Increase Your Credit Score By 100 Points or MORE Within 6-8 Months

INTRODUCTION

"It is God's will for you to live in prosperity, instead of poverty. It is God's will for you to pay your bills, and not to be in debt."-Joel Osteen

Allow me to preface this post by stating that when I married my wife some nine years ago, I was in a MESS financially. I was earning poverty wages, and I had racked up a number of collections on my credit report. I was an honest person, with poor credit, due to my inability to come up with the funds that were necessary to cover my outstanding debts.

There were several instances where the thought of filing bankruptcy crossed my mind. I would never classify the act of filing for bankruptcy as being either right, or wrong. However, for some reason, my conscience would not allow ME to do it.

I felt that I was responsible for my financial obligations, and I decided that if I could ever discover a way to pay the debts that I owed, and to increase my credit score to a level where I would no longer be either denied credit, or charged 20-25% for everything that I applied for, then I would absolutely do it.

I made a commitment to God that I would pay every single creditor that I owed, if he would increase my income to the level where I could afford to do so. In addition to seeking help from God, I started reading books, and conducting research on credit repair, as well as working to improve my credentials and skill-sets, which would in turn increase my earning potential.

I discovered a book from Dave Ramsey, called "Financial Peace," and this book, along with several videos, articles, and conversations with lenders, provided me with the knowledge that I used to increase my own credit score by 150 points. I am going to share the lessons that I have learned with you today within this post.


The Tools

Prior to starting this process, there are a few tools that will come in handy, to expedite this process for you. These tools are as follows:

 1.  Monthly credit monitoring service. I would suggest www.transunion.com. The subscription for this site runs just $14.99 per month, and for a one time fee of $29.95, you can gain access to your credit reports from all three of the major credit bureaus. (Transunion, Equifax, & Experian).

2.  Money. There is no way around it. You will be required to pay off your outstanding collections. I would suggest using a debit/credit card, as this is much more "time-friendly" than mailing checks.

3.  A credit dispute letter template. Later on within this post, I will provide you with a credit dispute letter that is GUARANTEED to produce speedy responses from the credit bureaus. You can save this template in your computer, and use it as needed.  



The Process

Now that we have arranged each of the tools that will be necessary in order to complete this process, we will now be able to advance into discussing the actual process. This is a simple seven-step process, and the steps that we will cover within this process, will include each of the following:

1. Reviewing credit reports

2. Identifying outstanding collections

3. Negotiating and paying off outstanding collections

4. Identifying inaccurate accounts

5. Disputing inaccurate accounts

6. Establishing positive tradelines

7. Patience

BONUS: PIGGYBACKING


Reviewing Credit Reports

Once you have signed up for your monthly credit monitoring service, you will be able to review your credit report (s). Your credit report will provide you with the information that creditors are reviewing whenever you apply for credit. The report will include any positive accounts, late payments, derogatory accounts, write-offs, bankruptcies, judgments, etc, that you may have had within the past seven years.

Most credit repair services charge a monthly subscription fee of $59.00 or more, and many of these services will take 90-120 days or more to simply identify inaccurate collections on your report, and to dispute pretty much, EVERY SINGLE ITEM on your report.

The purpose of this "lengthy" process is to maximize profits on your monthly subscription fees, and this approach is a waste of time. These companies will then add on several other fees, for additional services. You can complete this entire process on your own within 6-8 months, provided that you do have the necessary funds readily available.

I will cover disputing inaccurate information at a later point within this post. However, my primary focus, and our starting point will focus on dealing with the outstanding collections that you ACTUALLY OWE. In my humble opinion, there is no point in playing games, and trying to dispute items, that you KNOW to be outstanding.

Identifying Outstanding Collections

In Dave Ramsey's book "Financial Peace," he talks about using a "snowball approach" to paying off debt. In using the snowball approach to paying off debt, you would start with the smallest outstanding collections that are on your report ($100.00 or less), and work your way up to the BIG boys.

Hence, the very first thing that you will want to do is to identify every outstanding collection that you have on your report. I would suggest creating an online document where you can track every outstanding creditor, the amount owed, and the contact numbers for each creditor, which will be located at the bottom of your online credit report.

Negotiating and Paying Off Outstanding Collections

Everything is negotiable. However, I would avoid wasting time, by simply contacting the creditors with accounts that have balances of less than $100.00, and asking them if they will agree to delete these outstanding accounts from my report, if I can pay the accounts off in full over the phone.

I stress having the accounts "deleted," because most creditors will report these items as "paid" on your report, unless you have in fact requested to have the items deleted. I would also request a letter in writing, confirming payment of each collection, prior to making each payment. Once you have reached an agreement on having the items deleted....or not, and once the creditor has confirmed that they will be sending you a "Paid in Full" letter, then you can proceed with your payments.

Eventually, as you are advancing through this snowball process, you will start to come across the higher accounts, with balances of $500.00 or more. 95% of these accounts can be settled for less than the amounts that are showing as "owed" on your credit report.

Prior to paying off ANY of these accounts, you will want to contact the creditors (with the numbers that are listed on your online monitoring report), and you will use the following script:

"Hello, I am in the process of repairing my credit, and I was wondering if you would be able to settle on the amount of ($$$) that my credit report shows that I owe to (fill in creditor)?"

The creditor will then either offer you the amount that they are willing to settle on, or, they will ask you to make an offer for a settlement. There is no such thing as a ridiculous offer. If the creditor requests that you make an offer, then make your offer, based upon the amount that you have available. The creditor will then either accept your offer, or counter with the best offer that they can present to you.

