How to start living your life....

As I mentioned in the last post, I was going to write about this self- improvement book that I read yesterday. Once again, let me remind you of the title of the book which is “7 Keys to Success”. I read this book yesterday while I was going through this extremely lazy mood. I didn’t really do anything productive yesterday because of this mood, but as the day went on, this book has helped me to realize one thing, that THIS BUSINESS IS FOR ME.

Like I said, whenever I get into these lazy moods, it usually takes me about 3 days to snap out of it. But yesterday, as the day grew on, my mood began to change. I was starting to get excited. And while I was reading this book, I started to figure out why. I was getting excited because I was going to meet a prospect yesterday and present the business opportunity to him.

So, coming back to the book I was reading, it was actually the introduction that caught my attention.

“When I was quite young, someone told me, if you want be really successful, find out what God wants to you to do with your life and then dedicate yourself to achieving it”.

That was the opening statement. At first, I didn’t realize the truth behind this statement. But as I kept on reading, it started to dawn on me, this statement is true.

Let me put it into a different perspective, mine. To me, to know what God wants you to do is quite simple. Find out what it is that you love doing the most. That’s what I did. I looked into myself (not for the first time), and tried to figure out what is it that I liked doing the most. Which part of my adult life did I have the most fun?

And I found it. After I graduated, I was elected into a Student Union post at the University I studied at, the University of Bath in the UK. Part of the responsibilities of this post was to look after the welfare of students. We had a Welfare Officer (another elected post) but my job as Treasurer was to assist her in her welfare programs. I was also supposed to assist other departments in their programs for the benefit of students. And I had lots of fun. I loved doing it.

So after a while, I realized that what I enjoyed about the job wasn’t so much the job itself, but helping people. I derived a different kind of satisfaction whenever a student or a fellow student union officer would come to me with their problems and I managed to help them out. It was fun. The best part, you can see their appreciation on their faces.

But when I came back to Malaysia, like everyone else, I joined the rat race. And bit by bit, i started to forget that I enjoyed doing it. That’s what the rat race does to you. It eats your very essence. Sooner or later you lose sight of your life. Some people were made for that, but not me.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is actually to say this, if you want to be successful, find something you enjoy doing. If you haven’t found it, then look for it that is if you want to be successful both in your career and life.

“It is time for you to fulfil your dream - whatever that may be. That is why you are here on the planet right now. By finding and fulfilling your own unique purpose in life you will be living your life to the full.”

So, my message is, “LIVE LIFE TO THE FULL.”

P/s: If you want a copy of this book, then just send me an email

Research...

Since I’ve returned to the network marketing and internet marketing arena, I’ve been bombarded by a very large amount of emails promoting a program or a product. I’ve tried to get in touch with some of the people that promote these programs or products just to find out a little bit more about them. Not the product or the program, the individual.

Sometimes it amazes me to find out the reasons behind their decision to join the program. Especially here in Malaysia, I find that a lot of people join a program because the person that recruited them, or people above this person has made money in the program. I find that most of the reasons given to me about why a person joined a particular program have nothing to do with the business. These people were not making a business decision, but more of an emotional decision.

Let me put this argument into a different perspective. If you wanted to set up a conventional business, the first thing you would do is RESEARCH. You have to:

1. Research the product, is it a good, high quality product,
2. Research the market, do you have competitors and if you do, what is your advantage over them?
3. Research the consumer or end user, who are they and why are they buying the product and why should they buy from you.
4. Research the returns, find out what is your breakeven point.
5. Research the company selling the product. How long have they been in business. Try to find out if any complaints have been filed against them or any negative comments or press coverage.

These are just some of the more important points. There are a lot of other points you need to research, but these are the more important ones.

The same goes for network marketing and internet marketing. Research the product and the company before you join. The program might offer you a superb compensation plan but what is the product like?

Before I decided to join 4Life Research, I did a lot of research. I wanted to know how good is the product, is it as effective as they claim. Do people know about the product and if they do, what are their opinions about the product. Do they have any competition which of course the answer to that is that they don’t. What about the company, 4Life Research. Have there been any complaints filed against them. Have they had any negative comments or negative press coverage?

Do the research. Take your time to make a decision. Don't just join any program that looks good or looks like it pays well. Research the program. I see a lot of phrases like "join and you make money", "no need to recruit" or "making money in your sleep". All these phrases are coined to make the program or the business look easy. IT'S NOT EASY.

