Your Closest Friends and Family Will Not Support You. Why?

When I entered into the world of direct sales, or Multi-level marketing, by becoming an Advisor for AdvoCare  a few short months ago my friend and up-line (MLM term referring to the person who signed you up) said something totally out of their character. He said not to be surprised if your closest friends and family do not go along with your offering. He said in most cases this would prove to be true. I thought how strange to hear this coming from a guy who is one of the happiest most-positive individuals you will ever come across. And…I thought him wrong.

Turns out he was right. My friend and his lovely wife have built a business with AdvoCare that pays them $20,000 per month on average. And their business is growing. They expect to be making $40,000 per month within a year. And they’ve done all this in only three years, on their own. He points out that his Best Friend from 3 years ago STILL hasn’t come on board as a distributor. To my understanding (I could be wrong) neither have his closest family members including his sister, who I also know and have worked with. My up-line has over 1200 people signed-up as AdvoCare Distributors or Advisors. Remarkable!

English: A simple binary tree diagram illustra...

A simple binary tree diagram illustrating the hierarchical structure of a multi-level marketing compensation plan.

And yet here’s what I found. MY BEST FRIEND, who could stand to greatly benefit from the weight loss and nutrition AdvoCare products provide, not only hasn’t joined me. He won’t even listen. He hasn’t a clue what AdvoCare is or provides. And I’m his best friend, and he’s mine. Remarkable. The list of those close to me who won’t listen to anything my wife and I have to say about this company that has us so excited doesn’t stop with my best friend. My immediate neighbors and business partner in my video production company, Total Broadcasting Service, likewise will not only not sign up as our customers or distributors…they won’t even hear a presentation. Remarkable!

English: A picture of Atlanta Motor Speedway t...

A picture of Atlanta Motor Speedway where the annual Labor Day Weekend AdvoCare 500 takes place.

And yet it turns out…not so remarkable. In a blog entitled “Why Friends and Family Members Won’t Support the New You”  business coach Ray Higdon spells out some of his ideas why this phenomena is so common. He says , in so many words, that those closest to you won’t support you because they’re used to who you “used to be” and can’t fathom you being different, in the mode of a marketer or successful person. He also intimates jealousy plays a part. They don’t want you to be successful because it will reflect poorly on them.                        I’m not sure about all of Higdon’s assertions. Direct-Sales companies face skepticism from everyone already, not just friends and family. It’s my job, and yours, to find people who you can help either with your products and service or with the income opportunity from the MLM, or both. There really are people who want to be their own boss and are disciplined enough to work a business as a business, and grow it, slowly at times, but grow it nonetheless. If you’re looking for a get-rich quick scheme most of the time you’ll be disappointed.                                                                                                                                    In this rather poor quality video Russ Howe, a network marketer with GDI, Global Domains International, actually says approaching friends and family about your business is actually a BAD IDEA:

Higdon correctly points out that your success can and will be determined by you going out and meeting and selling to new people. Which has proven to be true with me. In the approximately 3 months that I have actively represented AdvoCare 35% of the folks I’ve gotten involved with AdvoCare on a retail customer or distributor level I had virtually no previous or extremely limited contact with.  Another 53% I only had tangent contact with; which is to say periodic and infrequent. And the remaining 12% I was relatively close to and contacted with some frequency. And all this while working AdvoCare as a business very seldom. While only putting in 5-10 hours per week training myself, email corresponding, meeting in-person, and making phone calls I’ve managed a small income that has already proven valuable to my family. And since this has been done over a mere three months and with little actual time devoted I have every reason to believe the actual amount of return from this business will grow.

I find it remarkable that those who know you best are least likely to support you and your new business. You would think just the opposite were true. But facts are facts. Don’t let your friends or family drag you down. And realize it’s not personal and its not unusual and lots of folks, like my friend and sponsor, move past the disappointment of friends and family not participating in your new exciting business and go get those new friends who really do want to live well and independent.

