Draw up your list … all the people who you owe thanks to. Add in people you don’t owe thanks to. Figure out some reason to thank them, anyway. Then write a brief, heart-felt “Thank-you” note and mail it. Send out one a day.

This strategy is quick, simple, easy to do. It makes an impression on your market. But first, it makes an impression on you. You can’t help but have “gratitude” front and center in your heart when you are thanking people. The more gratitude you feel, the more inner peace you will feel. And that certainly puts you in the correct frame of mind for network marketing.

So write down some names. Then write down some categories - family, friends, mentors, team members, prospects, teachers, those you admire but have never met. That’s a start.

I think you’re best to not completely commercialize your gratitude. Sure, you want to thank those who could also help your MLM business in the future … but to get maximum benefit for your own attitude, spend just as much time thanking those who have no connection to your business and probably never will. It just puts you in the right frame of mind.

This is a good “to-do” to start your morning with, to get your mind off on the right foot of “gratitude” thinking. This also bolsters your attitude and makes it much more difficult for you to slip into negative thinking. When you don’t acknowledge the contribution others have made to your success & happiness, it’s a short step to thinking that you have no success & happiness. That declines rapidly into resentment and frustration. And obviously, it’s totally unproductive to go down THAT road, so let’s don’t.

This little exercise helps you start every day by focusing on what is good in your life. And when you think of that special person to thank, and you’re in the “gratitude” frame of mind, other faces will pop into your head. Add them to your list. Plus, you’ll start to think of other things you are grateful for.

How could a day that started like that EVER turn into anything but a great day?

Your friends for life,

Michael & Linda Dlouhy
1-352-799-8779  Call anytime
“Be a mentor with a servant’s heart!”
Success In 10 Steps

When was the last time you got impatient while your MLM prospect was talking?

Now yes, it’s possible that some people are so self-absorbed in their own words that they don’t even notice you are paying zero attention. But most people aren’t totally tone-deaf. They can see the glazed-over look in your eyes. Just because you aren’t interrupting them doesn’t mean you are hearing and understanding their thoughts. They’d love to think that some actual communication was going on, but they know better. And they’re more than happy to return the favor.

Some “conversations” are reminiscent of teenagers showing off for each other. If I start talking the instant you stop, it shows that I’ve been preparing while you were talking. Have you ever sat in a crowded restaurant and just eavesdropped on the talking at the other tables? Try it. It’s pretty easy to hear that one person talks while the other thinks … and then they switch roles. No actual listening is occurring.

And that may not be the worst of it. Recall the last time you were waiting to get a word in edgewise. Can you feel the stress? Your energy is spent thinking through a response that will top the speaker’s comments. You could be listening to them, to pick out the value in what they say, maybe to learn some useful stuff, certainly to help build a relationship with that person. You’d feel no pressure. They’d feel safe, because there’s no competition going on.

Bottom line? Listening gives you a way better chance to build meaningful MLM relationships than talking does. Plus, you might learn something really valuable!

Your friends for life,

Michael & Linda Dlouhy
“Be a mentor with a servant’s heart!”
1-352-799-8779   Call anytime
Success In 10 Steps

To be as effective as possible in both your personal life and your MLM business, you must have balance.

To start, you’ll achieve a lot more when you focus on understanding others rather than getting them to understand you. For your communication ability to nourish you both personally and in business, you first have to understand and really hear others. Concentrate on understanding the message they want to get across, and you will understand what’s important to them.

Most of us spend our time struggling to get our own message across to others. Here’s the problem - they can hear all the effort you put into having them understand you, and they decide that you are just like everybody else. They’re looking for someone to listen to them. They want understanding. But all you want is for them to listen to you. Result? A big battle of egos. You may win that battle, but you’ll sure never build your network.

To paraphrase Zig Ziglar, “To have what you want in life, you just need to give enough other people what THEY want in life.”

What others really want is understanding. So give it to them. Really listen to them. Really understand. Soon enough, it will be returned. And your personal and MLM network will build effortlessly.

Your friends for life,

Michael & Linda Dlouhy
1-352-799-8779  Call anytime
“Be a mentor with a servant’s heart!”
Success In 10 Steps

Got a problem? What’s the best way to handle a problem in today’s push-button society?

Well … no guarantees, but here’s one method that works for me (and helps keep me from ever getting stressed-out): think about all the pieces, then toss them together and let them simmer in the back of your mind. It takes some practice, but I believe anyone can reach the point where their mind solves the problem for them while they’re off doing other things.

All your experience and knowledge and facts and decision-making ability and a ton of other variables can be brought to bear in your subconscious mind. All the effort is below your level of consciousness, so it looks for all the world like you are doing nothing. Which is exactly what you SHOULD do - nothing. Except, maybe, to gently stir the ingredients from time to time, to ensure they are all in the mix. Then sometime over the next few hours … or days … your “mental stew” will have cooked.

You will get some inkling … maybe it’s just a feeling in the pit of your stomach … of which way you should jump in this particular instance. Call it “instinct,” call it whatever you want. But trust it. This instinct is the result of your subconscious mulling over all the circumstances, and spitting out its conclusions.

Try it. And listen to the voice when it gives you the answer. Trust it. You are trusting your own knowledge and experience … and they will combine to give you better, faster solutions than you’ve had before from endlessly analyzing all parts of the problem.

Your friends for life,

Michael & Linda Dlouhy
1-352-799-8779  Call anytime.
“Be a mentor with a servant’s heart!”
Success In 10 Steps