Fitting the Pieces

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I started work on this post 15 days ago!  It was going to be called, “Renegade Live Event in Portland – Second Report.” In my first video report, I focused on Mike Klingler’s opening message on January 16 where, in part, he spoke of the importance of providing value.  Later that same day, Ann Sieg spoke about collaboration. I had intended to make a quick video about that as soon as I got home. But I got thinking about so many aspects of collaboration that my mind went out of control…

The Front Cover of the Card I Sent to Friends from the Portland Live Event

I don’t know why, but flying home from Portland, I started thinking about how collaboration jettisoned groups like the Beatles to success. The collaboration produced value! The two ideas became linked in my mind. It excited me!  These ideas were powered by (what I call) the hothouse of creative energy that occurred at the Portland Live Event. I sent out a number of cards to people I met at the Live Event sharing that thought.  (Side note: Surprisingly few people actually included their mailing address on their business cards. I think it is imperative to provide all contact information on business cards in a well organized fashion – don’t let creative artistry on the card -as great as that can be- get in the way of contact information!).

In my mind, I began to plan on using a visual of the Beatles for the opening of the collaboration video. Then I began thinking of how networking (and all that entails) is a necessary prelude to collaboration.

Networking ====enables====> Collaboration ====enables====> Value!

In any case, my thoughts and notes mushroomed and I finally decided that the whole thing should be subdivided into three videos. So, without further fanfare – here is Collaboration for Home Business Entrepreneurs, Part 1: Collaboration Concepts.

Please share your reaction by rating the film (stars)!

Incidentally,

• networking enables collaboration. It doesn’t guarantee that successful collaboration will follow. There are other important mini-steps left out of that over-simplified formula. However, I am convinced that networking and collaboration fit together closely with networking functioning as a means to the goal of collaboration.
• collaboration enables value. It doesn’t guarantee value and quality. Still many home business entrepreneurs, at all points in the growth continuum, have found excellent results from a partnership filled with collaboration.

Here is my first report from my attendance at the Renegade Live Event in Portland this past weekend (Jan 16-17, 2010). This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg… there is so much good stuff at this conference.

By the way, here is a brief overview of what it means when Mike asks if something “gives value.”  .

In a few days I will be attending a live training event in Portland, Oregon with Ann Sieg, Mike Klingler, Ty Tribble, and a host of other internet network marketers. I am looking forward to what I can learn there and the opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs. I knew I wanted to attend this event when I first heard about it last summer, so I registered just as soon as “the doors opened.”

I anticipate being able to share some useful ideas with you after I get back.

Attending this live event is just one of the things I am doing –and have been doing– in the area of personal education as a marketer and entrepreneur. Although I will be 64 in just a few months, one of the first of the baby boomers (!!), I enjoy learning new things.

The Top 5 Things I Did for Self-Improvement in 2009.

Programs at the Renegade Professional:

1) Video Training on Many Marketing Topics: The Renegade Professional is a membership site loaded with practical video tutorials on every possible aspect of internet marketing. Because the videos are so straightforward –click-by-click, step-by-step training– it works for everyone, from the computer novice to the more experienced. Just when I think I know it all, I’ll go through a series of videos and inevitably discover new tricks, or realize some critical error I had been making. I had already build several Word Press blogs, but the Steve Anderson video series (23 tutorials!) gave me tremendous help in improving the sites with best choice plug-ins and a lot more. Access to the over 200 training videos has been one of the valuable benefits of the Renegade Professional membership for me.

2) Coaching Cognition: Personal communication skills are absolutely critical for internet network marketers; networking involves communicating no matter if you are establishing leads in your circle of friends and local community or over the internet. You must always be ready to listen, support, lead, encourage, and direct. Although I have been in the teaching and training professions all my life, I knew I could still improve in this area of personal communication. Coaching Cognition is a six month course including online learning, live webinars, reading and audio assignments, and several hours a week practicing one-to-one coaching with course peers. This is proving to be even more valuable than I had thought as I have the opportunity to meet and brainstorm with other entrepreneurs. The $1500 spent for this course has been a solid self-improvement investment.

3) SuperGuide Program: The Renegade Professional has a program that identifies individuals as capable of helping other growing entrepreneurs – and those that qualify are called SuperGuides. The requirements to qualify are rigorous. There is a checklist of accomplishments which must be met and evaluated by one of the more experienced, long term SuperGuides. Last August, I decided to attempt qualification for the program, primarily as a way to learn and secondly as a little motivation to get more accomplished. I met the deadline and qualified, and in so doing, learned a lot about “building a web of content” that I thought I understood, but hadn’t. This was another valuable self-improvement learning experience in 2009.

Other Programs:

4) 31 Days to Build a Better Blog: Last spring, I was one of thousands to accept a challenge from one of the world’s foremost bloggers, Darren Rowse, to build a better blog. For 31 days he provided instruction, examples, and links for further study along with a daily assignment. I admit to falling behind in the assignments so the whole process took me a bit longer than 31 days. But every assignment was truly worthwhile. At the end of the adventure, I decided to purchase an e-book version of the course he had been posting on his blog. It is one of the finest investments I have made in learning materials. This is a quality e-book at a great price – $19.95.  It is not for someone who does not yet have a blog; it is for those of us with a blog and want to gain traffic by making it better. (I have 4 blogs.) I highly recommend 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. I plan to use the workbook to go through the “31 days” again this year.