I’m really curious to hear from other MLM representatives and tell me what your experience has been on this subject.

Private side note to any friend or family of mine: Yes, you not helping me and my wife build our business and enjoying what we have clearly benefited from DOES disappoint me. But it is what it is. Own it. It’s your decision. Meanwhile, I still love you. Period. 

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

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November 20, 2012
Categories: Business, Washington State, Weight Loss . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Your Closest Friends and Family Will Not Support You. Why?

Go Ahead Make Fun of MLM & Direct Sales. I Did.

Português do Brasil: Representação gráfica do ...

MLM or Multi-Level Marketing companies are a joke. But if that’s true, why are there 30-million Americans (1/10th of the country) involved in a Network Marketing Company?

Direct Sales companies don’t make you any money. But if that’s true how do you explain the checks I’ve been receiving for the two months I’ve been representing AdvoCare? Or the $20,000 per month a friend and his wife earn through Advocare in only three years representing this great company? And how do you explain the $153-billion spent on products and services provided by network marketing companies?

Like anything in life, its all what you put into it. AdvoCare or any MLM with a good product pays well to those who work and represent the products. To those who don’t, it doesn’t.

I’m a living example of getting out of work exactly what you put into work. In 1992 I began working in a sales job in my chosen industry of radio. I did OK for a couple of years and was pleased with myself. But others within my own office were doing better. I looked at most of them and said “What have they got that I don’t? Why can’t I sell as much and earn as much as them?”

So began my investment in myself. I spent thousands of dollars of my own money over the next few years on all kinds of seminars, books, videos and audio tapes with the goal of improving my sales ability and my income and my family’s lifestyle. Sales trainers like Brian Tracy, Tom Hopkins, Dr. Kerry Johnson and motivational speakers like Zig Ziglar

Live video feed of Zig Ziglar speaking at the ...

Zig Ziglar

became my mentors. It worked. In only 2-3 years I went from being an OK sales representative and among the top ten in my company to number one in my company. I regularly broke sales records for a 25 year old company that regularly employed around 40 sales reps. My sales were consistently 15-20% ahead of whoever was in second place. My income tripled. My family bought a 3000-square foot home in one of the more expensive suburbs in the country. And, after 13 years at that company I left it and started my own business, Total Broadcasting Service, and have been successful with it for 8 years (in spite of one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history). I couldn’t have achieved any of this had I not put in the time to train myself and bring my sales from OK to OUTSTANDING.

The other day I posted a link on Facebook to my AdvoCare website, something I do periodically. A bold former “friend” made a particularly nasty, negative comment about MLM’s and me posting about my involvement with them and posting on FB about a direct sales company he clearly had no knowledge of. Given I really didn’t know the guy and only connected on FB because of a single mutual connection, he made it real easy for me to unfriend him. Who needs that kind of negativity?

But in making his Comment he also did me a favor. He reminded me of an attitude that exists in the eyes of many about direct sales companies like AdvoCare. He reminded me of how I felt about MLM’s. And if you are skeptical and even cynical toward AdvoCare and other multi-level marketing companies its OK to admit it. I was the same way. But if you can admit your cynism perhaps you can also admit you really don’t know much about the subject of MLM’s in general, or AdvoCare specifically. I didn’t.

I grew up watching my Mom chase the pot of gold under every rainbow that ever appeared. She was part of all kinds of MLM’s over many years, including the BIG one, Amway. Her failure to devote time and stay dedicated to any of these businesses ultimately guaranteed that she would never be successful with them. Her failures became my reality. Perhaps you are like me…I knew someone once who tried something like that and it didn’t work. Perhaps you can be fair and admit that “someone” didn’t tell you much. “Someone” didn’t stay with “it” long. “Someone” didn’t put in a lot of time toward their business during the short time they “tried” it. And “someone” got exactly out of their business everything that they put into it.

