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DIAMOND
TREE STAR GROUP
Interview
with Bob Proctor
on
Network Marketing
By
John Milton Fogg
“I
believe that the whole universe operates in
an orderly manner, and Network Marketing
operates more in harmony with the laws of
the universe than any other business I've
seen.” ~ Bob Proctor
Robert,
you have an extensive background in
corporate America, in teaching and training
those people. What attracted you into
Network Marketing?
A
doctor I have tremendous respect for got
involved with a Network Marketing company.
It was seeing his picture in a Network
Marketing magazine that brought the industry
to my attention and caused me to take a look
at it from a totally different perspective.
What
was the basis of your respect for him?
I've
studied the mind for approximately 40 years,
and he probably taught me more about the
mind than any other individual. He knows
more about the mind than anyone I've ever
met, or even read about. He's not a money
guy, he's involved in the healing arts, so
when I saw his picture attached with this
company, I thought "There has to be
something here that I don't
understand." So I decided to look into
it.
When
I did, my whole perspective of the industry
changed. I think I'm like an awful lot of
people in that I didn't understand it but
thought I did. If someone had asked me to
explain Network Marketing, I would have been
at a loss to explain it. And yet, if you had
said, "Do you understand it?" I
would have said, "Sure" when the
truth is, I didn't.
Did
you have a negative impression of it, Bob?
I
don't think I had a negative or positive
impression. It was more disinterest than
anything. I often say "I was caught in
my own trap." I have taught in numerous
programs that anything we don't understand
we have a tendency to criticize and ridicule
carelessly.
What
did you find when you started looking?
I
found that, all things being equal-- good
company, good product-- it's probably the
most moral form of compensation I have ever
seen. And I've studied a lot of them. I
believe that the whole universe operates in
an orderly manner, and Network Marketing
operates more in harmony with the laws of
the universe than any other business I've
seen. A person truly receives exactly what
he's worth. No nepotism, no favoritism. I
find that rather unusual in the business
world.
What
are some of the laws you're referring to,
and how does Network Marketing honor them?
Well,
for example, the law of cause and effect--
which is one of the laws in the universe--
clearly states that energy returns to its
source of origination. Or in more familiar
terms, what you sow, you reap. Action and
reaction are equal and opposite. This
business is so perfectly aligned with that
principle. If a person puts the effort out,
it does come back. People are recognized for
their efforts-- recognition is a big part of
it, and compensation is a big part of it.
I
see that there are two sources of income in
life, one psychic, one material. The psychic
income is the satisfaction we get from how
we spend our days. We should earn enough
money to provide the things we want and live
the way we choose. Network Marketing, for
the most part, offers that person the
opportunity for both.
The
people I've observed who are successful in
this industry truly love what they are
doing. Once they understand the system, away
they go-- helping others understand it, too.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of people
who are not successful, but that's their own
fault. Another unusual characteristic of
Network Marketing is the seemingly small
distance from the bottom to the top.
Can
you say more about that, because a common
criticism of this industry, Bob, is that
there are just a few people at the top while
most people are struggling.
That
is something that people say, and yet, if
you ask them to explain it, they're unable
to. Again, what we don't understand we have
a tendency to criticize and ridicule. I was
probably guilty of that. I got up and said
that I didn't know anyone who was earning
any money. Well, I really didn't know that
many people involved in Network Marketing at
all. There were passing acquaintances, but I
certainly didn't know what they were
earning.
I've
since found out, of course, that there are a
lot of people earning great money in Network
Marketing. My wife has been very successful,
and she's having an awful lot of fun at it.
I spend almost all of my time working in
this industry now because I enjoy working
with Network Marketers so much. I still do
some work outside, and it's not that I
couldn't do more, I just don't really have a
desire to.
Bob,
besides the moral quality that you've
already spoken about in the structure of
Network Marketing, what other differences do
you see between Network Marketing and a
conventional business?
The
difference is like night and day. It's
paradoxical, really-- people who do not
understand Network Marketing point at it as
a pyramid, when the truth is that they are
probably involved in something that truly is
a pyramid!
All
business is shaped like a pyramid, but the
difference is that in Network Marketing,
everybody is at the top of their own
pyramid. In corporate America, that's not
the way it is. A good example of a pyramid
is a Canadian bank. There are only half a
dozen banks in Canada, and the people at the
top all earn in the millions, while the
teller probably earns $20-25,000 a year,
with very little hope of getting to $35,000.