If you want to build a long term sustainable business where you can earn an income for a long time, then do the research. As for me, I don't want to have to start my business all over gain in a couple of years time just because I could "make money in my sleep". I would rather work hard now, and as the business grows, the work load becomed lighter and lighter.

The main reason I joined this business, 4Life Research is because of the product and the company. I could have joined any other company, but none could beat 4Life Research in terms of the uniqueness of the product and the compensation plan. I wanted a business that is sustainable in the long term. Like I said, I don't want to have to start over again in a couple of years time.

I could tell people how great 4Life Research is and how good the product is, but then I would prefer you to do your own research. Only then you would appreciate how much of an opportunity this is. But if you are too busy to do your own research, you can always sign up at my website and I’ll be happy to tell you why this is such a great opportunity.

FIND OUT WHY THIS IS SUCH A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

Overcoming Fear

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.
- Elbert Hubbard

Emotion affects people in very different ways. All the different types of emotions can be either good for a person or bad for them. The reaction depends a lot on 2 things, the individual concerned and the circumstances under which the emotion was provoked.

Love, Hate, Courage, Fear, Satisfaction, Displeasure and all other emotions will affect us one way or another. Some people will be spurred by love, inspired by it and others will be more relaxed. Some people will express their outrage in anger, others will be withdrawn and hide their true feelings. We all react differently.

Fear, has always been a powerful emotion. They say that in face of fear, people can work miracles. In one case, I heard about, a mother lifted a car on her own fearing for the safety of her child. It is a powerful emotion and in being such a powerful emotion, it is also a dangerous one.

Everyone has something that they fear. I have never met a person who is fearless. When you listen or read about famous legends, warriors from the past, they are described as being fearless. But those great warriors still encountered fear, maybe not on the battlefield, but other in aspects of their lives.

I know some people who have a fear rejection. I myself used to have a fear of rejection. I would be apprehensive when talking to a woman because I was afraid of being rejected. I would wait and wait and wait before I would make a move, but then that would usually be too late. Even when meeting new people, I would not say much to that person because I was afraid that he or she might reject me as a friend. I’ve lived with this fear for a long time.

But now, I’ve overcome that fear. I never thought that by joining the 4Life Research business, I’d be able to overcome this fear. I’ve noticed that everybody who attends the training sessions will find their characters improve in 2 very important areas. Confidence and Fear. I’ve watched my friends’ confidence increase as the weeks go by and their fear reduced. They now have a more confident aura and they face the challenges of building this business head on.

As for me, I never lacked confidence. But I still had my fears. After 2 full months in this business and going through all the training session, I am tackling my fear of rejection and I’m coming out on top. Now, I’ve developed a new attitude. I no longer care if a person rejects me. It is their loss. I know who I am and what I am capable of. If someone were to reject me, they should feel sorry for themselves and not me as I have confidence in myself.

This business has helped me overcome my biggest fear. The FEAR OF REJECTION. What can it do for you?

Satisfaction

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
- Henry David Thoreau

This morning I was chatting with someone on Yahoo Messenger. I was talking about the 4Life Research business opportunity and how it could help people like me, freelancers to supplement our income. The problem of being a freelancer is that there are times when jobs are short in supply and during these times, we don’t earn anything. We eat up our savings just to survive until the next job comes along.

During these times, we find that we have a lot of free time. I spend a lot of that free time on Facebook playing scrabble with my friends, especially fellow freelancers, and chatting. So considering that I have a lot of free time on my hands, joining the 4Life Research business opportunity is a good thing for me. It keeps me busy and I get to do something to supplement my income.

Anyway, as I was chatting with this friend about the business, she asked me, “When will you be satisfied with your life?” I just blurted out a response without actually thinking about it. My initial response was when I can spend time with a loved one, watching tv together, doing things together, and not having to worry about any major problems, especially financial problems.

Then, as I was showering, I remembered where I got that image. It’s from the movie “Notting Hill” featuring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Right at the end of the movie, there was this scene where they were sitting on a bench in a park, kids playing around them, he was reading a book while she was going through a magazine. It was as if they didn’t have a worry in the world. I’d be satisfied with that.

And when I thought real hard about it, I realized I’m on the right track to achieving that. I realized that no other business would be able to give me that kind of freedom. I could work for someone for 30 years, rising in rank and salary, and still will never achieve that. Network Marketing is the only business that could help me achieve that.

Just take a look.

