Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Brian: Hello, hello and welcome to CatalystMLM. I'm Brian Swichkow and today on the show we
have Simon Chan. Simon was once a shy kid from New York City, with a lisp and low self
esteem. He landed his dream job out of college with the NBA. And after eight years saw that
it had consumed his life. Not, so much so in a good way. Like many others he started
looking for a solution, found Network Marketing. And now, ten years later, ten years of experience,
he's grown his Network Marketing business to more than 14 countries and is generating
over 25 million in annual sales. He coaches people how to build successful businesses
in Network Marketing, with a combination of both online, and offline strategy. Thanks
so much for coming on
Simon: You're welcome, well, it's an honor to be here, thank you, Brian.
Brian: So, I was doing some research, and you know, reading your bio and started seeing
the stuff about you say that you were shy and kind of, I mean, I don't wanna say introverted,
but just, shy. And, I had a similar story when I was a kid, is that, you know, it wasn't
until probably after college that I kind of bloomed into the, you know, social person
that I am today. So, how do you for, you know, your story, how do you explain that transition
to someone who did know you back then? Because now you're, I'm mean, bubbly and outgoing,
extroverted, and always talking to people.
Simon: Well, it's funny you said that. Let me ask you, actually, let me correct you.
First, is that, I am still introverted. Okay. And, to give you an ideal of what it means,
I've seen, you know, just a couple days ago, was my birthday. And my wife asked me what
birthday present you want? And I actually said to her, I'd like to go up to the mountains
in L.A., Big Bear, and just be by myself for 24 hours and no one talk to me. And celebrate
by myself. So, just the fact I said that, I don't think any extraverted person would,
actually most, you probably would think any Network Marketing leader would say something
like that.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: But just to be by themselves, don't talk to anyone. So, I think I'm still introverted.
But you learn through the business. You go outside of your comfort zone to do things.
You don't change, I think sometimes it's you don't' actually change the way you were born
as. And I think I was always born introverted. Like, I like to be a hermit. But, I always
say, I'm the most boring person. But, to be successful, you learn to do certain things
at the certain times.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And then you can still achieve that success. And a lot of it's just going outside
the comfort zone. And, like, when you touch upon, I grew up, like, my brother's much more
outgoing. And I just grew up and, English was a second language for me.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: My parents, who were immigrants, from Hong Kong. And they were adamant that I was
going to learn chinese first. So, it's the story was, they, you know, they're from Hong
Kong, so they, their natural language is cantonese. But, they knew mandarin because, and they
wanted to teach me mandarin first. Because, you know, most of China, they, most people
speak mandarin. So, they spoke to me in mandarin, but they would speak to themselves in cantonese.
So I could speak mandarin, but they spoke with an accent. So I spoke, I started, since
I was young, I started mandarin with an accent. And then about when I was six years old, they
say, oh, you gotta learn english too. So then I start, and cantonese at the same time. They're
going to a chinese school, which is cantonese. So, I spoke cantonese, with like a mandarin
accent. And then I learn, spoke english, with a mandarin, cantonese, Brooklyn, accent. And,
with a lisp on top of that. So, that definitely added to being the introvert, you know.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Because, I grew up, at that time, I grew up in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. And at that
time it was a pretty predominantly white neighborhood. Irish, greek, italian, I was the only asian
kid. I got picked on a lot. I went to a private school, Delfy Academy, which is still around.
At that time I was the only asian kid in the entire school.
Brian: Wow.
Simon: So, it was in, I still remember in kindergarten I would get in trouble every
day. Because, you know, I would, the teacher would telling me to do things and, not that
I was a bad kid, I just didn't understand.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And I don't think the teacher's, at that time, understood. I mean, I don't wanna
date myself, but there wasn't as many asians back then. And, I remember getting in trouble
with the principles office every single day, because I did something wrong. You know, and
I just felt out of place. I mean, my parents were immigrants. Other kids would eat like,
turkey sandwich, or something like bologna. And I'll have like white dumplings. You know,
and the kids were like, wow, what is that? They would kind of make fun of me. So, that
added a lot of stuff with low self esteem.
Brian: Right.
Simon: A lot of low self esteem, eventually I just studied, studied, studied. Just like
force the typical asian parents, studied. I got into a good university, went to Columbia.
But, I always have self esteem issues.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: That, I wasn't a good speaker. I couldn't speak. And it also fit into the stereotype.
Like, you know, asians are good in, you know engine, you know what do asians do, engineers,
doctors, lawyers, right. Like math . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You don't see asian comedians out there. You know, you don't see that. It's just way
before like Jackie Chan, like in Hollywood, right. So my dad was a doctor, so I just felt
that I should be a doctor, like my dad. And so, throughout, you know, in college, I just
didn't. I remember a class I would just. And class participation was a a big part of my
grade. And I just said screw that, I'm just gonna eat lunch in class and be a B- B+. I
just didn't care, because I . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: just could not get myself to speak up in class. I just felt that people would
make fun. I think a lot of it came from growing up, by background. Like people wouldn't, you
know, laugh at my ideas, so I was afraid of rejection. And then, that was basically, even
I had a dream job and an MBA. I never really spoke up. Until I got started with, you know,
marketing. And I wasn't looking for Network Marketing, how I even came across it. I had
no idea what Network Marketing was. I just, sick of my job at that time. Realized I needed
to do something different.
Brian: But, at this point you're, I mean, you're still shy and introverted and having
trouble talking to people, right?
Simon: Yes. Yeah, well, I would, if I got to know you, I would talk to you. But I'm
not the person, even today. I'm not the person to party, with just mingle with people. I
would rather be the wall flower. But if I talk, you know, get to know each other, friends,
then we're okay. I not the person, like some people are great. Like they can go out there
and just met 20 prospects in the gym.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Right?
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I mean, I am still today, not that person. Now, I could do it. I don't enjoy
doing it. I could go to a bar and met, I don't enjoy doing it. I, now, I did it because I
thought that was important to the business. You know, and that was one, things had to
do was, if you wanna be successful, you gotta get out of your comfort zone.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You know. And the cool thing that, once I got outside of the comfort zone, I
realized, hey, actually, it's not that bad.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: It's actually pretty cool.
Brian: And I think there's a graphic and it's like a circle and it's like, comfort zone,
and then success is over here.
Simon: Yeah, I mean the most dangerous place in the world, is the comfort zone.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: The most dangerous, because you're not growing. By the way, most people think,
oh, if I don't do anything, I'll get the status, I like the status quo.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: Actually, it's never the status quo. Because you're getting older, you're getting
slower, someone elses younger, coming along and they're gonna take your job, they're gonna
take it away. So you gotta keep growing. I mean it's like Darwin, survive of the fittest,
right. You gotta keep getting better, because someone else is getting better, and they're
gonna take your job. So, I do the same thing with business. Is, you gotta keep growing,
otherwise, other people grow, and, you know, you'll be left behind.
Brian: Yeah. And you . . .
Simon: So . . .
Brian: Go ahead.
Simon: No, no, go ahead, go ahead.
Brian: I was gonna say, well, because, when you were growing up you had kind of all that
pressure from other people, of, you know, because of your language and so on and so
forth. But, it was all external, like none, you have that thought inside of you that,
you know, you had to be a wallflower, and that you were, you know, quiet because of
all the external, you know, people, you know, pointing at you, or whatever it may be. And
I think you said, on your website, actually, I think it was. It was, you know, everyone
is born with unlimited potential, but it's locked up due to our environment and lack
of opportunity. And, you know, it's interesting, because you know, of having had a similar
transition myself, is that, you start to realize, that all of the, you know, kind of assumptions
that you had about your own personality were coming from external sources. They were, you
know, very very old, but very internalized. So, how did you begin to you know, as you
started looking, and you know, accidentally discovering Network Marketing, how did you
begin to understand that and kind of, you know, push your way out of that comfort zone?
