7: Ann Sieg – Bankable Skill Sets To Turn Money Out Of Thin Air

Ann Sieg Bio

Ann Sieg is an author, speaker, trainer, and top earner in the network marketing industry. Ann has been featured on numerous radio programs, media outlets, books, and other publications. Her true passion is educating and teaching others how to be successful. Ann has developed a unique ability for helping beginners overcome their obstacles that are holding them back from reaching their goals. Her training has created an unparalleled number of success stories. Ann is one of the top earners in her network marketing company and has made over $20 million in her career. In her most recent network marketing company, she became the number one recruiter in less than six months, earning her a brand new Jaguar. Now she’s here on Network Marketing Nation to share her six and seven figure success story with you!

Read The Entire Ann Sieg Interview Transcript Below:

Vince Reed 0:00 – 0:02

Network Marketing Nation, Episode Seven.

Ann Sieg 0:03 – 0:15 (sound bite)

But boy, oh so satisfying far and above the money, quite honestly, is to know man, I’ve got bankable skill sets that I can turn money out of thin air.

Vince Reed 0:15 – 0:25

You’re listening to Network Marketing Nation, where six and seven figure top earners share their stories. My name is Vince Reed, Internet marketing trainer and coach. Prepare to be inspired.

Vince Reed 0:35 – 1:57

Before we start our live interview, here’s a quick word from our sponsors. If you want to use the Internet to generate traffic and leads for your network marketing business, visit MyInternetTrafficSystem.com and get the very best lead generation training for top earners. Want to generate your own leads but building quality capture pages have been too difficult or expensive? MITS Pages is the solution you have been looking for. Visit MITS Pages, that’s M-I-T-S Pages.com, and create quality lead capture pages for free.

Alright, I’m extremely excited, I’m here with the one and only Ann Sieg. Ann Sieg is an author, speaker, trainer, and top earner in the network marketing industry. Ann has been featured on numerous radio programs, media outlets, books, and other publications. Her true passion is educating and teaching others how to be successful. Ann has developed a unique ability for helping beginners overcome their obstacles that are holding them back from reaching their goals. Her training has created an unparalleled number of success stories. Ann is one of the top earners in her network marketing company and has made over $20 million in her career. In her most recent network marketing company, she became the number one recruiter in less than six months, earning her a brand new Jaguar. Now she’s here on Network Marketing Nation to share her six and seven figure success story with you.

Ann how are you today? Are you ready to rock and roll?
Ann Sieg 1:57 – 2:00

I absolutely am, I’m doing awesome and how are you today, Vince?

Vince Reed 2:00 – 2:09

I am awesome and it is an honor and pleasure to be here with you. I’ve been a fan for many years and I’m excited, I know the listeners are going to get a lot of value from you.

Ann Sieg 2:09 – 2:16

Thank you and likewise working with you. We did a promotion, I don’t know, a year ago or so and that was a lot of fun to work together.

Vince Reed 2:16 – 2:30

Absolutely. So you know, obviously, I just shared a bunch of cool and amazing things that you’ve been able to accomplish over your career.

Is there anything I left out that maybe you want to fill in the blanks or share more that people don’t know about you?
Ann Sieg 2:31 – 3:19

I guess I’ll just mention my background. I raised three boys for which they’re all grown up. At the time of this recording, 25, 27, the eldest will be 31 really soon. All my boys have worked in my business and currently my eldest son is my business partner, my youngest son works for me, and my middle son – we just had a trip to China – and he now lives in China. So I’ll just say I run a family business and I just really appreciate the family economy and I built my business around my family economy and it’s through that that I’ve been able to reach these really amazing accomplishments. It was so not by myself, just saying. But through that collective effort with my family.

Vince Reed 3:19 – 3:28

That’s awesome and that’s the beautiful thing about this industry; the freedom and the time to do those types of things. At least that’s why I love it and obviously it sounds like the same for you as well.

Ann Sieg 3:28 – 3:30

Yep, absolutely.

Vince Reed 3:30 – 4:01

So tell me, let’s kind of move into some of these awesome questions. So you’ve made obviously millions of dollars in this industry and one of the things that make you I think special is you’ve done it in network marketing, you’ve done it as an affiliate marketer, creating your own products, events, you’ve done so much and you know,

tell everyone listening what it feels like to have reached your goals and to be able to say you’ve made $1 million in this industry.

