The Convention

The day of the event we all had to wake up extra early. We got up around five in the morning and got dressed in our business attire. We than made our way down stairs to take our spot in line. There was already a good amount of people there. We had a couple hours before the event started so we all chatted and got to know one another. During these talks I met people from around the world. I met Organo Gold members from Puerto Rico, Australia, and Italy. It was really neat to see how many parts of the globe this business had reached.

Finally the doors opened and the event started. There was lights and cameras all over the place. Music was being blasted through out the room. I felt like I was walking into a rock concert. I kind of hung around Mr. Brown as we both looked for a seat. Finally, we found a spot where we could sit with the rest of the people of our team. We than just waited for everyone else to arrive and take there seat.

The first person to walk out on our stage was Holton Buggs. The crowed went nuts. I myself jumped up and cheered for him. Holton Buggs is seen as a hero by many people who are in the business. He has led many people to financial freedom. A lot of the people in his downline used to be extremely poor, some of his top distributors were even homeless. These people now earn well over six figures with their Organo Gold business.

Holton Buggs started off by telling us how excited he was about where the business was going. He talked about the success the business was having and the accomplishments people have made. He than allowed Shane Morand and Bernie Chua. They talked about how pleased they were with how the company was operating and what they had helped so many others achieve.

The rest of the event was simply about successful distributors telling what they had accomplished through Organo Gold. I must confess that it was pretty emotional to here the stories of how people started in the company with nothing, and than moved up the ranks to become very wealthy. It was a very beautiful experience for me to see so many achieve that I wanted, to be financially free.

Vegas

I arrived in the airport with my new found friends. The couple and I got our bags and than got onto a bus to our hotels. I was headed to meet my team at the Mandala Bay. I maintained contact with Mr. Brown through out the bus ride. Eventually, I made it to my stop and got off. I headed for the room Mr. Brown and some other team members were staying in.

I walk in to find Mr. Brown on the phone taking customer orders and speaking with his fellow distributors. He gave me a warm welcome and introduced me to the rest of the team. There were three other guys in the room. One other was from New Jersey, I believe the other two were from other parts of the country.

We all sat and talked with one another about how each of us was doing in the business. I explained how I was doing growing my customer base. How I had recruited my duel team and how there were two more people on the way that I planned to bring into the business. After a bit more talking we eventually decided to go get a bite to eat.

I can't remember the name of the place we went to, but they had the largest food I had ever scene. I myself ended up ordering pancakes, with bananas and cinnamon. Each of my pancakes were about the size of a pizza, but it was delicious. I remember Mr. Brown got some weird big meal that had a bunch of different meat all rolled into one. I don't remember what the others had, just that we all enjoyed it.

After eating we all took a walk on the strip. There were a lot of street performers. I was hoping we'd run into Criss Angel, but that didn't happen. What we did run into were tons of people handing out cards for an escort service. There were so many people doing this that you could literally look down at your feet and find yourself walking over dropped escort cards. Eventually we made it to a convenience store to stock up on food. 

When we got back to the hotel we had to get to bed early. For the next two days it would be nothing but business, or so I thought.

International Convention

One day I got a call from Angela, she told me that the international Organo Gold convention was coming up. This event is when all the Organo Gold members from around the world meet. At this event we are updated on new things going on with the company. We get to hear about people who were able to find financial freedom through Organo Gold. And we get to personally meet the top earners in the company.

I was told by Corey, Brian, Mr. Brown, and Angela that it would be in my best interest to attend this even. The only problem was that the meeting would be taking place in Las Vegas. Now I was a little anxious about the idea of going to Vegas by myself. I had never traveled so far without at least having a friend to tag along with me. However, I was assured by the others that there would be plenty of other Organo Gold members there. All I would have to do is follow the crowd.

I had about three months before the date of the convention. During that time I just kept building the business. I sampled, followed up, and repeated the process with multiple people. The tricky part for me as I've said before is following up. I move so fast through prospects that I forget about the people that I've already sampled. I just wouldn't stop going from person to person, looking for a new customer.

The day of the trip I was kinda nervous. It turned out none of the people I knew had gotten a ticket for the flight I was on. I was by myself in the waiting room of the airport when I noticed a couple sitting together. I had a hunch that they were in OG due to the company symbol being on the husbands binder.  It turned out they were with the company so I sat down to talk.

The husband I found out was doing extremely well. He had already had past success with network marketing and had only joined Organo Gold just a couple months ago. But let me tell you he was a beast at it. Based on what he told me, he had built an exceptionally big team and a large customer base. I asked them if I'd be able to hang with them when we got to Vegas till I found my friends. They said that would be fine.

After a long flight the plane landed in Las Vegas. 

Meeting Corey

I waited inside the lobby of a hotel for Mr. Ellington, Skip, and Angela for arrive. I had brought with me a folder that contained various information about the Organo Gold business. This included tips on how to be successful. Short stories on how people found success in their own way. I also got a packet of papers that broke down the compensation plan, along with what people needed to accomplish in order to make more money.

