Aaron Rashkin, Multiple Topmost Producer on ‘Leadership Concepts’

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To see our full income disclosure, please visit our website at www.empowernetwork.com forward slash income dot php. Okay, welcome to this exclusive Empower Network Inner Circle interview, and because you're listening to this, you're in the right place at the right time. My name is Chris Rushlow, your host, your designated driver through the cyber waves. You all know by now what I'm going to say next, so here is the drill. Let's block out all distractions, all background noises.

You know, TV, radio, turn off the cell phone, close the door, turn off your email, and turn off your Skype. Let's get focused here, and if you're at a computer, might want to take notes. Definitely going to take a lot of gold nuggets away today, or notebook works as well. And so without further ado, we have two very, very, very special guests on today. Aaron and Sophia Rashkin have been network marketers for over the last 18, 19 years.

Since coming online a few short years ago, Aaron and Sophia have built a team of over 10,000 people in over 15 countries, generated over $650,000 in their first year as online entrepreneurs. In his own words, Aaron has battled financial challenges, including high debt, low self-esteem, bad relationships, unsupportive friends and family, failed companies, changed compensation plans, new product formulas, poor sponsors, codependent business partners, feelings of depression, self-doubt, burnout, and days that he just wanted to quit and throw in the towel. Good job. Here today to tell us how they got through it all, on their way to breakthrough success, ladies and gentlemen, Aaron and Sophia Rashkin, how are you? I'm doing great, Chris.

How are you? Very, very, very good. Very, very good. Let's go ahead and start right off into it, and I'm sure a lot of people want to know your story. A lot have heard your story, but let's get into your story and your background and how things came about to where you are now.

Yeah, absolutely. Can you hear me all right? Absolutely, Kim. Go right ahead. Okay.

Excellent. I'm going to let Aaron elaborate on his story after I share a little bit about us as a partnership and how we kind of got started together, and we'll kind of elaborate on each of our own sides. But I was a real estate broker, and Aaron has 18 years experience. I have 10 years experience in the industry. And so we got started together in a very, very traditional M.I.A.

M.L.M. style company. And both of us, when we came together, we wanted to expand our family, and we wanted to do it being at home with our two boys. I was a real estate broker, and I'll let Aaron share his side of the story, but he was a personal trainer in his last life, and we wanted to be at home with our children. And so in this traditional M.L.M.

company, like most... Most people, we were taught how to make a list of our friends and family and contact them and got uninvited to a lot of, you know, Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas holidays. And, you know, our friends and family, they had no interest in our business or product. And we also did home parties. We did over 40 home parties when I was pregnant with our second child, who is now three and a half.

We did... We handed out... We handed out... We handed out CDs and brochures to our local market. I think we've probably prospected and interviewed every host and hostess at every local restaurant you can think of.

We did hotel meetings. We cold called hundreds of people on a daily basis. And, you know, when we were building that company together at the end of five and a half years of building it, we both were burned out. And it's aActually a powerful contenders. And the home parties ...

it was just fatal. Aaron said... Well, I mean, we had, you know, with our... with our second child lots of sleepless nights when he was four and a half... four months old.

And we just... we didn't want to go down that route anymore. We didn't want to have that 30 or 40 pairs of shoes on our front doorstep on a Friday night and do those home parties anymore. We just did not want to do that old-school traditional way of building MLM business. And I told Aaron I said...

I just don't want to do this. I was in that motherly mode, in that mama bear protective mode over our infant child. And I was like, I don't want them touching him. I'm postpartum. I don't want people around me.

You know, I just want to hibernate and take care of the family. And so, you know, he's pretty well known in the industry, as we all know. And he's got his finger on the pulse of a lot of things that are going on. And he knew something big was going on. And, you know, it's our primary company, which I'm not going to mention.

But that's kind of where we all kind of started with internet marketing. And we didn't have any experience. That's not what happened. We really had to start from scratch and really get out of our comfort zone. And really stretch ourselves majorly.

I mean, when I talk majorly, so many tears have been shedded. I wanted to throw the computer out of the window. I've screamed at the top of my lungs out of frustration because something wasn't working. Just sleepless nights and just a lot of frustration with just, I think, because I hardly knew how to copy and paste, honestly. So.

So it was a really big wake-up call. And at the same time, I know both of us, we're really, really extremely determined people. And we're very, very, very ambitious. We have just, you know, high expectations within ourselves. And we want to be shining examples for our two boys.

It's extremely important to us to have this family unit and to be around them. And to live the lifestyle that we've always wanted and be with them. We, you know, it's so important that at seven and a half years old, our oldest son, he said to us, he said, is it true that people actually leave the house to go to work? And I kind of turned to him. I was like really surprised.

I didn't know that he, he didn't know this. Because obviously, his whole entire life with us. He's seen us walk about 15 seconds into our office and have breakfast with him and, you know, just travel with him. And he didn't know that people actually got up in the morning and left the house at sometimes six, seven, eight in the morning. And it was a shock to him.

And it was a shock to me. I didn't know that he didn't realize that. But at the same time, I had this really proud feeling that he didn't know it. That all he's ever known is entrepreneurship. And that he's seen his.

Two parents being at home with him. And that's all he knew. That was a really proud feeling. But, you know, I mean, fast forward a little bit more. You know, through that frustration, we built some momentum.

And we've learned a lot in this industry online and with our business. We've had some, I mean, major, major successes. And. Sometimes we've had some setbacks. And that's been, you know, frustrating.

We're only human. There's been frustration. But at the same time, we have a lot of faith. And we have a lot of determination. And we push through it.

I mean, when I think, certainly when I think about things, what else would we be doing? Nothing else. We wouldn't be getting into our car at seven in the morning and driving in rush hour traffic to a J-O-B from nine to five. That's not ever going to happen. We'd rather sell our properties and our investments and live in a shack on the side of a mountain before that would ever happen.

I refuse to give up our freedom to be under somebody's thumb. So we push through things. And we've had a good round the last three years. And still, we see that this is just the beginning. I mean, things change on the Internet by the minute.

Right. And there's always something more to learn. So for both of us, we stay totally green all the time. And that's, you know, it's been a fantastic ride so far. And there's still so much more to do.

We've been fortunate. And I feel that, for me, my rock is Aaron. Aaron is my rock. When tips are down for me and I'm not feeling so good, Aaron is my rock. He is always there.

And, you know, I always borrow his face. So I'll turn it over to you, Aaron, if you've got some things to share there. Yeah, absolutely. I thought maybe Chris might want to jump in real quick. And I don't know if he had some questions for you, Sophia.

Well, I mean, that was inspiring just to hear that story because, you know, we always hear a lot about, you know, normally one side of the equation when it comes to couples building a business. And so it's very refreshing to, you know, hear the other half and how that works and how that dynamic plays out because that's really important. A lot of couples, you know, need to hear this, that, you know, how people play off of each other and the roles they play for each other is real important. So absolutely. And Aaron, I just want to tell you both, you know, it was this first week was when Dave actually said to me, hey, you know, here's the producer's, you know, pick.

Which ones do you want to talk to? You know, because until then he had just handed me people and said, hey, here's the ones you want to interview next. And he said to me, you know, well, okay, pick three. And right off the bat before I said anything, I said, well, I want to get Aaron and Sophia on. And he said, okay.

I said, oh, yeah, I want to get them on. So just so you know, yeah, I've been waiting for this one for a while. So I'm excited to be here. And I'm really enjoying this so far. So Aaron, by all means, my friend, take it away.

Yeah, no, first of all, I want to just say thanks for having us on. On the call and being a part of the Inner Circle membership. You know, we feel very, very blessed and privileged to not just be a part of, you know, the Empower Network, but just to have the opportunity to really spend some time with David Wood and David Sharp. I mean, the way we met was pretty ironic. And Sophia reminded me just a few days ago, Chris, you know, why we're actually in the position that we're in here with the Empower Network.

And I'll share that with you. For most people, I don't know. If most people know, but several months ago, back over the summer, you know, there was an affiliate launch for the Irresistible Blueprint product by our good friend, Mark Hoverson. And I participated in that affiliate product launch. And the prize was, one of the prizes are the top, I think, 10 or so people who, you know, placed in that affiliate contest.

They won the trip down to Austin to go out on the houseboat with the whole magnetic sponsoring team. And, of course, there was David Wood and David Sharp. And I had no idea. I heard David Wood's name so many times. I had watched him at the No Excuses event back in the springtime of this year.

