I have to share what rose to the top for me. One thing was that people are presently learning online network marketing from those who have the biggest presence online, not necessarily those who are truly the experts in the field. Interestingly my business partner Melanie Milletics speaks of this same thing in a No Excuses 3 Summit Review Aces radio interview. People have done such an incredible job of branding themselves as social media or attraction marketing gurus, that some of them now have more web recognition than the long time experts in the field. It’s crucial in the internet age to dig deep and do your due diligence. It is very easy to be distracted by “Bright Shiny Objects” and lose sight of what and who you need to know in order to be a successful network marketer.

Another strong reaction to No Excuses 3 had to do with my own experience and growth curve. I began in this industry with no knowledge of network marketing or the internet. When the home presentation – warm market methodology ceased to  work for me in my tiny 2000 person mountain town, I turned to the internet. From that point I became enthralled with internet marketing for developing a warm lead stream in network marketing. As I learned to be an internet marketer I expanded into internet marketing informational products and affiliate products geared for use as a funded proposal. The learning curve was extreme. Hundred and hundred of hours – many many multiple courses – a whole lot of money – all in the quest for the method to generate a truly lifelong residual income.

I loved that period time in my life and also found it one of the most frustrating periods of time as well. The education was intense. The skill acquisition put me in a micro niche of people who can actually generate traffic and convert leads through the internet. But amazingly (or so it seemed at the time) the true ongoing residual income was not happening. When I joined Visalus in 2010 my intent was to use the wonderful product, culture and marketing platform to build that income using the internet to develop leads and creating relationships offline with those people.

Since then I have reached a leadership level in the company and I do my day to day business in a much different way than I thought I would. So there I was at No Excuses 3 with so many of the people who were part of my history in the industry. Many of the presentations were excellent. But my feeling during many was one of relief.  I now know that being successful in network marketing is much simpler than the complex traffic funnels, the google page rank and conversion charts and the intense requirement of developing an online BRAND. I walked around the booth outside of the presentation rooms feeling my present self and my former self speaking to each other. The past self was reflecting on a time when the pressure to purchase every course, learn every technique, be in every loop, was extreme and urgent. My present self was smiling and giggling as I looked at the “opt in” enticements and discounted “7 weeks to success online” webinar series” and was so clear that I  had no interest in them any longer because there was no need.

For those who are just starting out in internet marketing, there is a need and the education available is better than ever!  I would recommend you start at www.RussellBrunson.com , not because I’m affiliate of his, but because he is the best. For network marketers I have slightly different advice. Work with a company that understands marketing in a cutting edge 21st century manner. Have a product line that is consumable. Realize that you don’t need all the bells of whistles of an online brand to be successful with real people in real time. You do need to be authentic and care about relationships. Once you have your foundational team built and you want to expand into the internet, start at www.RussellBrunson.com – not because I’m affiliate, but because he is the best. Learn all you can also from Todd Falcone and memorize his methods and his scripts.

Set your course. Trim your sails. Never ever ever quit.

Many would say it’s your products.  People spend millions of dollars and thousands upon thousands of hours making sure that the product is exactly the right product, with the right bells, right whistles and right buttons.  But look  at a company such as McDonald’s.

Does McDonald’s have the best product? Probably not.

Does McDonald’s have the best management?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Most of McDonald’s are franchises so the onsite Management can vary. Does McDonald’s have the best margins?  Hard to tell.

What McDonald’s does have the very best marketing making it the most successful restaurant in the world even though most would agree that the food is marginal at best.

What is marketing? Marketing is not the selling of the product. Marketing is the sharing of a vision, a culture,  an idea and a concept that makes people want to be part of something.  Look at the difference between Dell computers and Apple computers.  Both computers work. Both computers do what computers do.  There’s nothing exciting about owning a Dell Computer but owning an Apple – That’s Cool!  There are a lot of smart phones but an iPhone is much more exciting than an LG.

Why is that?

Does the iPhone actually work any better or has Apple perfected marketing making people desire to be part of the culture and the Apple experience?

It may be a bit of the former but it’s a lot of the latter. Apple has perfected marketing.

There are other companies that have learned from Apple and are doing the same.

ViSalus Sciences is one that comes to mind. There are hundreds of health and wellness companies. Many of them offer weight loss and nutrition program and products. But ViSalus Sciences is right now the fastest growing health transformation platform in the world and also the fastest GROWING home based company in North America. Why is that?

Marketing

Marketing

Marketing

ViSalus has created a marketing and training system that has grown from a culture to a MOVEMENT. A movement is a similar to a swell. A movement is when something takes on a life of its own, with people feeling the energy, seeing the results and wanting to hop on the bandwagon and not miss out!. ViSalus is now a movement that has grown by double digit percentages every month for the past 27 months.  115,000 NEW people began their Body By Vi Challenge in the month of February 2012, 108,000 the month before. The Body By Vi Challenge is now so large that it is making a true statistical dent in the obesity epidemic in the United States.

