networking times sep/oct issue sneak peak

September/October 2014 73

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014

The Sharing Economy

Exclusive interview withPaul Zane Pilzer

Are You Guilty of Multitasking?

How Sharing Makes Us Happy


PERSPECTIVES

5 LEADOFFThe Last MileChris BroganRejoice in the fact that the sharing economy is opening up a whole new level of connections for you to help in your own special way.

6 WORDS OF WISDOMAbout Sharing and Collaboration in Business

Memorable quotes by Rumi, Mother Teresa, Seth Godin, and others.

8 SPECIAL SECTIONNetworking UniversityFaculty Recommends • About Us

11 OUR TIMES – PART 1How does network marketing fit into the sharing economy?• Dana Collins, The Original Sharing Business• Doug Firebaugh, The Psychology of Sharing• Jay & Cindy Jenkins, Meeting Each Others’ Needs• Loren Robin, We Are the Future• Graham Park, Power to the People

DEPARTMENT

18 PROFESSIONALISM Are You Guilty of Multitasking?Jill KonrathMultitasking is killing our productivity. Learn how to drop this time-sucking, brain-derailing behavior.

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Networking Times

FEATURES

20 LEAD INTERVIEWThe Sharing RevolutionPaul Zane Pilzer is a world renowned economist, social entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. Networking Times interviewed Paul about his book God Wants You to Be Rich (1995) in 2003 for an issue on Spiritual Marketing. When we found out he was writing a book on the sharing economy and researching its implications for network marketing, we thought it was time to visit him again.

30 MASTER NETWORKERA Ph.D. in LifeShauna Ekstrom and Dr. Scott Peterson are newlyweds who found each other through network marketing. Today they lead a growing international team while enjoying a life of freedom that was impossible to achieve in their previous careers. A hairstylist by trade, Shauna de-veloped keen people skills conversing with her salon clients. Her knack for understanding people became a key to her rapid success in her current company.

40 MASTER NETWORKER Follow Me on FacebookAmber Voight is a young network marketing leader who already has 10,000 people on her team. At age 28, she has been in direct selling for 11 years, during which she also owned some traditional businesses. Network marketing became her vehicle of choice when she discovered her purpose is to help people transform their lives in the simplest, most fun, and most efficient way.

53 RISING STARLearn to Dream BigIn 2010 Sara Marble was looking for a healthy way to help her lose some baby weight after her second son turned four. When a friend in-troduced her to network marketing, she suddenly saw a way to live her dream of being a stay-at-home mom while helping others to achieve their goals.

58 RISING STARApplying the Slight EdgeThe Saunders were a typical busy family before they started their net-work marketing business just two years ago. Steve was putting in long days as a graphic designer, and Amber worked in a salon doing nails. They were desperate for a change when a longtime friend told them about a new business opportunity.

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58 OUR TIMES – PART 2 How does network marketing fit into the sharing economy? (Continued)

• Jezie Nzomiwu, Sharing Creates Synergy• Evan Klassen, Small Is the New Big• Tom Justin, Share Your Way to Wealth• Teri Werner, The Currency of Sharing• Mark Herdering, Share That Which You Seek

DEPARTMENT

66 THE ART OF SALES Productive SellingTim HursonTo maximize the outcome of your sales meetings, first define your mate-rial goals, relationship goals, and intrinsic goals.

RESOURCES

68 JUST FOR FUNWord Puzzle

69 LIFETIME MEMBERSDescription of Lifetime Loyalty Leaders program and members list.

70 DEPARTMENT SUMMARIESOverview of articles in this issue.

72 THE CLOSEKnow and Share Your StuffMichelle GielanCreating an interdependent mindset by sharing resources and support-ing others is a foolproof recipe for happiness and success.

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10 Networking Times10 Networking Times

MISSION:To educate networking professionals who aspire to personal freedom by serving others, with greater skill, integrity and responsibility.

CODE OF ETHICS:(based on the Code of Ethics of the DSA) NU-Certified networkers agree to represent their profession as one committed to honesty, integrity and opportunity for all.

CERTIFICATIONNU offers 3 levels of certification : • Certified Networking Specialist

- 45 Credits • Certified Networking Professional

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Chris Gross, Entrepreneur;CEO, Gabriel Media Group, Inc.

Cofounder and Dean of FacultyJosephine M Gross (since 2003) Stanford Ph.D. ; Editor in Chief

of Networking Times

President (since 2012)Charles W King, Harvard Ph.D.;

Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois

NU offers programs in 3 areas :1. Personal Development

Communication, Goal Setting, Mindset, Leadership2. Professional Development

Contacting, Inviting, Duplication, Team-Building3. Business Development

Financial Literacy, Online Marketing, Recruiting

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A B O U T U S

A Conversation with Paul Zane Pilzer

20 Networking Times

By Dr. Josephine Gross

The Sharing Revolution

L E A D I N T E R V I E W


You probably know Paul Zane Pilzer from his bestselling books Unlimited Wealth: The Theory and Practice of Economic

Alchemy (1990) and The Wellness Revolution: How to Make a Fortune in the Next Trillion Dollar Industry (2002).

