The Red Marble

Here is a story I've heard before...read it today again and just thought it was worth sharing. Enjoy!
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A Red Marble

During the waning years of the depression in a small southeastern
Idaho community, I used to stop by Mr. Miller's roadside stand for
farm fresh produce as the season made it available. Food and money
were still extremely scarce and bartering was used, extensively.

One particular day Mr. Miller was bagging some early potatoes for
me. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged
but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green
peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of
fresh green peas.

I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the
peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr.
Miller and the ragged boy next to me.

"Hello Barry, how are you today?"

"Hello Mr. Miller, Fine, thank you. Just admiring those peas...
sure look good."

"They are good, Barry. How's your Mother?"

"Fine. Getting stronger all the time."

"Good. Anything I can help you with?"

"No, Sir. Just admiring those peas."

"Would you like to take some home?"

"No, Sir. I don't have anything to pay for them with."

"Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?"

"All I have is my prize marble here."

"Is that right? Let me see it."

"Here it is. She's a dandy."

"I can see that. Hmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort
of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?"

"Not exactly...but, almost."

"Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip
this way let me look at that red marble."

"Sure will. Thanks, Mr. Miller."

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me.
With a smile she said: "There are two other boys like him in our
community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just
loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes or
whatever."

"When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do,
he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home
with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one,
perhaps."

I left the stand, smiling to myself, impressed with the man. A
short time later I moved to Utah but I never forgot the story of
this man, the boys and their bartering.

Several years went by each more rapid than the previous one. Just
recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho
community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died.
They were having his viewing that evening and knowing my friends
wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon our arrival at the
mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased
and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army
uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white
shirts...very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller,
standing smiling and composed, by her husband's casket. Each of
the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly
with her and moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes
followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and
placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket.
Each left the mortuary, awkwardly, wiping his eyes. Our turn came
to meet Mrs. Miller.

I told her who I was and mentioned the story she had told me about
the marbles. Eyes glistening she took my hand and led me to the
casket. "Those three young men, that just left, were the boys I
told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things
Jim "traded" them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his
mind about color or size...they came to pay their debt.

"We've never had a great deal of wealth of this world," she
confided, but, right now, Jim would consider himself the richest
man in Idaho."

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her
deceased husband. Resting underneath were three, magnificently
shiny, red marbles.

We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds.

Author Unknown


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Breakthrough Discovery - Checking Your Thinking On This Could Mean The Difference Between Success and Failure

Recently while listening to one of my many personal development audios I focused in on one very important topic discussed. The speaker was talking about the essentials of taking full financial control of one's life. He said that in order to have everything that you want you have to help enough people get everything they want. I think Zig Ziglar said this first. Simple concept.

But then I searched deeper.... and this hit me square between the ears.

It's not necessarily the quality of the service rendered to others that we have trouble with, but rather the QUANTITY.

This was huge! T his truth struck home with me because as I've watch my team grow and leaders begin to emerge it's not the ones that are meticulous about every detail of the business that do the best it's the ones that take massive action that make the big things happen.
You might want to re-read that last paragraph a few time.

It's all about your frame of mind.

For instance . . .

We do training calls every week and I get asked these questions all the time:

"What should I do with the leads that don't join? Is there any way to get them to join?"

I always reply the same way.

"Don't worry about them . . . Go get more prospects."

I think sometimes we get caught up in the singular interactions of network marketing to realize that it's NOT so much about doing every little thing perfectly, but rather getting your message out to as many people as possible.

My whole theory is . . . Why waste time trying to change someone's mind when you can in that same period of time and with the same amount of energy find 20 more people that may be interested in what your doing?

So for today I want to leave you with a little homework.
Ask yourself NOT how can I do it better but how can I do MORE?

Let me know what answers you find.

Steve Peck
DigitalSuccess.info

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Are you working on yourself each day...here is a great resource. The Master of the personal development masters. Subscribe to his free newsletter and check out his life changing insights. Click here ====> Jim Rohn

Is Internet Network Marketing Really That Different?

