On this episode of Leading Las Vegas, Meagan Williams joins me to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly side of network marketing.

Meagan Williams- How to do Network Marketing the right way [Video Transcript]

Danielle Ford: Hello. Welcome. I am Danielle Ford. This is another episode of Leading Las Vegas. Today I am chatting with a really great friend of mine, Meagan Williams. She is a network marketing professional. Meagan, do you want to tell us a little bit more about what you do?

Meagan Williams: Yeah. I have been in network marketing for the last six years. Three years full-time. Lately I’ve just been incorporating a lot of social media into my business and teaching others how to do the same.

Danielle Ford: You’re great at it. You have figured out really creative ways to use Snapchat and some live streaming of Facebook to be really creative with what you do.

Meagan Williams: Yeah. Absolutely. I think that’s really important in the sales aspect and just really trying to promote more of a realness behind who you are as a salesperson and without being so sales-y. Also, bringing creativity into your products so that you can share what it is that they do and how they can serve your ideal customer.

Danielle Ford: Right. There’s a lot of controversy in the network marketing industry and about the network marketing industry. I’m going to tell you the truth. We’ve had conversations about this. I have never been into network marketing. I’ve never been on the bandwagon. I have actually signed up for companies a couple of times because I love their products and that was, like, a discount if I joined as a person.

Meagan Williams: Yeah.

Danielle Ford: I think everybody has a story of where they feel like they kind of got sideswiped by a network marketing professional.

Meagan Williams: Totally.

Danielle Ford: Yeah. I know personally there’s one time, it just really stands out, where a girl who I really liked and kind of respected and thought we were forming a friendship was like, “Oh, you know, let’s go to this event. It’s going to be awesome.” Yadda yadda. For me, I have two kids. You know when we’re trying to go out I have to take them to my mom’s house.

Meagan Williams: Yes.

Danielle Ford: It’s this whole deal.

Meagan Williams: Yes.

Danielle Ford: I went to this event and it was she’s trying to sell me on stuff with a group of people also trying to sell their people there. I was just like, “Oh, I can’t.” Can you talk about that? Kind of some of the things that you’ve seen people do wrong, and maybe how they could fix it.

Meagan Williams: So many things wrong. Oh my gosh.

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: I was kind of lucky to have never really been sideswiped that way, but I still have my own personal stigmas around it. My ideas and misconceptions just based on what your friends tell you, right? I had a friend who this happened to.

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: You just hear all the horror. When I was introduced to it I didn’t know that it was network marketing, but what I was being told sounded so great. Then when we went to lunch there was absolutely no … There was none of that. She didn’t bombard me with these hidden agendas or anything like that. She was very straightforward with it.

I just got really lucky with someone being honest with me upfront and was led, because it’s all about the leadership, right? It’s all about telling the truth, because the truth should be enough. If you have to lie, I mean, there’s no room for that if you want to create a real persona around the good of network marketing.

Everyone has a … Not everyone, but so many people have such a bad idea around it. You have to be that leader that steps in and tells the truth from the beginning when someone says, “Is this network marketing?” You need to be proud and say that with conviction that, like, “Yes, it is.” I wouldn’t do it otherwise, right?

Danielle Ford: I’ve asked people that. They’re like, “Well, it’s not that it’s network marketing. It’s just that it’s” … Or, “It’s not an MLM. It’s just that it’s this…” It’s like, okay, but just let’s call a spade a spade.

Meagan Williams: Yeah. You already lose.

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: You’ve lost me there. Don’t even try to be that.

Danielle Ford: Right.

Meagan Williams: No, so I got lucky. I’ve only done one company.

Danielle Ford: Okay.

Meagan Williams: I’ve been loyal to that company. I have such a loyal customer base because I have never been that person that you talk about.

Danielle Ford: Right.

Meagan Williams: I would just feel horrible about myself anyway.

Danielle Ford: You’ve only done one company. I was going to ask you that. You’re pretty high up there and they even sent camera crews out to do that awesome video for you as the face of the company.

Meagan Williams: Yeah.

Danielle Ford: Do you think that part of your success with this company was the fact that you chose one company and dove into it? I see a lot of people who do every MLM there is. They’re like, “Hey, you can buy Tupperware. Also, makeup. Also, this.” They’re in every company.

Meagan Williams: Yes.

Danielle Ford: Do you think that has something to do with it?

Meagan Williams: I do because I don’t believe truly that you can be a successful network marketer in multiple companies.

Danielle Ford: Okay.

Meagan Williams: It’s just not real. There are people that have said to me that, “I would be so great on your team. I’ve done six companies.” I’m like, “Well.”

