Don’t be that guy!

Everyone has seen him/her many times on Facebook.  He’s the one breaking all of the unwritten, unspoken rules of Facebook etiquette.

Perhaps he just didn’t pay attention in class.

In the first article in this series, we covered why Facebook can be a goldmine for you for building relationships, attracting new customers and new business partners.

We went into a few simple Facebook Do’s.

Now it’s time for the Facebook Don’ts.

Don’t spam people’s walls – I wrote an article a few months ago that I called Social Media Date Rape…because that’s what these people are like.  They become your friend and before establishing any value or building any sort of relationship they plaster their link to their business on your wall.

Get off my F’ing wall, man.  I have lots of friends on Facebook and I do a lot of business through my site, so my profile is like one of my stores, essentially.  Would you walk into someone’s place of business and hang a banner for your business on their wall.

Of course not, it’s absurd. Don’t be that guy!

But social media miscreants do it all the time.  Like I said, get off my F’ing wall.

This goes for groups too.  If you haven’t communicated with the group administrator and built a relationship or found out what the group rules are, then you shouldn’t post anything promotional.  Just use your head and be in integrity.

Don’t insta pitch people in chat/email – It’s really the same as above, but somehow people think that if they are sending you an email or a chat window, it’s somehow okay.  Again people, build relationships.  Stop being so short sighted.

Don’t use crazy pictures as your profile photo – I covered this a bit in Part I, but wanted to expand on it here.  Here’s a short list of how to have no business friends.

Now, these are all friends of mine, but they need some help optimizing their Facebook profile.  If you have any of these as your profile photo, well, I am just sayin…

Logo Man

I know this guy is promoting his business, but people do business with people.  Build a relationship and trust in YOU as the voice of the business.

Mr. or Mrs. No Face

I know we are all busy, but if you can’t take the time to even upload a picture, why would I want to take the time to accept your friend request?  Red is a good look though, right?

The Cartoon Guy

I went to high school with Che and I doubt he is using Facebook for business, but he isn’t the only one that does this.  People everywhere do it and wonder why they aren’t building their friends list.  I mean, everyone likes snoopy, right?

The Under-ager

Hey, I love my son with every fiber in my body, but you know where pictures of Brennan go…in an album, not as my profile picture.  Maybe I am wrong.  Maybe this is this girl’s profile.  Kids are techno-wizzes these days!

The Pet Guy

Scott is a new friend of mine and I told him I was going to use this image of his dog, Jack. But seriously Scott, give Jack a nice bone and put him in a nice album that he can call home and get your personal photo back up.

There you have it, a few nuggets for you.  Stay away from this Facebook don’ts and you’ll be just fine.

If you haven’t read Part I of this article, go check out the Facebook Do’s.

Can you really use Facebook to grow your MLM business?  To do it, do you have to be one of those annoying “in your face” marketing tactics?  Can you effective use the power of Facebook and still keep your dignity and integrity?

The answer is yes, you can.  You can build a massive business with Facebook while growing friends and not alienating people.  You can do all of those things if you use Facebook properly.

Let’s start by talking about why you would want to use Facebook to attract people to your business.  I remember just 2 years ago when I was telling a friend how I was using Facebook to build relationships and grow my business he said, “Facebook, what are you 12?”

The climate has changed a bit since then, hasn’t it?

Here is the breakdown of why Facebook is one of the most phenomenal marketing arenas in the world.

1. Market - there are over 400 million users (growing by 300,000+ per day)
2. Extremely targeted – people tell you what they are interested in
3. Clusters – like-minded people gather in groups and through fan pages
4. Organically Viral – everything anyone does shows to all of their friends in their news feed
5. Exposure – the average user spends 55 minutes a day online and has 130 friends
6. Connection based – what I mean by that is Facebook is set up for people to reach out to each other.  People WANT to connect and share information.  This is the basis of all social media.

As a marketer, those bullets above should make you drool.  They represent a marketers dream come true.  It’s one place that you could literally drive all of your business from.

Now that you know WHY you should be using Facebook, let’s talk about HOW you should be…and while we are here, let’s also talk about how NOT to use Facebook.

Facebook being the 800-pound gorilla of social media platforms, it follows the same intelligent guidelines as others, but as we know, people aren’t always intelligent.  The sheer potential for marketers outlined above is enough to make the less tactful and principled marketers come out of the woodwork.

Don’t be one of those people.  It will cost you in the long run.

THE FACEBOOK DO’S

1. Relationships – Set your intention and goals when starting your Facebook campaign that you are there to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with people.  You are there to connect, to provide value in the marketplace and actually get to know people.