IMPORTANT: Prior to paying off ANY settlements, verify that the creditor will be reporting these accounts as "PAID IN FULL" on your credit report, AND, that they will be mailing you "PAID IN FULL" letters. Believe it or not, some of these collections companies will try to take advantage of you, if you allow it.

Credit Dispute Letters

 I will pause here for a moment to go into the credit dispute letters, prior to moving on to identifying, and disputing inaccurate accounts on your credit report. After you have paid off your accounts, and received confirmation from your creditors, and or/collection agencies, that they will be providing your updated information to the three major credit bureaus; your next step will be to send dispute letters (VIA CERTIFIED MAIL), to each of the major credit bureaus.

Your goal will be to mail letters with BULK listings of PAID accounts, as opposed to sending one or two accounts at a time, if you can help it. Once the credit bureaus have received your dispute letters, they will confirm receipt via email, and they will then have 30 days to verify the information, to update your report, along with your scores, AND to respond to you with a letter (via mail), that details the changes that have been adjusted within your credit reports. The dispute letter template will be provided at the end of this post.

Identifying Inaccurate Accounts

Now that you have handled the ACTUAL debts that are outstanding, you can then move on to searching for, and identifying inaccurate information. Negative collections can only remain on your credit report for seven years. So the first thing that you will be doing here, is searching for any collections that are older than seven years.

Next, you can look for any accounts that have been paid, but are still reporting as outstanding. You can also check for inquiries, where creditors may have pulled your credit without your permission. Excessive inquiries can drastically impact credit scores.

If you should discover any inaccurate items during this portion of the process, then you would simply include these items, along with your credit dispute letters. I will add here, that although most credit repair companies base a great deal of their advertising on promoting this idea of disputing "inaccurate" information within our credit reports; I have found that the majority of the information within our credit reports will in fact be accurate.

Building Positive Credit

I would hold off on trying to build positive credit, until you have addressed the issues of paying off outstanding debt, and/or disputing inaccurate information. The reason for this is that the process will move along MUCH faster without these negative accounts showing up as glaring weaknesses within your report, and regardless as to how you might maintain a credit card, lenders will continue to be turned off by negative collections, until they have been paid off.

 Now we will move into building positive credit, and within this section, I would like to discuss three items:

1. Credit mix
2. Available capacity
3. Avoiding hard inquiries


Credit Mix

There are a number of factors that go into the making up of your credit score. One of those factors is your "credit mix," or your ability to maintain various forms of on time credit payments. The two types of credit that I am going to discuss here will be: installment accounts, and revolving accounts.

Installment accounts-These are accounts that have fixed payments for a fixed amount of time. Installment accounts would include: auto loans, mortgage loans, student loans, or secured loans.

Revolving accounts-Revolving accounts are accounts that have different payment amounts each month, depending upon your outstanding balance. Credit cards would be revolving accounts.

Your goal here is to establish two installment accounts (you may already have one or two), and at least one revolving account. Due to the fact that you are in the process of repairing damaged credit, you will be limited in the number of credit cards that you have available.

This is not a problem. I would suggest going with a secured credit card from Capital One. This card allows you to send a set amount of cash to Capital One (usually $300.00), to use as collateral, and in turn, you will receive access to a credit card that will report to all three of the major credit bureaus each month, thus raising your credit score. You may increase your credit limit, by increasing the amount of your deposit.

Chances are that you may already have outstanding student loans, a mortgage, or an auto loan. If this is the case, then you can simply focus on maintaining on time payments each month, as ONE late payment can drop your credit score significantly.

If you do not have installment accounts, then I would suggest going with a secured bank loan, as well as a small auto loan, which unfortunately will have high interest, at least initially. You can refinance your auto loan at a lower interest rate after six months of on-time payments.

In order to obtain a secured loan from a bank, you will need to provide your bank with the amount of money that you wish to borrow. A loan of as little as $500.00, spread out over a six month period will do the trick. The bank will then provide you with a loan, equal to the amount of your deposit, and the bank will then report your loan to the three major bureaus each month.


Available Capacity

It is VERY important that you maintain all of your credit cards at 30% or less of the available credit capacity. Ex. If you have a credit card with a $1,000.00 limit, then you will want to avoid using more than $300.00 of that card within a single billing cycle. The greater your available credit capacity, the greater the impact of your having these credit cards will be on your credit score.

I would personally suggest avoiding the use of credit cards altogether throughout this process, so that you can dedicate all available funds to paying off your outstanding accounts. The one exception that I will add here, is simply using the card for small purchases like gas, or treats that use a very limited portion of your available capacity, and then paying these balances off IN FULL with each billing cycle, so that you are being reported for the MAXIMUM amounts of available capacity each month.


Avoiding Hard Inquiries

There are two types of credit inquiries: hard inquiries, and soft inquiries. Hard inquiries will have a negative impact on your credit score. Soft inquiries will not impact your credit score. If you are utilizing your monthly monitoring service at a site like the one at www.transunion.com, which was previously mentioned, then you will be able to pull your credit report as often as you may like to do so, without negatively impacting your score.

However, each time that your credit is pulled by business establishments (automobile dealerships, cell-phone companies, banks, credit unions, retail stores, etc), this will drop your credit score. Thus, my suggestion for you would be to hold off on allowing ANY hard inquiries on your credit report, until you have reached a satisfactory score on your credit report.

