SEPTEMBER/OC TOBER 2015
Mentor POWER Jimmy Smith
JEFF OLSON Apprentice Yourself BK BOREYKO It’s Up to Us September/October 2015
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CONTENTS
PERSPECTIVES 5 LEADOFF The Story of Mentor Dr. Josephine Gross Through their deeds and words, mentors help us actualize our potential and reclaim our birthright to be, do, and have anything we want in life.
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WORDS OF WISDOM About Mentorship Memorable quotes by Isaac Newton, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and others.
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OUR TIMES – PART 1 “How do you find—and become—a great mentor?” • Ferdinand Tolentino, Life Is Full of Mentors • Richard and Kimmy Brooke, 5 Traits of a Mentor • Fatemi Ghani, Guidance and Education • Meredith Berkich, 4 Qualities of Successful Mentorship • Vijay Eswaran, Service above Self • Valerie Bates, The Critical Role of Mentors • Tony and Randi Escobar, Engage a Skilled Mentor
FEATURES 18
September/October 2015
LEAD INTERVIEW I Love Helping People At 87 years of age, Jimmy Smith has mentored thousands of network marketing professionals on their journey to the top. We interviewed Jimmy in 2005 when he was already a million-dollar earner in his company. Ten years later, he is looking forward to teaching his greatgrandchildren how to succeed in what he believes is the finest form of democracy and the world’s best opportunity to become wealthy and free.
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
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MASTER NETWORKER Born to Inspire Mike Sims is a top earner in one of the fasted growing network marketing companies in the world today. Born and raised in Alabama, Mike currently holds residences in Atlanta and Miami. He also spends time traveling the world to lead his global team of over 150,000 members. Mike is CEO of Mike Sims Worldwide, a company focused on venture capital investments, apparel design, real estate, business coaching and mentoring.
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MASTER NETWORKER The Universe Provides Lisa DeMayo is a master trainer and top earner in one of the leading 2015 Global-100 direct selling companies. From her home in New Jersey, Lisa leads a fast-growing organization spanning six countries on four continents. Lisa became a network marketing multi-millionaire while raising her three children. Trained as a life, leadership, and executive coach, she joined network marketing in 2005 because she was “tired of the rat race.”
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RISING STAR Sowing Seeds of Freedom Based in Florida, Rob and Alina Rinato lead a growing organization in an established wellness company they joined almost six years ago. Both were working long hours as massage therapists on call seven days a week. Whenever they would think about the future, Alina and Rob would realize that if they wanted a house, children, and vacations—the so-called American Dream—something needed to change.
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RISING STAR It’s Not How Much You Make… Joseph McDermott is a dynamic leader who by age 21 had built a significant network marketing income. In 2011 Joey met Amani Zein and was instantly drawn to her magnetic personality and exuberant nature. Joey and Amani joined hearts and forces, and after two “false starts” found their home with their current company. With their business partners they became the fastest business builders to reach the rank of Diamond.
Networking Times
CONTENTS
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OUR TIMES – PART 2 “How do you find—and become—a great mentor?” (cont’d) • Joseph T. Bismark, Be Accountable and Expect Greatness • Lisa Wilber, Learn, Grow, and Share • Simon Chan, 7 Steps for Faster Growth • Jeff Olson, Apprentice Yourself • Shauna Ekstrom, Heartfelt Network Marketing
DEPARTMENT 68
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Grow Together, Not Apart Dr. Adam Sheck Conflict among partners is inevitable, yet that isn’t necessarily a negative when you have the tools to navigate and grow from the experience.
RESOURCES 70
ANMP 2015 Photo Gallery from the ANMP International Convention, Dallas, TX
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THE CLOSE It’s Up to Us BK Boreyko Mentorship is available everywhere we look. It’s up to us to take advantage of every opportunity.