Facebook is completely transparent.  If your goals are not congruent, marred with self-serving actions or inconsistent…people will know.  Just be smart and be real.  In today’s world of social media, good news and bad news travels very fast.

2. Optimize your profile – if you truly want to use your profile for business, then you need to make it reflect your brand.  This doesn’t mean that you need to remove all of the personal information, quite the contrary, but you do need to be conscious of it.

If there are photos of you from Mardi Gras “getting your beads on,” you may want to think twice about that.  If you are constantly sending pillow fights, horoscope info, pixie dust and fairy godmother apps to people, you may want to shift the use of your time.

Sit down and spend some time crafting your message.  What do you want people to know about you and your business.  You need to connect people to you as a person and you as a business leader.

3. Profile Photo – I see this so much it needs it’s own bullet point.  If you really want to build relationships based on trust and mutual respect, you need a good picture where people can clearly see your face.

This is the number one reason people accept friend requests.   Get a good, professional photo.  At the very least, get a really clear, well lit one.

I know you love your kids, but don’t use them as your profile pic unless you are in it.  (more on this later)

4. Share relevant and purposeful content – yes, occasionally we will care if you just dropped the kids off at school or that you just got out of the shower, but we don’t need a play by play of stuff that is meaningless

5. Strategically grow your friends list – there are two ways to go about growing the number of friends you have on Facebook…randomly or strategically.  Since we are talking about business, let’s choose strategically.  Random is generally not a good strategy for business.

Decide what your interests are and what niche your business is in then seek out Influencers in those markets.  Find groups that are of interest, join the group and reach out to the administrators and officers of that group to build relationship with them.

6. Join the Conversation – Social media is, after all, about being social.  Go engage with other people and comment on their stuff.  “Like” their post if you like it.  Forward their dialogue.  Help them, genuinely.  Be of service.

Recommend friends & invite people to groups.  Be that connector and facilitator of relationships and you will be rewarded time and again.

7. Broker Your Time – You may have heard Facebook referred to before as “Crackbook,” because of its addictive nature.  If the ‘average’ user spends 55 minutes a day on it, imagine what some people are doing.  You need to be very strategic (there’s that word again) with your time or you will find yourself sucked into an endless world of comments, pokes, applications and notifications.

By all means, if you also use Facebook to forward personal relationships, knock yourself out.  Just be clear about what you are doing so your business goals don’t get lost in a pillow fight.

I said I was going to get into Facebook Don’ts in this article, but it’s already long enough, so I broke it into another article.

For all of the (or at least some good ones) Facebook Don’ts, check out Part II.

We have heard it a million times in business, school, relationships and life in general.

It’s the small things that make the difference.

Then why do the vast majority of people keep searching for that magic bullet, that secret ingredient, that special something to catapult them to success?

Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Vince was a pretty talented guy. You know, Starry Nights, Irisis and like a gazillion other amazing masterpieces. We remember him for great things. Monumental things. Brilliant things.

And yet he says it was all about the small things.

Thoreau said this, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. Simplify, simplify.”

Henry was a pretty talented guy too and produced some literary masterpieces on his own.

Now, I am not suggesting you go cut off your ear or go find a cabin in the middle of the woods and close yourself off from the world. I mean, if you think that’s what you need, go for it…but there are likely other routes to take.

In our insanely fast paced world, we often try and do it all. We imagine ourselves into this huge life and often think we are going to get their with one great leap forward as if there is that one thing that will propel us forward into greatness.

It doesn’t work that way.

Of course, there are exceptions. There are those occasional one-hit-wonders in life. There are the Tin Tin’s of business and entrepreneurship. (anyone who didn’t grow up in the 80’s is now Googling “Tin Tin.”)

People who struck it big on seemingly a single attempt. “Kiss Me” by Tin Tin was said to be written in 24 hrs after the band was signed by their label. It’s still on the radio today. Yeah, I know Tin Tin is the guy who went on to form Duran Duran…but he wasn’t at the time…he was just a dude who wrote a song.

It happens…but very, very, very, very rarely. Did I use enough “very’s” to make the point?

More often, it’s the Sinatra’s who make it. I tried to find exactly how many songs he recorded, but it was tough to find the exact number. The most accurate account I could find was 1285.

1285!

And that’s probably a little low.

Wow! That’s a serious body of work. That’s 25+ songs a year over a 50-year career.

That’s enough to make you feel lazy, isn’t it?

It was the countless number of hours writing and recording in the studio, consistently over his career that made The Chairman great.

It was the countless performances he gave to crowds of all sizes that made him great.