Your online monitoring subscription will provide you with the credit scores of all three major bureaus. Some creditors will make decisions based exclusively upon individual scores (Transunion, Equifax, Experian), while others (mortgage loans primarily) will take the average of all three of your scores to make a decision.

Ex. The requirement for most mortgage loans will be a 640 score or higher. If you have the following scores: Transunion 650, Equifax 645, Experian 588, then you would not qualify for the 640 score, because the average of ALL THREE scores has to exceed 640. (645+650+588 = 1883). (1883/3 = 628).

This is why it is VITALLY important to mail credit dispute letters to ALL THREE of the major credit bureaus each time that you are mailing off your letters. The goal is to have all three of the bureaus reporting the same information.


Patience

Most of you have had access to credit for 15, 20, or even 30 or more years. It should not be asking too much, for you to hold off trying to establish new credit, and/or racking up credit card debt for 6-8 months, or until you have reached your desired credit score.

Everything takes time. This is no different than the individual who takes 10 years to build a sick, and obese body, and then quits an exercise program within 30 days, due to the lack of progress. If you will follow each of the steps that I have shared here, and if you will stick to this process, WITH PATIENCE, then you are GUARANTEED to see tremendous results, and you will not have to pay thousands of dollars to an outside credit repair source to do so.


Piggybacking

The last thing that I will discuss here is the idea of "Piggybacking." I have saved this item for two reasons:

1. Most of us will not have access to this option

2. I did not wish to shortcut the process, because Piggybacking is useless if you have 30 outstanding collections on your credit report.

That said, with Piggybacking, you would simply identify a family member with a well-aged credit card (two years or older), that has a perfect payment history. You would then request to have this family member add your name as an authorized user.

If this family member agrees to add your name as an authorized user, then you would not receive access to the cards, and/or the card numbers. The only benefit to you would be that the full payment history of the card would be added to your credit report within 30-60 days, which would in turn increase your credit score by as much as 40-70 points.

This is a quick option, that produces a quick hike in your credit score. This option of Piggybacking has a number of pros and cons, and I would encourage you to do your research, prior to utilizing this option, just so that you will be in position to make a well-informed decision.

Credit Dispute Letter 

 Date
Your name
Your mailing address

To
Credit Bureau address info

Dear (credit bureau name)

In reviewing my credit report, which was issued by your agency, I have detected several errors, regarding the following accounts, in that they are being reported inaccurately.

Company name
Account number reflected on your credit report
Amount oustanding


Under the provision set forth in the 1977 Federal Credit Reporting Act, I hereby request that your agency prove to me in writing the accuracy of the reporting of these accounts. Under the terms of the Act, and succeeding court cases, you have 30 days to prove such accuracy, or to remove these accounts from my report, and I ask that you do so.

You will note that this letter was sent by certified mail, and that I do expect a response within the said 30-day period. Should I fail to hear from you promptly, then I will follow up with whatever action is necessary to cause my report to be corrected.

Please feel free to call me if you have any questions. My cell-phone number is (fill in number), and my home phone number is (fill in number).

Sincerely,
Your name.



Mailing Info For All three Bureaus

Transunion
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022


Equifax Information Services Inc.
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374


Experian
P.O. Box 9701
Allen, TX 75013


 Conclusion

As you can see, this process takes time and effort on your part. However, destroying credit also takes time and effort on your part. What would a credit score increase of 100 or more points do for you? Well, it could be the difference in being charged 2% for an auto loan vs. 25%. It could be the difference in being forced to rent for the rest of your life, vs. being approved to purchase your dream home.

It could be the difference in your being hired for that dream job (thousands of employers now pull credit for new hires) vs. being denied employment. I could go on and on, but I will just tell you from personal experience that being buried in debt, with negative credit impacts your self-image, your reputation, and your stress levels.

 If this post has been of some value to you, then feel free to post a comment below, and to share this information with others who may be able to benefit from it.


"It is God's will for you to live in prosperity, instead of poverty. It is God's will for you to pay your bills, and not to be in debt."-Joel Osteen

It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.

Joel Osteen

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/joelosteen282044.html#rUQaxY3ZcwOmw2ml.99

It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.

Joel Osteen

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/joelosteen282044.html#rUQaxY3ZcwOmw2ml.99

WHAT IS NETWORK MARKETING?

WHAT IS NETWORK MARKETING?

 The simplest explanation of network marketing is that it is a method of marketing that utilizes independent representatives to reach potential customers that a company would not reach otherwise with traditional online or offline marketing methods.

Companies have the option of investing tens of MILLIONS of dollars in television, paper ads, and celebrity endorsements, OR recruiting independent business partners/promoters/distributors to market their products, and/or services via word-of-mouth.

The word-of-mouth method has proven to be a much more effective method. Why is this? Well, which would be more likely to catch YOUR eye:

A. A Visalus commercial offering weight loss products and promising excellent results

OR

B. A phone call from a friend that you know, like, and trust, stating that he has personally dropped 25lbs and lowered his blood pressure by 18 points by using Visalus products? Weight loss commercials are a dime a dozen. However, it is highly unlikely that you would question the validity of the results being shared via word-of-mouth from a personal friend.

Understand that the aim of this business is NOT for you to harass your friends and family members into joining your business. However, the plan (at least initially), IS for you to develop the skill necessary to identify the individuals within your personal network who may be in position to benefit from the products, and/or services that you have to offer. In doing so, you will also discover those individuals who are open to earning part-time income from home.


IS IT A PYRAMID SCHEME?

