As business owners, executives, and employees, we have different motivations for what we do. The problem seems to be a general loss of purpose in most businesses today. What happened to our passion? To the American Dream? Did it ever really exist?

With a resounding “yes,” the American Dream not only existed, it is still alive today. The real problem is we have settled into meritocracy brought on by a sense of entitlement. We walk around believing that as Americans we deserve the American Dream; that by our mere existence our lives should represent all of our dreams and wishes. We act as if all we have to do is wait for our turn on the American gravy train. Sadly, it is this mentality – more than the economy, more than politics, and more than world events – that is diminishing the real American Dream.

Work ethic, innovation, determination, strong values, these are the things that create the real American Dream. It is not a birth right, but a privilege, a privilege that each one of us has been born into as humans. We have within us the ability to accomplish great things. That is the difference. We expect great things to happen to us, but fail to realize, we first must step out and step up. You will not wake up tomorrow and have your dreams handed to you. However, you have the opportunity to wake up tomorrow, roll up your sleeves, and start building your dreams, brick by brick, one small accomplishment at a time.  The real American Dream is our ability to work hard and create whatever we set our minds to. Let’s all go out and start building.

How much passion do your employees put into the business? How much passion do your field marketers put into the business? If there is an imbalance between the field and your home base, you need to correct it quickly.

I have tried but have not been able to verify the veracity of the story I am about to relate, but true or not, it makes a very good point.
When the USA was falling behind in the space race to the their old foes, the Russians, President Kennedy made a trip to Cape Canaveral. As he toured the facilities he asked three janitors, “What is it you do here?” The three answers were diverse and telling:
1. “Earn a living.”
2. “I pick up the trash.”
3. “Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.”

The fabulous book Brains on Fire says:

You can’t have passion without purpose. The two are intertwined. What are you passionate about? And why are you passionate about it? Now, how does that connect with a sense of purpose? That part of you that believes you’re making a difference or standing up for something you believe in?

Perhaps it is a time to do a passion check of your employees and see how it compares with the field. Do the newbies or those with less visible roles understand the importance of having passion and purpose? Does the field feel excited when they come to your office or do they feel it is “us against them”? Maybe it is time to find out.

Is Your Team Passionate?

I can make money with any product with the right compensation plan. I am sure if you have been in direct sales, MLM or network marketing long enough you have heard that line. It is pure silliness. When I was first involved in network marketing that was the attitude. It was wrong then, it is wrong now. Except for a small percentage of disingenuous-silver-tongued-sales gurus, this has never worked in traditional retail nor for the masses in direct sales.

I remember when I was first learning how to become a network marketer my upline encouraged me try the new raisin bran. The bran was bland and the raisins tasted like sugary rocks. They were terrible and never should have passed product compliance. When I told my upline I would never buy them again, I was reminded that it didn’t taste bad, it tasted like money…what?

Let me remind all of us in direct sales that we are still in the product/service business first, not the opportunity business. The most stable companies in economically hard times are the ones who create true product value. With only a small percentage of the marketers making high commissions even in good times, remember to look for value in the product first and your opportunity will always be safe.

When do we stop following our dreams? When do we stop believing that we can accomplish big things? When do we become too jaded to believe in miracles?

I have four children and it never ceases to amaze me what they believe is possible. Andrew, age 4, can conjure up an entire world of impossibility and spend the afternoon imageering what surrounds him. I love to watch it because it helps me to remember how powerful our dreams and goals are. It also keeps me believing that I can make my world better no matter what obstacles seem to be in my way.

I was recently watching Jim Carrey’s Yes Man. In one scene his lively girlfriend, Allison, said, “The world’s a playground, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.”

This quote got me thinking about how crazy it would be to make a video of little kids saying ridiculous excuses that adults use to justify their mediocrity and lack of success in life.  What resulted was 3 days of hilarious outtakes and ice cream bribes. The video below is just a sampling of the most fun a guy can have with $5 ice cream coupons and bunch of hilarious kids.  Look for our complete compilation in a couple days.

Believe it, The World is a Playground

Some of the best business advice can come from the most absurd places. I must admit that watching the real news is depressing. Oil spills, nuclear disasters and Moammar Gadhafi do not make for an uplifting evening. The more serious life gets, the more I need the ridiculously sage words from sources such as Sigmund Marvin from What About Bob, “From all the horror in this world, what difference does it make?”

