Upcoming MLM Trade Shows

Tucker Marketing will be sponsoring two Texas Home Business & Network Marketing Trade Shows on Saturday, October 25, 1997 in Houston and Saturday, November 22, 1997 in Dallas. Both trade shows have free workshops and seminars from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The trade shows are open for MLM distributors and prospects from the general public.

If you promote your business and prospect for distributors and leaders through exhibitions and shows, contact Tucker Marketing for booth information and for pricing and details via e-mail at Tucker@comwerx.net, phone (281) 376-0963 or visit http://tntmag.com/mlmshows.

If you don’t live in Texas but are interested in finding out about other upcoming trade shows in your area, check out Trade Show Center at www.tscentral.com They have listings for just about any industry and in many countries and you can search their database online to find just what you are looking for.

Network Marketing KnowHow™

Jennifer Moss and Cal Philips have developed a new audio tape training system to help new distributors get their business off and running. The 94-minute audio tape offers a dramatized role playing method that takes new distributors through a step-by-step training system to learn how to prospect, sponsor and retail product. A 26-page reference booklet provides additional information to support the training tape.

The complete program ($7.95/set, plus various quantity discounts) is available from Moss/Phillips Associates, P.O. Box 6624, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502, phone 505-820-0600.

Work@Home Magazine

This slick and informative new magazine made its debut recently and offers articles and training tools to help networking distributors make a success of their home-based business. For more information call (760) 804-2600 for a free sample issue or visit their web site at http://www.workathomemag.com

SALES UNIVERSITY
“Sales Training And Coaching For
People Who Don’t Like Selling.”

Sales University is a virtual sales training and coaching organization founded by Hilton and Lisa Johnson that teaches a philosophy of “Selling by Attraction” rather than manipulation or persuasion. They offer courses by teleconference and home study that help sales professionals become more comfortable and effective at selling by learning how NOT to “sell” but how to “attract”.

You can subscribe to their excellent and free “Sales Coach” e-mail newsletter by visiting their web site at www.salesuniversity.com or you can call them at (954) 491-8996 for more information.

Idea Site for Business

Here is a great site one of my online friends passed on with me to share. They offer lots of ideas for building a business using the Internet and although it is not MLM specific, there are lots of things you may find useful anyway!

The site’s address is www.ideasiteforbusiness.com and here are just two of the things you’ll find there...

Interested in getting PR for your business through e-mail? Click Press Direct offers over 1,800 press release e-mail addresses where you can send your information. Their new e-mail list allows you to click an e-mail link to a publication, paste your press release into the body of the message, and send it off through cyberspace.

And if you’re not sure how to write a press release, you can check out Raleigh Pinskey’s “Pitching Your Project to the Media,” an excerpt of press release pointers from her book “You Can Hype Anything.”

Happy Marketing!

Linda Locke is the editor of MLM Woman. You can reach her via e-mail at regent@west.net

I just celebrated my 38th birthday by buying myself something I didn’t need for my business. In fact, I didn’t really need these items at all. That’s a big deal - the first time in memory I’ve treated myself to such a luxury since I began my home-based business four years ago.

My husband Stephen and I follow a familiar ritual twice a year, on my birthday and Hanukkah. Since all of our money is joint, and most of it is spoken for, (paying bills and all), long ago my husband gave up trying to guess what I might like as a present, possibly wasting scarce cash on a sentimental gift with little utility.

Given our austerity budget, we’ve become quite practical around gifts. I give him a list of things I need, and he selects one of them and “surprises” me with a gift I’ve determined would be useful. Not very romantic, but very sensible. For the last four years, all of my “gifts” have been upgrades of one kind or another for my office - a ZIP drive, CD ROM, or something practical for the house.

This year, I was given a generous gift of $250.00 from my mom and dad, to spend as I wished for my birthday. Immediately, as habit would direct me, my thoughts went to “a new surge protector”, “upgrading my hard drive capacity”, etc. My husband and I determined that he could “chip in” a hundred dollars and we could purchase a new fax machine, something that has been on my list for a long time.

We settled on this practical idea, and I looked forward to my new office equipment - sort of. Truth is, I was supposed to be excited about a new fax machine, but somehow I just couldn’t get revved up about it. Then, the next morning, I was flipping through the paper and I saw an advertisement: “Stereo VCR. Easily Programmed. Thirty dollars off. Sale price $170.00.” We haven’t had a VCR that is programmable in the house for many years. Buying a new one has been considered too much of a luxury, given the constant needs of a house, home office, and children.

I did some quick calculations in my head. “I can spend mom and dad’s gift money on the VCR, and still have $70.00 left over. Hmmm, that’s enough for me to get something else I’ve wanted for a long time - a cellular phone.” I have been nervous about driving alone or with small children and being stranded without a telephone in the car. That’s what I really wanted for my birthday. I took a deep breath and called my husband at work.

“Stephen, am I allowed to spend that $250.00 I received from mom and dad on anything I want, since it was gift money?” “Sure,” was his reply. “Then cancel the order for a new fax machine. I want a new VCR and a car telephone.”

