Now that we finally understand why Dr. Wentz chose Direct Sales and now that we see more clearly  the principles behind the direct to consumer philosophy, we have one important piece of Direct Sales to cover.

In any organization, the department that gets paid the highest salaries is always the sales department. This is because the sales department has the greatest effect on a company’s bottom line. Sales brings in the money and increases a company’s net worth. Sales makes all the difference in a company’s ability to sink or swim.

Meet the USANA Sales Department

What? You never met the USANA sales team? They are a savvy cool bunch of people just like you and me who believe so much in Dr. Wentz’ vision, in the products, and in the compensation plan that they have been selling USANA to anyone that will listen. They have been changing lives of people all over the world one customer at a time, one associate at a time. They bust out of their comfort zone every day and are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure USANA becomes a household name. Just as USANA treats all their employees well, you better believe they reward the sales department with salaries that would make anyone drool.

You guessed it. We are the sales department. We are the HOW as in how USANA is able to go direct to consumer. And yes, they pay us a handsome salary….if we actually sell products. But how many of us are doing what USANA is willing to pay us to do?

Knowledge Only Gets You So Far

In my recent review of what it takes to make it to the next level with this business, I’ve discovered some golden nuggets. When you read them here, you won’t be wowed or surprised or relieved to finally learn the secrets to success.   But that’s just because you’ve read them all before. The problem is, you read them, you learn them, you know them, you teach them but do you actually do them?

Beware, collecting information can be a very slippery slope.  Knowing all the secrets makes you feel like you’re on top of things and it makes you seem like a guru to your downline. It even allows you to feel confident hosting team calls and train your downline in the steps to success. The problem is – you can feel and seem all of those things – but your business won’t grow. Why? Because you’re not actually following the steps you’ve learned nor are you practicing what you preach.

I speak from experience when I say, knowing the steps only gets you so far.

We Only Get Paid to Do One Thing

In truth, there is only one activity that makes us money in this business. We enrolled to do one thing for USANA and USANA does everything they can to support us in our efforts to do this one thing. In fact, it’s the only thing we actually get paid for. SELL THE PRODUCTS. USANA pays us commissions on the amount of product we sell. That’s it. They don’t pay us for personal growth. They don’t pay us for team calls.  They don’t pay us for reading, studying, or for becoming certified nutritionists.  We get paid to sell the product.

So what’s the big deal? Why is it so hard to make it to the Fortune 25? Well the problem is we get hooked on all the peripheral activities we feel we need to do in order to gain confidence to sell. We get bogged down by or hide behind all the rest of it when really only one thing matters. You can study how to sell.  You can meditate your way to confident selling.  You can create the perfect mp3 playlist to listen to before you go about your selling activities.  You can get a sales coach, and you can lose a lot of money and time.  In fact, the combination of that discouraging sinking feeling  when your checks are stagnant or nonexistent and the voices of naysayers just waiting to dance the “I told you so” dance can just about cause you or your downline to drop out of the business altogether.

Ready, Set, Go!

Get out there and do the one thing USANA pays you to do. Get out there and sell some products. Rather than training, just get out there and screw it up, fumble your words, offend some people, bore some other people, make a fool of yourself. I promise you that within 90 days, of consistent personal embarrassment and fall on your face activities, you will be a master. Before you know it, you’ll be selling products every week if not every day. Then you’ll be walking the stage, going to Paris with the rest of the famous fortune 25 and never looking back.

Give it a try for just a week. Out of your entire part time or full time effort in this business, just devote one hour a day to reaching out to people and listening for your chance to serve them some USANA goodness. The secret to all the advancements, bonuses, and riches is so simple you’ll be surprised you didn’t think of it yourself. You’ll be surprised how many hours you spend doing other activities you call work. It happened to me. Now my eyes are wide open. Game On.

Do me a favor, and in the comments below, let me know if you have fallen down this same sinkhole. Did you ever pull yourself out? Are you willing to try? Help USANA associates everywhere know they’re not alone in the path of busy-ing themselves with distraction disguised as work. Together we can beat this sneaky obstacle.

The post Introducing…the USANA Sales Department appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

In researching  the new foodie business opportunity my husband and I were getting ready to start, we had to figure out how we would get our products to the market.

Learn from Your Elders

We live in Boulder, Colorado, the epicenter of the Natural Foods Industry. Anytime you pick up a new natural foods product, look at the fine print – it’s probably based out of Boulder. So I figured I had such a unique resource starting a business in a town where I’ll have plenty of mentors and leaders to show me the ropes.

If you know anything about Boulder, you know that the people here are super cool and very freedom oriented. I began my research and I was right – there were hundreds of people who were willing to mentor me and I learned the ropes fast. Really fast. What I realized was that all I needed to do was to get my products into my local Whole Foods. Then I’d be golden and I’d have national distribution of my organic product in no time.