Missed Opportunities

“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
– Alexander Graham Bell

I often spend time looking back at the opportunities that I was given in the past. All those career decisions that I made, the ones that if I decided another way, would have put me in a totally different position compared to the one I am in now.

To be honest, I regret making some of the decisions that I made in the past.. When I look back, I look at the turning points in my life. There weren’t that many opportunities in my past, which could have made me a different person, but I guess I made the wrong choice in all of them.

Another thing I realized, that while I was looking back at all these missed opportunities, I missed other opportunities. I spent too much time wallowing in self-pity for missing a golden opportunity, that I didn’t see another one presenting itself in front of me.

Now, I no longer want to look back as often as I did. What happened in the past is in the past. True, things could have been different. But there’s no point regretting the past. Learn from it. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t discard any opportunity just because you thought at that time, it wasn’t a good idea or it wasn’t for you. You will never know until you try. There are so many opportunities waiting for you out there. Grab one and go with it.



This is the opportunity I took. Click here to check it out

It's going to be a bumpy ride...

As I was driving to the Platinum Forum (This is like a training session for Platinum Networkers) yesterday evening, I switched on the radio just to listen to some music and alleviate the boredom of driving in KL traffic. I heard on the new that Honda Malaysia (the car manufacturer) announced they were going to cut their staff salary by a staggering 50%.

When I read the papers later on in the evening, I found more of the same thing. Some of the manufacturers in Penang are considering on cutting their staff salaries by 25%. You add on the comment by the Human Resource Minister a couple of months back that 5000 workers in the electronics sector would likely lose their jobs in the first quarter of this year, it looks like we'll be going through some though times.

Some people might say that given the current circumstances, a 25% pay cut is okay. All you have to do is to cut back on your expenditure, no more overseas holidays, no more extensive shopping trips, no more branded clothes, buy local instead and many other excuses just to make themselves feel better.

But trust me, I've been through it before. It's not that easy. You get used to a certain lifestyle and you feel like everything has become a necessity. You feel like you can't live without your evening "teh tarik" with you colleagues after work. You absolutely have to have your daily "roti canai" or "nasi lemak" at the mamak stall. So how do you cut back on your ependiture?

You can't. You just borrow more to get through the tough times. You max out your credit cards, and when that isn't enough, you apply for new ones. Eventually, you end up taking cash advances from one credit card to pay for another. After a while, it starts to become a habit. You think that borrowing from banks will help you get through the difficult times and you end up being in debts up to your nose. Then once you relaize your mistake, it's too late. You've already got a huge pile of debts.

I went through all that before. So today, I decided to ask myself, am I ready to face what could be another very difficult period ahead of me? I spent the first 10 minutes after I woke up this morning contemplating this, and I have to say, I AM READY.

I don't know about anyone else but for me, I am taking positive action. Rather than sit back, worry and wait for the impact of the potential economic recession to hit me, and believe me, it will hit me just as it will hit everyone else, I've decided to take the offensive.

That's one of the reasons I joined the 4Life Research business. It will help me weather the storm, assist me through what is going to be a very difficult time and prepare me for a much brighter future.

So I guess the question I am asking you is "Are You Ready?"

It was a great win....

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I haven’t really done much about my 4Life Research business over the weekend. I’ve just been looking over my strategy and trying to iron out all the potential problems that I might encounter. I know I will face a lot of problems over the next few months, but after giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided to cross that bridge when I come to it.

What I actually did instead was to watch lots of football. Since I joined 4Life Research, I haven’t really had the opportunity to watch football much as I’ve been busy going around talking to people about the product. So, last weekend, I decided I should get back to one of my favorite weekend past time activities, hanging around at mamak stalls for hours while watching football (Ok, so last night I wasn’t at a mamak stall with my regular Nescafe tarik. I was at the Ship sipping The ‘O’ chilled instead).

I’ve been a supporter of Liverpool since I was 12. That was way back during the gory days of Liverpool when they won almost every trophy they were competing in. Nowadays, it’s pretty much a struggle. This season is probably the best chance they have of picking up the Premier League trophy in a long time.

Anyway, I was watching the Liverpool vs Chelsea game last night. For a Liverpool fan, it was a great game. I thought the best we could get out of it was a draw and we’d end up being 4 points behind Man U. But Torres came up with the goods at the end and we ended up 2 goal winners.

