Matt Morris – WorldVentures Top Earner Interview

 

Matt Morris is an International Marketing Director and the Nr.1 Worldwide Money Earner in WorldVentures. He is married to Rhonda Morris, living in Dallas, Texas, USA and they have 2 children, Zara and Angelina.

In his network marketing career, he has built organizations totaling over 170,000 representatives earning him $3,5+ million.  He has been the Nr. 1 money earner for three separate companies in his 17-year career as well as the owner of his own personal development network marketing company which became the #1 most visited personal development website on the internet.

Matt joined forces with WorldVentures in June of 2009 after the company had been in business for 3 ½ years. WorldVentures, after less than six years in business, has now grown to one of the top 100 Direct Selling Companies worldwide enrolling over 100,000 customers in approximately 20 countries.

Matt is a corporate trainer, Presidents Advisory Council Member, featured presenter on the company’s marketing tools, and his organization makes up approximately 90% of the representative base outside the United States.

Matt, how did you got involved in MLM, who pitched you' and is he/she still involved?

I was 18 years old, in college, and working as a banquet waiter for minimum wage. A cute waitress I worked with one night asked me if I ever thought about being in business for myself. Because I wanted to build “rapport” with her, I said yes and she told me to give her my number so we could talk business sometime. A couple days later Mary Beth called and invited me out to a hotel one night to meet some of her business partners. I got shown the Amway business and for the next couple nights couldn’t sleep.

For about two years I attended all the training events, weekly meetings, listened to the weekly cassette tapes and enrolled three people! Two of which I paid for to get in. J The one guy who enrolled quit right away so at the end of two years I had one person in my organization – me!

I lost contact with Mary Beth for almost 15 years and thought I might not ever see her again. Until one night when I was doing a business presentation in Austin Texas (where I got sponsored into Amway) and was getting to know one of the new members on our team before the event. She told me where she worked and I remembered that Mary Beth also worked there so I asked her if she ever worked with her. She replied, “Oh my gosh, she’s one of my best friends!” I had her immediately get me on the phone with Mary Beth and after meeting for lunch and re-connecting, she ended up joining our WorldVentures business!

The Morris Family	Traveling in Peru	Toys for Boys

 

What is the size of your team, in which countries are they?

In the past 2 ½ years, we’ve built an organization of over 30,000 representatives. We’re doing business in the United States, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, United Kingdom, Israel, Cyprus, Malta, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Hungary, Norway, Greece, Hong Kong and Slovenia.

Who have been your mentors or inspirators?

When I was homeless and living out of my car selling above ground swimming pools in Southern Louisiana, Tony Robbins made a huge impact in my life. One night when I was in a little town in the middle of nowhere, there was no gas station with an open bathroom for me to bathe in. It was about midnight and I had an appointment the next morning. It had been a couple days since my last “bath” and I really needed to bathe myself. I pulled in to a church parking lot and tried to sleep while the rain poured down. But I couldn’t sleep because I could smell myself so I decided to shower in the church parking lot!

After getting back in my car that night, I popped in a Tony Robbins cassette tape that talked about modeling other successful people and his story of reading over 700 books. I decided to model him and start reading everything I could get my hands on as it related to success. Tony was a huge inspiration as well as Les Brown, who wrote the forward to my book, Richard Brooke, Dexter Yager, and many others.

When I was 24 I met Wayne Nugent who became my mentor in Network Marketing. After meeting Wayne and following his mentorship, with almost no previous success, I built an organization of 10,000 people within a two-year timeframe. Wayne is the co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of WorldVentures.

Did you enroll massive members in WorldVentures or do you have a more selective strategy?

In the past 2 ½ years I’ve enrolled just over 60 people personally. I’ve never been the top personal recruiter but always know that I can turn 30 into thousands when you properly follow a system of duplication. When I enroll someone I never baby them or try to make them run when they want to crawl. I’ve found that if you try to turn a chicken into an eagle, you just end up with chicken shit all over you.

But if they’re an eagle or an eagle in training, I let them know immediately that I’m here to be their wing-man… that they can call me every day, or even several times a day if they’re serious. I let them know that if they give me 100%, I’ll give them 100% and teach them everything I know.

If I’m showing the business to someone personally, you might say I’m pretty selective and almost turn people away who are not serious. I let them know that I’m really only looking for “the one”.  The guy or girl who is ready to step up and make a change in their life… Someone who has a huge desire to change their life and willing to go out and work for it. I never paint a picture in their mind that it’s going to be easy – but it will be worth it.

Are you still sponsoring members or are you in retirement modus?

I’m very much still “in the game”. This year I’ve flown over 120,000 miles building teams around the US and around the world. I get asked all the time why I don’t just retire and stop building my business so aggressively. I always reply saying that I’m still building hard for the same reason a professional athlete still plays the game even thought they’ve made millions of dollars and don’t have to. We do it because we LOVE the game!

There’s not much in life more fulfilling than pouring your energy into someone to help them achieve total and complete financial freedom. Personal production is one of my keys to success. If I want my team to go out and sponsor, the best way for me to do that is for me to go out and sponsor.  The speed of the team is determined by the speed of the leader.