Then I dug a little deeper. I found out that in reality, for every bottle I pour my blood sweat and tears into, I’ll get something like a nickel for every retail dollar. No matter how I cut it there was no way of keeping my product high quality and organic and making a profit if I was going to have my product in Whole Foods.

“Why Would It Be So Difficult?” you ask.

Whole Foods, the retailer, won’t take me without a distributor. The distributor won’t take me without a broker. And the broker, distributor, and retailer all have to take a cut. So by the time everyone has their share, there’s little left for me unless I want to charge an arm and a leg for my 8 oz jar of feisty roasted pepper sauce.

Who is going to pay that much for a condiment? Not enough people to pay the bills, that’s who. Thank goodness I have another income stream.

Now I totally understand that distribution is everything and it would be impossible for me to get my product all over the country or the world without the help of a distributor. But how could it be that the original developer of the recipe, the creative force behind the whole product gets the least payout percentage? I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it.

I spoke openly about this dilemma wondering how everyone else did it. And then I realized. They were all in it for the exit. They were planning to sell the company to the highest bidder as soon as they could! They were not interested in maintaining control over the quality of the product long term. We are all looking for high ROI but all these “natural food industry companies” were looking to make a monster payout and it didn’t matter to them one bit if the corporation they sold it to ended up reformulating, repackaging, changing the branding and the integrity of the brand once the creator was paid his 10 or 20 million.

My husband is coming out of retirement to contribute something to the world, to express his creative talents, and to enjoy the process. It would be great to make 10 or 20 million but not at the expense of our dignity and integrity.

You Can Always Go Direct

I spoke to one successful CEO in particular. He  was surprised I had done this much due diligence to begin with. Once I crunched the numbers this way and that way, I told him there was only one way I’d be willing to do this venture. I would want to maintain control over the company long term and I’ll have to sell it online so I could keep the profit rather than give it away to all the middle men.

His response was crucial. He said, “Oh – yes – you can always go direct, and it will be a lifestyle business. That’s all.”

And in that one moment, I understood USANA so completely. After all, this was exactly the USANA story. The quality of the USANA products and the cost of the manufacturing was so high that the retail price of the product would be too expensive for the average consumer to purchase. Ultimately, Dr. Wentz would not be able to get the product into everyone’s hand unless he went direct. And so USANA became a direct selling company, a company that sells products directly to consumers with no middle men. More people get their hands on the product, the price point works for the average consumer, and USANA makes enough profit to survive and thrive long term. Win-Win-Win.

It’s a Lifestyle Business

I had heard this term before. But this time, when it was spoken directly too me from the CEO, the coin actually dropped. When the CEO said, you can go direct and have a lifestyle business, he meant you can make enough money to have an amazing lifestyle and maybe even provide the same for your next generation.

As distributors, we are each working in direct sales in a lifestyle business. We’re not going to have a net worth of billions of dollars, we’re not starting a large corporation. We are in it to enjoy our lives while we are on this earth and perhaps provide a legacy that our children can benefit from. Don’t get me wrong, we can live extravagantly lavish lifestyles with this business but we’re not in it to go corporate and create a publicly traded company with a huge payroll and the billions of dollars that corporation may or may not bring.

What Do People Really Want Anyway?

So when you are selling the opportunity, don’t sell the potential money that can be made. Sell the lifestyle that can be experienced. Sell the health benefits, the time freedom, the personal growth. Sell your story. Sell the fact that you can’t remember the last time you got sick. Sell the freedom of not having allotted vacation days or that your mortgage is paid for so you are free to take long vacations.

Sell the happiness you felt because you were home the day your daughter took her first steps. Sell the relief you felt when your son got hurt at school and you were home to rush over and pick him up. Sell how proud it makes you feel to be able to give your kids more than you had when you were growing up. Sell the vacation you just sent your parents on to show them the gratitude you feel.

So whatever we do, let us always remember that going direct was the wisest choice the Wentzes could have made for how to sell these products and now we are making a similar choice for our own lives. We’re in direct sales. Now that I get it, I’m proud of it. What about you?

The post Dr. Wentz Goes Direct appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

I got more out of convention this year than I have in any year prior. Of all my notes and take-aways, one in particular made me very happy. The importance of enrolling customers when building a USANA business was validated to me more than ever.

How Things Used to Be

When I first started in this industry 6 years ago, network marketing had a lot of hype to it. The hype was all about recruiting associates. The training was heavily geared toward signing up associates. The contests and incentives were biased towards number of associates enrolled.  The leaders would always brag about how many associates they had in their downline. This is one of the reasons network marketing got a bad name.

From an outsider’s perspective, the credibility of any network marketing company lies in the size of its customer base. Many companies create a token product line just to give associates something to sell.  How big the customer base is really reflects on how much emphasis a company puts on their products.