But I didn't really ever speak to him. So the night before the houseboat party, I met everybody out for dinner and got a chance to sit next to David. And we wound up spending the whole night talking and, you know, going through the city of Austin and having a blast, you know, talking about business. And just kind of like giggling like kids about, you know, the kind of the quirkiness and the nuances of the multilevel marketing, the home-based business industry. It was pretty funny, actually.

David and I were actually on a bicycle, you know, chariot where the guy rides the bike. And then, you know, you sit in the little cart behind him. We were doing videos and interviewing each other on our iPhones and just, you know, having a really good time going through the streets of Austin there in downtown Austin. So. Got to know David a little bit.

Then on the houseboat, Chris, we wound up floating around in the, you know, in the lake, Lake Travis. It was kind of an empty Lake Travis, actually. But there was enough water to float around. And I was, I found myself floating around on this, you know, this pool tube amongst some of the top Internet marketers in the world. Now, Sophia mentioned, Chris, you know, our background was in traditional MLM.

And, you know, the most we really knew about the Internet was. Looking things up on Google, not advertising online, but looking things up on Google and surfing the net. And we had some email marketing experience because we had built a pretty large team, you know, through the traditional, you know, old worn out marketing methods that, you know, they've been teaching since the 70s, you know, back in the in our MLM days. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with MLM. I mean, certainly the model, you know, is a little bit different today, you know, the way we the way we market our businesses.

But, you know, traditional multi-level marketing is really what gave our industry a push back in the days of Amway. And I know that's where David Wood got his first start, got his big push. But for the most part, you know, we didn't really have a whole lot of Internet marketing experience. And Sophia, although she may not allude to this, she was the one who really jumped onto the paid advertising side of the business back when we first got started in the summer of 2008. She's the one that bought, you know.

You know, the Perry Marshall's guide to, you know, the definitive guide to Google AdWords. And she started, you know, building campaigns and ad groups all over Google. And, you know, we started, you know, working online with paid advertising on me. I did the free and the low cost advertising like blogging, which is no coincidence why I love Empower Network. Matter of fact, I just submitted a blog on our Empower Network blog here just literally minutes before you called.

But I did. I did the blogging. I started writing articles, started doing some press. You know, I wrote some press releases, got very, very engrossed in social media with Facebook and Twitter a little bit and some YouTube, you know, creating videos and, you know, really just getting a feel for a little bit of everything. I wanted to kind of learn a little bit of, you know, all the trades.

I wanted to be a jack of all trades so I could figure out which strategy I wanted to master and be that master of one. And, you know. I think for, you know, for the most part, when I was floating around on that raft in Lake Austin, I was in awe, truly, of the guys that I was, you know, sitting there and the gals I was sitting there talking to. There was Ann Sieg and David Wood and Dagan Smith and, you know, some of these, some of the biggest names on the Internet in the past, you know, handful of years. And here I am just listening to the conversations not knowing that David Wood and David Sharp are going to be launching Empower Network within just a few months.

And, you know, having some quality time and just really laughing a lot. We had, David and I, David Wood and I were actually standing together talking about the industry of network marketing and all of our experience. And like Sophia mentioned, Dave, or Chris, I've been in the industry since the mid-90s. And so, yeah, I'm in my 18th year of network marketing. I can tell you I had my first year probably 10 years in a row.

So don't think for a second that, you know, that anybody here was, you know, breaking anything. Records are setting the bar too high in the first several years. You know, I ran, you know, for the first several years between mad and frustrated because I didn't understand people. I didn't understand, you know, business, certainly not human nature. I didn't understand the psychology of marketing or advertising or sales.

And, you know, what I used to do is, you know, I was around when the technology of the day was facts on demand. You know, I would buy a list of leads from a lead vendor. And then have them faxed over to my fax machine. I'd probably pay, you know, a few hundred dollars for a hundred leads. And I would sit there and smile and dial on my broken Mickey Mouse telephone.

I literally bought a telephone from the Salvation Army for I think it was like $6. And it was a Mickey Mouse rotary phone. It had a broken mute button. And I didn't know it. So whenever I would think I was muted out, I wasn't.

So here I am calling prospects, you know, or leads. Should I say they weren't quite prospects yet. But they were leads. I was calling leads with this broken Mickey Mouse phone and coughing and sneezing and, you know, yelling at my postman. You know, hey, I'm on the phone.

Just leave it there at the door, you know. And what I was doing was I was ordering tapes. I was ordering tapes to my one-bedroom apartment so I can stuff them into envelopes. And then I would send a cassette tape out with a sales and marketing message out to people that didn't even know who I was. Because I bought their name on a list.

So those are my humble beginnings. So it's safe to say that you crammed a one-year crash course in MLM into a short span of 10 years. Yeah, right, exactly. It was a decade's worth of time and about a year's worth of education. Yeah, I definitely spun my wheels for a while.

I didn't really get a whole lot of traction. For, you know. Quite a while. And Sophia alluded to this earlier, and you might have mentioned this, you know, in our intro. Yeah, I came to this industry of entrepreneurship with a lot, a lot, a lot of baggage, okay?

I'll give you the back story just so you can get kind of caught up here in about 30 or 60 seconds. No, go ahead. Take your time. Absolutely. Yeah, I came from my parents' divorce when I was, you know, a kid.

They loved me, but they didn't love each other, and I couldn't make it work. And so, and it wasn't. You know, my fault, but it was my responsibility to clean up the mess that I lived with as a child, as a kid. I grew up with a lot of feelings of, you know, self-doubt, and, you know, I had a poor self-image, and, you know, low self-esteem. But, see, I had a lot of confidence, and that was probably the best thing that I had going for me was I was very confident because I got into weightlifting and exercise and fitness, and I loved the way I felt when I worked out.

And how my body started changing, you know, with the resistance training, I started to put on some muscle and burn fat, and I just, I fell in love with the fitness industry, and I actually became a personal trainer. So, here I was with all this, you know, emotional baggage, and, you know, on the outside, you know, you would never know because I was in, you know, good shape, and I always had a lot of friends, and I always had, you know, I was, dated a pretty girl on campus or whatnot. I went to college in Baltimore. So, I always, it looked like I had it all together, you know. It looked like I had my shit together.

But on the inside, there was this tornado that was, like, ripping right through me, and I just, there was so many things about myself that I was uncomfortable with. And it wasn't current, you know, programming. It was prior conditioning. It was years and years of, you know, not feeling good about who I was or what my, you know, purpose was or what I was here for. And, you know, that was a very, it was like a silent battle.

And, yeah, there was, there was, I was depressed, but I wasn't, like, a manic depressed. I didn't, I wasn't on medication, I think. I just knew that there was just something not right about me. I just, I lacked that one thing I think most people probably long for more than anything in their lives, Chris, and that is peace of mind. You know, peace of mind.

And I didn't have it until just, you know, maybe about seven or eight years ago, right around the time I met Sophia, was when I finally, you know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was depressed. And I finally got comfortable with myself and I got okay with, you know, all the things about myself that I thought other people were judging me for. And all the things that I was concerned and kind of hung up on that would keep me from success. Things I thought, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't this or I wasn't that. You know, it's almost like that I'm not good enough, but then it was kind of like my chips were spread out all over the board, you know, in different areas of I'm not good enough.

You know, if you want to compartmentalize, I wasn't good. I wasn't good enough to be successful. I wasn't good enough to have a relationship. I wasn't good enough to have my parents, you know, approval. I wasn't good enough for my siblings to be proud of me.

I wasn't good enough to have great friends. You know, if you can imagine, spread that out all over the board. And that's where I was. And so when Sophia and I met, you know, seven and a half years ago, and we fell in love and we knew we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives and start a family, you know, that was a big thing. It was right around the time that I started in traditional multi-level marketing company.

And like Sophia said, you know, we did the home parties and the cold calling and all that great stuff. And, you know, that led us to our present company just a few years ago when we got online for the first time. And Sophia started the paid advertising. And I remember asking her, so when are these leads coming in? And she was, I still tell you, too, we laugh about it all the time because, you know, I used to say, oh, well, hey, when are these leads coming in?

And she'd be like, oh, just you be patient, you know. And, you know, here I was doing all the free and low-cost stuff. And she was diving in, you know, she was going deep on the paid advertising. And I was just waiting for the leads to come in so I could start calling them and getting on the phone with people and having, you know, connections and, you know, developing some relationships with people. And then, you know, from there, you know, what happened was by our third or fourth month in the business, Sophia started.