Danielle Ford: You’re like, red flag, red flag.

Meagan Williams: Basically you were successful in zero of those, right?

Danielle Ford: Right.

Meagan Williams: Because you would still be doing that company. I feel like I just got really lucky. I did a lot of research. I think due diligence is so important. If you’re just going to jump into something before you know the details, and it’s all about the money for you or this bright, shiny object syndrome, and you don’t do your research and you don’t know how you’re going to get paid, you don’t know what the products are, you’re in for a real shit hole.

Like, really. You’re going to drown. You’re going to get sideswiped in so many things. At the end of the day someone else is going to approach you and they’re going to say, “But I’m doing this one.” If you’re not solid and if you don’t have that conviction in what you’re selling, and you don’t even know your target market, then … Jumpers are …

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: I mean, they’re everywhere. I’ve had a couple. To be honest with you, they weed themselves out because they’re just going to go find … I don’t even give them my time because they’re going to leave. They’re going to find something new.

Danielle Ford: Yeah. I’m sure that you get a lot of that, especially here in Las Vegas, because I feel like when I’ve seen you market, and I also have some other friends that I have seen market their MLMs well versus people who don’t.

Meagan Williams: Yeah.

Danielle Ford: The biggest thing that stands out to me is some of these companies or the leadership is targeting people with things like get rich quick. Oh, why aren’t you making $1,000 this month? You could be doing this, too. You could have this car. You, and some other people I respect who do it right, say things like, “Hey, this is a really good business opportunity. It’s a lot of work. I’m going to show you how to do it.” Which seems like the difference between the people that actually last in those companies.

Meagan Williams: Yeah.

Danielle Ford: Versus the ones that realize, oh, they’re not going to make $1 million this month.

Meagan Williams: Totally. Well, I mean, there is that key word in network marketing, right? It’s work.

Danielle Ford: Network. Yeah.

Meagan Williams: It’s not like net rich quick marketing.

Danielle Ford: Net rich quick. That’s funny.

Meagan Williams: I do tell my team that, I do tell everyone that comes into my group that, because I’m not here as a leader to drag you everyday and babysit you. I mean, that is me not teaching them how to lead their team, right? I mean, I don’t want to bring people onto my team and teach them how to babysit by me babysitting them, because none of us will ever become successful. They’re not going to be able to do anything on their own.

Danielle Ford: Right.

Meagan Williams: Where people I think mess up a lot is, especially in the beginning, is that they’re do desperate to get everybody, as many people as they can on their team. You have to know whether or not that person’s even right for you. You have to go through that qualifying process. You know?

I mean, obviously, Danielle, I would kill to have somebody like you on my team. Do I know that Danielle is the ideal person for my team? She would be great at it, I’m sure. She has an esthetician background. She’s awesome at sales. She has video marketing. Of course I would love for her to throw a product in a funnel and blow it up, but that’s not what she … I wouldn’t even ever approach her about that because she’s so solid in what she does. I’m not going to show that desperation, right?

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: If she knew what I did … She knows what I do. If it were ever something that she considered, I know that she would come to me.

Danielle Ford: Totally.

Meagan Williams: Because of how I’ve shown that … The right way to do it, right?

Danielle Ford: There are people like … First of all, if I was going to do it I would definitely join your team, and or maybe a different product if I wanted to under a different friend that I trusted. There’s people I don’t even know very well that will straight up message me. They’re like, “Oh, so you mean you’re not doing this company? You mean you’re not making this whatever?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’m not, and I’m good. I’m fine.”

Meagan Williams: You suck.

Danielle Ford: Yeah. It’s almost like they talk down to you instead of respecting. Like what you just said, like, “Hey, if you’re ever ready, I’m here.”

Meagan Williams: Yeah.

Danielle Ford: Versus shaming. I see a lot of people shaming, or there’s only one way to get that success by joining that company. I’m probably not your target market because I really do already have my stuff figured out.

Meagan Williams: Yeah.

Danielle Ford: Who would be a good person to consider a career in network marketing?

Meagan Williams: I love just hungry people that they know exactly what they want in their life. Maybe they don’t have everything that they want, or maybe they do and they’re not just happy with that. I love those driven, young people who are social media savvy, who maybe have even gone to college and just haven’t really found … Or maybe like me, bartending for ten years and working and opening up all these incredible fine dining restaurants around the south. Being proud of what I did, but also at the end of the day not feeling like I had a purpose.

You lay your head down on the pillow at the end of the night and you maybe have made $1,000 that day, but what impact did you really have on people? Right? Just people that want to make a difference, people that want to be secure financially and work hard to get there. They’re not just there for this overnight get rich quick thing because that’s not what this is.

