Gary Bledsoe on Inspiring and Motivating Network Marketers to Succeed
Gary Bledsoe was a Corrections Officer when he overheard a conversation about network marketing. Now, he’s a motivational mlm trainer. His story.
Wow! I love your energy Gary, and I’m excited you accepted this interview. So, let’s get started!
Where were you born, what was life like growing up, and what did your parents do for a living?
I was born in Bronx, NY. Our neighborhood was made up of lower middle-class working people, but there were a lot of poor families.
The people in the building I grew up in were very family oriented. They were very aware of the crimes and unpleasant conditions within the neighborhood, so a strong community was created in our building.
The community within our building shielded us from the dangerous that existed on the outside. This allowed me to rarely experience harmful situations, although I did get into a few fights.
But, most of my young life was spent playing with the neighbors kids within their apartments or in mine. We also played stickball, touch football, and basketball in the school yard that was right next to our building.
Living in the South Bronx in the 1970’s, I got to witness firsthand the birth and growth of one of my favorite types of music; Hip-Hop. I got to meet and know a lot of the Old-School Hip-Hop music artists that also grew up in the South Bronx.
This gave me somewhat a sense of pride. I would also add that this is where I started to develop my “swag” as the kids call it today. I learned how to dress and how to talk in order to get what I wanted to survive in the neighborhood.
Even though there was so much going on around me, I still had a feeling that there was something more that I needed to do or become in life. I didn’t grow up with my father and didn’t know who he was.
The only parent that I knew was my very strong 4’11” mother. She was my mother and my father. I learned so much from her on how to be honest, loyal, kind, hard-working, and a good citizen for society. I love her so much for her courage and strength. She was very strong, but I watched her suffer a lot.
She worked for the City of New York, at their personnel department. To most people in my neighborhood, this was considered a good job, but my two younger sisters and I knew the truth.
I remember us going many times to the “free cheese” line to receive free Government cheese to help her provide food for us from one paycheck to paycheck. I have to say, looking back, those were some of the best grilled-cheese sandwiches I have ever eaten….LOL.
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Was there any Entrepreneurship in the family, and what did you eventually do for work when you grew up?
No one in my family was an entrepreneur, but I did understand who and what an entrepreneur was. I knew what an entrepreneur was because I was friends with the neighborhood drug dealers.
Thank GOD, I never took that path, but they did teach me that when you control your own income, you control your life.
Watching my mother frustrated and angry because she never had enough money for us, I began looking for legal ways to do what the neighborhood drug dealers were doing.
I wanted to control my income like they did, because I didn’t want to be frustrated like my mother was. My mother, being the kind of person she was, bought everything she could for me on how to start your own business.
She brought me books from Bob Proctor, Carlton Sheets, and others. I read and studied everything she gave me. Because of the type of neighborhood I grew up in, finding legal ways to start a business was very scarce.
So, to the job market I went. I worked at supermarkets as a delivery boy and a cashier, at rent-a-car companies, schools, construction companies, and then eventually with the NYC Dept. of Corrections.
This last job came at the best time, because my girlfriend at the time was pregnant with my oldest son. I did not want to give him the type of life that I grew up in. I wanted better for him. So, this began my career as a NYC Correction Officer.
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You worked as a Correction Officer. How long did you do that, and what were some of the lessons you learned about humanity by seeing these convicted inmates?
In the beginning of my career as a NYC Correction Officer, I absolutely loved it. I learned so much about myself. One of the best lessons I learned was that I did not want to be an inmate within a prison.
I want to share a powerful (for me) “ah-ha moment” that I received. My first day on OJT (On-The-Job Training), I remember walking along with my female trainer into one of the cellblocks.
After about two hours or so, I began to cry. Luckily, the inmates didn’t see me because I was in the bathroom. My trainer was understanding. She comforted me, but was very curious on why I was sad. She thought it was because this job wasn’t for me, but that wasn’t it.
The reason I was crying was because hanging with the “ghetto entrepreneurs” the neighborhood drug dealers, and almost taking their path in life; I would have ended up an inmate too.