One of the things that struck me throughout the game was how much we under rate Jamie Carragher’s contribution in the Liverpool line up. He is the core of the Liverpool defence. He provides the strength and intelligence to the back four. He marshals the defence the way a general would direct an attack on opposing forces. But the most important thing, he represents the heart and soul of the club.

Then it dawned upon me that he is to Liverpool what Transfer Factors are to our immune system. It provides our immune system with the intelligence to react whenever our body is under threat from external factors. It tells our immune system when to react, how to react and when to rest. It is the heart and soul of our immune system.

I guess the biggest difference in this analogy between Carragher and what he does for Liverpool and transfer factor and what it does for our immune system is that everyone in the footballing world knows about Carragher and a lot of people realize his importance to the club. As for transfer factors, not many people know of its existence and even less know about it’s importance.

Strategy Time....

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." - Confucius

Now that I’ve set my goals, (Short term goals anyway) I guess I should start outlining my strategy. To be honest with you, I don’t really have much of a strategy. I’m not the gung-ho type of person who would go all out to recruit my friends and family into the business. With all the skepticism out there and the bad experiences of people joining dodgy MLM programs, I’d probably lose a lot of friends that way (I don’t have that many friends to begin with).

So I’ve got to come up with something a bit more relaxed approach. Definitely not the hard sell approach. The good thing about the 4Life Research business, it’s a great product coupled with a wonderful rewards plan backed by a fast growing company. Shouldn’t be that difficult to sell then.

Actually it isn’t. I just have to have the right strategy. After a few weeks in the business, I think I’ve got my strategy. I’m still testing to see if it works so you’re going to have to bear with me for a few more weeks to know if my strategy works.

My strategy is split into 2. First is the direct approach or more like the face-to-face approach. The second is the internet marketing approach. We’ll start with the first one.

The face-to-face approach is probably the easier of the 2. But in using this approach, I have to be careful not to push too hard. First of all, I have to identify the people I’m going to talk to about the business and divide them into 2 groups, those who probably would be more interested in the products, and those who would be more interested in the business.

For those who are more interested in the products, I will talk to them about the products. The good thing about this strategy is that 4Life Research products are unique. They’re one of a kind and they can really help you stay healthy. I’ve got a few people who I’ve given samples of the product to and the response has been very favorable. Now all I have to decide is whether I’m going to talk to them about being customers or joining the business.

For those who are more interested in the business (Mainly those who have been in MLM before and know the potential of the business), I am going to talk to them about the Rewards Plan. Shouldn’t be that difficult to sell either since it is the best Rewards Plan in the industry.

Finally, the internet marketing approach. This takes time to build as most of the people I will talk to would probably be contacting me via email or instant messaging. Most of these will be people who are familiar with network marketing and all their advantages and pitfalls. So it could go either way, either it would be easy to get them to join, or it would be difficult/

Looking at it this way, it’s not really a difficult business to do. It just takes time. You have to be patient, ready to face rejection and ridicule and like any other business, you have to be ready to face the challenges.

Setting Out My Goals

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
- Albert Einstein



I’ve been working on the 4Life Research business for the last 3 weeks or more. It’s been a very interesting 3 weeks or so. I haven’t recruited anyone as yet but I am very hopeful for the future. The reason why I haven’t recruited anyone is not because of lack of interest. Just that I haven’t really spoken to many people about the program as yet.

What I've Done So Far

Besides writing posts in this blog, I’ve spent quite a considerable amount of time translating materials about the business. It is quite inconvenient to have most of the materials in English, especially since I’m targeting mainly a Malay market. But I do believe once I’ve got all the materials properly translated, I will find it easier to talk to my target market about the product, the compensation plans and the company.

In the mean time, I will continue to talk to friends and family about the products. My main aim is to get my friends and family to consume the product first. I’ve given some samples to friends and family and so far the response I’ve got from them is quite favourable. Everyone who has taken the sample has felt better from consuming the product.

Now that I’ve got them interested in the product, it’s time to decide which avenue I’m going to pursue next. I have 2 choices, I can either try to recruit them as distributors, or I can just continue to promote the product to them and get them to become customers. Either way, I get to earn an income from their consumption of the product.

Besides these family and friends, there are other friends who I think would join as distributors. These are the ones who will help me build my own mini empire. Pretty soon, I will start building my mini empire and hopefully by May this year, I’ll be earning a reasonable income from this business.

