This week, our featured Shop Consultants are successful Gen-Y UnFranchise® Owners Benson & Michael Chen! Last Thursday we asked our Facebook audience what questions they would like to ask them about building a successful business. Interested in seeing if they answered your question? Read on!
Market America: Tell us a little bit about yourselves: how did you get your start? What is it like working with a business partner who is also your brother?
Benson Chen: Having the opportunity to work and succeed with your own brother is just AMAZING. Michael started his business first and actually followed up with me for two straight years before I registered! I can honestly say that in my experience of being a closed prospect myself, your closed prospects won’t join the business in the beginning. But if you are persistent and bring them the major events, they will jump on board.
I would say the biggest advantage for us being brothers is that we understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses; we understand we can (and must) succeed as a team, so it doesn’t really matter who plays what role. Michael does a lot of the back stage work; managing the team with ticket counts, following up with everyone, and closing the deal. On the other side I was the one who was under the spotlight being exposed to the crowd and doing most of the talking. It doesn’t matter who does what; as long as it benefits the team we’ll take a role and execute it right away. Also, we give each other straightforward feedback, and I think that’s what made us grow faster together.
Michael Chen: We started the business as college students and didn’t have a lot of money. People didn’t take us seriously because we were so young, but we didn’t let that hold us back. The best thing we did was listen to our senior business partners by attending NMTSS events every chance we had. Every single weekend of our first two years in the business, we would drive or fly out of town to learn. Attending trainings helped instill in us belief and fundamental knowledge of the business, so we invested all of our money and time into going to them. We worked hard to set appointments, attend trainings, and utilize what we learned every single day of the week because the only thing that would lead to our success was taking action. Another thing we realized early on was that buying and selling tickets and getting people to the events was (and still is) non-negotiable if you want to succeed in this business.
MA: What is the biggest mistake that UnFranchise® Owners make when using social media to build their business, and how can they avoid it?
MC: Lack of purpose is one of the biggest mistakes we see. You have to make a choice: do I want to use social media to promote my business? Promote myself as a brand? Promote an opportunity? Promote positive mindset? Mix business and life, pictures and text, but never post anything negative or offensive. Posting one or two times a day is enough, but anything more than that could overwhelm your friends. Make sure you’re engaging with others (i.e. like and comment), that’s what social media is for, to socialize. And always remember to never, ever spam!
MA: Do you use social media to recruit people or retail products?
BC: Ever since Market America started talking about social marketing, Michael and I immediately decided that we needed to make our social media accounts our BUSINESS social media accounts. We decided that our social media presence needs to display a mixture of business, life, and-most importantly-fun! You have to be consistent while building your social media presence in order to see results. I’ve actually sold more than 1000bv in the past few months just by posting pictures of how I like to use the products, photos of me enjoying the products, and the results I (or someone in our team) see from the products.
In terms of recruiting, social media is the key to increase our growth for everyone is our business. People will see you on their news feed and will become accustom to checking up on what you’ve been doing lately. For the past one to two weeks, I’ve had about 10 Facebook Friends ask me about our business and request more information because it seems fun AND profitable.
MA: How influential have events like World Conference and International Convention been on your continued success?
MC: Events like World Conference and International Convention are the only reason why we have achieved anything in this business. The inspiration and knowledge we get from these events are irreplaceable. This is why we have never missed an event and never will. Our goal is to always bring more people to an event to experience what we experience and see what we see so that when our team comes back, we’re all on the same page and can build the business together. Remember: your level of success in this business is a direct reflection of how many people you bring with you to a major event.
MA: How do you help motivate people who have hit a plateau 2-3 years into the business?
BC: I believe that in this business, anyone who stops going to the major events will lose focus, hit plateau, and make excuses. I know that we hear this again and again, but it’s true; you just can’t afford to skip major events in this business. Look at the some of the most successful UnFranchise® Business Owners in our company like Elizabeth Weber, Joanne Hsi, Frank Keefer, Tony Bowling, Min Liu, Jim Winkler, Jacki Blasko… none of them have ever missed any major events.That’s what helped them stay in the game and become successful. We have an obligation to motivate those who are struggling and push them to that next major event and turn our obstacles into our motivation. It’s important to understand that by doing this, you’re helping them by giving them the best shot at getting back into the game once again! As Amber Yang says all the time, “Just one more!”
We would like to thank Benson and Michael Chen for taking the time to speak with us and revealing some of their best business-building tips! To submit a question, keep a close eye on the Market America Facebook page. This Thursday at 12 PM EDT we’ll give you an opportunity to submit questions for next week’s Shop Consultant. Then, read the ma® Blog on Wednesday to see if your question has been answered!
Now it’s your turn: which one of Benson and Michael’s tips do you think will be the most helpful to your UnFranchise® Business and why? Comment your answer below!