She started getting traction. And all of a sudden, it was, you know, like Napoleon Hill says in Think and Grow Rich, you know, when the fortune comes, you don't know where it's been hiding all along. Well, the lead flow started coming. She was, you know, getting our lead flow up into the hundreds per day. And because of the marketing funnel and the conversion that we've built into our primary business funnel, you know, that's where things started to really break wide open.

And within just a few months of getting started, we actually wound up resigning from our primary traditional, you know, multi-level marketing company because we were making more in our part-time, you know, new internet marketing business without having to cold-call leads than we were in our full-time business where we had been for five years. And, you know, 60 months of cold calls and home parties and three-way calls. and in-house presentations and hotel events and meeting at the local Starbucks or wherever we could to sit down with a prospect one-on-one, and that wasn't working for us. So what happened was we started making more money in our part-time internet marketing business with the company we're still with today than our traditional business after – MLM business after five years. And our sponsor had the company call us to kind of put a little chill into our air, and they threatened to suspend us, possibly even terminate us or sue us if we were talking to anybody in our existing business with them.

And we hadn't. We hadn't talked to one single person. We actually did this all from scratch to prove that this is something that anyone could do if they have the desire to build something big and successful, and they're coachable and teachable. They follow a laid-out plan and a system like we had. In fact, they're coachable and teachable.

They're coachable and teachable. And then, of course, if they're willing to put forth the effort. And we were very much willing to put forth the effort. We had the plan, and we had a huge desire to succeed. We had two boys that – we were doing this for each other, obviously, so we could be together, myself and Sophia, but we wanted to be home with our boys.

We weren't interested in being home with our boys. We were fully committed, all chips in, do whatever it took. And by our fourth month, we were able to do it. And we were able to do it. And our sponsor from our old traditional MLM got so concerned that we weren't focused on building the business anymore that he had this company threaten us.

And Sophia said, that's it, we're done. We resigned literally the next day. We wrote our letters of resignation. It was probably the most liberating thing, right, Sophia, we've ever felt to be able to just walk away with our heads high, not doing a thing out of the company's policies and procedures and just stay focused on what we were doing. And, and, you know, we've had a lot of fun and, you know, I, I want to, I want to jump into the Empower Network and stuff, but I just want to point something out because I think this is so funny.

You know, when David Wood and I met in, in Austin, like I was sharing a few minutes ago, you know, we were talking about lead generation and lead flow. And the night that we left Austin to fly back to our respective homes, he was, I don't think he was flying back to Costa Rica just yet. I think he was flying over to Utah. We were flying back to our home here. And, you know, we, we, we talked about lead generation and he opened up his laptop and showed us his lead flow the day before.

And, you know, we talked about our lead generation, you know, at the high point, you know, when we were, you know, generating hundreds. And hundreds of leads per day, Sophia was on Google. And we got, see, here's the thing, Chris, we got kicked off of Google two and a half years ago. We haven't even been on Google since the summer of 2009. You got, so for the last two and, you know, two and almost two and a half years, we've been off of Google.

So our entire business in the last two and a half years, you know, almost 30 months of our, you know, time here in our primary business, we've been doing it without using the, the Google platform. And so there are many ways, and I'll, I, I think Sophia is probably best to speak about that, you know, the mentality that, that taught us, you know, the morning we woke up and we were completely slapped off of Google. But when David Wood opened up his laptop in the airport, we actually had lunch with him. We sat with him for about an hour and a half before our flights, took off and we had a, you know, we had a lead for our gates for our flights left. And, and David opened up his computer and he's showing us his lead flow.

And we were talking about our lead flow. You know, at our high point, you know, being up to 400 and some odd, 30 some odd leads a day, 430 leads a day, David said, yeah, so what do you pay for your leads? And we're like, well, what do you pay? He's like, oh, these are all free, you know? And then he, and then he, you know, and then he, then he starts talking about another subject.

And I said, hold on, rewind. What did you just say? He's like, oh yeah, these are all just free leads. I'm like, free leads? How'd you get, how'd you get all those free leads?

He goes, oh, well, I've been blogging for a while, you know? I'm like, well, how long has it been? Cause I've been blogging Chris for, you know, three years plus at that point. You know, we were in the business for right around three years when we met with him at that, you know, at that, that event down in Austin. And here we are sitting at this little lunch table in a cafe in the airport.

And he's telling me he's been blogging for, you know, quite a while. And I said, well, how long has it been? How long is a while? Cause I've, I've been at it for almost three years and I didn't get 250 free leads a day. He said, I've been doing it for, you know, a year and a half, almost two years.

It was like late 2009 when I really got the hang of this. And I'm thinking 2009, 2010, 2011, we're, we're not even, we're in the middle of, you've been doing this for two years and you're getting 250 free leads. What are you doing? And I, I just was so intrigued by the fact that David Wood was getting 250. That was a minimum.

He told me, he said, on average, that's, that's a, that's an okay day. Yeah. You know, that's an okay day. And I did a little research on, on his blog, you know, his personal blog. And, you know, what I found out and he confirmed this, that he had over 7,000 backlinks to his, his personal blog.

And I remember now that I'm telling you the story here, Chris, I remember him saying that, you know, this whole, this whole content, syndication and, and network that he created through his blog, you know, he, I remember him kind of planting seeds and, and really kind of hinting at what he was doing for, you know, to, to build and power network. And he mentioned something to the fact that imagine if everybody blogged on the same domain, how much authority that domain could have in the search engines. And then he talked about, you know, his wife and how much he loves her. And, you know, he just, it was so light. It was such like a non, you know, it was a non-issue to him.

And, and that's what we love so much about David, that he's so lighthearted and so easy to connect with. But at the same time, you know, he, he's such a giving person that, you know, he wanted to share with the world what he discovered in his two years of, of internet marketing. And, and that's what really attracted us, into Empower Network here just a few weeks ago, quite honestly. Oh yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Absolutely. It's pretty amazing. I just wanted to bring you up to speed on how we got to where we're at right now and, you know, what's happened for us in the past and, and why we're here. But yeah, so I, I just wanted to kind of like lay a, lay a little background there for you.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, that's, that's, it's good to know because, you know, some people see, where somebody is at and they don't necessarily always see where they were in order to get where they were at. And so the, the background is very, very. Very important for people to see that, you know, yeah, just like, just like, you know, anybody else who's, who's really created a significant amount of success that there were struggles and there were things that you went through.

And, and just like you said, you did the home meetings, you did the offline stuff, you did the traditional MLM, you went through that and not to take anything away from that, because you learned, you know, so many intangible lessons through all of that, that you were able to. Relay and, and put online, you know, translate to and transfer to your online business. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Years of layers and layers and years and years of building a very, very thick skin.

And just like you said, the challenges that were life lessons, for us, whether they were good or bad, I mean, you know, just thinking and hearing Aaron talk about everything. Yeah. That he's gone through, which is probably a thousand times, between what he and I have gone through a thousand times more than, than most people are willing to go through. Most people would have quit years ago, maybe even in their first month, you know, their first year. And, we're still here.

I mean, both between the both of us, 28 years combined later, right? So we're still here and that, that's, that's the difference is that. We still, you know, I, I liken it to like a, a baseball game. We still get up to bat. We still get up in the morning.

We still get up to bat and swing that bat. Most people would just throw the bat in and just say, I quit walking away from the game. And we still get up to bat and swing at that ball every time it comes at us. well, I think that's more. Absolutely.

I think that's to your credit that, you know, you, you just like Aaron had said, and now you're reiterating that, you know, you stay green. And you're. You're continuing, knowing that things change a lot on the internet, that you're willing to continue learning rather than carving yourself into a place where, you know, you're willing not to change what you're doing, because that's funny how, and I didn't mean to cut you off there, but very important point here was that, you know, you said that you were starting to do things in a different way with your traditional, you know, primary company, and they got mad at you, you know, and they, and they threatened you. And, and isn't it funny how you can challenge the status quo? you just mix up the status quo.

A little bit and change it a little bit. And the amount of resistance that you get from others when you do that is amazing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it's amazing because even in the home business industry, you know, where we talk about how the 97% of the world around us, that's not a part of this movement of entrepreneurship, you know, they, you know, we talk about how all those people resist change and, you know, they, they, they, they habitually do the same things every day.

They, they get up, they get dressed, they go to work. They work for somebody for, you know, eight, nine, 10 hours a day, including commute, come home, you know, make dinner for the kids and take care of the family obligations and go to bed and they start over and they do that five days a week and they live for the weekends to get away from a life that they can't even stand in the first place. Right. Well, that's what most people do. Whereas we're in the smaller percentage, you know, that 3% of the population and maybe even two or 1% of the population, who knows the real number.