Simon: So, hold on, let me think, gather my thought. Before getting outside of comfort
zone, I believe in unlimited potential. You know, I really really realized that as I became
a leader. I saw myself grow. Because even when I was a kid, like, I was shy, quiet,
but, you know, when we study like the history. And I loved history, George Washington, and
World War, and George Washington or whatever it was, or World War II. I always wanted to
be the leader. I didn't want to be the guy who's actually fighting. I wanna be the guy
who's doing the strategy, leading the troops. Delivering this, you know, and when I watch
a speech, it was like Rocky, like delivering motivational speeches. I wanted to be that
person. But I just didn't know how.
Brian: Right.
Simon: I was scared to do it. I wanted to be the guy in the locker room. And it's so
funny, when I used to play basketball, I was, think about it, I had like, you know. I had
the quickness and athletic ability, but I had, mentally, I had, I didn't have it. I
wanted to be the leader, I just didn't know how.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And so one of the, that's why I love about Network Marketing is really, got that,
got my potential. I was, as a kid, I never was, it was Network Marketing that brought
it out.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: And what it was I guess, I started Network Marketing, I was just like, hey, I
researched, I read books, like Network Marketing for Dummies, Your First Year in Network Marketing.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You know, A Way for Network Marketing. I read it so I knew this industry works. So
I was just like, if you want it to be successful, just copy what successful people do.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, what do they do? So, you know, they go out and talk to people. Well, I said,
well, I don't like to talk to people. Well, in life, it's not about what you'd like to
do.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Because no one likes to do a lot of things that successful people do, right. The
only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people, successful people
do things that unsuccessful people don't do.
Brian: Yep..
Simon: So, they go out there and talk to people. Well, I don't like to talk to people. So,
sometimes people they are successful people, like the networking leaders, they're great
at talking to people, they love it. But I'll tell you one thing, I've actually talked to
a lot of leaders that who are not, there are a lot of them that are introverted like me.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: They don't wanna talk to people. They don't like to do these, but, they do them
anyway.
Brian: Yeah, and a lot of . . .
Simon: And . . .
Brian: people say, I don't like to talk to people, when they have never really talked
to people. They haven't pushed themselves, you know. Yeah, I was . . .
Simon: Exactly.
Brian: I always joke around, it's an old, old story, but, you know, someone goes, oh,
I don't like sushi. And, I'm like, well, have you ever had sushi? I've never had sushi.
Well, you don't like sushi, but you've never had sushi. Right. You're like. So . . .
Simon: You know what you, speaking along the lines Brian. It always drives me nuts, people
say oh, I gotta find, if it's my passion. But, most of the time, you know how you find
your passion? You get good at something.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And it becomes your passion.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: Right. Oh, I don't like to play, you know, I don't like to play sports. Or, I don't
like to play basketball. But, if you get good at basketball, I'm sure that will become your
passion very soon.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Alright, so, speaking about making prospecting. I didn't like to talk to people.
I don't like picking up the phone. But, I did it anyway because, there's two things.
I realized, if I don't do it, if I don't start prospecting, I'll end up the same place, five
years from now, I'll be in the same place, but worse. Because I'll be older, they'll
be new people in the company taking over my job, right.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: So, I said, I'm gonna make the, just prospect. And the more I picked up the phone
prospecting, all of a sudden, I start getting good at it. And then it starts becoming actually
fun. And that's how the passion becomes. Like, Network Marketing, going out there, speaking.
I hated public speaking. I said, I was in college, I was, you know, shy, and I hid in
class. But I gotta do it, because leaders go out and speak, they do training course.
So, I did a, first teleconference I did, this was before even webinars. But way back in
the day, and it was like, you know, I invited my whole team. My team was around maybe 30
people. But only three people showed up, right. And I, it was supposed to be 30 minutes teleconference.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And I used to speak so fast, I probably speak fast now. But, I used to be even faster,
like, I finished a 30 minutes, in like 17 minutes.
Brian: Wow.
Simon: And nothing else to say. And I don't think anyone understood, the three people
that understood a thing that I said. But I did it.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And I was like so nervous, I did it. And then, I got some feedback later, Simon,
it was pretty good. I think one of my downfalls is I signed my friends. Oh Simon it was pretty
good, but you have to slow down. I think they, basically he said that we don't understand
what the hell you're talking about, right. But, I think . . .
Brian: You'll have to record it and rewind it back a little bit.
Simon: Yeah. So I, you actually have to play like a, if you had an iphone back then, they'd
have to play at half speed, right.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: But, then, I did it again, I did it again. And then I start enjoying it.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I started getting good and enjoying it. So, for those who are listening, out there,
you know, if passion, you enjoy this business, the more you do it, you'll get better. It's
just like anything, you get better at something, you enjoy it. Like, if you don't like going
to the gym, just start doing a little each day, you'll start liking doing certain things,
routines, and then it becomes a part of you. And then it becomes easy.
Brian: And it's interesting how people, you know, they push off things that they've never
done before because it's very easy to say, oh you know, I don't like that. When someone's,
you know, maybe dabbled in it once or twice, or never done it even. And, it's easy to say,
I don't like that, but, the danger of that is that if you stay in that comfort zone and
you stay in that zone of what you know, I mean, you're basically just dying, you know.
You're . . .
Simon: Yeah.
Brian: not growing in anyway, you're not doing anything new. You're not experiencing anything
in life, and it's not, you know, it's not a matter of just a day. It's a matter of the
one life that you have, that people are, they're just wasting away by saying, I'm not gonna
partake.
Simon: Yep. You know, I will share one thing, it's a girl, it's like a big big secret. I
will share one of my top five secrets. I took me, recently, I put together and it all made
sense. And, I'll sum it up in one sentence. But, it's probably not the secret to everything,
but it's one of the big big secrets, okay. So, there are things that we should do. For
example, making a prospecting call, if this is something that you should do, but you won't
want to do it, damn it you must do it. And so, I should make that phone call today, right.
But, I don't feel like doing it. I don't wanna, like, I don't wanna do it. I've got other
things to do, today's a Friday. If you, if it's something you should do, you don't wanna
do it, that means even more so, you must do it right then.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And, the important thing is do it right then. The second it comes in your mind. Because
the more you think about it, you do, it gets harder and harder.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: And that applies to so many distributors I know. They, oh, I should follow up with
my friend, l prospected him two days ago. I should follow up with him, but they say,
then that, if you pick up the phone and call that person, that's the best time, easiest.
But they, what they do is like, well, today's Friday afternoon, maybe they're getting ready
to go home, or maybe their not interest. Then they just start talking themselves out of
it. And then the more they talk, negative self talk, the phone gets heavier and heavier.
If you just . . .
Brian: Yeah, and that's, I think theres a concept that, I think theres a concept it's
called like 20 seconds of fear, 20 seconds of greatness, or something. And it's, if you
get that idea, and you don't do it within 20 seconds, then, it just exponentially becomes
harder. You know, could be, you see someone on the street and you're like, well, that
person's wearing a suit, they just got out of a nice car, and they're going into a nice
building, whatever it may be. I should totally say, hey, you know that's a beautiful car,
and you know, build a relationship with that person. And then you're like, oh, they look
busy, you know. And then like, five seconds goes by, and it just gets exponentially harder
to do. And then the persons in the building and you'll never see them again.