Because I know a lot of people get into this industry with that in mind, and I just want them to know what that feels like to be able to hit those kinds of numbers.

Ann Sieg 4:02 – 6:04

Well, it’s I suppose surreal. I mean, it’s all happened so long ago, so to speak. When things really scaled is when I came online and it was a very remarkable zero to hero kind of thing just by being able to leverage the Internet. So here it’s funny, my eldest son was over this afternoon and talking about the span of our development and our accomplishments, like our first event and what our offer and up sell was. And now the way we’ve progressed so much since that time, the biggest take away for me really is the skills that I’ve developed, primarily from the perspective – I’m a baby boomer woman – women tend to outlive men. And so my mindset has always been, I’m in continual skill-building mode because I know it’s through my skills that I’m able to better secure my financial future because it’s a very progressive space and you really do need to keep learning. I rarely sit still, I have a very strong driving ambition – I don’t know how to account for it, but it is what it is. I’ll just say I am highly energized by the accomplishments but I don’t .. I continue to progress. And it’s really fun. I hope this is a good take away for folks. It is really empowering to go through that learning curve, and it can be very arduous, but boy, oh so satisfying far and above the money, quite honestly, is to know man, I’ve got bankable skill sets that I can turn money out of thin air, basically. You know, put it on my list, etc. I know the formula and it was well worth learning, so very empowering skill sets that yep, they took time to learn, but every bit worth it that I can take this into my future. I can’t impress upon people strongly enough the importance of that.

Vince Reed 6:04 – 6:40

Absolutely, absolutely. Understanding that when you learn these things, you’re not just learning it just so I can make money today; these are skills that you can take with you and continue to impact people for years to come. That’s awesome. So you know, the next question is an interesting one because everyone getting started, you know, they’re competing with a lot of distributors and reps and people that are doing the same things as them. You know, tell the listeners why a person would want to join your team.

Is there something that you guys do that makes you guys a little bit different than other reps or distributors or companies out there?
Ann Sieg 6:41 – 9:26

Yep, it’s two-fold. Number one, I have to say because I’ve been online for 11 years and I actually got in network marketing direct sales – here we go, here’s the number – 28 years ago. So I have a long span of time and history that gives me this really broad perspective. Without exception, people must be in a strong community. I have an extremely well-developed community that started with a funnel – it was an MLM – I was building four years ago. And so Facebook, group pages, this kind of thing which they vary tremendously from page to page, etc. and how the group has managed. I develop leaders. I have a leadership .. an entire platform. My latest development in that is called TLC Mastermind with Ann Sieg. I develop leaders and it takes a really unique ability to do that. It takes a lot of love and patience, care, devotion. Quite akin to raising a family, which I’ve done. So they all … personally, I believe that I just don’t know of many entrepreneurs that can make it on their own and network marketing isn’t even designed to be a make it on your own gig; it’s all very … networking, it’s people. So anyway, the community is definitely a huge hallmark. Secondly is within the marketplace is the need to be able to differentiate whether you’re doing that locally, online, it really doesn’t matter. And where I had my big turning point was learning how to differentiate by leading with value, education pieces. This was offline, it was a health awareness seminar that I did. But I’ll just say with that understanding, I also – with all the programs I built online since ’07, ’06 – is I set up my own affiliate system for them, for my own “reps distributors” so that they can have that differentiation in the marketplace rather than relying on the company standard marketing pieces which can vary from company to company. And the biggest issue there is saturation, it becomes fatigued and very boring. They see the same old, same old and it’s company replicated websites, so just to recap: they’ve got to have a really healthy community, by the way. A lot of communities tend to be those bravado, ego-pushing or ego-strutting kind of stuff and it’s real annoying. So my leadership team, it’s a servant leadership kind of community, so they’ll be well-served and cared for and groomed up to be leaders if they so choose. And then our own marketing system that we provide our folks.