It always just, you know, it's used the 97%. And the 3%, but, you know, here we are in that small percentage of people that will fight for a life of freedom, you know, we'll do whatever it takes, however long it takes. I always say that we were dumb enough not to quit, but smart enough to keep on going. But the 97% of the people out there that resist change, well, oftentimes there are people in the 3%, Chris, and Sophia knows this, that resist change too. Like our company, you know, that, that previous.

Traditional MLM company, as soon as they heard that we were doing something outside of the scope of their, you know, their, their product line that we had been marketing for five years, they didn't like that. And the truth is that we were looking for a way to make money using the internet to build that business. Had they not threatened us or, you know, tried to, you know, scare us or strong arm us into, into going back to focusing on, on marketing that traditional MLM product. We could have sold 5 million. Dollars worth of their product on the internet, as opposed to leaving the company because of their position with us and their, and their strict policies and procedures.

They wanted us to adhere to like corporate America. And that's why we resigned. Absolutely. Sophia, Sophia and I talk about all the time. The best thing they could have done is encouraged us to learn how to market on the internet, even if it wasn't their product to begin with.

And had we not resigned our, our check and walked away from our little. Yeah. You know, measly MLM income now granted that MLM income was enough to cover, you know, our mortgages and our, our insurances and, and taking care of us, but it wasn't, it was just enough to keep our head above water. But we knew that you couldn't steal second, what do you put on first? And so that's why we resigned.

That's why we burned the bridge and we didn't burn it like in a negative way. We just walked away with our heads high and said, never again, we're not going back to that mentality where people are going to try to tell us what to do or how to be, or, you know, how to build our business. We're going to go into a new arena and attach ourselves to the most successful and prosperous and abundant and the most free flowing minds in the, in the world of entrepreneurship. And that's what we have found right here in this incredible network of people, many of whom many and more people are a part of this than I think most people even know, are right here in the empower network. It's just been amazing.

Absolutely. Your thoughts, Sophia? Yeah, I was just going to say that, you know, that's, I think in our relationship as, as husband and wife and, business partnership that, you know, it, that is something that, we do have going for us that we are very fortunate. We don't fortunate. We were very fortunate to have, we don't take it for granted, for one minute that both of us, Aaron and I, we, we have a very strong foundation and belief and faith with each.

Yeah. Yeah. So right now we are trying to, as spouses and business partners, we, we allow each other to really, be very, very creative and we don't allow others to stifle that creativeness. Yeah. Yeah.

So if there's ever any, any company or any, affiliate program or anybody that we're doing business with that stifles and wants to keep us down or, tells us or prevents us from doing that, we are very fortunate. Yeah. Yeah. something that we disagree on, we're, you know, it doesn't matter what our income is. We're willing to walk away because we're not attached.

Yeah, we have a little bit more overhead than we did, you know, a few years ago. We've got more properties, a better, a nicer investment portfolio, and we've been fortunate to have that. And at the same time, we both know that, you know, the money is great. It makes our, it makes sure, it sure makes the trip around the world much nicer in this life. But at the same time, we're not so attached that we're going to allow someone else to tell us how we should conduct our business or to keep us down from our creativity.

Well, absolutely. And I agree. And I think that's very important. And let me tell you a quick story about Dave and how I saw this take place as well, because some people who don't know is I actually grew up in Alaska with Dave, known for a very long time as my best friend. And I saw him be the most off the wall, creative, quirky, outspoken, and not so much outspoken, but just antics all the time, even in high school, you know.

And anytime there was anybody who tried to seek to, you know, control him or inhibit him in any way, they eventually regretted it. I can tell you that much without getting into a lot of stories. But I think it's very true what you're saying. And, you know, I saw Dave, I saw him go through this transformation where when he finally just said, you know, I'm not going to let anyone predict to me how I'm going to do this thing and I'm going to figure this out. And that's what I saw that really stood out to me is that he pursued this with reckless abandon, continuing to learn and figure things out.

And I think that's what I saw. And I think that's what I saw. And I think continuing to change, even when he started having some success with everything, as soon as things were changing and the masses of people were learning and learning new techniques and things were changing, he had already moved on to, you know, experimenting with and exploring other techniques. And that, I think, to his credit, is a perfect peripheral example of what's going on there with the two of you and what you've done. Yeah, I can see that about Dave.

And that's one of the things that we love about him is that he's, you know, there's no filters, you know, he's so authentic. And, you know, we watched a video, a 50-minute video, I think it was 49 minutes or so, you know, I can kind of earmark that because I think a lot of people that are listening to this interview in the Inner Circle members area, you know, will remember this video that Dave did just, you know, four weeks, I think it was a four week anniversary of Dave's death. And I think it was a four week anniversary of Dave's death. And I think it was a four week anniversary of Dave's death. And I think it was a four week anniversary of the launch of Empower Network.

And Sophia watched it a couple times. And I watched this video. And, you know, we have a full-time personal assistant, Dave. His name is Dave Ray. He's our business development coach for our primary business.

But he's now part of Empower Network as well, working side by side with us and supporting our members. And, you know, I spoke to Dave late last night. And I said, hey, by the way, I'm going to shoot a link over to, you know, to you to watch the video that Sophia and I watched that David Wood is doing. I mean, what is this going to do for people's blog posts? Well, it's going to give them the highest page rank and authority that you can get in the search engines across the web all around the world.

So if for $25, you know, I have to quote somebody I heard on a call last night, it's a no-brainer. I think it was Rob Four who I'm looking forward to meeting, but he said it's a no-brainer. Yeah, it is a no-brainer. And so after looking at the product line and the membership here at Empower Network, I said, okay, we're in. All chips in.

We threw our hat in the ring. We went to work. And that's, you know, that's how it all started for us, Chris. Absolutely. You know, and it's funny that, you know, how you said that, you know, these blog posts are going to rank because oftentimes a lot of people keep asking themselves, well, that's great and nice and people, you know, have existing businesses that they were able to roll over into this, but how can I as a person brand new be able to profit from the Empower Network?

And, you know, that was the one thing that over the last eight to ten months, Dave and I, and when we brought David Sharpen, that we were, you know, talking about that, hey, you know, how can we make this work for that person who has never made a dime online? And, you know, I do a lot of Dave's personal SEO on his blog, the majority of it. And, you know, I've experimented with a lot of different things, and we've gone through this process to find out the best blogging models and the best SEO models. And, you know, so we know a few things about how to develop PageRank. We've done some beta testing, built some other communities, and tested them.

And, you know, we were expecting the PageRank and authority, you know, to jump to a tourist. And we've done that for, you know, two or three, normally after, you know, Google comes around just about every quarter and does an update on PageRank, and sometimes even less than that, you know, every two, three months. And, you know, we were thinking, too, you know, maybe we'll jump to a two or a three. And now we're looking at, you know, the amount of traffic, the Alexa scores, and all of that, and how people are ranking all over the place now, the proof is in the pudding. And we're actually, I would say, and Dave has shared this too, that we're actually expecting it to jump straight from a PR1, which it is right now, to a PR1.

And we're actually, I would say, and Dave has shared this too, that we're actually expecting it to jump straight from a PR1, right now, to a four or a five. And I've never seen that jump. But we've also never seen the cataclysmic rise, meteoric rise of the traffic of one site that has sustained. You know, you see launches happen like that, and there's a lot of traffic that goes on over the course of a week or so. But this is going on a month where we're just, you know, that graph is still going up.

You know, this thing is actually multiplying and expanding. Mathematically, the way we all looked at network marketing, and MLM companies thinking the way they were supposed to expand, you know, it doubles, and here it doubles again, and doubles again. And this is actually the first time me and Dave were having a conversation the other night. And he goes, this is the first thing that really is growing like that. First thing I've seen that really is growing like that.

And honestly, I'll tell you guys, you know, he said to me, you know, this thing is growing about four to five times faster than we projected, you know. Oh, yeah. You know, it's amazing when you look at it too, because, you know, theoretically, you know, this industry is about a lot of people doing, you know, a little bit of things, you know, a few things, you know, over time, you know, like a few simple things over time, repeated over time. And what I see happening here, and this is so huge, and I've had dozens of conversations here just this week alone, some of whom, you know, some of which were with some very, very big, you know, old school network marketers that don't have, you know, the Internet practice. I was of some of the top, you know, Internet marketers that are in the Empower Network today.

