©2009 Stuart Isett.
Ty Tribble on Attraction Marketing and Being Founder of MLM Blogging
Ty Tribble is a legendary network marketing leader and MLM Blogger. He is an expert in lead generation. Here is our exclusive interview with Ty Tribble.
Wow! I am honored to have you agree to this interview with me, Ty! I have so much to ask you about lead generation, blogging, and network marketing as a whole. So, let’s get started!
You live in Seattle. (I am from Port Townsend) Did you grow up in Seattle, what was your childhood like, and what did your parents do for a living?
I was born in Seattle but moved around Washington State until settling back in Seattle in the 6th grade. My Mom was 20 years old when she had me and so I learned to grow up pretty fast while being raised by a single mother. My Grandma, Uncle and Aunt spent a great deal of time with me so I was also blessed to have a close knit family.
While not having much, I remember being a happy kid, but always dreamed about building a successful life “when I grew up”.
When I was a Freshman in high school, my Mom re-married and God sent a father-figure into my life at during those formative teen years. He was a manager at Boeing Computer Services and provided great stability for our family.
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When did you realize you had an Entrepreneur inside of you?
I didn’t know what an entrepreneur was but very early on I had a mind for business. The statute of limitations is probably up by know so I will tell you about my first business.
My mom was a hippie and rented a house where lots of other hippies both lived and hung out. (Welcome to the seventies). At the time, my uncle would give me cash (like an allowance) whenever he visited and I ended up a fair amount of money.
Back then, many of my mom’s hippie friends had food stamps, but stores would not allow them to buy cigarettes, so I began to trade $1 in cash for $2 in food stamps. Hippie friends could use my cash to buy cigarettes and I could use the food stamps to buy candy.
Then I would take the candy to school and sell it for a profit. I know it sounds a lot like money laundering, but cut me some slack, I was a 3rd grader.
When did you discover network marketing and how were the first couple of years?
Early in 1991, I was invited to my first Network Marketing meeting, but declined the invite. Then later in the same year, I was invited by a different person and accepted.
The difference was not the way I was invited, they used the exact same script.
The difference was not the person inviting. I had equal respect for both people.
The difference was the timing in my life
When you are inviting someone to look at your business, remember that you probably have very little control over how they react. As long as your invite is professional and you are consistent, you will find people who are interested in your offer.
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What was the main lesson you learned from this period?
My first 5 years, I call my “heavy-lifting years”, where my wife and I would get dressed up (suit and tie, wife in nylons) and go out to build our business 3-4 nights a week.
My best check in the first 5 years was $1200.
We then took about a 5 year sabbatical from the profession. I studied personal development and bought products but didn’t really do much in that time.
Looking back, I think there are two big lessons:
- Never Give Up. I look back today and of course that time was worth it because of who I became.
- The missing link for me was mentorship. In that first 10 years, I did not have a mentor who cared about my best interest. Once I got a mentor, I was 18 months from 6-figures and 36 months from multiple 6-figures.
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You’re considered “one of the founding fathers of network marketing.” How many years do you have now in network marketing and how has network marketing changed over the years?
Well, I’m honored to be considered in that way, but many amazing leaders came before me. I am about to enter my 25th year in the profession.
I did get a bit of an early jump on the Internet side of Network Marketing when I launched my first Pay-Per-Click ad in January of 2003 followed by my blog in October of the same year.
The biggest thing that changed is transparency. When I got started in Network Marketing, research was literally done at the library.
Today with a couple of clicks, you get a lot of information and opinions about every company in the profession. Other than that, not much has really changed. People are no longer at the mall, they are on Facebook, but the words used to talk to people are pretty much the same.
What are the three biggest obstacles for new network marketers and how do you overcome them?
- You (me). We are the biggest obstacle we face in Network Marketing. I have never met a person who doesn’t have the ability to make money in Network Marketing. Most of the time, self doubt, self image and bad self talk eat away at our dreams and we quit before we really get started.
The best way to overcome our own self doubt is to read a lot of positive, motivational and personal development books.
- Idea of the month (day, hour?). Network Marketing is actually very simple. If you just break down the name Network Marketing and DO THAT, you will win. The problem is very few people “network” any longer and few “market”. Instead we spend time jumping from idea to idea thinking that there is one secret that will make the difference.