My wife and I became AdvoCare distributors because we tried their products and each lost 30 pounds of fat in 3 months. We became distributors because we saw our friend and his wife leave the “regular” work world and begin raising their kids with a healthy income and a freedom we could only envy. We became distributors to find three other families who wanted to join us in earning $5000-$10,000 per month while working less than 20 hours per week.

Let me educate you about a few things you may not know about network marketing companies. They’ve been highly successful in this country for at least 150-years. One of the early successes was the California Perfume Company which began in New York in 1890 with 10,000 sales representatives and later changed their name to Avon. 

Español: Logotipo de la empresa estadounidense...

The Fuller Brush Company began selling their products in 1905 and by 1919 had made over $1-million in sales. Fuller Brush and its business model spurred the creation of other companies you may have heard of including Stanley Home Products and Mary Kay Cosmetics which began operations in 1963 and was already selling $2-BILLION in products by 1996.

Tupperware became a world-wide billion dollar company through the direct sales method, and in so doing they became a name synonymous with all plastic air tight food and beverage containers.

And Amway grew out of the Nutrilite vitamin supplement company in 1949. By 1973 Amway had over-taken Nutrilite, and bought the company. Amway’s bad name, in the eyes of many, began when the Federal Trade Commission filed suite in 1975 against the company accusing them of being a pyramid scheme. By 1979 a Federal judge had ruled in favor of Amway. But unfortunately the “pyramid” tag stuck (as do so many false accusations but not exonerations). Still it didn’t prevent Amway from growing into a company with $11-BILLION in sales in 2011.

So with all these success stories I gotta ask just how do you mean “They don’t work”? Are you afraid of success? Certainly some people are, and that comes down to self-esteem issues we won’t get into in this blog.

But, again, with huge, immensely successful company’s like AdvoCare helping people achieve financial freedom all over this great country why not ask yourself to re-examine your own prejudices, like I had to do. I’m a successful businessman with a growing company, happily married for more than 25 years, a nice home and a lifestyle that many would be happy with. And I’m no dumby. And I enthusiastically became an AdvoCare Distributor and Advisor. I plunged into the world of MLM and so far the water’s fine.

Is AdvoCare and specifically direct-selling for you? Well, I would ask that you look at the recent Rookie Bonus earners in AdvoCare and see what a diverse bunch it is, from Orthopedic Surgeons, to stay-at-home moms. Anyone and everyone does this and education or previous high income (or low) have little to do with one’s success with AdvoCare.

Don’t be afraid. Learn for yourself.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

November 12, 2012
Categories: Business . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 2 Comments

Weight Loss And Nutrition that Works!

Sunday-9-23-12 just for fun I tried on my son’s 30-waist jeans. I was wearing a 40-waist in June, just 3 months ago.

What is AdvoCare? Someone like myself may say its something miraculous. But for the uninitiated its a nutrition, energy, and weight loss program and business opportunity that can fill your needs whatever they may be, and help lead you and your family to the one most important goals of all…happiness.

I’m still new to experiencing all that is AdvoCare so don’t expect an expert’s opinion on everything you may be curious about. This is just one man’s perspective on what I’ve experienced since diving into this remarkable company. It’s products and diet recommendations have allowed me to lose over 23 pounds net since late June and allowed me to go from a 40 inch waist to 32. My wife, Sonja, has lost even more and is now looking more like the gal I married 25 years ago. I’m so proud of her.

It started with me nearly 2 years ago with the death of my Uncle. He died at 61 of a heart attack. Combined with the death of my father in 2001 at age 64 and the death of my Grandfather, their Dad, some years ago at age 65 I was scared of what lay before me. I was 47 and at 245 pounds the heaviest I’d been in my life. And I didn’t like the prospect of dying at such a relatively young age.

I had been over 230 lbs., and closer to 240, for most of the previous 20 years. It seems silly to write now but prior to my Uncles death I honestly didn’t consider losing weight important. But now I did. I vacillated for months but upon seeing some very unflattering pictures of myself from a family Easter gathering in 2011 I decided to get busy. Have you ever seen unflattering pictures of yourself? If so you know what I mean.