What you may not know is that Paul Zane Pilzer is a world renowned economist, social entre-preneur, and New York Times bestselling author of seven more books. He also served in two U.S. Presidential administrations and is the founder of five companies, several of which regularly make the front page news.

Networking Times interviewed Paul about his book God Wants You to Be Rich (1995) in the sum-mer of 2003 for an issue on Spiritual Marketing. When we found out he was writing a book on the sharing economy and researching its implications for network marketing, we thought it was time to visit him again.

“In many ways, network marketing invented the sharing economy,” Paul says. “This new busi-ness phenomenon applies the rules of network marketing to more traditional areas like hotel rooms and travel, creating enormous wealth in the process, because sharing saves resources and adds value for everyone involved.”

Just like network marketing, the sharing economy is about people serving people. Taking excellent care of customers comes first and gets re-warded, because they go online and tell everyone about it. These are foundational principles for net-work marketing, and the technology of the sharing revolution lets everyone actualize and multiply them.—J.G.

You have a longstanding relationship with network marketing. Can you give us a quick recap?I became known to network marketers in the 1990s when I was on the Larry King Live TV show being interviewed for my book Unlimited Wealth, which Sam Walton endorsed and made standard reading for Walmart employees.

With manufacturing moving overseas, every-body was complaining, “We’re losing all our jobs!” Which I explained is good. Eighty percent of the value of a retail product is in its distribution, not its manufacturing. In the 1980s if you bought an item that costs $100, $20 was the fully loaded manufacturing cost—heading to $10—and $80 was distribution cost. This was a big change from the 1960s, where 50 percent of the cost was manu-facturing and 50 percent was distribution.

Manufacturing was the way to make a living, but today, you’re not going to get rich trying to take the 20 percent manufacturing cost and halv-ing it down to $10. But you can get rich by asking, “How do I lower distribution cost 10 percent from $80 per $100 item down to $70, $60, $50?” And what was the most expensive part of distribution? It was teaching people what the product was and how to use it.

The great opportunities lie in distribution, and that’s why Sam Walton’s family was then and is today one of the richest in the world. Walmart doesn’t have a product brand, they just distrib-ute other people’s products. Another example is Fred Smith who founded Federal Express. Who had ever heard of an airline that won’t fly people? Instead of flying people and putting cargo in the bottom, he flies the cargo up top and became the most profitable airline.

In other words, distribution was king. Network marketing was a great form of distribu-tion that I didn’t know existed when I originally

A Ph.D. in Life


Shauna Ekstrom and Dr. Scott Peterson:

Heartfelt Network Marketing

Networking Times

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31September/October 2014

Shauna Ekstrom and Scott Peterson are new-lyweds who found each other through network marketing three years ago. Today they are busi-ness partners who lead a growing organization on three continents while enjoying a life of freedom that was impossible to achieve in their previous careers.

Shauna became a hairdresser at age sixteen, got married at seventeen, and became a mom at eighteen. She didn’t go to high school, but was an astute learner who developed keen people skills from conversing with her salon customers. Her knack for understanding people became a key to her rapid success in her current company, where she has been a top earner for the past twelve years.

Scott was a twenty-seven-year practicing dentist who had grown tired of trading time for money. Looking to leverage his networking and communication skills to accelerate his dental practice, he had started a dental marketing com-pany. When his business partner introduced him to Shauna who needed help with online market-ing, Scott became intrigued with the size of her business and the lifestyle it afforded her.

When Shauna met Scott, they were both ac-complished entrepreneurs, but both had a longing in their hearts to spend more time enjoying life with loved ones. Fascinated with marketing, Scott understood how network marketing could be a powerful vehicle to distribute any product. He just had never met anyone personally who could show him how the business worked, so when he and Shauna fell in love, it was a perfect fit.

“Working the business together has been wonderful for our new relationship,” says Shauna. “We feel like we’ve been together forever. How many married couples can spend this much time with each other? When you have different careers, it’s hard to get to know your spouse this closely.”

Originally from Utah, Shauna lived in

Washington State for 23 years, then moved to Houston in 2007. She and Scott currently reside in Dallas when not traveling the world. They have learned to work off each other’s strengths and complete each other in every aspect of the business.

Shauna learned this success principle at one of her earliest trainings, when someone said from the stage, “Make your strengths productive and your weaknesses irrelevant.” In that moment Shauna realized she could do this business, and today her example continues to ripple out into the world.

