MLM Reps- "Who Is The Greatest Network Marketer Of All Time?..."

I believe this article may in fact change your perspective in this business, it did mine. But, you’ll have to give a few minutes to read it entirely, maybe more than once.

Who is the G- greatest O- of A- all T- time of mlm? I met the GOAT many years ago and I bet you’ve never even heard his name. So I thought I’d share the story and ask you for a couple favors in return;

1.  At the end of this article, I’d love your opinion.

2.  I would love if you would share this article with others you know in the industry.

Honestly, I thought I already knew the GOAT- I’ve studied all the greats, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracey, Eric Worre, Randy Gage, Tim Sales, etc…the list of greats is large but, none them can hold a candle to the real GOAT.

In 2003, I founded the fastest growing, largest, live home-based training company in the world- On Stage Marketing. We helped hundreds of thousands of people to understand the true art and science of marketing and how to use that understanding to build any mlm program. I’m proud to say, we helped a lot of people to create seven figure businesses all over the world.

And that’s when I met the GOAT.

It was 2004. I got a call from one of our students who had spoken with this young guy that wanted to learn how to build his mlm beyond his warm market. He wanted to master marketing and learn to master the Internet too. At that time, we charged up to $2500 to help people but, this young man couldn’t afford those costs. My student was asking for us to make an exception and extend our help for free. When you charge for products and services, you have to be very careful when, where and how you choose to discount those services because it can de-value your product. I was concerned.

I arranged to speak with this young man personally, a day I’ll never forget.

When I got on the phone with him I immediately could hear some challenges he had. His voice was very young, crackly and he had a hard time speaking. clearly. I asked him to me his story.

Come to find out, he was very young, only about 20 years as I recall. He still lived with his Mom. His father had died when he was even younger. And then, his story became even more interesting…

He had Multiple Sclerosis and that was just the start of his physical ailments. These physical conditions were so bad, he was bed ridden and had been given a diagnosis that included he would forever require the assistance of a 24 hour care giver, his Mother and a full-time nurse at the time of this conversation.

He went on to describe his daily routine and challenges and I began to tear up, trying desperately to keep my voice steady to disguise this from him in that first conversation. The regimen of basic needs like eating, bathing and using the restroom were filled with excruciating pain but…I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He wasn’t complaining while he described these challenges. He was excited, vibrant and even full of enthusiasm. He would describe his ritual of his nurse and Mom having to rotate him every few hours because he had so many bed sores all over his body they required constant cleansing which was very painful but, he relished each rotation and cleansing for the simple fact that he would get some relief each time for a different part of his body.

He was so excited to meet me over the phone because he had a dream. He wanted to become a great network marketer. His dream included someday building his business, being able to regain control of his body, functions and basic needs, driving an old van he’d been given, becoming independent and living on his own, even getting married and starting a family. At this point, I was just plain crying like a child.

In that first conversation, I began to think of my own life, back when I was younger, having these same dreams and suddenly realizing how insignificant my problems were- and I started my journey to success as a high school dropout, eventually homeless. Suddenly, I wasn’t so proud anymore of the road I had travelled. The humility he taught me in just that first conversation was absolutely profound. And then…

He asked for my help and…he began to cry for the first time in our conversation. He said he knew he had some disadvantages, some challenges he called them but, he wanted so badly to find a way to grow his mlm. He couldn’t go to any events for his company, he couldn’t attend conventions, he had no warm market to speak of because of his life of seclusion but, he really, really wanted to make it work. He cried profusely with no shame asking if I could teach him how. For the first time in my career training other network marketers to succeed, for the first time, I felt absolutely and utterly worthless to be his guide. I had learned so much from him already in just that first, 1 hour conversation, and knowing his challenges, what could I possibly teach him? Bluntly, I questioned if he could actually do it, in my own mind and I was ashamed but…I didn’t want to lead him on. Would it be better to just be upfront and admit that maybe, maybe this was a challenge greater than both of us? I began to share, gently, some of my reservations and concerns and then…

He abruptly interrupted.