A
person can sit down and draw her own star,
then go and get it in Network Marketing. On
top of that, she'll get help-- in Network
Marketing, everyone wants to help everyone.
That isn't the case outside this business.
In
Network Marketing, a person has the
opportunity for expansion and fuller
expression. In other words, his life can
continually improve. There seems to be no
end to it. I've only been around the
industry for a little over three years, but
I'm absolutely fascinated with it. People
naturally want to expand and express and
grow-- the corporate structure impedes that
growth, while Network Marketing supports it.
In fact, it's to the advantage of the people
above you to help you grow.
Bob,
in looking at the uniqueness of this
business, what are some of those challenges
that Network Marketers face?
I
think the biggest challenge a Network
Marketer faces is the paradigm shift that
they have to make themselves. Second is
learning how to present the opportunity to
someone in such a way that enables that
person to make a paradigm shift, too.
We're
conditioned genetically; we're conditioned
environmentally. Like the old economy -- if
you look at it as the old economy and the
new economy. The old economy deals with
competition. I think a good example is if
you had a pie, and the pie is cut up, and
you get a piece, I get a piece, maybe six
other people get a piece. If I want more of
that pie, I've got to outwit, out-market, or
out-sell you, or out-scheme you. For me to
have more pie, you're going to have to have
less. We're dealing with a limited supply.
In
Network Marketing, which I believe is the
distribution system that is ushering in the
new economy, a person is dealing with an
infinite supply, which is in line with
spiritual laws. There is no limit. So the
person says, "If I want more pie, I'll
make a bigger pie, and I'll make you aware
of how I am enjoying more pie, so you can,
too." It is the most phenomenal system,
and it just keeps getting better, because
you become more and more aware of the truth
of it.
What
kind of difficulties does that present for
somebody who, say, came out of a corporate
environment where the rules of the game are
different?
I'll
give you a good example for your readers to
try. Question to the readers: are you
right-handed, or left-handed? Okay, now I'm
going to ask you to sign your name. Sign
your name on a piece of paper. Now put the
pen in your other hand. Don't just read this
-- put your pen in your other hand.
You
can feel the tension building in your body.
Your mind reacts to it. You think "I
don't write with my left hand. This is so
uncomfortable. It's so cumbersome. I'm going
to make such a mess. I'm going to make
myself look foolish, and what will my
neighbor say?" We're not programmed to
write with our other hand.
People
are programmed to live a certain way. What
we're saying is change the programming. It's
like learning a new language. It's almost as
if you go home and your family doesn't speak
English any longer, but French or Spanish.
Eventually, you would learn what they are
saying, but it would be extremely difficult
and very stressful at the beginning.
Can
you speak about the things that need to be
reprogrammed, specifically, Bob, or give us
some examples of things?
We
have to begin by understanding ourselves,
and improving our self-esteem. We've been
raised to be dependent on the corporation,
the boss, the company. We're programmed to
believe that if you go to school, get a good
education and a job in a big company, that
you're safe. Of course everyone knows that
that's not true. People have been being laid
off, downsized, reengineered, or fired by
the hundreds of thousands-- many are walking
the street wondering what's happened.
We're
living in a new economy. The world has
shifted-- I believe it's aligning itself
more with the universal laws. See, there's a
bigger gap today between the haves and the
have-nots than there ever has been before,
and it's getting wider. In a recent article
in the Toronto Daily Star, they pointed out
that the top ten percent of income earners
are earning 314 times what the bottom ten
percent are earning. The people on the
bottom haven't even a hope of how to get to
the top, and the old system isn't going to
help them.
Network
Marketing clearly explains how you get to
the top. The intellect can understand that--
"I know I can get to the top. Now I've
got to change that emotional, conditioned
mind of mine." That's harder, but
people care and want to help you make the
transition. There are some absolutely
brilliant people who intellectually
understand it, and yet don't make it. They
don't make it because they never get that
paradigm changed. I think there has to be
more education in that area. Network
Marketing is still new enough that it has
not come together for the development of
people yet-- and it may not for a few more
years. It's in an evolutionary state. There
has to be more focus on helping the
individual change her subjective
conditioning. People have a difficult time
grasping it, so they struggle.
You
see, wealthy people have always had multiple
sources of income. I believe that wealth is
a very real part of life-- it has to be
addressed and understood. A person cannot
live a full life if he doesn't have any
money, because we use money for things, and
we need things for the development of our
potential. I have been teaching people that
they must have multiple sources of income if
they are going to accumulate any wealth--
not just one source. It won't work.
