Most every distributor in the MLM industry has a lead problem.  Finding high-quality, qualified MLM leads is the biggest problem that most networkers face.  It’s what stops their businesses from growing – without good leads, a downline is dead in the water.

MLM Leads And How They Work

There are various types of leads available for an MLM’er to grow their business, but the best type of lead you will ever have is one that YOU generate yourself.  You know WHEN you generated that lead, you know HOW you generated that lead, you know WHAT was offered to that lead, and you know that lead was not sold or resold anything else.

The best leads you will ever have are leads that you generate yourself.  That’s the ticket.

How To Generate Targeted MLM Leads

In order to generate leads, you need two things:

1. A website with a targeted offer (an offer that appeals to your market)

2. Targeted Traffic (people visiting the site that WANT to be there)

Websites are another story (you may want to use this resource for build a good site), but the keys to the kingdom lie in getting targeted traffic.  Without a steady stream of targeted visitors, the best website in the world won’t do you any good.

In order to get traffic, you must either build paid advertising campaigns (there are lots of ways to do this) – which definitely isn’t “free”.  There are systems you can use for getting targeted leads on a paid source that actually offset and compensate you automagically, but that’s for another post.

This is about FREE MLM leads – in order to do that, we need to leverage a FREE traffic source.

Where can you get free traffic, and lots of it?
FORUM MARKETING

- Join the biggest targeted forums in your market.
- Search Google for “discussions” in your market.
- Establish yourself as an authority and a helper by providing valuable posts to the forum.
- Answer people’s questions in the forum (without being overly promotional).
- Have a good signature, with an enticing link, such as a link to a freebie.

Forum Search Engines (use these to find targeted forums):
boardreader.com
omgili.com
forumssearch.com
boardtracker.com (used to be my favorite, but it’s been under construction for awhile)

Forum Directory:
directory.big-boards.com

BLOG MARKETING

Blogs are a very decent way to get targeted traffic IF (and only IF) they are hosted on a domain that YOU control.  There are some “opportunities” out there that give networkers a blogging “platform”, and tell them to blog away.  The problem is, they build the blogging platform owners site – NOT your site.  This means you are doing a lot of hard work for something that you will never own (and in this case, are even paying to rent).  

If you are building someone else’s website via blogging, you are not building your own brand and your own asset – which is exactly what an employee does.  Make sure if you blog, you are investing in and building your own assets.

- Best way to get blog traffic is to create incredible content.
- Create “link bait” (see this link for more info – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_bait)
- Write something highly controversial.
- Utilize trackback links as a form of conversation marketing with other bloggers. (use this resource – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackback)
- Participate in blog carnivals. See blogcarnival.com
- Leave comments on other peoples’ blogs. (Do NOT spam or use automation)
- Expand your reach through RSS feed syndication.

RSS Feed Aggregators:
technorati.com
syndic8.com
feedage.com
newsisfree.com
newzalert.com
feedsee.com
(search for market specific aggregators, using “keyword” aggregator)

Blog Communities:
blogengage.com
fuelmyblog.com
blogher.com (for women only)

Blog Directories:
globeofblogs.com
bloggernity.com
blogville.us
ontoplist.com

Pligg sites (also Scuttle, phpDug, and PublicBookmark):
blokube.com
tipd.com
bizsugar.com
fwisp.com

(There are literally thousands of these kind of sites. Search for some in your market.)

NOTE: The best opportunity for building links and building a blog is by guest-blogging.  Guest blogging is where you write a high-quality blog post for someone else in your market, and in return they provide a couple of links back to your blog.

myblogguest.com is a community where you can find places to be a guest blogger.

Some guest blogging or guest article opportunities:

www.blogussion.com/write-for-us/
www.zeromillion.com/involve/
www.bloggernews.net/write-for-bnn
www.fuelyourblogging.com/contribute/
smartblogs.com/interested-in-writing-for-smartblogs
www.sitepronews.com/call-for-writers/
homebasedbusiness.com/profiles/blog/new
slashdot.org/submission
www.lifehack.org/contribute
www.knowtebook.com/publish

(There are thousands of places where you can potentially be a guest blogger! Search for blogs in your market)

DOCUMENT SHARING SITES

Use these to create mini-articles, and generate targeted links and traffic back to your site.

scribd.com
isuu.com
docstoc.com
calameo.com
edocr.com
ensips.com
pdfcast.org (for PDF’s)

EBOOK SHARING SITES

Ebooks are a fantastic promotional tool, especially the Amazon KDP platform.  Highly recommended

Amazon.com (KDP Select)
free-ebooks.net
getfreeebooks.com
ebookdirectory.com
e-booksdirectory.com
free.yudu.com
manybooks.net
witguides.com
bookyards.com
bibliotastic.com
smashwords.com
sharewareebooks.com
ebookjunkie.com (Free ebooks category)
ebookmall.com (Free ebooks category)

PODCASTING SITES

A podcast is simply audio content.  It can be an interview, a training, or the equivalent of an article.  They are very easy to use, you simply record your podcast, upload, and it’s good to go.

allpodcasts.com
digitalpodcast.com
feeds4all.com (podcast category)
fluctu8.com
getapodcast.com
gigadial.net
godcast1000.com (Christian)
ipodder.org
itunes.com
learnoutloud.com
mirpod.com
podbean.com
podcast411.com
podcastalley.com
podcastblaster.com/directory/
podcastdirectory.com
podcastingnews.com
podcasting-station.com
podcastpickle.com
podcastpup.com
podfeed.net
social.zune.net/podcasts/ (Zune)
stitcher.com
techpodcasts.com

FREE PRESS RELEASE SITES

A press release is a very powerful way to great buzz and excitement around newsworthy information about your business.  Press releases get picked up by major media outlets and can catapult virtually unknown businesses to the forefront of the media.

