So why did you decide to work a Direct Selling business? I mean really?

Was it because you wanted to become a millionaire? Earn one of those exotic supercars? Be one of those people on stage holding a six-foot-wide check with a big number on it?

Let’s get real.

Personally, I joined this business to get rich. I had been broke my whole life. I hated being poor and desperately wanted to become wealthy. So that’s the real-world reason I began. And there’s nothing wrong if you joined for the same reason.

In my case, I was so desperate to get rich that everything I said and did was filtered through that perspective. So I looked at candidates the way wolves look at a sheep at lunchtime. Even the people I had sponsored got the vibe that my only concern was how much money they were going to make for me.

Not really a winning formula…

You’ve got to see candidates through a prism of how you can help them. You’ve got to approach the business with the mindset that if you help your team members to reach success, your own success will be assured.

I believe wealth is actually created only two ways:

1. By solving problems
2. By adding value

This is good advice to follow for your Direct Selling business. This means you have to flip the focus from you to your potential customers and team members.

For most people, their focus starts off very me-centered. You’re thinking I need more customers, I need them to buy more, I’ve got to recruit more people, I have to find more leaders…

But that stuff is all about you. None of it is relevant to your candidates or team members.

Take a serious look at your product or service line. Ask yourself: What exactly are the benefits to my customer? Not just a general, feel-good promise like “These nutritional products will improve your health.” I’m talking about specific, tangible, unique, measurable, and demonstrable benefits your customer will enjoy.

Then you want to be thinking about the benefits the business offers. These include:

• Low start-up investment
• Flexible schedule
• Travel opportunities
• Tax advantages
• Being your own boss
• Working with people you choose
• Unlimited earning potential
• Becoming successful by helping others
• No degrees or experience required

However, you must keep in mind this important point: Not all benefits matter to all people. So if you just do a “data dump” with your candidates, you won’t be as successful as you could be. You’ll do much better actually finding out your candidate’s particular situation and what specific benefits are most compelling to her.

Here’s the great news…

If you follow the advice in this book, you’ll be able to weave all these important elements into a robust, successful business, doing the right things. You will be able to enjoy the monetary and recognition benefits and know that you are solving problems and creating true value.

Know that this is not a feel-good, rah-rah book. Actually, I do hope it makes you feel good about what you’re doing and your ability to do it successfully. But the main purpose of this book is to be used as your textbook for becoming successful (or more successful) in the business.

You’ll discover specific and tangible ways to find great candidates, qualify them, move them into a compelling series of presentations, recruit the right ones, train them, develop them, and then lead them to success.

This stuff works in the real world today, even with all the changes in regulation, social media, the Internet, mobile apps, replicated websites, and economic upheaval.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this book is the natural sequel to How to Build a Multi-Level Money Machine. Because the world has changed so much, I felt that instead of a new edition of the old book, it was time to start fresh, with a clean canvas.

The ever-increasing role of e-commerce, technology, and social media has impacted the business on a scale almost unimaginable even five years ago. The regulatory environment has become more complex and certainly more negative. And the public perception and portrayal of the business, which had experienced a positive swing for many years, has taken a steep slide downward.

This new book also differs from its predecessor in construction. The original book took you through the process of starting and building your business incrementally. Direct Selling Success is written to be a dog-eared textbook for you. It’s broken down into chapters by necessary skillsets. Mark it up. Scribble notes in the margins. Fold down a page corner for quick reference. Highlight important points.

Then when you’re asked to make your first presentation on stage, confronted by the idea of calling a scary candidate, or dealing with a renegade leader, you can come back to a specific chapter and get advice you can immediately apply.

Important Note: I have included five bonus chapters on high-level leadership. For you guys who are new to the business, I am strongly recommending that you initially skip Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 (and proceed directly from Chapter 12 to Chapter 18). Those chapters are about complex leadership strategies and would probably overwhelm you if you read them now. It would be much better to come back and read them after you have been in the business at least two years.

In the chapters before them, you’ll discover how to spend your time productively, develop leaders, and, most importantly, empower those leaders to develop new ones. You’ll come to a clear understanding of a fundamental, profound truth about Direct Selling:

You will find I’m not big on motivational clichés and weary, over-used platitudes. I believe that if you can show people specifically how they can accomplish a desired goal—they will motivate themselves. This book is a GPS for leading your people to success.

By the time you’ve finished the book, you will:

• Have a realistic view of how wealth is created in the business.
• Know the key components for developing true duplication.
• Have useful skills and strategies for prospecting and recruiting.
• Understand what top leaders do to build effectively.
• Have a specific game plan for making that happen.

Our profession is now past the 60-year mark and facing greater challenges than ever before. But with those challenges come even greater opportunities. We are going to need to reinvent ourselves. This book is my contribution to that effort.

In this business, you can earn a lot of money, win those trips to exotic locales, and drive those gorgeous bonus cars. You really do have the chance to create your freedom.

But that’s the thing about freedom. It’s never free…

Freedom is the byproduct of dedication, perseverance, and hard work. You must be willing to pay the price and do the work. If you are willing to do that, this book will guide you through exactly how to do it.

I didn’t write the book to challenge your dreams—but rather to help you realize them. And I certainly didn’t write it to change you. Instead, to help you discover and unfold into who you are really meant to be. You’re about to embark on a magic carpet ride of challenge, adventure, and growth. Relish the journey.

I’m humbled and honored for your trust and accepting me as your “surrogate sponsor.” Together we’re going to do some great things.

Dream big, act deliberately,

—Randy Gage

Key West, Florida

January 2019