He told me he was acutely aware of his challenges but that those things weren’t going to stop him and…he actually had the nerve to say that he was disappointed that I sounded concerned. He said he believed in me, completely already and wondered why it sounded like I was wavering in my own belief of myself. My knees gave out, I remember it so vividly it was like someone hit me with a baton at the back of my legs.

There was no question. I would give him all that I had to help and, I wouldn’t be charging him a nickel to do it- in that one, single conversation, he had already paid me ten times more than I could ever charge.

Every Wednesday evening, when I held my live conference call class, he was there…taking notes, by hand, in different positions, sometimes upside. He would ask a myriad of questions and then even more. I gave him every bit of knowledge I could share.

After he had been in class for a few weeks and thousands of other students heard him in class, the emails began. I got emails from people asking he not be in class, it was distracting them, taking too much time away from their questions…some even stated my same concern I expressed- I was just being mean, he could never really do this they would say.

Don’t get too upset, there were also plenty who encouraged him and me- they cheered his resolve. After class, I spent hours of additional time with him, personally over the phone…unbelievable hours. He was so determined. Sometimes those conversations were about strategies, sometimes we just spent time joking, laughing and getting to know each other a bit and sometimes, sometimes the time was spent listening to him softly weep after a bed sore cleansing. I got to know him very well. He became much more than a challenge and a client- he became my friend.

He learned so much it was incredible and every minute I spent with him on the phone, I always felt like I was the one doing more learning than him. I started him the same way I’ve done with every other student over the last 20 years- he needed to learn to make calls and talk to strangers, how to get someone’s attention, interest, decision then action. It was a long, very hard process, for both of us.

He stopped taking his pain medication too and I felt horrible. He didn’t care. He explained that on pain meds he couldn’t make calls, got sleepy and couldn’t focus and even though the pain was more than he might be able to bare- he kept doing. He did it, without pain meds…and his enthusiasm got even greater!

Several months into his mentorship, he got a laptop…and I’m telling you, it was like he made a million bucks. Only then did he admit that taking all those notes by hand in class, dialing leads I sent him, manually…those medial tasks I took for granted were so painful he could only do it for a few minutes each time. But, he dialed hundreds, thousands of leads- every single day. One day, his mother called me…

She explained that he had a sever seizure and was hospitalized. She explained that he would be in the hospital for at least a few weeks and might miss class and not be able to prospect leads for a while and then…

The very next class, there he was- again beaming with enthusiasm. He told the whole class how he rigged his hospital bed, laptop and cell phone so he could attend- how the doctor, nurses and staff refused to let him and how he won them over with persistence, pleading and finally pitching a fit.

His mother called, again. Her and I laughed, talking about her son and how he just couldn’t ever, ever be told ‘no’. She wanted to ask me to gently let him go, let him focus on recovery, getting well….she wanted to ask me to be honest with him- tell him maybe this business just wasn’t for him. She didn’t ask and I didn’t do it.

He eventually got to go home again and we continued training the whole time as if nothing had happened.

One day, during our continuous private training calls, he was weeping, again. He had made thousands of calls over months and months…actually, he’d been a student now for more than a year. In all those calls, people, these prospects would make fun of his voice, calling him ‘retarded.’ He explained that it didn’t bother him but, he would take a minute to explain to them that he wasn’t ‘retarded’, that he had M.S. He told me, after a year now, making calls even upside down with a rig he made to hold his laptop that rotated with his bed, maybe after having made thousands of calls with not a single sign-up, maybe this just wasn’t going to work. For the first time, in over a year, he sounded like he might finally be broken.

Ah, heck no! All this time teaching him, he was really the teacher and I knew it but, today, today was my chance to be there for him like he had been for me for so long. I told him absolutely not, quitting was not an option- not now, not ever. Honestly, I admit I even felt a bit guilty doing it- he had given more in a year to getting that success he wanted then anyone, anyone I had ever known or taught. I just couldn’t do it- somewhere deep down, I hoped, I hoped he would want me to talk him out of it. He didn’t. It was almost immediate. Suddenly, I could actually hear him wipe the tears and committed again to going back to work.