This is one of the more commonly asked questions from potential prospects who are considering the Multi-Level or MLM industry. For starters, you should understand that pyramid schemes are illegal. A pyramid scheme is a fraudulent business model where money exchanges hands, and individuals are promised returns without providing products or services to end users.

In illegal pyramid schemes, individuals who are at the top of the pyramid earn money, and those at the bottom are essentially defrauded by those at the top. In an illegal pyramid scheme, it is impossible for individuals at the bottom to reach the positions at the top, and this is by design.

Over the course of the past 26 months alone, Visalus has created more than 700 six-figure earners. It is possible for new promoters of the challenge to pass their sponsors in terms of rank advancements, income, etc. The cost to get started as an independent promoter of the 90 day challenge is $499.00, and Visalus has a training system in place to teach new promoters how to recoup this initial investment within seven DAYS!!!

There are thousands of doctors, chiropractors, dentists, fitness trainers, gym owners, attorneys, and business professionals from all walks of life who are enjoying MASSIVE success in the network marketing industry, as promoters of the Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge.


WHY SHOULD YOU GET INVOLVED?

Are you content with your current employment situation? If you were to ask most working Americans to describe their ideal working environment, you would surely hear things like:

• No boss
• No employees
• No politics
• No discrimination
• No educational requirements
• etc

In the network marketing industry, you are your own boss. Although you will acquire business "partners" along the way, you will not be responsible for the stress that comes along with managing employees, as each of your partners will be also independent business owners.

There are no politics in the business, as you are solely responsible for your own success or failure. Whereas it is common practice for corporations to discriminate against certain employees based upon educational requirements, in the network marketing industry, you can go as far as your talent, drive, and work-ethic can take you.

There are also BENEFITS and PERKS that come along with serving in the network marketing industry. These benefits include:

• Unlimited income
• Residual income
• Enjoying the company of the people that you work with
• The ability to set your own work hours
• Low start-up costs
• Tax benefits
• Opportunities to win trips to various exotic locations all across the globe
• Car incentive programs
• etc.

 CONCLUSION

We are often quick to reflect negatively upon that which we do not understand. I would encourage you to do your research. The fact of the matter is that most Americans are struggling in the current economy. According to recent studies, some 54% of recent college graduates are unemployed. Large corporations are making cuts to the workforce on a daily basis.

There are MILLIONS of individuals from all across the WORLD who are enjoying MASSIVE success in the network marketing industry. This is an opportunity that you can take advantage of on a part-time basis, as you grow in skill, knowledge, and understanding. If you should decide to become a full-time marketer in the future, then that option is certainly available as well.

You can contact me directly at 517-240-0190, and I would love to discuss my current opportunity more in depth with you via phone.

"The three C's in life: Choice, Chance, Change. You must make the CHOICE to take the CHANCE if you want anything in life to CHANGE."-unknown

You Do Not Attract What You Want. You Attract What You Are.

"In order to attract attractive people, you must become attractive. In order to attract powerful people, you must become powerful. In order to attract committed people, you must become committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract."-Jim Rohn

One of the more common complaints expressed by individuals who are serving in the industry of network marketing is that new business partners are not performing up to the level of expectations. These partners are not making phone calls, attending events, working on self-development, hosting house parties, or being fully COMMITTED to the business.

It is very easy to make the MISTAKE of pointing the finger at these new business partners, and blaming them for the struggles within a network marketing organization. However, the truth of the matter is that the speed of the leader dictates the speed of the team. It is so much easier, and much more effective to become the change that you wish to see within your organization, as opposed to trying to supervise business partners into doing what you feel that THEY should be doing.

Understand that I am in the process of developing myself as a leader in the industry, and so in sharing this information with you, I am also challenging MYSELF to be this example within MY team, and to do the things that I would like to see my partners doing on a daily basis.

So I would like to briefly elaborate on each of the characteristics that were shared in the aforementioned Jim Rohn quote, and to also provide suggestions on how one can go about developing these traits along the journey of becoming an effective leader.


Attractive

People are attracted to positivity, high energy, ACTION, and success. You may or may not realize this, but there is no off/on switch in the business of network marketing. If you are serving in this industry, then people are WATCHING you on a daily basis. Why are these individuals watching you? They want to know if you are authentic. They want to know if you are excited about your opportunity. They want to see that you are in it for the long haul, and most important: they want to know if you would be fun to work with.

It is imperative, that you keep each of these things in mind as you are interacting within your local community, serving on your job, posting status entries on Facebook, and even mingling with friends and family members. I am not encouraging you to portray a fake image. I am instead encouraging you to work on self-development, until you have reached the point where you are genuinely attractive to onlookers.


Powerful

 The dictionary defines the word POWERFUL as follows: influential; effective; possessing the strength or qualities to produce strong results.

Leaders are attracted to leaders. The best way to EXPLODE your business in the network marketing industry, is to establish yourself as a leader. Each time that you can attract and establish other leaders within your organization, this reduces your workload, and expedites the overall success of your team.

In order to become a leader, you must carry yourself as a leader. An effective leader has the ability to not only perform the duties of signing customers and business partners, but also and more important: to train and to teach others to sign customers and promoters into their opportunities.

As you grow in your ability to assist others with achieving success, you will establish yourself as a credible leader, and others will be more apt to work with you. In short, you want to establish yourself as an individual who walks the walk, and talks the talk.


