Support for your home based business

One of the issues that people face when they start up their own home-based business is the reaction of their friends and family. These are the people that we expect to be the most supportive, these are the people that we know and trust. They are the ones that know and trust us. It's going to be simple, we waft the business idea in front of them and they fall over themselves to buy your product or join you in your endeavour to become financially and time free.

But what really happens?

So you approach lets call them Bob. You speak to them and tell them a bit about the business you have joined. Usually you avoid using the scripts - these are friends, they want the best for you and you don't want to use these super sales techniques.

Then you get their reaction. Those who are being polite will give you the look. The look is characteristic, they do not look at you head on, their nose doesn't point in your direction it's just off to one side and the head is tilted slightly back, but their eyes through slightly closed lids look at you with a profound sadness or disbelief. Now if you are new you do not know what this means but you do experience a sense of disquiet as they look at you. This disquiet is that you really do not know what they think. Do they need more information or do they think that you have jumped off the deep end.

Those that are not polite are a bit more direct, and will either laugh at you or tell you that you have lost your reason, joined a cult, build pyramids etc.! This is a good thing - at least you know without a doubt where you stand.

Neither of these two reactions or many others that you may come across are very supportive. But these are your friends, your family, they want the best for you and no doubt do not wish to see you hurt. Now this is not the reaction you sought or indeed want. These reactions are based on fear, ignorance for you but also the fear that you will suck them to their doom in your business.

Real support comes from those rare, and I mean rocking horse droppings rare, people that will sit you down and ask questions about your business. They will find out what it is all about, and give you an honest opinion good or bad. They will not judge until they have heard you out, this does not mean that they are not motivated by the same feelings of fear that the others are. But these people trust your judgement and will be there for you either way. These are the people that will either join you sooner or later depending on your level of success or the quality of the product or service.

The sorry point of this is that on the whole your immediate friends and family are generally speaking not going to be supportive of you. Even your wives and mothers. The people that you will get the most effective and continuous support from are your colleagues in the business you have joined. They will have gone through this and have the experience and fortitude to push through. Now the people on the outside will view this as a threat. You will be turning away from their advice, and as you do so will become successful.

Kind regards
St.John

An Unpleasant Experience. A learning experience.

I have been thinking about putting this particular experience on here for a few weeks now. I was reluctant as at the time it was a very difficult experience for me, but it does form part of my journey and growth in my business. One of the main reasons for this blog is to share my experiences. It is not meant to be a pity fest! I am not looking for {hugs} in the comments, or commiseration or anything like that. This happened years ago. I'm still in business and I have gained promotion since this.

Jim Rohn in his audio Building your Network Marketing Business, states that there are only nine or ten nasty horrible people in the world. He then goes on to say that they move around a lot and occasionally you will come across one. I guess this could be one of those experiences. I would guess that what he means is that normal people like you and I can have a bad day, we get stressed, frustrated, tired even, and when someone comes along out of the blue with something that is trivial it can trigger a release of all that pent up tension. In other words you get both barrels!.

So this is what happened. I had shown my business to a family friend, and they had become customers and like a good Network Marketer I'd asked for referrals. They gave me two and I respectfully asked my new customer to contact these people and expect my call. I even asked when they would be able to do this and would they have done this by the same time the following week.

Now all you experienced people stop it! I know I should have asked this person to do it there and then. What can I say? I was in the first few months of doing this business, I was excited that I'd signed a customer and I didn't want to impose!

I waited the full week, and then a day or so more. This was my first experience with a referral, the first time I had contacted someone I didn't know. I dialled the first number. I was shaking a bit and pacing up and down the room.

There was no answer. The anti-climax hit me like a truck!

I dialled the second number.

It connected. "Hello is this name? My name is St.John I was at name's house the other day talking about saving money. Did name call you to let you know I'd be phoning?"

"No, but I have been busy. Name probably called when I was out."

Me, "Oh!" I was flustered at this point and I do not recall what I said next but it must have been right because the referral made an appointment with me. I was overjoyed, did a little dance and tried the first number again.

This one did not go so well. I do think that if I had got through on the first attempt with this referral I would not have made the second phone call. I called this other person. I do not remember the exact conversation, it started off as the one above but when this person said no to my question if they had been contacted by my customer things got ugly. This person began to rant down the phone at me stating that they were not interested and would never do anything like that, or words to that effect. It was the sort of reaction that you would expect if someone came up to you and asked you to drown a box of cute puppies or kittens. If I was flustered on the previous call this floored me. I did have the awareness to apologise for disturbing them before hanging up. I felt emotionally shredded.

If any of you have read Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander (a truly witty entertaining read that contains a lot of decent instruction along with it) this was one hell of a torpedo! It was one of those instances where I wanted to "Turn the TV on and my mind off," - Eric Worre but I had this appointment and that kept me going.

I also did the right thing by contacting my sponsor and talked over the experience. This kept me going, but I would be lying if I said that this did not effect me to this day. There is always the chance of being in contact with someone at the wrong moment or one of those people that are not very sociable. However I have more experience now and would not be as blown away as I was on that occasion. If you dear reader experience something like this then talk to your sponsor. Ninety nine percent of people are going to be polite even if they say no. But do not be frightened to make sure that the person that has given you the referral has contacted those they are referring and make sure they have the option to decline your call.

