The best advice I ever got was from my one and only mentor a few years back. “Look Sheldon passion isn’t enough to make you money.” But it was that concept that has truly transformed my life and business.
That wasn’t the advice by the way, but you will see why it’s important.
As soon as Zach talked to me he could see that he needed to guide me.
I was hungry, determined and willing to do whatever it took.
He knew that if he didn’t focus my energy and passion, it could lead me down the wrong path.
Zach has dealt with people like myself everyday.
He explained the two types of e-mail marketers.
The first marketer has a big list of email subscribers.
You can find this marketer in every major industry where people spend money.
He sends promotions for a different product almost everyday.
His only objective is to make money.
He doesn’t care if what he promotes is in the best interest of his list.
It doesn’t even bother him at all.
He has to replace his subscribers as fast as he hits send on the email promotion.
He doesn’t care because he’s making money with very little effort.
The second marketer as a much smaller list.
This marketer actually cares about the people on his email list (His TRIBE).
By focusing his efforts on figuring out what they want, he simply gives it to them.
Kind of like sharpening the axe before chopping down the tree.
Never a “throw shit against the wall and hope something sticks” marketer.
He’s very strategic and has a long term vision for his business and it’s success.
Everything he does is for the best interest of his tribe.
He won’t promote anything he can’t attach his name to.
Knowing that if he loses the trust of his tribe just once, it’s over.
Whenever he promotes a product, people buy because they trust him.
His email list always outperforms the first marketers because he has a strong bond with the people on his list.
Afterwards, I noticed that second marketer always won, I knew what I needed to do.
“I had to become valuable to my TRIBE.”
That was the best advice I ever got.
You can see that the first marketer doesn’t have a real business.
Zach explained that his income stream can dry up at anytime.
He won’t be in business 5 years from now.
Sure, he’s making lots of money now, but if his marketing channel crashed, no one will follow him when he starts fresh somewhere else.
People don’t trust him and eventually his name will be tarnished by burning peoples trust.
The second marketer is building a real business.
He has long term customers that buy from him over and over again.
As long as he continues to add value to their lives, he will always win.
Now if you’re thinking “Sheldon, I have no skills and I’m not very valuable”.
Neither was I. In fact…
The next thing my mentor told me I had to do, made me wonder.
He told me I needed to learn video marketing because it allows me to connect with my tribe.
I really didn’t want to do this.
I knew that people would laugh at me, judge me because I’m just a blue collar worker and don’t talk “business like.”
Eventually I put my big boy pants on and I shot my first video.
Keep reading my blog post about the best advice I ever got.
To my surprise, people didn’t laugh or leave hurtful comments about my first video!
Encouraged, I celebrated this win and it helped motivate me to continue the effort and be persistent.
I did a few more and people kept leaving encouraging comments.
Here’s the kicker!
“You don’t have to like what you’re doing, Zach said, you just have to do it.”
Most marketers don’t bother learning the skills to become valuable to their tribe.
Of course you realize now if they wanted to help people to help themselves (create a business) it requires you to do things normal people don’t do.
When I made my first video, I hated it.
But people liked the videos and I made a little money, I started loving it.
Imagine that I told myself.
When you first start the habit of doing something, it’s uncomfortable.
So when you continue it becomes easier.
Especially once you start seeing results from your efforts.
More about the best advice I ever got.
Start making the effort to learn some of the skills below.
Regardless if you’re a network marketer, you’re in the weight loss niche or you’re building any business that requires people to see value in what they’re buying.
You need to become valuable to people if you plan to be in business now or five years from now.
The best skills you can learn are:
- – Email list building
- – Traffic generation.
- – Content creation (emails, blog posts, social media)
- – Copywriting (selling with words)
Those are four of the most valuable skills you can learn.
People who invest in their education and spend the time learning and applying are the ones I would bet my money on.
If you want success, you must become valuable to other people.
Money is an exchange of value.
I don’t care what you have heard before.
All the hacks, secrets and loopholes in the world can’t replace adding value to someone else.
When you give value, it’s kind of like the person charging up their credit card.
You’re the creditor and at some point that person will feel the need to pay back their debt to you.
Maybe not today, but it could be six months from now.
That is how I operate my business.
You can’t look at people as a one time sale, or if they don’t buy anything, now they are “tire kickers.”
It really says a lot more about the affiliate when they refer to people as tire kickers.
So today, start learning or (improving your) skills to become valuable to others.
This will allow you to create whatever lifestyle you desire.
It will not happen overnight, just so you are aware of that.
I’m still learning everyday and eventually, you will too.
Success isn’t a flick of the switch type deal.
It’s the more effort you put in, the more it pays you back.
Thanks for reading about the best advice I ever got and you got value from it.
Sheldon Mohl