5) Connie Ragan Green: Last summer, I hopped onto a webinar with a woman who has made good money online primarily from affiliate marketing.  I found that she gives a lot of value. The webinar teaches a lot of affiliate marketing basics for beginners (that’s where I was) and I learned some techniques I have been able to use without having to buy into someone’s “system.” I just wanted to do it for myself. The 90 minute webinar was recorded and you may find it as useful as I did. It’s inexpensive.

Some Other Stuff I Learned

Those were the best things I did last year. I confess to buying some other materials that were mediocre (or worse) – but I won’t mention them here! I would not recommend you try to do too much at once.  It is easy to err in jumping from one plan of attack to another and thus getting nothing done.

Others err in doing nothing to improve themselves; they are afraid of spending money to see their business grow. It is certainly wise to select your self-improvement investments carefully.  Many can attest to wasting money on low quality programs. I can even confess to spending money on a high quality program which I have not begun to use; that is a waste of money for sure. So be certain you have the time set aside to devote to the learning!

Not everything has to cost money.  Another valuable thing I did last year was to re-read several times two free e-books by Ann Sieg, including The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto which I highly recommend.

Why keep learning? Why keep improving yourself? One of my reasons is to improve my value to you! For example, I have had the pleasure of chatting with some of you about your business activities, but I want to be sure to be as helpful as possible. I have been a professional workshop trainer for many years. But I know that sometimes you may not want “training” but simply – help, or – coaching. That was a major reason for my investing in the Coaching Cognition program.

What are You Learning?

So that’s some of what I have been doing for home business self-improvement. What about you? I would be most interested in hearing from you, especially if you are a baby boomer like me – What are you learning for home business growth? What was the most valuable thing you did last year to improve yourself in order to improve your home business?  I really would welcome your response as a comment to this post!

Want to Puzzle with the Grinch?

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

Well, of course Christmas means so much “more” – but could there be any parallels between the “meaning” of Christmas and the tenets of attraction marketing? Here are three humbly offered parallels for your holiday enjoyment.

1) People are Attracted to a Gift Freely Given

Attraction Marketers:

Ann Sieg has written: “Allow me to give you one simple overriding rule that governs everything we do: All Good Sales and Marketing Begins By Putting the Other Person First.”

Bob Burg and John David Mann have written: “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.” And, “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.” And, “The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.” – - – “Have you ever wondered what makes people attractive? I mean, genuinely attractive? Magnetic? They love to give. That’s why they’re attractive. Givers attract.”

The Christmas Story: Christmas is all about gift-giving. It’s about God’s gift to earth (Jesus):

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM (3rd verse)

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

It’s about giving gifts back to God:

AS WITH GLADNESS MEN OF OLD (3rd verse)

As they offered gifts most rare
At Thy cradle rude and bare;
So may we with holy joy,
Pure, and free from sin’s alloy.
All our costliest treasures bring.
Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King.

It is about love-based giving, as described in the famous “love passage”:

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8 (Version: The Message)

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

2) People are Attracted to a Life Without Fear

Attraction Marketers: A foundation for Mike Dillard’s entire Magnetic Sponsoring™ program is the Alpha Networker™ mindset. Such a mindset, he says, requires living in a mind-state of abundance. A person living in abundance does not fear loss or failure. They are unconcerned with criticism. They love themselves and others who matter to them. People are naturally attracted to the Alpha because they have confidence and offer value. Dillard says that some people can learn to become Alphas by deciding to change their mindset.

The Christmas Story: The angels say repeatedly, “Do not be afraid…”  Why? The God of the Bible has offered the powerful gift of love. The Apostle John wrote: “When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” [I John 4:17-18 - Version: The Message] Call it the “love mindset” or the “godly mindset.” It’s source is a bit different than what Dillard talks about, but the result is the same. In the words of an ancient prophet: The godly person “does not fear when heat comes… and has no worries when drought comes.” [Jer. 17:7-8] When so many live lives of fear, the calm and confident life is powerfully magnetic.

3) People are Attracted to Good News, Helpful News

Attraction Marketers:

Ann Sieg has written: “You can begin enjoying all the respect and benefits of being a recognized authority figure, without actually having to be one!”  Through research and through application of what you have learned, you are already ahead of many others who have not done that. You may not be the recognized expert, but using what you have learned, you can position yourself as a knowledgeable expert. “Being an ‘expert’ for the purpose of lead-generation means knowing slightly more about the topic than the customer. Nothing more.”

Mike Klingler has taught: “Leverage the news, what’s hot. Create a little buzz in your circle. The search engines notice this. Your audience notices it. Your credibility goes up and you stand out. People want to join you and perhaps subscribe to your blog. Because you look like you are in the know, and people want to be in the know too. All you really did was paid attention, and shared it.”

The Christmas Story: The shepherds, following the instructions of the angel, went and found the baby Jesus. Then what did they do? They told everyone else they met what had happened that night. Were they experts in messianic prophecy? No. Did they understand everything that happened? No. Were they theologians or rabbis? No. But they passed on what they knew. And what they knew was exciting and of interest to those that heard it.

THE SHEPHERDS (LK 2:15-18 Version: NIV)

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Go tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere,
Go tell it on the mountain,
Our Jesus Christ is born.

CONCLUSION: What To Make of This?

I wrote this for enjoyment. I do NOT believe the Bible was written to teach us about business or marketing. But perhaps you can appreciate Christmas more when meditating on the parallels from our everyday world of marketing. Or perhaps you may appreciate our marketing activities more with the parallels from the Christmas Story.

Either way, Merry Christmas!  … and, as Barbara Silva would say, let your light shine.

During this time when so much of the world celebrates the advent of Jesus as the Messiah, I’d like to ask, “Was Jesus a great example for home business sales and marketing?” After all, the focus of this blog is fitting the right pieces together for a successful home business. Should we study what Jesus did in order to come up with a model entrepreneur?