Simon: Yep. Yeah, absolutely. And, it's like too, if you feel you need to do it, you should
do it. But, you don't wanna do it, just go do it. And, you know, this business is about,
you know, it's sales. I always talk about, it's like no hype zone, right. We're selling
all the time, it's just a matter of being pushy, pushy, or like the right way to do
it.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, we're selling all the time. And when people buy, they're buying us. So self
esteem is to, you know, if you go on pure everything. It's the, you know, peep, so important,
right. And, in the business, self esteem gets attacked all the time because every time people
say no. So, you know, our self esteem goes a little bit down.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, you want as much self esteem as possible. And one of the easiest ways to kill
your self esteem, is not doing what you should do. Like you said, the guy come up in a nice
car, going there, if you talk to him, it doesn't matter if he says no or rejection. But you
feel good.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You feel your self esteem gets a huge boost. But, if you don't do it, and you start
thinking, they guy walks in, you lost opportunity. You feel like crap the whole day. You say,
oh man, I should have done, I could have, I should have, and that's the worst feeling.
Brian: And then when you're in that mindset, you're just, you know, ignoring all the other
situations . . .
Simon: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brian: that are going on around you.
Simon: That's it, you're done, because you're thinking, oh, I screwed it up.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And then all the sudden all the other people, there could be another person that
comes walking right in front of you. You didn't even see them, because your mind is thinking
about that that person just walked away.
Brian: Yeah, absolutely.
Simon: Right? You could have avoided the whole thing, by just talking to them right there,
like you say, that 20 seconds. You talk to them right then and then everything would
have been different.
Brian: Yeah. And I learned a long time ago, it was in a totally different context, but
it was, if it's not a good time, it's a great story. And, you know, I used to say that over
and over and over again for years. And it was an, I'd probably said it for three or
four years, and then something happened that should have been not a good time. It should
have been like, uh, this is really bad, but like, maybe two seconds went by, as soon as
it happened, I just started laughing. Because I, and the person who was the customer was
like, why are you laughing? I was like, because this is gonna be a great story. And you, you
know, you jumped to that. So, you know, you talk about the webinar, you talk about talking
to people. It's not always gonna go great, especially if you just pick the phone right
then and there. But, eventually, you get good at it and you enjoy it.
Simon: Yeah, you talk about something important, I wanna emphasize too, is like, it's all about
vision. You see yourself as successful, right. So, you see yourself successful, you're gonna
make it. All those negative things, is you see yourself like collecting stories. Like,
you know, you collect plastic, you know, collecting recyclable plastic cans, you're collecting
stories every time. So this is a bad story, great. You know, five years from now, on stage,
you're gonna share that.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: Right. And, by the way, you just see yourself as a leader, that, because the story
is, all the good leaders, trainers, they teach by stories. So, everyday your collecting stories.
And, a bad thing went, a bad thing, this guy came out of the car, he totally rejected me,
walked, ignored me. You know, that's a great story, I can share, you know, years from now
when I'm on stage.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You know, have a vision that, I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna make it. And, you know,
I used to live on Bundy, in Santa Monica, right, Santa Monica and West L.A., and Westward,
right, in L.A.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And, I used to jog to the gym. And while I was jogging to the gym, even though
when I was only making $100 a week, I saw myself, being on stage, making the millions,
I saw that. And I would actually, I'd be listening to audio's and I'd be visualizing my acceptance
speech where I could, I'd be seeing, when I get to the stage. Which hand would hold
the trophy, which hand would be, you know, thanking my leaders. Which leaders I'll thank
and what order should I think them in. I, visualizing, right. And those are the things,
one of the things, the ones I saw were successful. Then, all the rejections, it's just a matter
of like, it was just like stories, little bumps in the road, that'll take you there.
The success is a journey.
Brian: Yep. And, I mean, there's a four letter word, which is luck. And, you know, a lot
of people are like, oh well you know, that person just got lucky. And most entrepreneurs,
most people who are successful would say the same thing. Which is that, you make your own
luck. And, the way that you do that, is by keeping, you know, you have that vision and
you keep talking to those people. And all of the no's become one more step to finding
the yes, or finding the leader, or whatever it may be. And, you talk about running and
listening to audio's. And I know that you have a pretty ritualistic morning routine
that you developed, and what was the impact that that had, you know, in conjunction with
the vision.
Simon: You know, self development is the most, it, people say the secret, people say how
do you become successful. So, I'm sharing a little tip, of course there's no one tip.
But people always say, what's the one thing, the one thing really is my incredible fanatical
devotion to self development.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And, I didn't really know this, that's another thing, I gotta thank the MLM profession.
I never knew about this . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Self development, and you know, it's because of MLM. Because I wanna, I had no
skills. So what I had to do, I figure, I knew MLM business worked. I just was, I really
sucked. I was terrible, I mean, I had no skills. So, but a beautiful thing about this day and
age. You can go to this, the informations out there.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, I just went on Amazon back then, and I bought Zig Ziglar's, secrets to, ah,
no, Zig Ziglar, Selling 101.
Brian: Okay.
Simon: And the reason I bought that book, was because it was cheapest sales book out
there. It tells you like, my mental, I mean, this past year, okay. I mean, my business
partner and I, we invested over 50,000 U.S., just in self development.
Brian: Wow. Just for the two of you?
Simon: Yes, this is what we're gonna do, 50,000 U.S. So, we network with other mastermind
people, we, courses, and things like that. You know, I, on my birthday, I went to an
email marketing course. I'm always learning. But, back then, you know, the only reason
I bought that book was because it was under ten bucks, it was the cheapest book. So, whatever,
I mean, I could spend $15.00 for a lunch, but I couldn't spend $15.00 on a book. So,
I was like, I'll get the cheapest book, I need to learn. So, I read that one book, immediately
I was able to apply a close, I learned that book, to sign up someone.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I said, wow, this is pretty cool. So, that one thing lead to another. And Brian
Tracey, which was like if you wanna double your income in a year, you just read and study
your industry, one hour a day. So, that's what I really started. I actually started
doing that on January and then, everyday, I would read that. Now, I admit I wouldn't
read an hour, probably read anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. But, I listen to
audios and I'll convert everything, if it's videos, I'll convert to mp3's. So, when I
was in my job, you know, at that time I didn't even had an ipod, but I'd just burn them onto
CD's.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And, driving, you know. And then later on when when I was walking my dog I'd do that.
You know, I'll share a story. I totally forgot about, glad you brought this up, about self
development. I remember, again, I was like, I didn't have much money but I went to buy
my first ipod, back then. And the only reason I bought my ipod back then was because I was.
My first trip to Asia, I was like, I didn't know what I was doing. But hey, let's go to
Hong Kong, I wanna grow my business, I saw my vision. I always wanted to grow a business
in Asia. And nowadays, I mean, just in the Philippines, I have 40,000 distributors, just
in one country, now. But that was all, the Phillippines success, again, it was luck . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Okay. I got an, I was lucky, I really was lucky. I mean, now I've got star diamonds,
I've got a developing group. But, out of the one Phillippines success stories, there were
a lot of things I did. Well, like in Taiwan, that did not work out.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Okay. So, people say, and the Philippines is really luck, but I struck out maybe 19
times before I got luck in the Philippines, in Asia. So, I went to Taiwan and the reason
I got the ipod was, you know, because of typhoon, my flight got canceled. And, I was in the
couch at the airport, Taipei airport, in Taipei. And they had, I had to stay over, they gave
me a hotel at the, sleep at the, you know, the airport hotel.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: But, during the whole, I think I was there for like 15 hours. Like, I ran out my,
I had discman, I know people still remember discmans, I had my discman listening, I burned
a training course onto CDs. I burn them, I'm listening, I ran out of them. And I was there
for 15 hours, right. And, you can't walk to fast or it skips.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: Okay.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: It was CD's skip. So, I was in the airport . . .
Brian: It's called a walkman, not a jogman.
