CONTENTS
PERSPECTIVES
5 LEADOFF Every Success Story Is a Love Story
Dr. Josephine Gross When going about your business, actively seek joyful, loving, and fulfilling experiences that stimulate growth and help you stay connected to your highest vision for yourself and your team. May 2017 be your best year yet!
6 OUR TIMES – PART 1 “How do you love what you do—even when facing challenges?” • • • • • •
Kimmy Brooke, Dirt in Your Ears Debi Granite, The Struggle Is Real Adewale Adebusoye, Action Steps for Tough Times Nichele Robinson, A Vision Bigger Than Yourself Rob Sperry, Love Conquers All Fear Denice Chenault, Progress, Not Perfection
FEATURES 14
NT INTERVIEW The 15 Laws of Growth
Dr. John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker who has sold more than 25 million books in 50 languages. John has always had a love for network marketers and admired their desire for growth. Last fall his company organized a first global Simulcast training for network marketers that reached every state in the U.S. and 79 other countries. John was joined by top leaders who delivered high-impact lessons as they helped customize John’s 15 Laws of Growth for the network marketing profession. This January John partnered with over 60 leaders to launch an exclusive, 12-week online class for network marketing entrepreneurs who want to accelerate their business growth and revenues in 2017.
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CONTENTS FEATURES 24
MASTER NETWORKER Shine Your Light
Dr. Terry and Cris Silkman have created a “health, wealth, and luxury lifestyle” they are excited to share with their growing team and clients around the world. Both successful business owners, Terry as a veterinarian and Cris as a real estate agent, they found network marketing in 2013 and recognized it as a perfect vehicle for entrepreneurs to reach their goals and dreams. The Silkmans committed to the profession and learned how to coach, mentor, and partner with their team members. Today they provide state-ofthe-art tools, resources, training programs, and networking strategies anyone can learn and duplicate.
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MASTER NETWORKER No Opportunity Waits
Nattida and Chad Chong are a dynamic Millennial couple who achieved the top rank in their network marketing company just four months after joining. The Chongs have been building international teams together full time for nine years. Both grew up with network marketing and consider their parents their primary role models. Being able to observe and attend trainings by top earners in the profession as children shaped their character and vision. Nattida and Chad chose network marketing as their vehicle for inspiring others to become their best self. Some lessons they want to impart to their children are to reach beyond what’s comfortable and never give up on their dreams.
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MASTER NETWORKER The Gift of Opportunity
Natalia Yosco is a “mompreneur” who leads a massive organization in an established skincare company. Trained as a figure skater, Natalia developed early on the mental toughness and strength that would help her succeed as an entrepreneur. Natalia first discovered direct selling through a friend in 2005. When Natalia’s husband John found their current company in 2008, the couple instantly recognized it as a vehicle that could dramatically change their fam ily’s financial future. Seeing the vision and fueled by faith, Natalia immediately took inspired action. Today she has “power partners” all over North America and looks forward to taking her business global.
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CONTENTS 52
FEATURES
MASTER NETWORKER Making a Global Impact
Edward Hartley holds the record of being the highest earning network marketer in the history of Trinidad/Tobago. From humble beginnings, he came to the U.S. with his parents, who quickly climbed the social ladder through hard work and entrepreneurial zest. Living in New York City, Edward became a musician and financial analyst, but he didn’t feel fulfilled until he became a successful network marketer. Today he delights in providing people with financial education and a vehicle for economic improvement..
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RISING STAR Offering a Gift
Born and based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Laurenda Eddy is a budding leader in a U.S.-based cosmetics company that’s expanding internationally. Before network marketing, Laurenda was a shy and anxiety-ridden young girl. Today she is becoming a confident business woman who is passionate about helping others grow their self-esteem, stand in their power, and achieve greater freedom.