Eventually, all three of them arrived. After introducing myself to Mr. Ellington, he insisted that I call him Corey. We all sat down at a table and started the conversation off by briefly catching up with one another. Corey than took control of the conversation and went over with us his knowledge regarding Organo Gold.

The cool thing about Corey is that because he was a savvy business owner, he explained to us what kind of tax advantages were available to us as distributors. He got very in-depth regarding what we could write off as business expenses and how we could shelter our income. Corey also told us about new technology currently available that he uses to keep track of his statements so that he has all the information he needs when tax season comes around.

He than talked about how high ranking members of Organo Gold are achieving success and what they are doing with it. Corey talked about extremely successful distributors who were using the money they made to finance investments on the side. Specifically, he focused on investment real estate and how Organo Gold was providing people with enough cash flow to buy their first property.

That's another thing that I really liked about Corey, he and I have very similar philosophies regarding how we spend our money. Unlike most people who go to work so they have some money to spend on "toys", Corey and I work so that we can finance our business's and investments on the side. That's what I love about dedicated Organo distributors, most are also hardcore business owners and investors on the side.

Corey ended the meeting explaining what the future holds for Organo Gold and what awaits those who stay dedicated to the business. Once he was done we all walked outside together and left. I left feeling extremely inspired by Corey and knew that I had made a smart move getting into this business.

Meeting a Ruby

Months went by and I just continued to build my customer base. I would just pass out samples to people, collect their info, and follow up to see how they liked the coffee. To me everyone was a prospective customer. I had coworkers at my job buying products from me. I even had our customers turned into my customers. I didn't care what my relationship was to you, I was going to sample you with the coffee.

It was amazing to me how fast word spread about what I was doing. I had relatives who I would usually only get to see during holidays asking me about the business. There wasn't anyone in my network who didn't know what I was doing. I had some people asking me for samples to try, just based on what they had heard from my current customers. It was really cool to see how fast the word had spread.

While all this was going on I continued to stay up to date with Organo Gold information and news. I always maintained contact with Mr. Brown, Skip, and Angela. One day I got a call from Angela telling me she wanted to introduce me to another member of Organo Gold. The name of the guy she wanted me to meet was Mr. Ellington. He is a Ruby in Organo Gold, which mean his business generates at least forty thousand dollars a month.

Now the thing I loved about Mr. Ellington is that he was already a successful entrepreneur before he got started in Organo Gold. His main business was in the world of real estate. Mr. Ellington owned multiple properties and collected the rent for income. However, due to the economy, he was forced to look for alternative cash flow opportunities to make up for his volatile income. That's how he ended up getting involved in Organo Gold.

Angela got Mr. Ellington on the phone with me to have a little chat. He seemed a lot more relaxed it seemed than Mr. Brown and not just strictly all business. We had a chat about how I got started in the company and what I had accomplished so far. He than told me about what he had done with the business and what he had planned for the future.

We ended the call by making arrangements for me to meet him in person to go over future opportunities with Organo Gold. That night I planned to meet up with him, Angela, and Skip.

Damage Control

I want to tell you a story of how I was able to salvage a sale and customer. Not only did I salvage the sale, but I was able to sell even more products to my customer. Now as you may recall from a few posts back, I did a launch call. On this launch call I phoned various friends and family to sell them a box of coffee over the phone. Well one of those people was my aunt, who is the sister of my mom. Knowing she was a coffee drinker I sold her a box of the black gourmet coffee.

Now the thing you have to understand about my mom and her sister is that they are both blabber mouths. If there is something that they like, everyone around them has to know about it. You can't buy the advertising those two are worth if they like your product. So I was really hoping that she would enjoy the coffee.

I gave my aunt a call one day as I was coming home from work. After asking what she thought of the coffee she told me that my uncle and her "weren't fond of it". She said that the coffee was just too strong for her taste. I told her that I understood and would be willing to give her a refund. She said that wasn't necessary and would just give me back what was left in the box. Since she was currently at my house with my mom, she said she'd give it back to me when I got home.

I must admit I was a little bummed. Not so much that she didn't like the coffee, because I would never take that personally, but because I wouldn't have her as a walking advertisement. Fortunately I was able  to come up with a possible solution to the problem before I entered the house. I told my aunt that I wanted her to instead hang on to the box of coffee and give out samples to people she knew instead. I than asked her if she would like to try a sample of my Organo Gold green tea. She agreed and I brought in some for her and the rest of the family. When it came time to leave she took the box of coffee with her.

A couple days later I woke up to my mom yelling to me upstairs in bed while I was sleeping that my aunt wanted to buy a box of green tea from me. I got her a box and made the sale on the spot. I also made sure to show her how she could order more online. About a month after that point I got a notification that somebody had made a purchase from my OG site. I checked my back office to find that my aunt had made a purchase of nearly one hundred fifty dollars.

I immediately gave her a call to thank her for the purchase and ask what it was she ordered. She said that she ordered two boxes of green tea for herself. However, it turns out she had been giving out samples like she said she would and my cousins girlfriend is a fan of both the coffee and tea. So my aunt purchased a box of each for her too. It was, and thus far still is, my largest customer bulk purchase to date.