The secret is “How many people did you connect with today about your product or business?” Connect with a lot of people, make a lot of money. Connect with zero people, you make zero money.
- Getting Bogged Down In Unimportant “Stuff”. = ) If I had a dime for every time I heard a broke person tell me they have the best compensation plan in the world, I would have a lot of dimes. Yes, there are good and bad compensation plans, but for 90% of the people, it won’t matter at all. I would take working with the right mentor/leader over compensation plan or even product details in a heartbeat.
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You started MLMBlog .net in 2003. This is the oldest network marketing blog that I know of. How many posts are on it, and what is the daily traffic like to it?
MLMBlog has over 2,600 posts, but I actually wrote about 5,000 on the subject between 2003 and 2008 on a site called Multileveler and Business-Opportunities.biz. At one point, the Business-Opportunities.biz site had an Alexa ranking under 5,000. It was wild! I haven’t been as prolific blogging over the last few years, but MLMBlog averages between 1800 and 2000 visits a day.
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You also have TyTribble.com which you mentioned was hacked at one time and you recovered it. How old is that blog, how many posts are on it, and what is the traffic like to it?
TyTribble.com was hacked, but I did not recover the posts. At the time, I thought starting over was a good idea, today, I would have made a difference choice, for sure. I mostly use TyTribble.com for branding, so there are only 48 posts and it gets a few hundred visits a day.
If someone wanted to start a MLM blog to generate Leads, what would you tell them?
Things are certainly different today than when I got started blogging. For the newest person, I would say there are better ways to generate leads, but I highly recommend blogging as a leader.
- I would probably suggest going full-time before you launch into a real blogging strategy.
- Study SEO. Don’t write for Google alone, but try to have a good idea how to.
- Be consistent. If you can not commit to blogging at least 3 days a week, don’t bother.
- Learn the basics of lead generation and have a clear purpose behind your blogging.
If you look at MLMBlog.net, you will find that just about anything you can click on leads you to one place….my offer.
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You have a great book on Amazon called “Double Your Income with Network Marketing.” What is the premise of this book and do you have a sequel coming anytime soon?
“Double Your Income with Network Marketing” was written to help bridge the gap between online and offline marketing. I have a book deal with my publisher Wiley & Sons and I have another book in the works but on a completely different topic (Uber).
If I was brand new in Network Marketing, I would probably drive for Uber and make money while honing my prospecting skills along the way.
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What is the best way to get free leads these days?
Most of my leads come from supplying a niche market with something they want. That’s the best way. My most effective offer today is “17 Facebook Post Ideas For Network Marketers”.
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What is your favorite social media platform right now and why?
I spend most of my social media time on Twitter today. Twitter is where I get most of my news as well as most of my leads.
You offer a coaching program. You offer a “multi-channel strategy” and helping with sales funnels. What kind of students are you looking for and who can benefit from your coaching?
When I say multi-channel, I am really talking about not putting all of your lead generation in one basket. I have friends who put all of their eggs in the Google Pay Per Click basket back in the day and when Google decided to change the deal, they woke up one day with no leads.
There are two types of people I am great at helping…the newest person who doesn’t have any idea where to start and the leader who knows he/she needs to get up and running online but wants some direction and help.
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What is your favorite book right now and why?
The most recent book I read, cover to cover was Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert comic), ‘How To Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big’.
There are a lot of great lessons in the book, but one of them has to do with Goals vs. Systems. For a long time, Network Marketers have been taught to set these lofty goals (going “Diamond”) and from a mental perspective, they get up everyday having failed to achieve the goal.
Adam’s idea is that you build out a life system that allows you to move in the direction of what you want to achieve on a daily basis, so everyday you follow the system, you win and are closer to achieving what you want in life.
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What are your goals for 2023?
Good timing for this question. I will be spending more time on my ChristianNetworker .org project to provide entrepreneurs with Biblical business and life principles. It is probably some of my best work and deserves more time.
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What is your favorite quote and why?
“And let us renew our strength and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams.”
– Ronald Reagan
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Thank you so much Ty! This has been incredible, such an honor!
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