
To start, I never intended to be in this industry, in fact, I was adamantly against anything related to network marketing for a long time, partially due to being brought up in a home where education, careers, financial stability, professional duties and responsibility are paramount. Network Marketing was NOT in the plan.
In May of 2006 I married my wife, we had 2 beautiful girls and I had built a thriving career in the financial services business in Toronto by the age of 27. We had a life most could only dream of. Shortly after our peak, an unfortunate event occurred in my business which eventually lead to my income completely stopping, our house being lost, and being in a place of complete financial devastation.
As a person who never quits, soon after, we rebuilt our finances, rebuilt our family,
and pushed forward. I vowed this would never happen again, and I meant it.
After a few years of rebuilding, in April of 2011 I was invited to a home party at my friend’s house, which I declined, however after coercing me, I attended as a “skeptic seat filler”. I was NOT going to join any business, I wanted nothing to do with the opportunity, and had a bad taste for network marketing in general. I guess this came from my parents, who are professionals, yet had been introduced to many of these opportunities over their lifetimes.
What happened at that home party was quite interesting. As someone with a finance background, I started to see how the concept of leverage in this business was a reality, and this intrigued me so much I became sort of obsessed with figuring out the loopholes and understanding why success was so elusive for most who try.
The month following, I was at a conference for my industry association and I was intent on researching the network marketing industry. What happened was almost the perfect storm. The last day of the event, our key note speaker was a man named Mitch Joel, who is a marketing, branding, and communication wizard, who had a book about connecting your business online using Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms. I went to Google to learn how people are connecting on the internet around network marketing, and found a number of videos, trainings and resources from people like Jordan Schultz, Jamie Soriano, David Wood, and others who I now know of through the MLSP community.
The stories I heard were exactly like mine. People who understood the power of network marketing, yet wanted to leverage the internet to generate targeted and interested relationships, rather than chase down my ex-girlfriend from grade 8.
I had no idea what I was in for, as I had now completely shifted my thoughts about the network marketing / direct sales industry, and had built a belief so strong, I unknowingly started practicing “repulsion marketing” for around the next 9 months.
The person who invited me to the home party was frustrated, I had resorted to figuring out the online marketing jungle, in the meantime, had joined 3 other companies, bought a truckload of internet marketing tools, trainings, plugins, eBooks, boot camps, in what I call a “Guru Chase”, I took ingredients from everyone, mostly half-baked ideas, tried to bake a perfect marketing pie, yet I was missing the directions!
I had absolutely no success, in fact, my friends did not want to hear about my new ventures anymore, they could care less if I was learning “attraction marketing”, and my wife was becoming extremely impatient with me saying “it’s starting to work… really babe, it is!”
Fast forward to February 2012… I’m proud to say it’s not like that anymore
I started to actually pay close attention, not just “listen”, but REALLY LISTEN to the leaders in this industry who were getting results in ways I wanted to as well. People like Michelle Pescosolido, Brian Cole, Tanya Aliza, Daegan Smith, and countless others.
I got laser-focused on building a lead generation machine on the internet, knew it was possible, and was focused on attracting the right people into my life, to learn from, and guide me in the right direction.
Through watching, modeling and risking complete failure, I accepted and learned a truth, which if acted on daily, will without fail, completely alter your life and business…
And it’s so simple, I feel embarrassed I needed a year to figure it out…
Whether online or offline, especially online, if you want a loyal following of people who know you, trust you, and take action with your lead, you must be raw, uncut, completely real, and speak your truth. See my “repulsion marketing career” was filled with me trying to be someone I wasn’t, trying to impress the wrong people, and going against what I knew to be true for myself.
Sounds so simple…
So instead of spending time trying to be someone I hadn’t become yet by trying to ”teach” people, I started spending my time “connecting” and “sharing” with people, just like me… just like you.
All the times I “failed”, in actuality, have provided me with my story. See, every MLSP webinar I attended, course or book I bought, and techy tool I used… all gave me skills I could channel into my marketing and online presence. By channeling these skills into the most effective areas, results were inevitable. So what is my actual marketing strategy today? The only thing I know… Pure Leverage!
I believe whole heartedly in the principles taught in the “4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss. In fact, I even refer to my “brand” as the “4-Hour Marketer”… I believe in only spending time on things you get the most consistent, predictable, and high yield results from… which you enjoy, and “lose time” with…and pay someone else to do the rest. I outsource all the technical stuff I don’t want to do, but it useful to the business (SEO, Blogging, Article Marketing…) and focus on what I’m good at, which is paid traffic strategies like Solo Ads, Pay per Click and some other lead generation as well.
I use the power of the internet to help people find me, and I spend my time connecting with those people! And now reaching out to other leaders like Tanya Aliza, who has become a true friend and mentor (what a blessing), has propelled my marketing knowledge and personal relationship skills to new heights, and I can only imagine what the remainder of 2012 and beyond will hold for me and my family.
What is very clear to me is how I would not have met ANY of these fantastic people, had it not been for the community of MLSP.
I now have structured my business and am offering my lead generation skills to some personal connections I have made in the MLSP community, and have now been generating personally over 200 leads each weak, on a sustainable and automated basis.
Thank you for the opportunity to be selected as the MLSP Featured Member.
Remember… the most important step to take, is the NEXT one.
~ Darren Hanser