Overnight Successes—Years in the Making

by Gery Carson

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear from an affiliate questioning why he or she is not seeing a big check yet. More times than not, the person asking hasn’t even been an affiliate for more than 90 days and is only barely beginning to even understand how the whole SFI system works. And frankly, even if the number was six months, it’s still much too early to be expecting a significant income stream to have developed.

I always say that if you’re not willing to give a business at least a year, don’t even bother getting involved. Understand: It takes time to get to know all the nuances of the compensation plan. It takes time to determine which products you want to lead with. It takes time to develop a game plan. It takes time to figure out what marketing activities deliver the biggest bang for the buck. Anything worthwhile takes sustained effort. If you’re not thinking long term, you’ve set yourself up for failure.

REPEAT: If you’re not thinking long term, you’ve set yourself up for failure. I can’t emphasize this enough!!!!

But let’s look at some real examples and see if we can put some perspective on this. I’ll start with myself. My success as a home business entrepreneur is well known. Having earned over $8 million, I’m sure there are some who’d vote me in to the Home-Business Hall of Fame if there were such a thing. Yet what most of those same people don’t know is that I LOST money my first two years. I only broke even in my third year. And it was only when I got to my fourth year did I see my first profit. Was it worth it? Are you kidding?!! Today I live a dream life, work from my dream home, drive my dream car—I’m blessed beyond my wildest expectations.

But let’s go much farther. Let’s look at some members of SFI’s $100,000 Clubthe actual home business superstars we’ve featured in Six-Figure Income Magazine.

ROBERT BLACKMAN now earns as much as $85,000 per month. Yet it took Robert two years to see his first four-figure check ($1,000 or more), and it took him five years to see his first five-figure check ($10,000 or more).

CHARLES LESLIE’s monthly income exceeds $12,000 a month. It took Charles five months to see his first $1,000 check, and three and a half years to see his first $10,000 check.

TRACY DIETERICH earns $36,000+ monthly. But it took six months to hit that first $1,000, and a year to get to $10,000.

DALE CALVERT makes so much more than $100,000 a year that he won’t even divulge the amount. Yet Dale worked four months before seeing that first four-figure commission check...and two full years before hitting five figures.

DR. JOE RUBINO now cruises at over $62,000 each month. But that first $1,000 check took two months, the first $10,000 check, one year.

ROBERT BUTWIN drops $80,000 or more into his bank account each month. But would you believe that first $1,000 check took two years to reach, and a full FIVE years for Robert to reach the first $10,000 check? It’s true!

DAVID A. NELSON clears $40,000 in a month. But reaching that first $1,000 check took 18 months. Reaching the five-figure check took two years.

TONY KENT has exceeded $90,000 in monthly earnings. But exceeding $1,000 took Tony one year...and a year and a half to exceed $10,000.

In other words, even the most dynamic, highest-earning entrepreneurs in the industry took MONTHS to begin seeing an income of any real significance. And the real wealth, the $100,000+ income we all strive for, took an average of almost THREE YEARS to achieve!

Do you think ANY of these gentlemen don’t think the ends justified the means? Do you think for an instant that the months and years invested hasn’t been rewarded a thousand times at least? You don't even have to think about it, do you?

If I told you that after two to three years of following our system, you’d be making more in a month than you now make in a year, could you handle that? If you were sitting across from me right now, I could look you in the eye and tell you that this is a genuine and realistic goal. But when you say to me you want to quit your job in six or nine months and live off the income from your new business, I’ll tell you that probably is not reality.

Not what you wanted to hear, right? But is what I’m suggesting so tough to swallow? Of course not. Can you think of any other endeavor where you could invest just five to 10 hours a week for a couple years and at the end of that time have turned it into a $3,000 to $10,000 residual monthly income stream? Money that keeps coming in month after month, year after year. Money that keeps coming in whether you work 10 hours a day or two. A commission check waiting for you in your mailbox when you return from yet another vacation. Money that when you’ve left this planet continues to provide for your spouse, children, or grandchildren.

Sounds extremely nice, doesn’t it? But again, these are not things you’re going to see in your first year. It just ain’t gonna happen, folks! Some of you, the go-getters, you WILL see it happen in your second year. For most of you, however, you need to be thinking two to five years. And you know what? When you get there, I guarantee you, you’ll say it was nothing!

We reap what we sow, but the harvest is never in the same season as the planting! Today you are planting...and will be at least for the next several months. Your harvest will come in time. Be persistent. Be patient. Work the Web using our proven SFI system. Think long term. Take action every day, (no matter how small) to build your business and you cannot fail. Great success will be yours if you follow this simple formula.

Gery Carson
President, SFI Marketing Group