Success Story
Our Fun is Our Work - Sherry and James Sanford of Starlight International
Sherry was a mortgage loan officer who noticed that while she got paid only once on a loan, the mortgage company had a service fee for the next 30 years. Sherry decided she needed to find a source of income which didn't depend on her making a certain number of sales every month. Fortunately, one of the realtors she worked with asked her opinion on a Networking company he was considering, and invited her to an opportunity meeting...
Sherry: I was like, Hallelujah, my dreams have come true! Then I found out that my success could be shared with thousands of other people. I was walking on clouds, because that was literally a dream come true, to have income that didn't just depend on me making sales every month.
That was four companies ago. What brought us to Starlight was that we had a dream of what we wanted our lives to be like, and we knew that Network Marketing could make that happen.
 When Starlight was introduced to us, we were working with our third company. We learned many lessons with each of the three, so we had what was then our biggest group ever with 33 people in our downline. Earning overrides on 33 people was our idea of heaven. When Starlight came along, it really attracted us. We had some pretty intense discussions, as you can imagine. We thought Starlight offered a better chance at making progress to that dream, but we were also enjoying success like never before.
James: This is something that most Network Marketers encounter sometime in their career: Is there another company that will help me get to my dream faster? We had that classic discussion, and we were very careful and intense to determine whether we really should go with another company.
Sherry: With our first three companies, our main challenges were that we didn't know enough about the industry, or what constituted a good company. I think that's why our first three companies were a learning curve.
One of them didn't have repeat sales on products. You sold product and then you were done, and you had to find a new customer. Another one had a marketing plan that just killed people, basically, by having to lose their downline. We didn't know that was the dynamic when we got into it.
When we found a company that did have the repeat product sales, that did have the products that people talked about, we were able to make the shift. When we first started with Starlight, we just put our nose to the grindstone and worked 16 hours a day, minimum, talking to people.
James: We started right away with massive, effective, money-making activities. Some people think massive action is organizing your desk, rewriting some of the brochures, ordering extra stationery, or doing all those kinds of things which have nothing to do with making money in this industry. Our massive effective money-making activities were getting samples in people's mouths, and talking to as many people as we could, as quickly as possible, and getting as many people to the meetings with us also.
By taking all we had learned with our first three companies and putting it to use, our action finally reaped real rewards.
Sherry: We overcame our challenges by staying focused on what we really wanted and what was really most important to us. Our kids would laugh; we'd start in the morning with our bathrobes on, and we'd still have them on at the end of the day because we'd been on the phone all day. We stayed focused on the dream, and absolutely nothing got in the way.
James: Including meals, showers, and getting dressed! We asked one of our sons last night about what he thought were keys to our success. He said, "One is that you ask great questions. Another is that your work is your fun, and your fun is your work." That really is so true.
The thing we most try to exemplify to all of our organization is that you will do this if you make it fun. Go skiing and talk to people while you're skiing. Go join a bowling league or join a golf course, and put yourself doing things you've always wanted to do. Take some classes and, basically, get a life. Have fun, and your business will build automatically when you talk to all those people while you're having fun.
Sherry: Our success philosophy is built around some core beliefs: If we can do this, anybody else can, and if anybody else can do this, we can, too. Our other core philosophy is total belief that people are better off knowing about our products and opportunity than if they walked around in ignorance.
Even if they don't buy, even if they don't want anything to do with the opportunity, they are better off knowing that this exists, because someday it might be the right time in their life for an opportunity that could save their dreams or their financial future.
We talk to anybody with that belief at the foundation. Then the final piece of our philosophy is that you must have fun. Absolutely. We have a great ability to have fun and enjoy the process.
James: The best thing about Network Marketing is the freedom. Have fun, and talk to everybody while you're doing it.
Sherry: The freedom and being able to take my mom and sister to Europe this past April. My mom had never been out of the country before. Even more than doing things for friends and family, we love helping people. Being able to help people every single day and know that what we do makes a difference is a constant joy.
James: And we not only make a difference with our efforts, but because of the leveraging effect of the thousands of people in our organization, we have thousands of people helping us make the world a better place every single day. We don't have to do it all ourselves.
Sherry: I wish there were a way to transmit to people what this lifestyle is like, and how amazingly wonderful it can be. It's available for each person out there; they can have it, too. If I could just transmit from my brain to theirs what this feels like and the belief that it's theirs for the taking! All they have to do is take the actions and believe in themselves.
James: If we can do it, you can do it, too. Do it now.
JAMES & SHERRY SANFORD are "all-the-time" Networkers with Starlight International, Network Marketers of "vitamins, minerals, and herbs for people's health." They have been with the company for five years and, as Diamond Superstars, are among the top five income-earners. The Sanfords live in Las Vegas, NV.
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Reprinted with permission from Upline, Sanford Profile - October 1999, 888-UPLINE-1, http://www.upline.com
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