Growing our team

Its been a fun week.  It's exciting that we actually have a team now.  It is getting a little more complicated now.  Before we were focusing all of our attention on getting new prospects and such.  But now we have a team to think about too.  So we are trying to figure out how to split our time between training and developing our team and finding new people.  I can imagine it will get a ton more complicated as our team grows.  Thus the need for good leadership duplication!  

I am fully convinced now that this business is going to be a giant!  I feel that God has shared with me that this is an honorable company to be a part of and a good cause to work for.  It's becoming more clear to me how this company is just another tool that I/we have now to help people directly at their point of needs.  To be able to offer help in the area of finances and health is of great value.  I'm actually kind of looking at it more like a ministry opportunity.  Kind of a cool way to view it.  

We are going to start a huge campain to break into college campuses with this business.  We are going to work on developing materials and such in order to present it to yount entrepreneurs like us.  

I have the morning to work on the business, so I'm going to start!  

What a day!

Today was huge!!!  Tons of momentum was build by what happened today.  

I've been going through my phone and texting everyone I know.  Just chatting with them, genuinely wanting to know how they're doing.  90% of the time it leads to a discussion about health or finances.  So I've been talking to a lot of people about USANA.  This has led to 4 or 5 people who are very interested in the products - and it has led to a few people interested in the business.  One of the high school students I've been leading in a bible study for about 4 years now, is one of the people I talked to today.  He's an entrepreneur to the max.  The second he heard about the business opp he wanted to meet up.  So we set up a meeting with Tina.  Before I went to that meeting I went over to my dad's house to hang out for a little bit after work.  Well our discussion led to talking about USANA (big surprise...).  I've been shying away from talking to him about it just because he's the biggest skeptic of everything I do, and I wanted to stay positive about what we're doing.  So I just decided to not talk to him about it until either we were succeeding or it failed.  Well, it came up today.  We talked about it and he was actually really positive.  He was asking good questions, making good comments.  I could sense a little natural skepticism in him, but he didn't bring it out much.  So that was a huge relief for me, and definitely a hurdle I needed to jump over.  

So we met with Ross.  Tina did a stellar job at explaining the business.  Ross loved every second of it.  He was a little confused about how the compensation plan works, but that didn't hold him back from being incredibly impressed by what was being presented to him.  As we finished the only thing he wanted to do was get his mom there in front of Tina for her to explain this all to her as well.  So we left on a high note, and I will pursue him further tomorrow.

Then we went to our second meeting.  It was with Rick and Eric.  Again, a stellar presentation by Tina.  You can definitely tell her experience, because no matter what they said (either good or bad) she would have an incredible thing to say back to them.  So, long story short, both Rick and Eric signed up with 150 points worth of products and 1 business center opened!  Wow!  

Then I went to my moms and sat down with her and answered some of her questions.  Her and my stepdad and I brainstormed how we are going to grow this business.  I think my mom really sees value in it, but she still doesn't quite get how it is going to work.  But she is signing up as well.  

So, 3 people signed up today!  Many more interested in the products.  And a couple more interested in the business.  Our top business center is now a platinum pacesetter which is gigantic!  And there is the possibility that we could get our side business center to be a pacesetter as well.  We're now qualified for a commission check (almost one for $100).  Things are rolling.  I'm so freaking excited I can't tell you.  

Today God really hit me with the realization that I'm really having a good time building this business.  I'm having a ton of fun, and it's building such a cool future for me and my family.  What a blessing this has been so far and will continue to be!  

Let's blow this thing up!

Does this really work?

Wow!  It's been a while since we've written!  

So we are one week away now from our Platinum Pacesetter deadline.  We have given up hope that we are going to get both Kati and I as platinum pacecetters.  But we are still going to get Platinum for our top and main business center.  

We've been working extremely hard to get this business going.  Constantly thinking about it.  Constantly worrying about it.  It got overwhelming there for a little bit.  But in the past couple weeks we have geared back and decided to trust God that he's got things in control with our business.  We're still working our asses off, but we just aren't worry as much about it.  If it explodes and we get 10 people in the next week, then so be it.  But if we only get 4, then so be it as well.  The great thing is that since we started relaxing and going with the flow, our business has been growing!  We are having a spa party and a Health and Freedom presentation in 2 days.  Last night we told Tina (our upline) that we might have to cancel the health and freedom because nobody is coming.  Well, last night and today about 4 or 5 people have responded saying they want to come!  So that's pretty awesome.  And we will probably have 7 or 8 girls go to the spa party.  We're super stoked for Sunday!

So the way we are going to get Platinum is:  Kati is signed up under me, so she counts as one of our 4.  Then Nate is one of the guys I work with, and he signed up just as a referral customer.  But we ran some volume through him, now his business center is activated and he is ready to start building his business.  My mom is the third person.  She is going to be a huge asset to our team, mostly because of her story (she is just recovering from cancer).  And our fourth is yet to be named.  It will come in the next couple days though...