Unfortunately for most of us, Siggy Marvin makes us laugh, but we are forced to confront the horrors in the world at work or we risk going out of business or losing our job. Not long ago I spoke with a friend who is in the awkward position of knowing what is best for his company, but is forced to play politics to keep peace. As he described the position a colleague was taking the business, it reminded me very much of an article written by TheOnion.com. Take-Charge, Can-Do Guy Makes Horrible Decisions, is a must read for anybody confronted with overachieving numbskulls on a regular basis.

“Matthew Stuart, an enthusiastic 33-year-old junior executive at Boston Tea Market, Inc., gets things done quickly, confidently, and terribly…” So frequently when somebody is new to a team, they want to leave their mark and save the day even when they are in way over their heads. They want to be seen as the hero. They want to get the job done. Great goals, but as the old saying goes, discretion is the greater part of valor.

As I write this post, I think to myself, “Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, you are a self-admitted fanatical entrepreneur. Don’t tell the good people to play it safe. Any challenge can be overcome. No obstacle is too big. Encourage people to get out of their comfort zone and make big things happen.” Admittedly, I am an adrenaline junky, I take chances, I start new businesses and I make them work. However, I have found few people that are willing to take responsibility when things go wrong and even less people are willing to risk their own personal security for the sake of making the business work. If you are not willing to lay your salary on the line for mistakes that you initiate, rethink your strong positions.

What we typically see in most businesses is a person that comes to us with the façade of bravado who makes terrible decisions just hoping that the chips will magically fall into place by their hustle. A small sliver of experience is exaggerated into a career filled with successes. Can-do guy crawls into a metaphorical fetal position, analysis paralysis sets in, financial disaster ensues, time is lost and money poured in all the wrong places.

For you can-do people, who put everyone else in a bind, just learn from what people who work with Mathew Stuart come to think about him. “Because of his positive attitude and boundless energy, Stuart’s frequent errors in judgment are generally overlooked. ‘Everyone here really likes Matt,’ Jordan said. ‘You never really notice what an idiot he is until you’re cleaning up his mess. He loves to roll his sleeves up, get in there, and screws (I edited this word to get it PG Rated) all sorts of things up.’

Eventually Mathew will get fired if he can’t back up his hustle with results. Guess what, if you are a can-do guy that makes horrible decisions, you’ll be fired too, but not before you have waisted a bunch of time and money.

P.S.

I was informed that I am not in the habit of leaving anything on a down note. Point well taken.

Business is rough and you can get bruised. Feelings can get hurt and finances dashed.  However, part of business and life is willing to push yourself to new levels.  I encourage my employees and clients to get uncomfortable and achieve more.  There is nothing quite like overcoming your fears, just have the courage to confront your mistakes when you make them.

Illustration by Sam Swenson

The path to discovering the perfect partnership is only second to finding balance with your spouse.

Here are 10 tips to finding, choosing, or maintaining that perfect partnership:

1. Remember, it takes time and effort to become a terrible partner.  If you don’t know your prospective partner all that well, look around, ask around…Google them. A historically poor partner has most likely left a trail of bodies.
2. The best solution for feeling secure in your partnership is first communicate, and second communicate.
3. A perfect partnership is founded upon the fact that your partner doesn’t want to hurt you. Having this as a filter in all communications helps to remove emotion from debate or critical conversation.
4. Partners each “bring something” to the table. Be confident in what you bring and make sure you have a healthy amount of respect for what your partner brings.
5. Edify. The best way to BE edified is to truly edify others. Do it in private, do it in public. Avoid edifying in private and changing course in public (that is a skill developed by those mentioned in #1)
6. Know who your partner’s other partners are. Married? Significant others? Close father? Enabling mother? Developing an understanding of those “other” people that are important to your partner can help you to understand what may be influencing their approach.
7. Keep at least a toe in the important stuff. We’re not all “money minded” or “super creative” but it helps to have a healthy appreciation for the whole picture. The parts of the business where you aren’t directly involved also takes time and effort.
8. Take regular inventory of your partnership and efforts.
9. Spotlights, keynotes, and titles are hard to split. Either establish your roles and goals up front, or don’t do it at all. However, if you avoid establishing these, don’t be pushed out of shape when things naturally evolve one way or another.
10. Like #1, remember, it takes time and effort to become a great partner.  Patience, understanding, and compassion go a long way toward keeping things healthy.