Simon: Yeah. So I'm like, I was there for 15 hours, now, I listen to all the CDs, I
had nothing else to listen to.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I was like, man, I mean, I gotta just invest the money, the four hundred bucks,
and get the, it was four hundred bucks for an ipod and you only got like five gigs, or
something like that. But five gigs, I had like 20 hours of self development there, instead,
I ran out. I'm just sitting at the airport doing nothing, there's books. So, that's actually
where I got my first ipod. And I got, and once I got home I immediately got the ipod
and starting learning. Every time I'll be going to a shopping, like, buying groceries
. . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I'd be standing in line, I'm listening to audio. And it's going, listening, listening.
And that, you know, it goes back to talking about unlimited potential. If you really invest
the time, and the money, into self development, you easily get the money back, you know ten
fold, hundred fold.
Brian: Absolutely.
Simon: Easily.
Brian: And someone recently told me, and it's like my new favorite thing, is that, when
you're listening to a podcast on your iphone, you can, you said it before, the half speed.
You can also do two times speed.
Simon: Yeah.
Brian: And so, you can listen to twice as many. And, you know . . .
Simon: Absolutely.
Brian: for people who haven't really jumped into the personal development world, you know,
the feeling that you get after, you know, a really great movie, where you're there for,
I mean, two and a half hours. And, by the end of the movie you're just do ingrained
in the story that you have either a really good feeling or a really bad feeling, depending
on the movie. Well, the same thing with personal development. It's like, if you do ten to fifteen
minutes, those golden nuggets just hit you, and you're just like, yeah, I can do this.
And, then you constantly learn new things. You grow, and you know, you keep building
yourself. And, but you can feel it. Because you know, the whole, I forget the cliche ones
where you know, our parents used to say, oh well, you know, that builds character. Well,
you can actually feel the character building.
Simon: Absolutely. You talk about something, you touched on something very important. Now
it's, what I call the power zone. And I write about that on my blog. The power zone is like,
there's times where we're very inspired, and there's also times when we're not inspired,
right. There's times where, I'm ready to talk to the prospect, but there's also times when,
you know, sometimes we don't wanna get out of bed. We just wanna bum around, right.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, when, and people are always buying us. You said, peep, you know, when you watch
that and listen to self development, or read that book, you get char, you get excited.
That is when you gotta prospect. There's people you prospect will hear that excitement in
your voice.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: They say, wow, Brian, I can't believe it, he's sounds different, right. He's so
excited, he's a leader, he's confident. So, I mean, and you know, you talk to a friend
and then if you're not feeling good, and you wanna be confident, they can hear your voice,
you're not confident. And then, they're not gonna join you. So, what I had a routine,
was, I would set, one of the things that gives me energy, is self development, and also working
out, exercising. So I would set up where I will work out, always before, and listen to
self development, right before my prospecting time. So, back then, certain specific times,
I was, 4 p.m. I would always make my prospecting calls. Between 4-6 p.m. So, I'll time it,
at like 2:45, I'll go to the gym for an hour, an hour and fifteen . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: come back, and I'll be so motivated, I'll be stinky, sweaty, but I wouldn't even
get in the shower, I'd just stop and pick up the phone and start prospecting. Because
I know that once, and a lot of people, do, is their inspired, but they don't take action.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Then you waste that energy, you wasted it. It's like, you know, back in the day I
used to play Super Mario Brothers, right, I played video games. But, you've got the
star, the star man . . .
Brian: Yep.
Simon: then you hear the ding, ding, ding, ding, and then you're like invincible, right.
But, you're invincible you gotta like go as fast as possible. You don't wanna waste that
energy.
Brian: Right.
Simon: Because once you lose that, then you're back to normal. It's just like, if you don't
read that book that was introduced. . .
Brian: That's the most perfect metaphor ever.
Simon: You've gotta take advantage of that, because that doesn't last forever. So I know,
personally for me. I know, if I go shower, then I get comfortable, I'm not gonna wanna
like, because sometimes you're prospecting, you're standing there excited, you sweat.
And I know once I start showering, then I lose it.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So once I come back I wanna go and start prospecting immediately. And it's the
same nowadays, I still do it. And sometimes when I'm creating content, or doing marketing,
the things I'm most creative, I do it immediately after I feel good. And self development add
to that man.
Brian: Yeah. And, I mean, scientifically speaking, I mean, you're working out and you're getting
active, you're getting those endorphins. And I mean it's just, it's a natural high. But,
I mean, I still love that metaphor. I'm totally using that.
Simon: Star man.
Brian: For video game, for non video gamers, who don't understand what Mario is, I'm sure
we'll come up with some other metaphor, but that one's perfect. So, when you were in,
I'm sorry, out of college, and you were with the NBA, and you were looking for another
option, you didn't originally look for, you know, Multi-level Marketing, you looked at
franchising. And, franchising is kind of a similar model, except you have to have a much
larger investment and you have to do it over a longer period of time. But, it's the same
in the sense where you have kind of like a proven system, a proven product, or whatever
it may be. But, the personal development is not there.
Simon: Right.
Brian: So, what made you go away from that? What, you know, pushed you away from franchising
to look for something else.
Simon: Well, that's easy. I'll take a step back, you know Rich Dad Poor Dad?
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I realized you have to start your own business. Are you gonna make money from investments,
like stocks, you know, building equity. But, you can make it, you have no, you know, you
can't make investments when you have no money to invest. So, the only way to start a business,
and, I was attracted to franchising but I had no idea about business. Like I said, all
I knew was basketball. So, I have no business skills. How do I, you know, what product am
I gonna invent, I mean, invent a basketball training product? I had no idea. I mean, even
to get vendors, I have no clue what to do, right. All I knew was basketball and I had
some T.V. background, nothing else, just basketball. So, franchise was easy, you know, you have
a product, you have a system. And the simple reason why I chose Network Marketing, but
I didn't even know about Network Marketing that came in later on in the picture, was
because, I just didn't have the money to start a franchise.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: It's as simple as that. I mean, I looked into doing a Subway franchise, this was early
2000's. And Subway was very popular, but, to get started with Subway in L.A. was over
a quarter-million dollars.
Brian: Wow.
Simon: Yeah, between, the franchise fee was like twenty-five thousand because it was Subway.
Brian: Right.
Simon: But, you have to get the real estate, you gotta do this, you gotta do renovation.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: By the time it's all said and done it's gonna be a quarter-million dollars.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And, I mean, you don't even make any money, this was the killer, this was the killer.
Where, you can not hire someone to do the restaurant. You have to work the restaurant,
most, all these franchises require it in your first store, to normally at least work two
years. So, you gotta work it.
Brian: Wow.
Simon: I just can't say, I'm investing in the franchise, I'm gonna have Brian, and you
can run the whole thing.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Because these companies, they want the owners to be, you know, mentally, physically,
every, invest in the business so they understand how the business is. So you don't turn the
franchise into crap.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: right. Because if I hired someone else, they could turn it into crap. But if I'm working
it seven days a week, I'm gonna make sure. So they force you to learn the business, and
after the second year, then you can start have, you know, have, assigning managers instead
of running it. So, I'll just say, and then you make, maybe fifty thousand a year, you're
first restaurant. I was like, that'll take like five years to break even.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You know, the average Starbucks, it takes like five years to break even. And I
was like, I don't wanna, for a quarter-million dollars, that takes me that much after I open
a second, third, fourth store. So that was one of the things that kind of turned me off.
And, especially I have to work the store. Like seven hours a day, work the store. I
started looking for different things, and I basically, bumped into Network Marketing.
And the first time I heard Network Marketing, I actually didn't even, I thought it was marketing
computer networks. Because this was when Cisco, it was when Cisco stock was up.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And I was like, oh, I don't know about IT. And then I learned more about it and I
said, that's actually pretty interesting. You know, it sounds like very similar to franchising.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You have a product, you have a system. I was very skeptical because you, I mean,
you're telling me on one end, you invest a quarter-million dollars, and make fifty-thousand
a year. The other side, you invest a couple hundred dollars, and you'll make six figures.
