Keys to Building a Successful Downline in an MLM / Network Marketing Company

Are you considering joining an MLM opportunity? Or have you joined one already but you are struggling to succeed in the network marketing opportunity? Are you a novice in the multilevel marketing industry? Are you struggling to succeed or maintain success in the mlm industry? Are you planning to quit your business?

If any of the above questions describe your present state, then this article is for you. Apply the following tips to your business and you will not regret doing so. Happy reading!!!

·         Real products you are proud of: Choose a company that produces real and verifiable products which you believe in. Don’t involve yourself with scam companies. Make sure you love the products, and you are proud of them.

·         Stay motivated: It’s easy to be motivated at the beginning when signing up, but staying motivated when the challenges have reared up their heads is a different ball game. To stay motivated, think about the reasons you signed up for the network marketing opportunity in the first place. Also set goals for yourself, for example tell yourself you will sign up 2 persons per month in your downline.

·         Keep in constant touch with your downliners: Give them books, tapes and promotional materials, call them often, encourage them and sometimes set goals for them.

·         Find a mentor: In the network marketing industry, you need a mentor, someone more experienced than you to hold you by the hand and lead you through the hoops. If your sponsor cannot do that for you, find another person who may be in your company or not. The most important thing is to find someone interested enough in your success to go the extra mile to help.

·         Online marketing: You can purchase leads or build your own list if you have a website with an email auto responder. That way, you can have a constant stream of leads, and your downline will keep on multiplying.

·         Explore new methods: Don’t be afraid to try new methods of improving your business. Improve yourself and constantly research for the latest trends in your business.

·         Stay focused: Stay focused on your primary mlm opportunity and do not dabble into other ones until your business has started yielding significant income. Dabbling into other opportunities will make you lose focus and you will be more likely to fail.

If you apply these few points to your business, you will surely and steadily succeed in your business.

Call 2348035087631 for more information.

Leadership; The Most Important Attribute Of MLM and Network Marketers.

    Being a novice network marketer is a huge challenge. A novice, who had no previous training or skills in selling, suddenly finds himself or herself thrust with selling not only products and business opportunities, but with selling himself or herself to people. Now make no mistake about this: people are the raw material in this business. MLM and network marketing is people –oriented. You have to deal with people all the time, and no procedure or degree of automation can replace contact with people.

    To be an MLM or network marketer, possession of leadership attributes is essential. By leadership, I mean being courageous, taking risks, not being afraid to approach people, intelligence, diligence, empathy towards others, self-motivated, and most importantly, giving value to others. A leader does not necessarily need to be loud, but wherever there is a leader in the midst of people, it usually becomes clear in a short while. Call it charisma, carriage or whatever you like, but it usually shines through all the same.

    I am not here to advocate certain personality types as leaders over others. Rather, I believe each of us has it within us to be leaders. It depends on how well we express it. Some express these qualities better than others and become leaders of the pack. However, when situations warrant it, leadership traits are exhibited by others who previously were not viewed as leaders. Many of us excel in our various fields of endeavour, but we still do not view ourselves as leaders. We don’t have to be loud to be leaders, but we can cultivate the habit, and with time, others will come to view us as leaders.

    So how do we acquire leadership qualities? How do we become that man or woman who everyone wants to associate with?

·         We need to tell ourselves repeatedly that we are leaders.

·         We need to start acting the part of leaders.

·         We need to believe that we are leaders.

It is only when we have done this that we can develop the confidence to sponsor other people, be their coach and mentor, and help them succeed in their businesses.

For more information call 2348035087631. 

How to Drive Traffic to your Website in Internet Marketing

Hello, readers and followers. How are you all doing?

As business men/women, entrepreneurs, network marketers, internet marketers etc, we all need to advertise our businesses in one form or the other. It is not enough to own a website. People need to visit your website in order to see what you are marketing, and may become your customers in the process. If you own a beautiful website but the number of people visiting your site is small, it is almost equivalent to locating a large supermarket in a sparsely populated town: you’ll have few customers, few sales, and little income. But if you locate the same supermarket in a busy place with much foot traffic, you’ll have lots of customers.