Luckily, USANA invests in their product line. USANA ensures they are researched and manufactured to a standard unmatched in the supplement industry. And is taking better and better care of their customers over time. (Note: I am still holding out for equal incentives paid out for Top Preferred Customer Enroller as for Top Associate Enroller.)

Building for Sustainability

As it is with the larger corporation so it is with our individual businesses. The more customers we have, the more integrity our business has. An associate’s allegiance to a company might change when they don’t make as much money as they had anticipated or when they get lured like Christmas candy from opportunity to opportunity.

Customers, on the other hand, are buying from you because they love the product and that belief doesn’t tend to change as frivolously. So it seems customers create a great base that can withstand the changing of winds that happen in business from time to time. A strong customer base can soften the blow of associates that get frustrated or disappear.

The Leaders Speak 

Associates contribute exponential growth to your business. But as the 2012 President’s Award Winner, Scott McGee, told me “Associates get abducted by aliens.” When he said those words, I was shocked at how such a ridiculous phrase could ring so true.

Have you noticed that too? Have you noticed how associates can come and go with the wind? Have you found it difficult to find associates that stick? A business built predominantly with associates is quite unstable yet without associates, you would have no leverage and no team.  What a conundrum.

Ruby Director, Soomin Kim,  likened the importance of a good mix of customers and associates to a brick and mortar business. The bricks provide the strength – these are your associates, your partners and without them, your business is weak. The mortar provides the glue – it represents your customers. Without the mortar, the wall would crumble and it would no longer be solid.

Customers can sometimes be more enthusiastic and refer others more than associates. Customers can even be raving fans. All they need is a little TLC – some quality customer service – and they’re good to go.

The Final Word on Customers

The solution, it seems, is “to have a good balance” says Diamond Director, Leanne Grechulk . Having interviewed many Diamonds that came before her, she says they all have a really strong customer base.

In the name of sustainability, long term reliable income that withstands the recessions, depressions, emergencies and occasional alien abductions, Go For Customers.

What efforts are you making towards sustainability in your business?

The post Associates Get Abducted by Aliens appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

Back to my storytelling (continued from here and here). It’s true, I retired my husband, Ayan. But I never said that we lived happily ever after. In fact, Ayan, who at first cried tears of relief and joy at the idea of being done with his work life, started to get antsy over time as is often the story with retirees. He really wanted to get creative again. He’s an artist. He’s a painter, chef, and potter-to-be. He struggled with the idea of not being a major contributor to the household income but the artist wanted to make his money doing his art.

After lots of ruminating, we decided it would be best if I were to use the vast amount of business and marketing skills I had learned in career and apply it to his food artistry. Although he sometimes fantasizes of returning to the restaurant industry, the brutal hours of the restaurant industry would take him away from his family and he’s just not interested in that anymore.

Here’s Where I Come In…

“Maybe we could do a packaged food business. It would eventually become residual income. Ayan, you can develop all the recipes at home so that we can all stay together as usual and I can do all the marketing from home as well!”  And off we went into the world of Specialty & Organic Foods.

Now I want to pause here to paint a clear picture of how I like to think of myself. I’m a leader. I’m an entrepreneur. I speak truth at all costs. I am super driven and self-motivated. More than anything, I pride myself on my high risk threshhold. Oh..and one more thing. I am deluded.

It’s easy to call myself a risk-taker when my business risk was what – $600? And I make how much weekly income as a result of that risk? That kind of Return on Investment isn’t even on the charts.

The Risk

The new business that we have been researching and slowly investing in will cost upwards of $100,000 for the first year alone and then the expenses grow incrementally every year after that. And we won’t even be able to know if we can turn that investment into any income at all! This had me – the entrepreneur extraordinaire- shaking in my boots. I would walk around tasting everyone on our artisanal handcrafted food products. Everyone LOVED them and then I’d say – “I’m so happy you like it and this is the stupidest business model I’ve ever seen.” Increase your investment every year and pray you can make a fraction of your investment back.

Listen, it’s not just the packaged food business that uses this formula. Do you know what kind of investment it takes to open a restaurant? A retail store? A successful ecommerce site? How about tuition investments for professionals like doctors or lawyers? And do any of these business models lead to freedom?

I hope you’re answering these questions as I ask them. Because if you do, you will find that you – yes YOU have stumbled upon the ONLY business model I have found (and I’m a research junkie) that requires a $30-$1250 investment and pays out in riches of both time and money.

How Fortunate Are You?

I’ll tell you one more anecdote to drive the point home. In doing my obsessive due diligence I interviewed a successful entrepreneur in the Specialty Foods industry. She makes small batches of high-end, individually-wrapped, super-rich, super-dark, salted caramels.

She explained that because her husband makes enough money to support the family, she had the luxury of making good, sound, long-term decisions for her business. So I asked her why she decided to start a business working 60-70 hours a week when her family already had the money it needed to enjoy life.

She readily replied – (listen up because this part is key). She said, “If I work this hard for 15 years, this business may very well be residual and can sustain the family so my husband can retire and we can enjoy the rest of our lives together.”

