Steven Thompson serves as Vice President of Sales for LIveSmart 360.
Steven has earned over $12 million in actual income over an 18 year career that began in 1996 when Steven was only 21 years old. He has built teams of over 250,000 people in 40 countries and has been rated as one of the top 100 Direct Selling mentors in the world.
LiveSmart 360 is the maker of 360 Chocolates, the world's leader in functional chocolates for health and wellness.
Steven has been married to his wife and partner, Angie, for 14 years. They have 3 young children and reside in Dallas, TX.
Ted Nuyten had the honor to interview Steven.
Steven, tell us about your background as it relates to Network Marketing & Direct Sales.
When I got started, I was 21 years old. I was actually waiting tables [at a restaurant], putting myself through college, and there was a group of guys there giving a Direct Sales presentation. I overheard a little bit of the presentation, and I was intrigued. So I pressed the gentleman for a phone number, he gave it to me, and he actually loaned me the money to get started [in the business]. I got involved many years ago, in 1996, it was my first endeavor into Network Marketing.
Why are you successful as a field leader?
Well “success” in this business can definitely be elusive. For me, success didn’t come quickly. The first five years that I was in the business – were NOT very successful at all. I got into Excel Communications, when the company was doing over One Billion Dollars in sales already. At that time I really didn‘t know anything about a momentum curve… and so it was elusive for me.
After about five years in the business, I had to actually go out and get a job and ultimately ended up starting a small swimming pool repair service just to try to make enough money. It was from there I was introduced to a young, early, pre-momentum company in the industry. From there I was then able to build it to a six-figure monthly income.
Why was I successful? Just as people are not successful for many reasons, there are [many] reasons people are successful. My work ethic has always been strong, that’s something I always learned from my father, and mentors in the business just taught me – hard work, that’s just something that’s very natural for me. To get out and get my hands dirty, to travel… I’m not afraid to do meetings, I’m not afraid to talk to people – never have been.
I’ve been EXTREMELY TEACHABLE. When I found someone who was where I wanted to be in the business, to me the natural thing about it is to get my ego out of the way and just be teachable. I learned from a number of different people – people that I watched from up closely, that I work directly with, et cetera. I would see how certain people did the business and try to do my best to model that. In many ways, I look back now and there were many things that were foolish about that, but at the same time the desire was always there.
And I think that’s the third thing is having a white hot burning desire. It wasn’t something that I was interested in or something that I thought I might like to do, it was something that I HAD to do.
I think that combining those three elements, and the final thing — being at the right place at the right time — with a company that’s got the right concept, the right situation.
The final and fifth thing is just refusing to quit. I don’t have “quit” in me – I don’t even know what it means. It’s not something I could live with.
Those five would probably be what I would say have been supportive contributors to my success.
Who have been your mentors / inspirations?
I’ve been very, very fortunate to have great mentors. Some have been much more up closer and others have been from afar. Some leaders or mentors have been through books, people like Jim Rohn and John Maxwell, I have devoured so many of their materials — and other leaders in other network marketing businesses. Early on I would take the tapes and I would just literally spin them off the spindle.
I’ve also been a very, very observant person – there are a number of leaders that I would notice as I was coming up through the business. My first sponsor in Network Marketing, he had already, for me, taught me a lot about the power of work in the business. And there are other leaders, crossline, that I would watch and learn different things from them. I’m a big believer in not trying to get one thing or everything from a particular mentor. You pick and you choose. You like the way one guy, one particular leader, the way they work. They’re tireless in their effort and their energy.
You watch another in how they deal with people and how they interact with folks and how they kind of “massage” relationships. You’ll see other leaders who are great at building the dream and they can paint a picture for people. And then you’ll see other who are great at motivation. Or maybe other who are great speakers and things along those lines.
For me, it was really just a mater of pulling knowledge and pulling information in any direction that I could get it. Sometimes it was upline, other times it was crossline, other times it might be other leaders in the industry that I got to know and had a respect for.
You changed from the field to corporate – Vice President of sales, how come?
ST: I am very much still in the field. I still earn income on sales that are generated in the company. I don’t make money on salary or anything on those lines. I was willing to take on the VP of Sales role not necessarily because it was something I wanted to do. It was really more a matter of trusting myself and believing in myself that there would be no one that would know better what our field team needed than I would… because — number one, I’m living off of the results just as they are – I’m certainly connected with them and equally yoked.
