10 Traits Of A Successful Leader

by admin on October 21, 2009

Are You A Leader?

Are You A Leader?

It has been said that quite simply, leadership is influence.  Your ability to lead others and be an influence in their lives will have a direct correspondence to your level of success in life and business.

We have all seen and read about people who took leadership roles in various types of organizations from our military, government, schools, corporate america, and even from our own family histories.

It is wise to model successful people and learn more about what made them great.   Building up our leadership skills is one of the best things that we can do for our business.  Leaders are able to take people to higher levels of achievement by providing ongoing support, encouragement, vision, and constant motivation.

Being a great leader is first of all a choice.  You have to decide that you want to be a great leader and then everything else will follow.   You have to want to lead others because it is not an easy job.  There is a ton of commitment to be a leader and its not for the faint of heart.   You will be richly rewarded in many ways for stepping out and taking charge in your business and helping others.

Leadership in network marketing is critical to building a large organization.  Learning how be a leader is the beginning and then knowing how to LEAD Leaders is even more important.

The greater our ability to lead other leaders , the more passive your income will be in your business.

So if your not sure that you have all the ‘right stuff’ to be a leader, check out these 10 traits of successful leaders and see where you stand:

Here are 10 traits of successful leaders:

1.   Honest - Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.

2.  Competent - Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.

3.  Forward-looking - Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.

4.  Inspiring - Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.

5.  Intelligent - Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.

6.  Fair-minded - Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.

7.  Broad-minded - Seek out diversity.

8.  Courageous - Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.

9.  Straightforward - Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.

10. Imaginative - Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!

*Compiled by the Santa Clara University and the Tom Peters Group

If you see yourself having most of these traits then you probably are a candidate for leadership.  Start taking opportunities to lead others in your business.  Even if you have to come out of your comfort zone from being a follower.

In MLM, just being pro-active and resourceful will put you into a leadership role.  Most people are re-active and are always challenge minded.   Be the person you would always want to follow and you too can become a great leader as leadership can be modeled and learned.

So stop waiting for things to happen, be a leader and MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

:)

*** Have you seen my You Tube Channel yet?  If you are enjoying my blog articles, you might also enjoy my video business tips at www.youtube.com/mlmphonepro.  Please stop by and watch, comment, and subscribe!  Thanks! Steve

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Personal Branding Tip: Discovering Your X-Factor!

by admin on October 16, 2009

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Beware! Is Social Media The Grand Illusion?

by admin on October 14, 2009

Does Social Media Work Like Magic?

Does Social Media Work Like Magic?

< Here is my mystifying magical mantra>

“Abbra Caddabra …Twittersphere……Tweet Three Times…. and Money Appear!!!”  POOF!!!

Isn’t that about how some people think social media tools like Twitter and Facebook are going to work?  Come on…be honest….most people have thought that maybe this social media craze was going to be the answer to some quick success with their opportunities.

Hey, it sounded good right?   Well let me tell you  something I learned about using social media for marketing and getting results….it’s not magic!

If you thought it was going to be as easy as just putting a few profiles with some links to your websites and ‘friending’ everyone, posting your deal and traffic comes…..you may be under the ‘The Grand Illusion” !!!  Getting traffic to your sites is not just about having profiles on every known social media site to man and putting links up everywhere.   It will work some but there is a better plan to get targeted prospects chasing after you and that comes with personal branding of your value proposition.

Don’t confuse posting your marketing offers on social media sites as personal branding.   Personal branding takes a whole different approach and mindset to marketing.   Personal branding has you asking the question, “What can I give away to someone today?”  knowing that you are adding value to people and that your contribution will make you become memorable to them now or sometime into the future.   Marketing asks the question, “What can I do to get you to buy from me now?”

Personal branding is a commitment to build up a reputation as a person who people know is a contributor and NOT just a taker! A person who they learn to know, like, and trust.  This is a relationship track to long-term success that will endure whereas marketing simply is short-term thinking and practices that removes relationship but is purely headhunting for dollars in my opinion.

I know that there maybe many who disagree with me on this, but I don’t think that social media is best used to sell or market stuff.  Social media is in my opinion best used to build relationships, period.  It can be very instrumental in building up a following to sell your stuff to when you use it in conformance to a personal branding strategy that clearly defines the following 3 things:

1.  Your personal branding strategy should build a theme around telling people who you are and your personal story to make a relationship connection.  Hint. Be Real!  Don’t pretend to be someone your NOT!