Internet marketing is the combination of all the processes which you carry out to make internet users and potential clients visit your website. Of the visitors, a number may decide that your website is valuable to them and continue visiting. These are called followers. The process of creating followers is called lead generation. Some also end up buying your product. Internet marketing is a science as well as an art that needs to be studied.

Methods of driving traffic to your website include:

1.       Free methods

2.       Paid methods

Free methods include the following:

1)      Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This method involves the processes by which a website is made visible to different search engines. If the website is optimized, its position will be closer to front page of search results, and will attract more visitors. Factors that determine search engine results include the following: presence of keyword in the website address (URL), keywords in the title of website, Keywords in the headings of articles, keyword density in body of texts, presence and number of back links to quality websites, regular updating of articles, etc. In fact, the whole process of internet marketing all aim to achieve search engine optimization.

2)      Article marketing: You write articles and post to ezines (internet magazines) with back links to your website.

3)      Forum marketing: Joining web forums in your niche area and making regular contributions also drive traffic to your website. Some forums allow you create a signature which may contain a link containing your web address.

4)      Video marketing: You can post videos on YouTube and attach links to your website. Also very effective.

5)      Social media marketing: You can use face book, Google+, twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Reddit, and other social media to promote your site. Write small pieces introducing the article and attach a link to your website.

6)      Email marketing: You can send regular marketing emails to followers and leads.

Paid methods of driving traffic include:

1.       Pay per Click Ads: These are advertisements placed by Google, yahoo and other sites such as facebook, etc. These ads usually target a specific niche, and are very effective. But for a beginner, it would be very expensive.

2.       Telephone marketing: This is usually very expensive but can still be used.

These methods are not exhaustive, but are very good for a start. Beginners should start with one method and master it before moving to the next. It is also important not to spend too much money on advertisements until you have started generating enough income to cover the cost of advertising.

Thanks for reading.

Fear is Good

Are you afraid to start an MLM business? Are you afraid that your business will fail without you recovering your initial costs? Do you shake within you at the thought of going out to prospect? Do you fear about what people will think about you?

       Well, the good news is that fear is good. When you are afraid, go to work. Seeing results help you overcome your fear. Fear will spur you on to continue working until you succeed. And you will become the better for it.

     Do not give in to your fear. Successful people are not necessarily fearless, but they are people who go out in spite of their fear. Courage has been defined as ability to take action in spite of fear. The fear of failure can make you work harder than normal. It can make you go the extra mile to succeed. The fear of poverty can drive you to heights you never imagined. The fear of not being able to provide enough for your children can be the greatest motivating factor ever.

     The great leaders of the world today were able to conquer their fears of failure. You have to overcome fear to be great. If you don’t take up challenges, if you don’t do extraordinary things, how would you know the power that God has put in you? How would you realize your full potentials?

     Most people will never have a family vacation abroad, most will never drive their dream cars, most will never visit that exotic place they dream of, most will never live in their dream house, most will never live a healthy life, most will never be able to afford quality medical care, and most will never have their dream jobs, because they refuse to leave their comfort zones due to fear.

      Don’t be a mediocre, doing the things everyone else is doing, going through school, marrying and settling down to a 9-5 job for 35 years, only to retire into poverty. Take up the challenge to be wealthy, and take steps to work towards it. Live your dreams. Enjoy your life.

      So, when next you feel fear grip your heart and you wonder if you will be able to succeed, know that the only person who can stop you is yourself. Go out, do what you have to do, and conquer that fear.

Join FLP today. Call 2348035087631 for more information.

For a free 7-day video training course on how to attract endless leads to yourself in your MLM business, visit http://greatwoman.magneticsponsoringonline.com/

Have a lovely day.