PERSPECTIVES 64 OUR TIMES – PART 2 “How do you love what you do—even when facing challenges?” • • • • •
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Jeffery Coombs, The Inner Game Jennie Potter, Soak Up the Sun and the Rain Pamela Barnum, Rekindle Your Passion Dr. Doug Firebaugh, Love Is Power Jackie Christiansen, Mindset and Preparation
THE CLOSE Push Through the Pain Eric Worre
You don’t have to love everything about network marketing. You don’t have to love people not understanding what we have to offer, or driving across town to meet someone who may not show up. As long as your purpose is big enough, you’ll work through those things to achieve your goal.
LEADOFF
To Love Is to Grow
Every Success Story Is a Love Story By Dr. Josephine Gross
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nterviewing over 3,000 network marketing professionals over the past 15 years has taught us this important lesson: Every success story is a love story. Leaders agree, to make it big in this business you need to: • Love the highest version of yourself you can become. • Love others, believe in their potential, and help them rise to it. • Love the daily work of building a business and do it wholeheartedly. Some days this can be a tall order… How about when you’re just starting out and might be struggling? When faced with challenges, rejection, and discouragement? Or when your team grows so fast that “time freedom” seems illusive? In this issue, we asked leaders, “How do you find joy at each stage of the game? What are some of your coping mechanisms or daily habits that keep you in good spirits throughout the ups and downs of building your business? In our lead interview, Dr. John C. Maxwell outlines the 15 Laws of Growth for Network Marketers, giving you a framework and action plan to continuously stay in “growth mode.” So what does “loving what you do” have to do with growth? There is a simple principle of evolutionary biology that clarifies the link between growth and the expansive emotions of love, compassion, and joy. It turns out evolution has provided us with different developmental mechanisms, which can roughly be divided into two categories: growth and protection. In every moment, each cell and living organism is choosing between these two opposing modes of being, both essential to the maintenance of life. The catch is that both mechanisms cannot operate optimally at the same time. Humans unavoidably restrict their growth behaviors when they shift into protection mode. If you’re running from a lion, it’s not a good idea to expend energy on growth. In order to survive, you want to summon all your energy for your fight-or-flight response. Our mind is the interface between the world and our biology. At every level and stage of our development, we are answering this fundamental question: “Are conditions safe and secure so that I can relax, open up (to love), and grow into my fullest potential; or are conditions threatening and insecure so that I must protect and limit my potential (in fear), and instead extend my energy to defend myself?” At all times, we are either learning, embracing the new, opening and deepening our awareness; or we are resisting our expansion, defending the status quo and closing down into our comfort zone. It takes discipline to stay aware and choose where we want to be on the growth-protection continuum, especially when outside events trigger our survival thinking and “fight or flight” response. When going about your business, actively seek joyful, loving, and fulfilling experiences that stimulate growth and help you stay connected to your highest vision for yourself and your team. From all of us here at Networking Times: May 2017 be your best year yet! n DR. JOSEPHINE GROSS is cofounder and editor in chief of Networking Times.
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NT INTERVIEW
Dr. JOHN C. Maxwell
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By Dr. Josephine Gross
Networking Networking Times Times
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r. John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker who has sold more than 25 million books in 50 languages. In 2014 he was identified as the #1 leader in business by the American Management Association® and the most influential leadership expert in the world by Business Insider and Inc. magazine. He has also been voted the top leadership professional in the world on LeadershipGurus.net for six consecutive years. As the founder of The John Maxwell Company, The John Maxwell Team, EQUIP, and The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation, he has trained more than 5 million leaders. In 2015, he reached the milestone of having trained leaders from every country in the world. The recipient of the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership from the Luminary Leadership Network, John speaks each year to Fortune 500 company executives, presidents of nations, and many of the world’s top business leaders. John has always had a love for network marketers and admired their desire for growth. Last fall his company partnered with Jamie Minton, cofounder of MULTIPLY, to organize a global Simulcast training for network marketers that reached every state in the U.S. and 79 other countries. John took the stage in Atlanta, GA and was joined by top leaders who delivered high-impact lessons as they helped customize John’s 15 Laws of Growth for the network marketing profession. Part of this event was to gather content for an exclusive, 12-week online class for network marketing entrepreneurs who want to accelerate their business growth and revenue. Over 60 leaders were selected to contribute and teach how each of the 15 Laws applies to network marketing. Prior to the January 2017 launch of the class, we connected with John to learn more and help him spread the word about “15 Laws of Growth” for the network marketing profession.—J.G.