But, you know, I think that this meteoric rise that you're talking about is a result. It's not just of what's gone on the Internet, but it's gone on what's happened. It's as a result of what's gone on off the Internet in conversations. People are actually picking up the phone and calling, you know, their networking friends and buddies and people, their families, and they're using old school techniques in a new school model, which has never been done before. So it's very, very new and exciting, and it's spreading, you know, it's spreading virally, obviously, because of what we see.

The numbers are proof positive that it's, you know, spreading like wildfire. You know, the numbers are actually theoretically working in a real live world, which is why in 30 days' time, there's almost 10,000 paid members of the Empower Network. And again, it's a result of everybody doing a little bit of the simple things over a period of time. So, you know, I think that's really exciting. It's a long period of time.

And that's why we can see, you know, here as the compounding effect takes place, what's going to happen in month number two, where we go from, say, 10,000 members to probably 25. I don't know what the numbers Dave's projecting, but I think he was talking 100,000 members sometime by the end of the first quarter of 2012. Am I on the right track? You're absolutely on track, exactly. Wow.

It's phenomenal. And so, yeah, but, you know, I just want. To share real quickly, you know, you make mention about rolling over their old business. You know, something that a lot of people probably don't realize is that, you know, we look back, Sophie and I look back, we talked about this a couple of days ago. So, you know, a lot of people don't, you know, they see where we're at today.

They see us, you know, online. They see our banners. They see our text ads and print. And they see us, you know, wherever we're advertising is where they see us. And, you know, they see the result of three years of, you know, sometimes 18 and 20 years of, you know, 20-hour days.

You know, they see the result of, you know, skipping meals and skipping family events and prioritizing and really trimming down, you know, shutting the television off. I was so tempted to pull the plug on it, but because we have a couple of little boys, you know, we didn't want to deprive them of their, you know, childhood memories and cartoons and silliness. And, you know, there's nothing, you know, more enjoyable for us than being able to sit down with the boys and enjoy those days. But for the first several months, and really, I mean, we still do this today in a lot of instances, we have given up a lot of the things that most people refuse to part with, like watching television and, you know, being around a bunch of 97 percenters, people that, you know, sit and talk about the economy and how tough it is and how their job is in jeopardy and they're not making enough money and they wish, they wish, they wish, you know. They wish they could.

They wish they could go on vacation. They wish they could have a better life. They wish they could have less, you know, financial pressure and stress and, you know, all of the things that most people in this world are talking about. You know, that's what the conversation's about. They're talking about celebrities and they're talking about, you know, the things that really, you know, engulf most of our society, whereas we sit and talk about solutions, how we're going to move forward, how we're going to make.

You know, what we're doing better and enhance the systems and the marketing and the advertising and how we can help more people and how we can support our teams better. You know, I've been working on, you know, several different projects lately, Chris, Sophia knows, and I've been averaging probably four to five hours sleep for the last several months working on a project for our primary business that I know is going to help our team. And it's ironic, you know, that David, you know, and David Sharp, you know, the whole team here at Empower Network, you know, has such a simple solution to what most people struggle with when it comes to setting up their business and the technical side. And I've been working on doing that for our primary business now for several months. And, you know, here's Empower Network.

And I said, you know what, this is a perfect example of what our industry's been thirsty for. This is exactly what people have been looking for. That light bulb. That light bulb went on. And, you know, you talked earlier about, you know, how some people might think that others just roll their old business over into Empower Network and they have a lift maybe.

You know, all it takes is just one little, you know, W in the win column to give somebody a little bit of confidence. You know, like Chris, if you took your, let's just say if you have, you know, you have a kid. You have any children, Chris? No, I don't. But I do have a niece and nephew that I live with and take.

Take care of, so 9 and 10, 9 and 10, yeah. Yeah, if you took your niece or nephew, you know, out to go, say, play darts or something, and, you know, you beat your niece or nephew every single time, well, they're not going to want to come back and play another day because they're discouraged. You know, you got to let them win a little bit. You got to give them a little bit of taste of success. It may be a little bit of money, but it means a lot to somebody who's never made money like this before.

And 100% commissions, no less, means that one sale makes somebody whole again, you know, for their membership. And that is so exciting because, again, you know, our goal isn't to create 1,000 millionaires. It's to create 1,000,000. You know, we want to have more people making money because, you know, even just a little bit of money gives them the confidence to come back, you know, reloads their gun and it gives them the confidence to come back and shoot another day. And that's what it requires over time.

You know, I always say that those that last always finish first. You have to stick around long enough to develop the skills that are going to allow you to actually achieve the results and the goal that you want to achieve. You have to be set for yourself in the first place. So, you know, it's a pretty simple formula, but it's not easy because most people will buy their own excuses and wind up dropping out like Sophia talked about earlier. You know, we could have quit, you know, three years ago when we couldn't, you know, generate a lead if our life depended on it.

It took some time before we figured out, you know, Sophia figured that out, and I figured out how to use social media and content, you know, to create a network of people where we had some influence and that way when we shared some ideas with them, we shared some new tools or systems or new ways of being. That is a huge, you know, part of my blogging effort is I'm big into transformation because of the transformation that I've been through. I can certainly shed some light for people that are looking to develop themselves first because if you can't develop yourself, you'll never be able to develop other people. Your thoughts, Sophia? Yeah, you know, I was just thinking to myself, this is coming from me who 10 years ago, gosh, it's been 10 years coming up on 2012 here that I've been in this industry, but I didn't even know what MLM was, you know, and this is, I mean, here with Empower Network, I just have the same kind of feeling that kind of not knowing what MLM or what's going on in the world, you know, I just kind of have the same kind of feeling that kind of not knowing what MLM or what's going on in the world, but I didn't even know what MLM was and what it stood for and kind of like being here.

I didn't, I just know that the first time we saw a merchant email receipt come through authorized.net here with Empower Network, I jumped up and down and I was just like so excited and so thrilled. And, you know, we've made thousands and, I mean, millions in this industry in the last three years. I mean, thousands a month and then millions in this industry. But for some reason, that little authorized.net merchant email receipt has me jumping up and down like crazy. I mean, it's like, you know, it's, I mean, and that just reminded me, it was like ignorance on fire.

Like when I first started in this industry, I didn't know what MLM was and my, I just was interested in a product and I asked the guy that sold me the, the service, you know, the MLM service. I said, how do I get your job? How do I do what you're doing? Because I think it's great. I want to make some money doing it.

And he just said, here, sign here. It was a little bit, I know it was like a, you know, a sign-up sheet, a membership sign-up sheet to be able to get paid. And I just went out and started talking about it. Didn't know what I was getting into. Just knew I was going to make some commission, but I was more excited about the product.

And I was just telling people, next thing I know, I'm looking at the award on my desk. Next thing I know, this guy's sponsor, my sponsor's sponsor, calls me up and he says to me, are you coming to the event, the regional event that's coming up, you know, or the convention or whatever? And I have, I had no idea how important events were. Now I know, obviously, you attend every single event. That's where all the leaders are.

So we're always there. That's no question. But back then, I was like, event? What event? And he said, well, the annual convention is coming up.

And you should be there. And I said, why? Why do I need to be there? I have no idea what it is. And I certainly don't want to, you know, invest the money in flying down to Dallas for it.

And he said, you should come down. You're getting an award. And I said, award? Recognition? Ooh, okay.

What's this all about? And he said, yeah, you're, you know, you're up for salesperson of the year. And I said, I've only, I had only been doing it for one year. So I had no idea there were awards that came with it, bonuses, anything like that. Right?

And I was just like, wow, this is pretty cool. Okay, I'll be down there. So I get down there. They give me the award. And all of a sudden, I get all this recognition for salesperson of the year.

And I have no idea. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. But, again, it was that excitement. It was like, wow, I just, you know, I just really liked the product and the service. And this is why I was willing to share it with people.

And this is the same feeling that Aaron and I have with Empower Network. It is so incredibly exciting. People love the product, the training, the blog, everything about it, the integrity that comes from David Wood and David Sharp. Everything about this is so incredible and it's so exciting. And, you know, we have not intentionally gone out and contacted our friends and family.

I mean, that's just not how we do business. But we have run into, you know, some friends on the phone or in person that, you know, they just happen, you know, and I, we don't, we don't even talk about it unless they say, hey, so what's going on with you? And all of a sudden, you know, oh, my gosh, you have no idea. I've been so excited that, you know, something came, an opportunity presented itself and just came across our desk and it's just incredibly exciting. And, you know, we don't even go into detail, but that excitement and that feeling that we share with them gets them all excited.