Recruiting vs Selling Part 2

As I said in the last post, I believe when starting your business you should focus on building your customer base. The bulk of the customers that you gain will most likely be your friends and family. These are the people that you should have written down for your list of coffee drinkers. Since these people already know you, it shouldn't be too hard to do business with them. Because these people are around you, they'll always be able to get to you when they want more product.

After you get through the warm market and enter the cold market, things get a lot more tricky when it comes to managing customers. Someone in the cold market is a person who does not know who you are. I myself still continue to build customers in the cold market, but I gotta tell you it is tough. The hard part isn't finding people who enjoy the coffee and want to buy, it's maintaining them over the long term.

Because the customers from your cold market aren't exposed to you on a regular basis, they may not think to purchase more product from you when they need it. There have been plenty of times where I've called up a cold market customer to say "hi" and they start telling me how they've been wanting to talk to me about buying more coffee. Or there's the case's where I've had customers say "Hey Chris, I've been looking for you everywhere, I want more of that coffee". "Looking for me?" I ask "You could have just called me or ordered from my OG website". They than tell me how they keep forgetting to call or they don't feel comfortable about placing orders online and would rather buy directly through me. This is where recruiting becomes helpful.

I think of my recruits not just as people who are in my downline, but as an extension of me. They are a way to reach customers of mine, who don't come into contact with me. With this understanding, I've developed my own strategy for finding recruits. What I'll do is ask a friend if they will do me the favor of passing out some coffee samples to their friends and family. In most cases they have no problem doing this because they see it as just doing me a favor.

In most cases they get back to me and tell me how a few of their friends and family loved the coffee. However, I've found that very rarely will these people make an actual purchase simply because they don't have a clue who I am. I ask my friend how they would feel about collecting the money for the coffee themselves vs me making the sale and getting the money. At that point I take them through the steps of getting signed up. I've helped them develop a customer base before even getting into the business.

That is the advantage of recruiting to me, reaching more customers in the cold market.

Recruiting vs Selling

When it comes to network marketing in general, there is usually great debate on whether you should focus on product sales or on bringing new people into your business. This is a very common conversation I have gone over with my fellow Organo Gold distributors. I have become well aware of the fact that there are distributors who focus solely on recruiting people to their team and put little to no effort into getting customers. While there are others who focus on building their customer base and moving greater amounts of product and don't recruit anyone. So which is more important?

My views on this question has fluctuated constantly and each activity has it's pros and cons over the other. I believe that the answer depends on what stage you are at in your Organo Gold business. My opinion is that the first thing you should focus on is building a customer base. I have various reasons for this, but the most important is that you need to show your new recruits that the coffee is sellable. If you just go around recruiting people, but aren't moving any product, than no money is being made. You must be able to move product in order to make money.

In my case, once I sold two or three boxes of coffee I moved on to the recruiting part. After those first couple of boxes I knew this was a product that people wanted and enjoyed. That gave me much more confidence inviting people into the business. This also helps because when you invite someone that knows you into the business, they aren't shy about asking you if you sold any or if you made any money. So it's good if you have some level of success, even if it's minor, before inviting people to join the business.

The other benefit is that the average customer will make you more money than the average distributor you bring into the business and over a longer period of time. Why is that you ask? Because most of the people you bring into the business will not do anything with the gift you have given them. Sure they're pumped about the money that can be earned, but they aren't willing to put in the effort that is required to be successful.

Even more detrimental to their success is the fear of investing their money into product and not being able to sell it. I've been involved in various business ventures and investments before I joined Organo Gold. So I've gotten used to putting my money on the line with the only hope of it's return lying with my ability to succeed at a project. Most people aren't willing to work for free to make themselves a success, now they need to put up their own money too? Forget it. For most the transition into the world of an entrepreneur is just too much. Even if there is a lot of money to be made.

On the other hand a customer doesn't purchase product cause they need to, they do it because they want to. They will also come back over and over again making you money each time they buy from you. This is why I believe at the start, customers can be more valuable than distributors. In my next post I will focus on the benefit of recruiting.

Meeting Mr. Brown

I must admit that I was a bit anxious about meeting Mr. Brown. On the phone he had a very deep voice and tended to talk slowly. I imagined him to be tall and built, with years of wisdom behind his old age. So I was a bit shocked when this skinny guy about my height, who appeared to be in his early thirties, came walking up to me. "Hey Chris, how's it going?" he said.

I reached out my hand to shake his, as Angela explained that this was Mr. Brown. He congratulated me on my early success and welcomed me to the Organo Gold community. We chatted for a while and talked about how our day was going. I don't remember what we specifically talked about, just that we weren't able to do it for long. He explained to me that he had other places to be and left after saying goodbye.

 After he left, Angela walked me outside. We talked a bit longer about the event and what the speaker had to say. She than introduced me to a few more people as they left the building. After that was done she gave me a hug and told me to contact her later on. I said goodbye and left with a friend who was meeting up with me in the area.

On my way home I felt that my faith in Organo Gold had been reinforced. I had met good people at the meeting, some of which who were reaping great financial rewards from business. I wanted to be one of the people that were making a living running the Organo Gold business. That new surge of energy gave me the drive to push even harder.