First IntroductionOne day in September 1997 Shauna was hired to do hair and make-up at a big wedding in Seattle, about an hour drive from the little village where she was living. She had invited her girlfriend Joni Brewer, to come along to be her helper. On the way over, Joni excitedly asked Shauna if she would listen to a tape about a network marketing company she and her husband had just joined.

“We always thought it would be fun to work together,” says Shauna, “but we lived an hour and a half apart. We’d only get together when it was time to do her hair, or sometimes socially with our kids who were of similar age. We were both entre-preneurs, but in completely different businesses: she owned a diet center while I had my salon.”

Shauna wasn’t eager to listen to the tape so she tried to change the subject. Having been ap-proached many times, all she could remember was being pushed by overzealous networkers tell-ing her she would be perfect for the business.

On the way home, after a twelve-hour day of hairstyling, Shauna finally agreed to listen. At the end of the audio, she promised to accompany Joni to a meeting. By the end of the meeting, Shauna thanked Joni for her persistence and became her first recruit.


40 Networking Times40 Networking Times


Networking Times40

Follow Meon FacebookAmber Voight:

Building Friendships OnlineBy Dr. Josephine Gross


Amber Voight is a young network marketing leader who already has over 10,000 peo-ple on her team. At age twenty-eight, she

has been in direct selling for eleven years, during which she also owned some traditional businesses. Network marketing became her vehicle of choice when she discovered her purpose is to help people transform their lives in the simplest, most fun, and most efficient way.

Amber joined her current company in August 2013 and reached the top rank in the compensa-tion plan in just three months. Today her team has many of the company’s top earners and moves over $1 million in sales a month, mainly as a result of building relationships on Facebook and hosting “parties” online.

Based in Elk River, Minnesota, Amber and her husband David are also raising their three young boys, but thankfully Amber was able to re-tire David from his job just three months after she joined her company. David’s support with child-care and household chores (some of which they outsource) allows Amber to balance her focus be-tween family and business in a harmonious home environment.

Amber loves network marketing so much that she already has her heart set on being a generic trainer so she can contribute to the profession at large. Being featured in Networking Times is a dream come true and a major milestone on her path to becoming a top speaker and educator in the network marketing space.—J.G.


Tell us about your first business experience.I always knew I wanted to have my own busi-ness, even as a little kid. When I was six years old, all I wanted for my birthday was a briefcase. I remember when I was seven there was a kids’ magazine called Highlights. On the back cover it had an advertisement for a company where you could order cards, wrapping paper, and other stuff kids sell for fundraising. I thought being able to earn money was really cool, so I called the com-pany, got the information sent to me, and I put it all in my little briefcase. I put on my best Sunday church dress and I went around our apartment building selling these products door to door. When my mom found out, she almost had a heart attack. She said I couldn’t just go to people’s doors and basically put an end to my first business.

How did you get involved in network marketing?I started selling makeup door to door when I was seventeen, and also did some home parties. At eighteen I joined a company that sold romance novelties and soon made about $1,000 a week doing lots of home parties. But the product line wasn’t in alignment with my Christian beliefs, and my little boy was growing up, so I decided I couldn’t do it anymore, even though it paid well.

I dabbled in some other companies and also started a traditional business. I owned a few tan-ning salons that did well, but I didn’t like having to wake up in the morning and go into the salon. If one of my employees called in sick, I would have to fill in. Traditional business ownership was just like having a job that came with overhead.

I went back to network marketing because it’s what I love. In 2010 I joined a weight loss com-pany and quickly climbed the ranks, earned a car, and grew a substantial team. I loved everything about it, but after awhile the company made some

48 Networking Times

“I was amazed at the concept of getting paid to

recommend something I love,” she says. “At first it did not occur to me that this was going to change my life.”

After getting healthy and fit, Sara discovered she was pregnant with surprise baby number three. This renewed her motivation to pursue her newfound business opportunity and invite others to join her team. Soon she was able to retire from her hospital job and focus on growing her business.

“Being able to work from home in yoga pants during a difficult pregnancy was a God-send,” she says, “and a true testament that consistent activ-ity produces results—even working part time.”

In June 2011, after attending her first com-pany convention and with her upline by her side, Sara started holding local opportunity meetings once a week and training calls to educate her new team members.

In 2010 Sara Marble was looking for a healthy way to help her lose some baby weight gained after her

second baby who was four at the time. When the young mom stumbled upon a natural health sup-plement, she had no idea she had been introduced to her new career in network marketing.

Tired of the long twelve-hour night shifts working as a registered nurse, Sara suddenly saw a way to live her dream of staying home with her children while helping others to achieve their health and financial goals.