Here are a view outlets you can use for Press releases:

1888pressrelease.com
25pressreleases.com
afly.com
bignews.biz
downloadjunction.com (software related)
emeapr.com/en/
freepressindex.com
free-press-release.com
i-newswire.com
ideamarketers.com
mediasyndicate.com
newsreleaser.com
newswiretoday.com
onlineprnews.com
openpr.com
pr.com
pressbox.co.uk
pressexposure.com
pressking.com
pressmethod.com
pressreleasepoint.com
pr-inside.com
prlog.org
prurgent.com
release-news.com
theopenpress.com
webnewswire.com

FREE CLASSIFIED AD SITES

Classified ads are an easy way to promote, get links, and drive free targeted traffic.  Each site will have their own rules as to what can/cannot be advertised, and how the advertisement should work.

ablewise.com
adoos.com
adpost.com
allfreeads.com
american-classifieds.net
backpage.com
classifiedads.com
classifiedsgiant.com
craigslist.org
domesticsale.com
ebayclassifieds.com
eclassifieds4u.com
epage.com
finditclassifieds.com
freeclassifieds.com
geebo.com
inetgiant.com
kedna.com
locanto.com
newfreeclassifieds.com
olx.com
oodle.com
pennysaverusa.com
salespider.com
usfreeads.com
webclassifieds.us

FREE ONLINE DIRECTORIES

And online directory is simply an organization of websites, separated by category.  These directories will give you a link back to your site, and some (especially DMOZ) carry a good deal of influence with their link.

01webdirectory.com
arakne-links.com
azlisted.com
bhanvad.com
dmoz.org
exactseek.com
fourfind.com
freeadvertisingdirectory.com
freewebdirectory.org
gmdir.com (Your site must use Google maps)
illumirate.com
info-listings.com
innerseek.com
itzalist.com
mavicanet.com
netinsert.com
smartlinks.org (submit via email)
somuch.com
thalesdirectory.com
theseoking.com
topsiteswebdirectory.com
uudir.com
worldwidewub.org
(Do a search to find market-specific directories)

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Social bookmarking is a way that people share content and information.  You’d be surprised how many people use social bookmarking to share content.  Don’t pre-judge your market!

delicious.com
Slashdot.org
Digg.com
Reddit.com (manual submission recommended)
Tagza.com
Fark.com
Connotea.org
Netvouz.com
Diigo.com
Bibsonomy.org
Folkd.com
Linkagogo.com
Tipd.com (Financial)
Jumptags.com
OYAX.com
Boomarking.com
Karmalynx.com
HealthRanker.com
linkedwords.com

Q&A WEBSITES

These are sites that dedicated to questions and answers.  You simply show up, provide answers (and in many cases, links) to create authority and drive traffic.  Free, easy, and fast.

able2know.org
akaqa.com
allexperts.com
answerbag.com
answers.com
answers.yahoo.com is probably the most popular Q&A site currently.
aolanswers.com
ask.fm
ask.metafilter.com
askville.amazon.com/Index.do
blurtit.com
fluther.com
formspring.me
justanswer.com
kgbanswers.com
linkedin.com/answers (talked about in lesson #82)
mahalo.com/answers/
querycat.com
quomon.com (tech related)
quora.com
stackexchange.com
stackoverflow.com (programming related)
theanswerbank.co.uk
webanswers.com

Of course, there are other free ways to get leads (such as social media marketing, video marketing, etc) but these strategies will help you begin driving free leads and traffic to your websites!

We just wrapped up a two-part training on HBSA’s 18 Rules For Success. 

We did record those trainings, and we’d like to give you access to them, for free. 

Enjoy!

HBSAs 18 Rules For Success – Part 1

HBSAs 18 Rules For Success – Part 2

Let me start off with a little story…

As legend goes, one day the iconic artist Claude Monet was sitting in his favorite cafe in Paris, enjoying his beverage, when along walked a woman who recognized him.

“My God, you’re Claude Monet!” she exclaimed.  “Listen, I know this is impromptu, but…will you draw a picture of me?”

Monet set his drink down, and looked at the woman for a second.  He then whipped out a pencil, grabbed a napkin, looked down, and proceeded to scribble furiously on the napkin for thirty seconds.

He then looked up, set his pencil down, and slid the napkin across the table to the woman.

The woman looked down. Her jaw dropped.

She found herself staring at herself.  It was like looking into a mirror!  In thirty seconds, Monet had created an exact portrait of the woman.

“Monet, this is amazing!” she declared. “Thank you so much! The legends are all true, you truly are a phenomenal artist!”

“You are very welcome, madame” said Monet.  “That will be five hundred francs, please.”

“Five hundred francs!” she cried.  “That only took you thirty seconds!”

“Oh no it didn’t” Monet calmly retorted.  “That took me my entire life.”

Moral Of The Story – Great Achievements Look Easy, Only After A Lifetime Or Practice

Mastering anything takes time and consistent effort.  If you are good at anything in life, you’re consistent at, and have likely been so for years.

A bit over a year ago, we decided to publicly use ourselves as guinea pigs in a cast study to demonstrate the power of our education and training.  We did in one month what many have not done, ever, in their businesses. 

Setting The Stage – How We Added 300 New People Into Our Downline In A Single Month

When we began this project, we wanted to start like anyone else did, from the bottom. It was intended to be a case study, to show our students and potential students that targeted marketing does in fact work, and far better than any friends and family stuff that is (still) so popular in the industry.

We began by taking suggestions from the student body as to what kind of company we should join.  We wanted to join under one of our students, as we thought that would be a cool way to give back and help one of our students who had seen success. 

We took input from any student who wanted to give it, and we reviewed and researched over 200 opportunities.  (You can read up on that process here).

We went through the process of demonstrating what we look for when we join an opportunity (learn how to choose a network marketing opportunity here).

We finally selected an opportunity, under one of our more successful students (he was earning about $40k/mo at the time we joined under him.  Since then, he’s doubled his income).

Now, it’s important to understand that we really could have chosen any company, but one of the key fundamentals we teach is to be passionate about what you are promoting.  At the end of the day, life is too short to spend time promoting a product/service/opportunity that you don’t believe in.  A healthy chunk of time, effort, and energy would be going into this campaign, so we wanted to select an opportunity that served a market we were passionate about helping and serving.

