I’m real excited for these people because it’s the dignity it gives them, it’s the freedom it gives them, it’s the self-confidence it gives them, it’s the belief it gives them 
Randy Gage came from a small family; a single mother who raised three kids by herself, back in the day knocking on doors selling Avon products. And Randy really does mean his mom went out and knocked on doors, literally. Randy’s mother worked very hard and loved them all, and did her best to set a good example. She had character and a strong work ethic. They were poor. That presented challenges. And Randy never knew his father, but as he says, “My mother raised us good.”
As for school… Randy hated it.
He didn’t fit in at all. He was pathologically shy and very insecure. He became a teenage alcoholic and drug addict. He skipped school, got suspended a lot, and finally was expelled before he was 16. NULL
If you asked Randy what saved his life, he’ll tell you it was because he was a reader. He was always reading something. Sometimes, he’d read a book a day. It’s a passion he continues to the present time. Randy recently got his GED (General Educational Development: a group of five subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American or Canadian high school-level academic skills.), so he could take some college courses, which he has: French and Spanish, humanities and political science. He has no interest in getting a degree. Just wants to challenge his thinking and continue to grow. Since college was not an option, Randy went to work. His first job was a dishwasher at a restaurant working for minimum wage. It was the only job he could get. He worked his way up to cook, waiter, host, and finally to a manager trainee, then assistant manager and eventually he made restaurant manager. “Which,” he says, “is every dishwasher’s dream.” Of course when he became the manager Randy realized that it wasn’t the American dream— it was the American nightmare. He was working more hours and making less money than he made as a waiter. Obviously, he thought, the secret is to own your own restaurant. Be your own boss. So, Randy and his assistant manager scraped together some money and leased a restaurant. That was “an unmitigated disaster.” They ended up giving it back to the guy who had leased it to them and Randy went back in the business of managing. Fortunately, along the way Randy had discovered Network Marketing and he made a little bit of money with it. He was working 14-15 hours a day in the restaurant, which left little time to do anything else, but he pursued both paths. His first big check from Network Marketing was $11,000. That plus some money he’d saved up was enough to take on a new partner and try again with another restaurant.
As Randy says, “I was a slow learner.”
He started a pizza place that was open until 4:00 in the morning. He’d go in at noon, work all day, clean up and be in bed by 6:00 AM. Randy was trapped. Again. Matters were made worse when his Networking company went out of business and he lost his bonus check. And things got still worse when the IRS came and seized the restaurant. Randy was 30 years old. No house, no car, no job, no money in the bank, no credit cards, and he was $55,000 in debt, which seemed like millions to him at the time. He was borrowing money from friends, selling the furniture… That’s when Randy told himself, “You know, I’m never going to pay off this debt in the restaurant business. If I do, it’ll take me till I’m 60. I’ve got to get back into Network Marketing.” Randy approached someone he had worked with in the past and asked him to lend him the $700 to get back in the business. Something he would never recommend anybody ever do, because it never works out. But Randy made it work out— for both of them.
Randy started to make his way back and he’s never looked back. He’s made millions in Network Marketing.
What got Randy’s attention about this business from the very beginning was leverage. The former dishwasher knew all about trading time for dollars and the frustrated manager and failed restaurant owner knew there would never be enough time. “I grew up poor and I hated it,” Randy says. “I was running away from being poor as much as I was running towards being rich, but they both were motivating me. The idea of leverage, being able to bring some people in, teach them, train them, and get a residual override on their productivity was really sexy. I got that one right away.” But Randy didn’t get the business right away. It took about five years of losing money, going to events, buying tools, and negative cashflow that caused him to really do some critical thinking. “Okay, I’ve done a bunch of different companies and different sponsors and different product lines and different compensation plans, and none of them have worked. So obviously, this is either a total fabrication that they made up to get my money or it’s on me.” The thing was that in all of those companies there were people who were successful. There were people who were making money and they had the same product line and the same compensation plan and the same everything that Randy did, and yet they went out and created success.
He realized it’s not on the business, it’s not on the company; it’s on me.
So, Randy made changes. As said, he was pathologically shy, so he needed to work on that first. Randy read books and listened to audios that helped him be less fearful of people. He learned the skill of meeting people and placing himself in environments where he could do that in a nonthreatening way. Today, Randy realizes he’s made millions of dollars because he joined a softball league. He didn’t join to make money. He loves baseball and just wanted to play ball. He wanted the exercise and thought it’d be a healthy thing to do. To his surprise, he discovered it was a safe and comfortable way to meet new people, too. “It wasn’t like being at a party where I would be standing next to the fern in the corner afraid that somebody would talk to me,” Randy said. “You’d go there and get on a team and you’d meet 10 or 12 guys right away. And it wasn’t about you or them, it was just about playing ball, so you got to know each other and become friends and let the relationship develop in a non-threatening way.” He does the same thing now by taking college courses, going to the opera and with social media.
