Lisa M. Reed on Surviving Skin Cancer to Thriving in MLSP
Lisa M. Reed was a healthcare worker when she turned to internet marketing. She lost all her reps when she was hit with Cancer. Then MLSP and MLM came along. Learn more about her powerful story in our exclusive interview below.
Thanks so much for doing this exclusive interview, Lisa! Let’s get started with the interviewing!
Where were you born and raised, what was childhood like, and what did you want to be when you ‘grew up?’
I was born and raised in southern California. My mother is from Bolivia. She moved to the U.S. when she was 15. Left her family behind and came to a new country where she could barely speak the language. She met my father when she was 16, they were married when she was 17 and I was born 9 months later.
My father was an entrepreneur, sounds more glamorous than it was. Money was always tight, well actually scarce. Our house was only partly furnished, just the family room and our bedrooms had furniture.
My dad was never home when I was growing up. He left for work before we got up in the morning and came home well after midnight. He missed all our birthdays, graduations, and most holidays.
I didn’t really understand at the time why he did it. Why he worked so much and so hard was a mystery to me at the time. But now I get it since he did it for us.
I remember we weren’t allowed to watch television, my dad called it an idiot box. Instead, he was always playing motivational tapes for us. My Favorite was Zig Ziglar.
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What did your parents do for a living and was there any Entrepreneurship in the family?
My father was an entrepreneur. He started out as a barber, then opened his own barber shop. I think he had 10 shops. When he got tired of cutting hair, he got his real estate license and eventually his broker license.
It wasn’t long until he started his own real estate company and had offices all over southern California. He invested every penny he earned back into real estate.
I don’t know how many houses he owned but I know that we spent most of our evenings and weekends making repairs on houses to get them ready to rent.
I remember there was a time when we didn’t have a home ourselves. We moved from rental to rental. When one became vacant, we moved in, fixed it up and when it was rented, we moved into the next rental.
Most were homes but some were apartments and we didn’t have any furniture, just mattresses on the floors for our beds. I didn’t mind though because I loved working with my dad on the rentals. It was the only way I could spend time with him.
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When did you start in Healthcare, what was that like, and what was missing in your life at that time?
I started in healthcare when I was 18. I was in a bad abusive marriage unfortunately. We only had one car that was mine and even though my husband at the time carpooled to work with some of his friends, he would take the keys to my car so I couldn’t leave the house.
He wouldn’t let me go to college or work. I knew I had to do something to get out of the situation I was in so I walked to the nearest hospital and applied for a job.
The only job I was qualified for was in the laundry room. This was in the summer in the desert and the temperature in that laundry room was well over 110 degrees but I didn’t care.
I walked to work every day and worked in that laundry until I gained enough courage to apply for another position at the hospital.
Thankfully, I was a very good typist and was hired to work in Medical Records. From there, a physician at the hospital offered me a job in his office where he taught me how to draw blood, give injections, do minor surgeries.
That one doctor changed my life. I was finally able to earn enough money to leave my abusive husband and go to college. I stayed in healthcare for almost 25 years because I absolutely loved it.
I thought I would always work in healthcare. And then healthcare changed and made it impossible for physicians to treat their patients. The physician I had worked for 10 years and decided to retire early and I decided it was time for me to get out.
When did you discover MLM, and what was your first two years like?
I discovered MLM purely by accident. I had heard about a product I wanted to try so I Googled it, found it on Amazon, and bought it. I had no idea it was from a direct sales company.
I loved the product so I bought it again from Amazon. After a few months, I realized it was an MLM company. I had just left healthcare and thought why not?
So I went in search of someone in that MLM company that I could join under. My first 6 months in the business were amazing. I had more customers than anyone else on our team and my upline and I were the #3 and #4 earners in the company. Everything was going great and then disaster struck.
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You were hit with skin cancer and lost most of your reps. Can you tell us what happened and how you recovered?
This is still very difficult to talk about because it is something I deal with on a daily basis. I am cancer free right now but the scars, both inside and out, mean that I am still healing.