The process would have been exactly the same if we had picked another company or market.  The fundamental difference between those who succeed or fail in this industry is the marketer, and their ability to attract that audience that is looking for what they have to offer. Once you have the skills, you can apply them into whatever you want. It’s not just about the money at that point, it’s about having a positive impact, and working on projects you love.

So we made a call, and got focused on the opportunity we were going to promote.

Then, we targeted our market.

We wanted to go after:

1. Current Networkers (these people already have experience in the industry, and don’t need to be convinced that network marketing is a good thing to be involved in).

2. People Who Need The Benefits Of The Product (in this case, people who wanted to lose weight, or experience a healthier lifestyle).

3. People Who Wanted To Start A Business (commonly refereed to as “opportunity seekers”).

For most any campaign in the network marketing industry, these will be the three types of people that you want to target.

Phase 1 – Learning The Market

We have a lot of experience in the network marketing and business opportunity markets, so we didn’t really need to spend much time understanding what was important to those communities and markets.

However, we were pretty new to the diet/weight loss market, so we spent some time learning about how that market functioned.

Step 1 – Amazon

Amazon.com is a gold mine of data.  It’s the largest e-commerce website in the world, selling physical products, books, movies, and ebooks (via KDP).  Any time we want to get to know a new market, we spend a good amount of time conducting research on Amazon. 

The key is this – when people are looking for information about a subject, they want to achieve the benefit.  So if someone is looking for information on “How To Make More Money”, or “How To Lose Weight”, “How To Travel Cheap”, and they buy a book on the subject, then they want to achieve those benefits.  People in this stage aren’t sold on the WAY to achieve them.  There are lots of ways to make money, or lose weight, or travel cheap.  As long as people can achieve the benefit, they are open to the actual method to make it happen.

So we start by doing keyword searches that are relevant to the benefits that our market was after, namely, losing weight. 

We then looked for those keywords in the “Books” section of Amazon, and we then sorted by popularity.

Then, we started reading.

We would read the reviews, as these are real-life people that are giving real-life feedback.  This is a direct message from our market, and it’s important to understand and know what they want!

They spill it all in the book reviews.  They’ll tell you about their situation, what they wanted from the book, what they liked about it, what they disliked about it, what their friends thought about it, the results they got…everything.  This is perfect, as it’s like surveying your market without having to do any surveying.  The works already been done, we just need to take the information onboard and implement it into our campaigns!

Step 2 – Google

We spend time using the Google Keyword Suggestion Tool, to find out more about what exactly our market is searching for.

This freebie shows us:

- The monthly search volume for a given keyword

- The local search volume for a given keyword

- The monthly search volumes of related keywords (keywords that are related to my original keyword)

This tells us roughly how much demand there is in a certain market, and also, other keyword ideas that we can use to check out and see what’s up.

We also spend time on Google.com, searching for some of those keywords.  We want to see what the competition is already doing.  So we literally head over to Google, and type in some of the keyword searches that we just got from the Google keyword tool.  We pay special attention to the sponsored listings, as these tell us who is actually buying traffic.  This is important! If someone is buying traffic, then we can assume one of two things:

1. The advertiser is losing money on that keyword.  In which case, they are an idiot that we don’t want to follow.

2. The advertiser is making money on that keyword.  In which case, we want to study what they’re doing, so see how it is working!

We confirm whether they are #1 or #2 by looking up their ads in SpyFu.  This little tool allows us to spy on PPC competition, to see how long an ad has been running.  If someone is running an add over 4 months, then we can safely assume the advertiser falls in category #2 (most advertisers can’t lose money for four months straight).

Once we knew our market, then it was time to get some landing pages up and start generating some leads!

Phase 2 – Build Creatives

“Creatives” simply refer to your marketing material – what you use to attract leads, clients, and customers.

For our application, we needed:

- Banner ads

- Landing pages

First, the banner ads.

The diet and weight loss industry is a big industry, but primarily skewed towards the female demographic.  I have no idea why this is the case.  Maybe guys are more comfortable being overweight.  Maybe women are more critical of themselves, and or see themselves as being more overweight than they really are.  Whatever the case, the we knew that for a lot of the diet/weight loss leads, we were targeting women, so that was what we were going to use in the banners.

When you have banner ads made, it’s important to get them in the most common sizes.  The most common sizes are:

300×250 (medium rectangle)

728×90 (leaderboards)

160×600 (wide skyscrapers)

We are still using our opportunity-seeker banners, so we can’t really reveal those here

Next, we need landing pages.

A landing page is where you traffic actually lands after they click your ad.  This is where they are given an offer in exchange for their contact information.

A landing page has one purpose, and one purpose only: to generate YOU a targeted, interested lead.

That’s it.

Education, details, offers…all that other stuff happens after a lead opts into your landing page.

Here are some of the landing pages that we used for this campaign:

Weight-Loss Targeted:

O

Opportunity Targeted:

Network Marketing Targeted:

We primarily used contextual traffic to generate leads (Content networks, media placements, existing traffic partners, etc).  We also developed free reports for all three lead types, and gave them away as incentives to join our mailing lists.

So we had leads coming in the door – the next step was converting them!

Phase 3 – Build Prospecting, Presentation, Closing Systems

This is where the fun begins!

Now it’s time to make some money.  We have leads, now we need to craft some offers that get those leads interested, responsive, and taking action.

For that, we need:

- Prospecting Script

- Presentation

- Closing Script

So here’s what we did:

Prospecting Script

The goal of a prospecting script is to SORT, and POSITION.  Any marketing campaign is going to be filled with “maybe” people.  These are folks that aren’t really ready to do business with you yet. 

The key is not in convincing those people to do something they’re not ready to do. 

The key is to sort them out of the way QUICKLY, so that you spend your time with the best prospects. 