Kind regards
St.John

The journey

I came across a post on Facebook the other day and it made me think. The author of the post seemed to be belittling people who post about their experiences in their business but have few or no team members to read what they write. It is fair to say that my team is a lot smaller than the author of this particular comment and initially I was fairly ticked off.

This comment I would imagine is a thoughtless passing remark, the like of which litter Facebook. However, in Network Marketing or if you prefer Multi-Layer Marketing we pride ourselves on being able to support individuals no matter at what level. The public comment that was posted simply fails in this respect.

There is however another issue. By belittling the experiences of those going through their growing pains is actually detrimental. The implication is that the experiences of those higher up the compensation plan is worth more than those further down. This does not take into consideration that everyone's experiences, environment and circumstances may be wildly different from those higher up and by posting different experiences and how different people cope with them may help someone in a similar situation overcome that challenge. For some people putting their thoughts and experiences in writing is their journal, something that the late Jim Rohn encouraged everyone to do.

Now fair enough it is not expected that those in more advanced positions read and comment on every blog, Facebook or Twitter post. But by leaving a record of the journey that an individual is travelling, one that is permanent (unlike Periscope) when new members are recruited to a team then the information is already there.

Kind regards
St.John

Personality colours - an introduction

Have you ever wondered why people are the way they are? Why one person demands all the details and another thrives on being challenged? Why some put everyone else before themselves and others just want to live their lives and enjoy themselves?

Being one of those individuals that enjoys finding out how things work this confused me for many years. Initially I came across an answer to this in a book that was given to me a number of years ago. This book was full of, by normal standards anyway, some wild and outlandish ideas along the lines of New Age philosophy but this one very brief snippet lodged itself in the back of my mind. This explanation of how people "worked" or rather their view of the world included words like sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic words that were meaningless to me at the time. It wasn't until later that I discovered that these personality traits had been recognised by the ancient Greek philosopher

When I began my journey into business, I came across this idea again initially via a seminar with Tom "Big Al Schreiter" and then as my reading continued in various other books that touched on the subject. It was in this area that the idea of colours came to the fore. The colours, namely Red, Green, Blue and Yellow had been applied to the four personality types. This has nothing to do with which colour you like most! Colours were used basically because people can relate to them better than the terms sanguine etc. which I listed above.

I do have to point out that this colour system is the one that I am familiar with. There are others out there along with other systems. Personally I find the other systems overly complex, and the one I am talking about here gives a general outline of a persons outlook. I also need to point out that people are a mixture of these colours and it is the dominant trait that is being explored here, we can all be selfless, overbearing, get stuck in the detail and ignore the important things in life in order to have a little fun.

So what are these traits?

Reds

The reds, no they are not predominantly commies. These are the people that you cannot tell. Know someone like that? Their view and belief in themselves is their overwhelming trait. They know, well just about anything if you talk to them. They are focussed and will not be diverted from a course of action unless they decide that that is what is going to happen. If they say they are going to do something you can take it as read that it will get done. You will find Reds in positions of authority, or as business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Examples

These are people with a presence, you notice when they are in a room, they are probably charismatic or argumentative. They will try and take over in any given situation, they will listen to you but do not expect them to follow what you say unless they know and trust you and know that you have knowledge and experience in the subject. Even then they are likely to do it their way.
In Network Marketing these people will either be successful or not. That success will be down to whether they find the correct formula to make it work and that depends how convinced they are by the training or the person that introduced them. Once they find that formula stand back because these people will go to the top.
In Karate you will find these people at the tournaments, they will want to win, and keep winning, they have to be the best, but humility or the lack of it may be the one thing that will get in their way. Once they know what they are doing expect them to be running a dojo.

Blues

No they are not permanently sad. These are the people that are a joy to be around, you won't get any work done necessarily but you will have fun doing it! Blues are all about life experience. They wake up in the morning and their day will be made if they meet new people or do new things. Do not expect a lot of focus from them, there is simply too much going on in the world and they can be easily distracted.

Examples

One thing with Blues, expect a party. Walk into a room and you will find people swarming around a Blue, they are the life and soul of the event. They are the people that others want to be around. Want to find a Blue? Follow the laughter.
In Network Marketing the promotions will drive the Blue. They will need a goal, usually something fun like a fast car or a holiday in Vegas. You will also find these people eager to walk across the stage at the large conventions, they will try to appear embarrassed or self-effacing but you will see that twinkle in their eye that betrays the fact that they are loving the experience.
In Karate a blue will only stay as long as they see it to be fun and the social side of things is well developed. But they are the people that will talk to others and encourage them to join pointing out the fun to be had.

Greens

Greens are not all concerned with the environment and global warming! Many are engineers, scientists, and accountants. Beware, these people can bore at an Olympic level! Details are the lifeblood of the Green. Give them a problem and they are happy. They will analyse everything, change without justification is to be resisted at all costs. The world may be crumbling around them but that is secondary if they are working on a problem.