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MASTER NETWORKER
Shine
Your Light
Dr. Terry & Cris Silkman Living a Complete Life
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By Dr. Josephine Gross
Networking Networking Times Times
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ased in Draper, Utah, Dr. Terry and Cris Silkman have created a “health, wealth, and luxury lifestyle” they are excited to share with their growing team and clients around the world. Both successful business owners, Terry as a veterinarian and Cris as a real estate agent, they found network marketing in 2013 and recognized it as a perfect vehicle for entrepreneurs to reach their goals and dreams. The Silkmans committed to the profession and learned how to coach, mentor, and partner with their team members. Today they provide state-of-the-art tools, resources, training programs, and networking strategies anyone can learn and duplicate. Terry and Cris believe that with earning big money and living a millionaire lifestyle comes the responsibility of helping others to do the same. Having been married for 38 years, the Silkmans have eight grandchildren they want to help raise and mentor. Cris and Terry also enjoy supporting charitable causes, while continuing to empower as many people as possible to realize their human potential and lifelong dreams.—J.G.
Tell us a little about your background.
CRIS: I was born and grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado. I wasn’t the best student, but I was determined and strong willed. I always knew I would make something of myself. For instance, at age 15 I went out looking for a job. I ended up at a high-end clothing boutique that every girl wanted to work at, but due to my age, they were hesitant to hire me. I went in every day for two months browsing through clothes and asking if there was a job opening. The day before my 16th birthday I got hired. My job, at first, wasn’t glamorous by any means. It was stocking and steaming in a dark basement. But I was excited and saw the victory of getting this job as “perseverance that paid off.” I worked at that clothing store for six years. After that I attended college for two years, and that’s where I met Terry. TERRY: Cris and I started in totally different places, but we had some commonalities. Both the eldest, we got mentored by and associated mostly with adults rather than our peers. I grew up on a farm in Eastern Colorado near the Kansas-Colorado border out in the flatlands.
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My family didn’t have any means to speak of. We lived an austere, Spartan-type existence for much of my young life. I was often left alone with my little brother and sister, because mom and dad had to work. Starting school was a traumatic experience. I had to learn to stand up for myself and defend myself. I spent most of grade school and junior high in the back of the classroom, going unnoticed. When it came time to think about college, I felt that was an opportunity to change my life. Since I wasn’t really academic, I decided perhaps I could be an athlete—even though nobody else thought so. I started playing football and wrestling, which ultimately translated into a relatively successful highschool athletic career and a scholarship to Colorado State University. In 1977 I had the good fortune of meeting Cris at CSU. It’s interesting how we got together despite our opposite backgrounds. She was the defiant little racehorse, driven to make things happen; I had more of a draft horse personality, looking to overachieve and please people. You could load whatever you wanted on my back, and I would find a way to carry it.
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MASTER NETWORKER
No
Opportunity Waits Chad & Nattida CHONG Building a Power Team
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ByDr. Dr. Josephine Josephine Gross By Gross
Networking Networking Times Times
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had and Nattida Chong are a dynamic Millennial couple who achieved the top rank in their network marketing company just four months after joining. The Chongs have been building international teams together full time for nine years. Both grew up with network marketing and consider their parents their primary role models. Being able to observe and attend trainings by top earners in the profession as children shaped their character and vision. Chad and Nattida chose network marketing as their vehicle for inspiring others to become their best self. The lessons they want to impart to their children are to reach beyond what’s comfortable, get up after failure, and never give up on their dreams.—J.G.
What was it like growing up in a network marketing household?