That’s the goal of your prospecting script.  We do this with IQM (The Interest Question Method). We discuss this concept at length in our ebook Instant MLM Prospecting Scripts, but the goal is to have a script that gets to the bottom line, fast.

Once that was sorted, we developed two separate presentation scripts – one more focused on the opportunity, and one more focused on product benefits.  The reason we did this is because we had leads from both categories coming in, and we needed a congruent presentation for both.

A presentation script is designed to give you prospect the scoop, and to position.  Positioning is the most powerful marketing concept that you can leverage in this industry, and a presentation gives you center stage.  We have done all sorts of presentations, from webinars to teleseminars to live presentations to video presentations.  For downline growth, we like to set up recorded teleseminar presentations on Simple Voice Box. 

Here’s why:

- Your team can leverage these presentations 24/7

- SVB is a free service that is very reliable

- SVB will email you a daily email showing all the people that went to your presentation that day.  Good for tracking and accountability!

Finally, we needed a closing script, and a follow up process.

When you start one of these campaigns, you’ll soon find that your team, unless experienced, will have to learn how to close.  For that, we recommend you teach them, by role-playing and coaching with them, and also developing a followup process that keeps in touch with the leads they attempt to close.  That way, you (as a more experienced enroller) can follow up with some of their leads, and help put a little more money in the pockets of your team.  (You can see what our closing process is here at Instant MLM Closing Scripts).

For followup, we used a simple but powerful email followup series in an Aweber (aff link) account.

These were all of the tools that we built and used in this campaign. 

Results

We’re not braggers.  At all.

But results are results, and we were fortunate to have accomplished some great things with this campaign.

In 30 Days, we were able to:

- Add Over 300 People Into The Team, As A Whole (closer to 400 when the dust settled)

- Personally Sponsor 46 People

- Help 4 People Qualify For A New-Car Bonus, And 24 People Get Promotions/Bonuses (NOTE: due to the diligence and leadership of Mr. Martin Lightbowne, that number has since grown to 49 people qualifying for New Car Bonuses).

- Create A Seven-Figure Distribution Channel Out Of Thin Air

- Go From Zero To Their Executive Rank On The Company Compensation Plan

- Set 4 Company Recruitment Records

- Became The #2 Enroller In The Entire Company For That Month (couldn’t believe someone out-enrolled us!)

Not to mention, we learned a TON about leadership, teamwork, and focus during that time.

And the money? 

Again, we’re not braggers, and we are a little old-fashioned in that we think money is a private subject.  Just for proof, we did post our first check from the company here (disclaimer, this is not an income claim, etc etc).  I’ll let speculators speculate on what the other checks looked like as the organization has grown.

The Big Take-Aways

1. Homework Pays Off

We spent a lot of time studying our market, and building systems that would work.  We had an intimate understanding of who we were sponsoring and going after, and that was a major contributor to success.

2. Invest In Skills Pay (Not Opportunities)

None of that would have ever happened, had we not devoted the time and energy to understanding and mastering the craft of marketing.

Most people treat online marketing as some sort of gimmick, or just something you’re supposed to “do real quick” to get some leads.

We treat it as an art and a science.  We look at it like this:

Aspiring doctors spend 8-12 years studying their craft and mastering skills, (as well as spending $200k+ on their education )before they get a six-figure income.

Aspiring lawyers spend 6-7 years studying their craft and mastering their skills (as well as spending about $150k on their education) before they get a six-figure income.

Marketers spend 1-2 years studying their craft and mastering their skills (and usually spend $2k – $10k on their education) before they get a six or seven figure income.

Skills pay.  We continually invest into our knowledge, because we are CONSTANTLY trying to improve our value, and what we can do to serve the market.  Do whatever it takes to get the skills, and master them.

Most people who read this have one of two reactions:

1. “OMG, you should join MY business, let me tell you all about it!…”

While we are certainly flattered, we encourage you to look at what we DIDN’T do to achieve this success.

We did not try to go to some big-wig enroller and swing them into our organization.

We suggest you not try to do that either.

Get your own skills, and attract your own market.  We know we could make “a lot of money” in lots of different opportunities.  But we focus on the markets we’re passionate about, and we don’t worry about anything else.

2. “OMG, There’s NO WAY I Could Do All That Stuff!”

Yes, you can actually.

We’re not rocket scientists, and we teach (and use) everything we do.  There’s no way Monet could knock out an identical-to-life portrait (on a napkin) in less than 30 seconds when he started.  With time and some practice, he was able to do it.  So can you.

Most people in this industry are actually already doing it the hard way – chasing friends and family, bugging people at malls, handing out flyers, doing the home meetings, hotel rah-rah pep ralleys, etc etc etc. 

That stuff is way more challenging than what we’ve just laid out.

Focus on what you can do today, and start building from there. 

For The Doubters, Skeptics, And Cynics

I know some people out there think it’s impossible to make good money in the home biz / network marketing industry.  They think it’s impossible to make money in an MLM, or that you can’t make money with online marketing. 

You probably know some people like that too. 

I don’t worry too much about these types of people.  Success needs no alibi or explanation, and it also happens to be the best revenge.  Don’t sweat the critical comments for what you’re building, or pursuing.  Simply plan your work, work your plan, pursue your dreams, and let the results silence the critics. 

Our Offer To You

If you are ready to learn these strategies, drop us a line today. We’d love to hear about your situation, and see if there’s a way that we could work together to build your business. 

Our Email: Success@hbsaonline.com.

Questions? Comments?  Post ‘em up below!

At HBSA, we do Q&A coaching calls every week.

This past three weeks, we’ve completed a three-part series on:

1. Planning Your Business

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2. Growing Your Business

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3. Managing Your Business

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We recorded those sessions, and we want to give them to you, kind of like a virtual Christmas present

We hope the information blesses you and yours in 2013!  Let’s lock and load for an exciting new year!

To Total Success,

The HBSA Support Team

Challenges

It’s no mystery that life is not perfect for many people right now.  Some have challenges.  Some have MANY challenges.  For some – all they can see are challenges.