The following weeks I would put even more effort into building my Organo Gold business. I researched information to see how others were finding success. I knew the four steps to success, but I wanted peoples personal stories. I have a folder of articles that I have saved on my computer and in a binder, with tips on how to succeed with Organo Gold. I have found that while there are various strategies you can use, at the core you need to focus on two things: sampling people and following up with them. That is the foundation of building your Organo Gold business.

My First OG Meeting

The following two weeks after my launch call, I spent my time delivering coffee and collecting money. I delivered boxes to my grandparents, I delivered boxes to my aunts and uncles, I also delivered boxes to my cousins. It was a very profitable time in more Organo Gold venture. Eventually I got a call from Angela again. She told me that she wanted me to attend an OG meeting that was taking place in Philadelphia. I agreed and looked forward to finally meeting Angela in person.

The day I headed to Philly I was pretty excited. I finally get to meet some more members of the Organo Gold community. Angela told me that there was even the chance I would be able to meet the famous Mr. Brown there. I arrived at the event and waited for Angela in an outside room. There were quite a few prospects that were there. People who were considering whether to join the business or not. I ease dropped on there conversation till Angela arrived.

She greeted me with a hug and led me to the waiting room just outside the event. After a brief chat about how I was doing and what she was up to, she started introducing me to some of the other people. Her introduction went like this "I'd like you to meet Chris, he's only been with Organo Gold for a month and already has his duel team". I didn't get why that was such a big deal. According to the info I'd read online, a person should be able to get there duel team in their first week.

Apparently this wasn't the case with most people. Angela explained to me that many of the people she'd introduced me to had been in Organo Gold for months yet have been able to recruit a single person, let alone two. She told me that I had accomplished a lot in very little time. Once she was done showing me off, we waited for the doors to open.

Eventually the meeting started and we all moved into the event room. We all sat down as one of the Organo Gold members went to the front of the room and started speaking. I don't recall his name, just that he was a very good speaker. He talked about why he got into the business, why the business works, and how we can make it work for us. When he was done Angela took me to the front of the room to meet him.

Again she started bragging about me and what I had done within the company and how focused I was on the business. He in return gave me some helpful pointers about what I could do to better my odds of success in the company. When we were done talking I thanked him for speaking and Angela took me to the back of the room. She informed me that Mr. Brown had arrived and was on his way up the stairs.

Taking Orders

Through out the day with my friend Dave I made calls. I called up all the friends and family I could. He started getting annoyed that I was spending so much time on the phone. We were at his dads at one point when his father saw me pacing around on the phone. "What is he doing?" my friends dad asked. "He's been doing this all day" Dave responded "it's for this coffee thing he just got involved with".

Most of the people that I talked to were willing to buy a box. However, there were a few that were willing to take two. At the end of the day I called up Mr. Brown to report my sales. "So Chris, how many boxes of coffee were you able to sell. Did you get twenty?" he asked with what sounded like sarcasm. "Twenty-one" I said with a smile. Mr. Brown started choking on whatever he was drinking and Angela, who was on the call as well, burst into laughter.   

After regaining his composure he continued. "Ok, so what did they order?" he asked. I explained that the most popular was the gourmet black coffee. This was because it was our most standard coffee so it seemed like a good coffee try first. I said that there was also a few who wanted to try the latte and mocha. Mr. Brown congratulated me on my success and told me to call him in another day. With that he got off the phone.

Angela however stayed on the line with me. She said she had a few questions for me regarding how I was able to sell so much coffee in one day. I explained that while the script was helpful, my experience in sales was the true backbone of my success. Angela also wanted to know who bought the mocha from me, since I guess she was having difficulty selling it. I explained to her that my cousin was the one who bought it because she liked chocolate. After telling me how proud she was of me, she let me go to hang with Dave.

I walked on over to the couch and sat down with my friend. I expected him to just turn on the TV so we could watch a show. Instead I get questioned about what just happened and what's been going on all day. I further explained about the sales that I had made and different parts of the compensation plan. With Dave asking so many question about the business, I decided to go in for the close.

I explained how the business could be beneficial to him and what he needed to do to join. Soon enough I had him applying to the business through my Organo Gold website. I than gave him his two boxes so he could start sampling people. After that was done, I texted Angela to let her know I had just completed my duel team.

Launch Call

The day that I was scheduled to speak with Mr. Brown on the phone again, just happened to be the same day that I was going over my best friend Dave's house. When I got to his house I briefly explained to him what Organo Gold was and that I had a meeting with one of their top consultants. As I expected he didn't think much of it.

After about an hour it was time for me to hop on the phone with Mr. Brown. I told him that I had purchased the gold pack and was ready for the next step. He explained the next step for me is to do what's called a launch call. Mr. Brown asked me to read him my coffee drinker list so he could go over some of the people I planned to contact. Once I gave him some background info about the people I planned to call, he decided it was time to introduce me to the OG sales script.

Mr. Brown had me access the script through my computer and read through it. Once I was fairly confident with it we did a little role playing. He played the role of one of the prospects, while tried pitching him on the coffee. Once he felt I was comfortable with the script he gave me some tips. He explained that one of the secrets of success in Organo Gold is to saturate your personal network with product.