In other words, her plan was to work 60-70 hours of work per week for up to 15 years in the hope that she will have enough time and money to enjoy the luxury of freedom.

In that moment, I covered the phone receiver, looked up at Ayan and whispered “We already have what she wants!”

What’s the Point?

The point is, that no matter where I go or whom I meet, I always ask WHY. Why are people doing this or that – and what are they hoping to achieve? Ultimately, the dream goal is freedom. Freedom equals free time with no financial worries.

Everyone is trying to attain it and everyone is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars – lots of worry – and every waking moment they have to get it.

What Do We Have to do to Get It?

USANA produces and packages the products. USANA pays for all the internal and third party testing to provide a Potency Guarantee.  USANA offers the credibility of over 600 olympic athletes. And USANA stays on the cutting edge of science to constantly up their game so we never fall behind the curve. What’s left for us to do?

Read carefully because if you blink you might miss it: Spread the word and take care of your customers.

Now answer the question one last time. How fortunate are you?

Whether you want to call it luck or a blessing – whatever your path – you’ve got it made. Now, what are you going to do about it?

The post Why We Should Count Our Blessings appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

When USANA announced that it was opening in the Philippines, I was still floating from the high of walking the stage as a new Gold Director. I was sitting with my team and when the announcement came, I flew out of my seat and jumped up into the air a few feet – at least. My husband is Filipino and this was the perfect opportunity to grow my business, check out my husband’s roots, and introduce my daughter to a different culture.

International Success

Four months later, we were off to the Philippines. I worked my booty off. I worked so hard that I got a call from Lori Truman (the rockin’ Executive Director of the US Field Dep’t who I had never heard of at that time) telling me I was close to being #2 or #3 in the Growth 25! “Me? No way, you must be mistaken.” But it was true. And by the end of my third year I was Growth #2.

I had grown the business enough and enjoyed the business enough that I even retired my husband so long as he was willing to run the household while I continued to build. You should have seen his face light up at the thought of being able to devote all his time to nurturing his family hands on with no guilt about not bringing in income.

Off we went into the sunset – the happy couple who had achieved lots of freedom in a relatively short amount of time.

Life Happens

Then life took a turn. What I hadn’t realized during this short period of bliss was that I was exhausted. I mean I was seriously burned out. My Philippines stint took a lot out of me and I needed a break. I deserved a break. So I took one.

And then I found myself involuntarily wrapped up in a lawsuit (that will hopefully be coming to a close in the coming months) that drained whatever energy I had left.

Then I had a brilliant idea. “I’m 39 years old, I better have a second child now.” My second pregnancy was a lot tougher than the first. The birth? Let’s just say – it didn’t go as smoothly as I had expected.   Then of course, there was the breastfeeding and all the care taking that goes into a newborn. Needless to say I couldn’t work. And I didn’t for over 2 years.

Did my USANA income take a hit? Of course! The business can’t build as quickly when you yourself are not engaging it.  And the recession didn’t help either.

The Saving Grace

But here’s the kicker…

During that 2.5 year period, I got a check every single week from USANA without fail all based on the business I had previously built.

I first heard about passive income from Robert Kiyosaki and I was determined to build one.  You build strong and hard – then you reap rewards for an indefinite period of time as long as you do basic maintenance. Uhh, yep that would describe me. Simple basic maintenance, cash flow every week. It’s a beautiful thing.

The Moral of the Story 

There are two points I’m trying to make here.

1. Don’t let life hit you between the eyes in order to wake up and appreciate passive income and the freedom it brings.

We don’t need a trauma, an injury, or a crisis to warrant a passive income stream (although it would definitely come in handy.) We all deserve a life of freedom and a life of choice. Our children deserve our time and the best resources we can find. Our partners deserve our attention. Our lives deserve our presence. So why not build a business now that can pay out for years and years so that we can really do what we love with the limited time we’ve been given?

No reason. Build it. Build it so you can survive the rough times. Build it so you can enjoy the good times. Build it so you can be a role model of what’s possible. You’re one of the lucky ones that found this particular opportunity for freedom backed by a company that will be here for the long run and will continue to manufacture only the best products on the market. You’ve really got no excuses.

2. Don’t let anyone tell you passive income is a pipe dream.

Many people will tell you this type of income doesn’t exist. Some will tell you it’s only for famous authors, actors, or singers who get royalties for their work. Others might say they’ve heard of it but they’ve never really seen it. And some – well some know in their guts that this is the ticket but can’t figure out how. Don’t let them change your mind. Don’t let them convince you that this is not what it seems.

It’s everything it seems and more. 

I’m not sure what I would have done without the weekly checks. They paid for my autoship, they paid for my rent, they paid for my daughter’s school tuition, and for groceries (not so much for the lawsuit – but that’s another story.)