The truth is offline and online network marketing are not all that much different.
When promoting a network marketing opportunity offline, whether it's through buying and cold calling leads or a direct mail campaign, your job is to expose your offer to as many people as possible.

I was with a mlm company that promoted using flyers, "pull-tabs" and signs to generate leads. Talk about work, for 10 leads it took 1,000 flyers a day, thats 5,000 a week, 20,000 to 25,000 per month. Sure it worked, but who could do that continuously on a "PART TIME" basis. But the objective was still the same - exposure to as many people as possible.

The story doesn't change when you promote your business online. The objective is getting your offer seen by as many people as possible. This translates online into: targeted TRAFFIC generation.

The amount of targeted TRAFFIC that you can generate to your lead capture page is directly proportional to the amount of success that you will have promoting your opportunity online.

It's that simple!

The challenge is most network marketers don't know anything about generating unique and highly targeted traffic online, so many of them fall into traffic generation traps that waste their time and money.
My goal is not to have this happen to people. I discuss traffic generation methods that are tried and true.

These are methods that I've learned work over the past few years after falling for most of the traps myself. The traffic generation techniques that are to follow work - and will ALWAYS work. They are the ONLY traffic generation methods that you will EVER need.

What does targeted traffic mean?
The term targeted traffic is any traffic generation method that will get your offer in front of as many interest people as possible. Here's the principle that all of the traffic generation methods to follow are be based on.

FIND TARGETED GROUP + GET CLICKS = HIGHLY TARGETED TRAFFIC

It's a simple formula.

The principle above is extremely powerful, so don't underestimate it!
Now here's the deal . . .

Some of the traffic generation methods that we're going to discuss here are "free" and some aren't. Don't automatically assume that either free or paid traffic has an inherent advantage over the other. They both work. Free methods aren't really free because they will in most cases cost your time. ( IMPORTANT: Your time is just as valuable as your money. )

For Additional Information visit ===> www.DigitalSuccess.info

The Secret Of Network Marketing Success

Sometimes we are lead to beleive that network marketing is easy. I won't lie, it is not easy. It can be simple but not easy. But there is a little know way to absolutely ensure your success, The Secret.

This secret is seldom used yet for those that do hold true to the principle I'm going to share they can not fail. That is right, success is virtually guaranteed. We need to set the backgroud for this secret to quick success in network marketing. The level of success and freedom in life that network marketing offers the average person is unlimited and that's the appeal, but there are some ways to help ensure that success occurs for you as quickly as possible.

Most people jump into a new home business on a hope and dream. They look at the compensation plan and the testimonials involved with the network marketing company that they are about to join and see the vision. They say "Man ... IF I max out this plan I'll be making $40,000 a month and I'll never have to work again! Let's give it try!"

They fill themselves up with anticipation for the windfall of cash that is on the way and they sit back and wait for the money to come to them. Then a month later after they go through a few trails and try a few things unsuccessfully they say . . . "Why isn't this working?" Then the next month when they put in half the effort they put in their first month and nothing happens again they quit and say they were scammed.

Were they scammed?

You see, before you start any Network Marketing business you have to do a little bit more homework than just look at the compensation plan and the testimonials. You have to really research what you are about to get yourself into.

What type of research do you have to do? What questions should you ask?

Here they are:

" How long has the company been around?
" What is the product?
" Is the product unique?
" Does the product have mass appeal?
" Is the product a front runner in an emerging market?
" Can you become passionate about the product?
" Does the business have a powerful marketing system in place?
" Who are the successful people in this business?
" What are the successful people doing to create that success?
" Is the product something that the majority of the public can afford?
" Am I personally financial stable enough to start a new business?
" What type of a monthly marketing budget will I have to set aside to be successful?
" What are the conversion statistics for the marketing process?
" Is the business truly duplicable?
" What would be my break even point?
" Is there a way to make money quickly with this business or is there a way that I can create a quick income in marketing
this business?

You see it's not just the opportunity that has to be correct. You have to be a correct match for the opportunity and you have to be in a financial position to take advantage of the opportunity at hand.