Committed

If you treat your business as a hobby, then your new business partners will also treat their businesses as hobbies. When I refer to the term "committed," I am speaking of the following five things:

1. Using your product. Become a product of your products.
2. Attending local, regional, and national training events.
3. Following your company's system in DETAIL.
4. Taking the time necessary to properly train every new partner that joins the business.
5.  Being consistent. Working your business on a daily basis, just as you would on your full-time job.

When and ONLY when YOU are doing each of these things, will you be in a  position where you can expect the same from the new partners that join your organization. I mentioned earlier that outsiders were observing your actions. Well, this "watching" only INTENSIFIES with members operating within your organization. So instead of wasting your time by yelling at partners, sending dirty emails, ranting on Facebook, etc; focus on becoming the change that you wish to see within your business. The results will be AMAZING!!!

"In order to attract attractive people, you must become attractive. In order to attract powerful people, you must become powerful. In order to attract committed people, you must become committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract."-Jim Rohn

Tips For Adding More Business Partners To Your Opportunity

I received a Facebook inbox message on last night from an individual who happened to be new to the network marketing industry. We will refer to this individual as "Dave" for the sake of privacy. Dave presented me with a question. I have received this same question from a number of individuals in the network marketing industry, and so I have decided to address this question in the form of a blog post.

Question: I am having a good deal of success signing customers into my business, but I am not able to sign business partners. What am I doing wrong?

There are a number of factors to be considered here, and the goal is to provide each of my readers with clear solutions for this problem within this post. The factors to be discussed here will include: your personal beliefs, utilizing your company's system, acquiring support from your upline, and creating a personal success story.

Your Belief System

Repeat after me: I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't!I can't!

Now repeat after me: I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN! I CAN!

The very FIRST step that will will need to take in this process will be to eliminate the THOUGHT of REJECTION from your MIND, and from there we can move on to the second step of removing the phrase, "I CAN'T" from your vocabulary.

The truth of the matter is that as long as you walk around thinking that you CAN'T sign business partners, then you will not be able to sign business partners! Trust me when I tell you that you absolutely CAN sign partners, and you WILL sign partners! However, we MUST adjust your outlook on the business FIRST, and then we will be able to move forward to analyzing additional steps that you can take to improve your success ratio.

It is VITAL that you possess an ABSOLUTE belief in the value that your company has to offer to business partners. If the start-up fee for your company is $299.00, and if this $299.00 seems like an ENORMOUS amount of money to YOU, then you will avoid sharing this option with potential prospects.

However, if you focus on the VALUE that your company provides in exchange for this $299.00 (residual income, free trips to exotic locations, car incentives, etc), then you will feel much more comfortable presenting this option to prospects, and this simple adjustment in YOUR beliefs will directly impact the responses of the individuals that you are sharing your opportunity with.


Utilize Your Company's System

Most network marketing companies have systems in place that will allow for easy duplication with new partners. These systems may include PBR's, house parties, hotel parties, internet presentations, conference calls, etc. You have to believe in your company's system, in order to achieve success with your company of choice. If you do not believe in your company's system, then it is imperative that you relocate to an opportunity that has a system that you can believe in.

You can luck into customers via social media. You can also luck into customers simply by randomly picking up the phone, and dialing up friends and family members. However, the start-up costs to become a partner are usually quite a bit more than the cost to join as a customer, and thus, issues like credibility, validation, and PROOF will necessarily come into play. Your company's SYSTEM has elements in place to provide this necessary credibility, validation, and proof.


Utilizing Your Upline

Your company's SYSTEM will likely involve support and input from your upline, or the individuals who have sponsored you into your current opportunity. When you are new to the industry, you will not have the large checks, the car bonuses, or the massive success results necessary to recruit individuals into your business as partners.

This is where your upline comes into play. Individuals who are on your team, and who have already achieved advancements in rank, massive incomes, car incentives, etc, are in a positions where they can support your business by simply sharing their stories, either in person at your group meetings, or via telephone, and even Skype online.

Take advantage of this opportunity to use your upline. Arrange to have more experienced members of your team attend each of your group meetings. If these individuals are out of state, or unavailable in person, then dial them up on the phone, and have them share their success stories with your audience. This outside credibility will provide the edge that you need to establish the buy-in of your prospects.


Create A Personal Success Story

I once overheard a quote in the industry that said, "Facts TELL, and STORIES sell!" At the end of the day, when a business partner joins your team, this individual is actually joining YOU, and not your company. So YOU will need to BECOME whatever it is that YOU wish to attract!

If YOU are lazy in your business, then why would a prospect want to join YOU? If your company pays out five times each month, and YOU have not had a check in four weeks, then why would a prospect want to join YOU? If YOU are supposed to lead, motivate, and support me as a new partner, but you're posting negative and depressed crap on Facebook on a daily basis, then why would I want to join YOU?

So YOU need to create a STORY. YOU need to create a BRAND. You can rely upon the support and the expertise of your team members initially, but your goal is to create a STORY, and to establish YOURSELF as an AUTHORITY in your business. When you can pipe in your teammates to have them share THEIR success stories on 3-way calls, or at group meetings, and then YOU are in position to backup their stories with a story of YOUR OWN, then this is a POWERFUL combination, that will MULTIPLY the results that you will experience in signing business partners.

Take your business seriously! Strive to dedicate a small portion of each day to sharing your opportunity with others, or to self-development. Success is a journey, and your mission will not be complete overnight. Approach each day with the understanding that you are writing a story, and that at some point in the near future, you will be able to share this story with individuals that you are looking to add to your business.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, and if you are contemplating getting started in the network marketing industry then I would love to share additional information with regards to my business opportunity. I can be reached at 517-240-0190.