Many books have been written about Jesus and leadership, Jesus and home finances, Jesus and education, Jesus and selling. There is no doubt that Jesus was himself a teacher, but even the quickest reading of the Gospels will establish that the purpose of his training was not to create wealthy businessmen!

By the way, I have nothing against a goal of gaining wealth even though I cannot accept that Jesus taught a “health and wealth” gospel.

Nevertheless, in a book called, God Wants You to be an Entrepreneur, Rickey Singleton writes,

An entrepreneur is one that undertakes an enterprise; one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. We need to let God bring out of us the glory of being an entrepreneur. We have Christ in us, the greatest entrepreneur that ever lived. Jesus was an entrepreneur. He was in the business of building the church and prior to that he was a carpenter who built furniture. Being a builder, He also had to organize, manage, and assume the risks of his daily business. He had employees that he was responsible for, the twelve disciples, who each had their own businesses. (Page 38)

Some Fallacies in the “Jesus was the Greatest Entrepreneur” or “Jesus Was the Greatest Salesman” Position

I have found a lot of writing like that, and it bothers me. It is a gross sleight of hand to say

• that an entrepreneur is someone who … assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. The word entrepreneur is correctly associated with business – period. To extend it to the promotion of a belief system, to the recruitment of followers for political purposes (as many of Jesus’ first disciples actually believed) is wrong. It is an abuse of semantics when a writer modifies the meaning of “entrepreneur” to further the point of his book. What is an entrepreneur? Admittedly the term gets debated (see my article, “Qualities of an Entrepreneur“), but any definition is anchored within the context of business – making money.
• Jesus was in the business of building the church. During Jesus’ life on earth, he was not building his church. He was establishing his claim, with selected followers, that he was a divinely inspired teacher or (depending on your theology) the Messiah. He spoke of building the church in the future, as in “on this rock I will build my church.”  The best one could say was that he lay the groundwork for building the church. But unless one chooses to be really cynical, Jesus did not see the church as a business, an organization for making a profit.
• the disciples were employees. Employees are paid to do work and the disciples did not sign on with Jesus to make a living. They followed Jesus around because they admired what he said and did. To them, Jesus was a rebel leader to oppose the Romans or a spiritual guru.

So, I take exception to the approach that Singleton takes. Along a similar vein, Rich Vincent, a Baptist pastor, takes exception to Bruce Barton’s description of Jesus as “the great advertiser of his day.” Was Jesus the greatest salesman? Was Jesus the greatest entrepreneur?

Frankly, if you are looking for a model marketer for your small business, I would not advise you to ask, “What did Jesus do?”

• Jesus annoyed a lot of people and was put to death by an angry mob. (JN 10:19-20, LK 23:1-24) Antagonizing people is not the way to build a business.
• Jesus indicated that his message would cause hatred and turmoil. (MT 10:21-36) Using a message that stirs up hate does not gain positive publicity for your business.
• Jesus placed a value so high on his message that many (most?) were unable to afford it. For example, the price to obtain the fruit of his message was, at the least, giving up one’s family (LK 9:57-62) or else everything (LK 18:22). A good marketer analyzes his target market and devises a product and price to meet their resources.
• Jesus delivered a public, blistering, and very personal attack on his competitors. (MT 23)  Negative advertising will not attract. It can even turn off some of your best customers.

These are just a few examples -a bit tongue in cheek- that explain why I think using Jesus’ life and actions as a model for that of an entrepreneur to be ridiculous.  You can see how easy it is for me to cherry-pick my Biblical passages, however.

On the other hand, some of Jesus actions (washing the feet of his disciples, storytelling, etc) and more importantly his moral teachings do provide valuable application to business decisions and communications, since these are, after all, like all life decisions and communications.  John Labriola, in Christ-Centered Selling: A Scripturally Based Guide to Principled, Profitable Persuasion, does a good job of finding the Bible passages that support a winning marketing style. Still, books like these contribute to an essentially incorrect view of the nature of the Bible. The Bible was not written as a Business Handbook anymore than it was written as a Science Handbook.

Zig Ziglar said: “Any fair-minded individual will agree that its author Jesus Christ was the greatest salesman who ever lived. He was also the greatest sales trainer who ever lived.” As you can see above, I do not necessarily agree with that.

Try This: Be Happy When You See Congruence

I think it is possible to determine what makes for successful principles of selling and marketing without cherry-picking passages from the Bible to suit your purposes. Where there is congruence with your faith, delight in it. For example, the Christmas message of “goodwill toward men” is basic in attraction marketing. You need not study the Bible to learn marketing, but you may be glad, perhaps, for the congruence when it is there.

If you must disregard everything I wrote about, OK, here are some books I found while thinking about this article:

Part 1 described the controversy surrounding Ann Sieg’s ebook, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing. This article looks at the person behind the ebook.

Ann Sieg

A few years ago, Ann Sieg was a struggling network marketing newbie. Now she is considered an internet network marketing guru.

I believe that several qualities have contributed to Sieg’s emergence as a pre-eminent MLM guru, including:

• Persistent – During the first two years of network marketing she did not give up as many others do.

• Consistent Learner – Not only did she look for opportunities to attend training events, not only did she seek out coaches, but she sought out opportunities to learn from other experts in the industry. In a lengthy interview, Sieg indicates that a commitment to learning is what she considers to be the secret to success.

• Partnering – She has not hesitated to hire others to handle SEO, copyrighting, and other specialized tasks. She established strategic partnerships with Ken Evoy (Owner of Site Build-It) and Mike Klingler (Owner of Marketing Merge) and others.