That sounds like, you know, I'm not that dumb.
Brian: Yeah, it sounds too good to be true. And, that, kind of running back a little bit,
is that, you know, if you draw the metaphor, for anyone who's had any experience in Network
Marketing, is that, you know, it's the way to be successful is you have to have that
marathon mindset, you know. It's not gonna happen overnight. Personal development or
otherwise, you know, if you go out and run and come back and make prospecting calls and
you listen to audios every single day, every minute for a week, you're not gonna be successful
by the end of the week. You have to keep doing it. And, Subway, says two to three years.
And that's two to three years before the business has built, you have the expertise . . .
Simon: Yeah.
Brian: you've pushed it enough, and you can do that. And Network Marketing, a lot of times,
you know, leaders will say, look, you need to do this. But, they're not your boss, right,
you are your boss. And sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes not so much. So
. . .
Simon: Yeah.
Brian: how do you communicate, I mean, taking kind of that legitity that the franchises
have? Do you communicate to people on your team and say, look, you need to do this to
be successful?
Simon: Yeah, I have a training program for the million dollar business. Where, the tragedy
is, the benefits of Network Marketing is so inexpensive they can start, right. But the
tragedy is like, because it's so, you know, inexpensive, so cheap to get started, people
don't treat it seriously.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, treat it like, if you wanna be, but if you ask people, do you wanna make a
million dollars, everyone raises their hand. And, you can make a million dollars, But,
you gotta treat it like a million dollar business. So, meaning like, you know, so this was the
mind, I say to myself, I don't feel like calling prospects. I'd rather watch T.V. tonight.
But, if I had a million dollar business at stake . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: would I be watching T.V. or would I be making that phone call?
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Oh crap, I'll be making that phone call, right. If I have a million dollars at
stake, would I quit after a couple months? Or, I'm gonna work hard and get my million
dollars back. Oh, I was stuck in that for a couple years, I wanna make that money back.
Brian: Right.
Simon: So, if you apply a million, or million dollar business, it's a huge industry, right.
If ten people reject you, and they don't wanna do the business, but that's a million dollar
business out there. I just say, oh, ten people don't want it, I'm just gonna forget the million
dollar pot of gold.
Brian: Right.
Simon: No, you keep going. So, if you treat your business like it's a million dollars
at stake, and it really is. If you do the business you will make a million dollars.
If you give it time, you will make the million dollars. If you just get that mindset, that
will solve a lot of the problems. Like lack of motivation, or distractions. Like, you
know, oh, let's go out to hand out this weekend. But the weekend we have a big opportunity
meeting, you know, you're training.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: it's a, hey, it's a million dollars, right. There's a million dollars at stake,
do I wanna hang out and give up that million, or do I wanna go out and get that million
dollars quicker. So if you just treat the business like a million dollars, everything,
that's really, so in the mind.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: That will solve of issues man.
Brian: And a lot of people, I mean, most people, don't think that it's even possible for them
to make a million dollars in their lifetime. You know, they look at their job, I mean,
I know I have family that feel the same way. And, you know, they just don't think that
it's possible, but at the same time, if you look at the opportunity, and any person can,
really, you know, if they look at any Network Marketing company and they say, alright, this
is compensation plan, this is how to build the business, this is what I can do. This
is how many years, you know, I'm gonna commit to it part time for five years, whatever it
may be. You can build a million dollar business.
Simon: Yeah, absolutely.
Brian: And, all of the stuff that became, you know like, oh man, I wish I had a Ferrari.
Well, you can work your butt off and you can actually get that car that you want. But,
so many people just, you know, think, well, you know, the short term pleasures of like,
you know, well, I'm gonna skip going to this event because my friends are going drinking.
I'm gonna go drinking with them. Well, if you sacrifice those short term pleasures,
then you'll have a lifetime of long term, very big pleasures.
Simon: Yeah, you know, speaking of drinking, one of my leaders, he's an emerald director,
and he's on the top piece of rollers entire company. He was the biggest party animal,
right. You know, talk about drinking, he would be happy hour five nights a week. Okay, weekends
he'd be out as well. And, the best, well the first lesson is you never know, you, who's
gonna be good. I thought he was gonna be a, you just say, I'm gonna sign him up, whatever.
I really didn't think he was gonna be good. Turned out he's, you know, he turn out to
be one of my best leaders.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: A second lesson, I thought he would sign up all his party animal friends. But
none of them, because he's very outgoing. He's like . . .
Brian: Right.
Simon: I'm introverted, he's outroverted. He, and none of those people want to join
up. But, he end up becoming very good at doing marketing, and talking to strangers.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Which is a very big surprise to me, right. But, with him, he actually, when he
got started in the business, he actually told his friends no. And I say, well how, where
do you get the motivation to like, you know. You went from a party animal, and by the way,
he still parties, just not six nights, seven nights a week. He party two nights a week.
He'll do Friday, Saturday.
Brian: Cutting back a little bit.
Simon: Just not Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, right, going out. So, he lived in Hoboken
New Jersey, and that's like a great town for young kid . . .
Brian: Right.
Simon: young people, you know, young kids, I call them kids.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: But, so I say, where you get the motivation? And he said well, I, everyone has to pay a
price. So, I know I'm paying the price now, but, if I don't pay the price, ten-twenty
years later fifteen years later, when I have kids, I'm gonna pay a price. And that price
later on, when I didn't get to spend time with my kids, you have to get a job. So, it'd
be way more expensive then giving up one or two nights going out with my friends.
Brian: Yeah, that's . . .
Simon: I said, well, that's actually, that's as you, you know, to me, well that's pretty
deep, you know. Because you single, he singled out his future already, right.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, if you give up the one or two things, it may seem painful. But later on, it's gonna
be way way easier.
Brian: Yeah, and it's huge to give up something now, for the kids that you don't have yet.
Simon: Yeah.
Brian: And, I know that was something that you had talked about. And now you have an
adorable son, which I saw a picture online.
Simon: Thank you.
Brian: And, so when you were getting started, did you know that, before, I mean, before
Ethan was born, did you know that you were working towards that when he didn't even exist
yet?
Simon: It goes back to your vision.
Brian: Right.
Simon: You gotta have a vision for what type of life. Because, you know, I was saying you
could learn to create your future. Your future's not determined by your boss or what you have
to do. No one tells you what you have to live a certain life. If you're stuck in, you know,
Vermont, doesn't mean you're gonna have to be there your whole life. You can do whatever
you want. And if you ever, and you know, success does not discriminate. Because you see people
who become successful from wealthy backgrounds, and you know, you say like, Donald Trump.
