The black coffee theory in your network marketing business

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SPEAKER_00 0:03

Networkers and the ultimate podcast for networkers in direct sales, network marketing, MLM or NXL side platform. I'm the author of over 20 best-selling books and over 25 years in the business. Here's your host, Beat Strider.

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If your business has plateaued or you just want to turbocharge your business in just a couple of minutes, this episode is for you. A couple of weeks ago, my daughter needed to go back to her flight school and college over the winter break. And I said, okay, great. I let's go together. This instead of you driving three hours doing your flight and driving three hours back, of course, hey, let's make a day of it, have some fun, do a road trip. And while you're at your flight, I normally go to a local coffee shop or a restaurant, sometimes both, and we always have a good time. So when we went just recently over the break, I went to a non-local coffee shop, went to a Starbucks, and while I was at the Starbucks, uh, a very interesting thing happened. Number one, I always like to sit by the window just so I can get some natural light as well. And this particular location, they had some high-level kind of like bar height tables, so a little bit easier on my legs. I could watch people come in and out, light. Very interesting because when I would watch people that arrived at the location, there were some people that wanted the traditional coffee experience. So they would have their coffee, they'd be on their phone, maybe just relaxing and enjoying. And then there were some people that were there with their families. Like instead of going out for ice cream, they basically have these ginormous coffee drinks, which are pretty much way more sugar than ice cream. But either way, they kids were happy and they go on their way. Some people, we'd see couples that would talk. You see some people that were just on their laptops, like myself. You'd see some people that would be in a hurry, so they take the drive-throughs. Some people would place their mobile orders, not even talk to anybody, just be on their phones and go out. There's this whole variety of people. But this business catered to everybody. And I think that's why they're so big. Number one, they do not have the best coffee. I don't even like coffee. I barely drink it, but I know that they do not have the best coffee. Yeah, they may have the best variety, but the quality is just not there. But they're successful because they cater to a lot of people. They don't cater to everybody, but they cater to a majority of people that like coffee or some sort of beverage. And it's the exact same in our business. Think about some people that just want to purchase our product or use our service, and they're completely happy. And there's some people that just love hanging out at events and they love being around positive people, and some people that just like to be part of online events, and they just like seeing positive people live on your Zooms or your platforms that you use to do trainings. And some people, they're super happy being able to help other people have the benefits of your product or service. They'll never build a huge business. They don't want to build a huge business. The money is just gravy, like, okay, maybe a hundred bucks, five hundred bucks. They're super happy with that per week, per month, per year. And there's some people that want to build a small business, some people want to build a huge business, some people that just want to get rid of their job and finally have a life, some people that just want like it. Our business, our industry in general, it's not going to help everybody because not everybody wants to change. Some people like their current situation, but for people that want to change, our business can help out anybody in pretty much any company, which is really cool. So I always think always reminds me how lucky we are to have this industry. It's just like Starbucks or any coffee chain is we don't have to be the best. We don't have to be the cheapest price. We just have to continue to let people know about our business and we'll be successful. But as you know, when you Google something, you do a search, your next thing you know, your Gmail and your social media platforms and everything else pops up something that you've searched for. So when I did a search for coffee shops, of course, I come across with a lot of stuff about coffee, and the one that really stood out to me was a video about the black coffee theory. And I've heard about the black coffee theory before, and there's so many different versions, and I don't know who originally came up with it, and I doubt anybody knows. But here is my version of the black coffee theory. Imagine when I went to the coffee shop, instead of placing my order of exactly what I wanted, I said, I don't like black coffee. I don't like plain black coffee. Here's $10. I just don't like black coffee. And the person taking my order is, of course, going to be a little bit confused. They said, Well, what exactly do you want? I go, I don't, I don't really know, but all I know is I don't like plain black coffee. Here's $10. And they go, Okay, well, um, okay, well, yeah, okay, we'll