We bought some leads last week from a company called networkleads.com .  What a crazy experience that is/was.  I have never cold called anybody in my life, and let me tell you, it is not easy!  So I listened to like 5 or 6 hours of training about how to contact the leads you buy.  I got a little bit of confidence, sat down one night to start calling, and my confidence was quickly slammed down my throat!  I was rejected by 7 people in a row.  Now, in the training they tell you that you'll suck at first and that you just need to persist.  So I was expecting to fail, but man is it hard to swallow when you're completely rejected.  It really wears on you.  So, since that first calling session I've only called a couple more of the prospects.  I really need to take the time and call some more.  I think my problem is that i was trying to stick exactly to the scripts that they provided.  The guy who sells the leads has it down to a science.  The only thing is, its not me!  I don't talk like that - I never would.  When I sat down the second time I tried a new approach.  One to the point and more in line with my character.  I got a MUCH better response.  2 people said no (1 was an ass and pretty much hung up, the other lady was really nice and we chatted for a few minutes).  1 person was semi interested.  He said it was ok for me to send him info, so I did.  Haven't followed up, which is terrible.  

There's so much more to write about, but it is our date night and we are headed to eat some mexican food and to walk around the mall.  

I hope to not forget to write again for a couple weeks.  I'll keep you updated on the journey!

Matt

It's been some weekend

I guess it's not really the weekend anymore.  I think we spent at least 30 hours in the past 4 days on USANA stuff.  We've been working hard to get all of our online networking tools in place so that we can increase the number of people who have exposure to what we are doing.  I (Matt) finished the home page of our website last night at 2:30 AM.  I don't know about it.  I think it is a lot of good information and it spurs on some contemplation, but, it is very wordy.  I know that simplicity is key.  You are supposed to catch peoples attention within the first couple seconds or else you lose them.  I'm not sure I'm too good at that yet.  Check out the website, you'll see what I mean: 

www.kellys.usana.com

We are not getting a very good reaction from our "warm market" (those who you know and have some influence over).  Everyone we talk to acts like they are all into it, so we send them some information (videos, our website, etc.), and they either don't look at what we've sent them, or they just aren't interested at all.  It's stressfull to say the least.  We are freaking out because we have 5 weeks to make Platinum Pacesetter.  This means that each of us have to enroll 4 people in the next 35 days in order for both of us to make this achievement.  This is our number one goal.  We feel that it's essential for our success in this company.  One of the big reasons is that as a platinum pacesetter you get a 100% matching bonus on everyone else who is a platinum pacesetter who is in your downline, for 8 months!  After we accomplish this achievement we want to relax a little bit and prepare for what we want to do next.  But until then expect us to be busting our ass.  

Here is what the structure of our business looks like right now:

Matt

     /   \

Matt Matt

\

Kati

       / \

  Kati Kati

So, the way we have sturctured this thing is the absolute optimal way to make the most money possible from the getgo in this business.  We're trying to activate all 6 of our business centers within the first 6 weeks.  If we can actually get some people signed up underneath us, we will be making so many levels of commission checks it's not even funny.  The key thing is getting people under us, which is SO much easier to talk about than to actually do.  I am getting more confident about this, and I feel like I'm ready to be more bold in my approach.  The bottom line is, this is a great opportunity.  We are going to make it big, that's a fact.  So we want to get our loved ones right below us so that as we succeed, they succeed.  

Everyday I'm praying to God to keep us motivated.  I know it's going to be hard at first, that's what everyone says.  But we need Him to grant us the patience and the endurance to stay positive and confident about what He's called us to do.  He keeps reaffirming to me that this is going to be the thing that carrys us into the future.  This will be the thing that allows us to have Kati stay home with the kids, and allow me to start a church like I want to.  So, no matter how hard it is right now, I do have confidence that God's got our back, and that he is honored by this company and our efforts therein.  

It's getting late, I've got some more stuff to do before bed.  "Slow and steady wins the race," except for the first 6 weeks!  Man do I hope we get 8 people!  

The journey begins

Well, there is a very large story that leads up to this point, so I don't even know where to start.