ViSalus made a commitment to it’s vision of Life, Health and Prosperity. ViSalus distributors do not Distribute products. Instead they PROMOTE the Body By Vi Challenge . It is a very different mind set and focus. It is a well developed marketing method that is then backed up by tools and an entire wrap around program for every single person who starts their own 90 Day Challenge. It’s the marketing that sets ViSalus apart from every other weight loss, nutrition and health company in the world.

Market is what sets companies apart.

In the past two weeks an amazing strain has been placed on our family. We had serious issues with a private school our 10 year old daughter was enrolled in which culminated in us removing her from the school. As any parent knows, mid-March is not a great time of the school year to make a change like this. Given that the circumstances were not planned and there was a lot of intense emotion surrounding them, I’m sure you can imagine how stressful these few weeks have been.

This month, March 2012, I am running for the position of Presidential Director with Visalus Sciences. My team has been growing steadily for the 15 months I’ve been a Visalus Promoter. Due to a very stable  team and foundation along with consistent internet and locally generated direct customer sales, my residual income and my new business commissions far exceed the average American’s yearly salary.  Last month I missed the next rank advancement to Presidential by a relatively small amount of sales volume. This is the month to push hard and up and over the bar. By achieving Presidential in March I will be setting myself up for easily reaching Ambassador by the end of 2012 and a $25K bonus check along with a $10K per month income. Ambassador is my big push goal for 2012 and I’m already closer to it than I expected.

So – Life Happens. This one month when I cannot afford to be distracted or diverted, this really terrible situation develops in our life and I am 100% distracted and diverted. Life Happens. The first week when it happened I still  was able to get weekly enroller pool bonus for both my position in my husband’s position as well.  Why? Because I work my business consistently and always have guests in my funnel.  I am never in the position of needing to go crazy generating business at the last minute because I make it a point to treat my business like a business and consistently fill the funnel.

As the weeks progressed my team has stepped up and created the highest amount of volume ever  in our organization at this mid-month point. I have leaders who are part of my team are amazing. I was able a share a bit with them about my situation. I usually connect with my team almost daily so it was obvious that my energy was elsewhere. These wonderful people took over a leadership role and ended up growing their own organizations even more than they expected too.

As I write this post we have decided to home school for the remainder of the year. My daughter is extremely bright and very motivated. Yesterday she laid out all her work for the day and proceeded to accomplish every bit of it in stellar fashion. My Visalus business grown while I was focused elsewhere. People are ordering products, others are enrolling as Promoters, Challenge parties are occurring and commissions are being generated. Life Happens. Residual income allows room for life without worry about finances.

I wrote more about this in a Facebook Note on the day that it all began. Connect with me on Facebook if you’d like to read it.

I’ve spent years developing my lists. I have multiple domain names and capture pages, press releases and hundred of tweets with links. There are many who love my Daily Strategies and others who like learning about new marketing tools and tricks.

The reality of any large group of people is that interests vary as does engagement. I’ve reached the point in my professional development that I want to be very specific in what I communicate, and how.

So this is what it has come down to:
I am going to communicate with those who have voluntarily chosen to receive emails from me, about just a few select topics.
Here they are:

1. Financial fitness – How to create wealth in our 21st Century Economy. How I have chosen to create wealth and why I have made the choices I’ve made. These letters will contain detailed information regarding my understanding of being on entrepreneur in these days of financial change; stories and facts about my current business; updates from other people who I value and whose information I feel would be valuable to you as well; techniques, methods and resources that strike my fancy – peek my curiosity and are deemed useful for entrepreneurial financial gain.

3. Physical Fitness – At 52 years old I am devoted to and passionate about staying as physically fit as possible. My business choices are aligned with this passion, as are my lifestyle ones. A portion of my time is now focused on understanding and sharing nutritional concepts, exercise methods and lifestyle choices that allow for optimal weight, increased energy and overall vitality, particularly for women in middle age and older. (Men – you are not excluded by any means, but I do use myself often as the guinea pig).

4. Philosophically Speaking - I often ponder things like “The Meaning of Life” and other “lite” topics such as that. When I am moved to write about my thoughts, I do. Those writings will also be shared with you.

5. Charity - My primary company is involved with Feeding Hungry Kids. I have made a commitment to bringing this aspect squarely into my daily focus throughout the year. You’ll be hearing more about this beginning in February.