• Leadership – She has consistently demonstrated a concern for showing network marketers a way to become successful. I felt this interest when she gave me a surprise phone call shortly after my purchase of The Renegade Network Marketer in August of 2007.

How Ann Sieg Got Started

In the beginning, as a “gung-ho” distributor for a health and wellness MLM company, Sieg participated in all the many activities traditionally suggested by network marketing companies and their upline leaders.

There were Tuesday and Thursday night hotel meetings on various nights of the week, and usually a training at someone’s house on Saturday. I went to all of them. It was my life. But the most important ones were the big monthly state trainings. There were usually 500 or more people at these weekend conferences and this is where they would hand out awards and recognize all the latest achievements. -Ann Sieg in the Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto, page 11

After almost 2 years of religiously going to meetings, setting up appointments and showing the plan, I came to a point in my business where I hit a massive brick wall. For all my hard work, I had nothing to show for it but debt, an abundance of products, and a dwindling list of friends who actually still talked with me. -Ann Sieg in The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing, page 4

…when my contacts list dried up I realized that I needed to “put my business out there” in some way to get more prospects. I had no clue what I was doing… I set up booths and passed out flyers at college campuses…stuck hundreds of homemade ads on car windshields at shopping malls…left a breadcrumb trail of business cards behind me wherever I went… tacked up “Make $15,000 a month!” ads printed off at Kinko’s on billboards at local coffee shops… slapped company magnets on my car. These are just a few of the antics I tried when I ran out of friends to bother. -Ann Sieg in The Renegade Marketer, page 75.

Sieg describes how she was able to transition from “desperately coercing one person every 5 months into my business… to having more eager prospects than I could handle.” The turning point was a guest speaker at her company’s state-wide event who described a marketing process called a “Health Awareness Seminar.” She thought, “I can try that.” These seminars were lay-level educational events focused on wellness. Products were mentioned at the end, almost as an after thought. After several months conducting these seminars, Sieg found herself selling more products than when she was trying hard to pitch them to everyone she met. More importantly, people were calling her for advice on wellness but also for advice on developing their own business. As the months continued, her business exploded.

What had actually happened? What principles were at work?

• People are drawn to information. Pitching repels; educating appeals.
• People are drawn to individuals they perceive as expert. As the teacher of the Health Awareness Seminar, Sieg had, perhaps unknowingly, positioned herself as knowledgeable, as an expert. As her sales of product increased, other people in the MLM company saw her as an expert distributor.
• People are drawn to others that are perceived as giving. Sieg was giving out free health awareness information and willingly helping other distributors.

Although all three of these factors contributed to a steep growth in the product end of Sieg’s business, she would have had a difficult time articulating those factors at that time. Despite apparent success, Sieg states:

I was selling thousands of dollars worth of product every month as a result of my health awareness seminars, but I was still extremely frustrated because I didn’t know how to use these same methods to sponsor people into my [MLM] business. I asked everyone I could for advice and it was always the same thing: Talk to more people. … I was tired of the all-fluff-no-substance training at every meeting, so I decided to start completely over.

I left the company I was with and went on a long process of mental “detoxification” and re-education. –Ann Sieg in The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto, page 46.

Ann Sieg’s Time Out for Learning

It was then 2004 and Sieg contacted someone she had heard might be able to help – Curt Johnson. In asking for his help, she wrote: “I feel a true obligation to help my people become successful.” This has typified her outlook throughout her network marketing career. Johnson had joined a networking group whose primary service is helping network marketers grow in knowledge and skills. Johnson then sponsored Ann Sieg into the same group. Johnson describes what happened next on his web page:

We had a great ride of success and growth in our businesses through 2005 and 2006 and both made some dramatic decisions – I went into full time missions work during that season, and she began work on what would become [the] Renegade System Phenomena.

This backdrop is just to let you know my perspective and opinion is formed out of hundreds of hours of working together with Ann Sieg on business projects. One of these projects was the development of the WorksTeam. She has since launched into great success for which I can take very little credit. We’ve maintained our friendship and enjoyed meeting each others families. -Curt Johnson on his web page.

Who is Ann Sieg? Johnson, goes on:

Ann is a passionate leader with pure motives. From her first communication with me (above) through these years – it has remained the same. She GIVES to see people excel. -Curt Johnson on his web page.

Sieg also reveals in The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto what she learned during this period. She was amassing skills in talking on the phone, pre-qualifying prospects, internet marketing skills, lead generation skills, and team leadership skills.  As she employed these skills, she began her journey to well-known internet network marketing guru. But it wasn’t just skills; it was hard work. Sieg found herself working far more than full time on her business and hired people to help her with follow up. She had also begun working on a plan that would help people learn what she had been learning. By December of 2006, that plan took shape as a diagram, a schematic of how the new “Renegade” system would work.