I guess I'll tell you about Kati and I. We met in December of 2006. If you would has asked me in January of 2007, I would have told you we were going to get married. The story of when we met is super lame, and I always wanted to make up some romantic story that you'd only see in the movies about the night we met. But I haven't done that yet, so I'll spare you the 5 seconds and skip the story. It was fun how we got to know each other however. Kati is from Montana, and she went back home to visit her family for Christmas 2 days after we met each other. For the entire 10 days she was home we spent probably 4 hours a day on the phone with each other. That's 40 hours of talking to each other before even interacting with each other in person! With that amount of time you can't help but to really dig into some great topics and really start to get a grasp on what the person it like. I have always said, all I want in a wife is two things: 1. Someone who I am extraordinarily attracted to (physically, emotionally, mentally). 2. A girl who loves Jesus. Well, throughout our first 2 weeks Kati turned out to be exactly that. She got back to Denver on January 2nd, 2007 and we hit it off immediately. The next year is a complete blur to me. All I remember is that I quickly fell madly in love with this woman. On December 23rd, 2007 I proposed to my love. It was a magical night. Everything went perfectly. The engagement was absolutely the most horrific time of my life (some may know what I mean). It was nothing but blissful fighting. I think it is God's way of really seeing if you have what it takes to be married, because you're brought to the edge many times. An overview of our engagement would be this: we planned a big wedding, told everyone, everyone made plans, then we realized a big wedding is not what we wanted, we changed our wedding to a sooner date and a much smaller size, everyone was pissed beyond belief, we got married and it was the most wonderful day of my life. May 16th, 2008 was the day. I'm not kidding, the best day of my life thus far. It was perfect! For those of you thinking about getting married, just do what you want, don't succumb to the pressures of "what a wedding should be".

Marriage has been fantastic so far! I always heard that the first year was the hardest. Well, if that's the case then I think we're going to be just fine. The one hardship that we've had is financially. This is kind of the beginning of our USANA story. We started our marriage off in debt. Car loans, student loans, credit cards, you name it. In the 8 months that we've been married we've tried really hard and taken many steps to try to get out of this mess of debt that we're in, but we've been unsuccessful so far. The debt just continues to grow. I attribute some of this to my ability to make the kind of money I should make as the main provider for our household. I'm a carpenter, and I absolutely love my job, but I made $20k last year before taxes. I'm sorry, but that kind of money cannot support a family, especially if children could potentially be coming in the next couple years. So, I've been looking at my options. I've always thought like an entrepreneur, and I feel that I've waited long enough to start acting like one. So from November 2008 until January 2009 I have been slaving over the thoughts of how I can be an entrepreneur. I looked for businesses to buy (vending machines, laundromats, convenience stores, etc.). I thought about how I can start a business on my own. I actually am starting a clothing line as well, but that's not going to support my family. I thought about how I could just start doing construction work on my own, not on an hourly basis, but on a per job basis. There were major flaws in all of these things.

It is then that I feel like God led me toward something completely different. I was at work and the guys who paint the houses we remodel were chatting over lunch. I walked up and one of the guys asked me, "What do you think of when you hear the words 'network marketing'?" The first thing I said was, "scam". Then the other guy asked me why then started explaining his company. All I really got from the whole conversation was the name USANA. I didn't think much of it, because I'm the first to be skeptical of anything outside what I think is "normal". But there was something in me, like a little spark of hope, that made me think that there might be something to this company. I went home that night and did some research. Turns out that USANA is publicly traded on the NASDAQ. That right there told me that things were different than I had originally thought. I sat down for an hour that night, and every single thing I found about USANA caused me to believe that it was a completely legitimate company. Mark (the painter) sent me some links to some videos to watch about the products that USANA sells and the way that they run their business. These videos got me even more excited. By the end of the night I wasn't fully convinced, but I at least didn't think that I was dealing with a complete scam.

Over the next couple days I started to look into network marketing a little more. I had so many misconceptions that I had no idea where they came from. Well, apparently NM is a very profitable way to market a product. Lots of the largest companies in the world are actually beginning to market their products in that way. Two nights from when I first heard of USANA Mark invited us to a wellness seminar. Kati and I decided to go, with the intention of really deciding if USANA was for us. The seminar was incredibly impressive. There was no hype, no gimmicks. It was very professional and to the point, with a splash of motivation. They didn't try to sell us on anything, which I liked.

Two nights later Kati and I signed up. It's only been 5 days since we started, and its already been unreal. We've really begun to make a team and start to strategize how we are going to make this business work. It's been fun setting up our website, email address, blog, etc. We got our products a couple days ago, and have been using them. What amazing products they have! We have set some initial goals and now must work through the details about how to accomplish them.

One thing I do know, there is a lot of wisdom and integrity in network marketing in general, and USANA. I say that about network marketing because it is based off of relationships, integrity, and hard work. It is the "wisdom of the day" because it really allows you to leverage your time to make the maximum amount of money. I say that about USANA because they are consistently ranked at the top in both their business method and their products. They are promoting health and trying to keep people from dying so often from completely preventable diseases. I think that's a pretty good cause to work for. So we are sold on this company, and if not this company, at least the network marketing model.

We've never blogged before, so hopefully we remember to keep up with it. We started it just so we can share our journey with you. From almost the very beginning until we make it big in the business.

Thanks for reading our first post. Here is how you can get a hold of us if you need to:

website: http://www.kellys.usana.com/.

email: usana.kellys@gmail.com

phone: 720-289-1094 (Matt) or 303-915-6743 (KT)