In the 2 months since this “after” picture was taken in July 2012 I’ve lost an additional 10 pounds.

I began eating all my meals on salad plates instead of dinner plates to better control my portion size. I’m a big eater and I thought this would be important. I began eating more salads, more leafy vegetables. While I’d been very consistent in exercising for 8-9 years I stepped it up. I even joined my neighborhood gym at the start of 2012. After 10-11 months of this changed behavior I weighed the same as I had when I started. Damn!

It was time for something drastic. A friend I’d worked with previously had found great success in health and financial freedom from AdvoCare and had introduced me to AdvoCare‘s 10-Day Cleanse in July 2011. I lost 7 pounds at that time and mistakenly thought I had momentum enough to keep it going. I wonder how many others have made the same mistake; doing something well for a short time…then returning to the same bad habits from before.

Sonja’s lost over 30 pounds and even more since this pic was shot in July 2012.

I started the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge June 18, 2012 along with my wife. It began with the 10 Day Herbal Cleanse that we’d both liked previously. The Herbal Cleanse is a non-eventful fiber and nutritional supplement program that cleans out your digestive track of impurities and long time undigested material. It sets your body up to receive and better absorb the good nutrients and healthy living that is still to come.

Following the 10 Day Herbal Cleanse the Lean in 13 program makes up the remaining 14 days of the 24 Day Challenge. What AdvoCare provides is:

Spark- their leading selling product. It’s an energy drink loaded with B-Vitamins. And helps you feel great.

OmegaPlex- As you’ll see in this video Dr. Frank Oz see’s OmegaPlex as a vital supplement ABOVE ALL OTHERS from other supplement suppliers:

Meal Replacement Shakes- I just love these. The shakes come in four flavors. Chocolate is my favorite. Unlike many protein shakes AdvoCare Meal Replacement Shakes really taste good. Also, unlike other products, you don’t mix them with milk. Which goes a long way toward making them more effective. And also unlike others I’ve tried, they really leave me full, satisfied, for hours.

MNS Max 3- MNS stands for Multinutrient Dietary Supplement. With it you receive a strip of pre-packaged supplements you are to take through the day. Since they’re packaged together in separate packets and easily labelled, it couldn’t be easier. MNS Max 3 provides maximum nutrients, appetite suppressant, sustained energy release, and much more I won’t trouble you with now.

Lastly, an optional add-on to the 24 Day Challenge bundle is Catalyst. And Catalyst is the one supplement that is almost magical in what it provides. For me Catalyst just makes me stronger and makes me look so much better. When on Catalyst my workouts are considerably better, and my body is toned in a way I’ve never seen it before.

I also received diet suggestions that didn’t have me starving or going through the chore of counting calories, or counting anything. I still enjoy wonder food like tacos, chicken, salmon, trout (which I catch myself) and peanut butter, nuts of all kinds, and almost all kinds of fruits and vegetables. I did not need to spend my time becoming a nutritionist for this to work for me. That was important. I am too busy to bother with examining every littler morsel that goes into my mouth. Besides AdvoCare has a Scientific And Medical Advisory Board of extremely well accomplished physicians and researchers who you know wouldn’t put their names and reputations on the line for supplement products if they weren’t safe and healthy. And professional athletes like AdvoCare national spokesman Drew Brees and Matt Hasselback have tremendous physical requirements for their professions and still use and endorse AdvoCare, and are not paid to do so.

Through all the weight loss my wife and I have maintained high energy which is very important since she works a full-time job and I operate my own video and audio production company, Total Broadcasting Service, while raising our kids.

As good as AdvoCare‘s products are I’ve come to believe it’s best product is it’s business opportunity. Yes, AdvoCare is a direct-sales, or multi-level marketing company. But if you let that discourage you from checking it out you really aren’t paying attention. Unlike many direct-sales companies AdvoCare has products people really want, and as a distributor you are not instructed to deceive your way into sales. You aren’t required to buy and stock products. And how many multi-level sales companies work to help their distributors so much by getting its name out before the public by sponsoring numerous major sporting events, like Nascar, the AdvoCare Independence Bowl, FC Dallas soccer, and more.