2.     Your personal branding strategy should build a consistent theme on what your value proposition is and why people should do business with you.  Hint. Become exceptional with at least one area of your business to make yourself  memorable, sorry, people don’t remember average!!!

3.    You personal branding strategy should be built around being authentic, transparent, and honest about what your selling.  Not hype and over promising the world!  Hint.  Don’t exaggerate or embellish your product.   Remember to under promise and over deliver!

In closing, I know that I am probably stepping on some toes with this post but that’s ok.  It’s time to to use social media the right way and stop waiving our magic want and chants waiting for the ‘POOF’…. money appear results.

Do some self-analysis of yourself and your business and really focus your energies on getting your personal branding strategy launched using social media the way it was designed to be used….to build relationships.

Remember:  People will follow someone that they have a relationship with!

Hey…let me try one more little magic chant before I go………..

“Abbra Caddabra ……Shala Cazoo……Tweet this post…..and Success to You!”

:)

**  If you are enjoying these posts please comment and re-tweet.  You may also want to visit my You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/mlmphonepro and watch, comment, and  subscribe to more of my stuff.  Thanks! Steve

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Personal Branding: The Seven Question Test

by admin on October 7, 2009

7 Question Test

7 Question Test

If you have developed your story for your personal brand, you are now ready to build your story into the messaging that will make your personal brand effective.

Here is a seven question test to help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your story.

Question #1: Who are you talking to?
This is an important question to figure out and know who your targeted audience is. You will want to communicate to your audience with specific language and terms that relate, not in broad brush statements.

Question #2: What is the point?
State the point of your story in a sentence or two. Ask yourself, “What is the point of this story?” You want to link the emotional connection of your story to your audience. Which single emotion do you want to own?

Question #3: What is the key word?
Can you narrow your answer to question #2 down to a keyword or two? The best way to communicate is to have one basic idea that you are trying to convey. Build around this focused idea and take ownership of it.

Question #4: Why should I care?
People need a reason to care so make it personal. Give people many reasons why your targeted audience would care about your key point or keyword. This will help you identify whats in it for them.

Question #5: Why should I believe you?
This provides the rationale for the key point and keyword. It’s proof that the key point is real and authentic. This is the ‘reason to believe’.

Question #6: How should I feel?
Set the tone for your messaging to reflect the feeling you want the audience to remember on the key point. Is the emotion in the message humorous, serious, frank, exaggerated, sarcasm, warm, cold, etc? One good way to do this is put yourself in your audience shoes and think about how it would impact you.

Question #7: What do you want me to do?
Ever piece of your message should have a measurable outcome. Know what you are looking for your messaging to accomplish. Is it more traffic to your site? More brand awareness? More referrals or recommendations? Have a way to determine how effective your messaging is.

These are important steps to take yourself through when developing your personal brand.

I would recommend that you go through each them thoroughly and be honest with who you are and what you are trying to accomplish with your message.

After all, it’s all about YOU being the authentic YOU!

:)

** If you are enjoying these articles on personal branding, you might also enjoy my video tips on You Tube.  Please visit my channel at http://www.youtube.com/mlmphonepro and watch, comment, and subscribe! Thanks! Steve.

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5 G.R.E.A.T Tips On Storytelling With Personal Branding

by admin on October 4, 2009

5 G.R.E.A.T. Tips On Storytelling!

5 G.R.E.A.T. Tips On Storytelling!

Storytelling is a very power technique when building your personal brand. People understand and remember stories because they are able to deliver an emotional charge into our memory.

Every strong brand has a story or it would soon be forgotten. Often times we fail to reveal the real message behind our personal brand. We sometimes miss the mark by reinforcing too much of what we can do for the customer versus the making the strong emotional connection to our prospect.

A well designed personal brand will focus on both a rational message which will explain the how’s balanced by an emotional message that will answer why you are different.

A great story has FIVE things in common:

1. G — A great story provides GLUE; connecting our message to what people already believe is true. A story won’t be great unless it is GLUED to a strongly held set of beliefs that are fundamental to your target audience.

