33: Secret Secrets Are No Fun... - a podcast by Steve Larsen: Automated Downline Recruiting

What's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen and you're listening to Secret MLM Hacks Radio. So here's the real mystery. How do real MLMers like us, who didn't cheat and only bug family members and friends, who wanna grow a profitable home business ... How do we recruit 'A' players into our down lines and create extra incomes, yet still have plenty of time for the rest of our lives? That's the blaring question and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Secret MLM Hacks Radio.
Hey. What's going on guys? Hope the week has gone fantastic for you. I love reading. I actually really, really love reading. What's funny is I hardly ever get to, ever. But I love books. There's something about a book. And today I wanna talk about one of the most influential books, most influential for my career I should say, that I've ever read. I've read a lot of books. I just dropped another $3,000 on books. I built another book shelf in here. I love books. They're ... you think about some authority figure trying to convey an entire career's worth of experience, and condense it down into a couple hundred pages. Oh my gosh! Why would you not wanna read it. You know what I mean?
I'm not actually that fast of a reader. I get too analytical about it, and it takes me like two months to read one book, you know, because I read a paragraph, and I think about it, and I take notes, and I think about it again, and then I write more notes, and then I read the paragraph again. And then, I can go on to the next one. It takes me forever. I get way too analytical, but I really enjoy it though. And I hope that you're taking the time to study. Honestly, I believe that one of the main reasons why people stop being relevant is because they stop learning. They don't know where their own place in their own ecosystem, because they're not seeing the works of the other people inside their own industry.
So, if you're not reading, especially in MLM, my gosh! Go get a whole bunch of ... just look at MLM best sellers on Amazon. Start buying 'em, and read 'em, and drink deeply. So anyways, one of the books I really, really enjoy is a ... both for the title, and for the actual content, is a book called "Ready, Fire, Aim" and I guarantee there's a lot of guys who have listened to ... who are listening to now who have probably read this book. And I ... it's awesome. It's fascinating. It's fantastic. There are parts of it that are a little bit more nitty gritty, and there's other parts of it that are like, okay, that makes sense, you know, here and there.
There was a guy that I was working with at one time, and I actually think I shared some of the story in a previous episode, but I think it's worth to go back over a little bit. But he and I were actually in college, we were starting ... he was getting his wife a new diamond ring, and he's the man, honestly ... good friends, still good friends. This story taught both of us a lot. And basically, he wanted to get his wife a new diamond ring. And he found a place where you could custom build your diamond ring. And he'd send in all these pictures for the diamond ring, and he'd send it on over. And basically, what ended up happening is they would take the three or four pictures that you'd send in of rings that you like, and they'd send you back this blue wax replica, this blue ring, because it was made of max. And they wanted to make sure you liked it before they actually created the band, created the diamond ring band.
And then you would go and you'd choose your cut, and your color, and your clarity. And you would go ... and the shape of the diamond, and it was really quite the fascinating process. Well anyways, he went through this whole thing, and he got the ring back. And he decided that he would take it and actually get it appraised at a retail place. So he went and he got the ring appraised at Jensens. I think that's what it was, Jensens rings. And they appraised it at like $1,200, and he was like holy crap. He bought it straight from the supplier, so it was a lot cheaper. He cut out the middle man. And by doing that, he only paid like $300 for this ring that was retailing for $1200. We're like, "What!" That's insane. Oh my gosh. We were these college kids. And he's like, "Dude, we should sell these. Why don't we do this?"
And it was like, "Cool man. Let's do it." And so we started putting all these pieces together, started all these ... and we did everything we could, and started getting these things together. And it was interesting because it was a lot of work back and forth with these guys to get one ring made. So we sat down and he started coming up with these different plans, like what our future store would look like. And he started coming up with these different plans of our little slogan, what our logo looked like, what our colors were ... all this crap in business that actually doesn't turn dollars. And I got frustrated with him. We're buddies, hope he's cool with me sharing that. And I got frustrated with him.
And I was like, "None of this stuff matters man. This is not what turns a dollar. We're getting confused with the activities of business rather than business itself. Right? Actual sales." So he ... anyway, we went through and we got our first sale, and we're so excited. And I got back to his apartment after classes, and he's like, "Hey dude. It went super well." And I was like, "Yeah. Tell me about it."
And he goes, "Dude. So it was $300 right to the manufacturer themselves, and it was another $1,200 ring appraisal value." He's like, "Dude. I sold it for $325." And I was like, "What?!" I was ticked. I was like, "$325 ... we made $25?" And he's like, "Well yeah man. I was trying to give him a good deal." I was like, "Give us a good deal. You could still give ... you could charge $1,000 and still have a good deal in there."
And ... anyway, it ended up being this big thing and we didn't end up keep going ... you know, continue going with it, which we probably should have, probably would have made some actual real change with that if we kept going with it. But, there was this fascinating phenomenon that started happening. As we were in the middle of planning this thing, we were tying to figure out our business while we're trying to figure out how we actually made money. I don't really look at the comp plan that much. There's much smarter people than I am who actually look through that stuff, and tell me the best ways to play it, and stuff like that.