NEW! Visit Networking Times Today at NetworkingTimes.com/blog
Want to be a guest blogger? Email your article or video to info@networkingtimes.com We love to hear from you! September/October 2015
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LEADOFF
The Story of Mentor Be the Goddess in Disguise By Dr. Josephine Gross
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he origin of a word can teach us a lot about its meaning. For this issue on mentoring, I did a little research and confirmed something I vaguely remembered from taking Greek in high school: Mentor is the name of the caregiver Odysseus appointed to oversee the education of his son Telemachus while he was fighting the Trojan War. Mentor is derived from an ancient Greek noun meaning “intent, purpose, passion, and spirit.” A mentor helps to generate and cultivate all these things in his or her mentee. We further learn from Homer’s Odyssey (a Greek epic written around 800 BC) that Mentor was actually the goddess Athena—who ruled wisdom, war, and justice—in disguise. Mentor also contains the Latin root men- (mind, as in mental) and refers to the person who teaches you the mindset required for achieving certain goals. History offers many examples of helpful mentoring relationships: Socrates and Plato, Hayden and Beethoven, Freud and Jung. Mentoring became a fundamental human relationship where one person invests time, energy, and personal know-how in assisting the growth and ability of another person. Many business leaders attribute at least part of their success to the power of mentorship. In this issue Susan Sly interviews her mentor Jimmy Smith, who when she was new to the business, 1) helped her see what was possible, 2) gave her his roadmap for success, and 3) believed in her before she believed in herself. Jimmy taught Susan the geometric progression of numbers the network marketing business model is based on. “Once you know the math,” he said, “it’s much easier to stay the course.” He encouraged her to become a voracious student of personal growth. He shared with her the challenges he had faced so she would be prepared for what most certainly awaited her—rejection, attrition, no-shows, and more. Whenever one of these situations would occur, Susan would recall Jimmy’s stories, take a deep breath, and make the best of the situation. You will find many similar lessons in this issue, as iconic network marketing leaders share their mentoring tips, insights, and real-life experiences. The story of mentorship started a long time ago, with the goddess Athena breathing life into Mentor. After winning the war, Odysseus is condemned to wander vainly for ten years in his attempt to return home, while Telemachus, now grown, ventures in search of his father. Athena assuming the form of Mentor accompanies Telemachus on his quest. Father and son eventually reunite and cast down would-be usurpers of Odysseus’ throne and Telemachus’ birthright. Through their deeds and words, mentors help us actualize our potential and reclaim our birthright to be, do, and have anything we want in life. A mentor conditions your mind to achieve everything you came on this earth to accomplish. Find your mentors and follow their lead. Then aspire, study, and practice to become a mentor yourself who guides others on their journey home. n DR. JOSEPHINE GROSS is cofounder and editor in chief of Networking Times.
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LEAD INTERVIEW
I LOVE HELPING PEOPLE A Conversation with
Jimmy Smith 18
Interview by Susan Sly
Networking Times
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t age 87, Jimmy Smith has mentored thousands of network marketing professionals on their journey to the top. Networking Times first interviewed Jimmy in 2005 when he was already a million-dollar earner in his company. The story was titled, Leaving a Family Legacy, and Jimmy has stayed true to his mission: today his six children are all job-free and building the business with him. Jimmy “the Butcher” stumbled upon network marketing after working 40 years for a supermarket chain, a job in which he never made more than $400 a week. Jimmy’s wife of 59 years, Bridget Smith, also worked in the meat department and together they raised a family on a very limited income. Totaling up all of his paychecks, Jimmy made no more than $400,000 in his entire career as a butcher. Thanks to Jimmy’s love for his family, his open mind, his desire to help others, and his fascination with the network marketing business model, this retired butcher’s family legacy is now one of unlimited potential not only for his children, but also for his 28 grandchildren. Even though Jimmy has earned millions of dollars to date, he says he is just getting started. “It’s not about the money,” he says, “it’s about what you can do with the money.” After mentoring his children and grandchildren, he is looking forward to teaching his greatgrandchildren how to succeed in what he believes is the world’s best opportunity to become wealthy and free.—Ed.