But also, it takes one to know one. Too often in this business there’s corporate people that earn a salary, and when you earn a salary versus just living off of the production, it’s a very different world. Even if you understand what the other world is like, it’s hard to put yourself in that situation. It’s hard to be able to put yourself in that environment, mentally, and think like individuals who are walking down that path.
So for me, it was really more of a desire to do things right – I certainly don’t know everything about the business, I learn everyday too – it was really a matter of building a “One Team, One Dream” approach to 360, of not having any sort of divisions or separations and just really being able to do this thing right. After seventeen years in the business at the time, I just believed, “if there’s anything that knows how to get this thing done, then I know.” I came to do this thing right. I came to 360 with an attitude that I want this thing to be a career move — Something for my family and for the family of those involved for the next twenty, thirty, forty years.
My heart is in the field, it’s not in corporate – it never will be – and there’s nothing more that I love to do than going out and showing the plan, sharing product and building relationships with people. Working from home, I love to do. The corporate thing for me is really a motivation for me to make sure things are done the way they need to be done… to give the company and the leaders and everybody the greatest chance of success.
What are the unique selling points of LiveSmart 360.
Oh my gosh, there are so many! First is our product concept. I was fortunate to be mentored by a gentleman who, today he’s in his late seventies and he’s long since retired – but, this gentleman actually took a number of different companies in his heyday to a Fortune 500 level. This individual has actually earned over one billion dollars, and I’ve actually learned a lot from him in our time working together and we spent many hours discussing a wide variety of topics.
One of the things that he taught me was about the power of BRANDING. He said to me, “Steven, if you want to make millions you sell a great product. But if you want to make BILLIONS, you sell a great brand.” So really, from the first day, I saw the chocolate as a worldwide global brand. The same way you would see a Hershey’s, or a Ghirardelli, or a Godiva – I saw the exact same thing. I think that the chocolate is really one of the most unique concepts EVER created in Network Marketing… EVER. Chocolate is a commodity. It’s enjoyed by over one billion people every single day in the world…
Ninety percent of the world loves [chocolate]. Its indulgence, its sweet, its fun – its for children [as well], its not just for adults. I think the chocolate idea is just really cool. The idea of getting healthy, by just eating chocolate, a lot of people do a double take when you ask that question. So I find that it’s absolutely incredible.
I think that the timing of 360 is absolutely SPECTACULAR. Where we are as a company, we’ve launched our foundation – we’ve done over $10 Million our first year, we’ve put in over 30,000 people we have five leaders in the company that have received checks for over $20,000 just for [a] week – and we’ve certainly got a long way to go, but I think that the company is at that place where its ready for a massive explosion. I think that when you’ve got the leadership behind the company, and with what [our President & CEO, Mr.] Chuck [Hallberg] brings to the table, its spectacular.
I think our career path is incredibly unique. I think that we offer things like health insurance, full blown retirement. We’ve really made this a career type situation more than a “deal” type situation which, unfortunately, is really out there a lot in our industry. [LiveSmart] 360 has a lot to offer, this company is willing to reward the leaders that are willing to really go out and commit to building the business and being successful.
What are the highlights of the compensation plan?
The thing about our plan, we divided it up into four types of income, we have fourteen total payouts and we really divided them up, or segregated them, into a very practical manner. When we wrote the comp[enstaion] plan, we wrote it in a way where we could take it and we couldn’t just say this is the comp[enstaion] plan and lets try to figure out qualifications we ought to have, and how we should tell people to go and build the business. We actually went the other way around.
We [asked], “How can we write [a plan that tells] what we want our distributors what to do – doing and pursuing – what steps do we want them taking and so forth. And then we wrote the comp[ensation] plan around that. Because I really wanted them to be very user friendly, to be almost very intuitive. We created four types of income: The Immediate income portion – which is extremely important for people to get money NOW. They need to be able to get money this week. We also built; Team Building Income, which is very different.
Borrowing from some previous experiences I’ve had in the industry, I put a team build component that has its place, literally with UNLIMITED POTENTIAL. There’s no limit, besides a person, to as much as they can earn, building up their organization. On the back end is; The Residual. I believe residual income should be SACRED. Whatever is earned ..] little or big, its should be locked in. SO we put in a very lucrative residual income plan that is very stable and very solid. And by the way, chocolate – one of the most residual friendly products EVRE created. Chocolate is not like so many of these “fad” products out there, chocolate will never go away 0 for sure. And finally we put in; The Incentives & Benefits, that make it a real career path.