Building your MLM Business

Hello, fellow and intending Network Marketers,http://greatwoman.problogacademy.com/
     Do not be deceived. MLM is not a get-rich quick scheme. It takes time to build. The multitude who failed in their businesses did so because they thought all they needed to do was to register and money will start flowing into their accounts. Building a sustainable MLM business is like any other business, and requires working hard and working smart. I say smart because most of the work is mental, with the remaining physical.
       When starting off newly, you incur some expenses in the form of advertising which you need to pay for while building your business.You also have to make your recruits see a form of income almost immediately. This is to motivate them to continue in the business. For all these,you need to sell not just your opportunity, but a system that works to your prospects, and produces almost immediate results. Your prospects start seeing results almost immediately, and this encourages them to continue in the business.
     So you sell 3 things to your prospects;

1. Yourself and your leadership
2. An income-generating system
3. Your primary opportunity last

If you follow this system, you are definitely on the path to success.
For more information on finding a workable system, copy and paste the following links on your browser.
http://greatwoman.magneticsponsoringonline.com/
http://greatwoman.buildingonabudget.com/

How to position yourself as a leader in the MLM industry

Hello readers and followers. In my last article, I talked about positioning yourself as a leader to achieve the most results. We would go further today to talk about how to achieve this.

Let me first state that you don’t need to be an expert before you do this. All you need to do is to be one step ahead of your prospects i.e. know a little bit more than they do about the business. And be willing to teach what you know to them.

·         Read extensively about the MLM business in general, and your business in particular. Know how your business works thoroughly before trying to prospect another individual.  Read the company policies, product information etc. If you appear unsure of the business to your prospect, he is not likely not to join you.

·         Attend your company’s training sessions to know the methods they employ in recruiting distributors. Alternatively, get your sponsor to do that for you.

·         Visit websites and forums online which talk about the MLM industry and read about other people’s experiences, and testimonies. Take note of what they have done to succeed.

·         Training opportunities abound on the internet in the MLM industry. Find proven experts and join their free training opportunities. Also buy helpful literature to help you understand if you can.

·         Create your own blog. This is very important. You can use free blogs like BlogSpot, wordpress for a start. Write articles that will benefit the readers and be regular. A world renowned MLM expert once said that if you want to sell drills, teach others how to make holes. This will attract your niche market, i.e. those who want to make holes. In the same way, if you want to sell an MLM opportunity, teach your readers what to do to succeed in MLM. You can also advertise your products on your blog.

·         Generate your own leads. Leads are possible and potential prospects. You do this by using your social network.  Post links of your articles to your facebook, Google plus, twitter, linked in pages and other social networks. Join forums especially business forums where the subscribers are likely to be looking for information relating to your business. If the forum rules allow, create a link to your website in your signature. Post articles and make contributions regularly.

·         You can also generate offline leads. Print some of your articles and post on notice boards. You can also handout copies of your articles to friends, colleagues and family members. Always include your contact details. You can also create a CD about your business and give to your prospects. Always go back to collect the CDs and ask them what they think of the CD. Ask if they will like to join your business. Some companies create their own CDs and promotional materials which you can use too. But do not spend too much money on them. You can buy one CD and make as many copies as possible.

·         Get an email auto responder for your blog. This way you can get visitors to your site to drop their email addresses and follow them up with regular emails and articles automatically. Because they were interested enough to visit your blog, they are more likely to be looking for a business opportunity, and may respond to you sooner or later.

·         You can create short videos about your business and post them on YouTube. U can use your PC or camera phone for this if you do not have a camera. Or create PowerPoint presentations of your articles and post on YouTube. Always include a link to your website in order to generate leads.

All these sound tedious, but are actually easy to do. All you need to do is to regularly update your blog; post new articles regularly, post interesting articles in your forums, and use your email auto responder effectively. With time, your needed traffic will come, and with it will come people interested in joining your business. And note that you will be able to attract high quality prospects with these methods, people ready to learn and work. With time your business will be in autopilot mode, and you can actually sleep till late morning, and wake up smiling to your bank.

Join FLP opportunity today. Call +2348035087631 for more information.