Way too many times I see people joining my business that jump in on a hope and a dream. They have barely enough money to pay for there monthly membership commitment and yet they still want to know the fastest way to grow their business FREE.

When people get caught up in the emotion of opening the possibility for more in their life sometimes they don't think clearly. They think if they can just get themselves in they will get rich.

It's not just about getting yourself in. It's about getting yourself in and putting yourself in a position to be able to fully maximize the opportunity at hand.

I get asked the following WRONG question all the time.

"How long until I make money?"

It's not about how long until you make money it's about what you have to do to make money.

The truth is you could put yourself in a profitable situation tomorrow or today, but it would take resources and a good deal of learning to know how to do it.

The truth is. The fast way is never the FREE way. It's either going to take you a good deal of money to put yourself in a profitable position or a good deal of education, and most of the time both.

There is no luck factor.

You don't earn money until you are worth of the income you produce. As the great Earl Nightingale always says "You have to be worth more than you are getting paid for your income to grow." This is the natural state of all things and it's not going to change. In order for your income to grow you must grow.

Now . . .

Let me back up for a second to say that you CAN create a large amount of success in Network Marketing for free, but not until you know how.

If you don't have the answer to this question of how to create a large amount of success for free now and it is a burning desire for you learn how to do this, then get out there and do the necessary leg work and research to get yourself into to the position in which you can grow your network marketing organization for FREE.

Enough of this banter . . . Are you ready for "The Secret"?

If you want to have HUGE success in Network Marketing quickly you will need to obtain or create a powerful marketing system that is highly duplicable. If you want do this on the internet here are the critical factors that you should look for in the least:

" A high power lead capture page
" A strong follow up email system that incorporates the fear of loss.
" A direct marketing style website that sells so you don't have to.

Now, let's talk about the secret that will absolutely guarantee that you succeed in Network Marketing.

Ready?

Well remember when I gave the example above of the typical mindset for people entering into network marketing? They say: "Man ... IF I max out this plan I'll be making $40,000 a month and I'll never have to work again! Let's give it try!"

All we have to do is change one word in this statement to give you the little known secret to guaranteeing you network marketing success.

Change the word "IF" to "WHEN". Don't make it a possibility to succeed in network marketing make it a conviction.

It's the people that see the compensation plan and do all the research that I've noted above and then say to themselves that it's only a matter of time until they max out their compensation plan that truly and always without a shadow of a doubt succeed.

Network marketing is not something that works part of the time or if your lucky. It always works as long as you do everything in your power to make it work.

Set a goal in your network marketing business and don't stop until you get there and you WILL get there. I guarantee it.

For More Information on Success in Online Network Marketing visit => http://DigitalSuccess.org

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR NEW RECRUIT!

Portions of one of my recent articles:

Retention is one of the keys to Internet Marketing Success or the success of most any business for that matter. It takes the most time and effort to attract and recruit members into your group....let's make sure we keep as many as we can.

Here is a common question asked of most sponsors:

"I've got a new sign up in my business, now what do I do? How do I make sure I keep them?"
This always makes me smile. Smile because of my excitement for them but also in part because this question reveals how green this new team member is.

Pay close attention to what I'm about to say. Some of what I am about to reveal may shock you and some of
it will prove to be just common sense.

Let me start by saying if I knew the definitive answer to this question I'd be a billionaire right now.

I think one of the biggest mistakes that we all make as human beings in our daily lives is that we try to take responsibility for things that are truly out of our control and when they don't turn out how we expect we blame ourselves. If we could each just rid ourselves of this unneeded burden I think we'd all live a much happier and fuller life.

I've fallen victim to this thought pattern myself and I receive emails from people that fall victim everyday.

We all do it.

In my case, in my last network marketing experience, I put out a whole lot of effort and cash out and didn't receive the reward I expected. I blamed myself. I thought that it was ALL my fault when in reality my success or failure in this situation only partially had to do with ME. I'm not saying you aren't responsible for your own success.