I told myself from that moment on, I would never do anything or associate with anyone that could potentially cause me to go to jail. This was a valuable lesson for me. Learning earlier in life the value of controlling my income, I knew with everything in me that I also wanted to control my destiny.
Around year 7, you overheard a conversation about income. What was that conversation like, and what action did you take?
It was a weird day. I did not want to go to work that day and was looking for a way to go home. My job allowed unlimited paid sick time and I was ready to cash in on that. So, my plan was to get assaulted by an inmate so I could go home and stay out of work for a couple of days.
Just as I was about to find the perfect size inmate to get in an altercation with, a friend of mine was talking to another co-worker in the area of the jail that I was working in about owning your own business.
He was talking to him about Real Estate, Network Marketing, the Rule of 72, and etc. That officer was totally not listening to my friend, but like a radio antenna, I was. It was like nothing was going on around me except what he was talking about. I felt as if I was in a slow-motion movie.
After his conversation was over with the other co-worker, my feelings of wanting to get assaulted to go home sick were over. Instead, I decided to ask him if he can talk to me about what he was telling the other officer.
Roger, my friend’s name, said that he could do even better, he could show me how to start a home business from scratch. I just had to meet him in Manhattan on a Wednesday night at some office. I agreed. I didn’t know at the time, but it was an opportunity meeting for a Network Marketing company.
My life has NEVER been the same again. The stuff I heard of how a person coming from nothing could create a six-figure income with a very low investment.
They talked about designing your life and controlling your own income. In other words, they were speaking my language. I joined my friend in that company and moved up the ranks pretty fast.
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What were the first couple years like in network marketing, and what was the biggest hardship you faced, and how did you overcome it?
The first two years in Network Marketing were like an exciting roller coaster ride. I saw myself making more money in less than 24 hours than I made in one month. I loved every single minute of it. How does the saying from the comic book character Spider-Man go, “With great power comes an even greater responsibility.” Well, I had to learn this lesson the hard way.
Because, I was making so much money in Network Marketing, I decided to quit my 100k per year secure job to pursue my passion. Something I don’t discourage anyone to do however; not like I did.
In order to follow my goals and dreams the right way, I should have replaced my income with a solid and STEADY income. I emphasize the word, STEADY.
As fast as the money was coming in, it was going out as equally fast. I did learn another lesson from the neighborhood drug dealers. I learned exactly what NOT to do. They never taught me to have my money work for me harder then I worked for it.
I found myself with no friends left because I had pitched them multiple times about my business opportunity and with no money. I had to borrow and sell old items from my home just to feed my family and myself. This totally sucked.
Thank GOD for all of the motivational and inspirational lessons that the Network Marketing trained me on, because those lessons gave me strength. Those lessons helped me to overcome the pain of losing everything and failing miserably.
I would tell any and everyone in Network Marketing that if you are not making any money in your company don’t be mad; because you are getting something more valuable. You are getting a highly valuable business education.
What advice do you have for new network marketers?
Don’t seek immediate money in the beginning, seek knowledge. Learn all and I mean all you can from the people who are doing or have done what you want to do in life.
I would tell them to attend every event, training, and meeting that they qualify to attend. I would tell them to become a sponge and soak up everything and anything that will make them better.
It is not what you will gain from Network Marketing, it is who you will become from Network Marketing that’s golden.
I would repeat this to them over and over again until it gets into their DNA. You see POWER without responsibility for that power, will eventually render you POWERLESS. I am a living example of this.
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I like that you focus on inspiration and motivation inside network marketing. You seem really alive with life and spirit. What makes you tick, Gary?
I feel as if I am called to motivate and inspire everyone I encounter, directly or indirectly. I LOVE helping others. What’s funny about that is growing up in the South Bronx, having this type of philosophy that I had makes you look weak and soft.
Now, I don’t care how it makes me look, because I feel that if I don’t follow my calling, a piece of my life will go missing. Life is so worth living, but I believe that so many people only prepare to live. Instead of preparing, they should live.