Mr. Brown told me that instead of trying to sell people at full price, offer them the products at a discount. The goal of this launch call isn't to make a profit, it's to get product into the hands of the people I know and make me enough money to get my investment in the gold pack back. So basically I would break even with everything that I would sell. Once that was covered he finished by saying, "ok Chris, I want you to sell twenty boxes. I'll give you a call tonight to congratulate you on your accomplishment. Good Luck!". With that he hung up.

"Twenty boxes!" I thought. The only thing I ever sold twenty of in a single day was five dollar bracelets, and that was for a charity. My friend Dave snapped me out of my thoughts "What the heck was that all about?" he asked. Now that he seemed more interested in what I was doing, I told him about me ordering the gold pack and needing to make some phone calls and get some orders. His response was "You know your dad's gonna kill you when he finds a thousand dollars worth of coffee dropped off in his drive way". It was time for me to start making some calls.

Meeting an Emerald

Angela told me that she wanted to introduce me to Mr. Brown, who is one of the top Organo Gold distributors in my state. Mr. Brown is an Emerald Consultant, which means his business is generating no less than 40,000 a month in personal group volume. He makes more money running this business part-time than most people will make at a job full time. That being said, he runs his Organo Gold business full-time and no longer has to work at a job.

Angela said that she was going to give Mr. Brown a call and get him on the line with us. After giving him a call she brought him into the conversation. Soon a man with a deep voice said "Hey Chris, how are you doing?". After briefly talking, Mr. Brown told me all the good things Angela had told him about me. He also helped me to better understand the opportunity Organo Gold held for someone with my kind of drive.

He than asked me what promo pack I got into the business with. I told him that I got into the business at the bronze pack, but I was considering upgrading. Mr. Brown than asked me if I wanted to build the business slow or if I wanted to build it fast. I told him that I wanted to build the business fast. "Ok" he said "well in order to build the business fast, your going to want the gold pack".

Mr. Brown than asked me if I was in a financial position to purchase the gold. I explained to him that it wasn't the price that kept me from the gold pack because I could afford it, I was just concerned about the amount of product that I would have on hand if I got. "Wait minute" he laughed "you mean to tell me the only thing that kept you from signing up at the gold pack was the amount of product you were going to get"? "Well yea" I said "that is a lot of product". He than told me not to worry because he would work with me on getting rid of all the product.

He than asked me if I did my list of coffee drinkers. Angela jumped in to explain that my list was already done. Mr. Brown explained to me that I would use that list to find the people I need to distribute product to. He than gave me the assignment of getting the gold pack and than following up with him so he can show me how to sell the product. After that we talked a bit longer and than he had to go.

Keeping true to what I said, I signed up for the gold pack the following day. I than scheduled a follow up call with Mr. Brown so that he could show me how to effectively sell the product.

Meeting a Platinum

Skip took out his phone and called up Angela. Angela was the person that brought him into the business and was a very active member in the Organo Gold community. Angela was what is called a Platinum Consultant in the company. A Platinum Consultant is someone who's Organo Gold business generates anywhere from five thousand, to ten thousand dollars a month. Not bad for someone who works this business on a part-time bases.

After Skip was done speaking to Angela he handed the phone to me. "Hey Chris" she said "Skip has told me so much about you". She told me how impressive it was that I was able to make the sales that I did in such a short time frame. Even more impressive to her was that I was able to sponsor my first recruit in my first few weeks of being in the business. According to her, not to many distributors achieve such early success. 

She asked me a few more questions about myself and than had me take down her contact information so I could stay in touch with her. Angela than told me about a conference call that was taking place later on that night where an instructor would be going over the four steps of success in Organo Gold. She encouraged me to get on the call and hear what the speaker had to say. I thanked her for the advice and we said goodbye. A hung out with Skip a bit longer than went on my way.

That night I waited for the right time and got on the phone for the conference call. The speaker on the call was Holton Buggs. He broke down each individual task that a person should complete in order to be successful in the company. The first step is to make sure you have physical product on hand at all times. The second step is to write out your list of coffee drinkers and business builders. The third is to hold weekly coffee and jazz mixers. The last step is to keep in touch and active within the Organo Gold community. I took notes during the whole call and hung up when it was over.

The following day I got in touch with Angela and told her how much I enjoyed the lessons on the phone. She was shocked to find out that I had actually gotten on the call. This is because most distributors don't take the time out of their day to listen in to company calls. Angela than did a quick review with me over the four steps of Organo Gold. Knowing I already had product on hand, she told me that the next thing I need to do is make my list of one hundred contacts. Again I surprised her when I said I had already written up my contact list a couple days ago. 

After continuing on about how proud she was of me for actually following along with what the leaders taught, she told me that there was somebody that she wanted to introduce me to. 

My First Sign Up

I went through a couple people before I found one that was open to getting into Organo Gold with me. As expected most of the people I approached weren't interested in the idea of signing up with the company. They either felt that they didn't have the time on their hands to effectively run the business or they felt they lacked the skills to be successful. Yet most of the people that I spoke to still liked the product and were open to the idea of being a customer.