What Do I Say To My Prospects?

People who have been in any network marketing business know that what to say to a prospect is a big issue. What you say to them either makes them run to your opportunity or run away from you.

  “So where are the prospects”, you ask?” No one seems interested in what I have to say”.

The first step is to ask yourself what your prospects will benefit from joining the business. And it is definitely not your products, because there are a thousand and one out in the market with similar benefits. You are selling them an opportunity to make more income, period. Anything outside that does not make sense to your prospect.

    Look around you today. The average person needs more money than he/she is being paid. You will even find a lot of people doing one small business or the other apart from their regular jobs to make ends meet. So your potential prospects are everywhere, in abundance.

    But it depends on how you present yourself to them. If you talk about how big and wonderful your company is, they simply don’t care. If you talk about your products, they have other cheaper, if not better alternatives. They only care about what’s in it for them. If you tell about how wonderful network marketing is, they’ll show you numerous examples of people who have done it and failed.

      So what do you say to them?

     Promote yourself as a worthy leader in your field. Let them know you will go all out to help them succeed. Give them the necessary moral and technical support. Advertise yourself, not your company. People love leaders. If Robert Kiyosaki were to give you a presentation on any MLM opportunity, at least 70% of the audience would want to sign up under him, not necessarily because of the speech, but because he is a proven leader in the industry. Sell yourself to them, and they will want to join you.

      So when next you want to advertise, make sure it is yourself you are advertising, not your company.

Join my FLP opportunity today. Call 08035087631 for more details.

Steps to take in MLM Sponsoring

Sponsoring other people is the life blood of any MLM business. The more people you sponsor, the more money you make. But caution has to be applied when sponsoring people. You have to ask yourself some important questions.

·         Are you offering real value to your potential recruits?

·         Do you believe the products/opportunity will benefit the recruit?

·         Will you do everything in your power to ensure your recruit succeeds?

If your answer to all of these is "Yes", then you can go ahead to convince the person of the need to join the business.

Now that you have decided that you want to go ahead, you can use the following steps.

·         Be nice to people that you come in contact with. You may not talk to them about the opportunity immediately, but a relationship can develop which you can use to your advantage in future.

·         Talk to friends, family members and colleagues. Chances are that they are more likely to believe you because you already have a relationship with them. Most are usually skeptical though, but don't let that deter you because they usually come around when they start seeing tangible results.

·         Make it a goal to talk to an average of 10 people a day.

·         Give your prospects training materials. You can buy pamphlets, CDs, or even write some materials and give to them to read. You can also collect email addresses of prospects and send them regular training materials, or refer them to educating websites, or even create your own website. The idea is to make them realize that succeeding is possible, and get them interested enough to sign-up.

·         Invite prospects to your company's training meetings regularly and make sure you attend the meetings as well. This is important to make sure they sign up under you. When you are not physically present, they may sign up under other distributors.

·         If attending company meetings is not convenient, arrange meetings in your house and invite your sponsor or one of your upliners who has good presentation skills to speak to them.

·         Use notice boards effectively. Write interesting articles on your business and paste on your notice boards. Don't forget to write your contact details conspicuously. This helps in screening the curious from the interested as only the interested ones will contact you.

·         You can share flyers to people, especially those who you don't have much time to talk to, like customers at your work place. Where you can, chip in a word or two about your business. People respond better to face to face conversations than to write-ups, so try as much as possible to combine the two.

·         Follow-up is very important for all prospects. Send regular emails which are rich in information weekly or twice weekly. If you send every day, your prospect may consider it as spam and stop opening your mails. Also call once in a while, but not too often, otherwise, he/she might stop picking your calls. Calls are important because your prospect may need the trigger of your voice to finally make up his/her mind.

·         Continue with these strategies consistently. You can set up a timeline/schedule of activities monthly to keep you organized.

·         You can also promote the products of your company this way. You will then have regular repeat customers who you sell the products you compulsorily have to buy monthly. That way, you do not lose any money.