Cliches are tiresome, especially when their long term effect is negative. In traditional direct sales and retail marketing we focus on the product value statements to convince people to buy a product or service. For many network marketers brief lip service is given to the superior nature of the product before attention is then laser focused on the dough, the benjamins, the opportunity. I believe that is why so many opportunity based products have been hit so hard by the down economy.  Where the product based opportunities are flailing, other superior product value based companies are thriving. Summed up, if you are basing your product value on the opportunity instead of better price, quality or efficacy; you are probably using cliches and white lies to sell your opportunity.

I hear it all the time, “These products sell themselves.” Nothing sells itself.  That is why I love reading Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales advice.  I buy his books.  I read his newsletters. I quote him all the time. He is the bee’s knees, he has it going on because he is honest about what sales requires. But I can say that one of the world’s best salespeople ignored his own advice on how to succeed in network marketing when he recently responded to an inquiry from one of his readers:

Jeffrey, Last year I joined a multi-level marketing business and I love the products this company is selling. How does one make it in this business and how best can one motivate people to join under him? My life depends on how I make it in this business. People have a belief that they are enriching the people who they join under. Appreciate all the help. Mthamzeli

Mthamzeli, Network marketing, direct selling, and MLM has been under a cloud since 1972. There are a lot of skeptics. There are also a lot of millionaires. Direct selling is not for everyone. And you’re going to have to kiss a lot of toads before you can find the prince. That’s part of what MLM or direct selling is all about. If you love the product, and you use the product, and you believe in the product, then you have a chance of winning. All you need are three or four good people to find three or four other good people and you will be on the road to success. Best regards, Jeffrey

In network marketing we perpetuate the silly myth that you only need “three or four other good people and you will be on the road to success.” Hogwash. Silliness. Untrue and tired.  In his book The Little Red Book of Selling, Gitomer says, “Instead of thinking end of month, begin thinking end of time.” Why then would this titan of sales philosophy use the same silly cliche that disingenuous network marketers use? I hope it was because he has no real experience with MLM or network marketing and just got a little lazy.

Gitomer’s advice he gives to salespeople holds true in MLM and network marketing.  Do not think about end of month (or three good people), begin thinking end of time or three good people a quarter, every quarter, until you have racked up enough money that you don’t care if you make any more ever again.

Network marketing pays really well when you know how to be consistent and persistent with your efforts.  The bigger your group gets, the more time you spend training and motivating. As you start out, you spend almost all of your time prospecting.  The rewards are huge when done properly.  Nothing in life is ever free, do we really think that people will stay with us after they realized that it is not just about “finding three good people”?

Gitomer starts his advice off correctly when he says, “…you’re going to have to kiss a lot of toads before you can find the prince.” Where he gets lazy, and he rarely gets lazy in his sales advice, is when he says just find your three.  To become a millionaire in network marketing or any profession involving sales, you must constantly be improving your network, finding and developing your team, institute regular training and battling attrition of your sales team and client base.

Network marketing has a high failure rate. Most new businesses do. However, when you loose your shirt in traditional business, you typically don’t have anywhere to look but yourself. Not so in network marketing, we blame the company, our upline and the industry as a whole. People may not loose a million dollars but they get embarrassed and waste a lot of time.  The real difference is that most businesses do not recruit based on the silly saying that you just have to find your three and you have made it.

Network marketing, MLM or whatever you want to call it rocks.  Let’s just admit that we need to get better at selling it properly. Let’s make our millions without tired and untrue cliches and white lies.

I dress pretty hip these days.  I rarely wear a suit any more and even though I have a fancy Juris Doctorate and the big 40 is now less than 365 days away, I have a pair of Vans and I wear them often. I must admit that my wife buys all my clothes that people don’t give me on my birthday, but family and friends have done a pretty good job of making me look respectable.  Nothing represents what we think is cool more than what we are willing to wear on our bodies.  And this got me thinking.