I assumed that I just wasn't good enough. I was putting out all this effort so I thought how come IT wasn't working?
It must be me. Well, the truth is it takes two to tango as they say. My leads weren't biting not only because of me, but also because the business opportunity that I was leading them to was confusing and didn't appeal to them. (Which I didn't see at the time.)

Some of the blame should have been placed on the shoulders of the company and the way that I was taught to interact
with my leads, but while in the situation the natural assumption is to blame yourself. I'll tell you right now if you're not having the sort of success that you want to have it's NOT all your fault, so let that weight on your shoulders go.

I know your thinking. . . what does this have to with retention in your network marketing business? Well it speaks exactly to the question of retention. Whether or not your new team member stays or goes it's NOT your fault. (Unless you actively make efforts to drive them away)

Think about it like this . . .Every decision you or I make is OUR decision and no other person can change our mind once that decision is final. If you choose to leave your current business is there anything that your upline could do to keep you once your decision is final?

Well it works the same way with your recruits. Ultimately they make the decision of whether or not to stay or go. There is no magic formula to retaining your entire team. And although ultimately you can't control who stays or leaves your network marketing team there are some things that you can do increase your retention.

While there are no guarantees, if you do these things and people still leave your team it's NOT your fault and there
is nothing more that you could have done to retain them.

So how do you increase your team's retention rate?

1. Get people moving right from the beginning

As soon as someone new comes into your team give them something to do. Get them active in their business. This is important because it keeps them interested and starts their momentum. The first thing that I tell all of my team members to do is download a copy of our team marketing guide. Read it. Mark it up with questions. Get aquainted with the product. Right out some questions that they may have and then get back to their sponsor to set up a game plan.

This is a good route to take because it makes each person accountable for their own success and it will quickly show
you who's serious and who's not. (The people that get back in touch with their sponsor are SERIOUS.)

2. Be there.
The next thing that you can do for your team to keep them active is just be there. Give them your contact info and let them know when it's acceptable for them to call you with questions and for advice and then be there during that time frame.

3. Hold yourself accountable

If you make a mistake or you don't hold to a time commitment own up to your mistake, make good on it and apologize. We're all human and we all make mistakes. This will also show your team how to behave when they make a mistake. Its not about blaming yourself, or someone else. Its about growing and getting better.

4. Motivate

One of the most powerful ways to keep your team is to help motivate them. There are several ways to do this, but here
are a few.

If I have a success or if I try something new and it works well I make sure to let the whole team know. For instance,
when I first started when I would run a successful ad campaign I gave my team all the details of what I did, how I
did it, and how they could do it to.

If I have a team member that has success I try to let the whole team know. If anyone on the team is doing great I make
sure to send an email out with a case study. I know I like it someone highlights me as a success so it's good to pay it
forward as much as possible. It motivates the team member with the success and lets the others know they can do it too.

You don't have to have all the answers or be perfect, but as long as you let your team know that you are there and you
are doing all that you can to help them be more successful you will start to create a community of like minded individuals.

Send your team emails that give them your thoughts, your ideas for success, and your passion and they will see that your
cause is more than just money.
5. Create a community

The most important thing that you can do to help maintain and increase your team's retention rate is to foster a sense of community. Once you create a community around you both above and below, you realize that you have much more than a business - you have a thriving community of individuals that are all striving for the same goal. And know that many people have a strong need to belong to something.

As a team we do weekly team online conferences where we all can all interact personally. One of my team leaders even
started a forum! Anything you can do to foster a sense of community will pay for itself in spades over the life of your business.

So when I am asked the question . . .

" I just got a new sign up how do I make sure they stay?"

I reply . . .

Support them and share anything you can to help them to be successful and if you've done this you can't worry about whether or not they stay or go.

The people that should end up on your team do and that's the magic of it all.