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SUSAN: Can you tell us a little about your life before network marketing? JIMMY: My mother wanted me to go to college. My father wanted me to be a butcher. He was a butcher, and so was his father. I chose to be a butcher rather than go to college. I figured I’d work for my father, and I’d get paid. My father told me, “Son, I’ll teach you how to be a butcher. You’ll always have a job.” He added, “I lived through the last depression and had college graduates working for me at the butcher shop.” I love my father. I trusted him, so I said yes. I went down to the butcher shop at a very young age and started working with my dad. He taught me the meat business. I fell in love with it. I thought I had the best job in the world. I was passionate about it and did it for 40 years. I raised six children on a butcher’s salary. My father didn’t tell me how hard I would have to work. He didn’t tell me the long hours I would work. He didn’t tell me I might get arthritis of the spine, the knees and the hips. Nevertheless, I loved every moment of it. I was too small for the job, and didn’t even know it. I was overworked for 40 years of my life. I didn’t know it. My kids didn’t know it. We were happy. We had everything we needed.
S: What happened after 40 years? J: I hurt my back in 1983. When Ronald Reagan was taking blind people off Social Security, I got full disability. I was 56 years old, and my employer said, “Jimmy, go find a new career. You’ve served us well for 40 years.” With no education there’s not much out there. I started looking. Six years later I stumbled upon network marketing. Even though I didn’t clearly understand it, I could see this is democracy in its finest form if done correctly. I picked up on the fact that you have to help your people. You have to bring people into your business, and if they don’t succeed you
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MASTER NETWORKER
BORN to INSPIRE Mike Sims:
Contributing to the Profession 30
By Dr. Josephine Gross
Networking Times
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ike Sims is a top earner in one of the fastest growing network marketing companies in the world today. Born and raised in Opelika, Alabama, Mike currently holds residences in Atlanta and Miami. He also spends time traveling the world to lead his global team of over 150,000 members. Mike also serves as the CEO of Mike Sims Worldwide, a company with a focus on venture capital investments, apparel design, real estate, business coaching and mentoring. As a mentor, Mike is dedicated to using his expertise to help others realize their dreams. He says his gift to connect with people has provided him with a unique opportunity to give back what has been poured into him by the multiple mentors he has been fortunate to learn from over the years. An internationally recognized personal growth and leadership expert, Mike is committed to using his platform to educate youth and business-minded adults by providing world-class training and resources for developing life and business skills.
What was your first encounter with net- people’s opinions and start listening to indiwork marketing? viduals who had the outcomes I was looking for My background is in financial services, and I noticed one of my clients had a residual income stream of multiple six figures a month. As I started to ask questions, he let me know it came from network marketing and encouraged me to take a look at it. He was earning more in a week than I was in the entire year, so his financial plan was a lot better than mine, even though I was his financial planner. I was intrigued, but I didn’t get involved in network marketing immediately. I asked my parents and some other people for advice, and because they either had a bad experience or no business experience, they recommended that I stick to my job. A couple of months later I met another successful network marketing professional who invited me to a seminar the following day. One of the presenters was Brad Hager, the second sixfigure monthly earner I met. He said something that got my attention: If you buy other people’s opinions, you buy their lifestyle. Life is something everyone has; style is the way you get to live it. That’s when I decided to stop buying other
September/October 2015
in terms of financial and time freedom. I found a network marketing company and got started. This was in 2000 and I was 22 years old.
How did you find your company? I did some research and came across an ad in the paper that mentioned a six-figure income and a businessman looking for a few people to train and coach. When I called the number, the gentleman said, “You look like a great candidate for what we have.” I had no idea it was a network marketing opportunity, even though I was already looking for one. I sat down with him and got started in a company selling legal services. I quit my job a few days later, because one of the things I heard at that initial seminar was, “If someone tells you how much time you have for lunch every day, they have too much control over your life.” The next Monday I was hurrying up to finish my lunch at work because someone had changed the schedule around. I said, “That’s it.” What I heard at that seminar kept replaying in my head, and I decided to walk out.