Ann Sieg’s New Branding as The Renegade

The Renegade system consists of several pieces. As it rolled out in the spring of 2007, it worked like this:

1. Free attention-getting eBook: The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing. This book focuses on the frustrations of the 97% of network marketers that have experienced difficulty and/or have quit. The purpose of the book, in terms of the system, is to empathize with the reader and thus touch on their emotions. In addition, it establishes the author, Sieg, as a network marketing expert in the mind of the reader. Finally, having connected with the reader with authentic experiences and some fundamentally sound information, it encourages the reader to purchase a book called The Renegade Network Marketer to learn how to approach network marketing differently and more successfully.
2. A for-purchase network marketing textbook: The Renegade Network Marketer. This book explains in detail the need for a network marketer to focus on marketing and to do it so effectively that an individual is pre-sold on the marketer’s product or service before they even contact the marketer. While the book includes many examples, it is largely theory, ie. what a marketer needs to know. However the book serves another function, it is the basis -the first aspect- of the Renegade system’s funded proposal. The reader is encouraged to resell the book at a 33% profit and thereby provide the reader with an additional revenue source.
3. The Renegade System Web Site. The web site comes free with the purchase of The Renegade Network Marketer where the reader is first introduced to its value. So, it turns out that the book purchase includes far more than just theory, but the practical side (the how to) of marketing is all provided at the Renegade System web site. The web site includes:
   • Tools and resources for reselling The Renegade Network Marketer
   • Many articles on how to market using different online and offline methods.
   • A list of additional affiliate products and a helpful system for registering for the affiliate products.

The system certainly was successful for Ann Sieg; far more importantly, it was an entry point for many others to get a taste of how professional marketing worked. As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series of posts, I entered the Renegade system in August of 2007 on the advice of my upline in my network marketing company.

An MLM Guru but Something was Missing

Of the many options for entering the brave new world of internet marketing described in the Renengade web site, I decided to start with a blog. The advice was to choose a hobby or some other area of expertise and develop the blog around that niche. I created a blog based on reading mystery books, but I had no idea what I was doing. I was in serious need of instruction and coaching. My upline leader also had no experience and was in no position to advise me. In fact, within 6 months, my upline leader abandoned interest in the Renegade System. Apart from the mystery books blog, and perhaps a half dozen Renegade Network Marketer books that I sold through Sieg’s system, and despite a personal phone call from Ann Sieg, I also lost interest.

Some people were able develop a successful internet marketing strategy using the Renegade System, but I along with many others were not able to progress. There was a missing piece to the system – training. But several of the more successful users of the Renegade System saw the lack of training and set about to remedy the problem. We’ll see how several people stepped up to the plate, how Ann Sieg joined forces with Mike Klingler two years later, and how my own interest was rekindled… in my next post in this series.

Meanwhile, if you really want to answer the question “Who is Ann Sieg?” or “What makes Ann Sieg tick?” – I recommend that you set aside some time to listen to an excellent interview conducted by blogger Carolin Hauser at empoweredbusinesswoman.com – you’ll discover how Ann Sieg’s leadership is based on strongly held values, discipline, and commitment to learning. Sieg comes through as a network marketer guru with humility and integrity.

Part 3 of this series will look at how Ann Sieg’s partnership with Mike Klingler has enabled her to offer practical resources to accompany her Renegade System and marketing theories.

Ann Sieg's Book - Buzz and Controversy

My online “presence” (not counting my “PBET” train-the-trainer business web site) began as a result of reading an ebook about the 7 lies in network marketing during August of 2007. How did that happen?

In 1996, Ruth signed up with a wellness-related network marketing opportunity because she liked the products and because the “opportunity” sounded good. I wanted nothing to do with the products or multilevel marketing (MLM) companies; my previous MLM experience 25 years before had been a nightmare. But by 1999, Ruth had begun to make a nice part-time income and she had “converted” me to a strong belief in the nutritional value of the products; so I began to help her with her MLM business.

We struggled for eight years. The income and number of distributors grew a little and then began to drift downward. We had already gone through our “friends and family” list, and we had no desire to harass or pursue those who had said “no” to us. So we knew that we had to find new people to whom we could present the product and/or the opportunity. We tried using what others refer to as “the 3 foot rule” with some small results. We tried classified advertising, holding hotel meetings, and pushing our downline with no real results. We became frustrated.

That was when we got an email from our upline suggesting that we download “The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing” and then purchase the “Renegade Network Marketer” both by Ann Sieg.

Unaware of a growing buzz and controversy surrounding the 7 lies ebook, one month later, I began work on my first blog.

Lies! - And How the MLM World Responded

Ann Sieg

I had no idea who Ann Sieg was in 2007; my upline suggested the book and I got it. However, the content of  The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing resonated with me. The primary message of the book is that network marketing is about 3 critical things: 1) marketing, 2) marketing, and 3) marketing.

Meanwhile most network marketing companies and leading distributors cover up and/or dilute this fact with, as Sieg states, “a horrible mess of hype, hot air, misconceptions, falsehoods, delusions, distortions, myths and downright lies that get passed along to one sponsor to the next.”

To get people’s attention, Ann Sieg selected the single most controversial word out of that “mess” to use in her book title: lies.

The reaction was incredible. Many, like myself, identified with the book and saw value in the content. Others did not understand the book’s purpose, mischaracterized it (created a “straw man”), and attacked it. Some of those people became so angry with her book that they tried to prevent its distribution!  In a subsequent book (The Renegade Network Marketer) Sieg supplies sample letters from these angry and defensive people, like this one:

You are so full of s***! Network marketing isn’t about selling, it’s about finding people who have dreams of wanting more for their lives. There is no problem with network marketing, you’re the problem. You are the Queen of scum! I pity the people that fall for your garbage and pray you stop doing what you’re doing before it’s too late!

Mike Klingler reports what happened when he began telling his MLM downline about Ann Sieg. He says that he received an email from a prominent distributor in his MLM company who was enraged by The 7 Great Lies.

I spent several hours today engaged in an eye-opening email exchange with one of the ‘frightened uplines’ who is in the $50,000+ per month range (or was). I don’t think he works much anymore, but he does do an occasional ‘training’ where he gets pretty worked up… teaching why we should ‘make’ people buy our products even if they don’t want to because they need it (he really teaches this… I was at his training last summer).