When he was first starting, he played rooms where only a dozen people showed up.  He sang his ass off anyway.

It was the thousands of martinis he drank and women he flirted with…

Okay, I got carried away.

So, what’s our lesson here?

Small forwarding, positive actions over time create enduring success.

Or as Jeff Olson calls it in his bestselling book…the Slight Edge.

It’s the seemingly insignificant things that when we do them don’t seem to make a difference that over time either create greatness or perpetuate mediocrity.

In relationships with ourselves and others…

It’s getting off work a little early once a week to pick your kids up from school and spend some uninterrupted time together.

It’s having family dinner consistently together so you can just talk.

It’s bringing home flowers on a Tuesday…that’s not her birthday, anniversary or mother’s day.

It’s rubbing his shoulders without being asked.

It’s setting aside “us time” and “me time” consistently…not just when you can’t take it any more.

It’s meditating, working out and reading…at least a few times EVERY WEEK.

It’s eating that one raw meal a day.

These are all seemingly insignificant things that add up over time…and over time they contribute to the body of work that is our lives.

In business and marketing…

It’s making new contacts and exposures to your business every single day.

It’s putting out 1 single piece of good content online every day.

It’s being of value in the social media space with your dialogue and interactions.

It’s stepping up to lead even when you may not think you are ready.

It’s stretching yourself past your comfort zone…and doing it with joy.

It’s doing the thing NOW, not tomorrow or next week, but NOW!

I know that we sometimes seem to get a lot of conflicting information in the world of personal development. Some advice teaches us to focus on getting the big parts of our lives in order, to focus on vision, to make sure the most important things are our priorities.

These things are all true.

But we don’t get where we are going by leaping the chasm. We get there by putting one foot in front of the other and simply taking a step forward.

It’s really not that hard.

And that’s the challenge.

It’s simple.

So most people miss it.

Do the small things anyway.

Choose what you want. Create the vision. Decide what things need to be done to move your forward towards your goals.

Then just get started…and stay consistent…even when you don’t feel like it.

Hold your vision in mind while focusing on what’s next. What is the next thing you need to do? Then just do it.

Check it off the To-Do list.

This is so much more than just staying in action. It’s adopting a belief system that success is the culmination of many small influences and actions. It’s “a knowing” that the thing you are doing right now is either moving you closer to or further away from what you want.

Let’s go get it done.

But please, please, please…do it with style. Put YOU into your daily actions. If you are going to show up…SHOW UP!

Show up with 100% of who you are – whether it’s parenting, being intimate, marketing, training, talking to a prospect, learning from a mentor, taking care of yourself, working out, being quiet or making a difference for someone.

So what are you waiting for?

Go get jiggy with it.

Here’s one way right now for you to get jiggy. ReTweet this post for me to your followers. Be valuable for other people and repost a link to this article for your Facebook friends.

Looking forward to seeing your version of “My Way.”

It can’t just be all fun and games.

Or can it?

Poker Training Network will be the first network marketing company to launch a fully integrated social networking gaming site through Facebook.

We have all seen the invites through Facebook. Our friends hit us with offers to play with them in Farmville, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker. Some people hit delete, but millions accept and are engrossed in these play environments.

Yes, I said millions. Farmville currently has 80 million weekly users and Zynga Poker just went over 27 million weekly users and they are growing by astronomical numbers. People love this stuff. Playing with animals, raising their friends all-in, accumulating chips…they can’t get enough of it.

A number of MLM companies have tried to force their way into the social media world but most have been rather unsuccessful. Pre-Paid Legal launched Blastoff with very limited success and although PeopleString has gotten some legs, it will never be a Facebook.

The reason these campaigns have failed to gain market share is that they are self-serving. They were created and are developed to benefit the company who made them. There is very little, if any, real benefit to the average consumer unless they are a distributor for the company.

Poker Training Network (PTN) will break through all of that by creating a true online gaming experience to rival Zynga Poker. Their game room is cleaner, full screen, easier to use, has more features and since PTN is a poker training company, their free game will even include a training component for people to get better at playing the game they enjoy so much.

Poker Training Network has a real shot at picking up millions of poker enthusiasts who are looking for a better platform than Zynga. And they have a shot to do this very quickly.

Keep in mind, Zynga Poker just launched in July 2007. That’s almost a million users acquired a month. What will happen when people learn there is a better option?

What does that mean for Poker Training Network affiliates?

It means a lot.

It means a PTN affiliate can simply invite their Facebook friends to play poker for free in a fun, interactive, completely non-confrontational way. Every network marketer knows the inviting people (marketing) to take a look at your product or business is the most challenging part for the majority of people in the industry.

