMagazine.com we are especially pleased to hear from a voice in the Hispanic community. Could you start by briefly sharing with us your story and what led you to the network marketing industry? It’s interesting to me that everyone spends time planning out what is going to be their longtime chosen career. It’s like we’re all programmed with the message, “study hard, get good grades, and repeat the process at a University and then interview well in order to work for somebody else.”

So it seems totally normal that when network marketing falls in your lap you’re a little bit shocked and a little bit skeptical. Frankly, I think skepticism is healthy in this business. And it takes a while for you to commit and actually realize the potential.

Like many people, I got a call too. It can be fun being kind of cynical, but eventually, the good ones wear you down. And fortunately, as happens often, the follow up comes at a time when there are changes in your life. The marketplace changes, job situations change, downsizing and plant closings occur. Perhaps it’s been a real tough couple of weeks at work and relationships with the boss are a challenge, and that phone call from your friend in network marketing is suddenly welcomed.

Once you really welcome that call, it’s not that difficult to see the pieces of the puzzle. When you see people like Warren Buffet get into the game you have to admit there could be something in that direction.

Of course, everybody’s mind goes back 30 years to Amway with 100 people in a room screaming that they’re going to get rich in 60 days. And you know life doesn’t work that way, the economy doesn’t work that way, anything worth doing doesn’t work that way. So what you want to ask is, “Has the industry matured? How much? Where is it in 2007?”

Fortunately, that’s a great subject, there’s a LOT to talk about there. The industry has definitely come of age. And of course, today there are wonderful resources, like this magazine, that offer third party credibility and validate not only the quality of the education but basically, good business building strategies that are as effective as any! If I could sit down with Peter Drucker today I know we would have a great conversation.

My response to people who comment on the fact that so few make it to millionaire-status is that that is simply human nature; most people won’t apply themselves the way they need to in order to achieve the top levels. Yet at the same time, they have taken a path of personal growth and development and are gaining greatly that way in addition to any financial gain. And they often start valuing the growth and development more and are no longer in such a hurry to make a huge amount of money. They greatly appreciate the whole network marketing experience and recognize how they can apply what they are gaining to all areas of their life.

What I see happening is that ‘secretly’ people start developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

And what that does to self-esteem, confidence level, relationship with immediate family, friends and all others, is take them beyond anything they’ve experienced. It’s certainly a journey I wouldn’t trade for anything!

Isn’t it amazing, Angel, how quickly you learn to build wonderful, solid relationships all around the world through network marketing? Yes, I always think that people love high school reunions because it’s an opportunity to meet people without any agendas. You don’t go with the thought of ‘what can these people do for me’. You always remember high school buddies in such good light. For instance, Tiger Woods is always leery about people approaching him today because so many are out to ‘get’ something from him. So, who does he hang out with? His high school buddies, because they were his friends before he had the fame.

The thing that happens with network marketing is that it’s like high school where there is no agenda.

It’s just people helping people and you can get that second wave of friends that are ‘real’.

That just adds so much to a person’s life. It may sound a little etheric or mushy, but in the end, when you see some people with experience in this industry and we’re in a meeting or large gathering, we can look at each other and just laugh because we know why we’re really there. Oh sure, the money is good, but there is just so much more that is priceless.

This is an industry unlike any other. Here, if I meet someone like Angel Matos and discover he’s in my organization, I can count on him providing help to me if I ask. Where else would you find multi-millionaires scrambling to help some new start up person?

And the beauty is it’s a multi-faceted industry. We can have ‘mushy’ conversations and we can also have cold, calculated business conversations.

If I have a CPA in front of me and I start talking about the softer, more human side of the industry and he says, “Oh, cut the crap! Let’s talk about money and financial performance.” I can lay it out there in a couple of minutes. I say, “Here’s the bottom line. It was $39 and a couple of cases in January of 2005. It’s costing me about $1000 a month in gas money, autoship, marketing tools and phone calls and I’m receiving a seven figure return on investment residually; if you have anything better than that please give me a call!” I can also have those kinds of conversations.

There is enough substance to the industry to talk about it to everybody.

Sure, people sometimes say to me, “But that’s not happening for everybody” and I say that’s an absurd statement. You can go to any company at all and make that same statement that some are earning more than others. The fact is there are many people who are effectively developing a ‘Plan B’ and supplementing their income with an extra $1000 a month residually. And these are people who will tell you they wouldn’t dream of giving this up!

