Tweet

The turning point – when you start to become successful

Written by: Martin Malden

Article Overview: When people join a Multi-Level Marketing or Network Marketing business for the first time they're often told to just follow the system. If you follow the system, they're told, you will make money. Well - as I discovered, that's not always true. And there are other considerations you need to take into account as well.

The turning point – when you start to become successful

A while back I wrote an article about staying motivated when you seem to be failing.

That was an important article for me personally because I had gone through the roller coaster of emotions that we all do when starting out on a new venture, and I’d nearly walked away from it.

Thankfully I didn’t. But that close brush with becoming one of the 95% of Internet business start-ups that fail made me consider how I could offer support to others in the same position.

In other posts I’ve made suggestions on how to deal with the negative effects of over-hyped claims, and steps to make sure your business is properly set up.

Today I’m going to focus on a couple of things that I’ve personally done that are starting to get me some traction. This is not to say that I’m hugely successful. I’m not. Yet. But things are beginning to go my way.

These are things that, in addition to the content of my other posts, I hope will provide some support to people who are in the down period – when you’ve discovered that you don’t just put up a site and make millions.

Here we go:

Listen to your gut feel.

One of the things that attracted me to the business I joined was the promise of a pre-written email sequence to follow up with my opt-ins. In order to understand what people who opted in to my site were experiencing I opted in to my own site. And I was thoroughly dismayed.

The emails that came out were the epitome of ‘interruption marketing’ (hat tip to Seth Godin). They were full of SCREAMING and orders to DO THIS RIGHT NOW.

Most people who received those emails didn’t much like them, so they hit the ‘Spam’ button pretty regularly. As a result, the delivery rate, which was low a year ago, became so low that by this year it was zero. And the pre-written emails were scrapped.

Luckily (and much to the disapproval of my sponsor at the time) I set up my own lead capture page, wrote my own follow up emails, set up my own Aweber account and kept my optins well away from the ‘official’ email sequence. And my delivery rate has been consistently over 98%.

This is not intended as a brag. My point is this: there was a lot of pressure for me to use the ‘company’ system, and that would have been the easy option. But I was very uncomfortable at the thought of emails like that going out in my name, and using my email address as the ‘reply to’ address. So I did my own thing – as much to protect my reputation as anything.

It’s not easy to do your own thing when you’re new in a business and your sponsor is encouraging you in the direction of the company system.

But, when your gut feel tells you otherwise, you should listen very carefully. And, as long as you’re not breaking the terms of your affiliate agreement, following your gut feel is usually not going to take you too far wrong.

Next: Use your own personal experiences (and what you’ve learnt) for the benefit of others.

When I first set up a blog I thought that it had to be a marketing channel for my business. I was still finding my feet in the business and most of the benefits that I wrote about were simply re-stated from the company conference calls, emails and website.

Nothing I wrote at that time described my own experience. And when I read those early posts now I am, frankly, embarrassed.

Some time later I slowly came to realise that blog could be turned into a resource for other people who were dealing with the same struggles that I was. Including people in my down-line.

So I stopped writing about my businesses and started writing about my own personal experiences. The difficulties and successes I’d had and how I’d dealt with them.

Since then, my readership has gone up steadily and I actually enjoy writing my weekly post now – whereas before it was one of those tasks that loomed over me.

If you write about your own personal experiences it’s much easier to draw people into your circle because, strange as it may seem, people can ‘hear’ that what you’re writing is real.

And once you begin to build a relationship with people it’s seriously easier to persuade them to buy whatever it is you’re selling! (Seth Godin again: Permission Marketing)

So – two things that have helped to get things going my way: listening to my gut feel and using my experiences to offer support to others.

Related Articles
  5.1 Insufficient investments in Africa have hindered the deepening of diversification: Economic Report on Africa 2007
  5.1 The development model should determine the optimal trade policy: Economic Report on Africa 2007
  Creating Overachievers
  5.1 Faster economic growth could assist in diversification efforts: Economic Report on Africa 2007
  Parking Lot Power

Article Tags: business start ups, delivery rate, disapproval, emotions, epitome, hat tip, ins, internet business, interruption, marketing, roller coaster, seth godin, traction, ups



Related Forum Posts
Re: 2 New famous entrepreneur features - Hi Evan, I have just posted the Disney video on my blog and pointed it to evancarmichael.com. I gave my blog post a tweet too! I liked the message, especially as it gave three tips for people to take away. Do what you love is the key, but the second and third tip are crucial to turning what you love into a successful business.
Your first big break - Many of the members in this forum are past the startup phase and I'd like to ask what your first turning point was? Do you recall if it was a person you met, an event that happened, an article published about your business, etc...? And more importantly, what did you do to capitalize on your first "big break" to ensure your continued business growth? I wanted to ask this question since it's very easy to let key opportunities slip away. Thanks
Generalist vs. Expert - Hi Kevin - great topic! I think to start a business you need to have enough of the general skills to get going. You end up having to do so many things that you need to wear many hats in your business. Even if you have partners there will always be more tasks to get done than time and people available. That being said, you need to have a vision, lead your company forward and be an expert in your field. If you're not one of the best at what you do then it will be hard to stand out and build a successful company. I think the most successful entrepreneurs are experts in a particular field but also have enough skills to be generalists when need be.
drip drip drip - Hi Martin! I think it happens to everyone at some point. That they start taking on work and project they dont love because they need the money...or something...and pretty soon, all they have ended up with is another JOB that they hate. I like to counsel business owners and ask them the tough questions right up front. So they can start thinking about what they really want to create, not just what they want to do.. Cheers
Who inspired you to start? - When I was a teenager I read "The Art of the Deal" by Donald Trump while on a road trip to New York City. It helped inspire me to want to start my own business and is also one of the reasons why I have created so many famous entrepreneur profiles. I believe that by modeling the success of other entrepreneurs you too can become successful. Who was it that inspired you to start your business?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Life is a Balancing Act!

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

Stress: What Causes It and How To Deal With It

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.