·         It is as important to follow up your recruits as it is to follow-up prospects. Call them regularly, give them training materials, make them watch you talk to prospects, teach them all you know about the business. You can set targets for them, for example, tell them to recruit one person per week, and monitor them to know if they are doing well. Make yourself easily accessible to them. You can also recruit people under them to encourage them. Your recruits are your team members, so you should arrange regular meetings with them to discuss your difficulties and proffer solutions. Also introduce them to motivational books, tapes etc.

If your support system is good, your team members will be satisfied and there will be less dropouts. This way, you’ll raise people who will keep on doing the work in future while you smile to your bank. If your support system is bad, you will lose more than 80% of your team members and you'll need to work consistently hard to replace them.  There are a lot more tips, which we'll share with time, but these tips are enough for a start.

Join our FLP team today. Call 08035087631 or visit http://diary-of-a-network-marketer.blogspot.com/ for more details.    

MLM / NETWORK MARKETING QUOTES

·  “Of all the entrepreneurial opportunities available today, one of the most important is direct selling, also called network marketing.” — Paul Zane Pilzer, Famous Economist and Best-selling Author

·  “If I had to do it all over again, rather than build an old style type of business, I would have started building a network marketing business.” -Robert Kiyosaki, Investor, Entrepreneur and Best-selling Author.

·  “Network marketing gives people the opportunity, with very low risk and very low financial commitment, to build their own income-generating asset and acquire great wealth.” -Robert Kiyosaki

·  “Network marketing is the fastest growing business model in the world today.” -Robert Kiyosaki

·  “If you are a person with big dreams and would love to support others in achieving their big dreams, then the network marketing business is definitely a business for you. You can start your business part-time at first and then as your business grows, you can help other people start their part-time business. This is a value worth having – a business and people who help others make their dreams come true.” -Robert Kiyosaki

·  “I am often asked if Network Marketing is a Pyramid Scheme. My reply is that corporations really are pyramid schemes. A corporation has only one person at the top, generally the CEO, and everyone else below.” -Donald Trump, American Business Magnate and Co-author of “Why We Want You To Be Rich”

·  “No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals.” -Brian Tracy

·  “All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” -Brian Tracy

·  “I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.”  -J. Paul Getty, American Industrialist

·  “Take action every day. It doesn’t have to be dramatic action, but every day, stick with it. Spend time on things that make you proud, that stretch and strengthen you.” -Phillip Humbert

·  Robert Kiyosaki says, “The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work.”

·  “Networking is an essential part of building wealth.” -Armstrong Williams

·  “A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.” John D. Rockefeller

Join Forever Living Business opportunity today. Contact +2348035087631 or visit http://diary-of-a-network-marketer.blogspot.com/

WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE MULTIPLE INCOME STREAMS

Having multiple sources of income can greatly affect your finances. Even having an extra N50, 000 monthly can make a big difference. It can offset the cost of car loans, student loans, mortgage, and children’s school fees or even settle extended family issues. Even if you can adequately meet all your needs without much stress, you still need to fund those yearly family vacations abroad, or save for your children’s education abroad, or change your car or prepare for retirement, or just simply save for the rainy day.

     An extra N50, 000 monthly may look small to you, but you’re probably not making that much from your dividends in the stock market, or from your fixed deposit or savings account. Another way of looking at it is as a pay raise which would probably be due in 3, 4, 5 years. Either way, an extra 50k monthly makes sense.

    You could probably take 2 jobs to generate more income, but that’s not very convenient. You’ll probably have less time for the people you love, and the things you love and life would become more stressful, leaving you at risk of Hypertension, Peptic Ulcer, and other diseases of lifestyle. And that, my friend, is not so cool.

     Any extra income opportunity for you must be

·         Flexible: You need to be in control and call the shots.  You don’t need your time tied down at a second job.

·         Scalable: It must have the ability to generate substantial amounts of income. The last thing you need is a ceiling to what you can earn.