You also see people successful who grew up from the ghetto.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And they became multi-millionaires, right. And, so, and you see people from caucasians,
to asians, to african americans, latinos, it does not disciminate. So anyone can do
it. And, I'm gonna, talk about what you brought up before, about, like, a lot of people, you
know, they, in their live they may never make a million dollars the entire year, entire
lifetime. They're gonna just work their jobs, and do that, right. And, so, people say, you
know, oh Network Marketing, is hard. Well, it's a simple business and can be hard. But,
if you don't do this, what else are you gonna do? Are you just gonna settle and just say,
hey, I'm gonna work my job and, you know, 30 years from now, 40 years from now, this
is what's gonna happen.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: That to me, that's just, you're giving up now, you're not giving up Network Marketing,
you're giving up a life.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You only get to live once, go and pursue your dreams. Even if you don't get your lamborghini,
or whatever,, maybe you don't make a million. But you make nine hundred thousand, or something
like that, right. Or, at least you lived up to your potential.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: You're not just wasting your life away. Because if you're just doing everyday routines,
you're wasting your life away. And, I know it can be hard, but going back to the million
dollar business. One of the things that really helped me was when I read Network Marketing
For Dummies.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And, I'm not a dummy, but I had to go on the dummy dummy level, right. Just to
get the basics. Because I was like, I might as well start from ground zero. So I got the
book for the dummies. So, they, the book teaches you, if you do the business consistently,
every single day, okay, you can earn the $50,000. Okay, now, in five years. It's like a full
time job income, right. So, I said to myself, like fifty-thousand, okay, that's good to
know. And it was very good because I was very skeptical. So fifty-thousand, I may not be
good enough for me. I wanna at least one hundred thousand, in passive income. And, I made a
promise to myself, I would not quit unless I made a hundred thousand, unless I went for
five years. In five years, I didn't make a hundred thousand, I'm outta here.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: But, if I quit after two years, I'm basically cheating myself.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Right. It's like learning how to ride a bike, it may take you thirty times to try
and ride a bike, but if you quit the first twenty time, you will never get to ride a
bike. I'm throwing all that income away. So, I made a promise early, I'm gonna give it
five years. Five years, I don't make a hundred grand, I'll give up. And trust me, the first
five years, there's many times I wanted to quit. And what I do, is I took my date down.
It was November 14th, I put it on my, everywhere. And, one of my mentors taught me everyday
was, what you're doing today, this second, is it helping you get closer to your goals
or further away from your goals.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: And I had that date down, in my mirror, in my bathroom. I had it in front of my apartment,
every time I walk out of the apartment. Am I, so maybe I'm doing my friend for drinks,
you know, I'm playing basketball, am I doing something that's helping go, get, reach my
goals, or taking away from my goals?
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And one of my computer, around my laptop, I picked up, and of course, I hated making
phone calls, I put it on my phone. So every time, it's those one extra phone call . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: that help take me close to that goal. So, I was constantly beating into my subconscious.
And they asked me, how do I see into my son, it was all in the vision. And, in order to
accomplish the vision, I had that date down, five years I had to do that. It was everywhere,
so, you know, in every room I had it. I couldn't be in my house unless I have it stare at me.
But sometimes you have to those little tricks to get you motivated. Because you, we're emotional
people. We get very motivated, and there are times where we're not motivated. But, if you
stay in there, I mean this is not just about being successful, about making money. It's
about giving, you know, and the best part, doesn't mean you have to be full time and
be a leader and you can just do this. And you don't even need to make a million.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You could just make, I mean everyone has a different definition of success. Sometimes
people feel like, oh I'm not full time making a million dollars I failed. It can just, maybe
success for you is making 500 bucks a month.
Brian: Right, and . . .
Simon: You know, just so you can, you know, pay the mortgage, and you know, take your
kids and family to dinner once extra night, you know, one extra night a week.
Brian: Yeah, and a lot of people overlook, when they're talking to a prospect, they don't
ask what their definition of success is. They assume that it's money.
Simon: Yes, yes. And they show them the nice cars and stuff and assume that's, some people
might not want a nice car. They just want, to make maybe 500 bucks so they can take the
kids out of daycare.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: Right. So, everyone have a definition of success, and success is a journey. And,
so don't say, oh, I have to do this. Everyone has their own definition of success. And,
so, so I kind of. I'm sorry, we was talking about that and I kind of lost my train of
thought. Sorry about that.
Brian: That's alright.
Simon: So, everyone has their own definition of success, but you've gotta go out there.
And, but the cool thing about Network Marketing, is even if you wanna do other things, right.
Other, the cool, the benefits of MLM. Couple things, number one, obviously the money. But,
that's not the important thing. The most important thing is being able to help others. And, you
ask me why I, you know, I, another reason I chose Network Marketing was I read The Purpose
Driven Life. I'm a born again Christian. I read The Purpose Driven Life, when it came
out by Rick Warren. And I realized after doing the 40 days of exercises, that God's purpose
for me, was to have a positive impact on as many lives as possible. And, so I started
thinking back, it was just like something getting emotional and writing that down. It
was like it was just really true. And, so I started thinking back, when you talked about
being an introvert. If I got to know you, I'm outgoing.
Brian: Right.
Simon: But, I couldn't talk to you. And even back in college, I was involved with my church
fellowship, I was involved in basketball programs with, like, in Chinatown and New York. I'd
take kids off the street and get them into YMCA, I enjoy doing coaching. So, that was
the thing that attracted me to Network Marketing. This business is really not sales, the business
is about helping people. So, the benefit is like, you help people. And, you know, just
like my friend, John. You know, some people say, oh, you lose friends in Network Marketing.
And no, you got it wrong, if you do it the right way you gain friends.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And you talk to John, he's, but, funny thing, is we all back then live in New York,
now, just poor housing. Most of his friends were party animal friends, you know back.
And now 10 years later his party animal friends are either still renting, or they have to
buy only like a two bedroom condo, small. He just bought a house, his wife, in Torrance,
right. But most, and all of a sudden his friends are, oh, how did you do that again, right?
But, of course, told him he got lucky, he realize all the times where he gave up the
partying, to build his business.
Brian: Right.
Simon: Now, he's got it. So, if you ask John, it's like, you know, we were actually acquaintances
back in the NBA. And now he's one of my closest friends whos a groomsman at my wedding. And,
so if you do Network Marketing right and you gain friends because you're helping people.
You're helping, you're, you know, I always. One time I asked him, this was back in the,
a long time ago when he was in the business, like two years ago. And I was like, he was
working hard, and I say, do you ever regret that actually, you know, and he was frustrated
too, right.
Brian: Right.
Simon: Because, he's like, do you ever regret that I got you into this MLM thing? He's like
no way man, I thank you. Because for the first time, I see this hope in my life. I see a
light at the end of the tunnel.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Before you told me that, I thought I was gonna be a corporate job, if I needed
money I gotta get a second job. Now I realize I don't have to depend on my bosses. It's
all about me. If I wanna make more income, I go out and talk to more people, I can get
that income.
Brian: And it's just . . .
Simon: No, go ahead.
Brian: I was gonna say, it's interesting, because a lot of people who have corporate
jobs, that are really stressful teachers, well, teachers we'll say because I know a
lot of teachers. But, you know, they get off work and they, oh, I need to go out for a
drink, I need to go for a movie. Like, they have these outlets that they have, and it's
almost like, because they feel, they think, that that's gonna be the routine for so many
years, that they have to have these outlets that just stay sane. But, a lot of times when
people out of a situation like that, where they think that they have no other option
and then they find Network Marketing. They're like, oh my gosh, you know, and they're willing
to jump in and just dive in and work extremely hard, because they see that there is hope.
There is, you know, okay, well, wait, now with this thing, if I work really hard with
this thing, then, I'll fix all those other things. Whereas if you work really hard with
this other thing, you're just gonna continue doing the same thing at that same job, forever.
Simon: So it goes back to, you brought up a great example of what you said before. You're
not just giving up on a business, you're giving up on a life.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You know, it's just the way it is, you know, an outlet is that I'm just gonna
watch T.V. and relax, right. But, no one says you have to live that way.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: It's just, and the success is definitely possible. Because everyone else, a lot of
people are doing it, right. So, getting back to John, I was like, the benefits of MLM is
you impact others, you see yourself grow, self development. And, you know, and really,
just watching yourself grow, it's really cool, really really cool. I mean, that's like, you
know, I saw myself become an introvert and in many ways, I still am. But being able to
do things I never thought possible. And, like public speaking, I used to hate it. Now I
love it. And it's actually something that's cool, right. It goes back to if you do it
enough, you can get good at it, it becomes a passion. I did more and more of it and I
actually started liking it. And then the other ben, he really really, another hidden secret
about MLM, is, you develop a network that you, obviously you could not develop at a
job. I mean, that's why I always believe in helping all, everyone in the MLM industry,
the profession.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I don't see people as a cross line or in another company. I mean, people in other
company are not our competitors.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: You know, they're, our competition is not a leader in another company. Our competition
are the distractions, as the wise Corporate America tell us. That is our competition.