That are just committed to being a good leader and committed to really the success of others because I’m not successful until I create success for those on my team.

Danielle Ford: That is probably the biggest thing that I really like about the concept of the MLM, or network marketing. It doesn’t matter how much you sell or that pads your pockets with dollars. It matters how much the people under you are selling, which is a really good driving force for somebody who cares about other peoples’ success like you do.

Meagan Williams: Yeah. Absolutely.

Danielle Ford: Yeah. I remember you telling me a really good story about how you kind of got into it, into network marketing. I know you probably don’t want to go into everything right now, but it was really inspiring when you realized where you were with your bartending. Not that bartending isn’t an amazing job, or fun or bringing value to peoples’ lives, but you were …

Meagan Williams: Yeah, it was great. I was having a really bad day, like, a really shitty day. Something happens in those moments where you start to question is this what I want to deal with every freaking day?

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: When you just get punched from every angle, from all sides, from every human you come in contact with in 24 hours, and you’re just ready to murder everyone. Then at the end of the day you’re just like, “Why am I doing this? Is this going to better my life really in the end?” I mean, serving wine all day was just … You know?

Danielle Ford: Do you think all those punches was like the universe telling you something needs to change?

Meagan Williams: Yeah, totally. Totally something needs to change.

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: Because, well, I’ll just say I’m there and I’m having this moment. I had remembered in college I literally had written down on a piece of paper the five things that I thought would be the most incredible job, of how I wanted to live my life. I had a background in science, so I wanted it to have something to do with that. I wanted it to have something to do with giving back. I wanted it to have something to do with travel, because I’m a travel junkie. Then, for me to have my own hours and for me to be in control of my money. When I showed that to my mom, she kind of laughed.

Danielle Ford: She’s like “Yeah, big dreams.”

Meagan Williams: She’s like “Yeah. How do you expect to ever find that?” I just said, “You know, I don’t know, but if it’s meant to be maybe it’ll find me.” Right? You have that in the back of your mind and you’re focused on attracting something like that into your life not knowing when and if it’ll ever happen. You just have that to hold onto.

In walks this woman into my life that day when I was just getting punched from all sides. She shared with me what she was doing. She was so magnetic. That’s what it’s about, that presence that you bring to the universe and to everyone that you meet. I knew that she was happy. I knew that she had a purpose. I knew that she was grounded with what she did. She never pitched me. I was so curious because she had that energy. I was like, “I have to know what you’re doing.”

Danielle Ford: You were like, “I want that, and I feel like it aligns with all the things that I’ve put out to the universe so far.”

Meagan Williams: Totally.

Danielle Ford: Yeah.

Meagan Williams: When I said, “I want to take you to lunch tomorrow, what do I need to bring?” She said, “An open mind.” I was just like, “Lady, you could tell me” … Everything that she said just in that short ten minute span, when something sounds good, too good to be true, but I thought, “Even if a tenth of that, what she’s saying, is real, it’s, like, a thousand times better than what I was doing in that moment.” Why not give it a look? You only have … You have a choice to say yes or no. Don’t just be like, “No.” You know? Unless they come to you like you had.

Danielle Ford: A crazy … Yeah.

Meagan Williams: Yeah, crazy. Why not give it a shot? I mean, you never know. It could totally change your life.

Danielle Ford: That’s very good wisdom for anything at all.

Meagan Williams: Yeah. Yeah.

Danielle Ford: Thank you so much. That was really eye opening about how that works. Honestly, I have changed my perceptions around the whole industry altogether. If people want to connect with you to see how you are rocking social media in your industry, even other networking professionals, you should check out what she’s doing with social media. This is very creative and it works, right?

Meagan Williams: Yeah, it’s worked so far.

Danielle Ford: How can they find you?

Meagan Williams: You guys can go to MegsLV.com. Also, follow me on Snapchat. Find me. I’m at MegsLV on Snapchat and pretty much every other social media platform. Yeah, so there’s a nice little bonus on my website for other people who are in network marketing that want to use social media.

Danielle Ford: That’s awesome.

Meagan Williams: It’s cool, yeah.

Danielle Ford: Very cool. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Meagan Williams: Yeah. You’re welcome.

Danielle Ford: You were a great guest.

Meagan Williams: Thanks for having me.

Danielle Ford: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for watching. Again, I’m Danielle Ford of Danielleford.com, where visibility makes a difference. I will see you in the next episode of Leading Las Vegas. Bye, guys.

Meagan Williams: Bye.