Staying Accountable with The Basic 5 Diagnostic Test

The Basic 5 Diagnostic Test is a business-building tool that you simply can’t afford to miss out on! If you’ve taken it, you know how helpful it is in understanding your strengths and weaknesses and what activities can help you improve. If you haven’t taken the test before, put it at the top of your to-do for the long weekend!

The Basic 5 Diagnostic Test can be found in your back office under “Support Materials” in “Downloads.” On the “Support Materials” page, select “Administration” from the drop-down menu. Once the page loads, scroll down to “UFO Basic 5 Diagnostic Test” and click the link to open up a PDF. Print the PDF, find a comfortable spot with no distractions, and get started!

When completing this self-assessment, the most important thing you must remember is to be honest with yourself! Nobody likes to talk about their flaws or have someone point out their weaknesses, but when it comes to this test, dishonesty will only hurt you. Keep in mind that the test is also designed to highlight your strong points and areas you excel in, so be as honest as you possibly can to get the most accurate assessment.

While the Basic 5 Diagnostic Test is meant to be completed autonomously, you may want to discuss your results with your mentor or a few team members. Talk about your weak and strong points, how you can provide support to one another, and ideas for working collectively to help each other improve. Come up with a 3 month plan for how you will improve your weaknesses and use your strengths to help others in your team. When 3 months is up, take the test again to see how you’ve improved and what areas you need to focus more attention on.

Everyone should include the Basic 5 Diagnostic Test in their business-building toolbox! This is one of the best ways to stay accountable to yourself and your team members. Take it from Dennis Franks, who spoke about the importance of taking the Basic 5 Diagnostic Test during International Convention this year:

Tell us: How do YOU use the Basic 5 Diagnostic Test to help you stay accountable? Share your ideas in the comment section below!

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Tips for Creating Perfect Twitter & Facebook Posts

Social media was a major theme at International Convention this year, but your learning doesn’t have to stop there! Our goal is provide you with effective social media tips, tools, and education on our blog so that by the time the next event rolls around, you will be leveraging the power of online communities to build your business like a pro. So today, we’re going graphic to share our tips for creating the perfect Facebook and Twitter post–with social media infographics, of course!

The Perfect Twitter PostWhat’s in a tweet? Or, should we say, what’s in the perfect tweet? If you’re still working on getting acquainted with this social network, the question might be a bit daunting. But not to worry! Creating the perfect tweet is a lot easier than it sounds; just take a look at our Twitter infographic below!

Your message should include a call to action and interesting questions or useful facts. If you’re adding value and not just talking about yourself, your followers will be more inclined to engage with you. To be sure that you’re using proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling, check your tweet twice before you post it! Make sure to use correct @ mentions (i.e. @LorenRidinger) to appropriately attribute information to someone or when you want to engage another Twitter user in conversation. There’s nothing worse than mentioning the wrong person in a tweet, so be mindful about your mentions.

Since you only have 140 characters, use them wisely and leave space for retweets (RTs)! A good rule of thumb is to keep your tweet under 120 characters long (including your Twitter user name). This way if someone wants to retweet your tweet, they can do so without having to edit it.

During Loren & Steve’s social media presentation at International Convention, Loren talked about using bitly, which is a free link shortening service. While you have the option of creating a free bitly.com account, doing so is not required to access their link shortening service. Simply visit their website and paste the link you want to shorten into the text box on their home page and click “shorten.” Bitly will generate a new, shorter link that you can copy and paste into your tweet. How easy is that?

The Perfect Facebook Update
Do you know what types of posts on Facebook get the most engagement? Or when you should post updates to get the most engagement? 

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Shop Consultant Spotlight: Carl Eklund & Jodi Easton

This week, our featured Shop Consultants are successful husband and wife team Carl Eklund and Jodi Easton! Last Thursday we asked our Facebook audience what questions they would like to ask them about building a successful business. Interested in seeing if they answered your question? Read on!

