SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
The Sharing Economy Exclusive interview with
Paul Zane Pilzer How Sharing Makes Us Happy Are You Guilty of Multitasking? September/October 2014
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CONTENTS
PERSPECTIVES 5 LEADOFF
The Last Mile
Chris Brogan Rejoice in the fact that the sharing economy is opening up a whole new level of connections for you to help in your own special way.
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WORDS OF WISDOM About Sharing and Collaboration in Business Memorable quotes by Rumi, Mother Teresa, Seth Godin, and others.
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SPECIAL SECTION Networking University Faculty Recommends • About Us
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OUR TIMES – PART 1 How does network marketing fit into the sharing economy? • Dana Collins, The Original Sharing Business • Doug Firebaugh, The Psychology of Sharing • Jay & Cindy Jenkins, Meeting Each Others’ Needs • Loren Robin, We Are the Future • Graham Park, Power to the People
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DEPARTMENT
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18 PROFESSIONALISM Are You Guilty of Multitasking? Jill Konrath Multitasking is killing our productivity. Learn how to drop this timesucking, brain-derailing behavior.
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CONTENTS
FEATURES 20
LEAD INTERVIEW The Sharing Revolution Paul Zane Pilzer is a world renowned economist, social entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. Networking Times interviewed Paul about his book God Wants You to Be Rich (1995) in 2003 for an issue on Spiritual Marketing. When we found out he was writing a book on the sharing economy and researching its implications for network marketing, we thought it was time to visit him again.
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MASTER NETWORKER A Ph.D. in Life Shauna Ekstrom and Dr. Scott Peterson are newlyweds who found each other through network marketing. Today they lead a growing international team while enjoying a life of freedom that was impossible to achieve in their previous careers. A hairstylist by trade, Shauna developed keen people skills conversing with her salon clients. Her knack for understanding people became a key to her rapid success in her current company.
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MASTER NETWORKER Follow Me on Facebook Amber Voight is a young network marketing leader who already has 10,000 people on her team. At age 28, she has been in direct selling for 11 years, during which she also owned some traditional businesses. Network marketing became her vehicle of choice when she discovered her purpose is to help people transform their lives in the simplest, most fun, and most efficient way.
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RISING STAR Learn to Dream Big In 2010 Sara Marble was looking for a healthy way to help her lose some baby weight after her second son turned four. When a friend introduced her to network marketing, she suddenly saw a way to live her dream of being a stay-at-home mom while helping others to achieve their goals.
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RISING STAR Applying the Slight Edge The Saunders were a typical busy family before they started their network marketing business just two years ago. Steve was putting in long days as a graphic designer, and Amber worked in a salon doing nails. They were desperate for a change when a longtime friend told them about a new business opportunity. Networking Times
CONTENTS
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58 OUR TIMES – PART 2 How does network marketing fit into the sharing economy? (Continued) • Jezie Nzomiwu, Sharing Creates Synergy • Evan Klassen, Small Is the New Big • Tom Justin, Share Your Way to Wealth • Teri Werner, The Currency of Sharing • Mark Herdering, Share That Which You Seek DEPARTMENT 66
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THE ART OF SALES Productive Selling Tim Hurson To maximize the outcome of your sales meetings, first define your material goals, relationship goals, and intrinsic goals.
RESOURCES
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JUST FOR FUN Word Puzzle
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LIFETIME MEMBERS Description of Lifetime Loyalty Leaders program and members list.
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DEPARTMENT SUMMARIES Overview of articles in this issue.
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THE CLOSE Know and Share Your Stuff Michelle Gielan Creating an interdependent mindset by sharing resources and supporting others is a foolproof recipe for happiness and success.
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ABOUT US
MISSION:
CERTIFICATION
To educate networking professionals who aspire to personal freedom by serving others, with greater skill, integrity and responsibility.
CODE OF ETHICS: (based on the Code of Ethics of the DSA) NU-Certified networkers agree to represent their profession as one committed to honesty, integrity and opportunity for all.
Cofounder and Chancellor (since 2003) Chris Gross, Entrepreneur; CEO, Gabriel Media Group, Inc.
Cofounder and Dean of Faculty Josephine M Gross (since 2003) Stanford Ph.D. ; Editor in Chief of Networking Times
NU offers 3 levels of certification : • Certified Networking Specialist - 45 Credits • Certified Networking Professional - 90 Credits • Certified Networking Mentor - 180 Credits
President (since 2012) Charles W King, Harvard Ph.D.; Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois
NU offers programs in 3 areas : 1. Personal Development Communication, Goal Setting, Mindset, Leadership 2. Professional Development Contacting, Inviting, Duplication, Team-Building 3. Business Development Financial Literacy, Online Marketing, Recruiting Please visit www.NetworkingTimes.com/university for our upcoming courses, free resources, enrollment and certification program information. 10 10
NetworkingTimes Times Networking
LEAD INTERVIEW
The Sharing Revolution
A Conversation with
Paul Zane Pilzer By Dr. Josephine Gross
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Networking Times
You have a longstanding relationship with network marketing. Can you give us a ou probably know Paul Zane Pilzer from quick recap?