PTN has created the softest, “try it before you buy it” approach in the industry. For the average MLM rep who may be a little hesitant to approach people they know with their business, this is a slam dunk for them.

For market leaders, think about this for a moment. As you build your business and grow your team to 500, 1000 and 5000, 20,000 people…think how many people will be playing poker in the free game room that are attached to people in your group.

What if the average Facebook user only has 100 of their friends registered to play? With a group of 5,000 affiliates, that would be 500,000 people being exposed to your business every week.

It’s like having a farm team for new affiliates.

Users of PTN’s Facebook gaming site will learn about PTN, their products and will be exposed to ads promoting the business. The user will be coded and linked to the referring affiliate. If they click on a banner and decide to join, they go right into the referring affiliates business.

The potential is mind blowing.

There is no other network marketing company that could do something like this. Seriously, what Facebook application would they create? A game that sends people on a quest to find the best Acai berry in all the land? The journey of the magical fruit juice?

Sounds fun doesn’t it? Not!

Poker is the 3rd most watched sport on TV in the US and the fastest growing sport. It’s here to stay. People play for free online, in pubs, at home and pay to play online and at casino’s all over the world.

What do all of these people have in common?

They have a desire to get better at the game.

Can you really play your way to wealth?

With Poker Training Network, it sure looks that way.

If you want to learn what my team is doing to create success in the Poker Training Network, get in touch with me today.  I am looking for leaders who want to grow a massive business with the global trend.

“Daddy, I want a light saber.”

“Okay Brennan, I promise we can get one before we leave.”

This started at about 3pm while we were at Disney last weekend.  I heard it again at 4pm and again at 5pm.

We weren’t trying to deny Brennan of his trust light saber; we were just waiting until we were on our way out before buying one.  Honestly, we were afraid for the other patrons.

My son wielding a glowing weapon can do some damage.

As it got dark, we saw light sabers everywhere.  It was actually very cool looking.  Multi-colored sticks ripping through the air.  Kids on Dad’s shoulders were flailing them everywhere.

Towards the end of the day, we were moving pretty quickly from one ride to the other, trying to get another ride on Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain in.  My son, being 5, was exhausted after a long day.  In fact, in line for Space Mountain, he nearly fell asleep.

As I mentioned in my last post, he is just under the height for Space Mountain.  He got on the first time, but the last time they denied him.

He was so tired he didn’t care.

So here we are, running from amazing ride to amazing ride, Brennan is nearly asleep on my shoulder and as soon as we walk outside what do you think the first thing he said was?

“Daddy, I want a light saber!”

I’ve often said that my son is my greatest teacher and this is not different.  This is how life is.  We set a goal for ourselves and start working towards it but life doesn’t always just lie down for us.  We get focused on something and start working towards it.

Life has a way of setting up lots of distractions for us, in my opinion, as a way of seeing just how committed we are.  Some of these distractions are a ton of fun and valuable, like Thunder & Space Mountain and the Haunted Mansion.  Or in your daily world it may be more like TV, Facebook, exercise, reading, running to the store or playing a game (poker, Xbox, Wii, you name it).

Some distractions aren’t fun at all.  Health issues, relationship issues, drama of any kind, business & job challenges, real estates woes…life like to throw lots of curveballs.

There are lots of strategies for success in life, but one that I absolutely believe is paramount is having a focused commitment.  Once you get clear about what you want, set your sights on it, declare it to the Universe (in Brennan’s case this was me)…you need to stay completely focused in what you want until it’s yours.

We often get met with a little adversity and shrink.  We get distracted and loose focus.  We have people telling us we can’t and we believe them.

Very few things in life matter other than what you want and your commitment to getting it.

As you are setting up your week for yourself, figure out what your light saber is for the week.  Figure out that one thing that you absolutely must have or create.  What project will you complete?  What goal would you walk through fire to attain?

Get clear, get focused and stay committed so when you ask the Universe, “I want a light saber,” it will have little choice like me but to give it to you.

I wrote this article a few years ago before I had a blog and with my son Brennan just turning 5 a few weeks ago, it felt right to re-post it here.  Enjoy.

7:23 pm is a time that I will now always remember.

January 30^th, 2005 is now a date I will cherish forever.

On that date, at that time, Brennan Zachary O’Brien decided to make his grand entrance to this world as my first son.

7:27 pm was the time my heart melted, my world stopped spinning and everything was in perfect alignment.

It was at that time that the nurses called me (my wife had to have a c-section) to come see Brennan for the first time.