Or the T.V. that's killing people dreams, if you just relax. So you're not fulfilling
the potential, that's our competition. You know, Network Marketing is all, we connect
all types of people. And, it's like, and then all of a sudden, you know, you not just going
back to success, doesn't mean you have to be a Network Marketing leader and do it, and
that's all you do. You can do other things. You know, for Network Marketing it's like
getting to start other businesses. It's about connect with other people. You know, we talk
about, you know, good friends, Mike Watson's good friends with my partner Scott, Kate,
you know, Kate Northrup, we got connected. They were, you know, they weren't in the same
down, up line. We got connected with Network Marketing. And Brian, you and I got connected
with Network Marketing, right. But, if you're at a job, sitting there, how do you network?
And most of the time don't even know what networks you go to. You go to seminars, or
networking functions and you get like 20 business cards, 50 business cards. You go home, you
think your cool. But then when you go home you throw them in the garbage can, right.
No one remembers you, you don't remember them. Here, you have an immediate impact. I mean,
one of the things I'm working on, like, I share the story, this is like, for those out
there who want to go out there and make a impact in the world. This is something you
will have to pay attention to. I'm looking to I'm working on a book that's gonna come
out in the next year or so, right. I, it's that you always reading, it's just the timing
I want to release it. Before Network Marketing, the most I could probably sell to, was probably,
maybe, I mean, you know, I'll honest, and say maybe 50 friends. I'll tell them to buy
a copy or maybe they should buy two copies, three copies. I may sell 200 copies. Now,
because of Network Marketing, I could easily tell you I'm gonna sell over 10,000-20,000
copies. That, is the power. And of course, these 10-20 thousand people only way they
will buy my book is because giving, leaders give.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I've give and help to provide for free trainings. And by, the more you give, the
more you get back, right. And that network, I mean, if I did advertising target, I sell
20 thousand copy of books, how much would that cost? But, it's all free in this business.
And that's one of the things I'd really like about Network Marketing.
Brian: That's awesome. And a lot of people, they thank you for bringing up the network.
Because a lot of people over look that. And it's interesting because when you build success,
and you fight towards that, you have the financial freedom, you have the time freedom, and you
kind of become a vessel for like, positive energy, right. So, everybody feeds into you
because you're helping them. And you have the time and the financial ability to help
them, to go out to seminars, to do speaking, travel. Which, you know, I know it's probably
really horrible to travel all around and meet people who love you for dumping them for their
business. And, you know, they put that back into you with gratitude and then you carry
that to the next place you go and share the energy that you have from the gratitude from
the people before. And it just keeps, you know, it keeps going. You really do make a
change, not only in someone's Network Marketing business, but in their life. And in the lives
of all those people that they touch. And . . .
Simon: Yep.
Brian: it's really, I mean, it's that, for those who are familiar with Maslow's hierarchy
of needs, it's, you know, that top piece, which is self
actualization, which is that, you know, you've, you realize kind of like, what you can do.
You realize that you really can do anything, that you put your mind to. And now you just
have to chose what you're gonna conquer.
Simon: Yeah, you know, and, I want people to think about this. A lot of times I talk
to people, like, what's your passion? What's you're, and a lot of people, they want, a
lot of people don't want the money and the cars. They wanna help people, like . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: For example, I wanna like, you know, do something to help save the animals for
the animal cruelty and animal cruelty something. A lot of people want to do mission work. A
lot of people want to feed the poor, right. All these things, if you focus on Network
Marketing it will allow you ample for what you can do to those areas. Give an example,
if you're gonna go and do mission work, right. You need funds for that. But our organization,
let's go back to like, I'm not talking about 20,000 people, just talk about like, 1000
people. If they're your allie or your well connected in Network Marketing, how much more
people could you solicit your charity funds to do that. If you want to, you know, donate
money for the poor, go out there. See how hard it is to get 5000 people to donate money
to you, right. If you're in Network Marketing, even if you get only $5.00 from someone, you'll
get a lot more, you'll be able to do a lot more, because of Network Marketing. So, you
know why I see this people that just wanna do this forever, some of you want to do other
things. Network Marketing is a great great place where, it's a launching pad for whatever
you wanna do in your life.
Brian: Yep. And, even Robert Kiyosaki said, and actually Donald Trump and several other
people said that, you know, even if you don't wanna do Network Marketing in the long-term,
go join a Network Marketing business, because you get the training. And, you know, for a
few hundred bucks you join the business, but, all the training comes with that. All of the,
you know, you get to, you know, bump elbows with people, and listen to people and get
trained by people, who are making massive amounts of money. Or growing successful businesses,
whatever you wanna model. And all of that comes with it, and all of that can be used
in any aspect of your life. Be is a business, a charity, growing, anything.
Simon: Yeah, yeah, and you know, in my, the way I create a presentation, I have this effective
presentation formula, it's like a template where people do very simple presentation,
that's not salesy.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And a big part, effective presentation, is, we sell the training. Like, once they
sell it, we're not just talking about the benefits of making money, or the benefits
of the produce, or service. But, it's free, you're getting a free MBA, basically, right.
And even like, I've learned things, I'm sure you've learned things, where, not just has,
because of from Network Marketing, that not only is to help you in business, but help
you in your personal life. It's definitely helping, I mean, first of all, I mean, I was
a shy quiet kid, I always throw this out there, like, Network Marketing taught me how to sell
myself. If it wasn't for Network Marketing I definitely wouldn't have been able to marry
my beautiful wife.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: I'd be too shy to talk to her.
Brian: When Kate and Mike and I were talking, that was definitely a topic of conversation.
Was that they would never had met each other if it weren't for Network Marketing.
Simon: Yeah. So, the, and my wife is not, active in the business. She's a doctor. I
just wouldn't have the guts to go talk to her, right. Network Marketing gave me this
training, the sales training, to sell myself. So, you know, I lost my train of thought again.
Well I just stop talking about women.
Brian: You had the sales training to sell yourself to your wife, that's where you left
off.
Simon: The effective presentation formula, is about training, so you learn skills, that
not just help your business, but your personal life. Like, how do you deal with problems?
How do you deal with challenges? How do you deal with conflict? These are all things,
leader, these are all leadership skills, that you learn in Network Marketing, okay.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, when we sell the business, we're not just talking about the money, we talk
about the network that you're developing. That your growing, the people that you get
to meet. And it's free business training. And, a lot of people say, well, I want to
do business and make a lot of money. Well, if you wanna make a lot of money, you gotta
do two things, you gotta learn how to sell, and you gotta learn how to market.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Okay, I can not see anyone making any type of money, without learning how to sell.
And, Network Marketing teaches you that. And people say, oh I don't like to sell. Then,
you don't like to make a lot of money. So, if you're going out there with actually, you
know, because you wanna make money, you gotta sell things.
Brian: Yeah, everything has to be sold.
Simon: Everything has to be sold. So if you don't wanna sell, then just be, being poor
and broke the rest of your life.