Obstacles That You Can Expect In Your Network Marketing Business & How To Overcome Them

This is your first year in the network marketing industry. You have invested your initial start-up fees, and you have also completed your training. There is a vision board that you have created, hanging on the wall of your bedroom. You have aspirations of purchasing new cars and real estate, as well as traveling on exotic trips all around the world. Then it happens...you run into an obstacle that you were NOT expecting, and everything in you tells you to quit before you have had an opportunity to even establish a foundation in the business!

This happens on a regular basis to individuals who are new to the direct sales/network marketing industry. The purpose of today's post is to highlight some of the more common obstacles that one should expect after making the commitment to serve in this very challenging, yet EXCITING arena. Topics covered in today's post will include: rejection from your warm market, out-of-pocket expenses, high turnover, and time demands.

Rejection

Obstacle-You have created a list of all of your warm market contacts. As you are making your way through your call list, you notice that most of your warm contacts have no interest in your opportunity, and some of your warm contacts have gone as far as to ridicule you for even trying the business of network marketing. You are discouraged, and you find yourself reconsidering your decision to invest in the business.

Solution-Understand that this is NORMAL. People reject that which they do not understand. Most of these same individuals who are rejecting you, will in fact invest in your business at a later date....IF you stick it out. Focus exclusively on the few who are willing to take in a presentation, or to join your opportunity. Maintain a HIGH level of enthusiasm, and create a solid follow-up system for those who have rejected you. This is NOT the end of the world. In fact, this is just the BEGINNING of what is SURE to be a WONDERFUL journey for you.


Expenses

Obstacle-When you joined the business, you were under the impression that your initial start-up fee was the ONLY expense that you would need to pay. Now that you are in the business, you have learned of a $30-$40 monthly website fee, and the potential of additional costs for samples, promotional items, etc. You are starting to wonder if you will be able to sustain your business, due to your lack of working capital, or FUNDING.

Solution-When you join the network marketing industry, you are in fact running a home based BUSINESS. In order to run an effective BUSINESS, there are certain tools that will be necessary but not REQUIRED, in order for you to maximize your effectiveness. For starters, you should understand that roughly 75% of your entire business (processing customer orders, enrolling business partners, etc), will be internet based, and so your website will be an absolute must. However, $30-$40 is not even worthy of discussion, when you consider the potential to earn $1,000-$5,000 per month via your website.

You will also notice that the SUPERSTARS in your business manage to stay stocked up on promotional items, such as: samples, magazines, flyers, business cards, etc. These items (although GREAT tools for expanding your business), are not REQUIRED at least initially, in order for you to achieve success. I would, however, encourage you to reinvest a portion of your income into stocking up on these supplies as you are building your business. These tools support the brand that you are promoting, and they will also validate your business. It is much more effective to hand a prospect a professional magazine, than it is to scribble the name of your business on a sheet of paper.


High Turnover

Obstacle-You are building your business, but as you are building, you are noticing that some of the partners who are already on your team are leaving the business, or failing to put forth any effort, with regards to performance. You are discouraged, because you have aspirations of advancing in your company, and it seems as if this will never happen, due to the turnover and the underperformers in your team.

Solution-Focus EXCLUSIVELY upon those who DO share in your vision. As was once stated by the late Jim Rohn, "Some will do 100. Some will do 80. Others will do 50 or 60. Your job is not to figure out why this is the case. Your job is to simply accept this as fact, and to move on with that which is within your control."

ALWAYS remain in "recruiting mode." Avoid making the mistake of shifting from a recruiter to a supervisor. Enroll new business partners. Train each new business partner, and make yourself readily available "as needed" to support those who DESIRE to succeed in the business. However, the BULK of your focus should CONSTANTLY be on adding new business partners, and working towards the goals that you have established for your business. Your job IS NOT to babysit or to supervise underperforming partners.


Time Demands

Obstacle-You joined the network marketing business with the intentions of running the business on a part-time basis. You are now being forced to spend ALL of your time on Facebook, responding to emails, working the phones, attending meetings, etc, and your home life is suffering. You are no longer able to spend an adequate amount of time with your spouse, and/or your children. You are on the verge of quitting the business.

Solution-Run your business. Do NOT allow your business to run you. Family should ALWAYS be #1, and if we manage our time in an effective fashion, then we should be able to easily meet the demands of a part-time network marketing business, while also maintaining our relationships and focus at home.

Set specific goals for each day, week, month, and year in your business. Establish specific work hours for your business. Plan your work hours around your family events, and the time that you would like to spend with personal matters. Establish lines of communication with other partners within your team, who may not be as tied down as you are with family obligations.

Empower your more experienced business partners to answer questions, handle 3-way calls, and to even attend business meetings in support of less experienced promoters on your team, when and if your schedule dictates. Be sure to establish a planned work schedule, and to stick to that work schedule. Make the necessary adjustments within your team in order to make this so.


Conclusion

I hope that this information has been of some benefit to you. If you are considering the network marketing industry, or if you are already involved in the industry, but lacking the training, guidance, or support necessary for your success; then I would encourage you to contact me at 517-240-0190 to hear more about an opportunity that can change your life.-Winslow Willis

Building Your Target Market In Network Marketing

There are literally hundreds and even thousands of direct sales companies in America. This vast market of companies provides individuals who are looking to join the direct sales/network marketing industry to promote the business that fits their personal interests. There are opportunities to market an endless supply of products, and/or services, including: perfumes & body lotions, health & weight loss products, insurance and financial products, telecommunications products, etc.