But you should know your comp plan. How do you actually get paid? What is it that you actually paid on? Do that thing. Get really good at just that thing. But there's this phenomenon that started as I was ... as we started planning this. And what started happening was I felt the need to start making everything I was doing a secret. I was like, "Crap. No one can hear about this thing because everybody's gonna steal it." And it's like this big thing. Everyone thinks that. They're all gonna steal my idea. They're all gonna steal my idea. And I had this professor, at the time, actually it might have been ... if it wasn't that exact semester in college, it was a different one.
But I had this professor who talked to me about this exact thing. And he goes, "You know what's funny Steven is that most the time you actually benefit like crazy by sharing your ideas." I was like, "What?! People are gonna steal 'em. Are you kidding me? And that's what I told him. I'm sure that's what you're thinking too. I was like, "People are gonna steal 'em. No. Mister Professor. Why the heck would I tell everyone my ideas. People are gonna take 'em. They're gonna steal 'em. They're gonna go off and sell 'em. They're gonna be the ones that profit from 'em. I'm gonna be the one who gets screwed, and lives in a ditch." You know what I mean?
And that's how most people treat, sometimes, their ideas ... in fact, a lot of times, their business ideas, the things they wanna go do, maybe something fresh angle you have on your MLM, maybe it's some fresh thing ... you know what's funny is I have gained more, and revenue has gone up by sharing my idea rather than trying to protect it. And it's exactly what this book "Ready, Fire, Aim" talks about in one of the ... it's like a third the way through. I just wanted to read the quote real quick here because I think it applies exactly to MLM. You guys are going, and you're trying to ... you know, you're recruiting, you're working hard. You know, how can you actually get more interaction from people? How can you actually get ... the way you do it is by sharing the idea.
How do you prove that the idea ... you know, it's so funny, a lot of the way the corporate world runs when you actually start a business, and you get something out there, is, "Hey, let's go get a whole bunch of VC funding, and we'll build this entire business structure before we've ever even made a sale. And then when we've got the structure, then we'll start selling."
It's like, no, that's totally backwards. That's totally ... that's crap. That's backwards. I don't believe that with a single ounce of my soul. First, start selling. First, start proving the concept. If you've never actually sold your product, it's time to go do it. Sell your stuff. Figure out how to sell it. Figure out how your up line's selling it. Figure out ... and model them. Anyway, so I'm gonna read this here. Specifically so ... the book's written by Michael Masterson and here Michael Masterson's talking about how, when it comes to your company ... so here, he's not talking about MLM, but you can apply it to MLM. He's talking about with your company, and your employees, or your down line, or whoever it is like the people who are on your team.
Don't hide your secrets from them. Don't hide your ideas from them. Don't hide your ... Don't hide whatever your secret agendas are. Don't have secret agendas. Anyway, that's what he says right here. So he says, here it is, this is on page 116, and I actually took a pen, and drew a big box around it, and ... anyway.
He says, "Resist the temptation to create a culture of cliques and politics in your company, by sharing all your knowledge with everybody. Don't hoard your secrets. They will become stronger and more useful to you after you share them." Ooh. Powerful. Powerful. Are there any secrets? What are the things you .... here, let me read it one more time."Resist the temptation to create a culture of cliques and politics in your company, by sharing all of your knowledge with everybody. Don't hoard your secrets. They will become stronger and more useful to you after you share them."
And ... anyway, it's such a powerful, powerful concept. Most the time, like I say ... and people go and they're like, "Hey. I wanna be able to go and I wanna have the upper hand here, so I'm gonna withhold information from other people." It's like no, no, your idea is gonna get stronger. Number one, as you say it, you'll hear what you're saying and realize, "Oh, that's a stupid idea. Oh, that's a great idea. Oh expound here."
As words are leaving your mouth, you will be improving the idea itself. Second, as your words hit the ears of the other person, they will think "Wow, that's interesting. That's really cool." And they'll give you information whether or not they're trying to by their reaction. How was their reaction? Was it a good reaction? Cool. Oh that's validating. How is that validating? What else would you do with that idea? I mean, is that cool to you? Tell me about that. Or maybe they'll give you a bad reaction. I don't know, that sounds stupid. Oh Okay. No. Thanks for telling me. What about that sounds stupid to you? What about that idea was not good? Right?
And when you approach it that way because what ends up happening is everybody treats their businesses and their ideas and their little things, like babies. They're like, "This is my little baby. Don't touch it. Don't insult my little child." It's not even full grown yet. In fact, it's not even a child yet. I haven't even tested it. There's not even a freaking sell behind it. But don't you dare stab my idea in the heart. Right? And they start treating their business that way, and it starts ... with MLM. They'll do things like not call it MLM for the sake of trying to look like it's something else. Call it MLM. It's MLM, you know, or whatever. But don't be afraid of your own industry.
Don't be afraid of ... it's like Voltimor in Harry Potter, you're not trying to, you know, "The industry which must not be named." Be open and honest about it, and what it is that you do. And what's funny is when you have those ideas and you start sharing them, they will actually build, and grow, and you'll see connections. Ideas work when you start to mull your head over them. And when you start to push those ideas out to others and watch their reactions come back. That's data, whether it's subconsciously, you might not even be thinking about it and the idea gets better, and the idea gets better, and the idea gets better.