The bottom line is this: If the list above does not interest or appeal to you, then now might be the time for you to opt-out of my list. I don’t want to be writing to those who are not seriously interested in what I have to say. The entire point of interacting with you, is for mutual benefit. That means that you must be feeling that value is coming your way. For me, its about interaction, community and doing business. I’d love to say it’s all just touchy feely nice and cozy, but I’d be lying to you. All of us who operate as entrepreneurs on the internet do so to create wealth and to build a prosperous business. You are my audience and also my consumers. My hope is that the benefit that I bring to our shared table is one that opens your mind to the business opportunities, products and services that I offer.

So, if all that’s been said here resonates with you, please stay. Shortly you’ll be receiving a series of emails with a new list of mine to subscribe to. This is my way of combining years worth of disparate lists and diverse groups of people, into one wonderful community.

If what’s been talked about here does not suit your fancy, scroll down to the bottom of your email and click on the “unsubscribe” button. No worries – No feelings will be hurt.

Peace,
Deborah

An email that shifts your thinking in such a way that you take different actions and make different choices than you ever would have if you’d never received that message, is an email that is not an email.

Emails like that are more of a catalyst. If you trust that the universe indeed sends messages that if heeded will lead you where you are meant to be, then it follows that that message could be arriving in a digital form. Those who have succeeded at the highest levels truly believe that you create your own luck, by stating unequivocally that which you desire and then working steadily towards your goal while keeping your eyes open for the opportunities that land in your path.

Often the difference between success and failure is the ability to see what is presented to you, and to take action when the time is right.

An email is being sent right this very minute, to a select group of people. People who have shown in the past that they are aware  — that they are action takers.

In this email is a link to a story. The story is about a journey.

Read it here —->>>>Entrepreneurial Spiral of Success

This is moment that everything can shift.

This is time when the roads diverge.

Entrepreneurial Spiral of Success

In my world, a full circle has been completed. For the past 4 months I’ve felt a sense of intense relief. I no longer spend hours creating content and social networking in order to develop income. Yet I still use those skills and tools to build the most lucrative business of my career. It’s a very cool circle of development, when explored from a bird’s eye view..

Five years ago I began as a network marketer – Old School.

Three foot rule and all that, and I did fairly well but it was a struggle. In retrospect, my lack of experience and the product category itself contributed to the struggle (but that’s a different story).

The struggle led me online and I dove into the internet, first with Mike Dillard and Magnetic Sponsoring and then into using Better Networker for community and attraction marketing. I moved into Ann Sieg’s writings and expanding my internet marketing skills using blogs and self-created lead capture pages.

I amassed quite a large network of connections, friends and even a mastermind group.

Did I make money?

Not really.

I made some. I covered my costs and brought in a small profit.

I spend 100′s and 100′s of hours creating online content and focusing on self Branding. Deborah Tutnauer, Inc.

At the time the message from Dillard, Sieg and others was to brand oneself without letting people know your primary MLM. In fact, not even letting on initially that there was an MLM lurking in the background. Everyone was coached to become the coach. Look at how Mentoring For Free developed like gang busters during that time. That was the mindset. The plan was that people would be attracted to ME, INC and my value and then want to come work with me after working their way through my funnel of affiliate and self created products. The list would grow generically and a decent number of people would move through the funnel and exit right into my network marketing company.

A whole industry developed during that time, created to teach people how to get a list. Whether it was Magnetic Sponsoring, or MLMSP, or The Renegade Network Marketer, or Klingler’s Renegade University, the philosophy spawned a sub industry who’s goal was to teach people to affiliate market their system in order to develop a list, in order to bring the list ultimately into one’s network marketing company.

In my opinion, it got out of hand. Many (most) who signed up and on made some affiliate income but did not convert most of those people into members of their down line..

In fact, in retrospect I think the value was much more in the communities that developed, than in the actual methods and products. If at the time this was all going on, specific network marketing companies had reasonably priced, excellent quality products and a SYSTEM in place to use the internet in a 21st century manner to market, there would not have been the need… (another story too…)

I loved that period of time in my own professional development, because it was hugely expansive and led to a community of connections that are now priceless. That time period led to this group. It led to knowing Mark Hoverson, Ann Sieg, Eric Walker and others, as friends and colleagues. In that way it totally “worked”.

The price?? An inordinate amount of time with a financial return not commensurate with the time.

The price?? A feeling of stress related to needing to be in front of people online, everyday, or lose traction in the online world.

So back to the circle of entrepreneurial success and life….

I am now making more money, having more fun and feeling more relaxed than I have in my business life in five years. And I’m still online..still making new connections on the internet
But it’s not this stressful feeling of needing to stay in the loop and in front of people all the time.

It is so amazing to me..
Relief is the word that keeps arising in my mind..
So much energy was spent on BRANDING
And I made many connections..but not much money
Now I’m just following the very simple Visalus system..regardless of where I meet the people..online or off..
And it’s just amazing..and simple and I don’t spend hours doing things that don’t yield an income

I have a team that is growing exponentially and duplicating, because the system is so simple. Teaching people the concept of attraction marketing was simple. But for most people, putting in the hours and riding the steep learning curve to truly develop a business with just the attraction marketing concepts, was really difficult. Most could not and did not succeed. Thus team duplication did not occur.

