Margie Aliprandi – Neways Top Earner Interview

 

Margie Aliprandi is one of the Top Earners in Direct Selling company, Neways International. She is with the company for 23 years, and has a networking organization of  250,000 people in over 29 countries.  She splits her time between homes in Salt Lake City and San Diego, and with her fiance Ray in Colorado.  She has 4 grown children, Shaun, Nicole, Todd and Ashley.

In 1989 Margie began her career in network marketing, Margie has become one of the most respected and successful leaders not only in Neways—she became the first Crown Diamond Ambassador in North America—but also in the MLM industry. Margie serves on the Cancer Prevention Coalition Board of Directors and, since 1999, has overseen their outreach programs in thirteen countries.

She has produced and recorded several motivational and training audio tapes, and is a sought after speaker and top-selling author.

When Margie began her career in network marketing, she was a junior high school music teacher and struggling single mom. She achieved a 5 figure monthly income within a year and millionaire status within three years. Margie was the first in her company to achieve the top rank of Crown Diamond. She has received every possible award in her company, including International Distributor of the Year three times.

Margie is the author of Take Charge, Heal Yourself as well as training cd's including The Six Steps To The Top Of Your Pay Plan. Ted Nuyten had the honor to interview Margie.

Margie, how did you get involved in network marketing?

I was an unlikely candidate for network marketing.  I was familiar with the business model, having grown up in Utah, and had absolutely no desire to be involved with a network marketing company.   But that all changed in 1989. I was at a significant crossroads in my life. I was a newly single mom and needed to provide a living for my children.

I wanted to provide a good life for them but was torn, because I also wanted to be at home with them.   For the previous several years I had been doing some acting, television commercials, radio spots, and industrial films – which I loved.  And the income was excellent, when the work was there.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t count on a regular paycheck because the opportunities for work were sporadic.

I knew I needed consistent income if I were going to keep my home. So I fell back on my training as a music teacher and begrudgingly signed a contract with a local junior high school.  Apparently, destiny had a different plan for me, because 3 weeks before school started I happened upon Neways.  I got involved because I fell in love with a product and I saw huge income potential. When I started, I had three things I could have used as an excuse not to branch out and build a business.

• I had no capital
• I had no previous experience and
• I had three little kids. But my children.

However my desire to give them a better life, served as a deep and compelling why. I canceled the teaching contract, jumped in with both feet, and never looked back. Within one year I was making more money in one month than I could make in an entire year teaching school, and I made my first million dollars by the time I was 35. Needless to say I now fully believe that network marketing is the best distribution channel on earth, and I love passive income.

Fun in Australia	More Fun in Germany

Is your up line still active?

When I enrolled, I strategically placed a good friend and colleague of mine in the spot above me.  He has strong media connections and we’ve worked well together through the years.  He isn’t actively building the business but has enjoyed a nice income because of my efforts.

Did your family support you from the beginning or did they not understand it at all in the beginning?

My family was supportive, but I believe concerned that I was choosing an entrepreneurial venture where I would be paid on commission, rather than the stable, secure income the teaching would provide.  When I started making some decent money, my family all jumped in and began building the business as well.

How large is your down-line / team and in which countries are they. What do you make per month on average/ life time earnings?

250,000 in 29 countries with a strong concentration in Japan, Southeast Asia and Eurasia.  Regarding my income, I don't like putting it in writing – as I'm sure you'll understand.  We discussed this topic by phone, and you have a good handle on this.

How many people did you sponsor, are you still actively recruiting, did you sponsor people outside the usa?

Over my 23 years I've probably personally sponsored several hundred people and am still actively involved in day-to-day business building. At this point, I believe so much in the Neways products, and network marketing as an opportunity, that I talk about it all the time.  The net result is that yes, I continue to recruit.