2. R — A great story provides a REWARD. People always want to know what’s in it for them and expect a reward. Your story needs to offer a solution to peoples needs, wants , and desire and help them see their best life in the brand.

3. E — A great story connects with EMOTIONS. All great stories appeal to our emotions, not just our rational selves. Share the story with emotional hooks rather than rational facts. Facts and figures won’t be remembered but the emotional connection tied to the story will be.

4. A — A great story is AUTHENTIC. A great story reveals the authentic truth of the values and ideals you hold with your brand.

5. T — A great story focuses on the TARGET audience. To be effective, a great story has to be relevant. To be relevant, direct your stories to a segment of people that share the same attitudes, opinions, and lifestyles. As in all marketing, you cannot be all things to all people.

If you are using personal branding in your business, always remember to make your branding story G.R.E.A.T. !!!

** Please subscribe to this blog and my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/mlmphonepro if you would like to get more tips and information about building your personal brand.  If you would like to get a FREE 30 minute personal branding consultation, please send your contact info and request to steve@youbrand.com.

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Are You Using Leverage In Your Business?

by admin on September 28, 2009

Do You Have Leverage Working For You?

Do You Have Leverage Working For You?

Are you working hard or are you working smart?  The key to the answer to these questions is determined by if you have leverage working for you or not.

Leverage (in my definition) is using a tool or stategy that will increase exponentially your final outcome greater than the result of not using the tool or strategy.

This is where many people are missing it.  Many marketers are still relying too much on themselves for marketing when there are numerous tools and systems designed to simplify your marketing life.

One example of using leverage in your business is a tool called Ibuzzpro.  Ibuzzpro is a voice broadcasting system that allows you to make up to 200 phone calls per minute just by pushing a button!   An example would be taking about 5-10 minutes to set up a broadcast with a list of 10,000 numbers and sending it out at 200 phone lines per minute.  Do you realize that your entire list would be contacted in about 30  minutes with a 30 second commercial on your opportunity, product, or service?

That’s powerful!!!

If you were direct dialing the same list making 50 contacts per day (a pretty busy day on the phone) working  20 days per month (not the weekends), you could contact 1000 people per month.  It would take you 10 months to contact 10,000 people just from direct dialing those people yourself.

If you used Ibuzzpro business day for 10 months, you would multiply your results exponentially into hundreds of thousands of prospects versus just 10,000, do you see that?

I am a raving fan of using leverage in business because I believe in the ‘work smart’ — ‘not hard’ expression and Ibuzzpro has produced amazing results for my business.

Now, new members coming on board are being grandfathered into TWO NEW MARKETING SYSTEMS with no extra charges!!!  You now will be able to use voice broadcasting, email broadcasting, and pre-made lead capture pages in building your prospecting list for your business ALL FOR ONE COST…BUT ONLY FOR A LIMITED TIME!

Stop cold calling and buying overpriced leads that are sold multiple times and step into the area of building your own personal leads using technolgy available like Ibuzzpro.

I am the national conference call host for Ibuzzpro and lead 36 conference calls per month for the company.  The schedule is Mon – Thurs, 1pm & 10pm EST at 1-419-400-0203 pin 783362#.  If you would like a personal tour of the software and presentation on how it works, email me at stevegewecke@yahoo.com.

iBuzzPro

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A Lesson To Learn From A Pink Cadillac

by admin on September 22, 2009

 

The Classic 'Pink Cadillac' With Mary Kay

The Classic 'Pink Cadillac' With Mary Kay

 

As I was driving my kids today to school today, I couldn’t but notice a very pink Cadillac Escalade waiting at the stop light across from me.  It pretty much stood out early in the morning like a sore thumb.   There was no problem knowing that this person most likely was a successful consultant with Mary Kay Cosmetics, who reward their top producers with a very ‘pink cadillac’ for their hard work.

The statement that was made from that ‘pink beauty’  was something like …”LOOK AT MY AWESOME PINK ROLLING DRIVING MACHINE….TALK TO ME IF YOU WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL LIKE ME!”.

Well, you can imagine I wasn’t too excited about that but I couldn’t help but be impressed on how something as a simple as a ‘PINK CADDY’ can make such a large personal brand statement.  Mary Kay is a very reputable company with a rich heritage behind it.  I can see why someone could be intrigued by the whole thing that they would search out such an individual who drives one if they wanted to be in that business.