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his bestselling books Unlimited Wealth: The Theory and Practice of Economic Alchemy (1990) and The Wellness Revolution: How to Make a Fortune in the Next Trillion Dollar Industry (2002). What you may not know is that Paul Zane Pilzer is a world renowned economist, social entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author of seven more books. He also served in two U.S. Presidential administrations and is the founder of five companies, several of which regularly make the front page news. Networking Times interviewed Paul about his book God Wants You to Be Rich (1995) in the summer of 2003 for an issue on Spiritual Marketing. When we found out he was writing a book on the sharing economy and researching its implications for network marketing, we thought it was time to visit him again. “In many ways, network marketing invented the sharing economy,” Paul says. “This new business phenomenon applies the rules of network marketing to more traditional areas like hotel rooms and travel, creating enormous wealth in the process, because sharing saves resources and adds value for everyone involved.” Just like network marketing, the sharing economy is about people serving people. Taking excellent care of customers comes first and gets rewarded, because they go online and tell everyone about it. These are foundational principles for network marketing, and the technology of the sharing revolution lets everyone actualize and multiply them.—J.G.
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I became known to network marketers in the 1990s when I was on the Larry King Live TV show being interviewed for my book Unlimited Wealth, which Sam Walton endorsed and made standard reading for Walmart employees. With manufacturing moving overseas, everybody was complaining, “We’re losing all our jobs!” Which I explained is good. Eighty percent of the value of a retail product is in its distribution, not its manufacturing. In the 1980s if you bought an item that costs $100, $20 was the fully loaded manufacturing cost—heading to $10—and $80 was distribution cost. This was a big change from the 1960s, where 50 percent of the cost was manufacturing and 50 percent was distribution. Manufacturing was the way to make a living, but today, you’re not going to get rich trying to take the 20 percent manufacturing cost and halving it down to $10. But you can get rich by asking, “How do I lower distribution cost 10 percent from $80 per $100 item down to $70, $60, $50?” And what was the most expensive part of distribution? It was teaching people what the product was and how to use it. The great opportunities lie in distribution, and that’s why Sam Walton’s family was then and is today one of the richest in the world. Walmart doesn’t have a product brand, they just distribute other people’s products. Another example is Fred Smith who founded Federal Express. Who had ever heard of an airline that won’t fly people? Instead of flying people and putting cargo in the bottom, he flies the cargo up top and became the most profitable airline. In other words, distribution was king. Network marketing was a great form of distribution that I didn’t know existed when I originally
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MASTER NETWORKER
A Ph.D. in Life Shauna Ekstrom and Dr. Scott Peterson: Heartfelt Network Marketing By Dr. Josephine Gross 30
Networking Times
Shauna Ekstrom and Scott Peterson are newlyweds who found each other through network marketing three years ago. Today they are business partners who lead a growing organization on three continents while enjoying a life of freedom that was impossible to achieve in their previous careers. Shauna became a hairdresser at age sixteen, got married at seventeen, and became a mom at eighteen. She didn’t go to high school, but was an astute learner who developed keen people skills from conversing with her salon customers. Her knack for understanding people became a key to her rapid success in her current company, where she has been a top earner for the past twelve years. Scott was a twenty-seven-year practicing dentist who had grown tired of trading time for money. Looking to leverage his networking and communication skills to accelerate his dental practice, he had started a dental marketing company. When his business partner introduced him to Shauna who needed help with online marketing, Scott became intrigued with the size of her business and the lifestyle it afforded her. When Shauna met Scott, they were both accomplished entrepreneurs, but both had a longing in their hearts to spend more time enjoying life with loved ones. Fascinated with marketing, Scott understood how network marketing could be a powerful vehicle to distribute any product. He just had never met anyone personally who could show him how the business worked, so when he and Shauna fell in love, it was a perfect fit. “Working the business together has been wonderful for our new relationship,” says Shauna. “We feel like we’ve been together forever. How many married couples can spend this much time with each other? When you have different careers, it’s hard to get to know your spouse this closely.” Originally from Utah, Shauna lived in
September/October 2014
Washington State for 23 years, then moved to Houston in 2007. She and Scott currently reside in Dallas when not traveling the world. They have learned to work off each other’s strengths and complete each other in every aspect of the business. Shauna learned this success principle at one of her earliest trainings, when someone said from the stage, “Make your strengths productive and your weaknesses irrelevant.” In that moment Shauna realized she could do this business, and today her example continues to ripple out into the world.