And they're like, well, gosh, you know, I better check out what you got. Go on, because whatever you're taking, I'm taking it too. So, you know, for those people out there that don't have a list, you know, to email to or don't know, you know, a whole lot, don't have a big presence on the Internet, I think that's the thing is if you're excited about it, it's going to come through. And especially around the holidays here, you're getting around with friends and family. And I don't always encourage people to share with their friends and family because friends and family.

Friends and family aren't always your biggest supportive network, as we all know in this industry. You know, that's why it's called the NFL club, no friends left, no family left. So it's not the best place. But if you are around friends and family that happen to be very open-minded, very supportive, love you, want to see you succeed, those kind of friends and family that I'm talking about, then those are the ones that maybe you want to share your excitement with. I'm not talking about, you know, you know, somebody in your family, your brother-in-law who's going to be down on everything that you do, okay?

I'm talking about people that love you and are supportive and are open-minded. And if it happens to come up, don't beat them over the brain with, hey, you know, get into this. This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. No, it just, if it happens to come up and they happen to ask you, hey, what have you been, you know, up to? I haven't seen you in months or I haven't seen you in the last year.

We haven't talked much on the phone. What's been going on with you? Maybe you just happen to want to mention, you know what? I came across something that was so incredibly exciting and, you know, thousands of people are making some money and I don't even know much about it, but you know what? It's so exciting, you know, and I got started and I know lots of people that are making some money and, you know, I don't know if it's right for you or not, but, you know, maybe you want to check it out and just leave it at that.

If they don't want to check it out, if they give you some kind of weird look, leave it alone, you know. You don't want to be uninvited to the next Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Just leave it alone. If they happen to be open about it, don't even say anything else, but, you know what? Maybe I'll shoot you a link or here, check out the site.

I don't know if it's right for you or not. And just let it go and move on to the next person because, you know, really, there's so many people. There's a lot of abundance. There's a lot of people to talk to that you don't have to be attached to any one single person because ultimately in this industry and if you've been in, as you get more experience and you've been in it long enough, our favorite word in the house is next. Yep, texting people.

You know? Yep. Yeah, I completely understand. That's, yeah, yeah, that's the attitude around here. Yeah, I can't tell you how many times, you know, it's just, it's very true that for one, you know, don't try to convince.

You know, that's something that I've always taught my teams as well as, you know, professionals sort, amateurs convince. There's no reason to talk people into this. And I'll tell you, I had a little bit more of a challenge with that, believe it or not, with Empower Network when I started, you know, making my calls simply because when I told somebody 100% commissions, they just kind of went, come on, what's the catch? You know, no, no, no, what is it really? And I said, no, it's really 100% commissions.

They go, stop it. What's the catch? How can that be? Well, watch the video and you'll see, you know. And that was the funny part because I actually had a few people that literally hung up on me.

Yeah, right, click. I call them back and first off, don't you dare hang up on me. You know, I'm not going to, you know, but then they go, well, seriously, how can something be? You know, so that's one of the funny things about that is that, you know, we've grown so fast. We've challenged every status quo in the industry, inside and outside.

And you see this growth. And so obviously, like we talked before, challenging that status quo. People get upset. People, you know, threaten. And then they judge it, you know.

So you have a lot of people that also have made this a very controversial thing happening here. And all it has done is fanned the fire for this thing to just explode the way it has. So I definitely, Sophia, see where you're coming from there. I've experienced a lot of that in its own right, talking to people. I mean, it's just to think you can finally do that, you know, and this thing, you know, wow, this thing works.

A little bit of a better mousetrap, at least in my opinion, you know. I think we share the same opinion. So, yeah. And with that, you know, let's look at this a little bit. You've got events, you know, because you were talking about, Sophia, about, you know, how.

Marketing to the events are so important. And I would like to see the both of you's take on what you normally see at events with traditional companies and, you know, top tier and multi-level marketing companies as well. And then what you might think that would be different about going to an Empower Network event. Just want to get your thoughts on that. Just given the circumstances that, you know, we've been given and what we've created and what we're offering to people.

What might you see that stands out in your mind that you could see and hear about what you'll see at an Empower Network event? Yeah, I'll take this one. Yeah. Do you want to go first, though? We both have our own perspective.

Chris, you've got to understand something. You've got two lions in this one. In this one den here. Well, ladies first. How about that?

I always yield to my wife. Oh, I appreciate that. And you know what? In the same time here. We have a very mutual respect because we understand, you know, with both of us being lions and type A personalities, there can only be, I mean, as respect to my spouse, you know, sometimes only one can be in the limelight.

You know, both of us sometimes are together and in a limelight quite often, but only one can speak at a time. So my perspective is, you know, with, I mean, being at. A lot of MLM traditional company events now, there is a lot of rah-rah sessions and with the top leaders, they kind of had to hold their own trainings privately in their suite or in a conference room on the side or something like that. And, you know, there's a lot of excitement, which is great. You know, I'm all about that and it's wonderful as well because, you know what, it's a lot of fun, number one.

Number two, it really gets you. It gives you a chance to connect with others within the company and meet the top leaders. It's still wonderful. I love events as long as they're fun. I'm all about fun too.

So with traditional MLM, that's what you're going to get. And at the same time, you know, when Aaron and I, we go to an event, we have a purpose in mind, a serious purpose in mind. And even though for us, we do want. We want to have fun. We want to have fun with our team and we want to have fun with the other leaders within the company.

At the same time, we are there to do business. We're there to connect and do some serious business. And with Empower Network, you know, what I really see is, oh, man, there are some strong, strong, strong, strong leaders here in every aspect of the business that have done offline as well as online. With business. With blogging and social media and pay-per-click and, you know, advertising and every single way that you can think of for our industry today that are going to be at the Empower Network live events.

And where else? I don't know. I'm not even quite sure that I know anywhere else in this industry where you're going to see that vast amount of leaders with that vast amount of knowledge, very diverse amount of knowledge and building. I'm not even quite sure that I know anywhere else in this industry where you're going to see that vast amount of knowledge and building. This business in several different ways.

I mean, we know somebody that this is they're saying a million ways. There's a million ways to make a million dollars. And just go there and choose your way. The one thing that you can be guaranteed when you go to a live event is that's where the leaders are. And that's a clue, right?

That's a clue. I mean, if you want to, if you take this business seriously, if you take your business in any way seriously, you will attend a live event. I mean, there's so many people that approach us that say, you know what, what do you think I should do for my business right now? And we'll say, well, there's a live event coming up. Get there.

If you're serious about your business, get there. And then they give us all kinds of excuses. Oh, you know, I can't do it. You know, money. And, yeah, all of us have come up with challenges with money to get to a live event.

You know, all of us have time constraints, family commitments. And, you know, all of us have some kind of a challenge sometimes to get to a live event. For Erin and I, it's our, you know, the way we look at it is, oh, live event. It's not a question of whether or not we're going to be there. There is no question.

We will be there. We will be there. The date is put on our calendar as soon as it's announced. And it is, we are there. We're committed because we take our business very seriously.

And we're there to learn from other leaders and to give back within the community as well. And so to see the amount of leaders. And to see a diverse amount of knowledge being presented at an Empower Network live event. Are you kidding me? When we heard that we were going to be able to go to Costa Rica and mastermind, Erin and I looked at each other like, we're there.

You know, what is the date? It's not happening soon enough. You know, when do I start booking the tickets? So that's the way I look at live events, especially with Empower Network. I can't wait.

Absolutely. I can't wait until this January event. Absolutely. And, Erin, I know you are chomping at the bit over there. So, my friend, take it away, have a crack at it.

Yeah, no doubt. I'm just listening to Sophia. I love listening to her share because I agree with everything she said. So whatever she said, ditto, you know. Okay.

I will say, you know, events are non-negotiable. If you're down in any way, you require the event. And if you're up, the event requires you. And that's the way we've always been. Yeah.

Yeah. We've always positioned ourselves, you know, whether we're going there to give or to go and receive, we never missed a live event. Now, that doesn't mean, like, we're the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it's just a testament, like, success leaves clues. Like Sophia said, you know, the biggest commitments that people will ever make come at a live event because, you know, we talk about, you know, we've gone from the brick-and-mortar businesses to click-and-order, right? We went from brick-and-mortar to click-and-order, right?

I love your phrase. But see, the real mortar between the bricks is the relationship and the only place to create relationships with people and actually, you know, be with them and spend quality time with them and get to know them and find out more about them than they find out about you and really take an interest in people and be more interested in them. You know, so one of the things that's been interesting to them is in a live setting. Some of our best friends in the world, not just in the profession of networking and direct sales and internet marketing, not just in those professions but some of our best friends in the world came from meeting them at live networking events and internet training events and network marketing and direct sales events and personal growth and development seminars and, you know, wherever we can get in front of live organizations. So it's, you know, something that I would love to see happen.

