The "Rocky Balboa" of Network Marketing... Part 1

Jerry Clark interviews Johnny Keller

Hello, everyone.  This is Jerry Clark welcoming you to another edition of Power Tips, your regular edition of energy and power.  And let me tell you, I have someone here in the studio with me today in Dallas, Texas who is known as the Rocky Balboa of network marketing.  Not necessarily because of his intimidating physical characteristics or anything, but because of his intimidating mental characteristics.  What I mean by that is he has a mental toughness, the type of mental toughness that's necessary to really charge through the jungle and make it to the land of paradise.  He's here to share some information with you.  His name is Mr. Johnny Keller.

 

Let me tell you a little bit about Johnny.  Johnny got started in network marketing in 1980 when he was 18 years old, and he has been through a complete evolutionary process to where today he is a millionaire in the industry, he has tens of thousands of people in his organization, and his organization is expanding by somewhere between 2,500 and 5,000 people a month.  I'm talking new people are being added to his organization.  He lives in North Carolina with his lovely wife Karen and his three beautiful children.  Johnny is here to share some ideas and concepts with you today that will enable you to move your business to the next level.

 

 

 

INTERVIEW

 

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Johnny, we want to welcome you to the program.

 

johnny keller:

 

Well, thanks a lot, Jerry, and I really do appreciate the introduction.  Obviously by that introduction I've got to start working out a little bit more.

 
 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Well, Johnny, let me ask you this, because you got started when you were 18 years old in network marketing.  I mean, was this something you were prepped for when you were in your diapers or something.  Were they prepping you to be in network marketing?  Tell us how that all happened for you.

 

johnny keller:

 

Well, Jerry, I grew up in a very middle-class family.  I have wonderful parents.  My mother and father, John and Marsha Keller, just incredible.  Both of my parents are hearing impaired, and both of them were blue collar workers.  My father worked at the Pittsburgh Press as a printer, and my mother worked at the Post Office.  My dad told me at a very young age, he said, Johnny, if you want to get wealthy in America, the best thing that you can do is be in business for yourself.  When he said that to me, it really started me thinking about being in business for myself, and I started at a very young age, Jerry. 

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Well, I mean, how exactly did that happen, though, as far as network marketing?  Did you go out there and evaluate all the businesses, because obviously you could have done a traditional business.  Somehow, you ran into network marketing.  How exactly did that happen?

 

johnny keller:

 

Well, let me say this.  It really started happening for me when I was a teenager, when I was 13 years old.  The reason is this.  When my father said that to me, I thought to myself what can I do?  What can I do as a teenager to have my own business?  So I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and as you know in Pittsburg it snows a lot.  And when it would snow, I would go out and I would go around the houses while all the other kids were out sled riding, and I would say, hey, would you like me to shovel your sidewalk for your?  How about your driveway?  And I did this, Jerry, and the very first time I did this, I walked away that first day with over $100 in my pocket.  I got tremendously excited, and that was a lesson that taught me, hey, it really does pay to be in business for yourself.

 

Then when the opportunity was presented to me about network marketing when I was 18 years old, I was ready for it.  You see, Jerry, I saw the geometric progression.  I understood what J. Paul Getty said, and that was I'd rather have 1 percent of 100 people's efforts than 100 percent of my own.

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Excellent.  So when you first got into network marketing, let me ask you this.  Did you go to the top real quickly?

 

johnny keller:

 

Oh, Jerry, not hardly.  As a matter of fact, through the first six years I really floundered.  It was terrible.  I didn't do very well in network marketing.  I didn't have somebody that would really mentor me and take me under their wing.  However, I was listening to the tapes and reading the books.  It was changing who I was as a person, but I didn't have a system that would get me to where I am right now.  That's why I'm really big on teaching people systems on building their network marketing organization, and I believe in the shotgun approach.  I don't believe that any one system is right.  There are numerous systems out there that work in network marketing.  You have to pick the system that works best for your personality.

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Well, tell us a little bit more about these systems.  What are some of the systems that you utilize?  I mean, you have 2,500 to 5,000 new people coming in every single month.  Obviously you're in a serious leadership position and things are really happening in a big way.  So what are some of the systems that you use in order to keep this growth happening and actually keep it expanding, too, as it is?

 

johnny keller:

 

Great question, Jerry.  Well, let me say this first.  This business of network marketing must be simple.  It does take effort.  However, especially for the new person coming in that may have never done this before, you have to have a very simple system for them to begin to have what I call the little baby steps of success.  One of the greatest systems that I know of, especially if youre in a nutritional company, is to pass out samples.