The lesson that was made from this brief driving experience is that sometimes its simple things like painting a big manly SUV “Pink” to get noticed and to make a statement about who you are and what your all about.

One tip when developing your personal brand is to create a solid trademark or tagline that will be memorable.  Sometimes the memorable part is just finding a niche that relates to who you are or your personality like ‘Pink Cadillacs’ did for Mary Kay Ash.

What can you do for your personal brand today to make your own version of a ‘Pink Cadillac’?

:)

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Building Your MLM Business Video Tip #1

by admin on September 19, 2009

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How To Start Your 90 Day Blinder Campaign

by admin on September 7, 2009

man in focus (2)Have you ever had a tough time getting focused on building your business?  I sure have.  I have had many times when I was bumping along in my business going through the motions but not really getting the results that I needed mainly because I wasn’t focused.

I have also had times when I put the proverbial ‘blinders’ on and got super-focused with an opportunity and just achieved amazing results in a 90 day time period.  For example, in 2007, I was the master distributor in a travel program that started on August 1st and I started to do four live conference calls per day, seven days per week!

I maintained this schedule for 100 straight days and we ended up putting 10,000 members into the company during that time.  It was a great example of what a hyper-focused mind can achieve in a very short period of time.

I have learned over the many years of being in this industry that the hardest you will ever have to work is the first 90 days of starting a new venture.  I have also learned that one of the best things to come from out a highly focused 90 day campaign is MOMENTUM!!!

Let’s face it.  There are many temptations and opportunities being offered to us each and every day.   Choose one that you are ready to sink your teeth into and can really get charged up for and give it your UNDIVIDED ATTENTION FOR A MINIMUM OF 90 DAYS!!! That means don’t mess around with anything else but get yourself immersed in doing ALL OUT MASSIVE ACTION  ACTIVITIES each day during that period.

It’s like getting enough inertia to push the two ton ball up the hill to get it over the other side rolling downhill.

Too many people (…and I am guilty of this myself!) are trying to do too many things at one time and can’t really focus on anything long enough to see results or momentum.

So here are some tips on how to put the ‘blinders’ on and get yourself started on a HIGHLY FOCUSED. INTENSE ENERGY, MOMENTUM BUILDING campaign!!!

Tip #1: Prioritize your life and put all non-essential activities on the back burner.  (Even if that means missing Monday Night Football!).  Have a conversation with your spouse or significant other and make arrangements with them to handle as much of the other responsibilities that normally would be yours during the next 90 days so that you can be free to focus on your business.

Tip #2: Set up a Daily Method of Operation (D.M.O.).  This is an essential piece of your 90 day campaign.  You need to have a daily routine or schedule that you follow as far as your conference calls, webinars, emailing, social media (facebook, twitter, youtube), follow up, training, face-to-face meetings, luncheons, or other events going on.  At the end of the day, write down the ‘top 10′ things that you need to get done tomorrow and make that your starting place in your D.M.O. the next day.

Tip #3. Find some running mates (i.e. working partners) to run the campaign with you.  I have always found that it’s easier to remain focused when there are two or three others who have the same mindset and goals you do to work with.  They will help keep you accountable to your goals and will be running with you.  Building a CORE team to get your campaign started is the SMART way to go!

Tip #4. Be the leader!  Be the person who everyone looks up to and be the example or pacesetter for your team!  Be the one who schedules the leadership calls, be the one who leads the hotel seminar, be the person who does the conference calls/webinars, etc.   YOU HAVE TO BE THE PERSON WHO SETS THE ACTIVITY BAR AT A HIGH LEVEL and then others will match their speed to yours!  Speed of the leader = Speed of the pack!

Tip #5. Establish strong communications and follow up.  Have a regular scheduled conference call each Monday for your leaders to give important updates and motivation/recognition to.  This is a great way to keep your team fired up!  This also gives you an opportunity to train your people too.  Use tools like email, voice broadcasting, facebook groups, twitter, etc. to keep your teams informed about important calls, updates, and events happening!