 The first person I did sign up was a friend of mine who co-hosted radio shows with me in college. Because of my messed up work schedule I couldn't take him to an Organo Gold event to learn about the business like most distributors do. Instead I set up a meeting with him at a mall where I could tell him more about the business. In the mean time I gave him a video to review about the company.

I arrived at the mall with my lap top, Organo Gold binder, and various tools to help me explain the business to him. After meeting up with him, we made our way to the malls food court. We sat down on a bench and I opened my binder and took out the OG flip chat. The chart talks about what Organo Gold is and how we as distributors get paid. I than shared with him some of the successes that I had with the company.

Once my friend had heard enough about the company he agreed to give it a shot. I took him into a Starbucks within the mall so that I could get an online connection. We both sat down at one of the tables and I went to my OG webpage to sign my friend up. After it was taken care of, I explained that I had a few things to give him as a new distributor. I took him out to my car to offer him some tools.

While in the parking lot I gave my friend his box of coffee so that he could start sampling people. I also gave him the contact information he would need if he ever needed help with anything. Once that was done I went over with the four steps that he needed to do to be successful in the company. Now that he had his coffee I told him to make a list of contacts that he could talk to about the business. He was to than get back to me once he finished the list. I wished him luck and went back home.

A couple days later I was back at Skips house to ask him about some questions I had regarding the website. Not knowing how to respond he felt that it was time for me to finally meet Angela.

My First Customers

I walked into work the next day with a few samples of coffee in my pocket. My plan was to ask who likes coffee and give that person a sample. Now there was one girl in particular that I knew who drank coffee all the time. After asking her if she'd be willing to try it she agreed. I decided to wait for the day to end before I would give her the sample. She was the only person I spoke to that day about the coffee. This was a mistake because her shift ended before mine and she left before I was able to give her the sample.

The next day at work I took a much more aggressive approach. The first thing I did before going to my station was give my friend a sample of the coffee. I than went through the rest of the staff giving out samples to everyone who was a coffee, which oddly enough turned out to be not to many people. My friend got back to me telling me how much she loved the coffee. I told her that if she wanted a box she could buy it through my Organo Gold website. After walking her through the process of ordering on her computer, she purchased a box of Gourmet Black Coffee.

When my day was finished I went and gave Skip a call. After telling him about making my first sale he said "How did you do that? Your bronze pack hasn't even arrived in the mail yet, has it?". I explained to him how I helped her order a box of coffee straight from the website. After congratulating me we chatted a bit longer until he had to go.

A few days later I got my bronze pack in the mail. I took all the coffee, mocha, hot chocolate, and tea and stuffed it in my car before my family could see it. I still didn't want them knowing about me being in the business just yet. I ended up getting invited to my grandmothers for dinner the following night. I figured I could sample her with the coffee to see how she liked it.

After we finished dinner I told her how I had just gotten into the coffee business. I than asked if she'd be willing to give the coffee a try while we had desert. After she agreed I went out to my car and came back with my box of black coffee. Now I had no intention of selling her on the spot, I just wanted to see how she'd like it for the future.

When she finished drinking she asked where she could buy more. I told her that the coffee could be purchased through the website I had with the company. She grabbed her credit card out of her purse and walked over to her computer. "Wait, you wanna order right now?" I asked. "Yea" she said. So I sat next to and helped her place the order online. Once it was done, we went back to finishing desert until it was time for me to leave.

On my way home I thought to myself "Alright! Two sales in less than a week of being with the company and it was all done through the internet". Now that I knew the coffee was sellable, it was time for me to start looking for some potential business partners to bring onto my team.

Signing Up

The day I went to Skips apartment to sign up I was excited. After years of searching for a Network Marketing company, I had finally found one that was perfect for me. Now here I was sitting in Skips apartment ready to sign up.

I waited as as he got onto his laptop and logged into his Organo Gold website.  I filled out the information needed, than I picked the bronze pack to get started at. I wanted to start at the bronze pack so I could get my feet wet with little money at risk. I figured there would be a learning curve to this business and didn't want to go all in until I had a better grasp of what I was doing. If I found that the company really worked for me, than I might consider upgrading to the silver or gold pack.

After I got myself signed up I took a quick tour through my new personal Organo Gold website. It was very cool to see how my business could be managed through my site. After I was finished exploring, Skip gave me a few items to go home with. He gave me a copy his "Cash Cow" CD's by Holton Buggs. I got a copy of the magazine that he showed me at the hotel. Lastly, I bought a box of gourmet black coffee at wholesale price from him. This way I could get started sampling people immediately.

I thanked Skip for his help and hopped into my car. I than put the "Cash Cow" disk into my CD player and drove home. On the CD Holton Buggs talked about the various skills that you need to get good at in order to be successful with network marketing. He discussed various strategies that he utilizes to reach prospects and make them either a customer or a distributor in the business. It contained many great lessons on how to build a network marketing business.