Motivation and inspiration are so important to me because they are the core that fuels someone’s “why.” I believe that until a person develops a solid “why”, he or she will never see a “how” clearly.
However, once a person develops a solid “why” he or she will suddenly start seeing the “how” appear all around them. Knowing this gets me fired up each and every day and I want to share this realization the world.
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I love your blog! How old is it, how many posts are on it, and what is your daily traffic like?
Thanks, I’m glad someone does…..LOL!! I started this blog on August 26, 2013 and I wrote 195 posts so far. I can’t believe that I’m saying this. I am only 5 away from 200…WOW!!
Although, I have a lot of posts, I am still in the infant stage when it comes to blogging. Being extremely new to blogging, I have never tracked the amount of people who read them.
This is something I am learning to change and get better at. I now know the importance of having a blog. A blog is a great way to help people share their thoughts with others around the world. The power of using the Internet makes this happen.
Can you talk about your product “Creating an Online Presence for Beginners” and who should get it?
I have to give this series a make-over and update, but I am still very proud of what I created. It all started because, my wife and I decided to join forces in a Network Marketing company that she was very active in.
In the beginning I didn’t like this company at all. I saw a lack of training that I believed was necessary for representatives in this company to develop and maintain success.
Since there was no training available, I decided to take what I learned from the prior years of being in Network Marketing, and my computer skills to create a training series that could help equip new and seasoned representatives.
Technology is rapidly changing every day. If a home business owner learned how to harness the skillset necessary to properly use the Internet, he or she obtain success quicker.
I wanted to show the reps in our company how to brand themselves by setting up a personal website from scratch. On these websites, I would show them how to use videos, blog, images, and etc. to brand themselves and attract new customers and recruits for their business.
My wife and I personally and along with our business team recruited over 500 people into our Network Marketing Company. This was mostly done via the Internet and Social Media. We wanted to teach the people in our company exactly what we did step-by-step.
In the beginning, these trainings were only for business team. But later we decided that this should not just be for them, it should be for anyone who wants it. Fortunately, hundreds of people took advantage of our training and experienced success in their home business. Receiving successful testimony after successful testimony is very humbling, but well worth it.
I would suggest anyone who is very new to the Internet get these training products however; there is one product that is for anyone. My year-to-date best product is “Image Marketing for Beginners 2.0”
I recommend this training product for anyone who wants to learn how to post professional looking images on all of their social media websites.
I show them how they can create most of these images for free. What I have learned over the years has helped me a lot and I love to share those skills with others.
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A post on your blog caught my eye, “Your Confidence is the Issue.” A lot of new network marketers have low self-confidence, what are some tips you can share?
It’s interesting how I came up with the content for this blog. I was remembering when I was working a job in which I was very proud of. It was where I was helping at-risk teens change their lives for the better.
I loved what I was doing, but was met with a lot of hostility from my co-workers. Since I loved motivating and inspiring people, this job was right up my alley. My years of experience in motivation and inspiration were very effective in helping to impact these teens.
But because of my outgoing nature, my co-workers felt threatened as if I was trying to be the “go-to” person. This was far from true. I just wanted to use my experience to help others.
During the months of being there I had my work assignments sabotaged, and I was accused of just about any and everything.
I could have let these situations bring me down, but because of my high self-confidence, I knew that the problem didn’t lie with me; it was with those who felt threatened by me.
I know situations just like this one happen in Network Marketing. New Network Marketers, sometimes get frustrated and angry when they see others succeed faster than them.
This occurs not because the succeeding Network Marketer is better than them, it’s because the non-succeeding Network Marketer has very low self-confidence.
Instead of getting angry and frustrated, why don’t they try to learn from what the succeeding Network Marketer is doing and duplicate it.
Low self-confidence leads to jealousy and jealousy is dangerous for people. I view jealousy as a cancer that will eat away slowly at a person’s body or a monster that will destroy a city.