My Goals

I guess since I mentioned the month of May already, I should tell you my immediate targets for this year. My first target is in April 2009. My first target is by April 2009, I won’t have to spend any more money to maintain myself in this business. I’m hoping that the business will pay by itself. The minimum 100LP required to keep me as a distributor will be paid by the commissions I earn from the business.

My second target is May 2009. This target is a bit more ambitious. I’m hoping by end of May 2009, I will make it to the rank of Diamond. It is ambitious but I’m hoping that by my business will grow exponentially. It has started a bit slow due to the language barrier, but once things have settled down, I have all the materials ready, I know the business will take off.

So, by May 2009, I will have started earning a reasonable income from this business and this business will just take off from there.

Misconceptions about the MLM Industry

"Keep steadily before you the fact that all true success depends at last upon yourself." - Theodore T. Hunger

Earlier on, I was going to write more about Platinum Networkers. I know I’ve got a whole post dedicated to them, but I feel that there’s a lot more to what Platinum Networkers does for their members which i have still to write down. Instead I’ve decided to write about the misconceptions about the MLM industry, especially in Malaysia.

I decided this while I was listening to one of our team members talking about his difficulties in making calls to potential recruits. These recruits signed up on his website, but wouldn’t pick up the calls when he tried to contact them to make appointments. This was during a Platinum Get Together session (more about that later).
It was while he was talking about his experience that I started to think about all the unfair generalizations and misconceptions about the MLM industry and those who participate in the industry. So, I decided to write my views on this topic.

Direct Selling

The general perception about MLM anywhere in the world is that you have to do direct selling. You have to go out there, meet people and try to sell the product. I guess the perception came about way back in the 70’s. I remember back then when Amway distributors went from door to door selling their products. They would go from house to house either trying to sell their products or to recruit new distributors. I remember my mom used to buy some of Amway’s products from a friend who was a distributor.

This perception of MLM was true back then, but not now. Most MLM companies have evolved to a point where you no longer have to do direct selling (although some still do). MLM companies now have structured their business plan to focus on recruiting new distributors. They stress more on the consumption of the products by the distributors rather than the selling of the product by these distributors.

For example, the 4Life Research business plan emphasizes the “Prosumer” concept. It’s a concept where the distributor is both the producer (seller) and the consumer of the product. The distributor isn’t required to sell any of the products, just consume the products themselves. New recruits are also encouraged to do the same and distributors earn from their consumption of the product and the consumption of their downlines. No selling involved. But of course you can sell the product if you want to.

Low Quality Products

I have to admit, there are some low quality products being marketed through the MLM industry. But this is basically a generalization and doesn’t apply to all products. In fact, I’ve mistakenly joined some MLM’s in the past market low quality products and have left once I realize my mistake. Although there are some scrupulous companies marketing their low quality products through the MLM system, not all of them are. In fact, if you were to study the industry closely, you will find something worthwhile. 4Life Research products are one of them. The products are so good that they can in fact sell by themselves.

I gave a sample of 4Life TF Plus Advanced to a friend of mine 2 weeks ago. She’s a sceptic. She’s not interested in MLM, in fact, she tries as much as possible to stay away from MLM companies or their products. So when I mentioned to her about 4Life TF Plus Advanced and that I wanted her to start consuming them (She had a flu at that time) she wasn’t very thrilled, especially since they came in capsule form. But she said “For you, I’ll do it” (She’s a good friend). I met her again a couple of days ago and now she’s quite happy to taking TF Plus. I promised her I’d try and get her a bottle of RioVida (Since she hates taking tablets or capsules) and I know once she’s tried that, she’ll probably sign up as a preferred customer (That’s if she doesn’t want to do the business).
Since I’ve got some more of the 4Life TF Plus Advanced, i think I’ll give some of it to one of the biggest sceptics in my family, my Dad. He’s done a lot of MLM’s before with his sister, one of my aunts, and has generally been unsuccessful. The main reason is because of the quality and effectiveness of the product. Most of the products can’t do what the producer claims they can do. Now it’s time for me to give him a try.

So, if you do want to join an MLM company or Network Marketing company to try and makesome extra money, try to do your own research. Research the company, the products, and the effectiveness of the product. Try to surf the net for testimonials or discussions in forums about the products. Research the claims of the company producing the product and the background of the company too and i guarantee you will find a gem like 4Life Research.

Hmmm... looks like this post is getting a bit too long. Think I’ll stop here for now and continue this topic in the another post.