Upon making your selection to join with a particular company, you will go through some form of initial training. At some point in this training, you will hear of the term "warm market." In today's post, I would like to elaborate upon this term, and to also share additional options that you may have for expanding upon your warm market. The idea here is to create an endless list of prospects that you can market your business to.


Warm Market

So what does your warm market consist of? The best way to start your list of contacts when starting a new direct sales opportunity, is to create a list of 50-100 names. These names should include the following: friends, family members, co-workers, church members, neighbors, individuals that you have established relationships with in your local community, etc.

If you can pick up your phone, and have the individual on the other line recognize who you are, immediately upon hearing your name, and/or voice, then this individual is part of your warm market, and should be included in your first list of contacts.

Your company should have a system, which includes a script that you can utilize when making calls to your first list of contacts. The WORST thing that you could ever do for your business, would be to pick up your phone, and to blow through you list of contacts, recklessly spouting off at the mouth, and begging these individuals to join with you, simply due to your having established personal relationships.

The purpose of this initial call, is to simply inform the individuals within your warm market of your linking up with a business opportunity, and to invite them to check out a BRIEF presentation on the products, and/or services that your company has to offer. Do not take the approach of a telemarketer on this initial call, as the goal here is NOT to press for a sale.


I Have Exhausted My Warm Market. Now what?

At some point in the DISTANT future, you will run out of people to speak to in YOUR warm market. I will share a few tips with you on things that you can do at this point, later on in this post. However, I would like to focus a bit more on this idea of running out of people to talk to in YOUR warm market.

I explained earlier in the post how to go about identifying YOUR warm market. However, if you promote your business to YOUR warm market in an effective fashion, then you will eventually find yourself signing new customers and business partners into your business. Each time that you sign a new customer or a new business partner into your business, you are then introduced to an ENTIRELY NEW warm market!!

Ex. Years ago, I purchased a life insurance policy from a company called Western Southern Life Insurance. I had never heard of the company, and I had not established any previous relationships with any of the representatives within this particular organization. So how did I end up purchasing a policy from Western Southern Life Insurance?

One of the sales reps in the company sold a large life insurance policy to my older brother. At some point in the sales process, this rep asked my brother for the names and phone numbers of three people that MIGHT be interested in purchasing life insurance. I was one of the three individuals that he presented to this rep.

When the rep contacted me, this was her approach on the telephone: "Hello, my name is Heather Dullock. Your brother (Orlando) just purchased a life insurance policy from me, and he asked me to contact you to see if you would also be interested in protecting your family with a life insurance policy." When Heather signed my brother to a life insurance policy, I IMMEDIATELY became a part of HER warm market! Now had she dialed me up randomly, and attempted to sell me an insurance policy, then she would have heard a click, followed by a dial tone. However, by dropping my brother's name, this created a product association, and she was able to land a sale.

You can use this SAME approach in your business, and in doing so, you will create an ENDLESS list of WARM contacts. By warm contacts in this sense, I am simply pointing out the fact that when you can contact a prospect with news of a friend or a family member already utilizing your product, and/or service, then you are in fact still dealing with a warm market. As long as you have customers who have not referred more than five people to you, then you have NOT exhausted your warm market.


Building Your Business In A Cold Market

"Winslow, I'm new to the industry. I was raised in Michigan. I moved to Florida recently, and I do not have any friends or family members here in Florida. How should I build my market?"

In this situation, I would still encourage you to start with your warm market. In your situation, this process may be a bit more challenging, as you will be forced to make the bulk of your initial contacts via the phone, and/or the internet. However, there is nothing stopping you from shipping free samples, or arranging for Skype meetings, where you can conduct live face-to-face presentations with your warm contacts who may reside in other states.

Social media also provides an ENDLESS flow of contacts for your new business. If you have not done this already, I would encourage you to add to your friend's list on Facebook, on a daily basis. Seek to add 5-10 new friends to your list each day. You are in the network marketing business now, and so you will need to build a NETWORK of NEW contacts. The direct sales industry is NOT for individuals who wish to restrict their friend's list to private groups of 100 or so family members. Your goal should be to create a list of 5,000 Facebook friends.

In addition to Facebook, there are endless opportunities to market your business utilizing the internet. You can create Youtube videos, blogs, Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts, etc, and you can also post information to hundreds of online forums. The point that I am stressing to you here is that this business (network marketing) is a game of MAXIMUM exposure. Utilize EVERY opportunity that you have to EXPOSE your business to potential customers and/or business partners.

The last tip that I will provide here on the subject, involves the use of off-line marketing in a cold market, and I will attach a couple of videos here of 5 Star Ambassador, Kevin Merriweather, of Visalus, sharing live tips on how to approach complete strangers in your local community, and to quickly present your business to these individuals.

Establish a personal goal of sharing your business in a face-to-face setting, with 3-5 people on a DAILY BASIS! This can be in your local barbershop, at the restaurants that you visit on a regular basis, at your local gym, etc. Even with this off-line approach, I would encourage you to at least begin with individuals who have at least met you at some point in your life. This will remove the defensive posture, and make for nice conversation.