It felt out of character and a bit uncomfortable, asserting my wishes for two “luxuries” instead of addressing my practical need for a fax machine, or buying some other useful household product. One could argue that a new VCR and a cellular phone are also utilitarian products - it’s not like I was buying myself a fur coat, or a lifetime supply of bon bons. And yet, I had become accustomed to putting the practical needs of my office and my children before any other, so these purchases felt like luxuries. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was getting a true gift for my birthday.

As self-employed professionals, we must beware of the trap of always putting the urgent needs of our business and our home before all else. Note: I said “always.”

Regular sacrifice is par for the course for most frugal entrepreneurs. Putting business needs before other non-essentials is often what separates successful entrepreneurs from want to-bes. It is often the daily and weekly sacrifices we make as a family, that supports a fledgling business until it is off the ground and profitable.

When my husband started his business, his teenage boys didn’t get the same size clothing allowance as in years past. When I started my business, we shifted to consignment buying for my babies’ clothes. The small stuff adds up and frugality pays off over time.

But I would encourage you to “splurge” every once in awhile. Take yourself to the movies in the middle of the day; go to a consignment store and buy yourself a beautiful new dress; buy a new tool for the garden that isn’t necessary but will make pruning the hedges so much easier this year. If you have trouble justifying to yourself purchasing anything but the essentials, think of it this way:

The most important asset to a self-employed professional is an upbeat spirit. If you don’t take care of your spirit, over time, you will burn out and your business may cease to be enjoyable or profitable. Sometimes, you have to put yourself first - before the business, and the family, and all of the daily demands on your time and your bank account. Sometimes, you are the equivalent of a little kid who would sure love an ice cream cone.

It’s not a matter of life and death - you’d survive without it - but it would taste good and give you a few moments of joy. Life is short; sometimes we should eat dessert first.

Azriela Jaffe is the author of “Honey, I Want To Start My Own Business, A Planning Guide For Couples” and “Let’s Go Into Business Together, Eight Secrets for Positive Business Partnering” (Avon Books ‘98). She is the founder of “Anchored Dreams,” a coaching firm supporting individuals and couples in business, a professional speaker and editor of the “Entrepreneurial Couples Success Letter”. Call (717) 872-1890, write P.O. Box 209, Bausman, PA 17504, or email AzJaffe@aol.com or visit the Anchored Dreams web site at www.isquare.com/crlink.htm. For free online newsletter, email jaffe@lancnews.infi.net.

Q. What do you do when your downline distributor can’t afford to purchase products, sales aids, or training materials?

A. You ask questions.

Here is a conversation with an unmotivated, broke, and afraid-to-take personal responsibility downline distributor.

Big Al: You should at least invest $100 a month ($25 a week) in your business for products, sales aids, training materials, promotions, etc. Are you willing to do that?

Distributor: Nope. Can’t do that. I don’t have any money. Once I pay my bills, there’s nothing left. Can’t I just collect a few bonus checks first, and THEN build a business?

Big Al: Life and business doesn’t work that way. Let’s look at your present situation. You’ve worked ten years for the same company. You are an adult. And, you’re telling me you haven’t managed to save $100 total in all those years of work? Are you telling me you haven’t had the business skill or ability to save a total of $10 a year? That’s only one week's work on a paper route?

Distributor: Yep. The situation is grim. But, all my money goes to bills. If I had a few extra dollars every month, I would invest it in my business, honest!

Big Al: How much do you pay for cable TV?

Distributor: About $30 a month. But, I could never give that up. That’s our only form of entertainment.

Big Al: Do you ever eat out? Or, do you always cook your meals?

Distributor: We eat out about twice a week for dinner. I know it’s expensive, but sometimes we’re just soooo tired when we come home from work. That’s about $50 a week, but we do deserve a break now and then. And yes, I buy lunch two or three times a week too, but I consider it a good break from the boredom of the office.

Big Al: Do you smoke or drink?

Distributor: Cigarettes are $2 a pack, and I smoke a pack a day, but hey, I’m addicted. I can’t do anything about that. You don’t expect me to give up smoking to build a business, do you? And don’t get on me about my drinking. It’s the only way I can unwind after a tough day.

Big Al: What about weekends? Are they free? Could you take on a few odd jobs to have a little extra money to build your business?

Distributor: Yeah, weekends are off, but I have a lot of chores and duties around the house. It’s the only time of the week I can catch up and get a bit of rest, and maybe get in a game of golf.

Big Al: Golf? Do you pay for green fees and clubs and drinks and . . . ?

Distributor: I’m not putting away my golf clubs to build a business. It’s only three or four hours a week anyway.

Big Al: So what plan do you have to free up $25 a week to build your MLM business?

Distributor: That’s what I’m asking you. Tell me what I can do to get my business going. Nothing has worked so far. So what are you going to do about it, Mr. Sponsor?

Commentary: None needed.

This is an excerpt from Big Al’s Recruiting Newsletter which is available by free subscription via e-mail and snail mail. To subscribe online send an e-mail to bigalnews-request@s1.net with ‘subscribe’ in the body of the e-mail. If you’d like to receive the 32-page printed version, please e-mail your physical mailing address to bigalnews@tntmag.com or call Diann Vann at (281) 280-9800.