Angel…the theme for this month’s magazine is ‘Loving your group’. This industry is one of the few industries where you find yourself working with people where the relationship has the closeness of family. I call this industry a study in human nature. I’ve been put in front of all kinds of people and I’ve learned to recognize character traits and certain psychological profiles and I can say I will work with people where they are, with the traits they exhibit.

And of course, we run into those people who we have a great deal in common with, who we share interests and values with and we naturally want to spend a lot of time with them.

You mentioned a couple of giants, Warren Buffet and Peter Drucker. Warren Buffet has certainly expressed a love for our industry and Peter Drucker is a management guru. Don’t you feel that people involved in our industry are getting something comparable to a college education? Especially when you include the personal growth and development along with the many great business trainers out there! Certainly, I’m encouraging my children to go to university because I think it’s a fun experience. But they are fully aware of what this industry has given them. And their decision is to build a business.

Angel, did you come to the industry with an entrepreneurial mindset or has that grown and evolved along the way? Oh it has grown and evolved! And I thank the industry every day! My college degree is in Business Administration but I don’t even remember what I learned. What I’ve learned in the network marketing industry has been huge. In fact, my niece is currently getting her MBA and she is setting up a talk for me to give her fellow MBA students, about the network marketing industry.

So I really think word is getting around that this industry is a solid business model. I’ve learned so much. One of my biggest mentors has been Brig Hart and Brig continually tells me to work on belief. Every day!

No matter how strong your belief is today, it’s valuable to make your belief in yourself, the industry, your company and your products, stronger every day.

It’s a full puzzle and you don’t want to leave any of the pieces out of it.

Brig has taught me a lot, especially when it comes to thinking big. I had sort of gotten used to slow growth in the industry, depending on the products you market as well as different compensation plans. I was very fortunate to run into somebody like Dallin Larsen who has the understanding that a company’s most important asset is its distributors and his company reflects that. As a result I’m seeing money unlike anything before. So Brig Hart has really helped me to think big and I never would have met someone like him in Corporate America.

Here at the magazine we’re very excited about offering the Spanish edition of the magazine. Can you share with us your feeling about serving this market, not only in Puerto Rico where you are, but also in Mexico and other countries? I think something interesting about the Hispanic people is that first, we just love America. Really, if you do a little bit of research into basic history, you’ll realize that while America was basically, the American Indian, it suddenly became a destination point for people that wanted more; especially for people that wanted to escape, wanted to escape persecution, political or religious, or simply people that wanted to do things a different way.

It truly is seen as the land of opportunity. I know those of you born there hear that phrase and tend to minimize it, and I’m telling you that for anyone outside the 50 states, there is an energy of freedom that draws those who hunger for a better life. As far as the Hispanic community, sure you’re going to get many educated people, but they are also people who have that hunger and that mixes in really well with network marketing.

In network marketing there are no prerequisites except a desire to learn and a desire to work, along with unlimited potential.

When you throw that on the lap of someone who is not used to having their past ignored and being given the opportunity, regardless of that past, to be trained and mentored, you’ve made a pretty compelling offer. Network marketing offers people the opportunity to remake their life. And a lot of people crossing the border are looking to remake their life.

Thank you, Angel. You remind me of many things I sometimes take for granted. I forget that aspect of what a great thing this industry has to offer. I’ve studied your Founding Fathers and I’m a big fan of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams… the Philadelphia Convention is the most spectacular meeting for the future creation of government in the history of mankind, probably in the history of the Universe! And fortunately, we’re there!

One of the beauties of the American system of government is that it can be abused but like a great working washing machine, it will eventually spit out the abusers, and spit them out in shame. It was brilliantly designed.

What advice would you give a brand new distributor; one just coming on board and looking at network marketing for the first time? Number one is to realize that a phone call from a friend in 2007 can change your life for the next 10-20 years. Number two is realize how one and two day seminars can help you maximize and identify thriving segments of the economy and help you capitalize on them without making a huge capital investment.

Paul Hawken, the entrepreneur behind the Smith & Hawken gardening supplies empire, wrote The Next Economy. In the first paragraph of his book he says, “Everyday a segment of our economy dies and is replaced by something new.” You just want to be sure you are participating in the new stuff, not the stuff that’s dying. One of the mistakes I see a lot is that people hang onto their degrees and want to impose their education on the economy. The economy is one ruthless S.O.B. You can beg and plead with the economy but it doesn’t care what your degree is in or even where your experience lies.