That fall, I held a live seminar where people would fly-in from all over the world to attend. The event cost was over $1000 per person, per ticket. But he would be my special guest I thought. But, he was still bed ridden and, even though he wouldn’t admit it, his mother told me he was slowly getting worse. I told him I would be honored if he would attend and offered to pay any expense for him to do so. He accepted the invitation but he was concerned his mother wouldn’t allow it. I can’t say convincing her was easy but, using the tenacity and persistence he had taught me, a level way beyond what I had used to create my own success, his mother agreed…she would be coming with him. The airlines had to make special arrangements to accommodate his bed in the plane but, we made it happen.

The event was amazing, people learned a ton but, the absolute highlight of the event was everyone getting a chance to meet him. He even got asked for autographs! When it came time, I asked him to say something to everyone there and handed him the mic. He sobbed as he told his story, a story we all felt was triumph but, at the end, he admitted he still hadn’t gotten a sign-up and then…

We learned he wasn’t the only one sick. His mother had cancer. He told of the additional challenges that created, how he wanted so badly to take care of his Mom like she had done for him…but he couldn’t. He told of the frustration and the feelings of letting her and everyone at the event down- he still didn’t have a sign up. This event was something that had never been done at a live network marketing event before- everyone was expected to make calls for their individual businesses, at the event, to prospects. The travel to the event for him was incredibly draining. I told him to simply rest and listen to others making calls. He refused. He had his Mom help rig up his bed with his suspended laptop, headset and cell phone and he went to work…for the entire 3 full days.

He still didn’t get a sign up into his business.

He went home after the event, tired, hurting and sad but, every single person at that event was crying with him as he left. His mother quietly said as they were leaving and that he may not be able to continue. We all understood.

He went home, to rest.

Son of gun called me that very Tuesday morning, he was at it again! Again and again, day after day, he would make hundreds of calls, I would train and counsel him and he’d keep right on going. But still, he never got a sign up. Not one! Now, it was starting to make me mad- couldn’t just one frickin’ silly person sign up with him just for the sake of it!?

Months dragged on still, he and his mother both got more sick but, he absolutely refused to give up. Many times, he would have to hold me up, never letting me even suggest he quit and other times, I would have to do the same with him…and then it happened!

He got his first sign up. And, about a month later, another.

Honestly, the rest of the story gets kind of foggy. He still came to class every single week and made calls but, we spoke a little less frequently. He got a sign up here and there I remember but, his health was making it even more of a challenge. His mother wasn’t doing any better.

He did get to drive the old van I remember. He was getting closer to moving out on his own and then…

His mother died.

I spoke with him often again there for a bit and he never wavered or faltered a bit- committed just as much as that first conversation to growing his business. He had to moved into a special nursing home after his mother died and we stayed in touch but, life began to move us slowly a part.

Some years later, I learned he passed away.

His name was Eric. He was never as famous as Eric Worre but, he was, without doubt, the GOAT- the greatest network marketer of all time.

I can’t tell you how many days I think of him now but, I can tell you I do so all the time, sometimes more than once in a day. Usually, I think of him when I have some challenge or shortcoming I think is the end of the world. I think of him and how he taught me more about this business then I could ever share with him. I think of all the lives he touched along the way but mostly, I think of how great at network marketing he really was- no, he never built a team of thousands of people and he never made millions of dollars but, he absolutely defined this industry…he gave way more, to more people to help them get what they wanted first, upfront never asking for anything in return…just being who he was and being himself, inspiring so many people to see just how weak our excuses really are in comparison.

I share this story of Eric with you in hopes that even though you will never have the chance to meet him in person, I hope that you can say now that you know him too and I hope, I hope you’ll carry his story to every single person in this business, especially….

Especially when we all make the excuses to quit that we all do- the spouse, the job, the day, the week, the company, the compensation plan, the product or service, our downline or upline, etc, etc.

I hope you learn from him as much as I have.

One of things Eric inspired me to do was have a dream to be able to afford to offer my entire courses of marketing for free- and last year, in January, I was able to make that dream come true. If you’d like to learn what I was teaching Eric, how anyone can use a 3.1 Step Recruiting System to add up to 50 reps every 33 days into your donwline, check it out here;

If I can help you in this business, in any way, please contact me directly on my cell phone- 480.217.1243.