Brian: And that's . . . I think, Tony Robbins, had a really awesome sales training. It was
all about sales and he talks about how, you know, people who are salespeople often times
will disguise it and say, oh, I don't do sales, you know, I help people do this. And it's
like, no, you do do sales, it's like, be proud of it, because everything in the world, that
has to be sold before it gets moved. It doesn't matter if it's an idea, a business, a product,
a service, yourself. You know, it has to be sold in some way shape or form. And then actually
we talked a lot, we've talked a lot about that. In terms of just valuable skills. But
yeah, I mean, so, you talked about, well, you talked about a lot of things, but, mostly
kind of off line stuff. It seems you also grew your business exponentially, initially
with online strategies. You learned how to market online. You did a lot of pay per click
advertising. So, you know, I mean, what would you say to someone that's thinking about getting
into that to market their business? And they don't know anything about it?
Simon: Well, the, the first thing that's what, I got, when I actually started. You have to
talk to your warm market first. Okay, and I have a system that teaches you, it's called
the so sponsoring system. If you go to my website get a free training that teaches you,
how to talk to people you know. Don't invest any money on, either online or offline, before
you talk to the people you know. Because you, and I done, everyone knows at least 100 people,
right. And, it's not the 100 closest friends, just 100 people that know who you are. They
are your sign ups are in there. Because when you go out there to do marketing with this
pay per click or spoke, or social media, whatever. Talking to those people are much harder than
talking to a friend that you know. Because a skill level, I mean, you can be like, you
know, blabbering and talk like an idiot. And you your friend may still wanna sign up with
you.
Brian: Right.
Simon: But talking to someone, a stranger, they're gonna hang up on the phone. They'll
just not talk to you, right. So, you need, so the skill level is much harder. So, first
rule of thumb is, I don't teach anyone any online marketing, unless, until they can sponsor
a few people in their warm market first.
Brian: Right, yep.
Simon: They have to, that's a minimal requirement. And now, if you can't sponsor the people in
your warm market, that means your skills are not good . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: and you need to be trained.
Brian: Most people have to work on themselves first, before they get there.
Simon: Absolutely. And the way to work on yourself is just do it. I mean, your first
10 people may be terrible. By the time you count to number 20-21, they're you'll be able
to get the hang of it. By the way, I was not an instant success. I talked to 42 people,
to get my first one.
Brian: Wow.
Simon: Forty two, but by 43-50, it got better and better and easier. So, the first thing
is, you have to go talk to offline, you're, the people that know you first. And then in
terms of online, every successful leader they have something that they can do. Like, the
little, I wanna say, secret. Not a secret, something that makes them unique.
Brian: Right.
Simon: It's not duplicatable, right. So, it's not really, Network Marketing's not really
true duplication. And I'll give you a good example. Like, I can go out to Hong Kong,
and run a newspaper add and get prospects and sign them up. Right, because I can speak
chinese. Now Brian, you don't speak chinese, right, I don't think you speak chinese.
Brian: Right, not chinese.
Simon: So, that's not duplicatable. That's not duplicable.
Brian: Right.
Simon: That does not mean that I shouldn't do that, because Brian can't do it. Like,
I can start a sponsor, you know chinese speaker only, and Brian can't. See that doesn't mean
I shouldn't do it, right. So, everyone of you, every here, like, it goes back to limited
potential. You could tap into a market, but you can do something, that other people can.
So, maybe you're good at knitting, and you can knit and you have a knitting club and
you have trust and credibility there, you can tap in there. You can sponsor people there.
Now, you put me into a knitting person, I'll probably, you know, I wouldn't have a chance
there, right. So everyone has like their own specialty. So, you think about, what you're
good at. How you can tap into that market. And, then you can look at the ways you can
online market, facebook, the ideas are out there. And I just, whatever idea you have
just . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: go out there and do it. And, you know, Robert Kiyosaki actually I think Kiyosaki,
one of my mentors taught me this. If you do ten things, ten ideas, okay, nine, or seven,
seven will fail and lose money. So . . .
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: if you wanna do online advertising, maybe do fliers, I did fliers at UCLA, I print,
it didn't work out, right. So, you do seven things that won't work out. Two, you'll be
lucky if you break even.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: So, I spent $200 on fliers, I took $200 back.
Brian: So, what would you, what would you said to someone for something, like someone
could do today, to create their ten items?
Simon: Okay, well, okay, one more thing. One, the one thing, that's your big money maker.
Okay, most people they don't become successful, because they wanna go through the seven, okay,
they stop. It won't work they stop. And I lost, I'll share, how I got lucky, in the
Philippines, was because I did like 19 things that didn't work. But I finally found something,
I was one of the first people to advertise on facebook.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: It worked, but I do my advertising on LinkedIn and all that stuff, it did not
work, okay. And now, doesn't mean it didn't' work doesn't work, it just didn't work for
me.
Brian: Right, right.
Simon: If you're heartbroken doesn't mean, it doesn't work, it didn't' work for me. But,
facebook I did in the Philippines, it worked. Doesn't mean it'll work for you. But it just
worked for me at the time.
Brian: Right.
Simon: So, what do people, how do you get those ten items is, one of the things, that
really helped me out, is I, and it goes back to self development. I read a lot. So, I read
the Wall Street Journal everyday.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Okay, I don't read any news, of whose getting killed or the disasters. I read business
news and I read sports news. I got it from Bill Clinton, he says whatever part of the
newspaper he reads, he reads sports first, in the morning, because it makes him feel
good.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: And then, it's business. The rest of stuff he doesn't need to read because everyone's
like saying how bad it is. He just doesn't need the negativity, right. So read sports
because it makes him feel good. So, I read the Wall Street Journal, everyday, just to
see what's going on. And, I always, whatever I'm reading, I'm thinking, how could it apply
to my business?
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: What idea? So, if Google, is doing something, look, so I'm thinking like, if
Google glasses, come out
Brian: Right.
Simon: is there a way for me to target my business using Google glasses?
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: Is there like, to find people. Maybe there's not. So, I'm reading all the time
to see.
Brian: Tell me where the prospects are.
Simon: Yeah. Exactly, right. So, I'm thinking about, so, as you, and I read an Entreprenuer
Magazine, Fast Company, not only are those magazines motivating, you see what other people
are doing.
Brian: Absolutely.
Simon: And you really see there is no excuse for failure. Because everyone of those people
have gone though, if you think you have it bad, those people have gone through way worse.
Except for where they've invested like millions of dollars, instead of a couple hundred dollars.
Brian: And then they've made millions and then lost millions, and then made millions.
Simon: Yeah. So, the more you read, you start getting ideas.
Brian: Yep.
Simon: So, you start getting ideas, thinking about things. And, so for someone who wants
to get ten things, go out there and start reading more and then just take one day to
sit down, I would even say 10, go sit down for half an hour, come up with 20 things you
can do, to find prospects.
Brian: Yeah.
Simon: It could be doing a flyer, if you go to UCLA, it could be maybe finding the student,
bulletin board and advertise there. It could be finding maybe a forum, a facebook group
that you can do advertising, talking to those people. I just gave people three ideas. Okay,
so, sit there for 20, now, turn off your phone, get away from your computer, get a pen and
piece of paper, go old school. Go out to the yard, the beach, or somewhere, and just writing
things down. And after just start implementing them. And if things don't go right, if you
have 20 ideas, I'm telling you, 18-17, won't' work out, but the one thing that does work
out. And then, there you go, then your friends will call you lucky.
Brian: Yeah, yeah. And you'll have made your own. But, thank you so much and that's huge
because oftentimes people, you know, one of my more recent favorite quotes is that you
can do anything if you stop trying to do everything. And people often times they just, they lose
that focus and if they create their 20 and they focus on those 20, then they know that
most of them will fail, but you know, two or three will succeed and that's how they
get there. So, thank you so much. I'm gonna put your links below, the podcast, and all
the books that you talked about, and, hopefully gonna have you engage with CatalystMLM in
the very near future. But thank you so much for sharing your story.
Simon: You're welcome Brian it's an honor to be here. Thank you again for having me,
this was total fun.