His argument is that Ann Sieg focuses too much on the negatives of the ‘old school’ model when she’s sharing how people can Attract Prospects to Them instead.

Now I have known this wealthy upline for quite a long time. I attended his ‘trainings’ and purchased many of his CDs and tapes over the course of 12 years… teaching the old model of ‘chase ‘em down’ marketing.

What I find interesting about his argument is that he, more than anyone I personally know, used a similar “negative-marketing” stragegy to motivate us to buy his stuff, and to sell our company’s products.

[His hostility and that of others like him] highlights the painful reality some uplines are experiencing as they watch times change. Their position as the ‘guru’ is slipping away.  -Mike Klingler in a HubPages article.

So why did we (Richard and Ruth) identify with these seven lies (myths, misconceptions… whatever name you like)? Because most of the “lies” she talks about were in fact the root causes to our own frustration and stagnation.

Types of Lies

There are deliberate lies and systemic lies. A person that deliberately lies knows what he is doing. He is fully conscious of his use of a lie to motivate or manipulate.

A systemic lie is told by a person that, for the most part, does not know that what he is saying is false. It is difficult to blame him because he is not conscious of doing anything wrong. Quite often the individual telling a systemic lie not only believes that the false idea is true, he also has a huge emotional investment in his belief.

Yes! We believe it! Why? Because we all do!

All of us are involved in various social systems; these include everything from sports fan groups to religious groups, neighborhoods to racial groups, occupations and occupational rankings (laborer – supervisor – CEO and more) to nations.  All of these groups are prone to accept certain theories, beliefs, and stories – not all of which are true.

“Urban myths” are one example demonstrating the widespread and easy acceptance of false beliefs, ie., systemic lies. When a false belief hurts others, it is appropriate to confront the believers with information that brings out the truth. False beliefs are ultimately damaging and self-destructive to individuals and institutions. Often, a person simply believes anything when it has been repeated enough by people in their social group.

Racism, ageism, sexism, and all other forms of discrimination thrive on false beliefs that are repeated for years as though the beliefs were true. Correcting the many false beliefs on which such discrimination rests is the right thing to do.

Individuals who are shown evidence that refutes certain of their ideas which, because of reinforcement by their social group, they strongly believe to be true, may react in a variety of ways. Some may ask questions in order to seek the truth. Others, more typically, may react defensively including denial, louder repetition of the challenged belief, and angry aggressive words and actions.

Some people defend telling deliberate “white” lies (”Santa Claus will bring you some presents”). But most agree that telling a deliberate lie that hurts others is wrong.

Likewise, systemic lies that hurt others are wrong.  Continuing to tell (repeat, teach, preach, broadcast) a systemic lie after having been presented with evidence that contradicts the belief is also wrong. Instead, it is right to research and question until a healthy and balanced “truth” is found.

Network marketers make up a social system and top ranking MLM distributors are a sub group of that social system. Over the years, a large body of beliefs has developed about the best way(s) to perform the tasks of an MLM distributor. These beliefs have been reinforced as individuals have moved from one company to another, sharing ideas, recommending books and tapes, and often listening to the same speakers.

Among these beliefs have been some theories as to why so very few people (3%) are successful – that is, make a profit, and why only a tiny fraction of those people go on to attain a full time income living on residuals. Typically these theories create guilt and shame for the unsuccessful. These are the theories, among others in network marketing, that Sieg is challenging in her book The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing.

Was the Word “Lies” a Poor Choice?

It is hard to get rid of systemic lies. Many such lies are strongly (and blindly) defended because they are pillars to some political, religious, nationalist, or racial agenda. Other systemic lies are blindly defended because the truth hits too close to one’s wallet. All too often a false idea is defended simply because the defender does not want to be seen as “wrong.”

So what does it take to get people to reconsider a whole set of beliefs?

For starters, you have to get people’s attention. In his book Artful Persuasion: How to Command Attention, Change Minds, and Influence People, Harry Mills (2000) says:

Because they are more concrete, personal, and image-provoking, vivid messages grab our attention; because vivid messages are more memorable, they linger longer for later recall.

Clearly the word “lies” –not to mention 7 lies of network marketing– has gotten people’s attention! Having done that, she mutes the force of the word, inside the book, by saying if not lies, then at least “hype, hot air, misconceptions, falsehoods, delusions, distortions, [or] myths.” As I said, with systemic lies, it is hard to blame anyone, and  The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing is not about blame. As Sieg states, “In this industry, we have a genuine case of the blind leading the blind.”

So what is the real purpose of the book?  It is to explain (give reasons) why common network marketing beliefs are actually false. In her more colorful language:

So my purpose in writing this book is to help you “deprogram” some of the nonsense and misconceptions that pollute this industry. This is the crucial first step towards becoming a highly-effective, well-paid, professional network marketer.

Then, once you have a clean slate to start with, you can begin learning how to really make this business work.

In other words, this book is not a “how to do network marketing” book. (If you want to know what “methods” Sieg advocates, you will need to read either or both of her two subsequent books: The Renegade Network Marketer and The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto.)

Attacks on The 7 Great Lies  - and My Reaction

I have read reviews of Sieg’s The 7 Great Lies that claim she advocates the use of malicious online advertising campaigns as the new way to market. It does no such thing. It does not advocate any type of “how to” at all!  This is not the purpose of the book (see above). It is incredible that people write reviews when clearly they have not read it.

If there is any advocacy in The 7 Great Lies at all, it is to learn that the key to network marketing – is marketing.