For me, as a professional in the business, things like health insurance — the basis of ANY financial plan starts with health insurance. There are so many opportunities out there that want to get people to buy new luxury cars and they can get into debt with things like that. There’s nothing wrong with luxury cars, I own them, but they come in a place and time when you’re ready. And that comes with being fiduciarily responsible in the right place and time. The health insurance is real helpful. We have the retirement package. We also offer a blessing bonus which I think is spectacular. We actually started our comp[ensation] plan incentives around the blessing bonus, which begins with giving.
The thought process there was to the principle of the tithe – that you can’t out give the giver. Those are very unique components in our career path. I think what’s equally impressive is our system. The technology we use in 360, and the way that we use our sampling and the structure — something we call one leg rank – we literally have the ability to build one leg of business. We don’t HAVE to build the binary, which so many people don’t like. You can literally go to six figures a month, JUST with ONE TEAM. And with all the leaders in the group it’s very impressive and extremely attractive.
Do you have a power tip for a newbie in the industry?
Number One – you can do WHATEVER you want in this business. You may have been involved, you may have not done it before, you may be brand new – network marketing is a beautiful thing – the industry is absolutely AMAZING. I couldn’t imagine doing anything different.
[Number Two -] Don’t give up. There are going to be times where you’re going to find this thing frustrating, [ask yourself, “” is it ever going to happen?”, There’s going to be times where you’re going to be wonder, “is it possible for me?” [or] “Can I do it?” – things like that. You can’t [quit]. You have to stay committed to building and stay committed to growing, learning the business, which is important.
[Number Three -] But even more important than that, is learning to grow yourself as a leader – as an entrepreneur. Make sure you’re reading. So much of it – everything is digital today and I think that’s good. And everything is speedy and through the internet and such, which is great – at the end of the day, you’ve got to make sure you’re reading, make sure you’re growing and listening to tapes. Go on a meal fast – turn off the radio, and turn off the sports channel and TV and go on a diet of personal development.
[Number Four -] In regards to growing yourself as a leader, become that type of person that will ATTRACT, not going after people but becoming the type of person that will attract the individuals you are looking for.
[Number Five -] Find a good mentor. Somebody that’s really where you want to be, and not just [financially in] making money, but also in LIFE. For example, if you’re married then that mentor has a good marriage. If [hat mentor] has children, and you have children, and [in] looking at their family […] a mentor is going to rub off on you in your life whether you realize it or not. They’re not going to be perfect, nobody is, but finding a really good mentor that does the business that you feel good about and is getting the types of results that you’re looking for – seek them out. Ask them, “Will you mentor me?”. Now of course […] if you ask that question, you’ve got to be willing to what it takes to earn their time, because they don’t need you – it’s the other way around.
[In summary] I would say, gp for it. This business is so awesome, don’t ever quit – and make the decision. Don’t get out there and go for the three month, let me try it out […] period, or six months type of deal – its going to take you at least two years for you to really know whether or not you’re in the right company and in the right place, for you and your financial future. Don’t be these “jumper” types, bouncing around from deal to deal. Find a really good mentor to work with to mentor the growth, and you’ll be successful. It may not happen as fast as you want, but it will happen.
The industry has changed a lot – a lot of trends, a lot of companies coming and going – where do you see it going from this point forward?
Network Marketing is becoming more and more mainstream, more and more common place. Everyone you know is in this business in some form or fashion. Whether they’re a consumer of the product made by a direct sales company, or they’re involved in a direct sales company.
But this goes more to my point earlier as well in that, you can’t get into this business expecting to create any level of financial freedom with out a serious dedication… without a serious commitment and then you’ve got to stick it out. You can’t jump into something every 30 days and then you haven’t made $10,000 a month and you’re ready to quit. Nothing is ever going to work in life that, it doesn’t matter what it is. So I see Network marketing as more mainstream, but I also see the industry getting away from much of the hype and see it becoming – things like our career path, where you have the ability to make a solid multiple full-time income for yourself and your family and having things like retirement – in the business, I see things like that becoming more prevalent.
I see the product line the commodities, are a big part of the future of network marketing. Again, its something that I love with what we’re doing in chocolate – and we’ve seen a number of companies that have done it with different types of commodities.