He was wailing, I mean, really wailing.  At that point after what we went through in the previous hour, we were thrilled to hear him crying.

And cry he did; the kind that starts way down deep in the stomach, pierces your ears and is clear that he is letting everyone know that they should now be paying attention to him.

Then it happened.

I walked over and said, “Hey Brennan, it’s your Daddy.”

Immediately, he turned his head and looked directly at me and stopped crying.  His eyes peered into mine, finding familiarity in this ever so strange new world.

I lost my breath.

It was amazing, and truly one of the most thrilling experiences of my life.  The connection had begun – a family was formed.

My wife and I had had the opportunity to spend about two hours with our new son before he needed to go to the nursery for the battery of tests they do on infants.  Interestingly enough, the next time Brennan cried was when I had to hand him to the nurse for his tests

So I went with him to the nursery while friends stayed with Michele.  We didn’t want him out of our site.  Not that we were really worried someone would take him or that they would mix him up with other babies, but…he is really cute!

The tests are done and we swaddled him up for a nap and I am standing there, over his crib, looking around the nursery at all the babies.

It was a busy day at the hospital and there were at least 10 or 12 babies in the room.  For some reason, my mind started swirling and I began to think.

I began to think what it would be like if all the babies in the nursery could talk.  What if they were born with full vocabularies and a mastery of the English language?

I don’t exactly know why I started thinking along these lines, but there, in the euphoria of the first few hours of fatherhood, I had my Buckminster Fuller-like realization.

So I asked myself, what would there conversations be like?

If all of these brand new souls could immediate converse with each other – what would they say?

I envisioned a number of variations in my imagination about the babies describing the sensation of physically developing in the womb and if they had any memories of pre-conception and all sorts of other surreal, metaphysical, intellectual gymnastics, then my mind shifted.

And for a moment, I became sad.

I started thinking about the things they wouldn’t be talking about.

They wouldn’t be talking about war, hatred, violence, ignorance, racism, hypocrisy, gangs, jealousy, power-trips, revenge or murder.

They wouldn’t know these things.  They would have no experience of feeling insignificant or unworthy or less than.

They wouldn’t know shame or guilt or deception.

We learn these things.

We build them into our human condition by choice.

And yes, we do choose them.  Unfortunately.

In that moment, I no longer felt sad.

Choice.

We always have choice.

We choose whether or not we feel guilty or shamed or to use deception to whether we feel hatred or jealousy.

We choose whether or not to be ignorant or a racist or a hypocrite.

We choose whether or not to engage in violence, murders or wars.

And yes, we choose whether or not we feel insignificant and unworthy.

We have the wonderful ability to direct our thoughts and emotions in whichever way we’d like, regardless of circumstance.

It’s not always easy.  Sometimes it feels nearly impossible.

But ultimately, we always have choice.

It takes no more energy or effort to choose joy, passion, love, abundance, worthiness and happiness.

It’s still just a choice.

So thank you, Brennan, for reminding me of one of our greatest abilities – our ability to choose.

This article is going to lay out some facts (and opinions) about USANA Health Sciences from an independent third party network marketing professional and hopefully shed some light on the strength of the USANA products and business opportunity for those who are considering getting involved.

USANA was founded in 1992 by Dr. Myron Wentz, who is an internationally recognized microbiologist, immunologist, and pioneer in the development of human cell culture technology and infectious disease diagnoses. USANA is definitely a product driven company and has seen consistent growth over their lifespan.

USANA is one of the most successful companies in the history of the industry and reported 2008 revenues of $429 million. Nearly half a billion is nothing to sneeze at and those revenues rank them amongst the elite in the industry. Most people who have used their products would agree that within the MLM arena, USANA’s products are among the very best…and they pride themselves on this distinction.

Their products compete in the multi-billion dollar wellness and nutrition industry offering nutritionals, skin care, weight loss, energy & personal care products. There’s no argument, USANA makes some incredibly good products.

Some of the other things to consider when joining a company are Management, Compensation Plan, Internet Marketing Policies, Culture and a host of other factors. I have personally met or spoken to some of the USANA Management team and I have to say that they are competent, but also incredibly passionate about making a difference in people’s lives. Their management is solid. They are on the conservative side, but solid. If you like conservative, measured growth and a company that will be here 50 years from now, USANA may just be your ticket.

From a compensation standpoint, they are interesting. They have a binary with a bit of a twist that pays out pretty well on the front end as a new distributor and pays pretty generously up through about $25,000 a month, but the real top end income just isn’t there.