Vince Reed 9:27 – 10:15

That’s awesome and just for everyone listening, this is something that is a progression and if you notice, one of the things I really like that you said earlier on was that you keep even to this day developing new skill sets that you then can share down and another thing you said that was powerful was that you develop leaders. And if you’re getting into this profession without that mindset, if you think it’s just going to be about you and .. it’s the wrong industry for you. So keep those things in mind. So moving forward, you know, obviously it’s clear why people should get started with you: you’re investing in yourself, you’re basically walking the walk, you’re in the trenches, and you’ve got a lot of experience.

So with that experience, if you could go back in time, you know, what piece of advice would you give yourself when you got started?
Ann Sieg 10:15 – 12:15

Well, I would say the best piece of advice that could have been provided to me: MLM, network marketing, oftentimes is pitched as a get-rich-quick. You know, I mean it’s you come in starry-eyed, and by the way again, this is going back to 28 years ago. But I’m a hard worker, I’m realistic and I’m willing to put in the hard work. But I think a framework from the onset is to set realistic expectations that you’re now going to be in skill building mode. And I like myself to be treated as a grown up with the true framework and not be falsely mislead. And I think people have really appreciated that about me over the years is that I give the straight up on people, so that doesn’t feel like a lot of phony bologna and they’re just being misled. So for me, because my background is education, my parents were etc., give me the true framework. I’m good on that. You know, you tell me I’ve got skill building ahead of me, I’m good. Added to that is you have to develop salesmanship. We sell stuff, and some people are uncomfortable with that, they flinch, this that. They have to step up and develop salesmanship. So I would say know that your company probably can’t cover all of that; in fact, it’s almost a given. And so seek outside help and support relative to the skill building because who knows to what extent internally what that company has to truly offer, like anathema against internet marketing, for example, and I just flat out wouldn’t go with any company that doesn’t allow me to do that. But you’re going to have to know, you are now in the salesmanship space, and get excited about it. It’s a blast, I love it, I really really love sales. So fall in love with sales, reach out, and get outside training for it as appropriate.

Vince Reed 12:15 – 12:33

Absolutely. Now here’s something interesting, and I’m always curious to know the answer to this.

You know, how did the first person sponsor or recruit you onto their team or bring you into this industry?

How did that conversation go? Because I know that person was a pretty lucky person to have Ann Sieg on their team.

Ann Sieg 12:33 – 13:52

Well I didn’t end up growing a big team with that one, this is now offline as we say. But this is 28 years and my boys – well, I only had one child at that time and I was pregnant with my second one. So anyways, in our neighborhood they had, it’s called, Walk to the Highway or something like that. We have a high bridge that leads across the Mississippi River. Anyways, I’ll just say they had vendors for several blocks, 12-15 blocks, etc. And so this little gal had her little table where there was a free offer. So that free offer – we didn’t have opt-in back then, 28 years ago. But it wasn’t opt-in in this way. I would get a free facial if I gave her my name and contact info. And there was no email address back then, just my phone number. So it was the free offer thing and by golly, then my name went into the fish bowl and I was going to win a free facial! And little did I know that was her lead generation method, you know, I was just kind of naive to things and she followed up. She called me and invited me – I think I had the facial first and what do you know, next thing I’m going to a business opportunity. It was Mary Kay, by the way, was my first MLM or direct sales. But so that’s how I got recruited.

Vince Reed 13:51 – 13:56

Wow, was it difficult to get you in or right when you saw it, were you like, “I’m in”?

Ann Sieg 13:56 – 14:33

I was pretty open, I mean, to this day I’m a very open-minded person. I don’t fall in the camp of, you know, there’s a lot of negativism out there and I just don’t feel that way. I feel the world is filled with opportunity and I’m open to it. So I wanted to advance our family and so I jumped in. And my husband has always supported me in everything I’ve done. I don’t have a negative husband deal going on, so I’ve been really blessed that way. But I like opportunity and I’m willing to try and if I fail, I guess it is what it is and I move on.

Vince Reed 14:34 – 14:53

Awesome. So tell me your worst story of rejection. Was there ever a time like when you got started – I know you said you obviously have a lot of experience.

Was there ever a time where you talked to someone and after that conversation you just wanted to hide under a rock?

It was just the worst story of rejection you possibly can remember in your career.