NATTIDA: People always ask, “What’s your story?” and usually we hear network marketers tell their struggle story, or why the business has completely changed their life. My story is different. Since the age of five I watched my parents, Nat and Chanida Puranaputra, excel in the profession. As they were doing huge trainings, I would be in the back of the room cheering, “I want to be like them one day!” Because of how I grew up, I knew no other way. For the longest time I felt my story wouldn’t inspire or transform people. Until it recently hit me: my story is a living testimony. It shows people why they need to do this business. Because my parents made a decision over 25 years ago to do network marketing, the term “job” was never in my vocabulary. I always knew I wanted to be my own boss. I graduated with a degree in business administration and marketing, and right out of college network marketing became my vehicle, because my parents have always instilled in me that the possibilities here are endless. Now Chad and I have the
With their parents Nat & Chanida Puranaputra and Susan & Allan Chong
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MASTER NETWORKER
the
G i f t of
Opportunity
NATALIA YOSCO
Building Teams across the Globe 44
By Dr. Josephine Gross
Networking Times
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ased in Brentwood, Tennessee, Natalia Yosco is a stay-at-home “mompreneur” who leads a massive organization in an established skincare company. Trained as a figure skater, Natalia developed early on the mental toughness and strength that would help her succeed as an entrepreneur. Natalia first discovered direct selling through a friend in 2005. When Natalia’s husband John found their current company in 2008, the couple instantly recognized it as a vehicle that could dramatically change their family’s financial future. Seeing the vision and fueled by faith, Natalia immediately took inspired action. Today she has “power partners” all over North America and looks forward to taking her business global. Natalia is author of The New BFF—Being Financially Free.“My business partners are my BFFs,” she says. “We don’t just work together; we do life together. I see myself as a team-building specialist who loves to pay it forward. My mission today is to provide support and guidance to women across the globe so they can live the life of their dreams through independent business ownership.”
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How did your childhood prepare you for your life today?
I was raised in Port Washington, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. I am a first-generation American—my mother is from England and my father from Spain. As a young girl, I transitioned from ballet into figure skating. My mom and I went to the ice-skating rink one afternoon after school and I took to the ice immediately. Becoming a figure skater shaped my life and personality. It gave me the mental strength and skillsets for building a network marketing business, which is all about delayed satisfaction. The seeds of discipline and dedication were planted in me early on. While my friends were sleeping, I was at an ice-cold skating rink every day at 6 AM to practice my art. When you’re a figure skater learning new jumps— new double axels or triple toe loops—you know you will be going to that rink every morning for the next five or six months and falling to the ice, until you’ve mastered that new jump. I skated all throughout high school and it taught me tremendous patience. Attending those practice sessions during my formative years was a huge factor leading to my achievements in direct sales. When my parents immigrated to the U.S., they became entrepreneurs. I inherited their entrepreneurial spirit, because that’s what I saw. We lived in an upper middle-class neighborhood of professionals—accountants, doctors, and lawyers. I was one of the few kids whose parents
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MASTER NETWORKER
Making a
Global
IMPACT EDWARD HARTLEY
The Gift of Economic Improvement 52
By Dr. Josephine Gross
O
riginally from Trinidad/Tobago, Edward Hartley holds the record of being the highest earning network marketer in the history of his homeland. From very humble beginnings, he came to the “land of opportunity” with his parents, who quickly climbed the social ladder through hard work and entrepreneurial zest. Living in New York city, Edward became a musician and financial analyst, but he didn’t feel fulfilled until he became a successful network marketer. Through mentorship and personal development he rose to the top of his company and built a global business. Today Edward delights in doing what he was born to do: providing people with financial education and a vehicle for economic improvement.—J.G.
What was your childhood like?