Some people are upset with Sieg, believing that her ebook puts a negative spotlight on the network marketing industry; they say she is damaging the reputation of network marketing. But is that true? Consider this: Research conducted by Leaders Club has shown a fairly consistent network marketer failure rate of 97% (drop out having made no profit). From that fact, I conclude,

• 

  The Fact Does More Damage Than Ann Sieg's Book

  When network marketing companies and uplines say that “anyone can do this” and 97% fail at it, it is at least disingenuous, if not systemic lying. “Anyone can do this” is one of the “lies” that Sieg includes in her seven.

• Insisting that people “duplicate” something that is not working for the large majority is foolish. As we all know, “If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you have always got.” In this case, a 97% failure rate.
• The 97 people out of 100 that drop out of network marketing with no profit are themselves the ones who damage the reputation of the network marketing industry. Even if only half that number actually tell other people something negative about their experience, the result is an army of naysayers, an avalanche of damaging discontent. It is hard for me to believe that one little book can do any worse than what has already been done.

So, I do not accept the argument that Ann Sieg’s book has damaged the industry’s reputation.  If anything, the fresh look has helped improve the industry’s reputation. In subsequent posts, I plan to discuss several of Sieg’s “lies” in greater detail and give my take on them.

Ann Sieg’s 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing – Still a Force

Three years after it was issued, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing continues to be downloaded and read by many people every day. It continues to hit home or ring true with many people, and it continues to irritate some who do not like Sieg’s writing style.

She uses colorful language and stories along with hyperbole to get the reader’s attention. Some find this “passionate” – others take a dim view of it.

She is certainly not the first to write about these issues. For example, Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring predates Sieg’s book. But she is the first to thoroughly organize the reasons why traditional network marketing methods are problematic and to present them in such a colorful way.

If you are a home business owner and you are looking for home business information for network marketers, understanding the 7 lies of network marketing is important. Obviously it is not the whole story. For that, one needs to know more about Ann Sieg and her other writings.

Part 2 of this series will look at the person behind the book, Ann Sieg.

They called Ronald Reagan “the Great Communicator.” What will they say about you or me?

That’s why I signed up for Coaching Cognition, a program sponsored by Renegade Professional. In many ways, I am a pretty good teacher; I am a career teacher and trainer. But as for the core of what makes great communication? Maybe not so good.

Reality TV often provides examples of miscommunication and failure to listen. Here’s one -

A bit of communication failure in that clip, right? Fighting, arguing, turning away, mind games, or insisting on one’s own agenda is hardly communication. We all know that it takes listening -real listening – to communicate, and that’s just the start of it.

Communication Success is My Goal, Not Communication Failure

When it comes to working with potential business partners, downline-upline members of a network marketing business, customers, colleagues, employers, employees, or even family members – I want to communicate honestly and wisely; I certainly do not want communication failure.

Coaching Cognition is a six month training course available online and over the phone. I believe that registration for the December 2009 – May 2010 session is only available for three more days. All of the Coaching Cognition coursework is approved by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) for credit leading to ICF certification. You must be a member of the Renegade Professional to sign up for Coaching Cognition.

The Renegade Professional is a membership-based online training center for those who wish to learn home business or small business marketing skills with an emphasis on internet marketing. Since the goal of small business marketing is connecting with potential customers or partners, Coaching Cognition was added to the overall program, rounding off the range of learning available from the Renegade Professional site.

The coaching skills taught at Coaching Cognition equate to communication skills necessary for success with customers and potential partners.

If you want to join me, act quickly! Join the Renegade Professional if you are not a member. Then sign up for the Coaching Cognition program. If you run into any confusion, contact me and I will help you through it.

I am committed to helping my fellow baby boomers as they hit retirement, look at their dwindled resources, and consider the possibility of starting their own business. One of my “helps” is a Newsletter called “Tips for Growing Your OWN Home Business.” Many other home business entrepreneurs are paying it forward also, offering their own helpful subscriptions and providing useful home business information for boomers. I subscribe to a number of them myself.

But, let’s face it – getting a random “Tip” on a random day is relying upon luck for learning. If you are really lucky a newsletter may provide just what your business urgently needs, just when you need it.  More often though, what you need is not what any of 50 Newsletters happen to be writing about on that week.

Don’t get me wrong! I’m glad to have you as a subscriber. You’ll find that Tips for Growing Your Own Business provides valuable information and encouragement to home business owners.

Hit or Miss Home Business Information

It’s just that you really shouldn’t rely on various newsletters for your training. It’s too hit or miss. OK – it’s a step up from straight-out “trial and error learning” – also called “learning by doing” or “learning from your mistakes.” If you ever took a psychology course, you know trial and error learning has been proven to work. Remember the experiments with the mouse finding the cheese at the end of a maze? After many, many tries (and mistakes) the mouse “learns” to find the cheese with no wrong turns. So researchers know -we all know- that trial and error learning works.

But we also know that trial and error learning takes a very long time! In the real-live situation of learning how to start and grow a home business, how many months or years do you have available to “try” before you run out of money? Trial and error random learning is inefficient.

What would you think if our military said to a new volunteer, “Here’s your uniform. You’ll be leaving for the battlefield tomorrow. We expect you to learn how to perform on the job. After you’ve been in the field for a few years, you’ll get the hang of it.”

Ridiculous!

No, we know that a structured way to learn is best in that situation. It works best to set time aside for training (boot camp and advanced special courses) even though the need to get started on the home business tasks is urgent.

Better Way to Get Home Business Information

Starting a home business often begins with excitement and urgency. But too often it ends in frustration. One of the many factors can be the starting assumption that “I know all I need to know.”