Ann Sieg 14:54 – 16:13

I was actually going out to eat for my middle son’s birthday and going out for pizza, and this was my offline MLM, the last one so to speak that I built offline before I came online and this had a whole bunch of product lines. So anyway, I was unashamedly out there with my recruiting practices. So it’s my son’s birthday and there’s the waitress and I’m eyeing the waitress, gonna hit on her, you know? And so my boys are watching this and I could see my two younger ones were too embarrassed and they got up and left. Like, she’s going to go into her deal. I mean that’s how shameless I was. And so sure enough I got her contact info, which I’m sure she felt pressured, you know, she’s the waitress. And then I followed up with her and she was going to law school and you know, sure there was rejection but more it was embarrassment that kind of sort of ruined a birthday dinner. So that was really what bothered me more was being just so in that mode turned on at all times and now doing it online, I get to be in the offline world and have peace and not deal with that kind of stuff. But that was a negative experience.

Vince Reed 16:13 – 16:18

Absolutely, so having the family kind of disperse.

Ann Sieg 16:17 – 16:22

Yeah, they didn’t want to see my pitch and they were just like, “We’re out of here.”

Vince Reed 16:22 – 16:51

So you know, those are all great learning lessons. If you can deal with that and you know, you’re going to be successful. And that’s kind of why I lead into the next question because if you have success, you often have a lot more rejection than you have people telling you yes.

So what’s your best story of success for yourself and maybe for someone on your team?

Do you have a person who’s done some amazing and for you personally, what would you say is your number one success story?

View The Rest Of The Transcript
Ann Sieg 16:52 – 18:29

I think probably what stands out more than any because this was me with my own affiliate product rather than promoting someone else’s, whether that be affiliate or network marketing, is 2009, so this is right after the crash and we made kind of a bold decision – it was my son, business partner – we said, “We need to do a car giveaway. We should do a Mercedes.” And there had not been any car giveaways in our industry at that time and everyone was pretty nervous because of the crash. And he said, “All the more reason when in a depression, a crash, that’s when you get aggressive in business.” So it took a lot of boldness. So we did have that in, wrote an e-book as part of that, and it was a $1.2 million launch in that first 48 hours and that was .. it took a lot of work to roll that out but it was a big, big accomplishment. I believe being the first with the car, and also the launch itself was kind of like, “Man, we earned our street cred” so to speak. So personally that’s probably the biggest success. Of students, there is varies from affiliates to network marketers. I would say overall with affiliate, I have an affiliate who has gone on to become a speaker and she came in through my MLM at that. But really stepped into my funnel. Again, that whole leadership platform that I’ve developed. She got to present at my workshops and really got to see the inside workings of funnel building directly from me, and then emulated that and has gone on to do quite well.

Vince Reed 18:29 – 19:06

Awesome. And it’s so great because every time I ask this question, I feel like the people that answer, they almost light up when they share the success story of people on their team and that’s really what it’s all about. So, you know, this is interesting because there’s so many people that are going to be listening to this that are new to network marketing. And you know, they are obviously looking for guidance, that’s why they’re here.

Is there anything that you would tell that person getting started, they’re brand new, they just joined their company, I mean, they’re opening up that package of whatever it is that they got in terms of products.

Is there any advice that you can give that person?

Ann Sieg 19:06 – 21:19

Well you know, there’s this emotional state, honeymoon phase when someone first comes in and it’s awesome, it’s great. You know, and the big thing is about get that first sale! Because when they feel that first sale, “Yeah man, I can do it.” You know, so there is encouragement definitely to do that. However, especially more in the local market, warm market so to speak, you can burn through that fast and then, “Oh, now what’s next?” which was my story, by the way. Again, it’s really to understand that this is an industry unto itself that does require skill sets. And be ready to get into skill building mode: read books, you’re really going to have to get into some serious self-education because I know for evolving entrepreneurs, there’s like I say that honeymoon phase. It can be like 3 months, it’s short-lived for a lot of new people and you really have to alter your mindset. Mine was … I get the mindset, “I’m going to do this if it kills me” for this main reason. I had a burning desire, as Napoleon Hill talks about, I was going to get my husband home. So this seemed to be the best, most realistic thing and then it just evolved and grew from there. So remember why you got into that and stick with it as your internal resolve, because you’re going to have to develop the skill sets and accept that and get excited about it. So that would be my advice. So can I just add? There’s also different methods and that can be controversial. People can be awesome in the local, especially relative to their culture and where they live in the world, and some online. Each and every person is individual and has unique strengths to play to, so I never give a cart blanche answer to everyone, “This is the method you really ought to be doing” even though I definitely have a preference having to do with building assets, etc. But each person is unique with their own skill sets and strengths, and they don’t necessarily know what they are, but I really believe firmly in business you need to play toward your strengths.