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MASTER NETWORKER
The Universe
PROVIDES Lisa DeMayo:
Monitor Your Mindset 38 38
By Dr. Josphine Gross
Networking Times Times Networking
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isa DeMayo is a master trainer and top earner in one of the leading 2015 Global-100 direct selling companies. From her home in New Jersey, Lisa leads a fastgrowing organization spanning six countries on four continents. Lisa became a network marketing multimillionaire while raising her three children. Trained as a life, leadership, and executive coach, she joined network marketing in 2005 because she was “tired of the rat race.” Leveraging her strong leadership and people skills, she quickly rank-advanced in her company, but her success didn’t come without hard work. In 2013 Lisa published her first book titled The Art of Getting What You Want: How to Cultivate the Happiness, Health and Wealth You Desire, inspiring solo-preneurs all over the world to reach for their dreams. Another one of Lisa’s passions is to help others develop self-love, self-reliance, and an abundance mindset.
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What was your first encounter with network marketing? I was 19 years old when one of my mom’s friends invited her to an opportunity meeting. My dad had just died and my mom was working three jobs. I was a freshman in college and working full time. Despite my crazy schedule, I said “I’ll go with you.” I went to support my mom and became fascinated, not so much with the product or the business, but with the people in front of the room. This was in the early 80s, and from there I started signing myself up for different coaching courses—anything I came across. Having experienced many adversities during my teenage years I had become interested in personal coaching at the age of 16. Today I’m trained in many different modalities, including neuro-linguistic programing, somatic coaching, and ontological coaching. I’m a Master Coach who trains coaches in how to lead leadership groups. I’ve trained in financial institutions, group settings, and one on one. Along the way I kept meeting network marketers, because they often frequent personal development courses. Many would invite me to their company events. I would watch the behavior of the presenters in front of the room and I would talk to people. Young and naïve, I said yes to everyone who invited me. I can’t even tell you how many different company conventions I have attended. I wanted to understand how the leaders spoke to their groups, what leadership skills they had. While everybody was taking notes on the product and business statistics, I was observing, “This is where they ask the audience a question,” or “This is how the speaker edifies himself.” I would then bring what I learned to my coaching business. It wasn’t until August 2005 that I joined my first company. Five months later I achieved a top rank. My “overnight success” was a result of decades of working on myself. I had developed the leadership skills.
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RISING STAR
SOWING SEEDS of FREEDOM Rob and Alina Rinato: People Everywhere Need Our Business By Dr. Josephine Gross
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ased in Sarasota, Florida, Rob and Alina Rinato lead a growing organization in an established wellness company they joined almost six years ago. Both were working as massage therapists, and while they were on call 7 days a week, just to make ends meet Rob would take any kind of handyman job he could find. Whenever they would think about the future, Alina and Rob would realize that if they wanted a house, children, and vacations—the so-called American Dream—something needed to change. They started praying for and visualizing a way to earn income that would give them the financial freedom and lifestyle they desired. They wanted something they could fully get behind and believe in, something that would help others and make a positive impact in the world, but would also allow them to achieve their dreams.
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Networking Times
In September 2009, one of Rob’s new massage clients began asking him to use her essential oils during the session. Rob and Alina were both intrigued by the scent—they were very potent! When the client asked Rob to attend a local class to learn more, he pawned it off on Alina, thinking it was something she would be more into. Alina fell in love with the idea that the oils offered so many options for maintaining a healthy body and a chemical-free home. But her interest was truly piqued when the couple’s future sponsor mentioned she was leaving soon for an all-expenses paid Mediterranean Cruise which she had won through the company that sold the oils. Rob and Alina realized there was more to this than just a unique product line.
Did you jump in right away? No, we spent two weeks debating the idea of becoming network marketers, researching the company, and trying to decide how we could afford the starter kit. Ultimately, we bought it with one of our high-interest-rate credit cards. Still a little skeptical of the products, Rob reluctantly used them, but it only took a few weeks for him to experience the benefits and fall in love himself. We quickly bought into the idea that if we educated people about the products, they would ultimately “sell themselves,” so Rob began reading more about the business. Our sponsor said, “Even if it took you 10 years working part time to earn $10,000 per month in residual income, wouldn’t it be worth it?” At that time $10,000 per month was an incredible
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amount of money to us. We said, “Yes, it most certainly would!” and set out to earn it—as fast as we could. We devoured books, audios, webinars, live events—anything we could to learn more about our company and the profession.