The best way to destroy jealousy is to kill it as soon as it shows up. In comparison, it’s like destroying the monster that’s threatening a city when it’s a baby before it grows bigger.
For any home business owner with low self-confidence, my advice to you is find ways to increase your self-confidence.
I would say to you exactly what I said earlier, attend every event, training, and meeting that you qualify to attend. I would tell you to become a sponge and soak up everything and anything that will make you better. This will help your knowledge grow and as your knowledge grows, your self-confidence grows.
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I love a statement on your “About” page where you say: “God never gives you what you want, but always gives you what you need.” I love this quote. How has God helped you in life and inside network marketing?
Without GOD, my higher power, I would not be where I am today. I mean this physically, mentally, spiritually, and financially. GOD has guided and is still guiding my steps along this journey.
In the book, “Think and Grow Rich” on page 90, Napoleon Hill stated that through the faculty of creative imagination, the finite mind of man has direct communication with Infinite Intelligence.
Who do with think “Infinite Intelligence” is but GOD. The knowledge of knowing that I don’t have all the answers or I’m not alone; brings me comfort.
Thinking about and looking back at my life, I have seen all of the things that I thought that should have happened and should not have happened in my life. These were all for good reasons. I remember the gains and the losses, they all were and are still a part of his grand plan for my life.
I would not change anything. As a matter of fact, I am very thankful for everything that I have experienced and will experience in my life. I compare it to flying a plane and having an all-knowing co-pilot (GOD) along with me who is helping me along the way.
I see you have a lot of YouTube videos. How has video helped your MLM business and is there a lead generation technique involved?
I believe that without using videos, no one would have a clue of who I was. Videos have helped me spread a message of motivation and inspiration to people around the world. I am so proud of having a lack of fear of being in front of a camera and sharing my message to others.
When I first started using videos on YouTube, I had no clue what I was doing, but tried everything to get people to watch them.
I have recently started using Facebook to spread my messages to others along with YouTube. I have no specific lead generation technique besides posting my video link everywhere in order to get people to watch my videos.
After investing hundreds of dollars in video marketing courses, I believe that my video marketing is much better now.
In my “Creating an Online Presence for Beginners” Vol. 3 video series, I created a complete video marketing training on what I have learned over the years. I received a lot of praise regarding the particular training because it helped a lot of people.
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What is your favorite book right now and why?
I don’t just have one favorite book, I have four. My four favorite books are: The Bible, Think and Grow Rich, The Science of Getting Rich, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I will breakdown why I chose each one.
The Bible – This book contains timeless knowledge of how a person can be the best person they want to be by learning life’s lessons.
Think and Grow Rich – This book is a collection of the characteristics and habits of the most successful people in the world.
The Science of Getting Rich – This book contains the exact science of how a person should think in order to become rich in all aspects of their life.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad – This book helps the average and ordinary person shift their thinking from one of an employee to that of an entrepreneur.
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What are your goals for 2017?
I will, not want, help as many people as I can raise their self-confidence, self-esteem, faith, and belief in themselves.
This goal will be achieved by over-delivering value in the form of motivational and inspirational messages. People are great and have greatness within them, I want to be one of those people that will help them become aware of this knowledge.
Oh, and I want to make an additional $10,000 per month in residual income.
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What is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is one that I made up myself. Here it is:
“Know Exactly What You Want. Take MASSIVE Action To Get What You Want. Believe The Entire Time That You Will Get What You Want.”
Thank you so much for this interview, Gary!
For more info on Gary, please visit his powerful motivation and inspiration for network marketers Blog HERE.
Other Awesome Interviews:
Bill & Michelle Pescosolido on Social Media Branding
Michelle Turner-Davidson on Speaking and Mentoring for MLM
Pyjama Bosses on Getting You to $1000 inside MLM in 7 Days
Roy Huff on Surviving Family Mental Illness to Earning Five Degrees
Ron Gelok on the Best MLM Tips and Christ Centered Coaching
Lynette Bledsoe on Creating Success in Your Home Business
Sincerely,
Erik Christian Johnson
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