Thank you. live people and meet them and get to know them and share a little bit of what we've learned and learn from them and pick up what they've learned. Yeah, that's what makes events non-negotiable for us. But, you know, as far as live events go, you know, we knew from the very beginning that we would be in Costa Rica. Now, we didn't even know that there was going to be an event.

I actually said to Dave we'd see him in Costa Rica right before we got started. You know, before we even signed up, I said, sounds good. We're in. Count us in. We'll see you in Costa Rica.

And then, you know, a few weeks later, two weeks later, you know, after we'd been on board for two weeks, he made, you know, made an announcement that there was going to be an Empower Network Costa Rica, you know, mastermind event coming up in January. And we knew with the diversity and such a, you know, wide array of leadership. Here's something I want to point out too, Chris, and I think this is so huge. You know, all the leaders here from different companies, or at least, you know, you know, several of the leaders are from different companies. I know that there's probably dozens and dozens and dozens of companies represented here in Empower Network, probably closer to 100 because there's so many thousands of people here.

We don't, you know, there's just thousands of companies out there in our industry. But to bring people together from so many different companies and then the leadership body here, you know, the top producers coming from all sorts of different products and services and, you know, different parts of the industry with different, you know, compensation plans and different ways and strategies of marketing to all come together into one, you know, one environment is going to be just an explosion of knowledge and new connections and new friendships. And we know that, you know, your net worth is determined by your network. And so we do want to meet, you know, the top earners in the company, people that, you know, we're seeing on the leaderboard. Heck, we're not even on the leaderboard yet.

And we don't even know the first thing about what some of these guys are talking about. I'm excited to get in front of, you know, some of these amazing leaders like Lawrence Tam and Toby and Layla and Tracy Walker and Jamie Soriano. I mean, I'm listening to them on the calls and watching them and get back together with, you know, even meet you, Chris, and Chris Daugherty. And, God, I've been, you know, we've just been so plugged in, you know, to these incredible leaders here and paying attention that I can only imagine when we meet them in person. Some of them we've met in person before.

Some of them we've, you know, kind of passed by at another event, you know, some of these other marketing events that have taken place. You know, kind of like Dave, I've been able to meet some of these people. I've been able to meet David Wood where I just, you know, we walked by each other, said hello, kind of, you know, smiled and maybe even, you know, bumped shoulders real quickly. But we didn't actually have a chance to sit down, break bread, have conversation, you know, get to know each other. And, you know, it's a synergistic effect.

I call it the quantum leap. You know, it's where two plus two equals 15. And you get to a live event and your whole life will change. It worked for me. It worked for thousands of people that I've seen in the past.

And it'll work for everybody that's listening into this. Absolutely. Anything to add, Sophia? I think I'm right there with them. I mean, it's just that there's nothing, you can't hide behind your computer.

And there's nothing, as much as we do our business online at the same time, that human touch and being around somebody's presence and being able to see, touch, the smell of the environment, the whole experience in itself, we're all five of our senses, maybe even our sixth sense that we don't even know, you know, that we're all five of our senses. That subconscious side, all these, all these signs that really, really touch you, no matter if you're visual or an audio learner, whatever it is, going to a live event, you, all your sensory is being touched somehow. And it's so important to get into somebody's space and somebody's presence. And, and, and really get that belief system. I mean, our belief system is, you know, our belief with Power Network is already so incredibly strong.

And we're only three weeks into it. I can't even imagine when we actually get to a live event, person to person, belly to belly, face to face, how we're going to feel. And, and that, that synergistic energy is just going to be just an explosion. You know, I mean, that's the best way that I can describe it. We're, I'm, there's data.

I'm already like, ah, I want to just jump out of my skin with excitement with this, you know, Empower Network. And here comes this live event. I mean, I'm just, Aaron and I, we were like, ah, I can't wait to get to, you know, Costa Rica and just really, really connect with the whole entire community. It's so exciting. I can't wait to be there.

I can't wait to see you guys down there and get a chance to, to spend some time with you as well. That's going to be one of the coolest events. You know, we went down there, we had a, that Costa Rica event where Lawrence and, you know, David Sharp and, and Ola and myself and, and a few other, you know, teachers there, just amazing, amazing stuff we had going on there, as you guys might've seen in the Costa Rica events in the Mastermind, you know, product there. Amazing time. We had so much fun.

It was ridiculous. I've got all kinds of behind the scenes footage when we went ziplining and, and you guys will probably find out about some of the crazy antics I do jumping inside of waterfalls at 40 feet up. They all call me. That's, you know, we have a good time there. And, you know, I know we're winding down here and you guys have got to catch a plane because you're taking a 10 day, I believe 10 days in the Bahamas, I believe it is.

And so we've got to wrap up here, but, you know, we could go all day, obviously. I think we can all tell that by now. But, you know, I want to, I want to end with this. And I think this is important for, for the new person who might be on the fence or, or not really finding, you know, a direction. I think it's important for the new person who might be on the fence or, or not really finding a direction yet being involved.

And that is if you had to take away everything that you've earned. And, but you do know and have the marketing knowledge that you have now. What would you do? What would you do to start creating an income in the Empower Network? How would you go about that?

I, I'll, I'll tell you what I would do. I mean, to me, you know, if, if I want to make the maximum amount of income, the thing that I know is that you got to play at the top. Okay. You got to be a member at every level. You got to own it.

You have to own it to be able to put it out there. I mean, that's just the law of the universe. Really. It is the law of the universe, whether you're, you're looking at it from a personal perspective or a personal, a professional perspective. You have to experience it in order to have others, in order to inspire others to experience it.

So if, if you're not a member of the inner circle and you're not yet a member of the Costa Rica Mindset Intensive, you must be a member. You must play at the top. Now, if you want, if you're taking your business seriously, that's where you have to be positioned. You have to play from the top because when you put it out there that you are playing from the top, that is what you are going to bring in. The law of the universe is going to give that back to you.

I mean, I'm just big on the law of the universe. I'm big on karma. I'm big on that kind of faith and spirituality. So I, I, you know, I realized that what I put out, there is, is what's going to come back to me. Okay.

And, and so, I mean, events, same thing, you know, if, if, if you want others to go, to an, to an event, you've got to be the first one that takes the first step to go to an event. You want others to purchase, you know, at the highest level, you've got to be the first one to take that step and be that because, you know, people are going to copy and do exactly what you do. If you've only, if you've only gotten in at the highest level, that just says that you're not serious. Okay. Maybe you're working on putting your money together and your full intention is to get there, at the, you know, and, and get the full package at 625.

And that's fine. I mean, everybody has, you know, we've all gone through, you know, challenges where we've had to put money together. And I, and I'm not talking to those folks. I'm talking to the people that have no intention. They're just kind of like getting their, you know, getting their little toe wet in the water.

Oh, let me see what happens if I just get the $25 membership. You know, that's what you're going to do. And, and, and, and, and, and, you're going to attract and sometimes even less than that because people are going to look at you and go, wow, you're obviously not very serious. And so, I, I, maybe that's what I should do is just do what you kind of did. Well, what did you do?

I only got the $25. Okay. Well then that's what I'm going to do. That's what you're going to attract. So if you want to play, I mean, personally in our family, we pay, we play big, we play full out.

And, and you know, here's, here's the thing is, is we didn't have, you know, we, we love, we didn't have the opportunity of getting the a hundred percent commissions, but at the same time, we loved it even more that we were going to get the training that came along with it. That's what really got us excited as well. Yeah. The commission and the money was awesome and what we get here, but the training, the training and the live events and the opportunity, I mean, that's where it is. That's where you get to really see what leaders are doing.

And I mean, gosh, really $500 for that Costa Rica. And when you, when people are paying $3,000 to, to get down there, plus their, their flight, their time away from their family, from their jobs and, and hotel stays and meals and everything else that they invested on top of the $3,000. I mean, you know, five, five to $10,000 trip that was, is available to us for $500. That, that, that's like, that's this, this term obviously is thrown around a lot on this call. No brainer.

No, brainer. So, I mean, knowing what I know and just, you know, the attitude of all leaders, not just us, but all leaders, you play from the top and you play full out. Playing from the top, playing full out. I love it. You know, I, there's a famous quote that I always use a lot that, that I subscribe to that says that when one is fully willing and committed with no turning back, only then will the gods join in and providence moves in your direction.