In just the first five weeks of representing AdvoCare as a distributor, while working no more than 10 hours per week above my company work, my wife and I made $500. Do you think you could use an additional $500 per month? How about $1000? How about $20,000 per month. Would that give you some financial freedom like you’ve never experienced before?

My friend who got me into AdvoCare has been a distributor for only 3 years. He and his wife make $20,000 per month, and their income is still growing. He and she have left the corporate world where they earned good livings and now work just 25 hours per week helping others grow their AdvoCare business. Can you see yourself leaving a job that you hate, or that you are not well paid, or that takes you away from your family too much in exchange for an income over $240,000 per year while working less than 30 hours per week? That’s the kind of financial freedom I expect for my wife and I through AdvoCare. And early indications are we’re well on our way.

You can buy your 24 Day Challenge or any of AdvoCare‘s many health, nutrition and skin-care products at our website: AdvoCare. When you do you can buy the products and remain just a retail customer, or you can spend a mere $79 and become a Distributor allowing you to buy products at discounts of 20%, 25%, 30% or 40%.

Now, of course you want good health, and financial freedom sounds good to you too. But naturally you’ll have questions. Guess what. We’re only a phone call away and happy to get you to a point where your questions are all answer and your comfortable making the decision that we made, and that changed our lives. My number is 425-687-0100. I’m Michael. And I’m glad to meet ya.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Go to our website, read our story and try some AdvoCare. You won't regret it.

Go to our website, read our story and try some AdvoCare. You won’t regret it.

September 24, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 3 Comments

My Weight Loss Frustration turns to Success

See my progress before the 24 Day Challenge was complete.

The fact that I’ve written about my efforts to lose weight twice in this calendar year is not something I would have ever expected of myself. It was just not a subject I cared too much about. That all changed in May 2011 when I got on my bathroom scale and it barked back at me 245.3 pounds. It was the heaviest I’d ever been. That combined with the fact that I didn’t feel particularly good, things had to change. Little things like bending and stooping became difficult. And recent photographs of me were quite un-flattering. Like this Easter pic from 2011:

Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011

Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011

Notice the round belly, and the double chin? Not my best moment.

So I took steps to lose weight which I wrote about last January in a blog I called, My Weight Loss Frustration. The writing of it was prompted by a holiday season of mostly regular indulgence resulting in no weight gain, followed by the first week of the new year filled with exercise, light-healthy eating and a gain of five pounds. Grrrrrr.

In the six months since that writing my weight has remained fairly steady…though gaining slightly. I may have started the year at 233 lbs. But by June I was again approaching my heaviest, about 240 lbs. And while I never would have thought so prior to my weight/size awakening in May 2011 I can REALLY feel those extra pounds. And it’s not a good feeling.

I think perspective is important when discussing an individuals weight. In my case even at my worst I’ve never considered myself obese. Just heavy. Since the weight of an average man is 160-195 pounds, according to Wikipedia, it might be easy to think I’m way over weight. Here’s my history in pictures since my full height of 6′ 1″ and High School.

15 years old, 6’1″, maybe 165lbs.

In this pic I don’t remember how much I weighed. But I would guess around 165 lbs. It was July 1979. I was 15. I know I was already my full height of 6’1″.

August 1981 - 17 Years old, 181 lbs.

My High School Senior Portrait was shot in August 1981, when I was 17 years old, 6-foot 1-inch, 181 lbs. I have a clear memory of my weight at that time because I was trying desperately to gain weight for the upcoming football season. I still harbored hopes of playing in college. But try as I might, I couldn’t put any meat on a pretty skinny frame.

21 years old, 6’1″, 195-200 lbs.