With my busy travel schedule and some of the branching out I'm doing industry wide – keynoting, speaking, the Breakthrough Telesummit, etc. – I will usually stack people under one of my strong diamond leaders so they have multiple layers of support.  Yes, I did sponsor people outside the United States.  But, primarily found them by building in my own back yard.  It is that old theme of acres of diamonds… from building in your own back yard, so to speak, you can create diamonds around the world.

Margie with her kids	Scuba Diving

 

Many people find it difficult to get duplication in. What did you do to have this challenge solved.

I created step by step systems so the distributors always knew what to do without question.  I created marketing tools so that both new and seasoned team members could have greater success.  Back in the day, it was audio cassettes, then cds – now online presentations and 3-minute recorded overviews. 

These tools simply tell the story of the company, products and mission – why network marketing, why Neways, why now.   When new distributors can leverage compelling tools, they will experience less rejection. I also train the importance of hand-holding new distributors until they are successful… get them making some money, help them enroll team members – basically help them with all their initial contacts, and always be available for 3 way calls. 

I am also really big on training.  Originally it was live Saturday trainings – 4 hours on business, 4 hours on products.  Now the company produces many of these recruiting and training tools and we make them available online. I am a huge believer in having compelling marketing tools and step-by-step systems.  For duplication to really work, much of the recruiting process (qualify, invite, present, follow-up, enroll) should be automated – particularly the presentation aspect.

Of course, automation can never replace the importance of building strong business relationships.  I am a warm market builder.  But when you provide good tools, it expedites distributors’ progression through the leadership ranks.

Do you notice any cultural differences between recruiting in the USA and Europe?

Yes, I think there are definitely some differences. In Eastern Europe, where I have some of my largest teams, I find that there is a very strong work ethic. And also, because of the general hunger for opportunity, they are quite open minded.   My experience in Western Europe is that people are a bit more skeptical.  You have to gain their trust.  My team members there indicate they have more success with a product approach.

The United States / Canadian market is a goldmine – though has some unique challenges.  Because the general population is just comfortable enough, there is less hunger and people tend to be a little complacent. That being said, I am a big believer that any market is what you make of it, and one should not get caught up in stereotypes or in pigeonholing any specific market.  Basically, wherever you go, you'll find people who want to be, do and have more in life.

Margie Aliprandi's International Team – among many others

Cathy Lok	Joel B. Singer	Sunny Hand	Raziya in Kazakhstan
Bev Eves	Carol Arendt	Cindy Sheppard	Michael D' Avolio
David Gray	Melissa Timmerman	Valentin Mitskevitch	Roman Sobolevsky
Nikolaj Ryzhkov	Denis Vogel	Dimitri Nosarev	Irina & Walter Pisarevsky

 

What is the biggest advantage of MLM?

For me some of the biggest advantages of MLM are:

• First, the freedom.  I love being able to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, surrounded by people I enjoy being with.  Not having to account to someone in a work situation.
• Money.  The income potential is incredible, and has the potential for huge return with negligible risk.
• Travel. Freedom from a 9-to-5, means different things to different people as we all have our own dreams and desires.  For me, it's travel. I have loved being able to take my children all over the world, visiting places that I couldn't have found on a map before Neways.
• Of course the relationships you create with people around the world who are wanting to make a difference in their own lives as well as others – who could put a price on that? That's what brings life's richness and depth. It's such a great gift.
• To me, the most profound advantage is who you become in the process of growing your business.  I'm not remotely the same girl who began a home-based business 23 years ago. Something happens inside of you when you set the bar high and you achieve it.  It creates an inner confidence that you know you can draw on for everything you do in life.
• And, of course it's an incredible joy to watch other people step into their power and purpose. I love it!

I think this is one of my favorite stories – and it's definitely one of my themes:

Persistence is key and can pay off in unexpected and big ways.  I learned that there is a sowing season and a reaping season.  Many people grow discouraged and may quit, not realizing that they are in the prime of their sowing season.  As a result, they never see the rich harvest of the reaping season.  Persist in the sowing, and the reaping will come.  I guarantee that it will come, and it will be sweeter than you ever imagined. A single seed I unwittingly planted in New York City is quite another story. This meeting seemed destined to be a disaster.