The next day I thought about who I might be able to sample with the coffee. Since I only had one box, I decided to be very selective with who I gave coffee to. I didn't want to waste samples on people who weren't coffee drinkers. I also didn't want to give samples to family members cause I didn't want them knowing I was in the business until I got some sales under my belt. Because of this, I felt the best place to start giving out samples would be at my job. So that's where I started.

Meeting at the Hotel

I arrived at the hotel ready to see what Skip had to say about Organo Gold. He took out a magazine that was about the company. He than showed me these various people who were extremely successful and the massive amount of money they made. While the information about the people he showed me was impressive, it didn't really sway me. Just about every marketing company shows off their top earners to get people to join, so that didn't do much to move me.

However, as he was flipping through the magazine something caught my eye. There were multiple pictures of Organo Gold distributors either reading books or playing games developed by Robert Kiyosaki. Now for those who may recall from my first post, Robert is the very reason I got involved with entrepreneurship and investing in the first place. He is also one of the extremely wealthy entrepreneurs who advocate network marketing along with Donal Trump and Bill Gates. Robert also had his own article in the magazine as well. This definitely got my attention.

He than got out his flip chart that explained about the company. What really caught my attention was that Organo Gold is endorsed by the Napoleon Hill foundation. This was huge to me. Napoleon Hill is the author of the book "Think and Grow Rich" which is the book many of the most successful people in the world attribute to their success. Another big point in favor of Organo Gold in my eyes.

He reviewed with me how we got paid and how your rewards increased as you moved higher up the ranks. My smile just grew and grew as he went through the material. What really jumped out at me was that this business could be run on a full time bases solely on selling the coffee without needing to recruit another distributor. This was an entirely different approach from what I'd seen with other network marketing companies. In their cases you needed to build up a massive network of distributors before you could start making the money.

However, Organ Gold has people out there earning a full time income without having recruited anyone on their team. That's a huge deal to me because if I'm trying to persuade someone to join my team I want to know that I'm the one coming to the table with the opportunity. In other words, I want to know in my head that don't need them to be successful, but they need me if they want chance at what I have to offer.

I was more than sold and ready to join. We made an arrangement to meet at his apartment to get me started.

Doing my Research

A few days after our talk Skip came into the bank with a few small packets of Organo Gold coffee. He handed it to me along with a web address to a video that tells about the company. Skip asked me to contact him when I finished the coffee and video. He also mentioned to me that the coffee was supposed to be healthy due to an herb called Ganoderma that is in the coffee. I said thanks and he walked out the door.

I was happy up until the point he said it was healthy coffee. I've found that the majority of "healthy" food and drinks tend to taste bad if not awful. I've learned this through my moms various attempts to convert the regular products my siblings and I consumed while growing up into "healthier" versions. She has given us healthy cereal, healthier juice, and health bars, you get the idea. Anyway, most of these products tended to taste bad, especially when compared to the food or drink they were based off of. So I didn't care how healthy the coffee was, if it didn't taste good I wouldn't be able to sell it.

So I got home that day and decided to give it a try. I opened the pack, poured the contents into the empty cup, and added hot water. After mixing it all together I gave it a try. I gotta say it surpassed my expectations. I thought it tasted very good and beat the majority of the coffee I have had in the past by a long shot. This was a great sign to me because I felt that I should be able to sell this coffee purely on taste, the health aspect should just be an added bonus to the consumer.

I than looked up the video presentation online about the company. The presentation was done by the vice president of sales Holton Buggs, who is currently the number one income earner in the entire industry of network marketing. Mr. Buggs talked about the advantages of selling coffee, why he got involved with the company, and how Organo Gold distributors make their money. After the video was over I got in touch with Skip over the phone and we made an arrangement to further talk about the company at a local hotel.

I was extremely excited about the possibility of working with the company, but I wanted to see what other people were saying about them. Now I have never heard of a network marketing company that wasn't accused of being a scam, so I expected to find such claims. But if the claims against the company were too extreme, than that would definitely hamper my ability to grow my business.

 Fortunately, what I found was that the people who complained were usually ex-distributors who had entered the business with unrealistic expectations about how fast they would start making money and not putting in the effort or even understanding what it really takes to grow a business. This was not an issue to me because this is a common situation many new want-to-be entrepreneurs get themselves into regardless of the business they decide to start.

With that out of the way I was ready for my meeting with Skip at the hotel.

Being Introduced to Organo Gold

During my time at the bank I was in the process of a building few business ventures which I financed with my paychecks. I worked with my friend on his reality show as a producer, manager, and cast member. I ran a website where I wrote about entrepreneurship and investing. I bought into and grew a vending franchise. Lastly, I hosted talks shows both over the air and online.

While that may sound impressive I wasn't really making any money. The only thing that really brought me in a fair stream of cash was the vending franchise. However, it would cost me close to months pay to buy one. Even worse, most places weren't interested in putting one of my machines in their store or someone else had already beat me to it. I was referred to a property locator to help me find some spots, but after months of searching he was only able to successfully get me one location and it was out of state. Currently I have only three machines out there active. Which is stupid cause if not for all the time wasted searching for a new spot, I could easily have six to eight machines up and running right now.