The
beautiful part about Network Marketing is
you set up multiple sources of income with
each person you bring in. So in a relatively
short period of time, I could have two or
three thousand sources of income. Makes a
difference in a person's life.
Which
speaks to the business of leverage.
Absolutely.
There are three income earning strategies:
M1, M2, and M3.
M1
is trading our time for money. Approximately
95 to 96 percent of the population does
that. It has an inherent problem called
saturation.
What
do you mean the inherent problem is
"saturation"?
You
run out of time. You only have so much time,
and if you're trading your time for money,
you obviously have a ceiling on what you can
earn. Doctors are realizing that today. The
doctor has to spend more time to earn less
money. So does a laborer. So does a lawyer--
chargeable hours are the most important
words in a lawyer's vocabulary. That's the
M1 strategy that school teaches us and that
we've observed our parents' involvement
with, for the most part.
If
a person becomes wealthy on the M1 strategy,
it's at the expense of a life. They've
compromised on the car they drive, the home
that they live in, the vacations they take,
the school they give their kids, the clothes
they wear, because they need the money to
live.
M2
is an excellent strategy-- investing money
to earn money. Those who understand it know
that leverage is a great way to work the M2
strategy. There're only three people out of
100, though, who understand, and some of
those aren't very good at it.
Now,
M3 is, without question, the strategy that
wealthy people have always used. It's a
strategy of leverage. Approximately one
percent of the population uses this
strategy, but they earn around 96 percent of
all the money that is earned. M3 is
multiplying your time through the efforts of
others, by setting up multiple sources of
income. It's a phenomenal strategy, and
Network Marketing is tuned into it.
Earning
money has absolutely nothing to do with
work. This is the real paradox.
Say
more about that, please.
Napoleon
Hill, who probably taught us as much about
earning money and wealthy people as anyone,
said, "If you are one of those people
who believes that hard work and honesty
alone will bring riches, perish the thought,
because it's not true. Riches come, if they
come at all, in response to definite
demands, based upon the application of
definite principles, and not by chance or
luck."
Now,
let's take what he's saying and relate it to
Network Marketing-- "Riches come, if
they come at all, in response to definite
demands based upon the application of
definite principles, and not by chance or
luck." Is there a demand for someone
who can show that 96 percent, the people who
are feverishly involved in a losing
proposition in the M1 income earning
strategy, how to move to M3?
Is
there a demand for someone to show an
individual how to close the gap between the
haves and the have-nots?
I
think there's a screaming demand for it, and
it's something that Network Marketing does.
We show them how to close the gap. We show
them how to spend their days doing the
things that they really love doing, and at
the same time, earn the amount of money they
need to live the way they choose to live.
I
don't think we're made for work, I believe
that work is made for us. I work every day,
but I never look at it as work, because I
absolutely love what I'm doing. I find it
amusing that I get paid so well at times. I
would do it for nothing, because I
absolutely love it. Love is harmony-- it's
when your conscious mind, your
sub-conscious, and your body are all in
sync, and you truly love what you're doing.
Are
you willing to talk to me about the role of
love in Network Marketing?
Sure
-- that's a subject that people should spend
a little more time with. I see love as
resonance. It's harmony. People who are in
love with helping people are huge winners.
You see that proven in Network Marketing all
the time-- the big winners in Network
Marketing love watching a person wake up.
They love watching them win.
I
watched a couple being recognized recently--
they stood before the audience and said that
they had been married for 13 years, and got
a divorce. They stayed in touch because of
the kids. One of them got involved in a
Network Marketing company and got the other
one involved, too. It ended up bringing them
back together-- after three and a half years
apart. They're happily married again now.
Those people love what they're doing, they
love each other, and they love helping other
people. And who do you think likely received
the greatest reward, the most satisfaction?
The person who sponsored them. That's the
biggest reward for people-- helping others
win.
Bob
Proctor is also an author, lecturer,
counselor, business consultant, entrepreneur
and teacher preaching the gospel of positive
thinking, self-motivation and maximizing
human potential. He has conducted seminars,
speeches and consultations for Prudential
Insurance, Procter & Gamble, United Way,
National Speakers Association, Quaker Oats,
to name a few of the most familiar, as well
as Network Marketing companies. He is the
author of the best-selling book You Were
Born Rich and The Winner's Image, The Goal
Achiever and The Winner's Circle series,
among other titles.
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