What kinds of challenges?  All kinds: money challenges, health challenges, relationship challenges, political challenges, legal challenges, spiritual challenges, etc etc etc.

I personally think challenges are good for us.  Without them, we wouldn’t grow.  Without them, we wouldn’t change.  Without challenges, many of us would stagnate, plateau, get bored, and become ungrateful for the many opportunities that are available to all of us, every day.

Challenges are catalysts: they cause us to grow, to expand, to become bigger than the challenge.  Many people will focus on how painful the challenge is, or how inconvenient, or how stressful. And the sad fact is that when someone spends too much time thinking about what they don’t have, or what they think they should have and can’t get or haven’t gotten, it shift the focus from getting better to getting bitter.

Listen: we can’t control all the challenges that will happen to us in life.  The only thing we can control is what we focus on during that time, and how we answer the question “what does it mean”? Does it mean that I push harder, or that I give up?  Does it mean it’s the end, or is it the beginning?  Does it mean that it can only get better, or that it can only get worse?  We get to define those meanings, and we’ll live up to them, live into them, and will dictate the choices we make in the future.

So now, it’s Thanksgiving.  For many people, it’s a time to get together with family, eat too much, and watch a lot of TV.  Then, wake up early the next day and buy a bunch of stuff.  Then they keep the momentum rolling into Christmas, hoping that Jan 1 will bring some sort of accountability in helping them make the changes they want to make.

That’s all fine.  I like football, and buying stuff is certainly an important thing.  But what would it look like if you sat back and really counted all the things we have to be thankful for right now?  Not just the good stuff, but the challenges?  What if you gave thanks for the challenges, because you know that without them, you wouldn’t grow at the rate you’re growing right now?  What would it do to your heart and your mind to really consider all the great things in your life?

What are some of the things you could be thankful for right now, if you really wanted to be thankful?  Here is a list of 101 things that you could be grateful for, if you wanted to be really grateful:

1. A roof over your head
2. Having 4 limbs (many don’t – just ask a veteran)
3. Family
4. Friends
5. Freedom of religion
6. Ability to own private property
7. The ability to vote without having to own private property
8. Personal health
9. Healthy children
10. A vehicle that works
11. Clean air
12. Clean water
13. Easy access to food
14. Indoor plumbing
15. Living in a country that isn’t warring
16. Heat (of any kind)
17. The Internet
18. The ability to read
19. Grandparents
20. Veterans who will sacrifice to protect our freedom
21. Typing ability
22. Modern telecommunications
23. A world that has basically any shoe imaginable
24. Skype
25. Pixlr
26. Gmail
27. GPS
28. Time with loved ones
29. Wood stoves
30. Chicken sandwiches
31. Entrepreneurial opportunities
32. Wool socks
33. Ping pong
34. P90X (Tony Horton is THE MAN)
35. iTunes
36. Printers/Scanners (nobody misses faxing)
37. Wood floors
38. Carpet
39. Pets
40. Car alarms
41. Batteries
42. Free parking
43. The right to bear arms (oh yeah)
44. Oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies
45. Great employees
46. Great employers
47. Ability to travel anywhere we want
48. Facebook
49. Youtube
50. Having hair
51. Burritos
52. Charcoal grills
53. Extension cords
54. Accountants
55. Friends that make you laugh
56. Friends that raise your standards
57. Public libraries
58. The ability to overcome fears
59. The light bulb
60. Freedom to influence my city council
61. Coffee
62. Banks
63. The miracle of flight
64. Spotify
65. Air conditioning
66. Weebly
67. WordPress
68. Rainbows
69. Love
70. Red wine
71. Super Mario Brothers
72. Grandchildren
73. Email
74. Adam’s Mountain Cafe
75. Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins
76. The freedom to disagree
77. Skiing
78. Hot chocolate
79. A warm bed
80. Hope
81. Challenges that make you stronger
82. Challenges that make you smarter
83. Challenges that help you empathize better with others
84. Art
85. Sunshine
86. Moonshine
87. Doorbells
88. Dumbbells
89. Kettlebells
90. Hay bales
91. Yousendit.com
92. Turkey
93. Punkin’ pie
94. Digital cameras
95. Cell Phones
96. Eyesight
97. P90X (yes, I know it’s on here twice, I’m double-thankful for it!)
    
98. Generous people
99. Rocking chairs
100. Snow
101. The opportunity to give – every day

Most all of us have far more than just 101 things in our lives to be grateful for.  What are you thankful for this year?

Gratitude For Our Businesses 

One of the things we are all grateful for is the Internet – the ability to communicate, engage, and attract people that are interested in the benefits that your business offers is readily available for everyone now.  The question is – are you using it to full advantage?  Are you leveraging this remarkable opportunity, or are you still chasing friends and family, throwing home parties and meetings, and doing all that other stuff that just doesn’t work very well at all? 

Our Offer To You 

January 1 is coming up.  For many people, they will make resolutions to finally “get their business going”, while others will have already positioned themselves to take advantage of this growth of the new year. 

If you are COMMITTED to get your business going, and you’re ready to do it using a strategy that allows you to reach the masses, then do this: 

Send an email to support@hbsaonline.com.  In the email, include the following pieces of information: 

1. Full name 

2. Phone number 

3. Best time to call   

4. Business you are promoting 

5. Biggest challenge holding you back 

And we’ll give you a call back to discuss a different strategy that you can learn and begin leveraging to get some REAL results in your business.  Happy Thanksgiving!

You MUST be an active HBSA student to apply.

If you’re ready, you can APPLY HERE.

FAQ

1. What is the compensation structure for the HBSA Affiliate Partner Program?

Answer: You can download our compensation structure here – HBSA Affiliate Compensation Plan

2. How hard is the bootcamp?

Answer: Real hard.  It’s a gut check, as well as a training course.

3. What if I start, and decide I want to drop out. Can I do that?

Answer: Of course.  The curriculum is designed to be difficult, and make people want to quit.  By moving foward, they find a strength they didn’t know they had.  But anyone can quit, at any time, and continue the normal HBSA curriculum. 