I will end this by posting two videos from 5 Star Ambassador, Kevin Merriweather, training on the subject of promoting your business in a cold market. I do hope that this information has been of some benefit to you. If you have additional questions, or if you would like to join my team as a promoter of the Body By Vi 90 Day challenge, where I would be more than happy to provide you with additional support and training, then you may contact me directly at 517-240-0190.-Winslow Willis


Part ONE

Part TWO

Lack Of Follow-Up Is Killing Your Network Marketing Business

You: "Would you like to purchase my product or service?"

Prospect: "Absolutely. Give me five of the very best that you have, with all of the fixings. Here is my credit card. I will be sending you 10 referrals on tomorrow."

In an ideal world, every interaction that takes place between individuals serving in the direct sales industry and their prospects would end this way. Unfortunately, we are not living in an ideal world, and the fact of the matter is that the majority of our new customers, and/or business partners will not join our opportunities following the initial presentation. Thus, it is of utmost importance that we quickly establish a system for following up with the individuals who have attended our hotel parties, house parties, PBR's, etc, without taking action.

The most important thing to understand here, is that when it comes to direct sales, "NO" usually means "NOT NOW." There are a vast number of methods that we can use to go about following up with the prospects that we are looking to add to our networks. For the purposes of this post, I would like to elaborate on the importance of utilizing each of the following methods: the telephone, email marketing campaigns, and word-of-mouth advertising.

Telephone

Consistency is the key in matters concerning business follow-up. Establish a time period that you would like to implement for following up with individuals who have attended one of your business presentations, and try to stick with this same time period each time that you schedule your follow-up calls. A good rule of thumb, would be to follow up with every prospect within 48 hours of your business meeting.

I stress this 48 hour window, because your prospect (s) will still be excited about the information presented at your business meeting, and the information that was presented will still be fresh at this point. This initial follow-up call, should be very informal and relaxed, and you may even want to create a script that you can use with each follow-up call.

This is not a pressure phone call. The purpose of this call is to simply thank your prospect for showing up to your meeting, and to keep your opportunity fresh in the minds of your prospects until they have reached a purchasing decision. Once this initial phone call has been made, it would be most effective if future follow-up calls could be limited to once every other week. It would benefit your business a great deal, if you could prepare follow-up scripts, so that you know exactly what needs to be said, prior to your prospect picking up the phone.

Email Marketing Campaign

One of the most valuable tools that one can use in the business of direct sales, would be the email marketing campaign. Create a visitor's sign-in sheet for each of your business meetings, and leave spots on this sign-in sheet for phone numbers, as well as email addresses. You will then be in position to transfer this valuable information to a mailing list, which can be used to initiate an email marketing campaign.

There are direct sales companies that will already have these software programs in place for all new business partners. However, if your company does not offer the ability to create email marketing campaigns, you can easily look these opportunities up on the internet. The idea here is to create an email campaign that sends newsletters out to each of your prospects every few days or so, depending upon the settings that you choose for each individual campaign.

Each prospect will have the ability to unsubscribe from your email marketing list, but for those who choose to remain, your email marketing campaign will be a very effective way of keeping your opportunity fresh in the minds of prospects, and also for providing additional information about your opportunity that may have been missed at your business meeting. If you have not done this yet, be sure to take action immediately to begin to utilize email marketing.

Word-of-Mouth

We each have this innate desire to belong to something. No one wants to miss out on the ACTION. Thus, one of the most powerful methods of follow-up that you can use in your direct sales business, is to create powerful testimonies, involving the products, and/or services that you offer, and to then use these testimonies to reach out to the friends of friends that have been exposed to your opportunity.

Example: Lisa and Jenny attend your business meeting together, to hear about your weight loss product. Lisa takes action, and joins on the spot. Jenny is a bit of a skeptic, and so she walks away without making a purchasing decision. Two weeks later, you receive a message on Facebook from Lisa. Lisa is jumping out of her SEAT with excitement, because she has already dropped 8lbs on your product! This would be an EXCELLENT time to have Lisa contact Jenny to share her PERSONAL experience with your product.

What are the chances of Jenny receiving this phone call from Lisa, and remaining doubtful about the effectiveness of your products? The answer is SLIM & NONE, unless Jenny is simply DUMB & DUMBER! Pardon the movie reference there, but I'm sure that you're clearly understanding my point. Word-of-mouth advertising is POWERFUL, and it would be WISE of you to use this to your benefit!

Follow up with the customers who have joined your opportunity. Look for feedback, and customer reviews on the products, and/or services that you offer. EVERY SINGLE TIME that you receive a positive story that involves positive results with the products or services that you offer, IMMEDIATELY request to have these individuals share these stories with others who have attended your presentations without joining.


Conclusion

This is obviously just the tip of the iceberg. I could literally write an endless document on methods to be used for following up, follow-up scripts, etc. However, for the sake of longevity, I would like to encourage you to perform your own research to discover effective follow-up techniques. You would be amazed to know of the number of times I have been "rejected" by prospects, only to have them end up purchasing my products weeks and months after attending my business meetings.

There are a variety of reasons as to why a prospect would postpone joining your opportunity until a future date. These reasons may include: a lack of funds, skepticism regarding the effectiveness of your products, lack of information, etc. Your job as a direct sales representative is not to analyze the reasons behind these delayed purchases. Your focus simply needs to be on CONSISTENTLY following up with each prospect until a FINAL decision has been made with regards to your product.

I certainly do hope that this information has been of some benefit to you. Again, I would encourage you to continue to study the "art" of following up with prospects. There are literally thousands of articles on the internet regarding this topic, and you can also pick up books from your local library. The GREATS in ANY sales based business EXCEL in the area of follow-up. Blessings.