Anyway, I was working the drive through teller window one day at the bank when a customer accidently sent in his business card. It said his name was Skip and he was an author and success coach. Loving to meet fellow entrepreneurs I asked him about his coaching and book. We talked very briefly cause he was in a rush, but he encouraged me check out his website. A few days later after checking out his site, I ran into Skip at the bank again. I talked to him, wanting to learn more about his coaching program. He said to give him a call after work and we could talk.

After work that day I called Skip on my cell and questioned him about his coaching. He explained that he helped people overcome their self doubt and limiting beliefs about what they can accomplish in life. When I told him about my various business activities he decided that I wasn't someone in need of his program.  However, we continued to talk and he ended up mentioning that he was involved in network marketing. I told him how I always had an interest in getting involved with network marketing and asked about his company. He told me that the name of the company was Organo Gold and that they sold coffee.

This peaked my interest because I love coffee and this is the only network marketing company that I'd ever heard of selling it. Most companies I'd learned about sold stuff like vitamins, health drinks, skin care, and energy, stuff I could care less about, which is why I never pursued working with them. After a bit more questioning he offered to bring me a sample of the coffee at the bank. I said I'd be happy to try it and that I looked forward to seeing him. After that we said goodbye and I hung up the phone.

Learning About Network Marketing

After that summer I went on to get my bachelors in communications at a four year college. During that time I read multiple books on investing and entrepreneurship. I attended quite a few seminars so that I could learn about investing and business from those actively involved in it. I also started and managed my own investment portfolio and tried my luck at a few entrepreneurial projects. My best friend and I even went down to Florida to see if we could invest in some real estate, but duo to our lack of income we were unable to get a mortgage from the bank. By the time I graduated I had quite a bit of experience under my belt.

After a failed attempt at breaking into a professional career in radio, even though by that point I had interned for three different stations, I decided to continue my entrepreneurial education by getting a job in sales. I had read over and over that the number one skill you must have as an entrepreneur is the ability to sell. If you can't sell your product or service, than you can't make a profit. And if your business can't make a profit, than you go broke.

Another thing that I kept reading about was the benefits of starting a network marketing business and how it's the perfect business for the 21st century. This is due to the fact that you have the benefits of owning and growing your own business with far less risk than a traditional business. A network marketing business is reasonably affordable to start and has the potential to make you massive income over time. But like any business, it takes a lot of time and effort to get things moving and profitable. And since your job is to convince people to join your team or buy your product, it would probably help to have some sales experience.

So I did my job as a representative to get some real world sales experience, but kept my eyes open for opportunities in network marketing. The problem was that I could never find a company or product I cared about enough to start. I had been invited to an Amway event, but I could honestly care less about the products they were selling to people so I turned the guy down. They just didn't gel with me.

I ended up leaving my job due to the fact that I was basically going broke working for the company. I spent more in gas money driving around territories than what little I made on commissions. I soon jumped to another sales job. Unfortunately I was eventually fired because I was unable to meet my goals.

It really stunk because each of my sales bosses would tell me in training how I showed the potential to be the best salesman on their team. This was due to my fearless attitude when it came to approaching different prospects and being able to quickly build a rapport with them. However, my struggles were when it was time to close the deal. It was always that last objection that screwed things up for me. Worse, I could only sell one time to one person and would never be able to contact them again. So I could never capitalize on the brief relationship I developed with them by making repeat sales or getting referrals. Their wasn't any residual income attached to my sales either. I always had to start from scratch again each day.

After spending some months doing odd jobs to make money, I eventually landed a position as a bank teller. At that point I didn't think I'd ever enter the world of network marketing, but I was wrong thankfully.

How I got Interested in Entrepreneurship

It's interesting to think back how while growing up I never had any intention of running my own business. That was especially odd since my dad, during that time, ran a successful car instillation business which many people assumed I would take over. I never had any interest in cars, so I had no desire to take over his business. I guess in a way that was a good thing since he ended up having to close his business down after twenty years due to his small business not being able to keep up with current technological trends.

Anyway, it wasn't until after spending four years at a two year community college that I accepted that I had a problem. At that point I had gone through two college major changes and at that point was interning at local radio station as my final course for graduation. I was thrilled and had a blast doing it. However there was a problem, the guy who was in charge of me at the station seemed to do everything he could to convince me to get out of the radio industry. He would complain to me about the long hours and of course the low pay.

This was the same problem I ran into whenever I had asked people about pursuing a career in their field. Instead of trying to convince me to pursue a career in their field of work, they told me that I should avoid it at all costs. While their complaints varied, one common thing they all said is that if I chose their field as a career, I would be poor or broke for the rest of my life. It always came down to not making enough money. Now here I was on the verge of graduation being told the same thing yet again. 

It was during during that summer that I really struggled with what I was going to do. It seemed like if I could somehow overcome this problem of not making enough money, I would be free to pursue whatever I wanted. But I didn't know what I could do about it. Than one day sitting at home that I noticed a book on our shelf, the title of the book was "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.

I was instantly hooked and devoured the book. It was after reading "Rich Dad Poor Dad" that I dedicated my life to the pursuit of financial freedom.