·         Sustainable: It must have the ability to generate cash on its own even when you are not working on it.

·         Easily affordable: It must not need large sums of money as initial investment.

So, I want to introduce you to your own business. Forever Living Products offers you a business opportunity as a distributor of their products which ranges from nutritional supplements to skin-care products to weight loss management products. The beauty about being a distributor for this company is that you don’t need large amounts of money to be a distributor compared to other companies. You operate a system called multi-level or network marketing, where you benefit from the efforts of all the recruited distributors under you, as well as enjoy the support of your recruiter (upliner). You receive monthly checks from the company monthly provided you and your team are working.

I will leave you with this quote by J. Paul Getty, an American Industrialist:

“I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts, than 100% of my own efforts.”

For more enquiries, call 08035087631 or visit http://diary-of-a-network-marketer.blogspot.com/

Tips to help you choose the right network marketing company

So you have made the decision to join the network marketing business, and you are looking for the right company to join. Or you have been burned once and are looking for the right company made just for you. These tips will guide you on the right company to join.

·         The company must be reputable in their field. Their products must be among the best in their field.

·         The company must have stood the test of time. It is said that 80% of MLM companies fail before their 5^th year. Choose companies that have been in the business for at least 5 years.

·         The company must have tangible products or services; otherwise it’s just a ponzi scheme.

·         The company must not pay commission on the registration fees of new distributors. But rather, it should pay commission on products bought by distributors.

·         Their products must be readily consumable. This is to make it easy to have repeat customers who must have used and liked the product and come back for more. There is no point registering with a company that sells products which do not need to be changed regularly like radios, cell phones etc. Companies that produce nutritional products and cosmetics do well because the customer will usually come back for more.

·         Take a look at their compensation plan. Compare it with that of other similar companies. The compensation plan must be very good and they should have a lot of bonuses and incentives which is necessary to motivate their distributors.

·         Do they have regular training sessions? Training is an essential part of any MLM. Sessions should not just be about the products, or testimonies, but should be mainly about the marketing. The marketing plan of the company should be fully understood by the distributor. Sponsors must follow-up their downliners to ensure they start earning as well. Sponsors must also be easily accessible to their downliners.

·         Their payment policies must be very clear and well understood.

Remember, it is not about how wonderful the company is, but about what suits you and works for you. You can have a great company with great products, but still fail, because the plan does not work for you.

Choose right today, Choose Forever Living Products.

Call 08035087631 for more information or email me at cukodoodle@gmail.com

STARTING OUT AS A NEW NETWORK MARKETER

Having successfully registered with Forever Living Products, I tried to prepare myself for the task ahead. I absolutely needed to succeed, and I told myself often that this has to work. I just couldn’t allow this opportunity to waste the way it happened with GNLD.

      Let me tell you guys about my experience, or lack of experience with GNLD. I was visiting a friend in another town about 4 years ago. All she talked about was about this new wonderful opportunity with GNLD. Prior to this, I had just finished reading “Becoming a Millionaire at 26” written by an author I can’t remember his name.  In that book, he talked about MLM as a good way to become wealthy. He also differentiated MLM from ponzi /pyramid schemes, and talked about qualities to look out for in any MLM company. I decided to join GNLD. That action was a mistake, however. I was not residing in the same town or state with her, and when I got back home, I couldn’t find a support group in my immediate vicinity. I had no idea how to go about recruiting prospects, and no marketing skills either, so I ended up not selling any of the products I bought. My sponsor was later duped by her own sponsor, who collected monies meant for the registration of new recruits, and disappeared into thin air. This demoralised her, and she stopped the business altogether. Thus, I eventually lost the support of my upliners.

       So having learnt from my past blunders, I made up my mind to make this opportunity work. I love the internet; it is a great place, where information on almost any subject can be found. I found many sites with so much information on how to be a good network marketer. With this information, I am slowly but gradually developing a strategy which I hope to follow in my business. I will also update you all, my readers, on how I have gone about this business, the strategies I’ve used, what works, and what does not, and how to succeed in this business. Hope you had a nice read.