With every week that I was unable to work and with every day that I chose not to work so I could be around my kids, my gratitude to USANA increased and my belief in the freedom it promises in exchange for our efforts grew stronger. Having an income that allowed all of us to stay home and go through this transition together, was more of a gift than I could have imagined.

Now I know beyond any shadow of doubt that passive residual income isn’t just possible, it’s real.

My belief is yours to borrow until you experience this yourself. I highly recommend it.

The post Passive Income is Not a Pipe Dream appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

Health is a Choice.

He has both Heart Disease and Diabetes and spent most of his life saying he wouldn’t mind dying young as long as he got to smoke his cigarettes and eat how he well pleased. And that he did. I watched. As an acupuncturist, trust me, I’ve lost my voice many times trying to explain to him that there would be ugly consequences, that it wouldn’t be hard to make different choices, that I would help him, support him. I thought if he knew that I loved him enough, that would be a good enough reason to stop. But I was wrong.

It’s not that he doesn’t know I love him, and it’s not that he doesn’t care. The problem is that he just never believed there would really be any consequences to these lifestyle choices he made. He didn’t believe that lifestyle habits such as nutrition, exercise, and sleep could actually make a difference. And despite his heart attack at 55, he still doesn’t believe that smoking and eating unhealthy foods could cripple him.

Degeneration 

Fast forward 10 years, he suddenly finds his legs aren’t working that well. It turns out his abdominal aorta is 95% clogged and preventing blood flow to his legs. Surgery. Recovery.

Three years later – he bruises and bleeds easily and often. He develops anemia (iron-deficiency) and so feels tired and weak and has a hard time healing from injury or sickness.

Speaking of sickness, his immune system is clearly compromised. He comes down with severe colds and flus every month or so. The colds last a good ten days each. Month after month he still doesn’t see that a pattern of sickness has developed.

Then he finds signs of melanoma on his skin from the slightest exposure to the sun. Now he must wear long sleeves and hats at all times despite living in the hot Mediterranean climate.

All this time, he’s on a heavy dose of pharmaceuticals which make his labs appear normal so he thinks he’s fine.

Clearly, He’s Not “Fine.”

Four years later, it’s 2011 and the leg symptoms are back. The doctors suggest he stop smoking. But now my dad is now 68 and divorced and feels older so he actually quits. As soon as he quits, more of his body starts to break down. His intestines are inflamed and acting up. Now he’s waiting to find out whether his arteries are blocking blood flow to his intestines or if he has an actual tumor in his colon. And his legs are still bothering him so much he can barely walk.

After a good 20 years of my begging him to see nutrition as a path to health, his body is breaking down so fast, there’s barely a way to reverse the damage. And now he is asking me for help.

The Last Straw

Imagine the scene. I Skype in. I see my father, my hero, in the hospital, looking pale and frail. Imagine the feeling in my heart – sad, disappointed, surrendered. Imagine the feeling in his heart. I can hear the desperation because now his symptoms have gotten so bad that he has lost control over his own body and the symptoms have affected the quality of his day to day existence. He can’t figure out how to make it stop. The “consequences” are no longer in some future he can’t touch. They’re here, now. It hurts. It’s embarrassing. And most of all, it’s scary.

I tell you this story so you can really breathe in the feeling of degeneration – the slow process of a body breaking down and harshly cutting quality of life down to at least half of what it once was. I tell you this story so you can remember, that this man, my father, is only 68 years old. He still has many years to live – but what will his life look like? His life as he knows it and as he expected it to be up until his last breath – is already over.

Speaking from My Heart 

My father has lived too short and now he is dying too long. And there are hundreds of thousands like him.  It is an epidemic. Dr. Wentz’ statement has always made a lot of sense to me and I have repeated it in every presentation I’ve given in the past 6 years. But now, I know it intimately. And I know that next time I speak these words, I will be in complete alignment and I will be speaking from personal experience. When my prospects hear those words, they too will know it almost as intimately as I do because I will be speaking from my heart.

They will understand what I understand, and I have no doubt they will heed Dr. Wentz’ solution as well. Nutrition is the key to health at the cellular level. So if the cheapest health care is not-getting-sick, then taking USANA Nutritionals is the most effective and most inexpensive form of health care out there. (Don’t ever let anyone tell you these products are too expensive. Degenerative disease is expensive.)

We have a solution.

We are nothing less than obligated to offer the USANA solution to anyone that will listen. “Proper nutrition is the answer. Proper nutrition is the best way to ensure we are living  the healthiest lives possible,” says Dr. Wentz.

I think I will have an even easier time relaying the importance of getting on USANA’s Nutritionals now. That’s what happens when you truly mean what you say, when you really believe your own words,  when you speak from your heart.

Hopefully, if you’ve read this far, you too will have an easier time getting prospects to become customers so you can help change their lives before it’s too late. At least, that was my intention.