Vince Reed 21:19 – 21:42

Absolutely, I definitely agree with that. And I’m sure a lot of what you just said probably plays a huge part in this next question,

but what would you tell the struggling veteran?

Maybe the person that’s been in several companies, maybe they’ve had success before and they just can’t get over the hump and not making the money that they want and they’re maybe even thinking about quitting. What would you tell that person in their business?

Ann Sieg 21:42 – 22:54

Honestly, because I’ve coached and consulted with it feels like thousands of people: everyone is different, so I can’t give a pat answer here. For myself, I have to assess their personal situation before I can give specific advice. In some instances, it’s “Nope, your company is not a good fit, it’s saturated” or “You know, you’re not jiving with it, you’re incongruent.” I mean, there’s a lot of different variables involved that formulate into success. So I don’t have a cart blanche pat answer other than I do recommend somehow get a coach or a mentor who can help sort this out for you because there’s a problem there and you probably … you don’t want to keep banging your head against the wall and a lot of times, people think jumping to the next biz op is going to be their saving grace when in actuality, they may have some other core, fundamental issues that haven’t been addressed yet. So personally – and this is just for what a person can access – you really do need a coach or a mentor to sort it out and help give you a proper guidance and perspective.

Vince Reed 22:55 – 23:14

Absolutely. I mean I think that’s true on every level even when you hit success, always try to find that person that can help you get to the next level, absolutely. Awesome, so that leads us into the time is money round. So I’m going to ask you a series of questions and you have to answer them in 60 seconds or less, so are you ready?

Ann Sieg 23:14

I’m ready.

Vince Reed 23:15 – 23:20

Alright, so what is your number one marketing tip for new network marketers?
Ann Sieg 23:21 – 23:36

Number one, you’ve got to get into the community. It just makes a massive difference to be in a strong, supportive community in that everyone’s learning curve is different, and then added to that would be seek to get your first sale as fast as humanly possible.

Vince Reed 23:36 – 23:54

Absolutely. Okay, cool. So this is a great one, now I’m curious for your answer here.

Who do you look up to as a mentor / entrepreneur?

We’re always telling everyone to grab a mentor or seek someone out. Is there anyone that you look up to as a mentor that you learn from consistently?

Ann Sieg 23:54 – 24:28

Um, I’ll just say the first two authors were Robert Kiyosaki, Paul Saint Pilsner, who aren’t network marketers to my knowledge but just to help me get the proper mindset. But it’s actually my first online sponsor is now the head coach of my primary training platform. He’s my mentor and coach. I trust him implicitly, he knows me really well and so I counsel with him, etc. And he’s just awesome. So I was really blessed in that way. So it’s my first sponsor.

Vince Reed 24:28 – 24:43

Awesome. And the big question:

how should a person, or I should say, how would you approach a friend or a family member about your business?

Or a person coming in, how could a person listening approach that friend or family member about their business?

Ann Sieg 24:44 – 26:02

Okay, caveat: it’s really truly relative to your situation, your circumstance, your culture, community, your family dynamics. In Asia, my advice would be dramatically different. Here in the States, it’s a different culture. Overall, it’s, you know, it’s just not got the best reputation, network marketing. I’m just trying to speak honestly here. You can bring it up with them, ask for their support, you know, maybe offer the products. It turns out every one of my siblings is in network marketing and all their spouses, so I know this pattern really well when I’m being hit on. But here’s the thing: you want to treasure that family relationship far more than you ever would, “Let me get them into my biz op.” Just don’t think in that way because it can be harmful, it really can. Overall my mom, she was supportive in my new days way back 28 years ago. Now so much more, they don’t get what I do and all that fun stuff. So to me, it’s kind of, sure let them know, but don’t plead, don’t helm them and potentially destroy relationships. That’s my advice.