Tip #6: Use promotions to jump start the excitement!  Ask someone in the company or your upline success team to join with you in offering a special 30 day promotion to get your campaign kicked off well and then have an overall 90 day contest to give your members something to build for during the entire campaign.  (i.e. 3-4 day vacations work well for this!).

Tip #7:  Build momentum towards an event.  Use a company event (i.e happening within 90-120 days) or better yet, schedule your own event with your own team leaders and upline.  Events are great for punctuating your campaign and launching into your next 90 day campaign with higher momentum.

These are just a few tips that work for me time after time and now that summer is officially behind us, it’s time to roll up our sleeves, plan our 90 day campaign, put on the blinders and get busy!!!

Good luck!

:)

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Success Leaves Clues…So Does Failure!

by admin on September 3, 2009

Success and Failure both leave clues!

Success and Failure both leave clues!

Does success and failure leave us clues to follow?  Absolutely!  You can definitely learn a ton by following the success or failure of other leaders you know or may come across in your business career.

Business modeling is a fast way to get your business off and running on the right track.

Successful people are people who at one time were not successful and have now capitalized on the vast number of mistakes they made personally and from others who they have followed before them.  You are able to model your activities in your business off of what they are doing and learn the same way, by modeling from their success.

Failure is not a bad thing.  It can be our greatest teacher.  If you have failed at something before, you may have learned your greatest lessons from that failure.  The vast majority of successful people have achieved their success only after going through multiple rounds of failure first.  It’s part of the learning process.

Thomas Edison once said when inventing the light bulb that he had successfully found 10,000 ways that the light bulb did not work.  Now that the right attitude!   He used failure as his teacher and eventually through persistence and hard work found the answer he was looking for and created a historical breakthrough!  Each attempt was a clue to the next and eventually the clues led him to the answer.

The key in all of this is to find the clues left behind from people you are following in the industry and learn how they found their success.   Duplicate activities that helped them become successful and stay away from activities that led to them making costly mistakes in their business.   This simple modeling approach can spare you many years of making mistakes yourself and can put you on the fast track to finding success in your business.

Here are some of the clues that I am tracking in the industry right now from leaders on the internet and in network marketing.

Clue #1.  You must be known as a ‘leader’.

Some of the most successful people on the internet today have been able to successfully brand themselves online with their own cult-like followings.  They have resonated with a group of followers who trust their advice and recommendations.

Clue #2.  You must be using social media.

Ties into #1 but if you want to reach success quickly in today’s world, you better be social and tuned in with personal profiles on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn just to name a few.  All of the top leaders that I am following in this industry are well known figures in these spaces online.

Clue #3.  You must  get connected with other prominent people who have some gravitational pull in the industry.

You can raise your own personal value in this industry with who you associate with.  Choose to associate with people way more successful than you and your value will automatically rise up because of your connections.

Clue #4.  Don’t spam your businesses using social media!!!

This has been attempted by many others who have proven time and again that this is a ‘FAILURE’ approach to marketing and you will quickly be dismissed and disrespected by your followers.  Quick way to failure.  Follow this clue closely!

Clue #5.  Start producing your own branded events, products, and offers.

These are areas where you can begin to pull away from the pack and get a degree of separation from the competition.   Most people are not doing this and that is why YOU SHOULD BE!

Clue #6.  Stop buying leads from lead companies, develop your own!

Too many people are still buying overpriced, over-sold leads from list brokers in the industry that normally don’t work and will waste your time and money.  You need to learn how to generate your own opted-in leads using lead capture pages and autoresponder messages to build up your own list.  Spending good money on bad leads is not a good idea.  Ask anyone who has done it and they will tell you not to do it.  Again, follow the clues!

Clue #7.  Build relationships with people….one at a time!

Don’t look at people with dollar signs in your eyes.  The people who use people to make money just to make a dollar won’t last in this industry.  We must help people make money and then our success will be automatic.  Too many people have failed for not supporting their downlines and have not regarded their ‘following’ as real people, but instead just opportunities for you to make money.   This would be a valuable clue to pay attention to also!

So there you have it!  7 of many clues that are pointing us to the path of success or failure and there are many more that we will come across each day.

Always be looking for these clues and always be prepared to implement the lessons learned from them into your business.  It’s the quickest way to advance your business forward to the next level!

:)

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