Think about your MLM. What can you do that nobody else is doing in your upline or down line? And one of the easiest ways to come up with what that is is to look at who is being most successful in your MLM. I guarantee you there are other things that they've been selling or doing, whatever. They've created some kind of offer. They've created some kind of cool thing. When you join my down line, you get X, Y, and Z to help you in your path. That's proprietary that nobody else has. Well freak, figure out what that stuff is and go create your own version of it.
And take that idea and go expound on it. Talk about it with your down line. Talk about it with your team. Be a team. Share those ideas back and forth. You know what's funny is when I learned that concept, that was about four years ago. And so I started sharing all my ideas. And I think there's maybe one guy in the tens of thousands of people who've downloaded some of my episodes, whether on this show, or my other show, or speaking on stage several times, or ... you know what I mean. There's maybe one person ever who has maybe come close to what my idea actually was and replicating it. 98 percent of people are gonna hear your idea, react somehow, give you some kind of spin off on it, whether or not they like it or don't like it. And they'll never do anything with it. 98 ... tons of people. Maybe one percent were gonna be like, "Oh. That's so cool. I should do that." But they're not going to do anything.
And then maybe half of a half of a half of a half of one percent of people are actually going to actually try and actually launch and do ... but you know what's funny, what's cool about humanity? We're all so different. Even if they actually go do launch your thing, good for them. It's gonna be different than how you were planning on doing it anyway. And competition is good. Don't fear it. If they launch something, and it's similar to yours and it fails. Well shoot, good. That just saved you. Didn't it? Go figure out why it failed, improve on it, relaunch it, and be successful with it.
That's how ... that's like half of the medical industry, I mean medicine and stuff. Anyway, competition's good. Don't hoard the idea. I had the phrase go through my head as I was starting to think through this episode. Secret secrets are no fun unless I am a part of one. But I really kind of wanted to kill that last one and say, "Secret secrets are no fun." And we'll just call that episode that for this one, because that's the whole idea of the episode. Your secrets and the little plans that you have, they do nothing for you when they're just sitting in your head. They do nothing.
Your whole challenge and the joy of entrepreneurship comes when you choose to create, and bring to life, something that never existed before. That's powerful. That's why I do this. That's ... I love to create stuff. And I have obsessed over the process of creation for the last four years. And that's my favorite part, creating something that never existed before that brings value to the world, and legitimately solves actual problems in the market. Oh my gosh! That's so fun. And the only way I've ever found to actually be successful with it is to share my ideas like crazy. Hence this entire podcast, which is showing you my whole process as I'm actually creating the Secret MLM Hacks product. I am documenting my journey along the way as I've been building this thing.
This is my fourth launch of it. I launched it once, figure out what was wrong, took it out. Fixed the thing, relaunched it, cool that was fixed. But now this part was too hard, or I didn't clarify this enough. Took it off, relaunched it, put it out and it's iteration back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. I didn't fall in love with the product. I realized that it was always broken. It's the same thing with your MLM. Your MLM, out of the box, is broken. You have got to figure out how to iterate off of what your corporate has already done with it. It's your business, so treat it like a business. How can you create something new in the marketplace? How can you create value? How can you put something out there that's never existed before? That's gonna come with a lot of ideas.
That's exactly what my product is supposed ... shows you how to do. That's all I do on a day to day ... that is literally my job is I create products, info products specifically, online. And so, I'm just taking the same formulas that we use that have made millions of dollars and I'm showing you how we do it. And we're doing it in MLM space, and it's working. So, that's what the whole product's about. And I'm excited to do it. And it's been idea after idea after idea, and there's probably ... I'm not talking about my down line, I'm talking about the actual company Secret MLM Hacks, there's probably six or seven people on my team now.
I'm talking about the actual company, Secret MLM Hacks. And then, there's probably another 25 people on top of that, who I tell everything to. And I bounce all of my ideas off of. And I don't hold anything back. And what's funny is, those that say, "Hey that's awesome." And they don't want anything to do with it, that's fine. Or they'll say, "Hey that's awesome. I got something for ya that you weren't thinking about."
Or they'll say, "Hey, that's cool. Actually I don't wanna do that at all. That's a bad idea." And I can ask 'em why. And it just doesn't ... anyway, I think I've ... I think I'm beating a dead horse now, but I'm just trying to tell ya. Don't hold back your ideas. Don't create secrets. Just be super open, and crazy vulnerable. And you'll actually find more success as you do so. Don't be too postured. Don't be too ... and people will see you more as a human being because of it. They'll be able to add to what you're already trying to do. They'll see the vision that you're trying to attain. And they'll help you gain it. People want to do that. They love it. They love it. Anyway, that's the whole part of it. Secret secrets are no fun.
Alright guys, I'll talk to you later, and go crush it. Break some personal records. Hey, thanks for listening. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback for me. Do you have a question you want answered live on the show? Go to SecretMLMHacksradio.com to submit your question and download your free MLM Masters Pack.

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