Taking 6 months off after my surgeries killed my business. I didn’t want anyone to see me and I didn’t want to see anyone.
That is when I knew I needed to find another way to build my business. So I turned to social media and I failed immediately. I realized pretty quickly that what I was doing wasn’t going to work and I needed to find a better way to promote myself online.
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What are the three best tips you have for new network marketers?
I mostly work with network marketers that want to use social media to build their business. So my tips are all going to relate to social media.
- Brand yourself not your company or products.
- Know and understand who your target market is and then…
- Connect with 5-10 new people in your target market every day on social media. Have real conversations not talking about you and your business but talking about them.
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You found a system called MLSP, can you explain what that is and who is it for?
MLSP is an educational platform that is for anyone looking to build a business online whether it be network marketing or a brick and mortar business.
I discovered MLSP when I was searching for a more effective way to build my business online. MLSP has a training library with marketing strategies on every social media platform, as well as training on building any business online.
It also includes a blog hosting, funnelizer to create your own capture pages, lead magnets, and a Customer Relationship Manager.
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I love your blog! How old is it, how many posts are on it, and what is your daily traffic like?
Thank you! To be perfectly honest, blogging is very challenging for me. I would much rather shoot a video than write a blog post but I understand the importance of having a blog.
I know that people like to get their information in different formats and my blog is another avenue for me to get my message out. My blog is a year old and has 45 posts.
I probably shouldn’t admit this but I don’t really pay attention to how much traffic it gets. However, I have noticed in the last few months that I am getting more leads from the blog, which is pretty cool.
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Should every internet marketer blog and why?
As Ray Higdon would say: yes! It is your own piece of internet real estate and another way for you to share your message. Although I am much more comfortable with video, I understand that some people like content they can read. So I like to do both. You will see quite a few videos in my blog posts.
What’s the best way to generate leads for you these days, and can you share a technique?
Facebook is my main marketing strategy and just in the last couple of months I have really perfected it, at least for me and my business.
In December, I generated over 1500 leads from 1 Facebook post! It was crazy! The turning point was when I really dialed in on who my target market is, what their struggles are and how I can help them.
I share valuable content that I know meets their needs and I NEVER post a link. Instead, I create curiosity posts that elicits a response from my target market. I then private message everyone that comments on my post and start a conversation.
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I see you doing webinars on Facebook. They are powerful in generating a lot of leads all at once, is that true and how do you create a webinar on the cheap?
Yes. Webinars are a great way to leverage your time. You can talk to more people at once, you have a captive audience, they help you build rapport and set you up as an authority. All of which are great for developing the “know, like and trust” factor.
I guess it would depend on what your objective is. If you are building an email list, you are going to need a webinar platform with capture pages and email auto responder.
If that is not your objective and you really wanted to create a webinar cheap, you could do a FB Live training. You can also use Zoom or Google Hangouts but you are limited on the number of attendees to hear your MLM or MLSP pitch.
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What is your favorite book right now and why?
That is a tough one! I have read so many great books! I am currently reading Magnetic Sponsoring by Mike Dillard and the Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy.
What are your goals for 2023?
It is interesting, really. I began this journey as a network marketer looking to find a better way to build my own business online. Now, I have discovered that I really like helping people get results with their Social Media Marketing in 2023 and beyond.
So, I guess my business goals are evolving. They are not so much about what I want to accomplish as they are about what I would like to help others accomplish.
In 2023 I have joined forces with someone and we are going to be working in a new niche. A whole other profession to help bring their businesses online.
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What is your favorite quote and why?
I have 3 words I try to live by….Encourage, Empower and Embrace.
I have been through very dark times and when I look back on them now I wonder how I ever survived.
I know it is because someone encouraged me and believed in me more than I could believe in myself. And that is exactly what I strive to do every day. This leads to my favorite business motivational quote…
“I want to Inspire people…I want someone to look at me and say, ‘Because of you I didn’t give up’”
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Thank you so much for this interview Lisa! Lots of powerful info here in this exclusive interview.
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