The cab driver got lost, so I was thirty minutes late and really sweating it. The hosts had barely managed to hold things together and the atmosphere was heavy with the audience’s irritation. When I finally got up to the front I could see there was no way I could retrieve this crowd. So I gave a very short presentation and said I’d stay for any questions. A few people came up to me. One was a Russian gentleman. He shook my hand, and through a very thick accent told me he was going to take the business to Russia!

At that point in my network marketing career, I had learned not to take grand promises like that seriously. So I just kind of shook his hand and patted him on the back and said, “That’s great! Yeah, why don’t you do it? Why don’t you take this to Russia!”

A few months later I noticed these names I couldn’t pronounce on my commission report. Soon there were pages and pages of them. At one point, before the devaluation of the Ruble in Russia, I had over 500,000 Eurasian distributors on my team.  Half a million people!  I learned that there is a sowing season and a reaping season, and they are not in the same season.  If you will patiently and consistently “plant” you will reap a big harvest.

Margie Aliprandi's Go for No! Story

Is there something you do not like or would like to improve in the MLM business model?

There are a number of very good companies in network marketing. Through the years I have seen many companies that didn't survive. Or companies that lack integrity in their management team, compensation plan, or product – or all of the above. The whole industry takes a hit when companies go out of business or people's lives are damaged in some way.   If I could wave a magic wand, only companies with integrity would exist.  Of course, over time, that’s what you end up with because only those companies survive.

Another thing that I think disservices the whole profession is when distributors create unrealistic expectations for their prospects, or people who portray network marketing as a get rich quick or something for nothing business.  MLM is the best business model, in terms of its risk versus return ratio, for most people. Representing it accurately is good enough – there is no reason to inflate potential results.

Why are you successful?

Because I have incredible passion for my company mission.  I love and care about people. I have a big vision for my own life, and I can hold that vision for other people as well. I keep the big picture in mind and don't get caught up in any minutia. Finally, my crowning quality is that I simply persist.  Through the years there were many times I felt frustrated and felt like quitting, but I didn't.  At the end of the day, if you won't quit, ultimately you will be successful.

Neways Diamond Team

Neways restructured, I guess you got a lot of questions?

Yes, the rumor mill runs rampant in MLM, doesn't it? Lots of questions and a few circling piranhas hoping to scoop up business as a result of the restructuring. But also, it was a pleasant surprise to see how many people gathered around from other companies and wished us well and offered support and camaraderie through a couple of uncertain months.  As you know, restructuring of debt is a common occurrence in all areas of business. I was in close contact with our CEO and the rest of the executive management team, so I had behind-the-scenes information on a moment to moment basis. I knew that things were going to work out just fine.

And they have – Neways is stronger than it has ever been. And the opportunity is stronger than it ever has been. Our investors are passionate about opening new markets and creating an influx of capital that will bring international expansion including China and India. They bring a fresh perspective and are committed to a fully seamless compensation plan.

Which personal development books do you recommend?

This is an incomplete list, but some of my favorites are:

Think and Grow Rich, The Science of Getting Rich, The Speed of Trust, Seven Laws of Spiritual Success, The Success Principles, The Magic of Thinking BIG, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Game of Life and How to Play It, The Greatest Salesman in the World, The Tipping Point

What would be your advice to a MLM newbie?

I would simply say; find a company and product that you're passionate about. Do your due diligence so that you choose the right company who will be here to pay you long-term. Find a compensation structure that pays high bonuses without requiring huge volumes to get your money. You want a plan that provides money for people who want to consume the product and build just a small business – as well as someone who wants to build a dynasty.

Finally, once you find that company, make a long-term commitment.  Take a long term view – be consistent and do something for your business every single day. Persist. Don't give up. And keep growing yourself. This is a business where you have to grow yourself in order to grow your business, so make personal development a part of your day, every day!

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