A real breakthrough for Randy was getting clear that it doesn’t matter if something works. What matters is, does it duplicate?
When Randy understood that he had to do the business in a way that the people he brought in would be able to do as well— that was a watershed moment for him. He said, “Okay, I’ve got to do a step-by-step-by-step duplicable system that anybody— whether they’re a PhD or a high school dropout like me, whether they’re people who have experience or people who join in the business for the first time— they can follow and build the business.” “Here’s what you say when you talk to a prospect. Here’s the first approach. Here’s the marketing materials you give them. Here’s the follow-up, and here are the marketing materials that go with that, and here’s the follow-up after the follow-up, and here’re the marketing materials that go with that.” Taking the time to conceptualize and put together this step-by-step system was a huge shift for Randy and it’s made an extraordinary difference in the velocity and growth of his organizations and his income. As with so many of The Greatest Networkers, Randy’s #1 value is integrity. His people know he says what he’s going to do and he does what he says. When Randy brings someone in the business he makes a couple of promises. He tells
them:
“I will never lie to you. And… I will never knowingly tell you anything that’s not in the best interest of your business.”
The men and women on Randy’s team know they can trust him. They know he’s got their back. He thinks that’s done more than anything to create the dynamic and loyal culture he’s after in his International organization. Another quality Randy emphasizes is having a good work ethic. He’s willing to work. He understands it’s not winning the lottery, there’s no free money in this business. He knows that if he goes out and does the work, he’ll build the income. Another word for it is self-discipline. Something Randy says is required in an all volunteer business where most people are part-time and no one “has to” do anything. Randy remembers reading the Stephen Covey book Seven Habits… 15 or so years ago. (He thinks he’s read it 10 or 12 times.) One of the simplest things Covey urged was taking half an hour or 40 minutes on the weekend to get out your planner and lay out your week. And when you’re planning, Randy advises you dedicate most of your efforts for rainmaker activities. “We don’t get paid to chat with people on the Internet and play Farmville,” he says. “We don’t get paid to clean off our desk and organize our briefcase or watch the recruiting video for the 87th time. We get paid when we meet people, make invitations, get them to presentations, and follow up.” Rainmaker activities are simply actions that produce volume, because that’s what Network Marketers are paid for. What does Randy think it really takes to be a consistent million dollar annual income earner in this business? “Nobody’s going to like the answer,” he says. “It takes all you got. ALL YOU GOT!” “This is the hardest business you’ll ever do,” Randy says, “because you can’t buy your way to success in Network Marketing. In other businesses you can have the right connections or you can con people and get by. In the corporate world, if you keep your head under the cubicle and just show up, you can make your way through.” “None of that stuff works in Network Marketing,” he says. “This business is all about self-development. Your Network will only grow as fast as you do. I mean, I lost money for five years because I was a jerk. This is a business of accelerated personal development. If you want to be a multi-million-dollar producer, it takes all you got. “
“The good news is… all you got is enough.”
The very best thing about Network Marketing for Randy is the thousands of people all over the world for whom he’s been able to bring joy to their life, and they have been able to bring joy to his life. “I’ve been able to mentor people who were living on welfare, raising their kids in the basement of a friend’s house, who now make $30,000 a month. And it isn’t the money really. The money’s great, don’t get me wrong, but I’m real excited for these people because it’s the dignity it gives them, it’s the freedom it gives them, it’s the self-confidence it gives them, it’s the belief it gives them.” “That’s significance and that’s what makes our business so amazing,” Randy says. “Network Marketing gives us an opportunity to create a legacy in very powerful and profound ways that you don’t get to do in most other businesses. And that’s really, really special.”
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He is the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of the highly regarded publication Upline®... was a Contributing Editor to SUCCESS magazine... the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Network Marketing Lifestyles magazine... founding editor of Networking Times... the founder of GreatestNetworker .com... co-founder of TheNetworkMarketing Magazine.com and is the creative force behind TransformingMLM.com.
John is the author of the best-selling industry classic The Greatest Networker in the World, which has been read by more than two and a-half million people around the world and he has edited and contributed to far too many books to be mentioned here.
He has spoken around the globe, through out Canada and the United States, in Australia, China, Costa Rica, Crete, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Trinidad and the Ukraine.
John is married to Jekaterina (Katyusha), has a daughter Rachel 28, son Johnny 23, daughter Eleonora Milena (Ele) who's 7 and Anais Polina (his 'last child') was born in March, 2006.
- Carolyn Wightman– Who Leads the Leaders by John Milton Fogg - September 1, 2013
- Ørjan Saele– Seeds of Greatness by John Milton Fogg - August 1, 2013
- Sarah Robbins – The Big Picture by John Milton Fogg - July 1, 2013