For example, as I write this article, USANA has 6 people making over $1 million a year after 17 years of being in business. Compare that to MonaVie who has 34 people making over $1 million a year after not even 5 years. That’s a big difference. With fairness to USANA, if you look at the middle numbers (those earning between $1,000 and $5,000 a month, USANA crushes MonaVie. As we both know, that’s the majority of earners.

Another interesting thing that USANA does is the way the compensation is designed; it encourages more product consumption resulting in higher auto-ship amounts. If you personally order $100 a month in product, you can earn 10% on the binary. If you personally order $200 a month in product, you can earn 20% on the binary. That’s a big difference and since they have a ton of valuable product, this is pretty smart. What that means is more volume with less people. Everyone likes to earn more for less work.

The other interesting thing is that USANA is a public company. On the onset, this looks like a good thing. Stability, trust, public acceptance, etc. In reality though, this isn’t that great. Who is the company committed to – their shareholders or their distributors? It’s hard to be both. USANA has balanced this pretty well over the years and has consistently made increases to their compensation plan to compete against some of the newer, higher paying companies.

One of my dear friends is one of USANA’s top 25 earners. She’s been there for over 6 years and loves the company…but she has a system that she created that is completely based around her personality and what she loves to do. This is probably the most important point of this article.

If you are going to be successful with USANA or any company in MLM, you must build your business in a way that allows your personal strengths to flourish. If you are a private person who simply isn’t comfortable approaching virtually everyone you know, then that form of marketing may not work for you.

I have built businesses using traditional warm market strategies and I have built businesses through direct marketing and internet marketing strategies primarily using social media and content marketing. The reality is, learning how to harness the power of the internet just flat out gives you greater exposure. Period.

If the 3-foot rule lights you up, then more power to you. I can’t stand it. I want to only speak with people who are ready to talk with me. I want to only speak with people who are actively looking for a business and ready to take action.

Which sounds better to you?

If you want to learn how to take your USANA or any other MLM business online so you never have to worry about leads again, subscribe here to get instant access to my training.

Fill Out This Form Right Now
To Get Access To Your Free Training!

Unless you have been living under a rock or in a cave or just simply haven’t been following the MLM industry, you have probably heard of TVI Express (Travel Ventures International) at least a few times by now.

In this article I will break down the good and bad about TVI and try and shed some light on this company for people who may be looking to make a decision to join.

Is TVI Express a legitimate company or is it a scam?

First of all, let me say that I am not a TVI Express affiliate and I have no biased reason for giving a review that leans one way or another.  This review, like everything else, is purely my opinion…backed up with lots of solid factual information.  Ultimately, you need to go do your due diligence and choose what’s best for yourself.

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s likely a duck!

Travel is a tough MLM business.  Many companies have started and very few remain.  Unfortunately, the abuse has been widespread.  After quite a lot of research, I would caution very strongly against joining this “company,” unless you don’t care about being ethical and you are just out to make money at any expense.

Why would I say that?  There are a few glaring reasons why TVI is sketchy at best.

There is a lack of product information and NO clear separation between retail product purchase and distributor purchase

Every legitimate network marketing company knows that the FTC scrutinizes our industry and thus, their corporate sites tend to err on the side of caution.  All intelligent companies focus their corporate site on product.  Review any of the real companies in the industry.  This is purposeful.  It’s the company’s job to ensure long-term stability and navigate the already difficult FTC guidelines properly.

The corporate website for TVI doesn’t even have a tab for product.  As a new person goes through the site, it’s easy to see that the product is discount travel, but exactly what it is is very hard to determine.

First of all, the 6-day/7-night voucher and the companion airline ticket are NOT for resale.  They are travel incentives used by promotional companies all over the world.  I have personally used these in past businesses.  They run anywhere from $3 to $25 and anyone can purchase them.

For an MLM company to be legal, there has to be a clear competitive retail market for their product.  I haven’t been able to find the cost of the TVI retail product, or even a way to purchase retail on their site.  This is a HUGE RED FLAG.

How much is the retail product?  Is it the $250 package?  What is it exactly?  Is it the discount website portal?  If so, wouldn’t a legitimate company show me something about the actual product instead of just telling me?

Although I am no Einstein, I am smarter than the average bear (maybe that’s the problem with TVI) and if I have this hard of a time trying to find out what the product actually is and how to buy it, that spells trouble.

It would be interesting to see if any retail sales have been made yet.  This is an FTC nightmare waiting to happen.

Who runs the company & what is this secret

“UK Based Business Group”?

Any competent network marketer knows that management is the key to long-term business success.  Quality management trumps product, compensation and culture.  Management is everything.