4. Will this distract me from my main business?

Answer:  Yes, short-term, it probably will.  It’s designed to focus you on the skills, getting very good in a short amount of time.  After the 6 week program is complete, you’ll move to a much more relaxed schedule.

5. Is this just another big pitch?

Answer: No.  We don’t care what you market.  We just care about giving you the skills to market what you want.  This training environment does that, in an accelerated format. 

6. What is the potential?  How much can I really earn with HBSA?

Answer: We’ve had affiliates develop $400k/yr businesses here. We’ve had affiliates earn $0/yr.  It all depends how much time, effort, and energy you give it.

7. I like the idea of the Levi Strauss model.  How does HBSA do that?

Answer: We provide top-tier education and training to people in the network marketing industry, and home-based business industry.  Strauss provided clothing to miners and prospectors, and built a fortune doing so.  We provide tools to networkers and entrepreneurs.  Same model.

8. I really like the idea of doing this, but _______________ {insert totally legitimate reason one cannot possibly do this}

Answer: Building a business (any business) isn’t easy.  But in this program, we don’t give excuses, and we don’t accept excuses. If you’re more committed to your reason(s) for maintaining the status quo than reasons to succeed, don’t apply. 
9. Are you guys doing another Affiliate Bootcamp this year? 

Answer:  Maybe.

10. How do I apply?

Answer: click this link – APPLICATION

11. What if I’m not selected?

Answer: then you’re not selected.  Don’t take it personally, but this isn’t for most people.  It sorts out the wannabe’s and dreamers in a hurry, and it is certainly a time and effort commitment.  If you’re ready for the real deal…this is it.

12. How much is the bootcamp?

Answer: This is NOT a paid product.  You can’t buy your way in on this one – you have to earn it.  But in getting started, it is helpful to have $500 to invest into your venture.

Any other questions?  Post ‘em up below!

Do you think money solves problems?

Most people do.  Especially entrepreneurs.  The following is a very common thought process of an entrepreneur:

“If I only had $_____________ (some amount of money) then I could _______________________” (some sort of dream, improvement, or achievement)

This is a very dangerous way to think.  It implies that money solves problems.  And that’s just not the case.

Money does not solve problems – people and creativity solve problems.  If money solved problems, then we could solve problems by simply throwing enough money at them. 

When we look at some examples, we see that isn’t the case.

Cancer?  We spend an estimated $200,000,000,000 annually, and to date our most popular protocol is chemotherapy, a technology that was invented over 50 years ago (source, source)

Poverty?  We spend $451,900,000,000 annually on welfare / social aid programs in the US, and another $43,000,000,000 annually in foreign aid (as of 2007) (source, source)  .  And yet, the trend in 2009 was MORE poverty, not less, on the horizon (source).  As it turned out, that was an optimistic perspective… turns out that the poverty rate is around 15% now (not the predicted 9.9 % from 2009 – source)

Security and safety?  We spend nearly a trillion dollars annually on defense.  $903,200,000,000 to be specific (source)  The threat of terrorism, war, and conflict is as high as ever.

Don’t get confused – this isn’t a political post.  And it’s not to say money doesn’t matter (it does).  It takes money to buy things.  It takes money to pay people, create an economy, etc.  Money motivates.  I’m a fan of money

But that’s not the point.  The point is that money (even lots and lots of money) doesn’t solve problems. 

Money won’t fix a budgeting problem – a good budget fixes a budgeting problem. 

Money won’t fix a bad habit – good habits fix bad habits. 

Money won’t fix a marketing problem – good marketing fixes a marketing problem. Money is useful in the ways that it’s useful, and that’s it. 

It’s never the deciding factor, and it’s never a substitute for human creativity and ingenuity. 

The answer isn’t money.

The answer is people.

The answer is you. 

Your energy, your creativity, your enthusiasm, your time.

That’s what has, and always will, solve problems.

So the next question is this:

Knowing that money won’t solve your problems, what can you do today to creatively solve a problem in your business?

In your neighborhood? 

In your community? 

In your workplace? 

In your marriage?

In your church?

In your class?

In your life?

If you wake up and ask yourself this question every day, you might soon find that you don’t have that many problems left to solve.  And I think we can all agree; that would be a nice problem to have  

How To Find Prospects For MLM

Are you having a hard time finding decent prospects for your MLM business?

Are you SICK of chasing around your friends and family?

Well, you’re in luck! You’re about to learn what most networkers will never know about prospects, leads, and lead-generation.

First – let’s set the stage:

!. Your Friends And Family Are NOT Your Prospects

They’re your friends and family.  Treasure their relationships, and enjoy them.  Don’t try to exploit them for profit.  Yes, I know your company /upline / whoever told you that you’d build a fortune by simply telling a few friends or family members about your big opportunity.  Sorry, but it’s not going to happen (you prolly already know this). It’s the fastest  way to get a few people using your products, or getting a business builder or two – but that’s it.  If you do choose to go down this route, make sure it’s a very soft sell – don’t try go Captain Closer s on ‘em.

2. Random People On The Street Are Not Your Prospect

Yes, another popular option for networkers is to pound the ground, and try to meet random folks on the street, at malls, handing out flyers, etc.  While it may not be impossible to build a business in this fashion…it’s mostly impossible.  So don’t worry about it.

3. “New Friends” That You Make For The Sole Purpose Of Pitching Are Not Your Prospect

It’s great to meet new people, and make new friends.  If you’re doing it just so that you have more folks to pitch, then you’re probably going to fail.  There’s no need to be disingenuous to grow your business – make new friends and meet new people because you enjoy them, find them interesting, and want to get to know them better.  Don’t do it to grow your “list”.

Ok, So Who IS Your Prospect? 

A prospect is someone who has a legitimate need or desire for what you have, and has demonstrated through ACTION that they have a propensity to buy what you’re offering. 

This is called “targeting your market”. 