Steve Peck
Digital Success Coach
http://DigitalSuccess.info

=============================================
Forget cold calling. Forget those home meetings. In fact, forget
everything you've ever been taught about building a solid
income in Network Marketing from the "gurus". Let this 25-
yr "unknown" marketer show you how he built an organization
of over 4,120 in 14 short months without making one phone
call! ==> http://DigitalSuccess.info
==============================================

It's been awhile since I added a personal update. My foray into internet marketing is going well.... have a Pay Per Click campaign running in Google Adwords. Also, I've been writing and publishing articles.

I've been learning a lot about the ins and outs of marketing online. Amazingly, one of the most valuable things I've done is research. From research I started in the PPC efforts, I've discovered all kinds of information and approaches used by the various Guru's. It really is quite interesting.

While I'm doing all this, I'm working my way through the training in the Power Prospecting System. And as you can imagine, I've already made some of the mistakes.

Fortunately, I wasn't making them for too long before the pitfalls were pointed out to me in the training. I've been around for a long time (in marketing since 1979) and I'm extremely impressed with the content and approach of Daegan Smith. He shares how he really got his business going, what he focused on and mistakes he made. My previous exposures to MLM top guns always left me a little wondering how did they really do this. In many cases I thinks some of them just lucked out and didn't really have a system they could use to teach others.

I'm focused on One Goal. I'm building from scratch, something I'm confident I can share and teach others to do too. I'm committed to paving a path for others to follow, stepping beyond what they previously thought possible for themselves.

Yesterday, I ran across a listing of legal notices of real estate foreclosures in our local paper. It must have been 4 or 5 pages long, in that fine print of legal notices. It made me realize how important this can be for people. An extra $500 or $1000 a month could have meant the difference for many of these folks keeping their homes.

If you are reading this and wondering.....take action. You'll be glad you did.

Have a great day,

Steve Peck
Digital Success Coach
http://DigitalSuccess.info

Internet Success Is In The Numbers

From a recent article I wrote: Internet Success Is In The Numbers

A key to success in any business is in the numbers. Maybe that’s why there are so many accountants!

Why?

Your numbers give you a concise and predictable roadmap to follow as you grow and expand your internet business. Some people call these their gauges, just like the ones a pilot uses to navigate. The pilot uses his gauges to see if he's on course and to make corrections if the plane starts to get off course. What happens if his gauges don't work.... the pilot gets lost or even my crash and burn. These numbers must be important.

What does this mean to internet marketing success? Knowing your exact conversion statistics gives you a guide or a set of gauges for your business. As you check your gauges, you'll be able to tell if you are on course. More importantly, if you start to get off course you'll be able to tell where you need to make adjustments or refinements. Is it your ad? Is it the place your ad is running? Is it your sales message?

Now if you are also looking for MLM internet success, the value goes even higher. Just think, once you've plotted a course. Have the gauges to see if you are on track, and can share this with your team. What do they have? Of course, they now have a course to follow with predictable results. And with the gauges, if they aren't getting the results you and others are getting...you have a tool to help them pin point what to adjust in their efforts for there internet success too.

In my own off line, traditional MLM business I had gauges and statistics. One of my biggest hang-ups from the days when I was less than successful was not knowing the conversion figures of my business, and to tell you the truth, when you spend your time calling leads or personally interacting with your prospects early on, it's hard to even keep track of how reliable your figures are because you as a rep directly influence them.

You or the Person involved was personally a big part of the system and the results. If you are great on the phone and others aren't, they won't get the same results. The system wasn't really duplicateable. Results weren't predictable once you got to the step where the person became a part of the system.

This is why I am such a large proponent for internet network marketing. Internet Success still requires effort but the results are more predictable. The figures never change and they never lie because the system does the selling NOT you.

I can confidently tell my team if they can generate 100 leads in the course of a month they will at least recruit 5 new team members into their business. I know this because the numbers say.

Just knowing your sign up conversion ratio is just the beginning.
* Do you know your retention rate?
* Do you know what percentage of people upgrade to the premium level in your business?
* Do you know how many people go out and duplicate your results?

If you don't, stop now and take the time to find out. Once you know your numbers a clearly defined path to your own Internet success will show itself to you. Then all that's left for you to do is put it to work for you!

Steve Peck
www.DigitalSuccess.info