I was born on a small island in the Caribbean called Trinidad and Tobago. Until the age of six, I lived in a one-room house or shanty. I have one sister, and our entire family of four slept in one bed. My mother worked in a laundromat as a steam presser, and my dad was a taxi driver. They did everything to keep food on the table. We shared a common bathroom, which was more like an outhouse. The shower was outdoors in a center courtyard and there was a kitchen across the courtyard, so it was a communal living situation. In 1967 my mother left the family to go work in the U.S., which we considered the “promised land.” I was four when she left and I didn’t see her again till I was six. When I got to America, she had the greatest surprise for us: she had found an apartment! My sister and I shared a room, but we now had our own beds, which made me feel like a prince. That was in Brooklyn, New York, and my parents worked multiple jobs. My mother cleaned houses and cared for children, and my father did deliveries and drove trucks. Doing everything possible to get ahead, after a few years, my parents were able to save up enough money to buy a four-bedroom home in Queens. Now we were really moving up: not only did my sister and I have our own beds, we had our own rooms. I thought life was great. My parents always emphasized education, be-
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cause they did not get one. I excelled in school. I became a musician—I’m an accomplished pianist. I also completed a rigorous program at Brooklyn Tech, because I thought I was going to be an architect. I was always kind of entrepreneurial. My uncle had given me a camera when I was 13, and I started my first business in high school. I would go to school events and take pictures of the football players and the cheerleaders. Then I would offer them for sale. I would put up my money and produce these contact sheets, and then show up and say, “I have this great picture of you. You want to buy it?” That’s how I financed my final year of high school and going into college. College didn’t go exactly the way I wanted. I thought I’d be an architect, but I ran out of money. I ended up studying economics in a New York state college and I fell in love with finance. I cut my teeth working in financial services for the early stage of my career.
When did you discover network marketing?
At the age of 18, I went on a road trip with a friend I had known since 1969 when we lived in Brooklyn. He invited me and we ended up in Greensboro, North Carolina, where we attended a network marketing meeting. After the event, we got on a tour bus and drove past George Halsey’s house. He was a well-known leader and top earner in the company.
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R I S I N G STA R
Offering a Gift
Laurenda Eddy 60
It Doesn’t Feel Like Work
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aurenda Eddy is a budding leader in a U.S.-based network marketing cosmetics company that’s expanding internationally. Before network marketing, Laurenda was a shy and anxiety-ridden young girl. Today she is becoming a confident business woman who is passionate about helping others grow their selfesteem, stand in their power, and achieve greater freedom.—J.G.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as an only child, Laurenda was raised by her father in a low-income part of town. “My dad did home repairs and we got by,” she says. “I didn’t realize I was poor until I started going to friends’ houses and seeing what they had. It never really bothered me until I got older.” Growing up, Laurenda struggled to find her place in society. She started working her first job in corporate America when she was 15 years old. “I became a job hopper,” she says, “often quitting over trivial things that irritated me. After 25 jobs or so, I realized something had to change. I was now an adult and needed to have a consistent income. After all, my bills were consistent.” Laurenda eventually found a job she liked, even though it required her to work 14-hour days, five to six days a week. As an armored guard for a security company she had her own route and more independence than in any prior jobs, yet she knew she wanted more out of life. As time went on, her workload increased, but the harder she worked and the better she performed, the more responsibility she was given—at no extra pay. She knew there had to be something better out there.
Watching Megan grow her business and seeing how much it was changing her life, Laurenda decided to do a little more research on network marketing. When she saw the potential, she decided to take it seriously and dove in head first. “Even in combination with my 75- to 80-hour a week day job, I saw what was possible with this business,” she says. “I made it work between stops, before work, and even after my long double shifts.” After six months of consistently posting on social media, making new friends, expanding her network, and building her business, Laurenda was able to let go of her job. “Two months after I resigned, I broke the company record,” she says. “I recruited 112 people in July 2015 and my business was really taking off. Luckily, I had an amazing support system with overlapping leadership: my upline and crossline leaders stepped in to help with training and getting my new presenters started strong as I was bringing them in.” Passionate and driven, Laurenday says she hasn’t Towards the end of 2014, a girl named Megan taken a single day off since the day she started in 2014. Dashley reached out to Laurenda on Facebook, shar- “Even on our company cruise I worked my busiing a cosmetics product. Laurenda tried it and fell in ness in the middle of the ocean on a floating hotel. love. Shortly thereafter, Megan followed up and in- Consistency is key in this business. Whether you feel vited Laurenda to join her company, assuring her that like it or not, you must keep going.” Laurenda learned and teaches that you must there was no obligation to work the business if she didn’t want to. “All I saw was a good deal on the kit,” hold yourself accountable. “The beauty of this business is that we are our own bosses. And the says Laurenda, “so I went for it.”
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