try. And so they bring out my coffee. And instead of plain black coffee, they have the milk or the latte or whatever it's called. And I go, uh, you know, I really don't like this. They go, well, why don't you try putting some sweetener in it? Okay, I'll try putting some sweetener in it. And I didn't like it. I go, uh, I just I don't like this. I can still kind of taste the plain black coffee, even though you try to mask it with sugar and milk and heat. I just, here's another $10. I just don't like plain black coffee. And they go, okay, well, let's give it another shot. Let's add some chocolate, let's add some whipped cream, let's add more milk, let's steam it up, or let's put some ice on it. They do all sorts of things. And I keep getting a beverage that I don't like, and I keep spending my money. I go, here's another $10. How about you you try something else? I just don't like playing black coffee. So finally they go, okay, let's let's give them a croissant or a muffin or a sandwich and all, or the the little refresher fruity drinks, and they think you, I'm spending all my time, I'm wasting their time, I'm spending a lot of money because I don't like plain black coffee. But I don't like or I don't know what I really like. Now, this may sound ridiculous because there are tons of options there. There's almost unlimited amounts of customization. They kept trying to make me happy. Again, I'm spending money, I'm spending time, I'm wasting resources, I'm wasting their time more importantly, because I'm focusing on what I don't want or what I don't like. And yes, it definitely sounds ridiculous. But how many times are we living our lives saying, I don't like playing black coffee? Think about this. We start the business and we go, I'm tired of being broke, I just don't want to be broke, or I'm tired of the credit card bills, I'm tired of paying interest, I'm tired of my bra boss breathing down my neck, I'm tired of all the stress. I'm we're always focused on what we don't like, which is good because it gives us a reason to do something, but sometimes we're so focused on what we don't want. We need to kind of say, okay, great, what what can I do about it? What do I really want? And say, okay, well, uh I'm tired of being broke. I need to make more money in this business. I need to build my business to make more money. Great, perfect, good start. And then what happens? A couple months later, we get a check or direct deposit for one dollar, and we're not happy. Now, some people would be. They're like, oh, it's a start. I finally did something, I finally put the skills in action, I finally talked to somebody. Some people will be happy, but most people were like, wait, I said I'm don't want to be broke. Of course, we're focusing on what we don't want. I said I wanted more money, I got a dollar, that's not gonna work. They said, Well, I need to be more specific. Okay, great, awesome. I need to make a thousand dollars per month. Okay, how do I do this? Okay, well, I need to probably talk to some people to get some come more customers. Some will turn into distributors, some will turn into leaders, I need to learn the skills to be able to talk to people. Okay, great. Um and then what happens? Sometimes something happens, most of the time, nothing happens. And why is that? Like, oh, I was very specific with my goal, I knew exactly what I needed to do, and nothing happens. Why is that? Because it's a little bit too logical, it's a little bit too about still about what we don't want. It needs to have a little emotional component. So when you get that thousand dollars a month, okay, great. Yeah, you can pay off the credit card, yes, you can pay off the mortgage early, yes, you can have some breathing room, but what are you actually going to do with the money? Like, what's the story with your success? It just needs to be a little bit more emotional. You can say, well, you know, I finally can, like every relationship podcast out there says I need to take a weekly date with my spouse, or I finally can have the kids take a vacation, I can finally take them to Disney World, I can finally take them skiing, I can finally take that cruise I always wanted to do. Like, that's where it becomes emotional. Like, how would it feel to be on that cruise? How would it feel to do that one weekly date with your spouse and not stress out about it, knowing that you're paying interest on your date, you're paying interest on that $50, $100, $200 date you're taking your spouse on, you're like, ah, well, it's gonna go on the credit card. There's nine to twenty-five percent or whatever it is. How would it feel? Not have to worry about that. That's where the emotion comes in. So kind of bringing it back most of the time, and we all we're all guilty of it. We've sometimes we're so focused on what we don't want when so when the life gives us something, we're not happy. Or sometimes life will just continue to give us that plain black, hot, cheap coffee. And no, I'm not against black coffee. In fact, sometimes it's a good deal. A dollar, good to go. But we don't have to focus on what we really want. How would it make us feel? We need to be we need to have that emotional connection. And yes, I've I've talked about this before, it's in the 1% book, and I'll put a link to it, but