What do you believe we should incorporate more of and less of into our businesses?

We believe everyone should incorporate more accountability groups to create transparency within their organizations and less busy work. You will not build a successful team checking your back office or Facebook 24 hours a day.

Do you have any suggestions for getting out of state prospects to join if there are no UBPs or NMTSS in their area?

This is currently one of our passions, as your business grows it will spread to areas where the NMTSS has not yet emerged. We are in the process of working on a solution that would simplify long distance sponsoring but in the mean time MeetON.com is an amazing resource for information. It is also crucial to keep the new partner connected through a team Facebook page and free scree- sharing technologies for trainings and mentoring.

What are some ways you keep your team motivated?

We keep our teams motivated with something we created called 6×6 Accountability/Momentum groups. “6×6” stands for 6 weeks to create the base to a 6 figure ongoing income. These accountability groups have created well over 150 new partners for our team, numerous new PIN level advancements as well as tons of retail sales in less than 6 months because we keep duplicating it in our group. When people see success all around them they can’t help but stay motivated because it is working.

What is one mistake you made while building your business, and what is your advice to others who want to avoid making the same mistake?

We all hear it in the beginning but I don’t think we truly understand what it means to waste your time with people that waste your time. We had to learn to laser focus on the people that were willing to learn and duplicate the Basic 5. We love everyone in our organization, but we spend 80% of our time with the people who spend 80% of their time on result producing activities

What was your “ah ha!” moment?

We had our “ah ha” moment when we hit two PIN levels in 3 months by implementing our 6×6 accountability/momentum groups. We quickly realized this was a way to teach brand new partners or partners that had been stable and waiting what their result producing activities should be. We saw that this was a duplicable system and now we have shared it with other organizations who implement it and they are having the same results.

What is YOUR favorite SHOP.COM feature & why?

Every feature on SHOP.COM is our favorite! We know that internet marketing is the future and we have the tools to show others how they can tap into this booming industry. We have built our business highlighting all the features of SHOP.COM through another proven system we created called “Portal Tour Prospecting.” Everyone is looking for an opportunity these days, and with internet businesses being very appealing we simply take them on a tour of our portal to show them all of the latest technology it has to offer! And we always introduce them to ShopBuddy, our BFF!

Do you have any advice for new UnFranchise® Owners who are shy and want to get over their fear of public speaking?

Yes – just do it! I have more fear of public speaking than most but I feel the only way to get past that is to force yourself to just do it. After you will have sense of pride because you overcame your fear! We call this “standing in the heat.” We all must stand in the heat at some point if we choose to grow as human beings. And believe it or not, you WILL survive! Remember, this is a new company so let’s create a NEW YOU!!!

If you could have an unlimited amount of any Market America product, what would it be?

This is our favorite question because the product we would love to have an unlimited amount of is our best product – belief! If we could just instill in our new partners the belief that Jodi and I have in this company the rest would be easy. Unfortunately, belief is something they have to create themselves and this is why we NEVER miss a major event. We have seen people’s lives literally change at these events and that is where we all tap into an unlimited supply. For that we are eternally grateful.

Other than having time or financial freedom, what is your favorite thing about being an UnFranchise® Owner?

My favorite thing about being an UnFranchise® Owner is the personal growth that comes with this business. We are doing things today we would have never thought possible just 5 years ago. This business is based on education, mentoring, growing and getting out of your comfort zone, as you do these things you cannot help but grow as a person and we believe it is our responsibility to pay that forward and help others achieve the same.

What is one thing that the majority of UnFranchise® Owners don’t do every day but should?

We have found that a 10/3/2 momentum sheet is the easiest way to success. If all UnFranchise® Owners simply committed to filling out a 10/3/2 sheet every day so they could track their progress, they would see remarkable results. This is another reason we are so dedicated to accountability/momentum groups; it is a fun way for us to share what works with our partners and keep them on track to reaching their goals.