“Looking back, I am grateful for my medical career in the hospital,” she says, “but this new chapter in my life has offered our family the time and financial freedom we have all come to love.”

Launching a BusinessAs Sara became “a product of her company’s prod-ucts,” people began to notice her slimming figure and asked her what she was doing.

Sara Marble: Who Can I Help

Today?


Learn to Dream Big

R I S I N G S T A R

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company convention in front of more than 8,000 people and loved every minute of it.

Sara was overwhelmed with joy when she reached her first major goal—promoting to the rank of Emerald just nine months after starting her local weekly opportunity meetings. She had now qualified for the company’s car program, a free trip to Maui, and a significant pay raise through the company’s bonus pool.

“That promotion came two weeks before I de-livered our third baby boy,” she says. “Even more amazing was the fact that I had never done net-work marketing before and my husband John was vehemently opposed to me doing it.”

Skeptic SpouseLong before Sara met John, he had experienced several run-ins with pushy sales people and mar-keters that had left a sour taste in his mouth. Sara doesn’t hide the fact that for over a year her newly chosen career path was a source of strife in their marriage as she passionately built her business.

“I was driven by the stories of lives being changed in terms of both physical and financial

health. These personal testimo-nies of close friends and

family motivated me to push through

and make this business work.

John started taking note when I lost n ine ty - two pounds of baby weight

in eleven months and con-

tinued to promote up the ranks of the

compensation plan.”

“My mom was my first business partner and we had a blast working together,” says Sara, “ex-cept it seemed more like play than work!”

But even play came with challenges that re-quired Sara to step out of her comfort zone. She remembers standing in front of a half a dozen people at her first presentation, her hands shak-ing as she was reading her note cards.

“I hid behind those cards and tripped over every word,” she says, “hoping to share my enthu-siasm for the company and products I had fallen in love with. I couldn’t have done this without the belief and support of the amazing team I had found in my parents.”

Climbing the RanksSara’s mom and dad sat front and center every Monday night, cheering on their daughter’s efforts to share the business opportunity with local prospects. Looking back at those early days, Sara sees a huge contrast with how much she has grown today.

“Teaching and training have become a joy for me,” she says. “I love learning and develop-ing myself, then sharing with my team members to help each of them become suc-cessful.”

Recently Sara has shared the stage at net-work market-ing events with top lead-ers in the n e t w o r k i n g profession, in-cluding at Sonia Stringer’s Believe event. She was also honored to speak at her

With parents Jay and Cindy Jenkins on incentive trip in Maui, 2013.


Amber and Steve Saunders: Consistency Pays


Applying the Slight Edge

R I S I N G S T A R

53 Networking Times

54 Networking Times

wanted more for their family, so they jumped in with both feet and haven’t looked back since.

Sharing versus SellingIn the beginning Steve and Amber were nervous about starting what turned out to be a multilevel marketing business.

“Just like so many others, we had mixed feel-ings because of the stories we had heard,” says Steve. “We both knew people who had lost money or felt they had gotten ‘ripped off.’ Neither of us had any experience in this business model and we’re both awful when it comes to sales.”

Fortunately, the idea that this new business could give them more time with their kids while paying the bills was far more appealing than any

perceived risks or obsta-cles.

“We were looking for a way to change our lives for the better,” says Amber. “We just hadn’t found the right vehicle to get us there.”

Steve and Amber quickly found that their fear of sales was coun-tered by a fail-proof training and mentor-ship program offered by a company with an exclusive product. They also discovered that re-lationship marketing is more about sharing your excitement for a product

and business than about selling.“This business model grew on us very quickly,”

says Steve. “Today we feel right at home in the busi-ness of helping others achieve their dreams and goals, and we can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Steve and Amber Saunders were a typical busy family before they started their net-work marketing business just two years

ago. Steve was putting in forty to fifty hours a week as a graphic designer, and Amber was work-ing over fifty hours a week in a salon doing nails. The holiday season was an especially busy time of year for both of them.

“In December 2012 we were living in Steve’s mom’s basement with our two little boys, trying to save money to move into our own home and plan-ning Christmas for our family,” says Amber. “Our plates were completely full, with not enough time or money to live the way we wanted. We decided something had to change; we didn’t want to work our lives away eight-to-faint.”

Steve and Amber es-pecially missed spending quality time with their two young boys, resenting the fact that others spent more time with them than they were able to. Looking around at their options, they didn’t see a way out of their daily grind.

“We looked at open-ing storefront businesses so we could work for our-selves instead of building someone else’s dreams,” says Steve, “but the start-up costs were prohibitive and it could take years to grow a profitable busi-ness.”

Steve and Amber were desperate for a change, when finally a longtime friend and nail client of Amber’s, Sandie Parker, told them about a new “relationship marketing” business. The startup costs were low, the timing was right, and both

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