First Introduction One day in September 1997 Shauna was hired to do hair and make-up at a big wedding in Seattle, about an hour drive from the little village where she was living. She had invited her girlfriend Joni Brewer, to come along to be her helper. On the way over, Joni excitedly asked Shauna if she would listen to a tape about a network marketing company she and her husband had just joined. “We always thought it would be fun to work together,” says Shauna, “but we lived an hour and a half apart. We’d only get together when it was time to do her hair, or sometimes socially with our kids who were of similar age. We were both entrepreneurs, but in completely different businesses: she owned a diet center while I had my salon.” Shauna wasn’t eager to listen to the tape so she tried to change the subject. Having been approached many times, all she could remember was being pushed by overzealous networkers telling her she would be perfect for the business. On the way home, after a twelve-hour day of hairstyling, Shauna finally agreed to listen. At the end of the audio, she promised to accompany Joni to a meeting. By the end of the meeting, Shauna thanked Joni for her persistence and became her first recruit.
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MASTER NETWORKER
Follow Me on Facebook Amber Voight:
Building Friendships Online By Dr. Josephine Gross 40 40
Networking Networking Times Times
Tell us about your first business experience. I always knew I wanted to have my own business, even as a little kid. When I was six years mber Voight is a young network marketing old, all I wanted for my birthday was a briefcase. leader who already has over 10,000 peo- I remember when I was seven there was a kids’ ple on her team. At age twenty-eight, she magazine called Highlights. On the back cover it has been in direct selling for eleven years, during had an advertisement for a company where you which she also owned some traditional businesses. could order cards, wrapping paper, and other stuff Network marketing became her vehicle of choice kids sell for fundraising. I thought being able to when she discovered her purpose is to help people earn money was really cool, so I called the comtransform their lives in the simplest, most fun, pany, got the information sent to me, and I put it all in my little briefcase. I put on my best Sunday and most efficient way. Amber joined her current company in August church dress and I went around our apartment 2013 and reached the top rank in the compensa- building selling these products door to door. When tion plan in just three months. Today her team has my mom found out, she almost had a heart attack. many of the company’s top earners and moves over She said I couldn’t just go to people’s doors and $1 million in sales a month, mainly as a result basically put an end to my first business. of building relationships on Facebook and hosting How did you get involved in network “parties” online. Based in Elk River, Minnesota, Amber and marketing? her husband David are also raising their three I started selling makeup door to door when I was young boys, but thankfully Amber was able to re- seventeen, and also did some home parties. At tire David from his job just three months after she eighteen I joined a company that sold romance joined her company. David’s support with child- novelties and soon made about $1,000 a week care and household chores (some of which they doing lots of home parties. But the product line outsource) allows Amber to balance her focus be- wasn’t in alignment with my Christian beliefs, tween family and business in a harmonious home and my little boy was growing up, so I decided I couldn’t do it anymore, even though it paid well. environment. I dabbled in some other companies and also Amber loves network marketing so much that started a traditional business. I owned a few tanshe already has her heart set on being a generic ning salons that did well, but I didn’t like having trainer so she can contribute to the profession at to wake up in the morning and go into the salon. large. Being featured in Networking Times is a If one of my employees called in sick, I would have dream come true and a major milestone on her to fill in. Traditional business ownership was just path to becoming a top speaker and educator in like having a job that came with overhead. the network marketing space.—J.G. I went back to network marketing because it’s what I love. In 2010 I joined a weight loss company and quickly climbed the ranks, earned a car, and grew a substantial team. I loved everything about it, but after awhile the company made some
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RISING STAR
Learn to Dream Big Sara Marble:
Who Can I Help Today? By Dr. Josephine Gross
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n 2010 Sara Marble was looking for a healthy way to help her lose some baby weight gained after her second baby who was four at the time. When the young mom stumbled upon a natural health supplement, she had no idea she had been introduced to her new career in network marketing. Tired of the long twelve-hour night shifts working as a registered nurse, Sara suddenly saw a way to live her dream of staying home with her children while helping others to achieve their health and financial goals. “Looking back, I am grateful for my medical career in the hospital,” she says, “but this new chapter in my life has offered our family the time and financial freedom we have all come to love.”
Launching a Business As Sara became “a product of her company’s products,” people began to notice her slimming figure and asked her what she was doing.