We would like to thank Carl Eklund and Jodi Easton for taking the time to speak with us and revealing some of their best business-building tips! To submit a question, keep a close eye on the Market America Facebook page. This Thursday at 12 PM EDT we’ll give you an opportunity to submit questions for next week’s Shop Consultant. Then, read the ma® Blog on Wednesday to see if your question has been answered!

Now it’s your turn: which one of Carl and Jodi’s tips do you think will be the most helpful to your UnFranchise® Business and why? Comment your answer below!

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Follow Motives Cosmetics on Social Media!

Whether you’re a Motives Trainer with years of experience, or simply looking to learn new makeup tips, if you’re not following Motives® Cosmetics on social media, you’re missing out! Motives® publishes a wealth of information across all of their social media sites, including makeup tutorials, beautiful pictorials created by well-known makeup artists, and helpful product information. If you’re trying to keep your skills fresh, following Motives and checking their pages daily will be an essential element to your success. Read on for information about where you can find Motives on the web!

Follow Motives on Instagram 

With over 68k followers, Instagram is Motives’ fastest growing social media channel! Take a look at some of their most popular makeup pictorials (above)! 

Follow Motives on Facebook 

Tweet Motives on Twitter 

See what Motives is pinning on Pinterest 

Watch makeup tutorials on the Motives Cosmetics YouTube channel

Take a look to see what Motives has been up to on Google+ 

See what’s new on the Motives Beauty channel on MeetON 

The Motives team has worked hard to ensure that they have a strong, influential social media presence that can benefit you! Do you like what you see? Is there room for improvement? We always like to hear your ideas! Leave them in the comments section below.

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Product Spotlight: DNA Miracles™ Gummy Vitamins

As a parent, you want to be sure about the health of your children. If you choose to give your children vitamins, you know that you have options: give them sugar-laden gummy vitamins, vitamins that “taste icky,” or pills that are hard to swallow. But guess what? That all changes now!

Introducing DNA Miracles™ Gummy Vitamins, a delicious gummy vitamin that contains 23 vitamins and minerals and 100% more of the daily recommended value of 13 nutrients! Not only that, but our Gummy Vitamins are free of unnecessary binders, fillers, sugar, and artificial colors and flavors. Compared to our competitors, DNA Miracles™ Gummy Vitamins contains a more complete nutrition formula of the highest quality for – get this – less cost per serving! Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

Look who’s enjoying their Gummy Vitamins!

Photo submitted by Pat Goode

Photo submitted by Sarah Rose Stack

If you would like to submit photos of your kids enjoying their Gummy Vitamins, simply email them to socialmedia@marketamerica.com. We’ll include them in our “I Heart Market America” Facebook photo album! Don’t have a photo, but want to let us know how much you love DNA Miracles Gummy Vitamins? Email us your product testimonial! We might even feature you on the ma Blog. 

For more information on DNA Miracles Gummy Vitamins and other products in the DNA Miracles family, make sure you’ve liked their Facebook page and are following them on Instagram.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product(s) is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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What Entrepreneurs Look Like

Have you ever wondered what great entrepreneurs have in common? Successful entrepreneurs, from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs, share similar qualities with one another.  These 4 qualities can help you become a better entrepreneur! 

Take InitiativeWaiting for others to join you in your initiative can slow the wheels of innovation and drag out the process. Instead, practice increasing your initiative by stepping up to the plate and volunteering to lead projects. Entrepreneurs who take initiative in projects and ideas and make things happen are highly valued in the workplace.

Make GoalsCreating short term and long term goals can help you take your business to the next level.  Research shows that when entrepreneurs set measurable goals for themselves, they’re more like to achieve them. Successful goals should inspire you, light you up, stretch you and scare you just enough to make you want to keep going.                                                  

PrioritizeIt’s difficult for entrepreneurs not to take a hands-on approach but sometimes you have to stand back and look beyond today to determine what’s in the best interest of your business and yourself over the long run.  Prioritizing will not only help you stay on top of your work but it will also keep you on course in achieving your goals and objectives.