The post We Are No Less Than Obligated appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

Last week, I told you that it was kosher to borrow some belief from your sponsor. This is especially helpful if you’re either new or haven’t worked the business in a while and feel a little lost.

After hearing from many of you, it seems that some of you don’t really have close connections with your sponsors. The first thing I’d like to do is apologize on their behalf. I’m really sorry to hear that. Rest assured that it has no bearing on your success. That, my friend, is all up to you. The second thing I’d like to do is offer you four solutions to this unnecessary and unfortunate situation you have found yourself in.

One: Change the Karma

Make sure you don’t repeat this horrible mistake. This is the exact behavior that gives network marketing a bad name. If you’re like me, and you believe in the What Goes Around Comes Around philosophy, there’s only one way to ensure a long lasting team. Be a long lasting sponsor.

Despite the fact that you may have been wronged by your sponsor , you shall not repeat this behavior. Don’t disappear. Don’t make promises just for the purposes of recruitment. Don’t let your team down. This will not only ensure your team stays close to you, but it will ensure that your team follows your lead, and in turn, stays close to their associates which leads to long term residual income for you.

USANA has also incentivized more of that kind of behavior by instituting the Lifetime Matching Bonus. It incentivizes sponsors to train their downline over a long period of time – a really long period – a lifetime!

Two: Move Up the Line

If you keep searching up the line from your sponsor, you probably won’t have to look very far to find a leader that is kind enough to take you under his/her wing. Actually, that sponsor has a vested interest in mentoring you so don’t be shy. Ask. It shows lots of initiative and that’s exactly what leaders are looking for. We want self-motivated proactive associates. It’s all up to you. It doesn’t take a good sponsor to make a leader, it takes a leader to do whatever it takes to build their business – with or without a sponsor.

Three: Don’t Use This as an Excuse 

Having a non-active sponsor or an irresponsible sponsor is not an excuse to give up on this business! I speak too soon. It can be an excuse, but it would be your loss. You gain nothing from making excuses and the universe won’t suddenly feel bad for you and bestow you with a passive residual income stream just because you’ve got something to complain about.

So if you want an income stream that flows to you whether you are working, sleeping, or on vacation, don’t make excuses and don’t use this as an excuse. You’d be surprised to know that many of the leaders you read about didn’t have active sponsors of their own. A good sponsor is priceless but it’s not crucial. And an absent sponsor won’t get in the way of a leader. Leaders build regardless of and despite their circumstances.

Four: Borrow My Belief

I’ve been doing this business now for almost 6 years. It’s not as long as some of the USANA veterans out there but it’s long enough for me to have built some serious unshakable belief.

My downline, upline and cross line associates know this about me. But I’ve been MIA for about 2 years so whatever belief they’ve witnessed is old and outdated. Now when I speak, it’s like a lion’s roar, undeniable. No one would even dare question anything I say about this company, this business model, or the products. This is what happens when you speak with total honesty, when you speak from your heart, and when you speak from a place of complete alignment with what you KNOW to be true rather than what you’ve been told to be true.

Don’t get me wrong, no one is expecting you to suddenly gain this level of belief or speak with this level of confidence when you first start this business. But it will come  if you just stick it out. Never give up. In the meantime, I’m going to offer you some belief you can borrow.

I’ve Got Stories To Tell

In the coming weeks, I’ll tell you stories. Stories from the past 2 years of my life that have ramped up my belief to levels I never knew were attainable and I’d be happy to share them if it will give you the courage you need to go out there and build your own businesses. Remember, I built mine to Gold Directorship in 2 years on borrowed belief alone.

So what do you say? Would you be interested in having a well of belief you can dip into from week to week when your own resources are running low?

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But how else would I build this business if not to start engaging people in conversation about “the best company out there” that took care of your health, prevention of chronic disease, took the guesswork out of your supplement regimen and offered financial freedom all in one fell swoop? I had to just do it. And that’s exactly what I did. If rejection was the holy grail, I was the rejection queen.

Time to get some help.

So, for the time being, what I did was borrow some belief from my upline, Penny. Yep, I’m talking about the famous Penny & Phil Kirk who live in the realm of the Fortune 25ers having built this business with a focus on product. Every time a prospect  shook me of my ground with questions like “how do YOU know they’re manufactured according to pharmaceutical level Good Manufacturing Practices – have you been there?” or “how do YOU know supplements work – are you a biochemist?” or “how do YOU know there’s money to be made – have you made any?”, I would invariably call Penny up shaking and asking her the same questions in an almost accusatory tone. I literally took on their doubts as if they were my own and suddenly I had no ground and I was questioning all of my intuition and all of the due diligence I did when first deciding to jump into the USANA opportunity.