As I put on my walking billboard this morning, I thought, “How in the world did Old Navy convince me to wear their name across my chest?”  Well, first of all my brother in law, Philip (who dresses pretty snazzy), bought me the shirt and if he buys it, it must be cool.  Second of all, I too think it looks pretty cool in a laid back non assuming way. But I wanted to see if there was more to being cool than just how a couple of dudes feel about a shirt.  I started to do some reading today and found out that according to the 2010 Coolest & Gaps Branding Survey, the top 20 nominated brands represent 60% of the respondents’ “coolest experience”.  Wow, a small minority of the nominations account for a huge portion of the public’s opinion of a cool brand.

What the survey really taught me is that we know cool right when we see it.

Yesterday I left the Apple store in Salt Lake while I was waiting for my flight back home.  The mall was a ghost town, but the Apple Store was filled to capacity.  Tall people, short people, stinky people, old people, young people and some dude from Idaho packed the store.  As I left the store I heard a mother pushing her baby in a stroller say to her friend, “That is so coooool, I wanted it the moment I saw it. I must have it.”  I bet this mother did not know the technical difference between the Apple and an Acer.  I bet she doesn’t know the difference between megahertz and a caramel macchiato, but she knew cool when she saw it. Most of us do.

I am finding that part of my job each day is to help people build their company and personal brands.  Everybody says they want to be like the great brands but don’t want to take any chances or make any mistakes.  Well good luck. Companies like Apple, Diesel, Nike and Adidas take chances all the time.  Some of their ideas are terrible. (Check out this article about the train wreck Apple Pippen). We forgive Apple’s debacle with the Newton Pad, because we love our iPads.  Great brands take their lumps and are not afraid to take chances. Apple knows that hardly anybody knows about the dismal failure of the iPod U2 Special Edition, and probably don’t care now because they are still making a bizzilion dollars selling U2 music on iTunes.

The secret to life (yes I said life) is not to avoid making mistakes, but be willing to make enough mistakes on the path towards your successes to make people forget about your mistakes. (That was pretty deep, I know, you can’t make this stuff up) We all know cool when we see it.  Don’t be afraid to take some chances that make you happy.  Don’t be afraid to improve the human experience of your brand and products.  What makes things cool is not massive calculations, but massive feelings.  Take the cautious blinders off and have some fun. Live a little. Laugh a lot more. Loosen up and let your brand be cool.

In this edition of Star Interviews, I travelled to Alpine, Utah to spend some time with the founders of Rain Nutrition, Chad Christofferson and Toby Norton.  I have watched their growth since they started the company and I am impressed how they are differentiating their product and brand within a crowded market place.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rain has seen impressive growth recently here in the United States, Asia and Europe. They have begun to attract an impressive team of leaders both domestically and abroad.  After spending time with Chad and Toby, I can understand why people are attracted to their company.  They are both understated but passionate about their business.  As founders they have very different personalities that seem to work together very well. Both Toby and Chad were very successful before starting Rain Nutrition, but both have taken a very active role in the company’s day to day business.

Their brand has recently won awards in packaging and they seem determined to maintain a sleek look throughout their product offering. I enjoyed my time with Chad and Toby and appreciated being with them.

NetworkingStar – Star Interviews with Rain Nutrition

Click here to view the embedded video.

I just returned from the HealthNation Connect prelaunch event in Scottsdale, Arizona. HealthNation Connect is a brand new direct sales company that features an innovative new product, telemedicine. HealthNation Connect offers 24 hour availability to doctors and naturopath medicine via telephone, email and internet throughout the United States. With President Obama recently telling American citizens that in the future a doctor will be able to speak to a patient via high speed internet, HealthNation appears to be ahead of the curve and on track to address some of the difficulties many Americans feel from increased worries in the health care system.

I have enjoyed visiting many new and existing businesses, this was no exception.  HealthNation showed me that even in a bad economy, entrepreneurs can find a way to interest the public in their product or service.  It was great to see a new company be so well prepared for an event and have so many people show interest in their new company.  HealthNation had approximately 300 paid attendees from 23 different states.  It was well run and well attended.  I feel comfortable saying this company will have an impact on their customers and new members.

NetworkingStar – HealthNation Prelaunch Event