Renew Your ResourcesYou should avoid getting overly caught up in the high-tech world, but you should also know how to take advantage of using it. Top entrepreneurs buy and read business and marketing books, subscribe to newsletters, and browse websites often. Staying on top of news and using fresh resources will improve your understanding of business and marketing functions and skills.

Even if you don’t have all of these characteristics, don’t fret. Most of them can be learned with practice and by developing a winning attitude! What do YOU think are the must-have qualities for entrepreneurs?

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4 Tips to Make the Most out of Your Free Time

Your kids are back in school and you have a little bit more time on your hands. It’s time to get back on your feet! We have 4 solutions for making the most out of your day and your week without the little ones around.

VolunteerA lot of parents volunteer at their children’s school through PTA, Community Council, writing the newsletter, and other tasks. You could also find other organizations in your area to work with, like a local animal shelter, the United Way, American Red Cross, or Food and Care Coalition.

Take a ClassWhile your kids are in school, you can get an education, too! Learn about interesting things to increase your topics of conversation. A lot of community colleges have Continuing Education classes that you could take a couple of hours a week.

Make New Friendships
Have lunch or a cup of coffee with other parents in the neighborhood. Getting to know your neighbors on a personal level can help you master your networking skills as well as create lifelong friendships. Besides, spending time with friends is a great way to unwind and have fun, too!

Pamper Yourself
Kick off your shoes, put your feet up and enjoy some pure fiction for an hour or two, or light up your favorite scented candle and take a hot bath. It’s OK, you’ll have plenty of time for housework while the kids are in school too. Right now it’s your time to relax.

Is there something you’re excited to do now that you have a little more time in your hands? Share with us on the comments below!

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Facebook Pages vs. Profiles

Today we’re going to talk about the difference between Facebook Profiles and Pages. As UnFranchise® Owners, you already know that social media is an essential tool that can help you build your business. But have you ever asked yourself, “should I have a Facebook Profile or a Facebook Page to represent my business?” Before you make a decision, here’s what you need to know.

Friends vs. FansWhen you set up a personal Facebook profile, you will use it to connect with “friends.” To be friends with someone, you must first send them a friend request. Many people will not approve a friend request (or send one out in the first place) if they do not know you. While they may be interested in what you do and your business, they may not feel comfortable connecting with someone (and allowing them access to all their personal posts on their profile) that they have never met. However, when you have a Facebook Page, anyone can access and view the content you post. Unlike a Facebook profile where being friends with someone is a two way street, anyone can “Like” your Facebook Page to subscribe to your Page’s updates.

What kind of content should I post?Personal updates (like info about your family vacation, photos of your kids, and comments about the weather) should be kept strictly to your Facebook profile. Talk about your business and the products you sell on occasion, but your focus should be on building relationships, connecting with old friends, and sharing interesting tidbits about your life with the people you know. For example, if you’re trying to establish yourself and your business as a leader in the fitness industry, share interesting fitness articles and post information about the health benefits of your favorite ma® branded supplements.

On a page, your goal should be to engage your audience and provide them with valuable content that they will want to engage with. When it comes to your Business Page, keep your focus on the products and the business opportunity. Let’s say you just completed your fist 5K race and you want to share something about it on your business page. Rather than posting a photo of you and your family at the finish line (too personal), share a picture of your race number alongside your favorite Isotonix® products you took before the 5K. Include a caption that focuses on the products and their health benefits while promoting an active lifestyle that your audience can relate to.

Scheduling ContentWhen you share content on your personal profile, you have no choice but to post it immediately. However, that’s not the case with a Facebook Page. As the manager of your Page, you have the option of posting content immediately or scheduling it to post sometime in the future. This is helpful for when you put together a lot of great content, but don’t have time post it (or are afraid you will forget) during the peak activity times on Facebook.