So why hide the management team? Is there a President/CEO?  Who are they?  Real people with solid track records give companies legitimacy.   What reason could they possibly have for hiding their management and investor group?

Are these people not trustworthy?

Are they trying to hide the fact that they are involved?  Perhaps for tax purposes?

The company is incorporated out of Limassol, Cypress, which is a well-known tax haven.  This by itself isn’t a bad thing, but when you combine it with poor corporate communications, management hiding behind a curtain, secret investor groups and lots of money flying around the world…it starts to stink.

It’s been widely reported by TVI distributors that they have a very difficult time getting a hold of anyone at the corporate offices or in customer service.  Many say they wait weeks for a response.  If this was a start up company, that would be somewhat understandable in that with new launches, the field overwhelms customer service.

But TVI isn’t a new company.  They have reportedly sold 300,000 packages at $250 each.  That is $75,000,000.  Even at the disclosed 72% payout, that leaves $21,000,000.  They have blamed some of their corporate woes on “server issues.”  Well, I am not going to say it, but if a company makes $21,000,000 and can’t keep their servers up, that’s either _____________ or ______________.  You can fill in the blanks.

“It’s legitimate, I got paid!”

If you read any of the forums or comments on articles writing about TVI, this is people’s main reason for saying the company is legitimate.  “It’s not a scam, I got paid.”

That’s just funny.

Although the founders of TVI (whoever they are) aren’t, in my opinion, the most ethical business people on the planet, they certainly aren’t stupid.  If they pay people, they keep their cash cow scam going longer.   Not paying people would waste all of their unethical hard work.

It’s just not smart.

Getting paid doesn’t mean this company isn’t going to get shut down…which it will.

Someone show me a real product with TVI Express that I can sell to anyone at a fair market price and the principals who run this company and I will perhaps change my mind.

Unfortunately, people are desperate right now, and money with no effort is attractive…but it’s not real.  People standing up for the legitimacy of TVI really just want it to be real.  They are blinded by the easy cash.

As I said in the beginning, if you are okay with selling NOTHING and don’t care if people get hurt, then TVI Express is a great business for you.

I hear Enron is hiring again too and Madoff is looking for apprentices.

If you seriously want to build a business that will last, fill in this form below to get F’REE Instant Access to my exclusive online training.

Fill Out This Form Right Now
To Get Access To Your Free Training!

Poker and MLM?

That can’t be right, can it?

Well, it is.

With the explosion of poker and the incredible staying power of the industry that just keeps getting more popular, it easy to see why this company makes sense.

Before we get any further along, I want to disclose that I am a founding affiliate for the Poker Training Network. What that means that this review is biased, but if you do your own research, you’ll see everything below is completely factual. I have been in the network marketing industry for nearly two decades and I went through a complete evaluation of nearly 50 companies before choosing to go with PTN.

What that means is that the Poker Training Network beat out everyone else.

If you want to see what is possible when you market a product that has the popularity of a sport (fastest growing sport in the world and 3rd most watched in the US), check out this video from a recent PTN event.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Poker Training Network (PTN) went into a soft launch in early September 2009 and have made a bit of a splash in both the network marketing and poker industries. It’s not gambling, it’s poker training and here’s the pleasant surprise…their products are good, very good.

PTN offers a suite of poker training products that are designed for anyone, regardless of skill level. The system includes a video lesson library, podcasts, a play simulator, a proprietary game room, a results tracker and an incredible database driven analytic tool that actually records your play then gives you feedback on your play based on core poker fundamentals.

It’s like having your own private poker coach.

It’s estimate that there are 300 million people that play poker and combine that with non-playing network marketing enthusiasts; most agree the Poker Training Network has quite a marketplace.

New MLM’s launch pretty much every day and every good business person knows that the place to start and finish your evaluation is with management.

So, who is behind PTN?

Dennis Nadeau is the Founder and CEO. Nadeau has had success in both MLM and traditional business, hitting it big back in the day with Quorum before focusing on internet marketing for fortune 100 companies.

Dennis Windsor is the President and Chief Marketing Officer. Those who have been around the MLM industry for a while will know Mr. Windsor’s name. He’s been on both the distributor and management side of the business most notably with The People’s Network and he ran the network marketing division of Video Plus.

For the long-time network marketers, this next bit of info will be very interesting. Do you want to know of the principal investors? None other than Jeff Olson (NSA, Quorum, The People’s Network, Pre-Paid Legal, Slight Edge). Jeff is probably the biggest name in network marketing for the last 20 years and has grown three different network marketing businesses to over $250 million a year and has been #1 distributor or the owner of each. He must see something he likes with PTN since he has never done anything in the industry small.