How Prospects And Leads Work 

A “lead” is another word for prospect – they mean the same thing.  So getting more prospects and getting more leads means the same thing – have more people to talk to that are interested in what you have to offer. 

There are two ways to get leads: 

1. You Buy Them.  This is pretty straight-forward.  You find targeted leads from brokers, partners, vendors, and other professionals that offer leads.  When buying leads, it’s important to make sure you start small, to test lead quality.  Don’t buy 5,000 leads off the bat – start small, test, and ensure it’s up to par. 

2. You Generate Your Own Leads.  This is pretty straight forward as well – you learn the art and science of direct-response marketing, and then use it to generate targeted leads that are interested in what you have.  This is how you get people coming to you.  With some advanced techniques, you can position it such that they coming to you with credit card in hand, ready to do some business with you.  But…let’s walk before we run

Leads 101 – The Differences Between Leads 

In the world of leads, there are three different types of leads available: 

1. Demographic Leads 

Demographic leads are leads that are targeted on demographics – age, ethnicity, area of residence, and other socioeconomic factors.  These are the least-targeted types of leads, because it’s simply stating facts.  This person resides here, makes this much money, is this ethnicity, is this age, etc. As they are the least-targeted, they are also the least expensive.  These do well with mass-market appeal offers (things that nearly everyone has /uses – utilities, car finance, mortgages, etc). 

2. Response Leads 

Response leads are MUCH higher-quality than Demographic leads.  Response leads are leads that have responded to something – an advertisement, a website, a phone call, an offer of some sort.  These are leads that have raised their hand and said “yep, I’m INTERESTED”. 

If you are generating your own leads, you can use online/offline advertising to get these types of leads coming to you.  Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Fiverr, Amazon, etc, all offer fantastic opportunities for you to leverage their user base to generate response leads.  If you would like to test out some response leads, you can check out the home business opportunity leads that we generate for other companies and leaders in the industry.  

3. Buyers Leads 

Buyers leads are the best types of leads you can get.  These are leads that have responded by purchasing something relevant.  For example, if you sell a training program on using the Foreign Exchange, then the best lead you could possibly get is someone who has purchased a book on how to trade using the Foreign Exchange.  Getting good buyers leads will cost a pretty penny – I’ve seen these leads sell for $30 – $125 per lead!  For most people in the MLM industry, those numbers won’t work.  So…here’s a tip for you. 

Getting Buyers Leads For A Penny Each 

This is a very simple arbitrage tactic for generating low-cost leads in high-volume.  If you have never sold anything before on Amazon, make sure to do that before going any further.  You can learn how to sell on Amazon here.   Amazon is the worlds biggest online market place.  They sell books every day in every category imaginable. With a little creativity, you can leverage this market to direct buyers leads to you, for as little as a penny each.

Here’s how this works: 

1. Know your market.  Go into Amazon, and look up the best-selling books in your niche.  For example, if you’re in travel, search “travel”, then sort by “best sellers first”.  Same thing if you’re in business opportunity, anti-aging, diet, savings plans, insurance, whatever. 

2. Buy 5-10 copies of the #1 best-seller in that category. 

3. Once you receive the books, re-list them on Amazon, and bid a penny less for your asking price than the next highest bidder. 

4. When you sell the book, voila!  You have a buyer lead.  Now, put some sort of call-to-action in the book, and send it off. 

Bam.  Buyers leads for a penny each.  Well played. 

Any questions?  Post ‘em up in the comments below!

Some People Just Want Leads!

We all know that we need good leads to grow a business.  Leads are the lifeblood of ANY business.  Without leads, a business isn’t a business – it’s dead in the water.  No leads = no money = no business.

How Do You Get Leads?

There are two ways to get leads:

Options 1 – Generate them yourself. 

This is where most networking companies have problems.  They tell you to turn your friends and family members into “leads” for your business / product service.  After that, they’ll tell you to run out and try to meet new people, to generate more prospects.  While leveraging your friends and family, you can expect to get 2-5 people signed up into your business.  Most of the time, those people won’t do anything.  This strategy, in our opinion, isn’t a good lead generation method.

Alternatively, you can use the direct-response strategies that we use and teach to generate leads.  These are leads that you find in your target market – online or offline, people who are interested in what you have to offer.  There’s a lot that goes into lead generation, which is why we offer the HBSA Training Programs – to help people get more leads, grow their businesses, and earn more income.

This is what it looks like to generate your own leads.  It’s not easy – but it’s totally worth it!

Option 2 – Get Someone Else To Generate Them For You.

These are strategic alliances, JV partners, or just vendors that you know and trust to do the work of generating leads for you.  There are different ways to cut a deal with these folks, bu the most simple way is to pay for leads on a per-lead basis. This is a case of finding leads that match your offer – for example, if you want leads interested in a diet solution, the best kinds of leads are leads that (you guessed it) want a diet solutions!  If you are marketing a business opportunity, then you would want leads that are actively looking for a business opportunity. 

While you think this would be a simple concept, people get all sorts of confused by trying to put a square peg in a round hole.  They imagine that EVERYONE needs their stuff, and that the perfect lead for their offer is a living breathing person.  It has to be more targeted than that!

If you are in the process of getting your own lead generation systems up and going, but want to grow your business NOW – we have a solution for you.

You can contact us today at 800-803-4610 to find out more.

We’ve Started Generating Leads For Other Entrepreneurs.

Well, the reality is that we’ve generated leads for other businesses for years.  But now, we’re doing it for people in the networking industry. 

If you are struggling with finding good, interested prospects that are looking for your type of opportunity, then this might be a great fit for you!

Here’s how it works:

• We can generate LOCAL leads for you, or NATIONAL leads for you.  Your call. 
• All leads are targeted for a BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.  We have students in all sorts of different industries, and in our education, we teach how to target based on the benefits of the product and service.  In order to make this work, we have to target based on something that everyone in this industry has in common – and that’s a business opportunity.
• All leads are GUARANTEED.  All leads that have bad numbers or disconnected numbers will be replaced, free of charge.  You just need to let us know within 5 DAYS of the lead being generated that it’s a bad number or disconnected number, and we’ll replace it for you for free.