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Product Spotlight: NutriClean® Probiotics

Did you know that your digestive tract is home to over 400 different types of microbes? These microbes include healthy bacteria called probiotics, and potentially unhealthy bacteria. With all those different types of bacteria, finding the best way to maintain optimal digestive health can be daunting.

When choosing a probiotic supplement, it’s important to select a product that provides your body with numerous strains of probiotics. While many products on the market deliver a high total probiotic count, they are only coming from one or two strains. We developed NutriClean® Probiotics to deliver comprehensive support by providing the body with 10 different strains of probiotics with patented LiveBac® and Bio-tract® technologies. Each strain has a unique purpose and work together to support everything from immune health to digestive regularity.

Rather than listing each probiotic individually and bogging you down with hard-to-pronounce names like Lactobacillus plantarum, let’s talk about how these hand-picked probiotic strains benefit you. Probiotics are probably best known for promoting good digestive health and bowel regularity. NutriClean® contains several strains that have been shown to do all that plus promote overall digestive comfort. And let’s be honest: there’s nothing worse than being an on-the-go entrepreneur who suffers from the discomfort resulting from an occasional irregular digestive tract.

In addition to promoting good digestive health, NutriClean® includes probiotic strains that play a major role in supporting your metabolism and immune system, while at the same time reducing potentially unhealthy bacteria that are naturally present in the body. Your body is a bacteria battlefield; NutriClean® can give you the support you need to stay healthy and win the fight for digestive health!

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product(s) is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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Build Your Shopping Annuity with the SHOP.COM Home Advisor!

Have you taken the Home Advisor for a spin yet? If you have, then you know that it’s a simple, interactive tool that helps you save time and money while helping you build your Shopping Annuity! If you haven’t, read on for everything you need to know about using the Home Advisor.

You don’t have to have advanced technological skills to use the Home Advisor; simply navigate to the landing page and click “begin.” The Home Advisor will first ask you to choose categories you purchase products for regularly, like Lawn and Garden or Pets. Once you have selected the applicable categories, the Home Advisor will walk you through every part of your home and prompt you to select which products you use most. Once you have completed your checklist, the Home Advisor will provide you with value comparisons between our most popular ma® branded products and competitive products. The value comparisons differ from product to product and focus on demonstrating the benefit of the ma® product versus leading products, their cost, and your total savings.

Let’s say the Home Advisor prompts you to start with the kitchen. Begin by selecting the cleaning products you purchase regularly, and the Home Advisor will then create a custom list of ma® branded products based on the categories you selected. The Home Advisor may select multiple ma® branded products for one category, which gives you a larger selection to choose from.

While no two product detail pages are alike, you can expect to find a short product description, product comparison chart, and the product price and Cashback value on each one. In addition, the product detail pages include an “Add to MyList” button, which you can toggle back and forth to select “yes” or “no” depending on if you want to add the product to your MyList or not.

As you go through the Home Advisor, check out the progress meter at the top of the page to see how much you have left to complete. Want to know how much potential Cashback you’ve earned? Take a look at the Cashback Value tally to the right of the progress meter. Don’t have time to finish the Home Advisor today? No worries; the Home Advisor will save your information so you can access your customized MyList later on.

Once you complete the Home Advisor, you can then view a customized MyList of your product selections. This is where you can select which products you want to add to your cart and which to save for later. If you don’t want to be bothered with re-ordering each product every month, check “Yes, Add to AutoShip” and we’ll do the re-ordering for you!

What if you don’t like the title of your MyList? Simply click “Edit List” to change the title and description of your MyList, and even choose a new cover photo from hundreds of stock photos. Once you have finished customizing your MyList, share it with the world using the social sharing buttons located at the top of the page.

Now it’s your turn! Tell us what YOU love most about the Home Advisor by posting in the comments below. Have questions about how to use this tool? Feel free to share those with us too so we can help you out!

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