Okay, so it’s a great product with solid management…what about the compensation plan?

PTN has gone with a binary with a check match. So, you’ll earn 10% of the volume of your pay leg (lesser volume) and are eligible for a check match for everyone in your enrollment tree down 10 levels. You enrollment tree is your personally sponsored people plus their team.

Even at the beginning levels, you earn a 50% match of someone’s check. So, if you help someone make $2,000/mo, you will earn a $1,000 bonus…and that is just for that one affiliate.

This is the real power of these binary check matches. You won’t get rich on your team bonus (it caps at $25,000/mo), but the check match can represent some huge income over time.

Poker Training Network is a solid company with a star-studded management and ownership team; there is no question about that. They have a solid compensation plan; that is easy to see. If you do some research, you’ll also find their poker training products are by far the best in the industry.

But now what?

How are you going to market your business/product?

Trade shows? Networking events? Family? Friends?

All of these methods have potential, but what if you really learned how to market like a pro?

What if you learned how to position yourself and your company so that you only talk to people who wanted to talk with you?

Every business needs an effective marketing plan. It’s the fuel that makes a business work. Making a list of the top 200 people may work for some, but certainly not everyone.

If you really want to build a long term, successful, profitable business with the Poker Training Network, you absolutely must learn a few fundamental marketing tactics that will separate you from the masses.

I am a founding affiliate of the Poker Training Network and am currently looking for a few leaders to help support a massive internet campaign. Fill in your info below to get access to my free online marketing training.

Take Action Now and learn how to build your business like the Top Earners across the entire industry!

Fill Out This Form Right Now
To Get Access To Your Free Training!

You have seen the ads and the websites promising overnight riches with internet marketing.  We’ve all seen them.  I bet you have probably subscribed to some of them and bought their products.

I have too.

Education is powerful, but all the information online about how to make money can be overwhelming.  If you tried to pay attention to everything, you could easily go insane.  You buy a course and start to study it, then before you can even really apply anything, the same “guru” is upselling you to a bigger, better course.  You buy that one too and before you can really apply those strategies, you get distracted with anyone program.

Then you finally get to work.  You run into something you don’t understand and you have nowhere to turn.  You are stuck in a techno black hole with no understanding of how to get out.

This is by far the biggest challenge with making money online.  Over stimulation creating massive distractions.

If you don’t focus, you lose.  Period.

I don’t care how great your business is, your system is or your talent is…if you don’t really dig in and focus your efforts, time and energy…you will fail.  And you will fail every single time.

You want the magic bullet?  FOCUS.  Let nothing interrupt your commitment, persistence and work ethic.

If you are committed to really getting after it, let’s talk about getting your business going online.  Building an online MLM business can be one of the most rewarding projects you can ever work on and reward you with an incredible lifestyle.  There are some absolute basics that you need to understand to get your online business going.

First, and this one is almost so silly I feel badly saying it, you need a website…a good one and a really good funnel system. If you are not familiar with what a funnel system is, it’s simply an online process that interested prospects flow through before they come to you.  With each step of the process, the system provides value and gauges interest, so the ones that come out the other side are highly targeted and highly qualified.  Please don’t think you are going to find a quality website and funnel system for free.

Second, you need to get traffic to your site.  No traffic equals no leads.  No leads equals no sales.  There are tons of ways to drive traffic – Pay Per Click, Article Marketing, Social Networking, Blogging, Classifieds, Video Marketing…and so many more.  Choose one or two strategies that you really enjoy and become masterful at it.  Again, we are back to focus.  In order to get any real traction online, you need to get at least 100 visitors a day to your site and that is just a starting point.

Next, you need to learn how to convert those visitors to leads. Traffic without conversions is just entertainment.  You want to make money.  You will need to learn to tweak your web copy so that a higher percentage of your visitors turn into leads.  Even 3% over the course of a year can add up to a lot more money in your pocket.

Finally, you need to build a relationship with your new subscribers, adding value to their lives and businesses and over time, so you will generate profit from them time and time again.  This is where masters win where unfocused amateurs fail.

Every single one of these steps is a group of skills that you can focus on building.  How do you become wildly successful online?  Look at these four steps, determine where you need to focus your efforts and commit to becoming masterful at it.  If you really focus, you will win…every single time.

If you want to take advantage of a complete Online MLM Success system that has all four of these components in place already and all the free training you will need to become masterful at each, fill in the form below for my complete system.

Fill Out This Form Right Now
To Get Access To Your Free Training!