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“I was amazed at the concept of getting paid to recommend something I love,” she says. “At first it did not occur to me that this was going to change my life.” After getting healthy and fit, Sara discovered she was pregnant with surprise baby number three. This renewed her motivation to pursue her newfound business opportunity and invite others to join her team. Soon she was able to retire from her hospital job and focus on growing her business. “Being able to work from home in yoga pants during a difficult pregnancy was a God-send,” she says, “and a true testament that consistent activity produces results—even working part time.” In June 2011, after attending her first company convention and with her upline by her side, Sara started holding local opportunity meetings once a week and training calls to educate her new team members.
Networking Times
“My mom was my first business partner and we had a blast working together,” says Sara, “except it seemed more like play than work!” But even play came with challenges that required Sara to step out of her comfort zone. She remembers standing in front of a half a dozen people at her first presentation, her hands shaking as she was reading her note cards. “I hid behind those cards and tripped over every word,” she says, “hoping to share my enthusiasm for the company and products I had fallen in love with. I couldn’t have done this without the belief and support of the amazing team I had found in my parents.”
company convention in front of more than 8,000 people and loved every minute of it. Sara was overwhelmed with joy when she reached her first major goal—promoting to the rank of Emerald just nine months after starting her local weekly opportunity meetings. She had now qualified for the company’s car program, a free trip to Maui, and a significant pay raise through the company’s bonus pool. “That promotion came two weeks before I delivered our third baby boy,” she says. “Even more amazing was the fact that I had never done network marketing before and my husband John was vehemently opposed to me doing it.”
Climbing the Ranks
Skeptic Spouse
Sara’s mom and dad sat front and center every Monday night, cheering on their daughter’s efforts to share the business opportunity with local prospects. Looking back at those early days, Sara sees a huge contrast with how much she has grown today. “Teaching and training have become a joy for me,” she says. “I love learning and developing myself, then sharing with my team members to help each of them become successful.” Recently Sara has shared the stage at network marketing events with top leaders in the networking profession, including at Sonia Stringer’s Believe event. She was also honored to speak at her
Long before Sara met John, he had experienced several run-ins with pushy sales people and marketers that had left a sour taste in his mouth. Sara doesn’t hide the fact that for over a year her newly chosen career path was a source of strife in their marriage as she passionately built her business. “I was driven by the stories of lives being changed in terms of both physical and financial health. These personal testimonies of close friends and family motivated me to push through and make this business work. John started taking note when I lost ninety-two pounds of baby weight in eleven months and continued to promote up the ranks of the compensation plan.”
With parents Jay and Cindy Jenkins on incentive trip in Maui, 2013.
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RISING STAR
Applying the Slight Edge Amber and Steve Saunders: Consistency Pays
By Dr. Josephine Gross
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teve and Amber Saunders were a typical busy family before they started their network marketing business just two years ago. Steve was putting in forty to fifty hours a week as a graphic designer, and Amber was working over fifty hours a week in a salon doing nails. The holiday season was an especially busy time of year for both of them. “In December 2012 we were living in Steve’s mom’s basement with our two little boys, trying to save money to move into our own home and planning Christmas for our family,” says Amber. “Our plates were completely full, with not enough time or money to live the way we wanted. We decided something had to change; we didn’t want to work our lives away eight-to-faint.” Steve and Amber especially missed spending quality time with their two young boys, resenting the fact that others spent more time with them than they were able to. Looking around at their options, they didn’t see a way out of their daily grind. “We looked at opening storefront businesses so we could work for ourselves instead of building someone else’s dreams,” says Steve, “but the startup costs were prohibitive and it could take years to grow a profitable business.” Steve and Amber were desperate for a change, when finally a longtime friend and nail client of Amber’s, Sandie Parker, told them about a new “relationship marketing” business. The startup costs were low, the timing was right, and both
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wanted more for their family, so they jumped in with both feet and haven’t looked back since.
Sharing versus Selling In the beginning Steve and Amber were nervous about starting what turned out to be a multilevel marketing business. “Just like so many others, we had mixed feelings because of the stories we had heard,” says Steve. “We both knew people who had lost money or felt they had gotten ‘ripped off.’ Neither of us had any experience in this business model and we’re both awful when it comes to sales.” Fortunately, the idea that this new business could give them more time with their kids while paying the bills was far more appealing than any perceived risks or obstacles. “We were looking for a way to change our lives for the better,” says Amber. “We just hadn’t found the right vehicle to get us there.” Steve and Amber quickly found that their fear of sales was countered by a fail-proof training and mentorship program offered by a company with an exclusive product. They also discovered that relationship marketing is more about sharing your excitement for a product and business than about selling. “This business model grew on us very quickly,” says Steve. “Today we feel right at home in the business of helping others achieve their dreams and goals, and we can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Networking Times