LESSON 1: Never join a business you know nothing about. Research fully, and understand the workings of the business before joining.

LESSON 2: Your sponsor has to be easily accessible either physically or on phone, email etc. Never make the mistake of joining a team who just recruit you and leave you to figure out the business on your own. You need your sponsor’s total support and training.

LESSON 3: There are frauds everywhere, so be careful who you trust. Find credible people to sponsor you.

LESSON 4: You need a high level of motivation in order to survive in this business. Discouragement will come, but your enthusiasm and determination will see you through.

How the Journey to Network Marketing Began

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog!

I’m going to take you all through a journey of my foray into the world of network marketing.

     Let me start from the beginning…

So I’m sitting at home one afternoon when I receive a call out of the blues, from my schoolmate, Kate*(not real name).

“Chi”, she said,” There’s a business I want to introduce you to. A lot of people are involved, and they are making lots of money from it.”

“What’s it all about?” I asked warily.

“Forever Living Products”, she replied.

“Oh, forget it,” I said,”I’ve been involved with GNLD in the past and ended up wasting my money.”

“Chi, this opportunity is real;” she tried to convince me.”You should try it.”

“Well, I’m really not ready for all that”, I replied.

“At least, you could come for our meetings on Sundays. You’ll hear mind-blowing testimonies. Every doctor in our hospital is involved,”she tried one last time.

“I’ll see if I have the time,” I said just to dismiss her.

       I forgot about the conversation, and even though Kate made several attempts through calls and text messages to convince me, I definitely wasn’t up for it.

       Fast-forward to about 3 months later…

I needed money badly. I wasn’t exactly broke, but I was involved in a mortgage scheme being arranged in my place of work. I had also received admission letters from 2 schools in the UK for online masters degree, and I had no money anywhere for the school fees. I had applied for scholarships, but they didn’t sail through. The monthly deductions for the mortgage were going to be about three-quarters of my salary, and that would leave me with no savings for the next 2-3 years. I also had a baby, parents and relations to cater for. I have a very supportive husband, but he too was neck- deep in loans and other commitments.

       I knew my dream of starting my MSc this year had hit the rocks. I tried to see if I could borrow some money from relatives but with no success.

       As I went about my daily activities, I was in deep thought, trying to think of ways to raise money. I prayed daily to God to make a way for me.

       It was in this state of mind that I was in as I was driving home one morning after my night shift, when Kate called again.

“Where are you, Chi?”She asked. “I need to see you now. I’m almost at your hospital.”

“I’m on my way home. What’s it about?” I asked.

“It’s something important. Please can I see you? “She begged.

“Ok, let me turn round. I’ll meet you at the gate.”

I got there, and it turned out to be the same old story, but at this point, I was desperately looking for a solution to my problems.

I wanted to know more, so she invited me to their weekly meetings on Sunday, which I accepted.

       So on Sunday, I got my hubby to accompany me to the meeting. It was held in a large hall, and the hall was packed full when we got there. Many of the distributors just returned from a trip/rally held in South Africa, and the atmosphere was festive. A tall man was doing a power point presentation about the fantastic opportunity the company had to offer, while food and drinks were being shared. Several distributors came out to share testimonies about their growth in the business, and some outstanding distributors were recognized. The atmosphere was too rowdy for my liking, but my friend told me it was because of the returnees. Their meetings were usually saner than this.

        At the end of the meeting, I collected a form from her, promising to fill it with my husband’s consent. At this point, my mind was pretty much made up to join, not because of what I saw, but because of my need. And I was determined to make it work this time.

LESSON 1: Your potential prospects’ minds are searching for opportunities, and depending on how you present it to them, they’ll grab the opportunity with open hands.

LESSON 2: Someone who rejected your opportunity today may accept tomorrow, depending on circumstances.

LESSON 3: Prospects are not scarce , they are everywhere. They are everyday people, like you and me, with problems and looking for solutions.