 

Let me tell you a story.  There's a gentleman in my organization named Paul Cruciano.  Paul and Linda are wonderful, wonderful people.  When I did an opportunity meeting in my home, Linda got very excited.  However, Paul was sitting there with his legs crossed, his arms crossed, his eyes crossed, he had everything crossed that he possible could have.  I could tell he wasn't receiving what I was saying very well.  However, Linda got very excited about it.  Paul decided, well, you know, what do I have to lose?  I'll go ahead and I'll try this network marketing business.  He had been in network marketing before for two years.  He had only sponsored three people.  He hadn't had much success and really didn't believe he could succeed in network marketing.  However, I saw something in Paul and Linda.  I knew that they could be great leaders.  So I simply taught Paul a very simple system of passing out a sample of our product.  He said, okay, Johnny.  I can do this.  I will do this in church on Sunday. 
 

So he got 10 of his friends and he passed out samples of the product.  And he had tried the product, by the way, and he knew that would give them energy and make them feel better, and I stressed to him, Paul, talk about the benefits, not the features.  The features are in the product, however the benefits are what it does for the people.  It makes them feel better.  It gives them more energy.  It gives them more mental clarity.  Talk about what it did for you.  Tell your product story.  Paul did that, Jerry.  He passed out 10 samples.  A couple of days later he called me up all excited.  He said, Johnny, I passed out 10 samples and six people have ordered already.  So what that did for him, Jerry, that took him from a low belief level to a belief level that he could actually succeed in this business.  We need to have our new people have little baby steps of success.  These little baby steps of success will raise their belief level.  It will raise their enthusiasm also, and with enthusiasm and a proper attitude, anybody can succeed in network marketing.

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

That's excellent, Johnny.  Now I know that you have lots of people coming in once again.  What kind of system, because obviously you have some type of system, to get these people running on the right track.  Because you know, people want to get started.  They say, you know, I want to build the business and so forth.  I really want to do something with this thing.  I want to generate some income.  What do you do with those people?  What kind of systems do you teach your people in order to work effectively with the people that come in that really want to make something happen in their business?

 

johnny keller:

 

Jerry, the most important thing I do is what I call my 120-day action plan.  It is so imperative that we get people off to a fast start.  I ask them a lot of different questions and in these questions I will get the answers that will make me understand exactly what these people want to accomplish in network marketing.  For instance, the first question I will ask them is what do they like to do in their spare time, because that way you'll find out really what their values are.  And what are their goals?  What do they desire to accomplish in network marketing?

 

Now Jerry, this is very important.  It was a lesson that was taught to me actually by Tom Schreiter, Big Al, on his tape series.  Big Al says you need to understand the why.  Why are people doing the business?  Because the bad days will come.  They will come in network marketing.  However, if they understand their why and they can focus in on what their intent is, they will not quit.  So I go through a whole list of seven questions and it's in a tape teaching series that you and I have put together that I would highly recommend.  And this 120-day action plan will definitely help your new people not only get off to a fast start, but will keep them on track.

 

Jerry, it is so much easier to build this business when things are growing very quickly than slowly.  Network marketing is a business of rapid growth, rapidly escalating people's belief system and getting them even more enthusiastic than when the started.  And believe me, they're very enthusiastic when they start.  However, if they don't have these baby steps of success, if they're not questioned properly, if they don't understand their intent of doing this business, then they will quit.  So the first 120 days is extremely, extremely important.

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Yeah, and I know, Johnny, you talk about that as one of the weapons in our tape set called 10 Lethal Weapons for Building Your MLM Empire.  I know you go into that in more detail, but I know you mentioned one of the questions and so forth.  Can you just give us an idea of a couple of the other questions that you ask without really going into all the specifics of them but maybe give us a couple of extra questions that you ask people as far as getting them started on the right track so that way the people who listening right now, they can go ahead and utilize some of this stuff right now and get some results from that.

 

johnny keller:

 

Sure, Jerry.  That is an excellent question.  One of the things that I need from people when they become involved with me in network marketing--because this is a lifelong partnership as far as I'm concerned--is that they will make a commitment to me that they will not quit for one year.  I specifically ask them will you not quit for one year.  Why do I do this, Jerry?  Well, it's quite simple.  I know with the systems that I have in place that if they will stay in the ballgame for a year that they will succeed.

 

You see, Jerry, network marketing is sort of like building a skyscraper.  If you've ever seen a skyscraper being built, the foundation takes a long time to build.  You have to make sure you have the proper foundation.  But once the foundation is built, it seems like the building goes up overnight.  It's also like a rocket ship taking off.  It takes a little while to get the momentum going.  Do you ever see a rocket ship on the pad?  It's shaking and shaking and shaking and you can see the power of it.  Finally, it takes a tremendous amount of fuel to get it off the launch pad, but once it has broken the gravity of the earth, it just takes off forever and it keeps on sailing very beautifully.  That's what residual income is all about, Jerry.  It takes a tremendous amount of effort to get it going, but once it does, it keeps on going and going and going.  It's like the Energizer bunny.