most people already have it. What we've done in just a few minutes is we've changed from what we don't like or what we don't want to how would it make us feel to get what we really want. Just like the coffee shop, there's unlimited customizations. Yeah, you may you may change. Some people will get the same coffee order for their entire life and be completely happy. Some people will change it every day, some people will change it once a quarter, some people will just change it via the season. Ooh, they have a seasonal drink. Like life in our goals will change. Don't worry about if something doesn't work out or it's too far-fetched, or it's not it didn't quite work with our color personality. It's okay. But here's the most important part. Think about how much money we're losing by not having that emotional reason to build. How much money are we losing by focusing on plain black coffee? If our goal is even just a thousand dollars per month, and that's just going to give us some breathing room, it's going to make a big we're going to be able to do so much cool things with an extra thousand dollars a month a month. Guess what? Last year in 2025, by not changing the plain black coffee, or by not changing your emotional reason to build, or by not focusing on your emotional reason to build, or by not, or just by focusing too much on plain black coffee, last year it cost you $12,000 by not changing. The cost of not changing was $12,000 last year. I guarantee for $12,000, you could learn all the uh you can do plenty of events and skill building and mentoring and coaching. You can do so much. You can learn everything. Way less than $12,000. So maybe don't think about your big goal, but think about your immediate goal. Think about how much it costs per month. Multiply that by 12. Whatever that is, that's how much it cost you last year by not learning the skills or by focusing on playing black coffee. But here's the best part. Every single person listening wants something more out of their business. You can probably listen to more free podcast episodes. I'll put some of my favorites in the description. You could probably learn some skills by learning more books and audios and audio packs, which is great. That's another option. Or there's probably a book that you haven't picked up in a while. There's probably an audio that you haven't listened to. There's probably something that you already have. You don't have to spend additional money that will change your life. And I was talking to uh Will Xanders at his event, I guess it was uh last month as I'm recording this episode, and he had mentioned we we always talk kind of talk back and forth and kind of joke about when you read a book and you read it five years later, it's like someone put new information in the book, or you listen to an audio and you listen to the audio a month later, and it's like, well, I somebody changed the file of the audio, and there's something new in there. And of course, that's not possible, but we always always kind of joke about it. Like you're a different person reading the book, you're a different person listening to the audio. So there's something that every single person has that they can reread or re-listen to for absolutely free right away. And chances are there's probably gonna be some sort of new information or some sort of new information that you actually absorb because you're a different person. And that's the most powerful thing about books, audios, or really any training module. And of course, with podcasts, most of the time I love picking brains of industry leaders, and I was listening to a couple of them, which is really weird listening to your own voice, but I was listening to a couple of them last week or even earlier this week, and I always try to look for similarities. And this last batch, I realized that most of the leaders, most of the people that I interviewed, they started with immediate failure, or they started with a a failure within the first year. Now there are there were a few exceptions. Some people got lucky or they had skills right away, or they just knew exactly what to say, and they got lucky, but the majority, like 95%, had some sort of immediate failure right away. That was the first similarity that I found with the interviews. And the second one is most had to learn some additional skills, just like any other way of creating an income. Every other way of creating income, you're gonna have to learn some skills. Even if it's a minimum wage job, they have to learn some skills. Even if it's a high-level job, you still have to learn some new skills from where you were before. And that's it. Like, it's pretty cool. Most people will fail. Hey, congratulations. You have some failure. We're part of the club, we're part of the most people club, and we have to learn some skills. Great. We're part of the most people club in there. That's it. That's be okay with a failure and learn some skills equals success. Awesome. Some great similarities. And of course, I appreciate everybody that's giving back to the industry and being on the podcast. I got some awesome podcast episodes that have been already been recorded. Look forward to sharing another episode, of course, with another successful networker next week.

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