And I fully believe that. And I think you do too. And I totally agree. So Aaron, final thought, my friend. Yeah, absolutely.

Great point, Sophia. You got to bet big to win big. And, you know, just on the product on, you know, on itself. I mean, I mentioned earlier that I've been staying up, you know, sometimes two, three, four in the morning, literally just watching the Costa Rica intensive. I'm still only on video number six.

I watched Lawrence Tam last night talk about all sorts of, of really cool strategies that he's using in his business and that he's used in the past. And that was really cool. But yeah, I'm so into the product line that, you know, the product itself is well worth the investment. I mean, it's worth 10, 15, 20 times the investment as far as the value of the product, you know, what it, what it can do for people is incredible. You know, going back to your question of what would we do?

Well, bottom line, Chris, I mean, I think that people need to know this. They deserve to know this, you know, content is king, you know, either publish or perish. You know, we're not going to be able to do it. We're not going to be able to do it. We're not going to be able to do it.

So what we would do if we had nothing, you know, to start with, if we didn't have any list, if we didn't have any contacts, if we didn't have any, you know, alliances here in the industry and in, in, in this, you know, internet marketing industry we're in, we would do what we're doing already. We'd, in other words, we'd continue to do what we're doing, which is publish, post content, use the blog service, you know, take advantage of social media. You know, people say, well, I don't have a list. Well, you could have a list. It's called Facebook.

You could have a list. You could have a Facebook. You're up, you're allowed up to 5,000 friends, you know, get yourself connected with a lot of the people that are in your niche market. You have to know who is your target audience. You have to do some research, look at people's profiles, add them as friends, get to know them, make contributions, right?

Contribution always comes before collection. You can never expect to, you know, it's like going to the bank. You can't take out, you know, anything from the bank if you haven't put anything in already. So you've got to contribute. You've got to play from the side of contribution because once you start putting quality content into the marketplace and value, and value, you know, this is a huge question I get, you know, what constitutes value?

Well, value is anything that adds to the bottom line of somebody's personal growth and development, somebody's, you know, feeling good about themselves, somebody's knowledge about advertising, marketing, sales, conversion, you know, any information that a person can read or watch, you know, in video or listen to, you know, video is the next best thing to being there live, which is why these Costa Rica intensive videos are so incredible. But any kind of information that you could offer to people that may or may not know that information already, you know, for some it'll be a refresher, for some it'll be first-time information. But when you put information out there, you're going to attract people who are, you know, you're going to attract people who are looking for quality information to read and to digest and to have access to so that they can implement those, you know, those valuable pieces of content into their own lives, into their own businesses, into their own marketing arsenals on a daily basis. So, you know, we're going to be publishing constantly, Chris. We're going to be continually adding more blog posts to our Empower Network blog.

We're going to be linking our Empower Network blog to our personal blogs. We're going to be syndicating our blog posts to our personal blogs. We're going to be syndicating all of our content through article marketing, through notes on Facebook. We're putting messages out there through email. Okay, we're creating content.

And if we started from scratch at ground zero, had no contacts, no list, this is exactly what we'd be doing. And whether we have a list or not, this is what we're doing anyway. So, you know, list or no list, you know, I would say big list, you know, small list, no list, no problem. You have access to some of the other things. And this is what we're doing.

And this is what we're doing. And this is the power of the Empower Network, you know, with their blogging service for $25. I mean, who else in the world but Empower Network members can blog on the domain with thousands of other people and rank for keywords, long tail, short tail, doesn't matter. What matters, it's not what you do, but what you do daily. And that's what we're doing here daily, Chris.

Absolutely. And with all due respect, Aaron, I am going to have to steal. some of these catchphrases and buzz lines that you have, cause they're pretty cool. I like, you know, contribution before collection, you know, brick and mortar, click and order. I mean, these are just, these are cool.

I love them. I really do. I'm done completely stealing them. And if I have any chance to, I will, I will definitely credit you when I can, but you know, I'm going to have to use those. Those are just too good.

So, you know, last thing here is simply that I just want to throw it back in your hands for any final closing thoughts. One last time, Aaron and Sophia to close this out. I know you've got to go. So Sophia, if any final thoughts, go ahead and take it away. Wow.

You know, we've covered so much on this call and yeah, at the same time, yeah, there's just so much to cover. I think, I mean, here's my final thought is, and I really, I'm inspired by my husband here on the line. That, you know, he is to stay green, to always be learning, to always wish someone success, to always bless someone's success. And, and to, to always give that love back out there. And, and there's just so much to learn.

Once you start saying, you know, and Aaron always says this, the most dangerous words in the human language are, I already know that. That is so incredibly dangerous and even worse being in this industry because the technology online changes so much. You can never, never, ever say that. And to always be green, always be a student of the game, to always master your craft because we all started at the same place. And I've said this before, we weren't born with a keyboard in our hands.

We all start at the same place. And some of us are, in different paths of our journey. to, to me, success is, is just a, a journey. And, so many millionaires and billionaires had their best times while they were on their journey, to making their millions and billions of dollars. And some of them, say they would give it all back just to go through that journey again.

And I know that's, that's not, always the easiest, the easiest to understand when we look at them as, as being arrived. But Aaron and I know that, we, we haven't arrived. I don't think that, we will ever arrive until we're six feet under. And, for us, it's just ride the journey. Keep riding that wave.

So I love it. I love it. It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Aaron.

Yeah, I guess if, if I had, you know, to, to say any final thoughts, you know, I mean, everything that Sophia said, of course, but you know, gosh, how do I put it into, you know, into one, you know, real clear statement? I guess it is, you know, you got to get to work like your life depended on it because in most cases it probably does, you know, and that's the feeling that we have every single day is that our lives depend on, on what we do to build our businesses and to grow and build and develop ourselves. Cause that's what I used to do, Chris. That's what my background was when I was a personal trainer, I worked 15 to 18 hours a day. It'd be easier to go back and do that, you know, it'd be easier to do, but you know, you have to experience the lows so that you can really enjoy the highs.

And I think the, the message that I'm really putting into words here is that you got to do whatever it takes to, to, to reach your goals and dreams. You just, if you, you know, it's like those that, that last always finish first. If you quit, you're not just quitting on yourself, but you're quitting on the hundreds and thousands and thousands of people that you could touch both directly and indirectly throughout the course of your life. And to be quite honest, that's what this is all about. I'll never forget Chris.

And I'll wrap up with this about gosh, it's almost 20 years ago. I was sitting on the roof of a car or the hood of a car. And my dad said to me, he said, son, you don't have a job. You don't have any credit left. You don't have any money coming in.

You have no income, you know, what are you going to do? And I said, dad, you know what? I might not have a job. I don't have any money. I don't even have any credit left on my credit cards, but it doesn't matter because I have a dream.

And I said, money doesn't matter to me. And see, I realized now that money did matter and it does matter. It's very important. Okay. But what mattered most to me was, was the freedom that I wanted so badly and I could taste it because I saw other people experience it.

And I was willing to go to war for the rest of my life to fight for my freedom. And I never, ever since those days back in the mid nineties, I have never had a full-time job. I've either worked for myself or started a small business or was a part of network marketing or direct sales or affiliate marketing or internet marketing. And now, I'm a part of the empower network because I just refuse to give up. And I think I want to tell people, you know, if your dream is big enough, right?

When, when the, when the dream is big enough, the how part will take care of itself. You will learn the skills that it requires to succeed, but you've got to know why you're here. You've got to be willing to get clear on what you want and why you want it and just know that it's possible because so many others have come before you. And if you're willing to give everything you have no excuses, no stories, no pointing finger and blaming, you know, when you point the finger, you have three more pointing right back at you. Take responsibility, be the leader for yourself so that you can be the leader for others.

So with that, Chris, I think that's my final thoughts and I will turn it back over to you to wrap up and put a bow on this one. All right. Well, this has absolutely been an honor and what a, what a way to, to, to finish this off. And I just want to say thank you so much to all of you for being here. I really appreciate it.

And I really appreciate it with that thought because that just hits to the core of everything we do and why we do it. And I really do appreciate it this time. I, I appreciate and, and feel very, very honored that the two of you took this time to be able to show what, what you see and what you feel and you know, your background, where you're coming from so that others can, can benefit from that. And, and we really are truly, truly thankful. And I know I say this just about every time, you know, valuable interviews I've, I've ever done.

And so I look forward to seeing you all again at an empower network event on another interview in the near future. And with that, we will, we will take it away. And until next time on the next interview, we will see you then. Thank you so much, Aaron and Sophia Rashkin. Hey, thank you so much.

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