If you’re willing to learn something new, then the economy will really work in your favor.

Just don’t limit yourself by trying to impose your degree on the economy!

That’s why the network marketing industry feeds on unsatisfied professionals. Or semi-satisfied professionals who see something very interesting and enticing about the business model and realize that it gives them a plan B.

What would your advice be to that networker who has been in the industry a number of years but hasn’t yet tasted any appreciable success? I’d recommend that first, they change their strategy. You have to take a look at your company. You want to make sure that you’re in the right group and that the company dynamics favor your efforts. That’s not meant to criticize any company but I know that if you take the group I currently have and place it within five or six different companies, you’re going to get five or six dramatically different financial results.

You really HAVE to understand how you get paid. The second thing is education.

For instance, I realized that if I consistently go to the seminars I’ll definitely see change. One of the intangibles and one of the necessary things in this business is to form an entrepreneurial aura and energy field around you. I know that might sound a little weird, but when you see very successful individuals, they’re at a very high energy level and their belief level is so high it’s off the chart. They are so confident and they become charismatic.

The industry can take you to that level and you have to give it time. You have to realize that if ten people all sign up today, they are all starting from ten different starting points. Dates and ages are not factors. If a person is very shy, or has never had good opportunities because of the family they were raised by, or the lack of good teachers and mentors in their lives, they may have a lot more to learn and develop than someone else who started the business on the same day.

In network marketing you come into center stage. Unlike a typical franchise, where you might pay half a million dollars for a trade-name and you open your doors and people come in just because they want a sandwich and they never have to meet you, in network marketing everyone has to go through you.

I always tell people it is worth going through the process of developing yourself as a center of influence.

And you really have to be willing to take the time to go through the process.

When I hear people who have been in the industry talk about how many years experience they have in the industry I have to question them. If they say they have ten years experience, I want to know if they simply have one year’s experience ten times, or if they truly have ten years experience. Those are not the same thing at all. If you’re not reading and you’re not going to events saying you don’t need that, then I say you’re wasting your time.

If you’re totally open to starting from scratch, of course with a much shorter and dynamic learning curve, you can reinvent yourself and rebuild in the industry. But you have to give yourself time.

Many people have a ‘drive-through’ mentality, where they want everything now… and I ask “Why?” Sure we want results but really, it’s all about the journey. How do we get to those results?

I love to play golf. I have zero athletic skills and the only reason I play golf is because I’m in network marketing. I was really lousy at golf and all I could think was that despite my frustration, I couldn’t quite because I’m always on stage preaching persistence. So I persisted and broke through.

And now I can play a decent game of golf. It took me years, and for years I was the last man in the foursome. Now I’m typically second and sometimes tied for first and it sure makes life more enjoyable. It was well worth the time and effort and it was the journey that allows me to savor my success today.

Whatever you decide to do in life, it’s guaranteed you will be tested. And you want to prepare yourself to pass. The network marketing industry is no exception; you’re going to be tested. You have to prove yourself. But once you prove yourself at anything you try, then you hear, “Welcome to the club!”

So it’s the on-going education and attending the events, seminars, and conventions that I wouldn’t miss unless I was literally dying. It’s at the events that I get and renew my entrepreneurial energy. And around that I give presentations day to day. But I don’t cancel an event to give a presentation! And that’s where I’ve seen people fail. They fail to see the value so they fail to make the commit to attend the events. Then they fail to have the energy to follow through on the business because they didn’t understand the synergy involved from including all the training available.

There are always plateaus in this industry. That’s why it’s like chess. In chess, you’re never good enough, there’s always more to learn. It’s the same with golf. Even for someone like Tiger Woods, the game lends itself to him but he will never own it. Because as soon as you think you own it… guess what? You don’t make the cut! It’s a never ending challenge. And the network marketing industry has that challenge coupled with never ending growth.

Angel, what is the best thing about network marketing for you? It’s the combination of continuing education and what is initially the business building conversations and relationships that develop into wonderful friendships. You’re going to meet people that have enormous influence in your life, not only financially but personally.

Life is always about partnership!

You partner with your wife and with your children and the people you partner with in network marketing bring such valuable relationships into your life.

Angel Matos and his wife, Sandra, are Black Diamond Executives in MonaVie. They live in Ponce, Puerto Rico.