How did you launch your business? This is the first (and only) company we have ever grown a team with. We enrolled with the most popular starter kit—the one we were shown at a product class—and just started experimenting with it. We enrolled in the company’s auto-ship program shortly after joining because we saw the value in transfer buying: purchasing natural products for our home to replace the toxic ones we had been buying elsewhere. We also saw the value in buying from our own business. The regular use of these products (becoming a product of our products) helped us build belief in the company and the lifestyle which eventually allowed us to believe in the business model. Once our passion for the products and lifestyle was ignited, we did the most natural thing: we took it to Alina’s mom’s house, and she became our first customer. From there we decided to keep sharing with whoever would give us a chance to show them what we were learning. We looked for ways to connect with our community, make new friends, and offered free meetings where people could come experience and learn about our products. We realized people needed an education, not only about our products, but also about the network marketing profession, so we began teaching classes about the busi-
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RISING STAR
IT’S NOT HOW MUCH YOU MAKE… JOSEPH MCDERMOT T & AMANI ZEIN
Bridging Cultures and Continents 52
By Dr. Josephine Gross
Networking Times
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oseph McDermott is a dynamic network marketing leader who was introduced to the profession over 15 years ago. By age 21 he had built a significant income, but a company going out of business and challenges with startups discouraged him from rebuilding an organization. He did some consulting and other business ventures, but never forgot the power and magic of leveraged income. In 2011 Joey met Amani Zein on Facebook and was instantly drawn to her magnetic personality and exuberant nature. Amani was already committed to self-development and empowering people, so when Joey introduced her to “working from home,” she quickly caught the vision. After a couple of “false starts,” Joey and Amani found their home with their current company. Along with their business partners, Kevin and Rassami Latmore and Kenneth Ho, they became the fastest business builders in the history of their company to reach the rank of Diamond. Together with their team Diamond Dynasty 300 Amani and Joseph have their hearts set on offering entrepreneurs around the world a proven vehicle for creating their best life.
Amani’s Story I was born and raised in beautiful, sunny Nigeria. We had no money growing up. I remember my mom sewing my and my sister’s clothes for school because it was cheaper than buying them. My dad made sure we had an abundance of books though. He believed self-development books were equal to wealth and are the secret weapon to anyone’s success, so we had the biggest library in our city. I dreamed of being like those authors and speakers, moving and influencing people’s lives. In 2009 my family and I moved to Toronto, Canada. I was 22 at the time and had no clue how society worked here. I felt empowered just seeing female bus drivers and countless women in leadership positions. It was very liberating. One of my first jobs was selling subscriptions door to door for a company that raises funds for big charities. While sometimes fun, it didn’t feel safe, as we often had to go into dangerous neighborhoods. I remember knocking on a door and at
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first no one opened. Two minutes later a lady came out and apologized. She told me the previous night a stranger had rang the door and shot a neighbor just a few doors down. I didn’t care at the time because my goal was to make enough money to visit my son, who lives with my ex-husband in Lebanon. It had been two years since I’d seen him and I was willing to do whatever it took to go visit him again. In June 2011 Joseph reached out to me on Facebook about my photography website, because I also did photography part-time. He said, “Since you’re so good at selling door to door, why not try working from home.” He called it a “business in a box.” Two weeks later I quit my job, sold some jewelry for a third of its worth, and joined my first network marketing company. I could sell a weight loss shake to a skinny girl, but I couldn’t recruit to save my life. My home parties attracted plenty of people, but I didn’t know what do with them once they joined my team.
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Speakers and board members receiving awards
A N M P CONVENTION DALLAS, TX 2015
Amy Yarnell receiving Lifetime Achievement award for Mark Yarnell
Margie Aliprandi delivering opening keynote
Carlos Marin and Shawn Achor
Networking lunch
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Kody Bateman presents the MLM Blueprint Networking Times
Randy Hedge and Presley Swagerty, students of the profession
Mr. & Dr. Shirley Carmack and Michelle Gielan
Couple’s panel
Auction winners Curtis Broome and Armando Puyolt receiving Dallas Cowboys helmets
Social Media panel
Under-30 panel
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