Examples

Greens do not lack focus. Why something works is as important as working it. These are the people that will single out an individual in a room and talk to them with laser like focus. The tell tale sign that a Green is in full flow watch for their victim's rolling eyes.
In Network Marketing the Green will need all of the information. How they are paid, why they may not be paid and how to get to the top. They will then go away and design a system, or plug into the system if one is available. Once the focus hits the business they will work out what they want and go for it.
In Karate the Green will look at technique. The importance of this and the pursuit of perfection is the watchword.

Yellows

Yellows are the lovely people. They are not cowards in fact they will put others before themselves in almost every situation. Yellows are the carers, the nurses, teachers the fundraisers. If you feel bad they feel bad and if you are crying expect a wet shoulder.

Examples

Yellows are only fulfilled when they are helping others. They empathise with people and in so doing are very social. When you meet a Yellow you aren't going to get away without a hug! If you let them a Yellow will feed you to death!
In Network Marketing the Yellow will build a massive team, if you can demonstrate that in providing the service or product you are helping people. With their empathy they will attract people and nurture them.
In Karate the Yellow is likely to be showing people how to defend themselves and helping others with their technique.

So this is an introduction to personality colours They are not the be all and end all of personality traits, and it is easy to miss pointers. For example a nurse may not be a Yellow, they could be a green that has planned a career or a Blue that wants to meet people or a Red that wants to be the Director of Nursing. The way to fine tune your perception is to listen to people.

Thank you for reading.
Kind Regards
St.John

Rest and aspiration

Last week didn't go to plan. I had it in mind to use my first week away from the "Job" and build up my business. I had planned my activity and was all set to go. But a lethargy came over me and it soon became apparent that a different type of week was in store.

My children like most of the other children in the UK are off school until September and there is the almost constant, "Where are we going today," type of question. Then there is the last couple of weeks at the "Job" that have taken it's toll. I guess I should have planned a total down time for any activity that would be remotely called work. The result a complete lack of motivation.

All this despite my adherence to reading instructional and inspirational material. I awoke feeling tired and lacking in motivation. I began to be concerned about what was going on in my head and started throwing myself into positive thinking. Yesterday was time for the big push. I read the book and acted upon it and listened to the company conference call.

I guess this must have been a blip or my work in the above mentioned activities has had a good effect as this morning I awoke feeling refreshed and positive. It was accompanied with a big scary plan to improve my business as a whole.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am that this low mood has lifted. Given past history any prolonged period of low mood causes me a lot of concern. Honestly last week scared me but now I am over it and working to stay that way.

On another note I saw a post on Facebook with regards to the Huffington Post. This was a couple of weeks ago but it did make an impression. The post was moaning about motivational posts on Facebook, it is interesting that a relatively new News source thinks that all we need in life is the constant stream of negative information that they decide to throw at us. Sorry but I can say from the bottom of my heart that this is not the case. If we simply accept that the world is a bad place and have no aspiration to make it and ourselves better then the world will become what we think it to be. Just look at the way in which anti-depressants are given out today the prevalence of young people ending their lives in desperation.

There is a different way rather than the constant diet of fear, tragedy and general negativity. That way involves turning away from the constant drip feed of the media and concentrating with creativity and imagination on the world in which we want to live in.

Kind Regards
St.John

Sometimes you need a nudge

A couple of days ago I saw a post on Facebook and I got caught out. This particular post espoused the supposed immorality of offering housing to refugees rather than our own (UK) wounded soldiers. Well I got sucked in didn't I!

It took an old friend two words to make me look at it again.

Now after a bit of thought I had a realisation. It may not be the one that my friend was so subtly trying to get me to look at but it did make me look at the issue with a lot more consideration.

On the surface this seems to be purely about the issue of housing. There is apparently a housing shortage - I am no expert on this so I may be wrong in this. We are also being bombarded by the media that Britain is being flooded with immigrants, the current focus being on the situation in Calais. So even if this is taken as true then it does seem reasonable that people born here should take preference over others coming into the country. The impression given is that these people coming into the country are scroungers when in reality those coming into the country as a refugee are initially prevented by the government from working even those that have professional qualifications!

However, this is not an issue about housing as it seems.

The real issue is the piss poor treatment that is being given to those returning from active service. Especially those injured or traumatised. These people should be being looked after rather than being turfed out of the Armed Forces and cast away to rot on the streets. But why is there no public outcry about this? Well look at what is on the news tonight. It will be full of things that will make you fear, things that are intended to scare. If too much is made of the plight of those being abandoned by the Army, Air Force etc. then there will be public outrage. Against whom...?

Oh damn! I had promised myself not to be political. Oh well as long as this isn't a regular thing. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Regards
St.John

Little steps

My exile from the Company Opportunity meeting is over. I am here sitting in the room waiting for it to start. It has been two years since I was able to come due to not having a car. Public transport while possible was impractical.
As I sit waiting for it to start there is a strip light flickering on the ceiling. The metaphor immediately springs to mind. My business is like that flickering light. Bright one moment then dark the next, action one day, then nothing the next. A sobering thought. This must change the light needs to stay on.

Regards
St.John