Here is what a “normal” lead will look like:

First Name:  Joe
Last Name:  Schmuckatelli
Email:  joeschmuckatelli@aol.com
Phone:  505-888-1212

Address:  123 Anywhere Lane
City:  Anywheresville
State:  NM
Zip:  96574
Country:  US
Time Zone:  M

Contact Time:  Evening
Reason:  Financial freedom
Desired Income:  $500-2500 per Month
Interest Level:  Ready to get started!
Time Available:  5-10 hours per week
Investment:  $500 – $750

IP:  68.228.252.122 

Time:  08/01/2012  9:55 AM

NOTE: This Opportunity Hasn’t Been Offered Since 2010, And Will Not Be Offered Again In 2012.

The HBSA Partner Training Program

Let us start by saying that this will not be for most people.

This is for people who:

1. Are PASSIONATE About The HBSA Education And Training

2. Are COMMITTED To Earning At The Rate Of Six-Figures In The Next Three Months

3. Are EXCITED About The Prospect Of Working With And Learning From The HBSA Family On A Daily Basis

If that describes you, then this may be one of the most exciting opportunities of your life.

Here’s The Deal

Every so often, we decide to take on a group of Affiliate Partners to train, teach, and mold into some of the most powerful, gifted, and influential marketers in the world. 

People who want to create an income by helping others with the HBSA product line.

People who want to create a substantial income for themselves, working from the comfort of their home.

People who are looking for BIG results, and want to get those results NOW.

The last time this was offered, we hand-selected 20 individuals from all over the world, from all sorts of different backgrounds and upbringings. 

None of these people had ever achieved any notable financial success in the home-based industry before.  Most, in fact, had lost money.

In just three months, we had:

- 1 Multi-Six-Figure Earner

- 4 Six-Figure Earners

- 7 Five-Figure Earners

- 5 Four-Figure Earners

- 3 Who Earned Less Than 4 Figures

We are NOT taking credit for their success.  They earned it all themselves. 

But we are proud to have helped facilitate the training and structure that helped them make it happen!

Overall, we were proud of those numbers – but we think we can do better.

For a limited time, we are offering up another opportunity to partner with HBSA in a very special way.

How It Works

We are hand-selecting between 5 and 15 people who want to participate in the HBSA Partner Training Program. 

If you would like to be considered, you can fill out the application form by clicking here. (REGISTRATION HAS EXPIRED).

If you are selected, there is no cost to join, but it’s good to have $500 available to invest to get your business moving.

The training will conducted in a 6 week Bootcamp.  You will need a minimum of 10 hours per week to devote to this training.

Here’s What Is In It For You:

1. World-Class, 1-on-1 Coaching

You’ll be working with us, directly, on a daily basis.  You’ll learn the same skills and techniques that we use to create 7-figure incomes, and 7-figure businesses.  And you’ll actually be PAID to do it, as we fully expect that you come into this program with the expectation of becoming a six-figure earner, minimum.

2. World-Class Team

You’ll be working right along side other motivated, focused, entrepreneurs who will go above and beyond to help you make it happen.

3. World-Class Compensation

We pay out 25% – 50%, plus additional bonuses and perks (including a Lexus incentive program).  When you get $1200 commissions, it doesn’t take long before it ads up to some serious coin  

4. World-Class Skills

Once you have the skill-set, you can apply it to pretty much whatever business you want.  Previous Partners have gone on to other opportunities and businesses in which they generate significant (six figure +) incomes.  We won’t name names, but if you saw the list of previous training partners you’d recognize some of the names of heavy-hitters in this industry.  They have the skills, and they apply them to whatever business or opportunity they want to promote. 

Most people have to learn and practice the skills, and invent the processes to do it (lead generation funnels, scripts, sales funnels, etc).  With this opportunity, you’ll have a working blueprint and assistance in applying everything you’ll be learning.  We have turn-key systems for lead generation, prospecting, closing, and followup.  As part of this team, you’ll get it all.

Requirements

1. You must be an HBSA student at any level.

2. You must commit at least 10 hours a week into this program.

3. You must be willingly to face your fears and be held accountable.  This isn’t some pie-in-the-skie “gosh we hope this works” type of program – it will likely be one of the most intense experiences of your entire life.  It’s worth it, but if you’re not 100% committed to your success then don’t waste your time. 

4. You must have a positive mental attitude.  If you fight for your limitations, excuses, and alibis, then this is not for you.  If you KNOW you can achieve something big in this industry (working with the right people in the right structure) then this will be perfect for you.

What is NOT required:

- Previous success (we specialize in helping those who have NOT succeeded in the past)

- Tons of money ($500 is helpful, but not required)

You’ll be joining a fun, talented, and (moderately) crazy community of like-minded entrepreneurs.  You’ll be getting the skills, and getting paid at the same time.  You’ll have the bases loaded – all you’ll need to do is swing for the fence!

Are You Ready?

It starts with filling out the application.  After you fill it out, we will contact you directly to discuss your application, and the next few steps.

Timing Is Everything

If the timing isn’t right for you, or you can’t give this the focus that it warrants, or if you want to put it off, that’s fine – don’t apply.

I don’t believe in coincidence.  If you’ve been wanting/hoping/looking for a way to generate a real income in this industry, it’s probably not an accident that you’re reading this now.

If you’re excited about this opportunity, and it looks like a “perfect fit” – then I highly doubt it’s a coincidence.

If you’re talking yourself out of doing this – saying things like “maybe later” or “I’ll wait and see” – then that’s probably not a coincidence either.

This type of opportunity speaks to a very specific type of person – and it’s just THAT type of person that we want on this team.

Those selected will learn what the true 1% of income earners in this industry know about building businesses and skillsets.

Next Step

If you’re ready for an adventure, click here to fill out the application.  (REGISTRATION HAS EXPIRED).

~ When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Will Appear.