Vince Reed 26:03 – 26:26

Awesome. And that’s great. I really appreciate all your answers, a ton of value here. And we got a chance to kind of get to know each other over the years and you should know me by now to know that it’s almost impossible for me to bring you on and not be able to share any value back to you, as well.

So if you could ask me any question about business, marketing, anything, what would it be?
Ann Sieg 26:27 – 26:41

Well, you’re a traffic generation expert, so I am most curious currently of your students, what you are finding to be the most successful traffic generation method for them.

Vince Reed 26:42 – 28:55

Well, I will answer it a little bit how you answered the last question, which is it really depends on the person and their skill sets. For example, I really love YouTube, I love to do ads on YouTube, but if people aren’t comfortable on video, they’re not going to get the type of results that I may get during YouTube ads. I definitely believe in community. Like you said, I mean, social media is people don’t go there to buy anything, they go there to connect and to see what someone had for lunch and what they’re watching on TV that night. And people in our space think people go there to buy. So you have to know how to build the appropriate community and put people in the right place to be able to present what it is that you have to offer in the right way. So if you focus on community and providing value to the marketplace on social media – and if you want me to get more specific, for example, what I’m saying here is let’s say you’re on Facebook, I would build an active community. Let’s say I’m in health and wellness, I build a page on health and wellness and all of the information that I’m providing to that page would be ways to teach people how to lose weight. Maybe I’m going and finding other publications and I’m putting it in that group and I’m feeding that culture with that information. And then, maybe I can run an ad to that group and say, “Hey, I’m having a webinar to show you guys a few tips on how you can drop a few pounds, and maybe you present them with your opportunity there.” So it’s about you building the appropriate community of what people are interested in on social media, but for me right now, I think that I have a very much different approach on marketing and it’s kind of like the stock market approach. And what I mean by that is, if you’ve been investing in the stock market for long periods of time, you’re probably going to see gains. But if you’re a person that gets in and out all the time, you’re going to lose money. So I have a set budget that I spend on several different platforms and I’m consistently doing it, and when I scale up I scale up on all platforms and I tweak each one, and each one has gains different months and they all tend to always profit at the end of the day. So I don’t have which, like, one method platform that works better than the other, but I will say I really am enjoying a lot of YouTube video stuff right now.

Ann Sieg 28:55 – 29:07

Very good. That’s the plan .. I’ve done YouTube and I want to ramp that up. I thoroughly enjoy it but totally get what you’re saying relative to a person’s interest and what they like to do.

Vince Reed 29:07 – 29:18

Absolutely. Awesome, well I really appreciate it and I wanted to obviously allow everyone to know where they can connect with you. Is there any websites or places where they can connect with you?

Ann Sieg 29:19 – 29:40

Well Facebook, I have my blog which has – I’m going to be ramping up shortly in about the next month here – which is the RenegadeBlog.com and that’s where they can then access my free report, as well. So the Renegade Blog and then just look me up, Ann Sieg on Facebook; you’ll find me there as well.

Vince Reed 29:40 – 29:50

Absolutely and we’ll make sure we connect all those on the notes from this interview as well. And then with that being said, any closing words, anything you want to share in closing?

Ann Sieg 29:51 – 31:03

Yeah, I think it’s a question we might have missed and it’s going to dove tail almost exactly with what you were saying about your traffic generation. Number one marketing tip for new network marketers: where I really had my breakthrough, and this was offline, is when I started to lead with education, that was my health awareness seminars. The mindset of someone coming in to receive information that’s relative to them, helping them solve whatever unique problem it is that you’re positioned to solve, that is what that fundamental concept is what completely turned around my business. And I could have built a massive business offline had I then dove tailed with online, as well, of course. There wasn’t social media when I first came online, which is 2003, 2004. But anyways, I’ll just say get in the mindset of giving first, setting up a platform for people to receive information, quality information. Like you were saying earlier also, to a targeted audience to the problem that you’re trying to solve. It will make a massive difference. My book that’s on my blog is a whole manifesto on that.

Vince Reed 31:03 – 31:22

Absolutely, powerful stuff. Well we appreciate you and we definitely have to have you back in the future and anyone listening, be sure to connect and reach out to Ann because she is a wealth of information and knowledge and you can definitely learn a lot from her. And with that being said guys, we will definitely see you on the next episode. Take care.

Vince Reed 31:24 – 31:42

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