Since most network marketing companies did not give people the right tools either, the result was mass frustration.

I love that I don’t have to see people succumb to that anymore.

I have come full circle, as I said in the beginning of this post. I am back to including my company as part of my brand. There is no reason to hide that I’m a promoter of the Body By Vi Challenge. Not only is Visalus the fastest growing company in the industry right now (678% in 2010), but we have created a SYSTEM that is customer focused, designed for today’s economy and simple for anyone to plug into and make money.

A curious observation to share: I have three solid legs in my network marketing business. Two are much more solid than the third. Here is my crazy observation., take if for what it’s worth and comment with your thoughts. My least solid leg is comprised of people who are focusing their energies 95% on branding themselves online and leading into their Body By Vi business through the back door. My most successful legs are filled with people who are not wavering at all from the system that Visalus teaches. Even though that system includes online marketing and Facebook in particular, it is not teaching to develop a brand first before building a business and making money. The order is different and in my opinion now that I’ve come full circle, the order that they teach is much more effective and efficient and replicatable by anyone!

The sticky learning curve of pure online attraction marketing is what I now see is holding people back..
Those who are taking action in Vi are making money. Those who keep thinking about how to..are not.. especially when it comes to just relying on the internet..unless it’s peoplel who are skilled enough to be generating a lot of leads..like Melanie Milletics… and even she has stepped back from branding her ME, Inc, and is now incorporating her role as a promoter of the Challenge, into all that she does. Melanie has been my mentor and is now my upline and partner. She is by far the best female internet/network marketer that I know. Even she is following and teaching the Vi system and getting better results than when she did it the other way. She too, has come full circle!

The circle of Entrepreneurial Success..from beginning to middle to end..which is right back and the beginning with many more tools and skills. If you are still not seeing serious money from all that you have done, learned and accomplished over the last few years , feel free to contact me and we’ll talk. The lightbulb went on for me about four months ago.

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When you spend time on Facebook for your business, who to you interact with?

Which people’s posts do you comment on?

Which fan pages do you check regularly?

Do you only peruse the News Feed when you log on?

If you are like most, you rarely go beyond the News Feed, which is your first mistake. The News Feed is decided by Facebook based on an algorithm determined by your patterns of behavior in past Facebook sessions. The News Feed is NOT the same as the old Status Updates. It used to be that when you logged on to FB, you would see the most recent Status Updates of every one of your FB friends, in chronological order. It was easy to scroll through and naturally stay in touch with a goodly number and diversity of people . The News Feed has now changed that. You now probably see just a hand full of your FB friends status updates, cycling through the News Feed in a bit of a random order. In fact, most people see the updates from less than 5% of their FB list.

This change in how Facebook shows you updates has actually made it harder to stay connected with the many. Instead, we now circle around in smaller groups, much like a clique at a high school dance. So the first bad habit specific to Facebook is only looking at the New Feed. To make sure you are interacting with all the high school kids, and even those from the neighboring schools you must regularly step outside of your clique by manually looking at the Status Updates. To do this, click on Friends in the left side bar, and then on Status Updates. This is the only way you will even see what is going on with 95% of your friend list.

The theme of cliques continues. This is the social media bad habit that can ruin your business. Starting with the premise that to grow your business you need to be continually expanding your sphere of influence and circle of connections, it become counter-intuitive to spend your social media time interacting with your already familiar group of people. Yet this is what so many of us do when we open up Facebook, Better Networker, Twitter and others. We see “our people” and we gravitate towards them. It’s fun. Enjoyable. Sometimes even beneficial, but it is not what you need to be doing to grow your business.

Your business relies on you stepping outside that circle of comfort each and every day and making sure that time is spend creating new relationships and meeting new people. If you don’t do that, then you have the serious social media bad habit. The habit could mean that your business is not growing like it should.

Tell me this, do you spend more than on hour per day on social media sites?

When there, what percentage of your time is spent saying “hi” and “nice Job” and “great post” ,etc..to your buddies?

How many new people do you connect with on social media every day?

How do you bring them into your inner circle and include them?

How often do you say “I’ve worked hard today” when in fact your computer time was vastly spent interacting within your “clique”?

We’ve defined the Social Media Bad Habit. Stay tuned for how to break the habit and get back to using social media to truly grow your business through new connections..

http://deborahtutnauer.com is the link.

Fill in the box on the right side of the page and I’ll keep you in the loop!

Everything that happens in your life begins deep within your thoughts. Whether it’s changing a bad habit or creating a successful home business, or being a change agent to better the world…it all begins with your thoughts, your actions and your beliefs.