Penny, a veteran with USANA, always sounded so calm in response to my shaky and often skeptical voice. How did she do it? How was she always so calm and grounded? She’d always begin every response with, “Liza, Dr. Wentz…..” and then she’d explain time and again about how much integrity the company had, how much she believed in Dr. Wentz‘ work, and how she knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that if Dr. Wentz put his name on it – we have nothing to worry about. Then she would hand pick a story from her years with USANA and her many customers and associates that would perfectly illustrate, respond to, and dispel my concern completely.  Well, it turns out that time combined with experience will inevitably knock out any shred of doubt you might have for good.

It’s okay to be skeptical.

It wasn’t wrong for me to have doubts, questions, and concerns. It wasn’t wrong for me to be skeptical – even if I was already an associate.  In fact, I think initial skepticism  makes for a strong associate over time. I just needed time to build my belief and you just can’t build belief before you buy into this business, get into the trenches, and pay your dues. You need time and experience – which newbies have no access to. So, for a whole year, I basically borrowed Penny’s belief. If I couldn’t speed up time and experience as a new associate, borrowing it was my only hope.

Staying close to your sponsor during your first year is crucial because the naysayers can knock you out of any dream you have – whether it’s USANA -related or otherwise. Stay close to your sponsor, borrow his/her belief…for now. With time, you too will have the belief you need to be unshakable to the skeptics and a rock for your downline. That is why the absolute biggest and easiest secret in Network Marketing  is to Never Give Up. There is nowhere to go but up in this business if you just stay close to your sponsor – be willing to shake for a year – and stick it out.

If your sponsor isn’t available, someone upline from your sponsor certainly is and it’s your job to go find him or her. Trust me, they’ll be overjoyed to get your call.

How strong does your belief have to be?

Take a minute to evaluate how strong your belief really is.

Is it strong enough to stay standing after doubting prospects try to knock off your balance?

Is it strong enough to withstand random internet links that badmouth the company because they have nothing better to do?

Is it strong enough to help you say, “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure but I’ll get back to you as soon as I ask the scientists or ask andy, or ask my colleague.”

Is it as strong as Cain’s?  Day after day, no customers in sight, Cain sat there in the heat of East L.A. and never gave up. He had unshakable belief that someone would come and visit his arcade. And it only took that one customer to change his life. Forever.

That’s the kind of belief you need and the earlier you start building it and the more of it you borrow in the beginning – the sooner you’ll be that belief for those fresh new wide-eyed associates you are bringing into your team.

The post Borrow Some Belief. (an ode to my sponsor) appeared first on Jade Hamlet.

The Binary Plan – the ups and the downs.

I admit our binary compensation plan is beautiful. It fosters teamwork, it pays out big to associates who build long term, it’s so deep – there’s no limit to how much money can be made. BUT – it takes so long to get paid out when we first start this business! I mean really – unless you’re a recruiting machine that has no shame and is out knocking on every door in every nearby town 12 hours a day – it takes a while to really see some income. Why? Because we have to build two sides to make any money. You don’t really get to celebrate when you get your first associate – or make your first sale – because you just don’t collect commissions until you make a sale for the opposite side as well.

Until now.

USANA really out did themselves. With the new Lifetime Matching Bonus – it no longer takes two. It only takes one. One customer or one associate – if you treat him/her right – can lead to wealth beyond your dreams. How? Two ways. Either that 1 associate becomes the leader that runs with the business with or without your support OR that 1 associate or customer refers someone who becomes that leader. And as soon as you get that leader, BAM, you can earn a percent of everything that leader makes FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES in USANA EVEN IF YOU NEVER END UP BUILDING YOUR OTHER SIDE!!

Have a therapeutic cry.

Below is a video that is so worth your time. If you have an entrepreneurial bone in your body, you’ll cry. If you love children, you’ll cry. If you love random acts of kindness, you’ll cry. This video will open your heart and show you the power of one customer. And if this video changes your life like it did mine, consider dropping a few pennies here – then DECIDE to sign up 2 or 4 associates before the re-qualification date arrives. And if you’re already platinum, then devote the next three weeks to your team – so they too can benefit from this beautiful gift USANA has given us.

Please share any AHA’s or TAKE AWAYs you got from watching this video in the comments section below. I always love hearing from my USANA family.

If you would be so kind…

*Just in case you want to make my dreams come true, all you have to do is order some more Chocolate Whey Nutrimeal. (If you’re not a fan – I’d love to know why so feel free to comment about that too.) For some strange reason, USANA Corporate seems to think we don’t like the whey protein shakes so they’re not making any new flavors. Ordering more will give them the signal they need. Thanks!

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It’s that time of the year where I make my USANA resolutions (I do it at convention too but I take every opportunity I can get).  The way I see it, there are only 3 possible goal categories: increase my weekly paycheck, increase my residual income, or rank advance by convention so I can walk the stage with pride. I invite you to read through the descriptions of each goal category below, pick the one that most suits you at this time and then work backwards from there.

