By most measures we are new to the direct sales industry. My first experience with it was about 5 years ago when I signed up to make quality supplements available to clients in my “brick and morter” business. It wasn’t until early in 2007 that I began to give the network marketing portion of the industry any serious consideration.
Up until then, I’d had many of the same misconceptions that are so prevalent in the population about mlm and network marketing. In my mind network marketing carried the taint of scams, pyramid schemes and snake oil sales men (snake oil worked, by the way) – then there was the obligation of selling to friends and family. Without going into detail, let’s just say I had most of the marks of true ignorance, including the certainty that I already knew everything I needed to know.
That all changed when I attended a seminar that had a profound effect on many aspects of my life. It was T. Harv Ecker’s Millionaire Mind Intensive. This long weekend completely changed my relationship to money and to the people closest to me and it opened my eyes to the possibilities of network marketing.
At one point the lead trainer, Rob Reopel, asked everyone who owned a business to stand. Then he asked perhaps 20 of us to identify what their business was. The answers were all over the map – massage, accounting, hairdressing, pet-sitting, you name it. Rob invited everyone to return to their seats then said – YOUR REAL BUSINESS IS MARKETING. IF YOU DON’T KNOW MARKETING, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS.
Suddenly it was clear to me why my past attempts in free enterprise had met with only marginal success. I only knew half my business!
Later in the seminar, Rob mentioned that Robert Kiyosaki was endorsing network marketing as a great way for someone making the transition from traditional Employment to Business to learn the fundamentals. Robert’s books Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Cash Flow Quadrant had been pivotal in earlier shifts in my thinking. I left the seminar determined to find out more.
Several mlm’s and thousands of dollars in research and education later, we decided to create this blog as a way to share what we learned about creating success in this industry. We hope you will benefit from what you read on this site and that it will help you grow your business to a new level – You deserve it!
We owe many debts of gratitude to the successful business people inside and outside the direct sales industry who have shared so much with us during this process. A short list includes T. Harv Ecker, Rob Reopel, Robert Kiyosaki, Mike Dillard, Jay Kubassek, Aaron Parkinson, Jeffery Combs, David Hawkins, Esther & Jerry Hicks, Rich Shefren, Jay Abraham, Jeff Johnson, Alex Mandossian, Eben Pagan and Frank Kern.
To Your Success,
Gregory & Melissa Gerdes