 

Another great question, Jerry, if I may bring this up.

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Yeah, sure.

 
 

johnny keller:

 

I make sure that people will commit to self-development.  You know, Charlie "Tremendous" Jones made a very powerful statement.  He said who you will be five years from now is contingent upon the books you read, the tapes you listen to, and the people you hang around with.  And if people will not commit to me to do at least a half an hour of self-development a day, I can't work with them.  You see, Jerry, it's reprogramming people.  It's programming for success.  It was like you talked about in one of your tape series about brainwashing people.  It's brainwashing them in a positive manner because there are so many negatives in life.

 

Now Jerry, how do I know that this does work?  Well, let me tell you something.  I became involved in network marketing when I was 18 years old.  Fortunately for me, my mentors understood this business and they got me involved with good books and good tapes.  However, they didn't have systems in place to teach me how to build the business.  However, I grew as a person.  Even though I didn't have success in my first six years of network marketing, I learned a lot about self-development.  Well, Jerry, I became disgruntled with the network marketing industry for about a period of two and a half years.  And I went into corporate America to get a job.

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

I was going to say, are you okay?

 

johnny keller:

 

I even have a tough time saying that now, Jerry.  Job.  Oh, one of those awful things.  Jump out of bed, just over broke.  So I went out and got a job and I became very negative.  See, Jerry, we're never in neutral.  We're either going forward as people or we're going backwards.  And it wasn't my circumstances that were holding me back.  It was me.  It was my personal philosophy, as Jim Rohn says.

 

So finally after two and a half years of being in this job, my mentor comes to me one day and says, "You know, Johnny, your problem is you.  You're negative, you don't like yourself, you have a low self-esteem, and you don't like helping other people."  And I thought to myself, man, this guy Jeff is a big jerk just like everybody else out there in the world.  However, I went home that night, Jerry, and I started reflecting upon it.  And I looked at myself in the mirror and I said you know what?  Jeff's right.  He's absolutely right.  What happened to me?  I used to be a person of passion, of purpose.  I loved helping people.  Where did I go wrong?  And I said, a-ha!  I got away from self-development.  I was going backwards, Jerry, instead of going forward.

 

Now this was very important.  I got back into the books and tapes and guess what, Jerry?  My circumstances changed.  Now for the last eight years I have not earned less than a six-figure income and it was because of self-development.

 
 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK:

 

Well, let me ask you this, Johnny, because obviously there are a lot of books out there.  There are a lot of tapes and so forth.  And obviously you have a system that you are using to turn your people onto personal growth and self-development and so forth.  What are some of the books and tapes that you recommend for your people?

 

johnny keller:

 

Well, Jerry, obviously one of the key elements in network marketing is understanding people.  And you, Jerry, you have an excellent tape teaching series on colors.  You see, there are different types of people out there.  There are the reds, there are the greens, there are the yellows, and there are the blues, and you have to know how to interact with all types of people because everything rises and falls on leadership.  You see, Jerry, everybody out there is leader.  Some people are level 2 leaders, some people are level 5 leaders, some people are level 7 leaders, and what you need to understand is this.  Level 7 leaders will only be attracted to level 7 leaders and above.  Level 5 leaders will only be attracted to level 5 leaders and above.

 

This is a business of growth.  We have to step out of our comfort zone and become better and better leaders.  I need to keep on getting better because for things to change, I need to change.  So one of the things I would highly recommend, and I taught this in an up line master seminar, by the way, and it was one of the greatest things that I taught.  And Jerry I thank you for teaching me it because I had so much positive feedback from people that were millionaires in this industry saying that was one of the greatest things that they learned because now they understood better how to interact with people.  So I would highly recommend that tape series, Jerry.

 

I also highly recommend Jim Rohn's tape series The Art of Exceptional Living.  It is awesome.  In addition to that, Bryan Tracy has a great tape series called The Psychology of Achievement and first and foremost, I would recommend the 10 Lethal Weapon tape series because it is specifically about network marketing and having the right attitude to succeed in this business.  It is unique.  It is the first tape series like this out here, Jerry, and it will really help people understand what it takes to become a millionaire in this business. 

 

JERRY DRHINO CLARK: 

That's excellent, Johnny.  Now, you know, I know that out of all the people that I've taught the colors to and so forth, just like you were saying in the program we have the Magic of Colors is I'd go all around the world teaching people this information, and man, let me tell you something.  You have really grabbed this information, utilized it, and absolutely transformed your business by utilizing this information and teaching it with your people.  Now, why don't you go ahead and just tell us a little bit about the colors from your perspective and how are you using it on a regular basis to get results?

End of Part 1... Go to Part 2 to continue this interview...