Let me share this: I have been in business for over 15 years as an Equipment Training Workshop Leader and Consultant. I picked up a few things about marketing from the random books I read. I thought I knew what I was doing. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Every task, step-by-step, just when needed, at my own pace

A second business has been network marketing. As that business was growing, I thought I knew why. Again – I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It was when the network marketing business began to fail -dry up- that I started looking for answers. Eventually I began to seek out structured learning, ie., training.

Now I say, “If only I knew then what I know now!” What I have learned from attraction marketing training programs has been applicable to both my consulting business and our network marketing business.

Random home business newsletters (even my own), random books by business leaders, and random free webinars are all good. Unfortunately the timing and topics are often out of synch with the needs you may have at the moment. But identifiying your home business weak points and getting systematic, self-paced training in internet marketing -and other home business skills-  is just working smarter.

Just-in-time manufacturing is a well-known and efficient way to organize the resources for a factory. Imagine just-in-time home business information  available online whenever I need it. Imagine that every lesson allows one to go at his own pace. Imagine a menu of hundreds of home business tasks. It’s a style of training that’s right for baby boomers just starting a home business, or for boomers that have existing businesses and are looking to develop new skills.

Such home business training is not imaginary – it really exists through a site known as The Renegade Professional.  A membership at this training site is a good investment.  It’s possible to get the first month of training for free along with some other valuable materials, including The Renegade Network Marketer, the book that lays the theoretical groundwork for all of the training.

The Renegade Professional is not the only training site available. Your needs may vary. If you want some advice about the best site for you, contact me and let’s set up a time to talk about it.

Don’t build your business on a random foundation. It leaves too many cracks. Investigate the value of home business training.

The Best Way to Learn New Home Business Skills and Information

If self-paced training tutorials are a better way to learn than random learning aids like home business newsletters, what is the best way?

The best way to learn is by combining self-paced training with a mentor who can also provide feedback on your application of the skills to specific feedback. I have promoted the importance of feedback during training for years in my role as a training consultant.

How can the home business owner arrange to have the benefit of such feedback? The answer is to find a mentor. I have written elsewhere on what  ”find a mentor” actually means. But the key in this situation is to find someone already familiar with the training program that you are using so that they can serve as a guide and feedback-provider… regardless of whether they call themselves a business mentor or business coach or something else.

The Renegade Professional, mentioned above, has a list of individuals qualified to serve you as a Guide (”Superguide”) and others that are further qualified as business coaches. This is an example of combining powerful learning elements to speed home business owners toward mastery of home business skills.

Summary

• Random learning like Newsletters, webinars and more = sometimes helpful
• Self-paced training with extensive selection of home business information and tasks = good
• Training plus feedback and help from a coach or mentor = best

Photo of soldiers above: CC at Flickr by 82nd Sustainment Brigade, Jason Allgood photographer

Photo of man with computer:  purchased from iStockphoto

I guess what caught my eye was his picture and the fact that the man was 61 years old. Just doing some web browsing when I found out about Cliff Young, the legendary marathon runner in Australia.

His name came to the attention of his countrymen in 1983 when he was a surprise entrant for a 543-mile run from Sydney to Melbourne.

He arrived for the race wearing overalls and gumboots and took a place among a field of elite runners, most of whom had trained hard for the event.  It didn’t take too long for these experienced runners to leave Cliff behind as the race began.  Many of the spectators and media watching the race were struck by his unusual but peculiar running style, a kind of shuffling gait.

Many thought Cliff really wasn’t serious and thought it could all be just a publicity stunt. Because of his advanced age, many even feared for his health and questioned whether or not he could even finish the race.

Unlike a lot of people that play around with a home business, he was not put off by the doubters. He was not put off by those who questioned his methods.

And he had no intention of quitting.

What makes you think you can compete in a race like this, he was asked. This potato farmer from nowhere replied,

See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the whole time I was growing up– until about four years ago when we finally made some money and got a four wheeler– whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 head, and we have 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d catch them. I believe I can run this race; it’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.

It was standard for the experienced marathoners to run 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. The thing is, old Cliff Young did not know that!

On the morning of the second day, everyone was surprised to learn that Cliff was still in the race.  Not only was he still in race, but he had continued to run throughout most of the night without stopping.

When asked what his strategy was for the remainder of the race, he let everyone know his plan was to keep running straight to the finish line without sleeping.

As the race went on, Cliff kept running slowly with his now familiar shuffle. Each night he inched closer and closer to the front runners as they rested their 6 hours. During the final night of the race, Cliff had finally caught up to and eventually passed the pack of professional athletes while they were sleeping.  When he crossed the finish line first that day, he had set the new course record and beat his competitors by a large margin. At the end of the race, he took the $10,000 prize money and gave it away to five other runners and returned quietly to his ranch.

Asked what advice he’d give to other elderly runners, he said, “No matter what you do, you have to keep moving. If you don’t wear out, you rust out.”

My first thought in reading about this legend was the classic “hare and the tortoise” story. Indeed, many other websites refer to it that way.

Persistence. As a home business owner, the same trait is required. There are a whole lot of people that have confused “business” with “get rich quick.”

During the past ten days, I had a list of accomplishments that needed to be completed by yesterday. I worked more or less constantly. I felt like the “hare.” But that is not the basis of winning. It is the behavior of the tortoise that is required to be successful.

As a baby boomer, I have never been good at staying the course, at persistence. But I have no doubt that building a business is a long term commitment.

So listen up business owners, and especially you boomers! This is a call to persistent marketing. You will have days that require a sprint. But it is the persistent shuffle that will actually build your business.