In May 1985 I was 21 years of age and through natural maturation and some weight training I was a fit 195-200 lbs. And since attaining legal drinking age I had begun drinking alcohol, BEER, pretty regularly.

This pic below came as a result of a funny story. I was fishing off this dock you see me standing on with my buddy Rob McBride, and my daughter Arica, who must have been 6-7 years old at the time.

So that would make me 30 years old in this picture, and based on appearance and memory I was about 220 pounds. I’m soaking wet because my daughter had dropped her brand-new fishing pole into the water and was crying. Not wanting her to be sad or have a bad memory from fishing, which is something I LOVE, I decided to dive into the water, where I retrieved the lost pole. Feeling quite proud of his friend, Rob rewarded me with a Budweiser.

Approx. 1993. 29 yrs old, approx. 220 lbs.

46 years old, 240 lbs.

Never posted this pic anywhere at any time for any reason until now; for obvious reasons. It’s not very flattering, and shows me at close to my worst. This shot was at Steamboat Rock State Park in July 2010 at the age of 46 when I weighed about 240 lbs.

June 18, 2012. 48 years old 240 lbs.

Really wasn’t looking forward to posting THIS one…ever since the pic was taken. Obviously I don’t look very good. I weigh 240 lbs. I don’t feel particularly good. I’ve gained back the 8-9 lbs I lost the previous year. This picture was shot the day I began the Advocare 24  Day Challenge, June 18, 2012.

At my worst I’m just 35 pounds heavier than the 210 lbs. I weighed when I married my wife at age 23 in 1987 and was in pretty good physical condition. No pot belly. Not even any love handles. Pretty firm, regularly playing basketball, and doing other physical activities. A 35 pound weight gain on a 6-foot 1 inch frame is not good. But the story of my weight loss frustration isn’t my weight or how much I’ve gained since any point in my life. The real story is how I felt, how I looked, what physical limitations I was encountering, and what health time bombs I was planting in my body. My Dad, Grandpa, and his brother, my Uncle, all died in their early 60s due to health reason that were largely preventable. They were all over weight. And they were all over weight for a considerable part of their adult life. The thought of dying young (60s) like them scared scares the hell out of me. I have too many things to do.

So, the Advocare 24 Day Challenge seemed logical to me. The ONLY time I’d lost weight in the 13-14 months since it became important for me to do so was in July of last year when I took a couple of friends advice and did the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse program. At that time I lost about 6-7 pounds, and felt great.

What might surprise many of you is how avid an exerciser I am. Underneath this round belly and chunky figure is a rock solid body waiting to get out. I stretch, lift weights, run treadmill, and do some bicycling and other cardio five days per week. I’ve done so pretty religiously for 8-9 years. 14 months ago I began eating all my meals on salad plates, rather than dinner plates so that I would be eating less. Still the weight wouldn’t come off. Not until Advocare.

Being Silly- Feeling Great

Its great to get back to a body that has some muscle definition.

A real frustration for me was 230 lbs, which I bumped into several times in the past year but could never break through into the 220s. I finally cracked 230 lbs. 6 days into the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Because of the muscle gain I’ve achieved with weight-training and natural aging I’m not sure I can get down to 210 lbs. again, and I know the final 15 pounds will be the hardest. But I know with Advocare I can do it. I’m down 15 lbs. to 225-pounds at the conclusion of the 24 Day Challenge and feeling much better about my health, my appearance, and my future. It’s the only thing I’ve tried that has worked.

My lovely wife of 25 years has been on the 24 Day Challenge with me and has also lost 15 pounds and says she now weighs less than she has since before the birth of our 13-year-old daughter.

Sonja lost 17lbs on Advocare. Call us for info.

In the course of a lifetime I hope to have last 80+ years, 24 Days is just a tiny blip on the radar screen, and the minor sacrifices I had to make in this short time frame were infinitesimal compared to the tremendous benefit I have gained.

Contact me about Advocare. I’d be happy to give you the whole scoop.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

July 11, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 2 Comments

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