I think it’s going to continue to get more mainstream. It’s going to continue to get more popular . It’s going to continue to go global. There are very few corners of the world that aren’t already exposed to the industry already. Network Marketing is going to have an explosive future.
Who are some of the top leaders in LiveSmart 360 and what would you say are some of the attributes to some of their success?
Wow… we’re so blessed to have a great team of leaders. And what’s so unique about it is that they all share many common traits, but the more I think about them, they all have so many special gifts.
Romacio Fulcher, for example, who is our first Diamond Executive here in the United States – such an EXTREMELY passionate man. When he walks into a goal, its just amazing to watch. When I look at him, he made about $60,000 in his first month with us and everybody was so impressed. Some people though, “Oh, he must have brought a big downline with him” — when the truth is that he didn’t. The truth is – He worked HARD. And the thing that I love about him is that he’s just got such a great work ethic. And all of our leaders share that great work ethic. For me, with Romacio, it’s just a deep passion to create success, not just in his own life, but in the life of many others.
Another name, I think about Jerry Plesko and Maja Rejec, in Slovenia. Jerry and Maja are just a power couple. I watch the way they work the business as a couple and build as a team, and it always inspires. They have such a great relationship and such wonderful love between the two of them , but then they also work really well behind the scenes (which really reminds me a lot of me and my wife).
I think about Aileen Galera — here in the United Sates – who was just making a few hundred bucks to boost in her previous business. Now she didn’t have immediate success at first — and you need the people that will come in, like Denis Hovelja, who came in our company and made over $50,000 and went Diamond Executive in about 45 days – you need those stories of people [who come in and have immediate success], that’s very important. But you also have to have the stories, like Aileen, where people don’t come in overnight and have major success. In Aileen’s case, she’s making a very healthy six-figure income, but it took her a while to get there. The thing that I admire most about her is that she never stopped; she is extremely consistent with the process.
Ken Turnbow, another great example. I’ve known Kenny for many years and he’s incredibly sweet and just a kind, big-hearted person. Kenny was the same way. For a number of years, he was struggling at 360. He was actually in the company before I was, but he just adopted everything that he brought into the business from the very first day – and wrapped his arms around it. Now Kenny has an organization [in that] his group is just growing all over the world. And he’s earning a high six figure income as a result.
Leaders like that who have made a big impact, Gunnar Jonasson, who is one of our leaders in Iceland – Iceland has les than 300,000 people. But don’t tell Gunnar that, because he knows and acts like he doesn’t know. Everyday he’s so focused and so positive. That’s been one of the big blessings for us – leaders that are around the world.
Siggy Boscheri, down in Italy, who has done a masterful job getting the Italian market started. His energy is contagious. He’s the best networker in Italy. Mario Vielmas, down in Mexico, for example. We just recently opened up Mexico and Mario is just doing an absolutely amazing job. He’s so hungry for success and willing to push it, willing to drive it – a “whatever it takes” attitude.
All of these leaders share these types of attitudes, such as Jason L. Scott 1st out of North Carolina. Thomas & Lisa Aguilar and Robert & Michelle Wallace out of TX. Suzanne Cherek out of California & Nebraska – What a future that young lady has in store for her. We have such an amazing group of leaders and so many leaders, that it’s obviously impossible for me to name them all. We have so many leaders across the country that the world, the future, is their oyster. The world is their playground. It’s going to be really neat to watch what happens over the next several years for 360.
What do you think the future hold for LiveSmart 360?
The future is unlimited for us. We’ve already gone to 35 other countries. We have a product line in which we’ve barely scratched the surface of on the scalability of the brand – Because cause chocolate is loved already all over the world, it doesn’t matter where I go throughout the world… the whole world already loves chocolate. The future, is really limitless. The future is however far we decide to take it. One thing I love about the direction of this company right now is that everybody is on the same page.
We call it “Wave 2’ – our first wave was our first year of launching the chocolate. We did many great things. Our company is now beginning to already move to Wave 2 – and its really exciting to see as a company, from our “C-Level” management team has done such a masterful job… all the way down to every employee in 360, who have done such an amazing job and have got the vision. Every leader in the field has got the vision.
So we’re super excited with where the future is. I’m very humbled to be a part of LiveSmart 360. I’m very thankful to be a part of LiveSmart 360. I’m just really looking forward to what the future holds.
Contact details Steven Thompson
https://www.facebook.com/stevendthompson