While I spend most of my time supporting my existing leadership through events, conference calls, webinars, etc, I am always looking for “the one” to enroll personally that I can go to work with and create a huge success story.

You have an international down-line. Is there a cultural difference in MLM entrepreneurship in the USA and abroad?

I would say there are a lot more similarities than differences. Building strategies may be very different but the nature of people is always the same. I have different “how to” strategies based on different markets but the core message is always a foundation in personal development. My philosophy is that if you build your people through personal development, they will build the business. When you get your mind right, the results will follow.

Matt Morris as Corporate Presenter

How do you generate your leads?

With 7 billion people on the planet and 300 million in the United States alone, there is definitely no shortage of people to talk to. Over 17 years in network marketing I’ve kept a very strong database of leaders and leaders in training so even in my current business, I have a lot of people I haven’t even called yet for WorldVentures because I’ve been so busy working with current teams.

My radar is also always up so if I’m out and about, I make it a point to dress sharp (no, not a suit and tie) and keep an eye out for anyone who might be ready to change their life. I simply find out about them and see if there’s an opening. If so, I tell them to write their number down and I’ll get in touch with them for coffee to talk business sometime soon. Having a Ferrari with the license plate, “NO JOB” doesn’t hurt the recruiting process either. 😉

Any type of personal development events or business networking type events have always been a great place for me to meet smart, ambitious people. And while I don’t prospect much through internet marketing, I have developed a pretty decent following through Facebook and Twitter. So from time to time, I’ll have people reach out to me that may have seen me online or read one of my books.

Which countries / territories do you think will have the largest growth rate in the near future, USA, Asia, Russia, Europe ect.

If you were to listen to the experts, the emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China would be the markets to bet on for the largest percentage growth rate. But from my personal experiences, you can’t rely on “the experts” to predict which markets will be the biggest home run. This is a business of leadership and heart more than statistical trends.

I’ve had massive growth in markets that most experts would say you’re crazy to even be in. I’ve had dismal results from major markets that the experts say are the best.

What I look for is one word – leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Put a great leader in a small market and she will outperform a mediocre leader in a huge market. 

You are a very successful distributor. Do you still get rejection?  If so, how do you emotionally handle this? Or is recruiting easier if you are a MLM millionaire?

The day a leader stops getting rejected is the day he is no longer a leader. I get rejected all the time.

While rejection is never the easiest thing in the world to receive, I don’t look at it as personal rejection, but rather them rejecting themselves to create a better life. I consider our job as networkers similar to being a waiter. After a table is through with their meal, the waiter asks if they would like dessert. If the table doesn’t want dessert, a waiter has no reason to feel personally rejected. I look at my business as dessert for life. If someone doesn’t want dessert for life, why should I feel bad?

They just don’t want dessert! There are plenty of others out there who do!

I love a quick rejection because it leads me closer to a yes. The way I look at it is that I get paid for the no’s. When I calculate how much money I’ve made from every no I’ve gotten, it’s thousands of dollars in residual income for each and every no. So the quicker the no, the better. The more no’s I receive, the more financial freedom I achieve!

What would be your advice to a MLM newbie in general.

Consider this business a profession just like becoming a doctor or a lawyer. There will be a learning curve and it may not be easy, but if there is anything worth getting good at, it’s this. Nowhere else can you make this kind of money, have this kind of time freedom, and help this many people change their life. Commit to learning the art and science of network marketing like a doctor has to learn medicine.  Read everything you can on network marketing, communication skills, leadership and mindset.

Create short-term goals but also create a long-term vision for your life. Most people over-estimate what they can do in one year but they grossly under-estimate what they can do in ten years. When I got into network marketing I thought I was going to be making a six-figure income in a year. (it took me six years). But I never imagined I would make millions of dollars over the next 15, become a bestselling author, speak to thousands of people at a time, visit over 60 countries, and have people all over the world tell me how much I have made a difference in their lives.

Psychologically, burn the bridges that would allow you to go back and live a life of mediocrity. Good is the enemy of Great. Commit that whatever it takes, you will become a massive success in this industry and live the life of your dreams. This is a BIG game with BIG rewards for those willing to make a BIG commitment.

What is the greatest advantage of MLM?

Most people get involved in MLM for the money. And while the money is great, the time freedom is great, what I love most about the business is the people. This business is like my family. We have a “work hard – play hard” philosophy because we know that the team that plays together, stays together. Through the forging of relationships over the years, those bonds are much more meaningful than the money. When my company gave me a ring encrusted with 60 diamonds for earning over a million dollars in a year I was delighted. When I bought a Ferrari it was cool. But when I see the leaders on my team getting recognized on stage for their accomplishments, it’s a thousand times more meaningful. The greatest joy that network marketing allows for me is being able to spend my life being able to help transform the lives of others.

About Matt Morris

Matt is also a generic trainer speaking to many entrepreneurial groups outside of his WorldVentures business. He is the author of two #1 bestselling books, The Unemployed Millionaire and The Art & Science of Success. To learn more about Matt, visit his personal website at www.MattMorris.com or email him directly at matt (at) mattmorris (dot)com