(Please enjoy this guest blog post from my friend and mentor FERNY CEBALLOS)

Now networkers, especially those of us who have attempted to build offline, are no strangers to rejection and negative friends, family and others who don’t like our industry very much.

Now you’d think because of my background as engineer and MIT graduate, my friends and family would give me the benefit of the doubt and trust my judgement when I got into this industry.

But alas, like probably many folks you know, they all thought they knew better and they definitely let me know it.

After some of these heated conversations and arguments, I can’t begin to describe how stupid I felt sometimes for even wanting to build a network marketing business and how stupid I felt for getting involved in this industry.

They would tell me, “Ferny! You’re an MIT graduate! You work on top secret space stuff for the government! What the hell are you doing selling vitamins?!?”

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In my head, I wanted to yell back at them, “I WANT MY FREEDOM, DAMMIT!!”

However, early on usually after one of these encounters, I would feel defeated and stupid. Sometimes walking away with tears in my eyes.

And then, I would catch myself and tell myself, “You’re doing the right thing.” Shake off the negative crap and continue forward…wounded…but moving forward.

From 2005—2008, not only did I deal with negativity, I had actually destroyed myself financially trying to build my business – having gone into foreclosure and was over $60,000 in debt – spending endlessly on tools, courses and shiny objects, which produced zero ROI. But even financial ruin was not going to deter me.

The year of 2009, was a turning point and I started digging myself out of that financial mess.

How I did it, I will share in a little bit…

But I was on my way and things were working. I was recruiting people with ease into my opportunity, hitting the 6-figure mark in my company and built a multi-six figure brand online.

Things were looking up…

That year, I was on a night out with fraternity brothers from MIT who also happened to live in LA, hanging out over a few drinks in Long Beach on 2nd Street.

“So Ferny, I Heard You Quit Your Job”

At some point during the night standing next to the bar, my business came up and they asked how things were going.

I said, “Things are good man. Thanks for asking.”

My friend, Ricky, asks, “I heard you quit your job.”

I replied, “Yeah” with a big grin on my face.

My other friend, Jason asks, “What do you do, exactly?”

And not really wanting to go too much into it, I simply said, “I help people start businesses. I love it.”

And then the third friend Jay starts asking very confrontational questions and started to challenge me on the ethics of what I do. And before I could get a word in edgewise, after a 5 minute tirade he flat out said, “I think what you do is a scam.”

This brought me back to all the times in the past 3 years, as I built my business…all the times people tried to sh*t and p*ss on my dreams…but there was one big difference this time around.

I was bullet-proof!

Smart or NOT, MIT Guys Don’t Know Crap About Network Marketing

My friend Jay had earned his degree from MIT in Mechanical Engineering and worked in industry for years in his field and he could confidently explain and defend his life’s work to others.

He was an expert in his field, but he was not an expert in mine.

I was the expert and he had just stepped into my world.

I knew network marketing and the home business industry better than any MIT educated egghead on the planet and I didn’t need a degree to tell me that.

So I looked at him as he said that… I then took a sip of my beer… Silently thought to myself, “this is the last time” and replied…

“You know what Jay?! I believe in what I do! In fact, I believe so strongly in what I do, I’m willing to kick your ass right now to prove it! So let’s see how strongly you believe in everything you’ve just said to me.”

As I walked towards the door, leading the way to our showdown… he stopped me.

“Hey. We don’t need to go there.”

I said, “You ever say anything negative about my business again, I will…”

I stopped myself before I said it again, but he knew what I was going to say.

With that, he nodded, we went about our night and had a good time… or at least I think we had a good time. I don’t remember. Ha ha ha!

Now if you know me, you know that I’m not a confrontational person and my previous “street fight” experience was in the 10th grade, when a bully punched me in the chin and I hit him back. (His face then turned purple and he left me alone.)

Jay was actually a decorated wrestler, athletic and VERY strong. If a fight had happened, it would have been rough.

I knew who I had just challenged. And I was pretty certain he was not going to back down, cause I was sure his ego wouldn’t let him back down.

In fact, in that moment, I had accepted the worst possible outcome, but happy that it didn’t go that far.

“My Belief Was Stronger Than His Opinion”

I realized in that moment when Jay was crapping all over my business, that my belief and my reality was stronger than his. He was arguing from a position of ignorance, no matter how smart he was and I called his bluff.

And anyone with true belief in what they are doing and how they are living their lives, should be willing to defend their beliefs and stand up to those who put down those beliefs… otherwise, it’s not really a belief… it’s an opinion.

From that point on, in network marketing and beyond, no one close to me ever said anything negative about my business again. It was clear to them that I was operating from a position of strength and conviction.

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In fact, Jay and I are still really good friends, enjoy each others company and seems to be genuinely happy for my success. Today, he and everyone else knows better than to challenge me about my business, because I know the impact I’m making in the lives of others and I think they are starting to see it as well.

I will crush their ignorance intellectually and make sure they know my conviction is greater than theirs.

That was the moment in my life when I understood the power of belief in business.

Belief will make you ‘bullet proof’ and you’ll find that people will sense that belief and rarely, if ever, challenge you on it.

In fact, belief makes you attractive, because most people lack a foundation of belief and conviction in their lives.

Sub-consciously, they want to have the confidence that your belief gives you, for themselves.

How To Develop the Belief of a Top Earner

Now the question is, how do you create that type of belief and confidence in your business, when all you’ve experienced is failure, struggle and rejection from everyone around you?

Let’s think about it logically…

I mean network marketing is a perfectly legal business.

Your upline and/or company has explained to you a hundred times how you can make money in this profession and it makes sense.

You’ve seen and met people who have succeeded.

Yet, you still have doubts. And those doubts are weighing you down.

Well, I don’t know about the rest of my colleagues, but I know how I developed my belief.

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My belief started growing, as soon as I found a viable strategy for building my business, which made sense.

My belief started growing (and my business) when I stopped throwing mud against the wall and started learning REAL online marketing and closing skills.

My belief started growing when I rejected the BS idea that what we do in network marketing is “not selling, it’s sharing.”

We SELL, just like any credible business.

And just like any real business, I needed to learn real marketing skills that allowed me to grow my business in a systematic and leveraged way, which made me money and brought people onto my team, even if I was out having a drink with my friends.

(Imagine never having to prospect strangers ever again!)

When I discovered how to build my business online, I started believing.

When I made my first $300, I believed.

And when I quit my job in 2008, I became bullet proof.

You can’t train yourself to have belief.

Belief Comes from One Place – RESULTS!

I got my results using an online marketing strategy known as ‘attraction marketing.’

My friend Tim Erway and I have literally helped thousands of people unlock the power of attraction marketing. We’ve been directly responsible for producing hundreds of 6-figure, 7-figure and 8-figure earners in the network marketing profession and outside of it.

I even authored a free 10-day crash course in online recruiting strategies which can help you avoid the rejection of traditional prospecting, while exploding your income and new interested prospects for your business.

I still use these techniques and as technology becomes more a part of our lives, they work better than ever, . If you don’t agree, that’s cool too. Fortunately, my commissions checks do agree with me. 🙂

Whatever the method you choose, I hope your belief in the path you’ve chosen, is reflected in your results. Otherwise, your belief in your business and methods is arguably as ignorant as the comments my friend made about my business.

I wish you luck.

Sincerely,

Moni Arora’s Blog