Cash on Demand

If you’re struggling to make ends meet, this is definitely the way to go. Every time you make a sale, you’ll look at your current Volume Report and place the points in the spot that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. You can also use the Optimal Placement report in DLM to help you with this. This is the way to get the most cash you can out of each sale. This strategy takes into account your current carryover and your current volume to maximize your current income giving you the money you need to pay your bills now. This was the goal I set in Year 2, when we suddenly lost our family income in one fell swoop. We needed the cash.

Rank Advancement

If you are in need of some recognition, status validation, a pat on the back, or even some fire to refuel you after a recent burnout, go for the rank advancement. If there’s one thing USANA does well, it’s that they reward us so beautifully for our efforts. You get to walk the stage and feel like a star, you get to take part of more and more bonuses & incentives, you get to visit exotic lands and be pampered from head to toe. This goal requires team effort and massive recruitment. It’s all about how many associates you can sign up in a 4 week period. It’s a race. It’s exhausting. But oh, the glory that comes with star status. Don’t kid yourself, it’s a high like no other. I set this goal in Year 3 once I had my first real team and I wanted to be a true leader. I wanted to make sure my team knew I wasn’t all talk. And I really wanted USANA corporate to know who I was.

Sustainability

Five years into the business and feeling like a veteran I am now convinced that the most important goal I can set at this point in my life is for long term sustainability.  I have experienced a major family emergency, an economic downturn and a new baby all within the time I’ve been a USANA associate. Without any warning, I was suddenly whisked away by something urgent, leaving me with no time to build the business. I know now that these are not so much isolated incidents, but life itself. Life happens. And it will happen to you too. So what to do?

Set sustainability goals. Sustainability is created by building a reserve of customers for life. These are customers on autoship, raving fans that spread the word, advocates that stick by you because the product works and they’re getting great service, and people that won’t sacrifice their health as soon as they feel a financial pinch. Customers for life are the bread and butter of any network marketing business. This is what pays out whether you are having an emergency or needing a well-deserved break.

This is my new goal. Long term sustainable income  will carry me through the highs and lows of life and will truly give me the time freedom I crave. I will take nothing less than a life filled with free time to spend with my loved ones in whatever way I choose.

Working Backwards

Once you know the major goal category you want to work with, you can work backwards. What will it take to get there? How many points do you need? How many customers? What should be the average sale? What product line will you focus on? What do you need the most training in to get it done? What’s your first step?

Now that you know what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it, you must must must set aside the time and space to make it happen. Do you have a place in your house you can go to put in regular focused uninterrupted time? If you do, make sure the space is clean and ready before New Years Day. If you don’t, take time this week to create an inspiring yet quiet space where magic will happen for you this year.

Finally, can you take a good look at your life, your calendar, your schedule and determine once and for all when is the best time to work at home? What events should you attend to increase your network and meet new people? When is the perfect time for meetings with prospects? And if you’re doing any local in-person meetings, where’s a great place to meet? Pick a cafe, pick a table, and let it be your lucky spot where prospects come and learn about health and about USANA.

Of course, all of this also applies to recruiting associates, but you know that’s not my focus this year so I’m not mentioning it much.

Make it known.

Once you have your whole plan set in your mind, it’s time to get some help from the universe. Write it down, put it up somewhere very visible (your fridge or your office). Writing down your goals is so powerful and it can help turn ideas from dreams into concrete realities. Make sure your writing is specific and clear, then post it somewhere so you can be reminded of it often.

Now for the most powerful step of all. Tell someone. Make an announcement, make an out-loud commitment, tell lots of people. This gives you free accountability. Avoiding the embarrassment of being a flake will give you the juice you need to keep going for your goal when you’re facing a challenge.

My 2012 goals

If it’s okay with you, I’m going to announce my goals right here right now. I want 100 customers on autoship. With the new baby, I’m removing the pressure of a deadline but don’t worry, I have a very detailed plan. I’ve determined that the leg of my business most in need of some TLC is 3 Left so I’m setting a goal of getting 25 new customers on autoship in my 3 Left. Once that’s done, I will move on to 3 other legs in order of priority and acquire 25 customers on autoship in each of the main 4 legs of my business.

I want the average sale to be 100 points. I will accomplish this by sampling, giving USANA products as gifts when it’s gift time, getting out of my maternity hibernation phase and meeting new people, socializing, hosting parties, getting out there and above all by having the courage to speak up with pride about what I have to offer if and ONLY IF the opportunity presents itself (i.e. I’ve listened closely, and someone has complained about some aspect of their health or has voiced a health concern or health goal.)

I won’t be switching goals until this one has been achieved. So you may or may not see me on stage at convention, who knows. But one thing is sure, many more people will be taking care of their health and isn’t that the most important goal anyway?

If you feel ready and you need some accountability. If you want someone to tell your goal to. The comments below are waiting and the people who will be reading those comments are your biggest supporters. So don’t be shy. What are your USANA goals for 2012?

The post Setting Goals That Work For 2012 appeared first on Jade Hamlet.